vniust for his office he saith is not to Iudge but to pleade and he speakes therefore with more affection and earnestnes against the truth then for it Because a good cause will speake for it selfe but he deserues praise that maintaines an ill cause well and for this he shall be famous and get Clyants and so get wealth which is that he aymes at Againe he may take what fees he will though the Law limits his takings and cals the excesse extortion He is the expounder of the Lawe he is Lex loquens the tongue of the Law and saith That the intention of the Lawe was to limit men that they should take no lesse and it limits such as can get no more Againe other Trades must do their worke if they wil haue wages and must acknowledge the benefit they receiue and the Benefactor but heere the Master is the seruant and whereas in all other vocations there lies an Action in the Case against such as hauing taken a valuable consideration for their paines will not performe their worke He nothwithstanding his fee may speake or hold his peace as he pleaseth for though he hath two handes to take fees on both sides yet he cannot be at two Barres at once and Demosthenes we know had as much for holding his peace as AEschines for pleading The Doctrine of Restitution he likes not it is a popish point in all other things he can be content to be Catholique to be vniuersall to be for euery man To be for a man in one case against him in another though the cases resemble nay perhaps to be both for the plaintife and defendant in one case and though he cannot pleade for both because he hath but one tongue yet he may giue counsell to both for that one toungue is double and takes fees of both for that 's the end of all His wayes seeme good and right for can he walke wrong who hath the Law the rule of Equity in his hand and whose office it is to guide others right in the way Yes doubtlesse the end shewes that Malè parta malè dilabuntur the issues of all are the wayes of death and destruction Next looke vpon the Marchant as it were the Generall and all Mechanicks as vnder-Officers of commerce the end of their Professions is or should be by commutatiue Iustice to supply the necessities of each other and so of the State But see how they propound priuate gaine to themselues as the only maine end and scope of all their labours And vnder this couer what one can cheate or coosen his neighbor of either by sophisticated wares or false waights and measures or by any other close deuise or conveyance he thinkes it tolerable nay laudable a part of his trade a mistery as he cals it of his profession without which he could not be a good husband or thought fit to deale in the world or set vp for himselfe Thus perhaps he will be curious in the duties of the first Table which touch not the corruptions of his profession but for workes of mercy commanded in the second Table he knowes not what they meane or perhaps they are superstitious and popish workes though he heare God himselfe say Hos 6. 6. I will haue mercy and not sacrifice He will not sweare perhaps for that is too open a sin for his purpose in this point perhaps he will be an Anabaptist but if lyes will sell his euill-conditioned commodities he will let none lye by him nor no man lye beyond him He will not breake the Sabaoth no not to eate no not to feed others not to doe good he is a strict Sabbatarian a Iew in opinion but that day or any other he will not sticke to coosen his credulous brother and aswell may you trust a Iew as trust him Thus he growes rich and treasures vp wrath for himselfe and in his whole dealing shewes himselfe a wrong Marchant but a right Iudas who wil gaine by the fayned shew of godlinesse or by any other course His way seemes right to himselfe though the end thereof be the Yssues of death Viae Puplicae vel Pretoriae In the third place wee haue Publique wayes common roads the Kings high-way which resembles publique iudgement publique authority and the Common Lawes of the Land For because all men thinke their owne wayes good bee they wayes of priuacie or wayes of neighborhood therefore God hath appointed Kings and Iudges to bee life-tenants and Deputies in his steade to defend weake truth from strong falsehood and oppression and to decide euery controversie accordin to the right rule of reason and Equity contained and expressed in the Lawes where they gouerne Otherwise vndoubtedly if euery man might be his owne Iudge the Thiefe the Murtherer all would be quit and the Iudge and Iewry should smart for it the Plaintife and Defendant all vvould be sauers and the Lawyer should pay for all who now is like to get all To auoyd therefore this confusion God hath set Caesar to arbitrate indifferently betwixt party and party and giuen him a Lawe and direct rule how to doe it and that he might do this freely without partiality without feare or any other thing that might mis-leade his iudgement God hath set him aboue all exempted him from all other Iudge but