auenged himselfe of the heathen This I presse the rather because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzene speakes It is a very dangerous thing to be ouer prodigall of mercie for it is nothing else but an occasion of crueltie when rancke sinnes will not be cured without letting of great quantitie of blood a little seuerity in time would preuent a great deale of crueltie I will not say but somewhat that will resemble it which the iniquitie of the times doth hasten to wrest from you or which is worse to bring vpon the State You see the admonition that ariseth from this place is that your feet bee not nimium lanei lest your hands proue nimium ferreae you must strike soone that you may not strike too often or too deepe But it is not enough that you proceede timely except you proceede vnpartially you must proceede against whomsoeuer Gods Law is Deut. 1. Leuit. 19. Iâ—â— magnum paruum iudicabis Thou shalt not regard the poore because hee is poore nor the rich because he is rich there is no respect of persons in God neither should there be in his Lieutenants A Iudges sentence must be like a true looking glasse it must represent euerie mans case as the glasse doth his countenance neyther embellishing nor deforming it And no maruell for seeing they are Physitians of the State and sinnes are the diseases of it what skils it whether a gangrene beginne at the head or the heele seeing both wayes it will kill if the part that is diseased be not cut off Except this be the difference that the head being nearer the heart a gangrene in the head will kill sooner than that which is in the heele euen so will the sinnes of great ones ouerthrow a State sooner than those of the little ones But yet I know not how wee are more prouident for our naturall body than wee are for the politique curing in that first the principall parts and in this the lesse principall if wee cure them The vanity of which course Sigismund the Emperour well obserued in the generall Councell when vpon the motion that it was fit to reforme the whole Church one said Then let vs begin at the Minorites nay rather saith the Emperour at the Maiorites for if the great ones be good the mean ones cannot easily be ill but be the meane ones neuer so good the great will be nothing the better Iohn 7. I end this point with the saying of Christ Nolite iudicare secundum faciem sed iustum iudicium iudicate and I wish you the zeale of Phyneas Numb 25. that spared not Zimri or Cosbi though the one were a Princes sonne of Simeon and the other a Princes daughter of Madian so may it be imputed to you for righteousnesse and to your seed after you And thus leauing the conditions to bee obserued in the vse of your power I come to the limitations of the power it selfe The limitations are two first of the lawes There are diuine and humane lawes the Magistrate must proceed against the violaters of both against them that will not doe the law of God against them that will not do the law of the King Prou. 24. he must be Custos vtriusque Tabulae look to the obseruing of Salomons Feare God the King or Christs a greater than Salomons Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars Matth. 24. and vnto God the things that are Gods he must conioyne both and acknowledge Dominum Dominum my Lord God and my Lord the King But with this difference that the one is an absolute Lord the other but subordinate the one commands as in his owne right the other but in the right of God Secondly as are the Lords so are their lawes Gods must haue the first place the Kings but the second And no maruell seeing Gods lawes are primitiue the Kings but deriuatiue nay the substance of euery law is from God it is but the determination of some circumstance that is left vnto the power of the King In lawes meerly morall Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steale c. the King hath power onely in regard of the Sanction not that God hath left it in his choice whether these sinnes shall or shall not be punished but to his discretion hee hath left it how and how farre the good of the State requires to haue them punished In things meerly indifferent because many things are lawfull in regard of that liberty which we haue from God which are not expedient in that society whereof we are parts with other men the Kings lawes may impose precepts and that vnder paines but still prouiding that the law of nature yea and of grace too may stand with them and be not impaired by them nay nature and grace must in a Christian Common-weale giue the first light vnto them Adde hereunto that Gods lawes binde the conscience immediately as hauing power in themselues to make things good or euill but the Kings lawes binde but mediately as the King hath authority from God and is in the promulging of his lawes the Minister of God So that although you must looke to both yet must not your care be of both alike for both are not of like worth there must be an eminency in the care of Gods lawes aboue the care of the Kings Yea there is a necessity too for as Nazianzene speakes of Iouinian the Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was Princely wisedome in him to protect the truth because the truth could best support