you to your Kingdome and humbly imploring that the State thereof may be prolonged submissively I take leave and rest Your Majesties sincere suppliant and sacrificing subject Tho. Reeve Waltham Abbey ERRATA Ministers for Monsters p. 11. l. 1. dread such an army for dread such an Enimy p. 15. l. 30. ENGLAND'S RESTITUTION Proverbs xxviij 2. For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged SOlomon sheweth here the high misery of a Nation many Princes and he sheweth what it is that brings in this plague the transgression of the Land For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof But let Solomon demonstrate yet there are those which will remonstrate for what is the cause of the alteration of States and the change of governments that good Rulers are taken away and bad come in their stead is it transgression No we are too great Advocates to our own corruptions to confesse the original of sorrows to flow from our own prevarications they are not our many sinnes that are the occasion of the many Princes but there are many other accidents some look to the malignancy of Planets some to the improvidence of Statesmen some to the turbulency of mens natures but Transgression is not the procatarctical cause No the Land doth suffer but the Land is innocent it is the judgement of the Land but not the trespass of the Land the tribulation of the Land but not the transgression of the land Thus all the judgements from heaven cannot awaken the sinner out of the spirit of slumber Ionas doth sleep in the midst of the Tempest and he must be taken by lot before he will acknowledge that the ship was ready to be cast away for his sake Pindarus Pychon formosus this venemous serpent shall be cryed up to be amiable But when we have used all our subterfuges our own guilts will be found to be the State-Troublers if there be changes of Governours it is the iniquity of the times which hath buried the good Governours if there be many Princes it is the transgression of the Land that hath shewn to the Land these many strange faces For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof well a breach is made how shall it be closed up mourn ye for your sinnes and the Land shall no longer mourn take away the transgression of the Land and the tryal of the Land is taken away the many Princes are gone and a good Prince come in their stead a Prince indeed that shall cause the wasted Land to flourish a decayed State to be prolonged But by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged So that here we have Solomon's proverb and his prophesie His proverb For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof his prophesie that after the many unfortunate Princes a glorious Prince should arise who should blesse the Land and prolong the State But by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged Many Princes made the Land unhappy but had it never been happy before yes he that talks of many Princes doth intimate that there was once a choice Prince for as the transgression of the Land brought in many Princes so the obedience of the Land was blessed with one eminent Prince a Prince of bloud a Prince of virtues the honour of the Throne the Mirrour of Princes a Prince that was the Crystal drop of innocencie the bright flame of devotion the Gem of Justice Chastity clemency constancy affability wisdome bounty and in a word the Treasury of all Royal perfections the traunce of all his loyal Subjects and the admiration of strangers who whilest he was in power preserved their Religion Lawes Liberties and endeavoured what in him lay to make the Church a Sanctuary and the Kingdome a Chauntry But this Prince was too happy for the times too good for the Land the people having lost their obedience they lost their Prince the innocency of the Land being turned into the transgression of the Land this Prince proved but short-lived he was taken away by disaster the sinnes of the Land had filled this Nation full of troubles his person full of hazards and took away his precious peace and at last took away his precious life turned a Prince into a prisoner and a Monarch into a Martyr so that there remained nothing but to cry out after him oh beate Sesti Horace oh happy Sestius well he being gone what was the fate of this transgressing Land judgement from heaven brought in many Princes many Princes what Princes 1. One Prince seemed like a Giant I have read of many Giants but this was a Giant indeed as big well-nigh as five hundred men above the stature or dimensions of any of the Anakims or Zanzummims How did this Giant reign and how long oh the reign was fierce there was nothing but exactions and impositions depredations upon Estates and pressures of Conscience How long was the reign too long and yet not very long for the government was so intolerable that this Giant was plucked away by force thrust by with scorn and removed without a groan well after that Prince was gone who was the next Lu. ad Cal. Pi. One which insigni praestinguit imagine visus daunâ—ted the age with his Looks a man of ire fire tumour tumult terrour torment a Gorgon a Centaure an enraged Ajax an Hercules furens which would warre against right reason lawes leagues motions modesty promises precedents orders oathes decrees destinies which would set all in commotion and combustion call for aid above but if that would not come readily force it from beneath consult with cunning men not refuse Astrologers Magicians to give advice Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo Yea mingle heaven and earth together to accomplish designes Oh the base arts of ambitious men oh the damned attempts of aspiring Politicians next the red Dragon can any thing be more venemous next Belzebub can any thing be blacker or give a worse sent of brimstone Urit miserum gloria pectus this same desire of worldly glory doth scorch a wretched breast Bern. serm Quadrages Ambitio subtile malum doli artifex tinea sanctitatis ex remediis morbos creans Ambition is a subtil evil the prime artisant of deceit the moth of holinesse creating diseases of remedies Bonsin l. 8. Dec. 2. with Zingis it will kill all that will not obey and stick at nothing which will advance Plutarch yea with Pyrrhus out of a thirst to get more it doth not regard what already it doth possesse but aim at greater things and never care by what means it doth obtain them just like this haughty Prince before
their Crowns is their reign endless no many Princes are a judgement and judgements do not long continue storms at last cease torrents in time dry up they afflict a Land but the Land is at last quit of them haec nos suprema manebant Exitiis positura modum Virgil. 7. Aeneid Miseries have their limits for with a causal of sorrow there is a discretive of comfort But For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof But this But excludes these many Princes out of their Palace-doors or wring their Scepters out of their hands Farewell many Princes who succeed in their rooms what still an Hydra no these ministers are hideous the Land is never happy till it be espoused to a particular Bridegroom the many Princes must be changed into one a Man but by a Man Man have we found thee again thou art welcome though the Land for a while could not endure thee but it must be wasted with the tyrranny of many Princes that it might know the gentle government of one Prince yet to enjoy such a Prince we will fetch him out of a foreign Land invite him home to us from beyond Sea those men would never have blessed us no thou art the Man The many Princes must be changed into One there must be but A Man But by a Man c. Well a Man we have gotten but how must he be endowed he must have other qualifications then the other Princes had they were rash and violent and heady which would have their own wills and commands satisfied though it were against all principles of reason and fundamental Laws yield or fly obey or perish but a true Governour must not be thus precipitate and desperate the golden reins of authority must be guided with more discretion and moderation the auspicious Prince must be a wise Prince one that knowes how to quell animosities settle distempers heal all diseases in religion and policy See then your right Man a man that comes to you as richly gifted as ye can desire or government it self can require look upon him and see if ye be not ravished with the sight of him he is intelligent and considerate that doth every thing prudently and deliberately a man of understanding and knowledge But by a Man of c. Grant such a Man who shall be benefited by him who not shall his own family or favourites only be made happy by him no a whole State for the state thereof c. How long shall such a State flourish what sprout a little then have the former leaf-fall no after many years ye shall see it in as vernant a condition as ever such a Prince shall be a Blessing to Ages for the state shall be prolonged For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof but by a man of understanding knowledge the state therof shall be prolonged In the Text consider these three things 1. The peccant humour For the transgression of a Land 2. The sad disease Many are the Princes thereof 3. The happy cure But by a Man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged First to handle the peccant humour For the transgression of a Land From hence observe that Transgression is the inlet unto judgement no transgression no judgement punishment is the exercise of vindicative justice now how can God avenge where there is no trespass punishment is per inflictionē contrarii Aquin. 22. q. 19. a. 1. by the inflicting of that which is contrary now till we make opposition against God God layes upon us nothing which is contrary to our natures no till sin come to be the corruption of the action God brings no judgement as the corruption of the Agent Idem 1. q. 48. a. 5. punishment is contrary to our wills and till we do that which is contrary to Gods Lawes God doth nothing which is contrary to our desires no we have substracted that which is due to him before he substracts that which is convenient for us we are guilty of an injury before he exacts satisfaction of us by suffering our palates are out of course before be does administer such sharp Physick to us to recover our tast It is the tree of disobedience that brings forth the rod of correction Culpam sequitur percussio Cass No man is smitten but for a fault As Aristophon was ninety times accused by the Athenians as often acquitted so God hath no Bar to condemn an innocent If Alphonsus could walk without his guard becaus he had wronged no man so where there is no injury offered against heaven there is no justice to be feared people offend highly before they are made the generation of Gods wrath Jer. 7.29 He visit transgressions Amos 3.14 Pour upon men their own wickedness Jer. 14.16 Measure their former work into their bosome Isa 65.7 Consume them in their sins Num. 16.26 Make them bear their own iniquity Levit. 5.1 Can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3.3 But can two fight together when they are agreed no God hath no sword to wound his Friends nor no corrosive to apply to sound flesh will God stub up his trees of righteousness trample under feet his own jewels rase his own Temples It is enough for Saturn to devour his own children God will never destroy the seed of the blessed Balaam could use no inchantment against Iacob nor no divination against Israel because God saw no iniquity in them Num. 23.21 Achior the Ammonite gave good counsel to Holofernes not to attempt war against the Bethulians except he could find out that they had sinned against their God Judith 5.20,21 without sin people live as securely as if there were not a God of justice in heaven or any Ministers of his vengeance upon earth for shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right will he make a wast in his own portion root up his own garden cast down his own Throne no he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly Pr. 2.7 he keepeth the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.7 they shall dwell between his shoulders Deut. 33.12 he will be unto them for a Sanctuary Es 8.14 they shall inherit the seat of glory 1 Sam. 2.8 But if men provoke the eyes of his glory fury will come up in his face his hot displeasure will soon arise he will appoint terrours over them Lev. 26.16 and make their plagues wonderfull Deut. 28.29 and execute judgements upon them with furious rebukes Ezech. 5.15 for why should not God skin the fat Bulls of Basan and crush the nest of Cockatrices egges a tire of Ordnance discharged is little enough for them which hold out the flag of defiance against him fire that will burn to the bottom of hell is not too hot to consume those which branch up in presumptuous sinnes as patient as God is yet he is not slack to them that hate him Deut. 7.10 Ah I will ease me of