himselfe and the Lawes which are his rule and iudge Now to the end he might be fully and compleately furnished God puts an other spirit into him as wee see in Moses and after in the 70. Assistants and in Saule Dauid Salomon and others who were extraordinarily indued from aboue with Graces fitting their imployments and this Spirit vvhilst it continues vvith them doth neuer contradict the publique voice that is the Lawe of the State but ioynes with it and speakes the same language from whence perhaps that common speech arose that the voice of the people is the voice of God if it bee ioyned vvith the voice of the King and this voice is to be heard and obayed for conscience sake being heere opposed to the Spirit of priuacie which will rule though vvithout reason and the more weake it is is for that the more vvilfull Now this Spirit of priuacie whose vvisedome consists in vvilfulnes may be in a publique Person when for his owne or peoples sinne he hath lost the publike spirit vvherewith God indues Princes So the publique spirit departed from Saule 1. Sam. 16. 14. and a priuate mad spirit possessed him 1. Sam. 18. vvhich made him hate Dauid for louing him and being loued of God to giue him his daughter vpon purpose to ensnare and betray him to deale falsely vvith him in all his faire pretences and lastly to crosse and contradict his owne religious Law for the extirpation of vvitches by consulting vvith them Salomon vvas in the like case vvhilst by the vncleane sinne of Adultery he fell into the snare of Idolatry he crost his people and forgat his owne vvritings vvhere he saith
Pro. 28. 15 As a roaring Lyon and a ranging Beare so is a wicked Ruler ouer the poore people Yet he thought himselfe then also perhaps as vvise as before because he found himselfe as vvitty and forgot vvhat he had vvritten That into a malicious soule wisedome shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subiect unto sinne Sap. 1. 4. 5. 6. 7. For the holy Spirit of discipline will flie deceite and remooue from thoughts that are without vnderstanding and will not abide when vnrighteousnes commeth in For wisedome is a louing Spirit and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words for God is witnesse of his reines and a true beholder of his heart and a hearer of his tongue Wherefore for this vvhen he recouered his former publique spirit he cryed peccaui and miserere vvith his father David and vvrote that booke called Ecclesiastes to bemone and manifest his owne fall and forewarne other Princes to beware of the spirit of priuacie that they may hedge in their royall wayes vvith these conscionable restrictions vvhereby they may be obayed for conscience sake by their subiects 1. First Salomon or Caesar must not rule vvithout a Lawe nor by his absolute power make any but see to the execution of those that are made It inclines therefore too much towards tyranny for a Magistrate to exercise an absolute authority vvithout limit and the Superiour who rules vvithout a Lawe or against Lawe vvalkes in no way himselfe but balks his owne high-way for a way is fenced but the champian fields are for the wild-goose-chase and corners and holes for sinister actions When as publique persons should do publique actions in publique Gen. 23. 10. in the Gates of the City in the Kings high-way Deut. 22. 15 in the eye of all For chamber-workes are suspicious and carry a shew of priuacy and parciality And so it is sayd by Liuy that Tarquinius made the name of a King odious at Rome because he ruled all Domesticu consilijs by chamber-Councell as Rehoboam in Israel and Lewes the 11 in Fraunce Thus Kings though they bee in some sort aboue the Law because they are dispeusers of it are not yet without a Lawe because they must rule themselues and others by it And thus much the crowne that a King weares testifieth which is a type of the loue and acknowledgement and consent of the people in his gouernement and lets him see that there is a verge a hoope a compasse for the heades of Kings aswell as of subiects and that wee come to manifest in the second consideration 2. Secondly Gods Lawe is Caesars verge which Caesar must neither transgresse nor suffer to bee transgrest Where God hath set no Lawe there Caesars Lawe I meane the Lawe of the Land which is the hedge to this high-way of the King must stand And this must agree with the equity of the Lawe of God from vvhence it originally takes life and strength For as where it agrees with Gods Lawe wee must obay it for conscience sake so where it contradicts or crosseth the Lawe of God the Apostle Peter giues a generall rule It is there better to obay God then man Act. 4. 