spirituall condition wee are vnder a better line The Sun of Righteousnesse sendeth downe his direct beames and fullest influences on vs No land for many Ages hath had a more gratious and benigne aspect of Gods favour than this God hath set over vs a King that loveth the Trueth professeth it with vs and in the Exercise of it is exemplar to Subjects Cast your Eyes beyond Sea and consider what Kings rule over Christians there The greatest of them striue with other who shall bee greatest Slaues to Antichrist they affect their owne destruction in pleasing him by destroying their Subiects There is nothing for Gods people vnder these three greatest Princes but either the Imperiall deformation rooting out the Trueth where it hath beene or the Spanish Inquisition bearing it downe that it ryse not or the French Massacres destroying both Professors and Profession If the Saints vnder them were in our place they would thinke themselues after a sort in Heaven in a Goshen for light and securitie and in Ierusalem for vision and peace They haue drunken these ten or twelue yeares of the Cup of Wrath and suffered all the losses of Warres Their Men killed their Women defiled and Countreyes wasted If God as hee might justly for our sinnes would make vs drinke of that same Cup but one Moneth after such a calamitie wee would count morâ— of our Happinesse under the shadow of so good a King than wee doe Our Land hath not such rare Commodities as others but yet the Tree of life groweth in our streetes and every shaking of it in the publick worship of God sendeth down such fruits as all the Indies can not afford the lik The knowledge of God in Christ Remission of sinnes Peace of Conscience other saving Graces are better than all the Spicerie of the World God hath showen his Word to Iaakob his Statutes and his Iudgements to Israel Hee hath not dealt so with every Nation For this happinesse wee are a matter of Wonder and astonishment to people beyond Sea because of our great Peace with aboundance of all things for Soule and Body and onlie miserable in this that wee neither know our Happinesse nor thanke God for it Wee are a part of these ends of the Farth which the â—ather giveth in possession to his Sonne And we finde not since the Apostles tyme a Land blessed with a more sound body of Doctrine than this which God in mercie continue Wee were as soone blessed with the Gospell as any Kingdome and our numerous and learned Cleargie sent out some as Apostles who turned to Christ some inner parts of this I land and sundrie Countries beyond Sea And since our returning from the Babylonish Captivitie God hath set vp amongst vs in Reformation a more glorious Temple than the first Happie is that Land where the Sheepe of Christ goe out and in and none affrighteth them Praise thy God O Ierusalem praise thy God O great Britaine Hee maketh peace in thy Borders and filleth thee with the fat of wheate Who will not desire to be sed for the pâ—ace for the fatnesse and satietiâ— Nothing is feared there nothing is loathed and nothing is lacking Paradise is a sweete dwelling the Word of God a sweete foode and Eternitie is great riches What Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh vnto them as the Lord our God is in all things that wee call vpon him for And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Iudgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day For you my Lords of Nobilitie Councell and State is matter of praise because God hath given you a young Master and augmented the matter of your Ioy in strengthning that royall Line and of your peace in securing your States and Dignities by the hope of that Succession For you also my Lords of the Colledge of Iustice because God hath ioyfullie begun this Summer Session and turned this day that beginneth the Terme of Iustice in a sacrum Iustitium or holy Vacancie from iustice and from the Bench hath brought you to the Church to praise him and to pray for the Spirit of Iustice to our King and Prince That as God hath given a new Conduit for the Influence of Iustice on this Land you may partake there of according to your Place and proue thankfull to God and to your Princes in stablishing their Throne by the Ministration of Iustice and may bee a blessing to this People making them obedient to God and their Princes when they are comforted by your righteousnesse For you also my beloved of this Parish and others of this Citie God hath given that Matter of Ioy you haue long desired And at what time came the tydings of it Even after you had refreshed vs your Pastours with your free offerings to the poore You made vs not ashamed of our boasting of your Charitie but satisfied abundantly fourefold the necessitie that wee commended to you And while at night wee were reioycing in the Lord for that fruite of your Faith God gladened vs with the good tydings of the birth of our