he doth present his people with regnal benedictions if his Subjects do know how to obey he doth know how to cherish if they do know how to be Liegemen he doth know how to be a King Here is the Mannah which doth feed all the Camp and the Alabaster box of pretious Spikenard which doth fill with the sweet savour of it the whole house where it is opened As excellent Majesty is added to him Dan. 4.36 so excellent magnificence doth flow from him as the land is the land of his dominion 2 Chron. 8.6 so it is the land of his beneficence To be a general ayd this he doth esteem his royalty to benefit all this he doth account as his high Prerogative For this Pyrrhus was stiled by his people Aquila the Eagle Plutarch because with a quick eye he looked through all his Regions Alexander l. 2. c. 11. and Artaxerxes was called Mnemon because he was mindful of all his Subjects wants Marmeus l. 11. Hist Rer. and Alphonsus the 10th of Aragon was named Largus for his large and liberal affection to all them within his Dominions yea how many Princes else were honoured with the illustrious Titles of Fundatores the Founders of the peoples happiness and Liberatores the Deliverers of them from slavery and Conservatores the preservers of their freedoms yea they knew not how to abound enough to them in exultations and exaltations approbations and acclamations traunces and triumphs they hung up Tablets and built Statues to them that what their minde and memories could not perpetuate their Marbles and Monuments might Oh they held themselves infinitely advanced generally blessed by them And indeed what are good Princes but storehouses where a whole Nation may have supply and Conduits where a State in general may fill its Pitchers here is the pool of Bethesdah which healed all sick of Diseases which when the Angel stirs the waters will step into it A good King doth give a publick call to all the people of the land wishing them to resort to him and they shall be favoured and fostered Come Nobles saith he come Bishops come Judges come Merchants come Prisoners come Enemies and ye shall find my beneficent Nature 1. Come Nobles ye which have been brought up in Scarlet and yet have embraced the Dunghil ye which are of Honorable houses and yet the Other-house had put you down which have been men of renown and yet Abjects have confronted you which are Nobles by birth and yet the children of base men viler then the earth which one would have disdeigned to set with the dogs of his flock have insulted over you which are Lords and servants of servants have striven to be your Masters which are to be the great Judges of the land to punish Malefactors and yet have been handled as if ye had been found amongst Theeves and been the grand Delinquents of the times which are to be the great Council of the Kingdom but have been used as if ye had not been fit to be Clerkes of the Council not to be the little finger of a Parliament but have been unhoused and could find no place to sit in unless ye would step down into an house of Commons Oh it doth pity me saith such a King to think how long ye have been obscured and lived rather like Cloister-men then Noblemen Come ye and ye shall find that ye have a King that will seek you out and take you up ye shall be no longer the Scorne and Mockage of the vulgar If ye know your Fountain of honor the spring is not yet dried up as ye were created by a Prince so by a Prince shall ye be confirmed ye are the Mighty of the Land 2 Kings 24.15 and ye shall be as Mighty as ever were any of your Progenitors without an Herald at Armes I will preserve to you your Scutcheons and Pedigrees I will re-establish you in your pristine honors and dignities and restore unto you PEEREAGE 2. Secondly come Bishops ye which have the Consecration of the Lord upon your Foreheads which are Starres in the right hand of God which have an Apostolical institution and an Apostolical succession which are the Advocates of faith the Champions of truth and the Bulwarks and Buttresses of the Protestant Church whose learned Treatises are your own fame the Schismaticks envy and the Jesuites tortures whose prudent milde and fatherly Government though the best discipline upon earth cannot be free from scandals and exceptions by them which would not in all things govern half so well hath been the Delight of judicious Princes the satisfaction of well-principled Nobles and more acceptable to the people in general and to Dissenters in particular then the coercive power of a more rigid party Oh ye which have the key of knowledge and the key of jurisdiction to whom belong the Pastoral staffe the stole and the chaire Oh it doth grieve me saith such a Prince that ye which have had such a Primitive calling and been reverenced by all Antiquity and been intertained with such an high and honorable reception wheresoever Monarchical government hath been setled that of late to the contempt of Apostolical Ordination the scorne of Ecclesiastical usage the shame of the Reformed Churches and the Inlet of heresy and blasphemy have been so declined decried despised defamed and even defaced and that because some would have you more then men and some have voyced you forth to be but trivial men and some have made you the worst of men well I find that the most Orthodox Fathers the Holy Apostles and our Blessed Saviour met with as base aspersions and as curs'd language therefore these things do not move me your calling is just the Orders are faultless I cannot expect you to be Angels it is well that I finde you for the generall to be the wifest and the best of Men. Therefore gather together ye are not utterly a lost calling your King knew the worth of you and the Church feels the want of you I will therefore put your â—rosier again into your hands invest you in your ancient Robe and establish you in your Prelacy 4 Come Judges ye which have Benches to exercise judicature in and are the Oracles of the land to determine the great difficulties of right which sit by the Kings Writ and do represent the Kings person that as in him is the Portion of the Law-giver so there is in you the Portion of the Sence-givers for though ye be not Law-makers yet ye are Law-Remembrancers the Text is not yours but the Commentary is yours for what are ye but the great Interpreters of the mysteries of Statutes and Usages Yea the great Antiquaries of Records and Customes Ye have eyes so cleere that ye can see as far as the Conquest and can Spy out the motions of Government in the Saxon Heptarchy yea that finde out the ballance of the Romane justice nay perhaps if need were could glance at Brutes groundsel and settle
readier passage for them to break in amongst us then by your old corruptions If we would preserve the Man of understanding and knowledge can there be a surer means of prevention of misery then by taking the right Antidote against Transgression For can Transgression be prolonged and the State prolonged no Contraries do expel each other If the distemper be continued the disease may renew Our incorrigible sins may endanger your Majesties Royal person and shed your Royal bloud I do not fear so much the Malecontents at home or the Machivilians abroad as these Miscreants of impiety and impenitency Some call their selves your Majesties good Subjects some your best Subjects I would they would try their degrees of comparison by a superiority of repentance Repentance what should we repent of Some think onely of carnal sins but carnal sins are onely greater for turpitude and infamy Tho. Aq. 12 q. 72â— art but spiritual sins are the most hainous for deordination and irregularity and that in respect of subject object and motive Well both the black and the white Devil had need to be dispossessed Your Majesty therefore did wisely to publish your pious Proclamation to call home all to a religious life I call it a pious Proclamation because if men had listened to it they might have been made not onely happy but holy under you A divine sentence was in the lips of the King when that was sent through the whole Nation it is a rare thing to hear a King upon the Throne to teach all the Kingdome virtue such a King may be sirnamed Ecclesiastes such a motion is able to sanctifie a Land especially when it is not onely mandatory but exemplary edged with as much piety as authority whereby all your people might ascribe to you your attributes of Gratious Soveraign and Sacred Majesty Your Majesty have done your part freed your own soul and endeavoured to cleanse ours But I beseech you my dear and dread Soveraign what operation have you found by that Masterpiece of your government how many Royal Converts have you to rejoyce in If you have I will say that Majesty doth carry some Soveraignty with it and that your Crown is not more glorious then your Scepter awfull you are then a potent King and have true loyal Subjects then all Nations will flock hither more to see your virtue your efficacious virtue then ever they did to hear the wisdome of Solomon and say that here do dwell the people of holinesse and that you do reign in a Kindome of Saints which is not onely your proper Territory but your proper Sanctuary a Temple which you have consecrated by your own graces yea then as Cyprus was once called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the happy Island Knolles Turk hist so we shall be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the religious Island Doth your Majesty find by experience that your physick hath wrought and that your Patient hath voided his ill humours is your Court purged is your Land cleansed hath the Goddammee-Blade filed his blaspheming tongue hath the riotous Carowser left drowning himself upon dry land hath Felix given over his groping for bribes hath Shebah laid down his trumpet have the Monichangers pulled down their Tables what are all rough places made plain and crooked things made streight Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things shall the earth be brought forth in one day or a Nation be born at once Es 66.8 Oh regenerating King then Oh converting Proclamation If men be thus really renewed it is pity that they should be reproached with any of their former errours for none but a sordid spirit will gather up that filth which repentance hath washed away When the bond is cancelled the former debts are no more to be required the reformed man is no more to be called a scandalous person for then what comfort should any man have in his change or in striking the mortifying nail into his brest it is as great a sin to censure a Penitent as to flatter a Libertine Repentance doth give the exequies to all former crimes mortified crimes are to be buried aswell as dead corpses There are none but Necromancers which will call up the spirits of the deceased to work their Magicall ends withall there are none but ravenous dogs which will satisfie their greedy appetites with such Carrion for what can God or man require more of the greatest Sinner then reformation Were it unpriestly unchristian unmanly in me to call any man Rebel who is become a Loyal Subject or him an Heretick or Schismatick who is turned Orthodox in doctrine and discipline then how ungodly and inhumane is it in any to call them profane who have declared themselves Converts Mary Magdalen Peter and Paul would never have been called Saints by these spiritual Murtherers of reformation but repentance hath so rinsed a Penitent that he is never after to be called filthy Pâ—nitentia revocat omnes defectus restituendo hominem in pristinam gratiam Dignitas amissa per peccatum restauratur per poenitentiam Aquin. 3. q. 9. art 3. for it is an expulsion of all former defects and a restitution into a state of grace The dignity that was lost by sin is restored by repentance If your Majesty therefore doth meet with such esteem them and embrace them prize them and prefer them they are the lustres of your Nation and the Supporters of your Throne But I doubt that your Majesty upon due search can find few of these Proclamation-men they may read and magnifie but not loath and cleanse That Witch of Religion I am afraid did more good with his redhot iron then you can do with your Imperial Edict They which make a foul shew in the flesh and they which make a fair shew in the flesh they whose course is wholly sinne and they whose cause is wholly sinne antiquum obtinent Now are these likely to fortifie your Title or to establish your greatnesse no God send you better Champions three righteous Saints were better then Myriads of such Heroes they may have the brawny arms of Giants but they have no good sinews their sins will never suffer them to fight with a conquering hand If they will not expresse their selves truely vertuous how do they reverence your person or cordially desire your preservation no they do but live under you to confirm their interests and in effect care not whether you live or die prosper or perish if they did they would shun those transgressions which they know will cause the bloud-draught of Princes If they will not wash I will go to the Laver my self and endeavour to cleanse my self and as many as I can that there may be a race of your Proclamation-births to guard your Royal Person in all exigents Thus beseeching your Sacred Majesty to cast your benign Princely eye upon these unpolished Sermons which are principally intended to second your Proclamation blessing God Almighty that he hath restored