him Kings lawes are neuer so readily obeyed as where the people are religiously disposed and Magistrates which neglect the care of Gods lawes doe but teach the people how to vilifie theirs But you must be sure that the God be the God of Ezra the true God this is the first caution so were these Iudges and so must you be you must not maintaine false religion or persecute the true vnto the seruice of this true God you may lawfully compell St. Augustine obserues it in the Parable of the Marriage Feast And that it is profitable you may perceiue also in the same Parable for of many that were compelled wee finde but one that came without his wedding garment the rest had their part in the Feast God himselfe in Osea saith Cap. 2. That he will hedge the Iewes way with thornes so that they should not breake through to follow their spirituall fornication but withall pricke themselues and marke what followes the Iewes bethought themselues thereupon and said I will returne to my first husband and that was God for it was then better with me than it is now Nazianzene a man of a meeke spirit as appeareth in his writings had obtained some patience to be vsed toward the Apollinarists but when hee saw how ill it succeeded hee wrote backe to the President of the Countrey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My intercession was vnseasonable for these wicked men will not make so
generunt or genera singulorum it cannot bee vnderstood of singula generum God neuer suffered sinne so farre to preuaile but hee euer had a Church in the world and some true children the world could not continue if it were so bad as to haue none Though the times when Dauid came to the Crowne were verie bad yet not so bad there liued Nathan and Gad and Sadoc and manie thousands too no doubt were there in the dayes of Saul as in the dayes of Ahab which liued in the feare of God and as orderly members of the State but denominatio sequitur maiorem partem the greater part was the worser part and therefore the complaint is bent against the whole A complaint which may well fit our dayes wherein though GOD hath preserued manie as liuing members of CHRIST and profitable inhabitants of this Land yet can it not bee denyed that all sorts of sinnes doe raigne in all sorts of persons Wee may renew Esayes complaint Chapt. 1. From the sole of the foote vnto the head there is nothing whole therein And Chapt. 3. The people are oppressed one of another euery man by his neighbour the children presume against the ancient the vile against the Honourable what State is there that is not dissolued Honourable and Beloued I will not wrong your wisedomes so farre as to particularize onely this I obserue that when you giue your charge you doe nothing but relate the liues of the people they yeeld instances of all those sinnes which you so profitably disswade and I would the Grand-Iurie that haue their eares open to heare your charge would haue their eyes open also to behold the peoples liues and make a conscience to present what if they winke not they cannot choose but see and if they present there remaines nothing but that you Honourable and Beloued doe your part as carefully as they performe theirs faithfully And your part is set downe in the next point of the text in these wordes of King Dauid I beare vp the Pillars thereof This is the second reason the reason why you must iudge vprightly because when things are amisse the redresse of them lieth in you you beare vp the pillars thereof The Pillars of a State are good Lawes and good men good Lawes are the Pillars that beare vp men and men beeing so borne vp by good Lawes doe beare vp the whole state of the Land The reason why this title is giuen vnto Lawes is eyther historicall or morall The historicall is the ancient custome of ingrauing Lawes in brasse and fastening of them to pillars in publique places as wee vse now the Kings Proclamations it were not hard out of diuers Authors to confirme this custome I will alledge but two and they are two feeling authorities the one to bee heeded by a Iudge which is the saying of a Poet Fixit Leges pretio atque refixit the other is also the saying of a Poet but it lookes vnto the common people Hae he meaneth Lawes miserae ad parietem sunt fixae clauis ferreis vbi malos mores affigi nimio fuerat aequius Saint Paul seemeth to allude to this custome when hee calleth the Church The pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3. But to leaue the historicall reason there is a morall reason of it also Our wits and our wills doe both stay themselues vpon the Lawes while wee reade Philosophers writings de aeque bono what is meete to bee done and what is not meete our iudgements doe wauer through vnresolued discourse so soone as a Law hath defined men cease to dispute wee captiuate our iudgment to the wisedome of the State and hold their resolution not to bee excepted against As a Law fixeth our iudgement so doth it settle our will also though good bee louely yet the loue of good is but weake in vs and were there not a Law that threatens the transgressors how little wee loue good it would too soone appeare When our affections would melt with sinne they are held together and held vnto