19. To cleere this Thou sayest thy conscience tels thee the Religion commanded by the King or some ceremony vsed in the Church according to the Lawes established is not agreeable but contrary to the truth If thou canst manifest this by the word of God then thy Conscience tels thee right and thou art not to doe what is commanded by man though he speakes humane Lawe but yet thou art to suffer vvhat is inioyned by him so speaking with the Law or so doeing as Executor of the Lawe and both these wayes thou obayest God and Caesar too God actiuely doing vvhat he vvils and Caesar passiuely submitting thy will to Gods holy ordinance and obaying the Magistrate for conscience sake But if thy conscience tels thee this or that and cannot proue what it tels thee but by shifts and shadowes then it is not truly thy conscience at least no true but a lying conscience that so misleads thee nay rather it is thy phantasie thy imagination thy peeuish preiudiciall and froward conceit And thou art bound to resist and breake thine owne crooked and peruerse vvill aud to subiect it to the will of God who hath subiected thee to Caesar For Conscientia non est contra scientiam sed cum scientia Conscience is ioyned with knowledge that 's the ground otherwise thou setst vp an Idol in thy owne heart and worshippest it vvhilst thou obayest an erring and ignorant conscience For an Idol saith Saint Paule is nothing in the world and such is thy conscience a bug-beare a Scar-crow a Chimera of thine owne melancholly imagination or maleuolent invention And howsoeuer it may seeme right to thy selfe thy Sectators or Sect masters the Yssues thereof are the wayes of death 3. Thirdly as the Lawes of God must guide our consciences in our rellgious duties so the positiue Lawes of the Kingdome must be the high-way wherein euery one must vvalke in actiue obedience And Kings and Iudges are the dispensers and disposers of these Lawes according to reason Neither shall they need in the execution to satisfie euery priuate curious and contentious head which pretending conscience vvill disobey or to satisfie euery delinquent with arguments for then his worke were infinite but strictly and directly to open the booke and to execute the Lawe of the Land and euery liege-man is to acquiesse therein For the Iudge is or ought truly to bee Lex loquens and doth but tell vs the Lawe and shew vs the high-way in which wee must walke and if wee list not to walke in it wee must be content to suffer for our willfull folly or walke out of the vvay out of the reach of the Lawe And there is great reason for this for God hath set Kings as his Deputies to execute Iustice and Iudgement he expects it at their hands and where any euill fals out for lacke of execution the fault is the Magistrates if there be Law to preuent it of him shall the soule be required which perisheth for lacke of gouernment as the soule shal be required at the Pastors hands which perisheth for lacke of instruction in the truth Great reason is it therefore he should haue power ouer such as he must answere so strictly for that he may punish them or compell them to come in or keepe them for drawing others out of his folde So wee see Iudg. 17. Micha sets vp an Idol contrary to Gods Lawe he will haue a parlor-worship a religion by himselfe The reason of this error of knowledge and conscience is giuen there Then there was no King in Israel but euery man did what seemed good in his owne eyes So the King is to see to Religion and if Idolatry increaseth or sects or schismes arise it is counted the Kings fault if there bee a King the fault
arising heere for lacke of a King that is of a fit person to execute the Lawe against Idolatry Likewise in the 19. Chap. of Iudges the Leuites wife is defiled after an vnsatiable brutish maner The reason of this villaine this iniustice this error in practise is giuen as before Then there was no King c. So all disorders of life are for lacke of execution of Iustice for God gaue the People a Lawe in this case so they lacked not a law but a Magistrate to execute it Againe in the 21. Chap. of Iudg There are two barbarous facts mentioned the first the bloudy destruction of Iabes Gilead the other the rape of certaine virgins by fraude and force who came out without feare of trechery securely trusting to their owne innocence and the peace of the State The reason of these disorders is giuen as before Then there was no King in Israel but euery man did what seemed good in his owne eyes There vvas a Lawe but there vvas none designed to execute it Praysed be God vvee haue both King Lawes Priests and Iudges how haps it then that there are I do not say sinnes for there vvill be sinnes as long as there are men but such common open crying sinnes such raigning roaring raging sinnes such beaten roads common high-vvayes of sinnes and sinning as if there vvere no King no Lawe no Priest no Iudge in England I speake not of them vvhich may pretend their excuse from the fraylty of our natures and our procliuenes to sin but of such as are committed with a high hand standing like theeues by the high-vvayes side at nooneday and robbing God of his glory the Common-wealth of their honor and that vvith violence vvith applause shaddowing their vnlawfull actions vnder the pretence of Lawe it