you who had honour and greatnesse in his eye and to ascend this Mount he did not care what craggy places he did climb He would get the best of men as esteem made them to countenance his drifts but he never troubled himself to have the worst of men known so to be to be Actors in them Saints or Miscreants it was all one to him if they would serre pedem Virgil. lend a foot to stir about his projects Oh from what a mean beginning did he raise himself to that sublime celsitude He once purposed to have drained in the Fennes but the Flag of defiance being hung out he sought for booty in the Up-lands from the wasting himself into a Spend-thrift he fought himself into a Prince after the decocting of three Mannors he cast three Kingdomes into the Cauldron to boil toothsome diet for his greedy and insatiable appetite And to attain to this what loftinesse did he express how did he set up his crests was there ever a poor Abject more turgid and supercilious Claud. in â—rat Levantibus altè Intumuit rebus Who was his companion who was his compeer No he was not onely disdainfull but defying not onely proud but prodigious Quas gerit ore minas quanto premit omnia fastu Stat. 1. Theb. He had a blazing beacon in his forehead his face flamed like Mount Aetna he had lightning in his eyes and thunderbolts in his lips And what rare Artificers had he Virgil. 2. Aeneid Ille dolis instructus arte Pelasga he could weep when he intended to devour pray when he meant to sacrifice men's lives seek God as he called it when he resolved to engage with the Devil And by these policies and hypocritical impostures what a woefull government was there under him there was nothing to be seen but Taxes sessments confinements confiscations depopulations decimations chains dungeons halters bloud-axes Ye may know him by his kindred Consorts Confidents Counsellors Collegues Chapmen Chaplains Secretaries Emissaries Judges Guards and Life guards except it be in the bottomlesse pit where can there be found such a swarm of Locusts And for his manners setting aside a few inchantments of pretended holinesse can ye imagine a man almost more stupendiously evil Tarquin the proud was not more arrogant Nero the cruel not more mercilesse Caligula the shamelesse not more impudent a greater enemy to Orthodox men then to the Blasphemers of the faith and a greater friend to the Iewes then Christians a man very tender of an oath and yet maligned them that would not be perjured an hater of Popery and yet a bosome-Friend to the most Jesuited person in the world One wholly composed of ambition and insolence fraud and fury subtilty and savagenesse so bent upon his own will and inflexible in what he had resolved upon that at last he became violent in his designes and desperate in his attempts vexatious at home quarrelsome abroad a Firebrand to his Countreymen a Fiend to his neighbours the great Boutefeau and incendiary of the whole earth how did he rage in the Baltick sea in the Streights upon the coasts of Barbary and in the Atlantick Ocean No honours or Titles were sufficient for him he would have been Emperour of the British Isles and had a Navy floating to go fish for new Isles as far as the Bay of Mexico A man that at last was so severe to his enemies and bitter to his friends and jealous and suspicious of all that he become a general odium for he was flattered but by a few hated of most dreaded of all The onely comfort of the Nation was this that the Land in a short time was rid of him and after all his vauntings and rantings violences violations vexations and victories inexorabile fatum Virg. 2. Georg. Subjecit Manibus Irae Thyeston exitio gravi stravere Hor. 1. Car. Ode 16. He breathed out his turbulent spirit and proved mortal How he dyed is a doubt what became of him after death is a great secret I confesse I heard that he was Canonized at his Funeral and seen very nigh to the elbow of Christ but I question whether that Preacher were a true Seer I cannot tell whether every Peter hath the Keys of heaven to let in Saints I believe the whirlwind was a truer Prophet to foretell whither he was carried Gone he is and his name is not worth the recording nor his Skin the owning Exiit Tremebundus who doth follow next After him follow another Prince who had in him no great bane nor no great benefit who had not time enough to do evil nor wit enough to do good which did only talk and make offers and drink healths and promise a golden age with leaden feet but alas he was bliteus infrunitus saplesse and senselesse uselesse and giftlesse he had in him more pretence then prudence or courtesie then courage Quicunque aspiciunt mente carete putant Ovid. 1. Fast He knew not how to rule nor how to bring in another to rule perhaps well-minded but his drifts ill-managed he could neither shake off his fetters suppresse mutinies order his Councel discipline his Army confirm his interests countenance his adherents apprehend overtures lay hold on opportunities hear them which gave him faithfull advice be true to them to whom he had plighted his faith stand by them which had promised to live and die with him A man not master of his own word nor commander of his own sword but fickle and mutable timorous and pusillanimous false and faultring And so like a man shaken in the brain and brest he sealed away his own authority leaving as little power to himself to preserve his person as money to pay his debts and went out as the fable of the Age and in stead of a Prince turned Petitioner 4. After him came a stern Prince indeed a limme of the old Giant not the Giant but the Giant 's Elf Minume Durgen There wanted something of the magnitude but nothing of the mischief of the old Sire Had this Prince continued long what rents and ruines would there have been the age found him grimme enough for the time the old dragge-net was cast to catch leveys the old forge was at work for new State-rules and the old Gibbet was setting up to dispatch persons ill-affected yea there would have been not onely laying men in chains of iron but hanging them up in chains of gold a most black and bloudy raign there would have been if hirtus hispidus this rough-skin'd Prince had been long-liv'd but this high-metalld Ruler because he would command Commanders in modelling a new Army brought the old Army to draw upon him and to drive him far enough Farewell for a time another Prince must take the chair of State 5. And who was that One all clad in steel armed cap-a-pe who being in bright harnesse kept a fearfull ratling and clattering for a while Mars was then the predominant Planet
your pride from your backs your lusts out of your members your riots out of your palats your blasphemies out of your lips your oppression out of your hands and your malice out of your hearts that ye would know your sins and bewail them reflect upon them and renounce them that ye would say we have sinned we are greived that we have sinned so often and do vow that we will sin no longer that ye might say we have once been at Church and heard one penitential sermon that here we have met with conviction and will carry home conversion oh that it might be said that ye came blind but go away seeing that ye came remorsless and goe away contrite ye came guilty and go away innocent oh I stand waiting to see a little water in your eyes a little shame in your cheeks a little smiting upon your breasts a little turning of your feet oh I stay for a circumcised ear a rent heart and a renewed life Do it for the love of your souls do it for love to your Countrey for the land that hath been stained with transgression for the land which hath suffered for transgression and for the Land which may perish by transgression Though a great part of the Land should be impenitent yet have ye repentance unto life pacifie Gods wrath for your selves and sacrifice for your Countrey so if greater judgements should be reserved for the land and this Nation which will not be reformed must be weather-beaten again yet ye may have an hiding place from the storm that if the destroying Angel should smite on all sides your sprinkled door-posts may be past over that ye may be taken like the two legs or the piece of an ear out of the mouth of the Lion or plucked like a brand out of the fire Oh therefore search and try your ways and turn again unto the Lord if iniquity be in your hands put it far away leave not an hoof in Egypt spare not one Amelekite but put the whole cursed race to the edge of the sword loath your selves in all your abominations turn from every evil way throughly amend your wayes and your doings I would I could convert the whole Nation howsoever I do desire to renew you let it be the fruit of my Ministry the priviledge of the meeting the blessing of the day Oh remember that there is no such refuge as repentance nor no such Sanctuary as submission God cannot be angry with you if ye seek his favour by humiliation or howsoever ingratiate your selves into him by reformation It is sin that is Gods professed adversary take away this and there is not a frown in Gods brow nor a fret in his brest his razor is laid aside his vial of indignation is set by his thunderbolts fall out of his hand Attonement with the land if there be the amendment of the land because judgement to the land if there be the transgression of the land For the transgression of the Land PART II. Now let us come to the sad disease Many are the Princes thereof Baynus Rhemus Cope hold both Kings successively and several Governments to be here understood but R. Sal. Mercer Salazer with many others do understand onely seveveral Governments because of the Antithesis between many Princes and the man and so insist onely Polyarchy to be here intended Some thinke the meaning to be that God for the transgression of the Land did take away Prince after Prince which maintained the same Government and if I thought that this were the true sense my Observations should be these 1 That sin is the great blood-sucker 2 That Princes are not exempted from judgment 3 That till God be appeased for the transgression of the Land there is a succession of misery 4 That the heaviest judgment upon a Nation is the destruction of Princes 5 That Princes above all others ought to look to the transgression of the Land because it is most fatal and Epidemical to the Throne 6 That the sins of that Land are heinous which do take away Princes by heaps But I find by many judicious Expositors that this is not the meaning but that by many Princes there is to be understood several sorts of government brought into that transgressing Land Following their opinion from hence observe that many Princes are a judgment It is an heavy thing when the Bramble Thistle and Briar have the sole reign Iudg. 9. then the foot of pride doth strut in authority Psal 36.11 then the Leopard doth watch over the city Ier. 5.6 what are the people but the sheep of slaughter when God doth break his staffe of Beauty and staffe of Bands and rule them with the instruments of a foolish Shepheard Zach. 11. A Nation punished with variety of Governments is like the monstrous and prodigious Beast which had seven heads and ten horns Rev. 13.1 the several plagues in Egypt were scarce more grievous then several governments in a Nation then in stead of just Princes Ziims and Ohims and Satyrs and Iims and Dragons dwell in the Palaces Isa 13.21,22 Sure I am there are many sins where there are these many Princes Barnsf de populi improbitate l. 12. Pandect Crin de populi improb Brunfelfius saith that popular government is a pestilent government and so saith Crinitus Pausan in mes Pausanias saith he never saw it make any great progress and there are several instances given of variety of miseries which have come from that imperfect turbulent disordered and distempered government Plut. in Lacon Lycurgus would have no government counted happy in a Common-wealth which a man would not allow in his private family If no man can serve two Masters then doubtless no man can serve many Princes for many Princes are like many Empiricks which practise so long upon the weak patient that little vigour is left in the body When God takes away lawful government from a Nation he doth even take away peace from that people Cicero pro domo sua crebra tempestatum commutatio ex plebis colluvie For when the Crown and Diadem is removed then God overturn overturn overturn and the Nation shall be no more as it was till he come whose right it is and God doth give it him Ezek. 21.26,27 Many Princes are a cakexy which turn all the nutriment into ill humors till the good habitude be removed yea they are almost like many evil spirits afflicting and tormenting the Creature till the body be dispossessed of the Devil called Legion Tully saith that there is nothing where these governments are permitted but several changes of tempests Plato in Axiocho Plato saith that rage and rapine do abound where the government doth arise from the dregs of the common people Herod l. 3. Plut. in Nicia Seneca in Consol ad Helvid c. 6. Liv. Decad 4. l. 8. Herodotus saith that a violent torrent of sorrows and unbridled insolency doth accompany such a government