Prince It is ever seene that when a People are zealous and cheerefull in good works to honour GOD hee meeteth them shortly with a greater blessing And let all the People count of this blessing as of a Child borne in everie house of this Land and praise God for this new matter of our dayly Prayers For sex yeares bygone our Prayers had a want because we had not a young Prince to pray for But now God hath filled vp that want in giving vs a Prince to pray for after his royall Parents The second generall Vse is to pray to God and that for our King our Queene our Prince and our selues For our King that the Spirit of the Lord may rest vpon him the Spirit of Wisdome and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsell and Might the Spirit of Knowledge and of the feare of the Lord that he may iudge not after the sight of his Eyes nor reproue after the hearing of his Eares but may iudge the poore with righteousnesse and reproue withequitie for the meeke of the land That he would blesse him with Counsellours about him and judges with him like Iethroes Elders Men that feare God hate covetousnesse and seeke Gods glorie and the well of King and Countrie That hee would set him as a Seale on his Arme and on his heart That hee would multiplee Grace more and more on him to verifie the glorious Title of Defender of the Faith in maintaining the Trueth and repressing Idolatrie That God would cloath his Enemyes with shame and on him make his Crowne to floorish That hee would prolong the Kings life and his yeares for many generations that hee may abide before the Lord for ever and continue the meeke race of the Stewarts To pray for our Queene as the Iewes
did for Pharaohs Daughter That she may forget her People and her Fathers house and that as God hath begun to make her a fruitefull Mother in Israel so hee would increase that fruitfulnesse and make her proue new-borne in Israel And with this bond of the fruite of her wombe that tyeth her to the King and this I land to tye her heart also to the Trueth professed amongst vs. To pray for our Prince That the matter of our Ioy in him may be constant That God with the increase of his Dayes would increase his Gifts and Graces and enable him for the Place hee hath appointed him that when his Father is full of good Dayes hee may succeede him in all these forenamed blessings as well as in these Thrones That so there never faile a Man of that Line to sit on the Throne of these Kingdomes That as Mankynd is increased by his Birth so the number of the Faithfull may bee increased by his new Birth in the â—awer of Regeneration And as God hath made him a Sonne of our Desires so hee would make him a Sonne of Delight to vs and the Posteritie by growing in favour with God and Man To pray for our Selues That wee may know the Tyme of our Visitation and the things that concerne our Peace and proue thankfull to God for his great Mercies Wee are like Ierusalem in the Happinesse of our Tyme and as like her in not knowing of it Wee are like that Figge Tree which was long spared and if wee bee vnfruitefull still wee are neere to a curse Wee are that Vineyard that was well dressed but if wee bring not our better fruits wee shall bee destroyed For all Estates of this Land from the greatest to the smallest doe meete Gods mercie with ingratitude and rebellioun God hath beene passing through the reformed Churches these yeares by gone with a fearefull yet a iust visitation Wee are as guiltie as they and yet God in a forebearing mercie is waiting if wee will repent If wee turne not to him vnfainedly let vs resolue that the dregges of this Cup are reserved for vs onely let vs take heede and keepe our Soule diligently lest we forget the things which our Eyes haue seene and lest they depart from our Hearts all the dayes of our life But let vs not thinke that our present businesse in this Church is sufficient wee must heereafter walke in a new obedience to God who ladeth vs dayly with blessings This is our best thanksgiving and a most forcible Prayer to obtaine new blessings vpon the blessings receaved and with all it is a Seale that Gods Mercies are given vs in Mercy If our Thanksgiving be a constant walking worthie of Gods blessings then he will delyte to dwell amongst vs and blesse vs more than shall we still be a matter of ioyfull wondring to the World and of comfort to our selues when the blessings of the Scepter of Christ and of the well sweyed Scepters of our Princes are visible amongst vs in Religion Iustice and Peace The Lord who hath blessed vs with this ioyfull Occasion and brought vs together in this house to testifie our ioy before Man and Angels put this Day amongst these white and ioyfull Dayes that are marked with rare blessings and make it a period and beginning of a ioyfull reckoning of yeares to come The Lord make vs constant in thankfulnesse that his goodnesse may continue