selfe vvhich should reforme them And some of these for the manifestation of this point I intend to bring to the barre to answere for themselues But see I shall not neede for impudent Sacriledge appeares of himselfe to confront the Pulpit and the bench too It is not a scarlet gowne that can fright Diues for he vvent in purple euery day If Iustice helpe not he vvill strangle Deuotion for vvho vvill giue to God if the Diuell enioyes vvhat is giuen Or vvho vvill giue to the Clergie to the poore to charitable vses if the Athiest the prophane person the vncharitable vvretch the Politician may ceize vpon it sell it or the title to iâ— as he doth It lyes only in the hands of Power and Authority to stop his mouth for he hath got such countenance and supportance as he sits in judgement and hath giuen sentence like the Man of sinne against the Clergy that tithes are not due to them Iure Diuino and therefore he and his may ceize vpon them vvith Prescriptions Impropriations Prohibitions like an other three-headed Cerberus Iure diabolico The Country-people like well and vvill soone learne this lesson they thought before it vvas no conscience to pay tithes but all being due by almos it vvas no theft no sacriledge but vvisedome and good husbandry to keepe asmuch backe as they might vvee expected reformation and a restoring of the oyle to the lampes as God had lent these times more light then others But now there is cause to doubt rather substraction then to hope for restitution much lesse to expect addition Simony Sacriledge all are let loose and armed and Iudas hath sufficient colour to saue like a theefe his oyntment from Christs members and Ministers vnder pretence of charity and releeuing the poore though Christ sees the thiefe in Iudas heart and though Salomon knowes howsoeuer this way may seeme right to themselues yet the end thereof is destruction to the Church and death to many a poore soule But they are in their vvay rather vvilling to pay tenths to Sathan then to God It is therefore ten to one if one of ten haue grace to returne and to restore God is iust who whilst they withdraw their hands and hearts from good withdrawes his grace from their hearts they may heare but they profit not to obedience and practise He will not suffer such to gaine grace by the preaching of the Word vvho for their owne priuate gaine vvould starue the Preachers of the Word The Vsurer comes next as a brother in euill to Sacriledge This must not now be called a sinne it is justified out of the Pulpit to be none and it is growne to be a profession too and the Vsurer is a free-man of euery company but not free in any good cause or company It was a sin so vgly heeretofore as none durst practise it scarce durst name it but vvith the signe of the crosse as if they had spoken of a Diuell but it is now so common as he is scarce thought an honest man that is not one for he cannot be honest that is not rich and he cannot be rich vvithout this trade This is the gulph wvith sinks and swallowes our Marchants Clothyers Farmers Owners all Men complaine of the Law and that vvorthily but this this is the rocke that Shipwracks all and spoiles all trading and commerce whilst the venter and hazard is the buyers and the sellers but the certaine gaine fals betwixt both to the vsurer This Man payes neither duty to God nor the King for his trade hath no warrant from either God forbids it the King tolerates it as some States doe the practise of the Stewes or as our Sauiour said of Diuorces Moses for the hardnes of your hearts suffered you to put away your wiues but from the beginning it was not so the time hath not beene long since this sinne came in request for a vertue nor will it bee long ere the practisers shall see that howsoeuer the way seemes good in their owne eyes yet the Yssues thereof are the wayes of death Next the vsurer and the Sacrilegious person who are coupled like dogges comes three together in a cluster 1. The Forestaller 2. The Ingrosser 3. The Depopulator as seuerall species of one Genus birds of a feather who hang together of a string and it is pitty they should not euer so hang. The Forestaller I meane not the petty forestaller of a Fayre or Market but the forestaller of Commodities in a vvhole Country bites closer then a Goose for the Goose eates all aboue the earth but this beast eates vp all commodities before they spring assoone as they are sowne in the Earth and therefore is a right earth-worme 2. Neither when I speake of Ingrossers do I intend petty persons who ingrosse vp this or that commodity but the Ingrosser of Farmes who like another Cain takes possession of all and will not indure any man to thriue or liue by him Euery Farme euery trade euery Sheepes-course is his Nothing fatts him but a deere yeare nothing drownes him but a deepe and long snow for if that melts not the sooner hee melts He hath in his hands perhaps what would