There abjects are raised up and men of command depressed as Plutarch saith New foundations of Worlds are laid saith Seneca Ancestors seats are left and new ones sought for saith Livy yea as a worse habitation doth please wandring brains so a worse government doth content these same State-Vagrants Diod. Sic. l. 14 Plut. in Arato Paus Herod l. 3. What outrages were committed when the seven Magi did reign in Persia and amongst the Sycionians in the days of Clinias and Abantidas and amongst the Milssians by the slaughter of forty of the principal men at one time and of three hundred at another time and amongst the Athenians when the thirty Tyrants had the superiority So then these many Princes what are they but the scourges of the people the racks of Nations and Pests of Common wealths People may look upon their sins with a fright to see that by them such horrours of government are brought in For for the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof Applicat This doth shew that Sin doth leave nothing firm for when Governements are changed nothing is stable No sins are the Hericanos in states and the earthquakes in common-wealths then the Beauty of excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah 13. Esay 19. Princes shall be clothed with desolation Ezech. 7.27 Houses of Ivory shall perish Amos 3.19 The strong staves and the beautiful rods shall be broken Ier. 48.17 Yea were a Land in never such pompe and splendour the spark of their fire shall not shine Iob 18.9 their glory shall fly away as the bird Hos 9.11 There is no such pickaxe or thunderbolt to a state as sin could we make melody to the joy of our prosperity upon an Harp as sweet as was that of Orpheus yet our sins like the Maenades would tear us in pieces were we surfeited with worldly welfar yet such servitours as our sins would take away our full platters and Diet us so that like hunger-starved Eâ—isicthon we should be glad to eat our own flesh Is there iniquity in Gilead surely they will come to vanity Hos 14.11 thâ—… is to a state of vanity their glory may for a while shine like the Sun in his Nonetide brightnesse but where will ye leave your glory Esa 5.3 our sins will strip us and rifle us clip us and shave us and what can remain setled when Thrones and Monarchies shake no sins will change Golden Scepters into rods of iron and lawfull Princes into many Princes For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof 2. Secondly This doth teach us that many Princes do bring woful confusion into a State for then fundamental Laws are turned into arbitrary commands and liberties into the limits of usurping Commanders When many Princes are full of many stratagemes oh the many hurles in that Government the dissipation of that disorder the death of that malady the Hecticke fever the Erysipelas the â—…lenture not more dangerous want of oeconomy doth destroy the family Ordo est à summitate Order is when chief Authority is preserved but if the true Supream be laid aside and many Princes come to reign in the stead of him how is the Land racked and wrecked Plato Naz. Moâ— A dreadful thing it is when nemo Thronos metuit sed unusquisque jus à Potestate sumit no man doth fear the Thrones but every one doth take his right from the present prevailling power There is an evill which I have seen under the Sun Folly is set in great excellency and the Rich set in low place I have seen servants riding on horses and Princes walking by as servants on the ground Eccles 10.5,6,7 Oh! these new Riders art fit for nothing but to trample a Nation under foot there is no vexation like to the fury of a distracted Government there is no garboyl like to the turbulency of many Princes it is pronounced here as the saddest of judgements many are the Princes thereof 3. Thirdly This doth shew that God can make Iudgement answer sin will a Land transgresse then God can punish it with many Princes Do not these many Princes sufficiently sting men for their many errours Indeed fooles make a mock of sin but then they make a mock at vengeance Sin seldome doth escape without a retaliation The God of recompenses will surely requite Ier. 51.56 Pharaoh that doth plague the Israelites shall have strange plagues brought upon him Nadab and Abihu which do kindle straâ—ge fire shall be burnt with the fire of their own censers Ahab which doth shed Naboths bloud shall have dogs to lick his bloud Adonibezek which doth cut off thumbs and toes shall be cut short himself cry out as I have done to others so hath the Lord done to me Hipparchorum tabulae Adag Sero Iupiter diptheram inspexit Menander Chrysost l. 1. de provid Theoph. in 3. Ion. The note books of God are surer then the Tables of the wise Philosophers God may lay by his book of remembrance for a while but at last he will peruse his Records Every man at last shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pay use and principal for his offences God suffers many malefactors to live here as it were in prison sed tandem ad mortem praecipit duci he doth command them at last to be led away to prison Inflammationem sectio sequitur blood-letting doth follow inflammation Therefore let no man make bold with God in sinning for he doth trespass against his own safety Do ye provoke me to wrath and not your selves to confusion Be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man doth sowe that shall he reap The rebound of sin will end in destruction This blood-hound will follow hot upon the foot-steps till it hath found out the Malefactour They which have many crimes will at last have many curses as they here in my Text which had many unlawful pleasures had at last many unlawful Princes brought upon them For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof 4. Fourthly This may serve to shew us that we have been transcendently wicked which have been so transcendently wretched Are the many Princes a grievous judgment then what grievous Transgressours have we been Ah sinful Nation a people-laden with iniquity do not our scourge shew our disobedience or bitter potion our noisom disease our many Princes our many prevarications abominations Yes doubtless we were sinners before the Lord exceedingly to draw so much blood from us we had scarlet and crimson sins in this land we had deeply corrupted our selves as in the days of Gibeah we had hatched Cockatrices eggs our root bare gall and wormwood our Vine was as the Vine of Sodom or else God had never punished us with such an out-â—tretched arm whipped us with his full might roared thus out of Sion burnt against Iacob with such a consuming flame shaven us with such a sharp razor made our plagues wonderful we that have felt so much
cannot attain to the height of their desired greatnesse Livy for this with the Horatii which slew the Curiatii they will spare neither the living nor the dead their own credits their own consciences their own blood or the blood of their dearest kindred or most natural Countrymen Though Pechamy Hanapus and Iohannes Carnotensis have written most sharply against this sin yet all the Pens and Pulpits in the world were never able to destroy it The Serpent doth creep in Paradise it self Ambition doth reign in the Church Religion cannot keep with in her measures but divers times the most zealous are the most haughty men with Bibles in their hands will be striking at Thrones and with the Lawes of subjection in their lips will be listening after prepotencie and the Legislative power How many would be medling with the Chair of State though they be no very good Rulers of a shop yet they strive for the domination of a Nation let the lawfull Prince say they be thrust by excluded we are for the many Princes Many are the Princes thereof c 6. Sixthly This doth serve to present to us the misery of our Nation how have the many Princes here insulted and domineered this Land hath been the Stage where many of these wofull Scenes have been acted here hath been Ilias malorum an Iliad of sorrows tempestas lugendorum a tempest of most dolefull and mournfull passages Omnis longo se solvit Teucria luctu Nationall wailing Virg. 2. Aeneid we have been the Correction-house of the age nay the Slaughter-house of the earth Mens evidences keyes necks were scarcely their own what Informings Imprisonings Riflings Sequestrings Gibbetings defaming of Reputations defacing of Monuments profaning of Churches abasing and abusing of Church-men hath there been in this Countrey no names given to many but Malignants no houses allowed them but Goals no death-beds spread for them but Gibbets new impositions new Oathes new High Courts of Iustice invented The Land full of nothing but beating of Drums breaking open of Houses free quarter and free booty Task-masters Messengers Spies Executioners were the Locusts which have overspread the Nation how many have died by the Sword how many by penury how many by poyson how great hath been the decay of Trading the eclipsing of Learning the obstruction of Iustice the underprizing of Nobility the corruption of Faith how many have been destroyed in the field how many made away in corners how many used like slaves within the Land and sold for slaves out of the Land Oh! our lives have been made bitter unto us men have Ruled over us with rigour we have eaten the bread of mourners drank waters of gall our steps have been hunted our persecutors have been swifter then the Eagles our dayes have been danger and our nights of pleasure have been turned into fear our familiars watched for our haltings and every man was amazed at his Neighbour men have been drunk with the blood of their own Countrymen as with sweet wine the Land hath eaten up her inhabitants we might have wished our fathers bosomes to have been our Coffins our mothers wombs to have been our Sepulchres It is beyond the Wit of an Oratour and the Art of a Chronicler to expresse all the extremities and exigents which we have been put to under our new Masters our many Princes the Giant-Parliament the Pigmy-Parliament the furious Protectour the faint â—…d Protectour the Lymphatick Bugbear and the Phâ—… Committee Our sufferings as they might once haâ—…â—…ed to be superiour to our strength so they may now seem to exceed our memory this Age can scarcely relate them and after-ages will scarcely believe them Can a Spectatour consider them without anguish no doubtlesse strangers cannot but lament them and enemies cannot but pity them an Episcopal man might roar at the thought of them a Presbyterian might give a knock upon his brest for them an Anabaptist might bite his lippe concerning them and a Quaker might look to the earth with a demure countenance about them for do any one believe a God and fear him read Scriptures and think them to be rules sent from heaven acknowledge knowledge a Protestant Church confess it is to be built up with Mutual amity name a Country and professe that it ought by all Natives to be cherished with all dearnesse tendernesse and should not every one of these lament that so much Hostility and cruelty should be expressed by men of the same religion and Nation should we not find commiseration from every one that has either piety or humanity yes from all except it be from the many Princes and their many Agents Oh! then we that have smarted so much and so long let us know what it is to have been a tortured Land though our servile condition be even over yet let us look upon our chaine and bang it up for a Monuments let us know what it is to have wrought in the brick-kilns and let not the noise of those cries which we there sent up into heaven yet seem to be out of our ears Fulgos l. 8. Lucius Luccios wrot the History of the Catilinary conspiracy with which Rome was so long infested and let us keep memorials of those sufferings which made us a Terrour to our selves and a Dread to our Enemies I am the man which have seen affliction Lam. 3.1 So we are the men of all the people of the earth which have seene and felt rage and rapine bonds and bondage spights and spoyles slanders and slaughters Oh infinite and intolerable were the savage and Barbarous usages which 〈…〉 subject to by those feinds of Government were 〈…〉 enough to vex a Nation almost to death yes many 〈…〉 Princes thereof 7. Seventhly This may â—erve so daunt the hearts of incroaching Princes for are many Princes here a Curse and should any one blesse himself in being a Curse Is not an unjust claime a selfe terrifying plea can any man pride or boast himself in that which is ill and illegal forced and fraudulent surreptitious and treacherous what right had these for their regality what jus for their jurisdiction was there any more then the Gantlet and the Pole-axe shall we draw pedigrees from the Muster-roll of shall a Court Martial be the judicatory for Thrones and Scepters then let us go next to Shuters-hill for Titles and Tenures And have our many Princes any other evidence to shew is not this all the Crown-right which they have to shew were they heirs by descent no heirs by dissent Not Princes by title but Princes by tumult not Princes of the blood but Princes of blood which by all manner of rancour and rigour subtlety and supplanting craft and cruelty mounted the Throne which deflowred the spotless virgin of Soveraignty and committed a rape upon Majesty Princes they called themselves and Parasites stiled them so but no more true Princes then Balaam was a true Prophet or Lucifer was a true God Princes they were