with vs That the end of all his blessings may bee his Glorie in the Salvation of our Princes and of our selues through Iesus Christ our Lord. To this God Father Sonne and holy Ghost King of Kings and Lord of Lords bee praise honour and glorie now and for evermore AMEN FINIS A LOOKING GLASSE For PRINCES and POPES OR A Vindication of the sacred Authoritie of PRINCES from the Antichristian vsurpation of the Popes By the same Authour M. William Struther August Civit. lib. 4. cap. 7. Ipsi attendant speculum suum Bernard Consid. Lib. 4. Ipsi sint speculum ipsi forma Idem Lib. 2. Admove speculum faedus se in eo vultus agnoscat EDINBVRGH Printeed by the Heires of Andro Hart. 1632. The Preface of the Uindication REligion is the sacred Bond betweene God and vs And the certaintie of the Trueth professed maketh it stronger In this litigious age Contentions haue almost buried the Trueth And the inconsiderate Reader of Controversies shall neither finde Papists in their diverse and contradictorie opinions nor himselfe The best resolution for that certaintie next to Scripture is not so much by the theoricke of controversies as the practicke of Now-Romes pertinancie Therefore it shall be a price worth our labour to consider Rome as now it standeth and the graduall shifts whereby shee hath driven her selfe to it Her present estate is a judiciall hardnesse In that most obstinate pertinacie as Saint Austine calleth it that maketh men defend errour for trueth and pursue trueth for errour And all their businesse in wryting disputing c. is that made presumption as Patianus sayeth whereby they seeke only the victorie in any cause And like the olde Pagans they choose rather to obtrude their owne errours impudently than patiently to heare our Trueth as Cyprian said to Demetrian Potius tua impudenter ingerere quà m nostra patienter audire As Copernicus in Astronomie and Paracelsus in Physicke loathing olde Trueths layed their new Hypotheses and threw all things by the haire to countenance them so doe they in their new broached heresies And like Photinus c seeke not to show a reason of their doctrine to their hearers but draw things that are simply spoken to the colouring of their errour as Ruffinus speaketh of him Ut simpliciter ac sideliter dicta ad argumentum sui dogmatis traheret The first Ages delighted to comment Scripture But when Lombard gathered his sentences their itching ingines loathed Scripture and commented Lombard And when Thomas the floure of the Schoole had diggested his summes they were made the Text for commenting and reading in Schooles And the Canons of Trent are more holy than all not to bee commented least Trueth breake out amongst their hands but to bee believed and adored as Oracles So they stand now in the pertinacious defence of the Antichristian Faith canonized in Trent This is the present estate of the Romish Church wherevnto shee hath drawne her selfe by seven necessarie but miserable shiftings First at their great challenge by Luther they began with Scripture Though Caietan lurked in the bushes of Schoole-divinitie and Prierias worbled in his Cases yet Eccius and others appealed to Scripture But when they had assayed they found it hurtfull I herefore they cast it away with contempt calling it a nose of waxe a leaden sword c. like the olde Hereticks who as Irenie b sayeth turned to the accusation of Scripture when they were convinced by Scripture Cum à Scripturis
saw and Uespasian the reformer of Neroes wickednesse pulled downe the golden Head hee had set on the Collosse and in stead thereof placed the image of the Sunne It were good service to God to pull downe that head that hath lift it selfe aboue the Church and is the life of heresie and schisme the impediment of reformation and of peace in Europe and in his place to make the Gospel the image of the Sunne of Righteousnesse to shine cleerelie Saint Austine telleth you from your owne Lawes that they who will not in peace worship the God of peace nihil nomine Ecclesiae audeant possidere And thereafter If Princes doe not so Quo modo possunt Deo rationem reddere How shall they giue a count to God But Baronius is more legall Eijciendus vt Latro hee is to bee cast out as a thiefe who in an evill conscience possesseth that which is not his owne Io. de Rupe scissa telleth you the way in his Parable that when a naked bird was busked by other birds shee became proude and beate them Therefore they tooke back their lent feathers and left her naked Take backe againe your profuse donations wherewith you haue busked the Pope and then moveat coruicula risum furtivis nudata coloribus If hee bee redacted to an Apostolicke Preacher his Cardinals wil return to their primitiue charge in sepeliendis mortuis in celebrating the Funerals of the defunct popish Synagogue Rome hath beene twentie times taken since Christs dayes And Charles the fifth tooke