as God made man righteous but as man hath corrupted his owne wayes By his Sense if he iudgeth he finds himselfe often deceiued for a straight sticke put into the water seemes crooked in his eyes an eccho beguiles his eares his feeling tasting smelling all of them are subiect to deception And for his Reason the best it can doe is to discourse probably of the least common accident of a Plea or a Flie and then whatsoeuer he brings may be controuerted so by another seeming reason that the Iudge who should from this base ground his determinations had need do it with caution and leaue roome to retract and reuerse his sentence Much more is man puzzeld and lost when he climes vp to higher contemplations to consider the hidden things of Nature as wee may plainely see by Gods arguments to Iob Iob. 38. 39. If then the spirit of a man cannot infallibly iudge of the things of a man of his owne soule and body or of such things as are subiected to his gouernment how shall he be thought a competent iudge to determine the things of God though we graunt him to be of as vpright a heart as David and as wise as Salomon himselfe All that man can doe is to iudge by apparance and wee see heere things may seeme otherwise then they bee Now besides the insufficiency of Man this way 1. Tim. 5. 21 we shall finde other defects in him which accompany impotencie and are vnworthy of a Iudge for in a Iudge two things must be principally auoyded preiudice and parciality now both these we shall discouer in our Iudge Man First Preiudice Man naturally abhors all things propounded by his aduersarie and the hate of the person wil not suffer him to intertaine the truth of his discourse but rather seeke arguments to oppose it his iudgement is so taken vp aforehand Thus I haue seene the sentences of the Fathers reiected for hereticall by Romane Catholiques when they haue beene found in Luther or Calvin Whitaker or Perkins Secondly Partiality Man naturally affects what either proceeded from himselfe immediately or from his neere deere honord and beloued Predecessors or some that in his eyes seemes learned wise honest religious In which regard God himselfe disputes this point with man Ezechiel 18. 2. and in the 29. verse concludes with an interrogation with an expostulation saying Yet saith the house of Israel The way of the Lord is not equal O house of Israel are not my wayes equall or are not your wayes rather vnequall And this is come into fashion againe that Man dares argue the cause with his Maker and if God do not as man will haue him subiect his actions to mans reason and aâ—e all his creatures but that according to the rule of Iustice he condemne some Reprobates he is like to be iudged the Author of sinne And I wonder he scapes censure for making fishes foules beasts I muse they finde no fault because he made not all these to be men and immortall and why he made not men Angels whilst holy David wonders at his extraordinary care loue showne towards man saying O Lord what is man that thou so regardest him or the sonne of man that thou so visitest him He wonders that any man is regarded these wonder that all men and all creatures are not alike regarded Thus man that iudgeth by apparance whose sense and reason may be deceiued and so deceiue him as he deceiues others who may bee iniquus Iudex a Iudge full of preiudice full of partiality especially in his owne case is vnfit to decide a controuersie of this nature And this therefore caused that resolute Luther to vtter that speech for which he hath beene so often and so vniustly taxed and chalenged That he preferd one Saint Paule before a thousand Ambroses Augustines Hieroms or Chrysostoms Because Saint Paul by the iudgement of all those was for the first planting of the Church guided by the infallible direction of Gods Spirit after a wonderfull and extraordinary manner and measure But all these men graunt themselues that they might erre nay that they did erre and so retracted diuerse of their former opinions desiring neither to be beleeued nor followed farther then their words and writings should bee found consonant to the verity of the written Word of God Now then all the iudgement of Man nay of all men contradicting the Word of God is of a priuate spirit such as Adam was directed by when he left the guidance of Gods Spirit of which Saint Peter speakes 2. Pâ—t 1. 19. 20. 