which had their first rise from the crimes of a corrupt Age from the transgressions of the land They were our sins that gave them their royal Stem and were the Heralds at Arms which proclaimed their Title and is not this a noble descent were not these singular Princes rare heirs apparent may not the base-born challenge as good a birth-right can there any legitimate off-spring come out of the womb of this prostitute common Strumpet If the seed of the bond-woman shall not inherit with the seed of the free then doubtless the seed of the unlawful bed shall never go for a right heir Oh then that they blush not at their stock that they are not ashamed to call themselves by their mothers name Have I not derived their pedegree rightly Yes had we been obedient they had never been Princely had we been regular they had never been Regents They had their first conception from our corruptions For the transgression of the Land many were the Princes thereof they entred by our sins and stood by our sins Monarchs they were by prevarication Princes by the transgression of the Land Oh that they would lay this before their eys that they would lay it to heart and say what injurious what accursed Princes have we been if we sprung from the errours of the times it was an errour in us to take upon us government if we came in by the transgression of the Land the Devil might have set us up for Princes we were created by vice we fetch our title from hell as the infernal spirits do reign in the air so have we reigned in our Countrey our claime is defective odious away with it we will own no more such a stained pedegree For what have we to do to challenge â—uch a Princedom when we hold it but from the challenging transgressions of the land no we are but sinful Princes derived from a sinful people Oh that these upstart and outstart Princes would look upon their broken Scepters and Thrones cast down with frayed spirits that they had conscience enough left in them to consider how they were lift up and how they were cast out then might we expect some remorse from them for their wicked reign some restitution from them of their ill-gotten goods and some satisfaction to repair their former disobedience 1. First some remorse from them for their wicked reign Recte poenitentem decet ut quicquid contraxit sordis contritione abluat Aug. l. de poen It doth rightly become a Penitent that whatsoever filth he hath contracted he should wash it away with contrition Amarum sapiat in anima quod prius dulce fuit in vita Amb. in quod serm Let that be bitter in the soul which was formerly sweet in the conversation Polluta conscientia sit lachrymis baptizata Greg. 21. moral A polluted conscience ought to be baptized in tears But can such Princes feel any remorse is it possible for such ambitious Tyrants to weep Do ye ever look for a true Penitent amongst such haughty inveterated Usurpers Oh that we could behold water gushing from such rocks see Springs arising up in such dry Pools doleful Princes they have been oh that we could discern them dolorous What have they sate so long in the Throne that they are given up to a reprobate sense if not why do they not smite upon the thigh and drop out the sense of their sins at their eye-lids why do they not give the world some testimony of their compunction and sob over those sins which roar in heaven saying Oh that we were so inconsiderate as to take upon us this authority that we have so wretchedly abused our government that our blemishes are printed in our foreheads and the brands of our tyranny are to be seen in every corner Oh we repent we lament that ever we have insulted over a patient people and trampled upon a burthened over-burthened people we are agast now to look upon our heavy Ordinances our subtle Votes our breach of trust our breach of oathes our causless jealousies our black aspersions our wresting of Laws and our erecting cruel Judicatories we look with anguish upon the flourishing Church which we have defaced the wealthy State which we have half begger'd the scandal which we have brought upon Religion the insamy which we have fixed upon our names and posterity the innocent blood the Priestly blood the Princely blood which we have shed All our plots and projects inventions and circumventions despights and delusions which we have been guilty of do now press upon our consciences We groan for the earth groans under us we abhor our selves for heaven doth abhor us Oh if our many Princes had not saces harder then the rock Jer. 5.3 and hearts that could not repent Rom. 2.5 we should see them thus conscious and take revenge upon themselves for all the wants and woes which they have brought upon the land by a most serious remorse 2. Secondly we might expect from them some restitution of their ill-gotten goods Ill-gotten goods are an ill stock a man had as good go dig an hole in mount Aetna to lay up treasure in they are gotten but they are ill gotten and so gotten for an ill close just goods are Gods largesses but ill-gotten goods are the Devils benevolences Hoc natura aequum est neminem alterius detrimento locupletiorem fieri Iurecons in l. 14. de condict indeb This is equal by the Law of nature that no man should grow rich by another mans detriment they then which have advanced themselves by other mens ruins how requisite is it that they should not leave detriment crying or injury howling if they do they may cry never so loud for mercy and finde God as deaf to their requests as they are to the groans of the oppressed Such men must never look to change their hearts from guilts which do not cleanse their estates from damages there can never be a pacified conscience where the Age is disquieted with wrongs should such men humble themselves never so much for their sins Poenitentiae non agitur sed simulatur Aug. ep 54. ad Maced Repentance is not performed but counterfaited David doth cast such men out heaven for he that doth wrong shall never dwell in Gods tabernacle nor rest upon his holy hill Psal 15. and S. Paul doth throw them down to hell for he that doth wrong shall suffer for the wrong that he doth Col. 3.25 Now if these many Princes have advanced themselves by preys and pampered themselves with the fat of spoyls how should they fear that the stone out of the wall should cry and the beam out of the timber should answer it with Wo unto him that buildeth an house by blood how should they look sadly upon their smiting fists trampling feet and devouring jaws we have heaped together much should they say but we were never born to it nor sweat for it our possessions are other mens patrimonies
shall be to preserve our dear Country and to support Monarchie we have been scourges to the Land we will be Targets we have been Batterers we will be Bulwarks wee have been Butchers we will be Foster-fathers we have been Depopulators we will be Patriots have we a King again we will acknowledge him to be a King honour him as a King give him reverence give him his right blesse his name preserve his person fear his power submit to his Lawes admire his virtues give him fealty give him tribute give him our hearts pray for him fight for him live and dye for him we will have nothing but a King in our eyes and our lips we shall rejoice to see him great and we will endeavour to make him illustrious our studies shall be for him our songs shall be of him and our satisfactions shall be in him As a penitent thinks he can never do enough for his God so a State-convert thinks he can never do enough for his King he was never so much for his own State as he will now be for Majesty Thus if these many Princes can but have their eyes opened they will have their hearts changed they were never so destructive to their Countrey as they will be beneficial they were never so treacherous to their King as they will be his trusty and true hearted Leigemen Every way they will make compensation for injuries satisfaction for demerits and reparation for former disobedience Thus now then I have handled the sad disease a sad disease indeed for wo to that Land that is sick of many Princes we may think that there hath been transgression enough in the Land when this Iudgement doth enter the Land we then which have been thus visited it is fit for us to think of the peccant humour it is meet for us to take notice of it and to have our hearts ake with it as it hath made the Land to ake that we might feel as much of our transgression as we have felt of the many Princes We cannot justifie our selves for our plea of innocency is taken from us if we had been a righteous people we should have been an happy people but we have been a wicked people for we have been made a miserable people we have suffered as Malefactors been punished as the most grievous sinners we have exceeded the nature of transgressours for vengeance hath been more heavy upon us then upon other transgressours War hath been in other Nations but not such a War Iudgement hath been in other Lands but not such a Iudgement they have had many distractions many confusions but we have had many Governments many Princes Is it not time then to lay our sins to heart yes and it is expedient and necessary that they should gripe our hearts fore will we still talke of the holy merrinthe Nation the praying weeping cleansing people that are amongst us no let us speak sparingly of them for though I believe that there are many Saints in the Land yet I see that the sinners do out-number the Saint the indevotion of the one doth exceed the Prayers of the other and the remorslesnesse of the one the tears of the other the sensuality of the one the sanctity of the other The sinners are more numerous for they were more forcible to bring in Iudgement then the Saints were to prevent it our Armour might be Saint-bright but it was not temper'd enough for defence it was not Saint-proof Gods Arrow shot through our Target Gods Poll-axe beat through our Head-piece for all our Saints we were judged like sinners Job Noah Daniel could doe us no good we had so few Saints that we had the many Princes Oh therefore if it be possible let us destroy sin however let us diminish it that if God come to correct us again he may but chastise us with the rod of men and not lay the iron rod upon us let us not so trespasse as to sin a King out of his Throne for assure your selves that a Land cannot have a greater Iudgement inflicted upon it from heaven then for the height of transgression in it to be deprived of the lawfull Prince and in his stead to be punished with many Princes For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof c. PART III. Now let us come to the happy Cure But by a man of understanding and knowledge the State thereof shall be prolonged In which words observe these parts 1. An hope of recovery But. 2. The rare Physician a man by a man 3. His singular compound understanding and knowledge 4. The Patient that is to have the benefit of the Physick the State the State thereof 5. The lastingnesse of the cure shall be prolonged First For the hope of recovery But. From hence observe that misery is not incurable For the transsgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof But that is a change may come these many Princes may have their last day dawn their imperious reign may cease there may not be one of these new-made self-made time-made vote-made art-made sword-made insolent fuming fukeblown fleerblown lyblown flyblown Antick Phantastick Princes to shew an head these Many Princes had their many vicissitudes theirmany State Princes State pranks But. To that trials have their prefixed limit's the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous Psal 125.3 The Aegyptians whom ye have seen this day ye shall never see again Exod. 14.3 Oh! what great troubles and adversities didst thou shew me yet didst thou turn and refresh me Psal 17.18 Bread Corn when it is threshed he doth not alwayes tresh neither doth the wheele of his Cart still make a noise Esai 28.28 I will restore health unto thee and I will heale thee of thy wounds because they called thee the castaway saying This is Sion whom no man seeketh after Ier. 30.17 After two days he will revive us and the third day be will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Hos 6.3 Though they be quiet and also many yet thus shall they be cut off when he shall passe by I will afflict thee no more For now will I breake his yoke and will burst his bonds in sunder Nahum 1.12,13 It shall come to passe as ye were a curse amongst the Heathen oh house of Iudah and house of Israel so will I deliver you and ye shall be a blessing fear not but let your hands be strong For thus saith the Lord of Hosts as I thought to punish you when your Fathers provoked me to wrath and repented not So again have I determined in these dayes to do well unto the house of Ierusalem and the house of Iudah fear ye not Zach. 8.13,14,15 So that there is a time for all things a time to slay and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance
stayned in faith because for four hundred years they endured the severity of the Arian persecution were the prevailing Hereticks the sounder believers no they may have trials whose faith is more pure and pretious then the tried gold Iudge your selves therefore to be the wicked of the world because against all Laws of God and principles of morality ye have acted hideous things and suffered nothing for them rather then to judge a just case for the present afflictions They are the ungodly whom God never doth take into favour but doth reject them with an everlasting hatred but may not a righteous people at last be free from all miseries and enjoy a return of all defireable blessings yes after good men have had their feathers clipt their wings may grow again after a disease there may be an hope of recovery The Many Princes here did afflict the body of the State a great while But an alteration there was For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof But 3. This doth shame the diffidence of timorous Professors who if misery doth happen do give over all as inauspicious Oh our best times are past our Halcyon days are over we shall never again see any thing that is prosperous Were there not graves enough in Egypt that thou hast brought us forth to dye in the wilderness Exod. 14.11 the sense of misery doth carry nothing with it but exanimation with many men see nothing but death in their eye they lay out their selves for the sepulchre If God should open the windows of heaven how shall this thing come to pass 2 Kings 7.19 So if God should stretch put his right hand how should these extremities be redressed must there not be a miracle Oh what a dismayed ed generation have we met with when the many Princes reigned over us because for a time they kept us in subjection they concluded of nothing but everlasting thraldom We have been crushed and vanquished sajd they put to the worst put to the rour driven to exigents driven out of the field how can we now lift up a spear lift up our heads No to fight were but to carry out weapons for our adversaries to display colours were but to prepare trophies for their victories we are an undone people a ruined Nation we must look no more after Liberties or think of Priviledges adieu to Propriety farewel to birth-rights we have seen the last of our glorious freedom our flourishing Kingdom these many Princes have fettered us we must give over our selves to chains and expect nothing but to be perpetual slaves Sabell just like Caecilius Metellus who after the battel at Cannae would fly out of Italy Livy and Marius the younger who after he had been crost in his haughty designs would give his throat to be cut by Portius Telesinus But ought a tryal to carry such a dread with it or a judgment strike us into an absolute amazement No if thou faintest in a day of adversity thy strength is but small Prov. 24.10 Is the Artillery of heaven yet won is God disarmed if he doth come to put on his habergeon to anoint his shield to unsheath his two-edged sword shall not all our enemies be cut off as the foame upon the waters cannot he break in pieces the hammers of the earth hath not be strange engines to overthrow puissant armies secret mines to blow up formidable camps cannot he scatter with a look cannot be conquer without a weapon How came the walls of Jericho to fall down the Citizens of Ai to fly before their enemies Zerahs numerous host to be scattered and Senacheribs formidable army to be discomsited what are the brawny arms and the Lion-like faces to the force and fury of the Almighty The Lord is a man of War his name is Jehovah Exod. 15.3 Hath not he gathered Trained bands out of the prison hath not he put weapons into Captains hands See how these Hebrews creep out of their holes yet these creepers became redoubted Captains and made the Midianites creep and run yea for fear that the Hebrews should dispatch them they did sheath their swords in their own bowels When then men seem to be lost all is not lost if God doth please to preserve Who hath despised the day of small things Cannot he feed the sheep of slaughter Be resolute therefore in the midst of casualties Confidentiae est mentem immotam inter adversa habere Hugo de S. Victorino for Confidence is to carry an immoveable mind in the time of adversity Magnus gubernator scisso navigat velo Seneca A good Mariner can steer his bark with a rent sail Oh then that disasters should distract us or heavy accidents fray us Can we presume upon nothing but what we feel or believe nothing but what we see doth any eclipse last always is a woman ever in travel may not the boisterous winds cease and the scorching Sun go back from the Tropick do not the frozen iceicles quickly melt away and are not the gadde-flies gone a month The body of a Common-wealth is not ever troubled with the over-flowing of the gall these same State-head aches by degrees do assuage Turbulency in government whensoever it doth happen is like an Epidemical disease it doth spread far and torture much but the force of the disease at last will be spent there is hope of recovery as in this valetudinary Commonwealth this Crown-sick Land there was a kinde of Lazerhouse for a while in respect of the many Princes yet at last all the distempered Governours and governments were removed Amongst the many there was not any to be seen they lay for some time like an heavy judgment upon the Land But For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof But By a man 2. Secondly I am to handle the rare Physician a Man But by a man From hence observe that true government doth not require multitudes That is the most singular government that hath but in it the single Person shew me such a man and he is your Man Let a man oversee the Congregation Numb 27.16 The Lord hath sought him out a man according to his own heart and hath appointed him to be Governour over his people 1 Sam. 13.14 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand Psal 80.17 There but a Man not Men. He that ruleth over men 2 Sam. 23.3 He that holdeth the Scepter Amos 1.5 He not They. There is but one Law-giver mentioned Gen 49.10 but one Light of Israel 2 Sam. 21.17 but one Head of the tribes 1 Sam. 15.17 not Lawgivers Lights Heads There is but one Robe one Crown one Throne therefore but one King From amongst thy brethren shalt thou make a King over thee Deut 17.15 a King not Kings When a man come to have two hearts to quicken him or two fathers to beget him or two wombs to conceive him then will I think he may have two or many Kings to
have the highest celebration What should we say then Robes and Crowns may deck Princes but their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their chiefest honour and splendour is their wisdome here is the Royal Ornament for Who is as the wise man which can give the interpretation of a thing this mans wisdom will make his face to shine Eccles 8.1 It is a rare thing when the Kings heart no man can search out Prov. 25.2 that he is able by his solid judgement to encounter with all the Crafts-masters of the Times and to silence all these Disputants of State-sophisms the heavens in height and the earth in depth is not like to the heart of such an intelligent Prince his progeny may give him blood-royal but his prudence hath given him merit-royal Worth is better then Birth and a Genius then Genealogie and Prudence then Parentage All the balances upon earth cannot take the just weight of a wise Prince the stars in the firmament never shone more brightly then a wise Prince Carbuncles Chrysolites Iaspers Topazzes are not to be valued to this Orient Pearl The Oracle of Oracles could pronounce no greater honour then to a Wise man the seven Wise men of Greece how are they famed to this day Indeed there is neither Verum nor Bonum without prudence for that must apprehend Truth in her propriety and stir up the appetite to the prosecution and assecution of goodness from Prudence doth come all legal Iustice and political Order from that vertue doth proceed both the election and exercise of all good things Actus prudentiae est ordinate disponere ad finem The act of prudence is ordinately to dispose every thing to the just end Reason is by nature but Prudence above nature because it is acquisite and doth come by apprehending of principles Yea what is all policie society community but a confused indigested heap without Prudence this is the matrix of Government and the Master-wheel of all State-motions How should men dash against the rocks if the Barque of the Commonwealth were not guided by the vertue of this Rudder how would Nations be like wild horses if there were not a Prince that did hold them in by the bridle of prudence the Flanders Steeds in the Coach would not be more dangerous to cast the driver in the boxe and the Cabinet Councellour in the surer Seat to the flat earth and to leave them sick of their bruises How necessary then is prudence in a Prince for if he be set over the Land Vt corpori praesidet anima aut mundo Deus Aegid de regim principis as the soul is over the body or God is over the world then how shall he quicken and enliven his dominion without prudence Scientia recte judicare debet tam bene quam potentia punire Archyt Pythag de lege justit The knowledge of a Prince ought to teach him rightly to judge as well as his power justly to punish Iambâ—c in Ep. ad Dysc saith that prudence is the Crowne of Government and Aristot l. 3. polit saith that it is the most essential vertue in a Prince Vegetius de re militari saith that there is none that ought to know more or better things then a Prince because by his understanding there doth redound a general benefit to the whole Nation An injudicious Prince is like gold in the ore but a wise Prince is like gold refined A man of Princely discent or Royal extraction doth not all the memorable things in a Nation but the Man of understanding and knowledge But by a Man of understanding and knowledge APPLICATION 1. FIrst this doth serve to shew that State-mischiefs are hardly removed they stick till there doe come a Man of understanding and knowledge to remedy them It is ill to bring transgression into the Land for the people shall sigh and grone many years before the Lord will be appeased Gods anger stirred up to the height is not onely fierce but lasting they which are separated to evil will be strangers a long time before they can renew their acquaintance and be reunited to the Lord. The pot of indignation must stand a long time upon the coales before the scumme will be taken out If the Lord doth break forth upon his enemies like a breach of waters 1 Sam. 2.20 what a tedious season will there be to get this breach stopped when mens sinnes have led them into captivity it will be no short time that will redeem them no they shall look to return till their eyes fall out Deut. 28.65 When Gods sword is drawne it is not so easily sheathed Oh thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou dost cease turn again into thy scabberd rest and be still how can it cease seeing the Lord hath given it a charge Ier. 47.6,7 Extrema extremorum mala Extremity of sinne bringeth extremity of punishment Haec omnia supra te Leparge Lepargus must endure variety of punishments before he doth get quit of his judgement Impii bibent impietatis faecem Wicked men shall drink the very dregges of their impiety Who would then incense God to displeasure no Kisse the Sonne least he be angry yea but a little it is no little sorrow that will come of it for is Gods anger quickely pacified no he will punish and pinch and gripe and smite and break many a bone before his revenging hand will unloosen and unfasten Here were a people that sinned and stirred up Gods heart to be irefull but they felt misery enough before their transgression was expiated there was Governour after Governour many Princes which vexed and tormented them and no remedy to be gotten till God brought in a strange Physitian a Man of understanding and knowledge But by a Man of understanding and knowledge 2. Secondly This doth serve to teach you that every high brained man is not a judicious Man no he must be a Man of understanding and knowledge Was not Balaam that was the Prophet of his Age acute was not Achitophel the Oracle of his times expert yes they might seeme to be wise but they were but crafty and subtile there are many that work wilily and use the sleights of men and yet they are but juglers and do use but the legerdemane of wit It is pity that such impostours should sit downe amongst the sages for then all the State-Conjurers an Magical Politicians might go for grave Senatours and the Pulpit-wizards might be taken for inspired Teachers But this same black Art be it in Church or State hath but the name of a Science falsely so called Arist l. 6. Ethic. c. 12. Est vis quaedam quam ingenium vocant si finis quidem sit honestus laudanda est sin malus calliditas est nominanda There is a faculty which men do call wit if the end of it be good it is to be praised but if the end be evil