their duetie by the bridle of the law the law stayes the law holds and therefore Saint Basil doth well vnderstand by these Pillars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Lawes which with power and authoritie settle euerie man in his orderly course of life Lycinius the Emperour spake barbarously when as Eusebius reports hee said that Iuris cognitio was virus pestis Reipublicae and the Iewes who as Ambrose obserues said that Leges were Crimina spake but as Iewes that is as a rebellious people And the Anabaptists that hold Lawes to bee contrarie to Christian libertie doe but by their doctrine giue vs to vnderstand the qualities of their liues which is Epicuricall licentiousnesse But Christians must giue Lawes their right and repute them as they are the Pillars of the State They are immediately the Pillars of the inhabitants and the inhabitants beeing qualified by them become Pillars of the State Therefore good men are a second kinde of Pillars and indeede so they are called St. Paul giues that name to Peter Iames and Iohn Galathians 2. Nazianzene saith of Athanasius that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of Attalus Nicephorus saith that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither is this true onely of the Worthies of the Church but of the Common weale also Ioseph is called not onely Pastor but Petra Israelis as much is to bee vnderstood of Eliakim the sonne of Helchia of whom God saith in Esay cap. 22. I will fasten him as a naile in a sure place and he shall bee for a glorious throne to his fathers house and they shall hang vpon him all the glorie of his fathers house c. the meaning is they shall all rest vpon him And indeede there is no good man vpon whom the Land doth not rest for as the world was made for them so they beare it vp and when GOD remooues them the world groweth so much the weaker yea the wicked themselues doe grow the weaker for that they doe enioye their states they are beholding to the good they thinke when they breake Lawes and persecute good men themselues fare the better and their posteritie is the greater but fooles they are and therein proue their owne foes for they ouerturne the Pillars whereupon both themselues and the whole State doe leane There is that care in vnreasonable Creatures of the preseruation of the whole that euerie part will hazzard it selfe to preuent the common ruine onely men forgetting that themselues must perish when the Common weale goeth to wracke to satisfie their own lusts continually push at and would ouerturne both kind of Pillars and Sampson-like though not with so good a minde as Sampson nor in so good a cause for themselues are more like Philistines endeauour the ruine both of others and themselues What is the remedie surely the remedie lyeth in you in you that are the Pillars of the Pillars In vos domus omnis inclinata recumbit
Soueraigne Good in regard of Gods loue of vs which haue in vs no louelinesse at all Nay marke it biddeth vs tender our selues vnto him and what are we but as earthen vessels and what doth hee with vs hee maketh vs vessels of gold the peculiar treasure of the King of Heauen He biddeth vs obey but that hee may make vs Commanders wee must heare his voice keepe his Couenant these are markes of obedience but thereupon we shall be Kings and Priests those are markes of authoritie Finally hee biddeth vs apply our selues vnto him which doth beseeme a creature and hee will make vs like vnto himselfe like vnto our Creatour we shall be holy as he is holy Behold here then the bountie of God and folly of man the bountie of God who giueth though according to our capacitie yet not according to our deserts hee giueth as beseemeth himselfe according to the widensse of his owne Greatnesse and Goodnesse doth hee fill his creatures with his blessings especially Man and aboue all men these whom hee receiueth into the Church A man would haue thought that it had beene mercie enough in God in such a strange fashion to deliuer Israel out of Egypt to take such sharpe vengeance vpon their enemies to promise the Israelites that they should not bee subiect to the plagues of Egypt and that hee would bring them into a good land a land flowing with milke and honie a man would thinke I say that these blessings did more then deserue their best obedience and fidelitie and they could in reason desire no more but so to deale with them was not enough in the eye of Gods bountie he measureth vnto them with a more liberall hand and how often doth he giue vnto euery one of vs more not only then we deserue but also then we can desire especially concerning our spirituall state wherein hee is most bountifull to the meanest of his children As God exceeds in bountie so doe men in folly for their eares are open to none seldomer then vnto God to whom they are due neither are they false to any so much as vnto him Let the World or the Deuill or our owne flesh sollicit vs how attentiue how credulous are we how willingly doe we suffer our selues to bee deceiued to bee robbed by them but when God speaketh to vs whose word is truth who counselleth nothing but for our eternall good how heauie eared are we shall I say nay how rebellious Christ may complaine