21. If therefore a multitude of men how learned wise or holy soeuer they bee should ioyne against the Scripture their authority must not carry it for they all erre and their interpretation is priuate though their persons their places their professions be publique And one or a few men expounding with the Scripture doth not expound by a priuate spirit though his person perhaps bee priuate but by the spirit of Truth which directed the holy Pen-men of the Scripture and his opinion and interpretation is Catholique and orthodoxe whatsoeuer his person bee Cyprian vvas a publique teacher yet interpreting some Scriptures to proue rebaptization his interpretation therein vvas priuate because against the generall sense and scope of Scripture And Augustine vvas a Bishop and so a publike person at whose mouth we are to seeke wisedome yet when hee brought Scripture interpreted by himselfe contrary to the generall scope to prooue Children should receiue the Lords Supper his interpretation was worthliy reiected as of a priuate spirit All the founders of Heresies haue beene publike persons such as were Nouatus Arrius Eunomius and with these diuerse Bishops of Rome haue ioyned eyther as authors of Heresies or Sectators of such and heerein they were all led by priuate spirits Therefore Bellarmine confesseth lib. 3. cap. 3. De verbo That the Spirit of interpretation which in S. Peters sense is publique is often giuen to priuate men So then the Scripture must be expounded by the Scripture the darker place by the place more cleere Man must not seeke a fortification in Scripture for his opinion but he must be carefull to raise his opinion and Iudgement out of the Scripture euidently confirmed explaned by it selfe and by conference and coherence of the same with it selfe and this is publique interpretation whatsoeuer is contrary is from the spirit of priuacy Veritas docendo suadet falsitas suadendo docet All this that I haue spoken then is not totally to exclude man from determining questions and doubts in Diuinity but to shew by what rule he ought to iudge that is by no other rule then by the Scriptures for I gladly acknowledge that whereas there is an authenticke and fundamentall Iudge Christ himselfe the best interpreter of the Law being the Law-maker so he hath placed a ministeriall Iudge which is the Church which must interpret Scripture by Scripture and euer be wary not to contradict the
vvill of the Law-maker Christ Now the Romish Sinagogue considering the Church of Christ in a threefold manner 1. First as it is Essentiall 2. Secondly as it is representatiue 3. And thirdly as it is virtuall They make the representatiue part to consist in the Ministery and this Ministery to flow from the Pope as from the head and to this part that is to the Pope they attribute that power which God hath giuen to the whole Church Now the Pope being thus invested in absolute power with an opinion of infallibility laying aside the Scriptures iudgeth without them nay against them nay iudgeth them and yet must not be chalenged of error This wee iudge vnreasonable that a Man should make his owne will the Churches lawe and iudge in his owne cause without examination And therefore wee shew Amor odium proprium commodū faciunt saepè Iudicem non congnoscere verum Aristotle lib. 1. Rhe. that man who iudgeth by his sense or reason is not sufficiently qualified for such a busines or if he were naturally so adapted yet is he vnfit to iudge in this question which wholly concernes himselfe in regard of partiality or preiudice to both which he is subiect Therefore in questions betwixt vs and the South-Church Presbiter Iohannes is an vnfit Iudge and in questions betwixt vs and the Grecians the Patriarch of Constantinople is as vnmeet and in controuersies betwixt vs and Rome the Pope is not a competent Iudge Ecclesiasticus 8. 14. Goe not to Law with a Iudge for they will iudge for him according to his honor Let vs therefore seeke a Iudge who iudgeth not by the outward apparance whose sence and reason cannot be deceiued who is neither preiudiciall not partiall who searcheth the reines and the heart for vaine is the iudgement of man to whom this way seemes right when the ends thereof are the Yssues of death And this wee shall finde in the Opposition which wee come now to handle The Opposition or Publique Iudgement 1. The end thereof or purpose pretended Wee had the way iudged before prima facie by the outward apparance by the beginning thereof and so it seemed right But heere wee finde fronti nulla fides no credit to bee giuen to the countenance but the end bewrayes the truth of euery thing The woman beheld the fruite which Sathan so farre magnified She saw the tree was good for foode and pleasant to the eyes Genes 3. 6. so she eate thereof and gaue part to the man Thus they iudged by the outward apparance by seeming and were deceiued euen then when their sense and reason were at the perfectest But after they had eaten it is sayd Their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked Genes 3. 7. And then likewise they knew that the curse of God The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Genes 2. 