himself to be braved out of his Rights nor bought out of them for are such costly things to be exposed to sale or chaffered for as in a Tradesman's Mart no the Prince's Blood Royal should not be more precious unto him then his Royal Preheminences his Scepter and his Authority should be vendible alike For it it is a sad bargain for a King to get aid of his Subjects with the loss of the Gemms of his Crown and to gain Subsidies with the parting with something of his Prerogative this is a dearer price given then to buy Land at threescore years purchase It behoveth a King therefore to consider what Rights his Ancestours left him and to preserve them as his right-hand or right-eye this is a part of his Knowledg Secondly In preserving the Rights of his People for though the King ought to have a royal subsistance out of the Nation insomuch that all Callings ought to be Contributary to his Maintenance for the very Plowshare is not exempted The King consisteth by the field that is tilled Eccles 5.8 Yet I find that the King hath but his set portion Ezech. 48.21,22 A Princely Revenew he is to have but not to take up the whole Nation as crown-Crown-Land no as his Royal Grants ought not to be too large and liberal so his Royal Demands ought not to be too heavy and pressing If all were the Kings how then could Ahab sin in taking away Naboth's Vine-yard This may be Jezabel's Title or the Projectours Tenure but a Princes Royal heart doth abhor such a claim for indeed God ever established it A good King doth love his Subjects too well to tell them that he would be a King of Bondmen he is a base Subject that will suffer his King to remain poor and a King is too Noble to think that his chiefe Sovereignty is to make his Subjects poor Pesants may be so used but Subjects every where are not to be brought down so low as to have no other vest but a Canvas-suit They are no good Courtiers which hold this Paradox they rather seek their own lucre then their Princes lustre they are fitter to wait upon Dionysius the Tyrant then a Gracious Prince if they loved their Princes Honour as well as they do their own Intradoes they would disdain to expose their Prince to obloquy to satisfie their own greedy gripple desires but these are but the dregs garbage Lumbard excrements sweepings vervin of a Court a worthy Courtier doth scorn to salute such or to call them fellows for he finds that they are meer Horse-leeches Ferrets Caterpillers which thrust themselves into a Princes Service to serve their own Interests whose Faith is Fortune and their Grace Greatness they have little in them of a right Christian and nothing at all of a true Courtier they would sell the Kings Honour for their own advantage and bring him into a general hatred for their particular Accrument they will stir him up to pluck the whole Kingdom that they may get the Feathers to flay his Subjects like Beasts that they may have the profit of their skins A knowing King doth detest such and an intelligent Courtier doth defy such for both these see that they are but born for themselves that they tread inward that they look not right forward but are Goggle-eyed looking onely to their own Coffers famelici tri-parci meer Flesh-flies and Earth-worms Scandals to the King and Stains to the splendid Courtier What need have I of Mad men so what need hath a King of such Selfish men No a Prudent King doth prize them onely which advise him to maintain his People's Liberties as well as his own Royalties For a Prince is never more Glorious then when he shines before the eyes of his People in the bright beams of gentle Usage and moderate Taxes He that Ruleth over men must be just 2 Sam. 23.3 Sueton. Tiberius the First would have the sheep to be shorn but not skinned Euagr. Tiberius the Second liked not Tribute which was gathered with the Sobs of the people Lamprid. Alexander Severus would not have his Subject's Estates Merchandised And indeed every good Prince's Gold mines should chiefly ly in the hearts of his People That is the best Treasure which is sent into him by the Messengers of his Subjects affections The Fence of the People's Liberties is to be kept up for He that breaketh an Hedg a serpent shall bite him Stock up a Tree and it will bear no more but let it grow and there will be yearly fruit Imbargo Ships and there is no Voyage to be expected but let them go out freely and there will be Sea-fare abundant they will come sayling home into the Ports with Tunnage and Poundage beyond expression Let the People have a moderate freedom and the Prince hath an infinite Bank A King is not to be streightned in Means for that is the disgrace of the Nation Means must not be wrested in for that is the Groan of the Nation He is the richest Prince which doth desire no more Riches then a thankfull People is bound to part with Therefore for a Prince to preserve his People's Rights as it is his admired equity so it is a branch of his Governing Knowledg Thirdly In causing a free Administration of Justice for what is a Throne but a Judgement-Seat Yes the nether Judicatory to the Tribunal of Christ Jesus A King beareth not the Sword for nought but he is to have vengeance on them that do evil Rom. 13.4 A King's Sword is as necessary as his Crown Judgement is to be executed in the Morning and he that is spoiled is to be delivered out of the hands of the oppressour Jer. 12.12 Judgement is to run down like water and Righteousness like a mighty stream Amos 5.24 It is better that wicked men should hear ill in their Reputation then that the King should hear ill for connivence Plut. as Philip told Harpalus The Judg and the Altar should be both alike Aristot 3. Rhet. as Archytas said Fulgos. lib. c. 8. He is no good Praetor which doth prefer a bad cause before he Laws Wherefore is the Pruning-hook but to cut of withered branches wherefore is the Launcer but to take away dead flesh wherefore are not the Kites taken and the Beasts of Prey hunted to death why are common Barretours suffered to vex the Nation why are impudent Concubines kept openly why do just Heirs walk up and down the Streets in their filthy garments why do Damnable Blades swear as if there were neither Justice in the Land nor God in Heaven why do Cheaters Magicians Witches false-Coyners false-Witnesses Hereticks Blasphemers and all manner of execrable sinners pollute the Land defile the Church reproach the very Name of a Saviour and yet walk up and down the Streets and are not questioned are these no Guilts or is there no Punishment Is there nothing which doth blinde the eyes of the wise have the Judges
shaken their hands well from that which hinders them from inflicting condign punishment What uproars and Gallio care not for them Should these Foxes rest every night in their Burroughs and not be digged out Oh! seeing Judges are the King's Eyes whereby he should spy out Offences and his Lips whereby he should speak to the Land and his Hands whereby he should chastise Transgressours A King had need to arise in a Princely indignation and dash these Eyes buffet these Lips and cramp these Hands I read Alexand. ab Alex lib. 3. c. 5. that Darius crucified Sandaces for not executing Judgement and Valerius Max. lib. 6. cap. 4. that Cambyses flayed Sisannes for pronouncing false Judgement and that a Saxon King hung up Judges by the scores for neglecting Judgment If some Judges had been so served what a fatal Doom would there have been Oh! how many corrupt Humours do there abound because this good Physick is not administred Because sentence against an evil-doer is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the children of men are fully set to do evil Ecc. 8.11 Are Judges in the King's stead then why do they not measure out Justice the Kings without Partiality or Corruption A wise King scattereth the wicked causeth the Wheel to turn over them Prov. 20.26 If the Judges will not be so honest as to turn the Wheel the King should be so wise as to make them wheel out of their places or to cause them to suffer that wheel that others should have endured Pity it is that a Vertuous Prince and his whole Kingdom should be put upon the hazard of ruine because of wicked men's Impunity Is he freed of sin himself and will his Judges make him a partaker of other men's sins Are not these faithful trusty Judges The King therefore to free his Person Conscience and Nation had need to take strict care that the edge of his Justice may be felt in Malefactour's sides and this is a a part of his Knowledg Fourthly In advancing the Welfare of the Nation For the Kingdom is his Mansion and will not every one beautifie his own Mansion It is his Spouse and will not every one deck his own Spouse When the Righteous are in Authority the People rejoyce Prov. 29.2 A Righteous King makes a joyous People his love maketh every Heart-string leap and his Knowledg doth send Mirth into the farthest part of the Nation he is so exact in Government that far and nigh they finde the blessing of his prudent managing of Affairs for he doth not study so much his own Greatness as the Greatness of his People not to make himself high as his Land happy That as in Asah's days it is said they built and prospered 2 Chron. 14.7 and in Hezekiah's dayes it is said that God blessed the people and there was abundance 2 Chron. 31.10 so in a good Princes days there is nothing but plenty and prosperity to be seen for he doth not as Isocrates saith Isoc in Helena impose labours upon the people and enjoy delights himself but he would have his people have reciprocal Pleasures with him he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Homer saith of Atreus Homer Il. 2. a a man that hath a divided Mind to take care of every particular man's welfare he doth account Government to be rem populi non suaÌ„ The People's business not his own Platina as good Adrian was wont to say Whatsoever a rent-Scate he doth come to he doth desire to be stiled with Justinian Sigon lib. 20. Imper. Occident Veteris gloriae Instaurator eximius The famous Restorer of the antient Glory He would have all Arts to flourish and Callings to prosper the Waggons to trace the Land and the Ships to furrow the Seas he Granaries to be filled the Ware-houses to be furnished the Magazines to be stored that people might talk of nothing but Free-Trade and vast Gains heaping up Silver as Dust and Gold as the Stones of the street As a roaring Lion and an hungry Bear so is a wicked Ruler over the People Prov. 28. â—5 â—ut as Fostering Father and a Nursing Mother so is a good Ruler over the People for since this Prince came into the Land what Felicity hath entred with him Since he mounted the Throne how have we mounted to admiration We had nothing but Wants and Wasts Penury and Scarcity but now our Prosperity is risen like the Flood we build our Nests in the Stars for see our Plenty behold our abundance Who ever thought to have seen such Happy days Who could have expected such a Return of Blessings Our Phoenix is arisen out of her Ashes our wasted Countrey is become again like Eden The Garden of God Oh praised be God! Oh honoured be the Prince So that a Land might be in-lai'd with Riches and enamelled with Wealth a good King makes it the Achme of his Ruling Art and Governing Knowledg to advance the welfare of the Nation Thus then at last ye have seen a compleat King who it is that wears the right Crown of Honour and sways the true Scepter of Majesty in a Nation even He which hath these two Imperial Perfections in Him Vnderstanding for Heavenly Things and Knowledg for Temporal Things But by a Man of Vnderstanding and Knowledg The State thereof Now let us come to the Patient that is to have the benefit of this Physick The State The State thereof that is the whole Common-Wealth From hence observe that a Prudent Prince is a General Blessing For the Root of the Righteous giveth Fruit Prov. 12.12 It hath not onely Sap to flourish it self but Fruit to feed others that is many shall taste of the benefit of such an one's Government for is the Royal Family onely raised by a Wise and just Prince's coming to His Throne No Justice â—…dteth the Nation Prov. 14.34 A whole Nation is exalted when such an one is exalted for such a Governour being set in Authority He is as the Sun which doth give Light and Splendour to all within His Dominions Vnder His Shadow were we preserved Lam. 4.20 Preservation and Prosperity do reach to all that are under the Shadow of His Sovereignty For as when the Wicked are in Authority the People do sigh so when the Righteous are in Authority the People do rejoyce Prov. 29.2 a general Joy is spread through the whole Nation for not onely the King himself shall be happy but the Kingdom shall share with Him in Felicity Jacob shall take Root and Israel shall Blossom and Bud and fill the Face of the Earth with Fruit Es 27.6 The Reign of Solomon the Wise made all the People joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness which the Lord had done 1 King 8. â—6 Yea not onely He himself was in safety and welfare but Judah and Israel dwelt without fear every man under his Vine and Figg-Tree from Dan to Beer-shebah 1 King 4.25 So that a Prudent Prince is to