it last in show for a Revenge but indeede to found his Monarchie Why may not ye in the zeale of God destroy the whoore to vindicate your owne Monarchies God hath foretold Babels destruction and it will certainlie come to passe The time thereof is both fixed and knowne of God alone And at that time hee will not want instruments for hee will put it in the hearts of Kings to fulfill his will For they will make bright arrowes and gather the shields because the Lord hath raised vp the Spirit of the King of the Medes For his device is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord the vengeance of his Temple To the Pope and his willfull adhaerents I speak as Cyprian did to Demetrian Provide for your securitie and life while you may Wee offer to you the whole some gift of our counsell And wee exhort you while yee haue occasion and are aliue to satisfie God and come to the pure light of the trueth out of the deepe and darke night of Superstition VVeâ— envy not your prosperitie wee render you loue for hatred and shew you the path of life in recompence of these torments yee inflict vpon vs. Belieue and liue that yee who persecute vs for a time may reioyce with vs for ever I close with Gods command to the elect people who for a time are captivat in Babylon Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins that ye receiue not of her plagues And his command to you Kings Reward her even as shee hath rewarded you and double vnto her according to her workes in the cup which shee hath filled fill to her the double Therefore let her plagues come in one day that as the Angel speakes Great Babylon may bee throwne down and found no more as a milstone cast into the Sea That all the Saints may haue matter to sing Halelâ—iah Salvation and glorie and Power vnto the Lord our God For true and righteous are his Iudgements for hee hath iudged the great wheâ—re which did corrupt the Earth with her fornication and avâ—â—ged the blood of his Servants at her hand AMEN Do illis eruditionem Do doctrinam Sed fidem religionem â—â—â—quam coluerunt Cicer. de Graec. Rom. 13. 1. Proverb â— â—6 Micah 5. 2 Luc. 2. â— Matth. 16. Iohn 10 â—â—bros de dig Sacerd cap. â— Ibid. cap. 2. Vtrum maiâ—r dignitas pradia dividendi an peccata diâ—â—ittendi Coâ—â—â—d lib. 1. August Cavit 2â— 6. Vniâ—uâ— in orbe Iâ—p Rex â—â—â— niumque Principâ—â—â— sâ—â— prâ—â—um c. Marta Iâ—ris Epist dediâ— Paul 5. Suarez defen 6. 6. â—ellar Apol. Cypr. de Ieâ—uâ— Revel 17. a Innocen 3 b Leo. 10. Bull. 12. Card. Lothar Practic Cancell Hisp. Aphor. Card. 16 22. Iâ—d 9. 20. Virum negotiosisâ—imum in Repub. Epist. 54. Psal. 21. 6 Psal. 33. 1. The Birth of the Prince May 29. An. 1630. Polydor hist. lib 5. Azor. inâ—â—st tom 2. lib 10. cap 1. Ecbertus totâ—â—â— insula Monarcha Edmundus Laâ—francus totius Insula Britaniae Primas Concilium Angl. Anno. 1085. Binius tom 3 part 1. pag. 395. Fasting and thankesgiuing two od solemnities Thankesgiving is more pleasanâ— Sicciâ—e exprimitur publicum gaudium per publicum dedecâ—â— Tertul. Apolog. 35. The summe and order of the words King Dauid a Supplicant Prius peremptores quam parentes Bern. hom 2 super missus est Parentes sensimus peremp tores c. Cypr. de lapsis Sect. 7. Amos cap 3 5 CuÌ„ ipse Pater qui largitur ista suggerat peti c. Cypr de ascens cap. 4. Rom. 11. 34. Rom 8. 27 Grace compleats all the parts and degrees of our happinesse Credituros promisit qui dixit non docebit â—nusquisq proximum suum Reconciliandos promisit qui dixit propitius ero inquit atibus eorum c. Prosper de Vocat Gent. lib 1. cap. 9. Ephes. 2. Psal. 10. 17 2. Sam. 7. 27. 1 Chr. 17. 25. Solomon prayed for Gods great respect of Kings Rom. 13. 1 Colimus imperatore 〈…〉 c. Tert. ad Scapul cap. 2. 1 The Author of Principality is God Cum res sit praestaÌ„tissima ordo politicus c. Calvin in hunc locum 2. The necessitie of principality Chessan Catal. part 5. cons. 1. Prover 8. 8 Dan. 2. 11. Divina providentiâ regna constituâ—ntur humana Mans necessitie Gods supplie by Callings Eccles. 5 9. Gen. 1. 26. Gen. 2. 16. Gen. 4. 2. Gen 4 22. Gen. 4. Gen. 4. 26. Governement founded in Adam Princes giue a civill life to a Land 3. The excellencie of principality The kindlie and sweete relation betwixt Prince and people The Character of Principality is of GOD immediatelie The signes of principalitie 1. In their couÌ„tenance Quantus motus sit ad unaÌ„ iussionem imperatoris Aug hom 16. Prov. 19. 12. 2. In their Ornament Aut capite Diadema aut in manu Sceptrum Tertul. advers Iud. cap. 10. 1 Chr 29. 25 2 Chr. â— â— The limitation of Princes Psal 82. 6. 7. Sciunt quiillis dederit impertum a quo sunt secunds post quem primi c. Tertul. Apol cap. 30. Hos. 8. 4. Ecclesâ— 5. 9. Psal. 51. Soli Deo reus quia hominem non habet qui â—ius facta dâ—â—udi cet Cassiod ibid. 1. Monarchie is the best sort of Governement Tum Resoub id est res populâ— bene ac iuste geritur