17 would surely light vpon them So this way seemed the right way to them to attaine knowledge happines but they found the end thereof to be the way of ignorance of darknes and of death And as with them so with all their posterity since this hath succeeded as a testimony of their hereditary sinne still to be deceiued with the seeming of things insomuch as that is true which the Poet long since sung Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis vmbra Iuven. sat 4. Cum sit triste habitu vultuque veste seuerum The face and habit of an Anchorite May be the couer of an Hypocrite Therefore all wise men iudge of things not by their shewes but substances and not by their beginnings but ends Now the end of a thing is either propositum the purpose for which a thing is done and so the end of preaching is the saluation of soules or Terminus the issue or determination of a thing as death is the end of a mans life and so it is heere properly taken A Iudge oftentimes saues a theefe because he hopes he may proue an honest man and doe good in the Common-wealth There is the first end The Iudges purpose But the Theefe proceedes in his the euery till he brings himselfe to the gallowes and that 's the extreame end the vltimum vale Of both these we intend to speake briefly though the last only be proper to this Text and the first borrowed for illustration First then remembring wee haue Religion for our subiect let vs see what it is together with the end thereof to what purpose it tends This is Christian Religion August i◠Ioannem Tract 23. cap. ◠that one God not many be worshipped because nothing makes the soule happy but only one God The infirme soule is not made happy in the participation of another soule that is happy but is happy in the participation of God nor is a holy soule happy in the participation of an Angel but if an infirme soule seekes to be happy let it seeke from thence whence a holy soule is happy For thou art not made happy by an Angel but from whence an Angel hath happinesse thou hast it also Faith with a serious feare of God Polan Syntag. is the pure and true Religion as Feare containes in it selfe a voluntary reuerence and carries with it a right worship of God such as is prescribed in the Lawe Religio dicta est eo Isidor lib. 18. Etymilog quod per eam vni soli Dco religamus animas nostras ad cultum diuinum animo seruiendi Religion then being the band or tyall whereby wee are fastned and bound to God as to the souereigne good consisteth of three twines vz. of faith of hope of loue and a threefold corde is not easily broken Now the proper or principall end of this Religion is the glory of God the subordinate end is our saluation That Religion therefore which most directly and cleerely tends to the principall end must needs effect the subordinate end most certainely and so must necessarily bee the only true and direct way to life and the other what shew soeuer it makes must needs be the way and Yssue of Death Againe the glory of God is most aduanced heere in this our way or Religion by two affections of feare and loue and by the true fruits and effects of them Now that Religion which traines a man vp to feare God and to loue God as God ought to be feared and loued giues God the truest glory and so must necessarily be the truth Lastly this feare and this loue is then most rightly generated and cherished in the soule of Man and so Gods glory most aduanced when mans nature is truly set foorth and he thereby humbled in himselfe and so taught to feare and when Gods power and mercy is so exprest as he hath beene pleased to reueale it to mans comfort That so man seeing his owne wants and misery and Gods all-sufficient power and mercy might feare and reuerence God as a good Master might loue and delight
imploy and maintaine ten households and he scarce keepes one Thus he beggars himselfe whilst he is not able to stocke all his Farmes nor giue them that compasse Arist Oecon. lib. Sterquilinium which Aristotle saith is the best namely to compasse the ground about often with the owners feete hee beggars his Landlord whilst once in seauen yeeres he hangs his Lease on the hedge quod agro est optimum vestigia Domini and trusts to his heeles he beggats the poore whilst he will affoord them no abiding place in the Earth nor no imployment to preserue them from Idlenesse and he beggars the whole State whilst he breeds beggars and makes the ground vnfertile for lacke of tending which if it were in the hands of more that could manure and follow euery part would yeeld more increase to the Occupier to the Master and to the State of the Common-wealth 3. The last of these is the Depopulator who to inhanse his Rents puls downe all the petty Tenements and Farmes and will haue none dwell neere him Assoone as this is done he lackes neighbors thus the iustice of God vvhips him by his owne hand Then he hyes to the City vvhere the Dicing-house vpon the right hand and the Drinking-house vpon the left hand and the Drabbing-house before him spends all that is left or if any be left the tyre-woman and the taylor dogs and hawkes and Coach-horses diuide it and amongst these he wastes all that wherewith his predecessors feasted themselues and their poore neighbours There are Lawes against these but often it concernes the Iury the Iustices nay the Iudges themselues and therefore the Lawes must be silent in this case for these wayes are good in their owne eyes though the Yssues of