the Land upon the first Fundamentall Constitutions which are versed in such ancient Memorials as if ye could raise the dead or make wasted ashes to speak again ye can tell the world of Estovers Escuage Cornage Trover Quarentine Misnomer Abatement de briefe Abbeyance Burgbote Conders Corrodie Arrrain Dogger Doggedraw Fledwit Formedon Garrantie Coteerwit Deforsour Couthleulagh Essoine Embrason Withernam and other great Enigma's of the Law Oh high is your power great is your judgement weighty is your charge expedient is the exercise of your authority for ye are the Cabinets of the Lawes jewels the Vials to receive the Distilled judgements of the Antients the Shrines to keep enbalmed precedents ye are intrusted with the Plaints and Pleas Liberties and live of the people Oh then that of late ye have been driven from your Tribunals and new Graffes set in your stead many of them men of obscure names some of obscure qualification not known to their own tribe much less fam'd through the Land for eminency of endowments and yet these men who had in them more ambition then knowledge and haughtiness then conscience to side with a Party and to work the feat of Designes were countenanced and commissioned to supply the places of such accomplished grave Sages as your selves whereby justice was Sphinx and the Law a Labyrinth there being little else in the time of their judging but severity to the innocent and indemnity to the guilty judgment being turned into gall and the fruit of rightousness into wormewood the foot of pride had her priviledged treadings a snare was layd upon Mizpeh the righteous were sold for Silver and the poore for shooes the whole land cried out of injury and violence the Fishers fished and the Hunters hunted the diseased of the flocke were thrust at with thigh and shoulder and pushed with hornes the wicked devoured the man more righteous then himself the wine of the condemned was drunk in the house of God and all this misery because the judges were as the Evening Wolves Oh sad times to think on that violence was so predominant and justice so long fallen in the streets It is time therefore to seek up our lost Gold to repair our shivered pillars to scowr up our armour of proof Oh therefore ye renowned Fathers of the Law ye have been a long time wanting to the Nation The King saith such a King the Nobles the Church the Universities the Citizen the Tradesman the Landman the Seaman do call for you therefore ye shall no longer remain like dislocated members Diamonds shaken out of the ring disgraced displaced no your commissions are renewed your Seates are empty to entertain you ye shall appear in your Robes again THE JUDGES SHALL BE RESTORED AS AT THE FIRST Come Merchants ye which were once the Lands Magazine the Kings Burse whose trades were better unto you then fee-farmes whose shops could buy out many Mannours whose brains maintained you better then the heritages of your elder brethren whose arts advanced you with more speed and to a greater hight then all the Liberal Sciences Men not onely of ingenious inventions but Heroick attempts what would not resolute Merchants undertake They feared neither Seas nor Tempest Rocks nor Shelves Streights nor vast Ocean Hericanoes nor Tornadoes the Frozen nor the torrid Zone the Barbarous Continents nor Malignant influences they were contented to make Ships their Houses of State and Cabins their siâ—led Parlours who for many moneths had fresh air enough but little fresh meat which had the sight of many bright Starrs but of few gorgeous buildings which carried their pretious coyne along with them but lest their pretious Pearles their Wives and children behind them which have longed oftentimes as much to see land as the Mother which bare them and to sayle into a Port as to steppe up into a Councel-chamber and all this to search all lands for commodities and to purchase the rarities of the World whereby in a short time they grew up to that height that their Stature could not be taken they exceeded all the ingenious and industrious of the land by many Cubits and their estates were no more vast then their actions were noble I do not say who built and feasted burnished and furnished more then the Merchant but who relieved more Orphans redeemed more Captives founded more Hospitals Schools Churches then the Generous and Magnificent Merchant The Merchant was one of the great Splendours and Mirrours of the Nation But alas of late how was Merchandise fallen into a Consumption her lungs wasted her breath corrupt her cheekes sunk her vitalls even spent a Macies a tabes a pining disease ran through her whole body for it was so sucked with Taxes and Excise bad debtors and sad losses that the merchant was even turning Bankrupt But shall such a famous Comforter of the Nation now dy of Melancholly No Merchant saith such a King lift up thy head thy Prudent Prince knows how useful thou art to the land therefore he doth bid thee be of good cheer thy Harpies are flown away thy Fiends are dispossessed bring out thy wares for thy Customers come thronging Rigge out thy Ships for the Seas are open thy Bills of Lading and Envoyes and Churmarties and letters of credit Rescounters Parecer averidge Policy Barratry Betcommary Wager Renuntiation Lawes of Old or Staple Lawes Procurations will be of use again buy what thou canst there will be a quick returne stock but thy self with commodities and thy goods shall not lye Moth-eaten by thee thy King saith unto thee that there shall be a free trade Merchandise shall flourish again Fifthly come Prisoners ye which if ye would not complie must be committed if ye could not yield to Orders ye must yield to the Key-keeper if ye would not help a Free State must lye bound in Fetters if ye would not part with your revenues for the present power will be overpowred ye must discontinues from your heritages Jer. 17.4 Yea remember the doom of the times either partake or take him to you Jaylour either cast in your lot or cast him into the hole Oh how many of you for preserving conscience towards God and fidelity to your Prince that your names might not be blemished nor your professions scandalled nor your posterities branded have lost your livelyhoods and liberties and been enthralled like Captives taken in warre which did endure all the rage of mercilesse Furies rather then consent to such Jesuitical and Diabolical designes But oh shall ye alwayes be warded up in those Little eases Is there no jayle-delivery to be expected yes the sorrowfull sighing of the Prisoners hath been heard afar off the noyse of your chains hath ratled in your Kings eares he doth commiserate all his suffering subjects but every heartstring in him doth ake to think of his distressed Prisoners They are their Malignants but his Loyal Subjects their Traytours but his True-men and therefore shall not these be tender unto him Yes the ruining of mens
and culminated Ferrati venere viri Claud. 3. Coss Hon. The streets clad with nothing but Troopers yea the Souldier was the Soveraign The name of the Prince was Safety the design was to revive the Good Old Cause the Engine was a new Form of Government And when this Master-piece was even compleated the Fabrick and the Crafts-masters were both broken together for the stripling of the old Giant gathering strength again Safety was enforced to flee for safety the Council-Chamber was left empty and the General was made a Particular happy was he that could run soonest or fly furtherst Oh valiant Souldiers was there ever heard of such a battle fought In the head and heart of the Army was there not the same puissance or pusillanimity expressed yes a valiant Heroe but setting his face that way and a general pardon to all them that would yield in time being proclaimed the Commander in chief what was he but a Complainer in chief where are ye my stout Hectors my old Bloud-hounds Stand stand saith he fly fly fly say they so that he had scarce Souldiers enough left him to sound a retreat or to keep one Castle for him where he might capitulate to lay down armes upon terms of honour No the whole Camp was in a Panick fear they think either lay down arms or lay down necks either fly or dye either submit or hang so that the whole formidable host doth disband or disperse the Pikeman was the pitifullest Prince a Prince of Apparition and is vanished Well who was the next the last Prince Nanus redivivus the Giant 's Dwarf shewing his head again for he had two lives or a Funeral and a resurrection an Exiit and a Rediit as Aethalides lived sometimes amongst the living and sometimes amongst the dead and then returned to the living again whereby he knew what was done in all places so happened it to this Prince chopt in pieces he was and yet like Aeson had a new soul enter into his dismembred body Well come he is again and what doth he come to mend former oversights to reform old errours is there nothing now to be seen in him but mercy and meekness kindness and sweetnesse no stay there Suetonius Senex vulpes pilum non pellem mutat the old Fox may change his hair but not his skin This angry Deity knoweth not how to be propitious Totus Echinus He is prickles all over If he doth speak there is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scythian Rhetorick if he doth act any thing it is Lemniâ manu with a braining hand he that doth expect any humanity from such an one nescit Busiridis aras he doth not know what sacrifices must be offered upon the altars of Busitis This Prince had no sooner crept into the Throne and confirmed himself in authority but all the passion and severity which could be imagined was expressed The Souldiery indeed was pardoned but what should become of the Commonalty how was the Gentry hunted after What search was there for the Nobility and were the Citizens in security no their resolutions were high and their hazards were great they would not open their purses and they must shut up their warehouses there was no lending of money and so there must be no trading their streets were filled with armed Souldiers their gates taken off from the hinges their chains and posts pulled up their walls and bulwarks upon the rasing the flowre of their Burgers secured their Common Council a Medly of Sectaries they were threatned to be disarmed and how nigh were they then to be despoiled and dispatched He in heaven knoweth whether there was not a general plunder and a general Massacre decreed the Citizens sentenced to wallow in their own bloud and the City to be buried in her own ashes Suetonius It is said that Caligula had two books the one called the ponyard and the other the sword wherein all the principal men of the Empire were written down to be executed which he had condemned in his secret thoughts But had we the Red book of this Prince to lay open all the cruelties designed and determined what a Slaughter-house should we then see was this Nation intended and purposed to have been made what now then was not this Land all over the mournful spectacle of the Earth yes there was nothing to be seen but a wailing Countrey a weeping City every where confusion consternation peril perplexity fears tears abashment amazement a sick State at the last pant at the last gasp But when all things were thus in distress despair then Pater altitonans Jupiter Stator doth appear the arrow of the Lords deliv'rance was shot abroad God broke the staffe of the wicked the Scepters of the Rulers he helped the arm that had no strength took us like two legs or a piece of an ear out of the mouth of the Lion yea when no man durst write or fight he put a pen into the hand of a prime Wit and a pike into the hand of a valiant Worthy and so the miseries of the Nation began to abate for whereas before the Nation sobbed sued for redress in vain then the groans the plaints the applications the supplications the Declarations the Lamentations of a perishing people came to be heard and hearkened to and secluded Members being added to the excluding Members the hideous odious reign of the many Princes ended and after a short space instead of the wilfull self-seeking Rulers which would have confounded the State there was voted in a Man of understanding and knowledge which should prolong the state But by a man of understanding and knowledge the slate shall be prolonged For the transgression of the Land many are the Princes thereof c. The misery of a Land doth come from the transgression of a Land whatsoever be the accident this is the cause we must accuse nothing within the Land or without the Land at home or abroad neither our inconsiderate Friends nor our inveterate Enemies but the proper peculiar principal and primitive occasion of all calamity must be our own noxious vicious lives The distress of a Nation doth flow from the disobedience of the Nation the trouble and trial of a Land doth arise from the transgression of the Land The transgression of a Land hath a fruitfull womb doth bring forth variety of plagues like many deformed children but amongst all the curses that can happen to a Nation there is none like unto the Many Princes no the torture of a Land is to be vexed with many Princes for they with their new forms of Government and new stratagems to destroy the rights liberties of a people make the judgement insupportable these do so plague men in their estates and vex them in their consciences that next unto many Fiends there is nothing worse then many Princes therefore For the transgression of the Land c. Many Princes there are but how long do they wear