them be the wayes of death There come next to hand three others who depend of those that went before and whose profession is practised with a kinde of warrantable deceite namely the Malster the Brewer the Alehouse-keeper these drinke vp the State as the other did eate it vp and for their sakes drunkennesse is thought a tollerable nay a necessary euill Their pretences are the prouision for the poore or the raising of the price of corne that the husbandman may liue and that the rackt Rent may not vndoe him but what he gets of these at the Barne dore he leaues at the Buttery-hatch Mothes are no worse in cloth rust in yron nor whules in Mault then these in the Common-wealth For since these were set vp and manly exercises cryed downe our bodies are weakened and corrupted our spirits dulled and made effeminate and we fitted for slauery being euery day ouer-mastered and made slaues by drunkennes and excesse And yet there are some vvho suppose this trading to be as necessary for the State as Tobacco or the trade of the East-Indies and for my part I am easily induced to beleeue them vvhilst I know the equall discommodity of all and see that though their wayes seeme good to themselues yet the Yssues thereof are the wayes of death Next these the bribing Officer appeares as in a clowde for his wayes are darke and past searching out except to him that can hold a candle before the Diuell Mammon brought him in Mammon keepes him in and the excesse of his wife child seruants giues notice to all eyes that such brauery is not to be maintained without bribes And therefore vvhen poore men come to passe any thing how iust soeuer they are warned to open their purses vvide and so whatsoeuer the cause bee their reedles eye shal be made bigge enough for the Cable or the Camell to enter â—sai 1. 23. Iustly may God complaine of vs as of Israel Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of theeues euery one loueth gifts and followeth after rewards they iudge not the fatherlesse neither doth the cause of the widow come vnto them And Ier. 5. 26. Among my people are found wicked men they lay waite as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch men As a cage is ful of birds so are their houses full of deceite therefore they are become great and waxen rich They are waxen fat they shine yea they ouer-passe the deeds of the wicked they iudge not the cause the cause of the fatherlesse yet they prosper and the right of the needie doe they not iudge Shall I not visite for these things saith the Lord shall not my soule be auenged on such a Nation as this God himselfe must visit for these sinnes the Magistrate will not it is he that must be visited it must be an omnipotent power that must therefore reforme this generall corruption that spreads so wide and climbes so high for these wayes seeme good to the eyes of great men yea to some of the greatest who should correct it though the Yssues thereof be the wayes of death Now I haue proceeded so farre I vvill conclude with him that is the cause of all this and that 's the Courtly Thiefe who begges a Patent that all these before spoken of and more too may rob as it were with vvarrant vnder his seale But I doe him wrong perhaps to call him thiefe he is rather a Beggar not a beggar by the Kings high-way but a Beggar of the Kings high-way so that no man may passe vp and downe in course of Lawe and Iustice but hee takes custome Surely he hath begg'd so long that he hath almost made vs all beggars and therefore it is pitty there is no whipping post for him But assure himselfe though he be of the number of the sturdy and incorrigible persons heere in this vvorld yet there is a vvhipping post for him in another world and he shall see that though his wicked wayes seemed good in his owne eyes and in the eyes of his fellowes of his fooles of his flatterers yet the Yssue of them are the wayes of death and destruction But vvhat should I need to dwell longer vpon particulars when not only this or that member this or that finger or toe but the whole body is corrupted Looke vpon Religion are not our aduersaries on all sides increased Do not all places swarme with schismes sects heresies and priuate spirits Looke vpon our liues was there euer such defect of charity as if indeed it were true which some slander vs withall that wee teach a solitary faith would saue and that works were needlesse nay sinfull was there euer generally such an itch of priuate wealth which euer forerunnes and effects the ruine of the Common-wealth Looke vpon all our Proiects of draining surrounded grounds or whatsoeuer other profitable pretence they carry see if they ayme not at the draining of the publique purse at the milking of the state by priuate Monopolies as if England were a hard step-dame and no indulgent Mother to her prodigall and vngratefull children Looke vpon our affections was there euer such a deade luke-warme indifferencie a dow baked zeale as if we cared not which way the