I haue laboured in vaine I haue spent my strength in vaine Esay 49. all the day long haue I stretched out my hands to an vnbeleiuing and a gainesaying nation Yet this is not the vttermost of our follies for in our falshood to God we are not only contented to be robbed by others but rather then wee will not haue our will to doe our selues mischiefe we will hire them that shall rob vs. God in Ezekiel obserueth it in the resemblance of the Israelues to a strange kind of Harlot for whereas vsually they are hired to be naught she did vse to hire her louers and prodigally to bestow vpon them the blessings which shee had receiued from God that with them shee might commit spirituall fornication against God so much more doth our sottishnesse esteeme our chiefest enemies then the author of our soueraigne good This folly first tooke place in Eue wherewith she infected Adam and from them both doe we all deriue it and there is none of vs which doth not vsually betray it witnesse the many good Sermons which we heare and whereby we profit little but runne madding after euery vanitie that woes vs and euery new corruption how suddenly doth it ouerspread most of vs I will dwell no longer vpon these primitiues obseruations I come to those which I deriued from them There are three vertues which are called Theologicall Faith Hope and Charitie of these three consisteth as it were the life of a Christian man now though they are all three giuen to a Christian at one time yet in nature one of them goeth before another This text will teach vs how we must order them Faith must haue the first place for wee must first heare Gods voice Hebâ—â— i. and to heare Gods voice is the worke of faith And indeed the Apostle telleth vs that Hee that commeth vnto God must beleeue and without faith it is impossible to please God Saint Austin therefore maketh Faith the foundation of our spirituall building we must begin our Pietie there There is in euery one of vs by nature a knowledge of God and so a kind of Pietie but this will not make a man Gods peculiar treasure but the limiting of our pietie to his voice and performing his Couenant for naturally men vanish in their discourse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not please God The next Vertue must be Charitie for as heate springeth from light euen so doth Charitie from Faith Faith worketh by Charitie and as a man beleeues so will he loue Now Charitie is meant by keeping Gods Couenant that is the worke of Charitie But withall obserue that Faith and Charitie both goe before Hope for wee must heare Gods voice and keepe his Couenant before wee can looke to be his peculiar treasure which is the matter of our Hope if we doe not we shall be peruerse seruants hope vntowardly for Sine fide spes non habet firmamentum a man that doth not beleeue cannot hope how should a man hope for good from him whom he doth not belieue and Sine charitate spes non habet inuitamentum hee should not hope that doth not loue and loue is a strong incouragement vnto hope A very Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—lutarch they that are well bred hope not but vpon sound reason Saint Paul He◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 8. Cap. 5 Eccles 1. a better Author saith that Faith is the ground of things hoped for hee then that hopeth without faith hath an vngrounded hope The same Heathen Author saith that the hopes of a vertuous soule are genuine but if they be in a vitious soule they are but bastards Iob compares them vnto a Spidersweb the Booke of Wisdome varieth the resemblance of them with great cloquence Yee that feare the Lord trust in him Quaenam spes hypocritae what hope hath the hypocrite Seeing then that vice can bee no ground of hope it is not without cause that Saint Paul in his two Apologies which he maketh for himselfe the one to the High Priest Acts 24. the other to Agrippa Acts 26. layeth for the foundation of his hope his care to keepe a good conscience and indeed by how much the more a man loueth God the bolder may he be to trust in him When Faith and Charitie haue done their worke and yeilded their furtherance vnto Hope then commeth Hope in seasonably with her worke and maketh amends vnto them both by quickning both Faith and Charitie First it quickneth
vpon his shouldeas And indeede our Faith in him must begin at that which was endured by him and therein must wee imitate him and write Cedendo vincimus The Church neuer triumphed so much ouer the world as when it did most resolutely sustaine the bloudy malice of the world The last thing that is to be noted on these words is the exchanging of the yoke mentioned before and rod of the oppressor which lay vpon the shoulders of the People into this Royalty and Gouernment which lyeth vpon the shoulders of the King Great odds there was betweene the People and the King the enemies had to do with the People they imposed their persecutions as a yoke vpon them but when they come to deale with the King this yoke is turned into a gouernment The same God that commanded light to shine out of darkenesse so altered the Crosse of Christ that it became to him the Chaire of Triumph And this is the cause why Princes weare it in their Crownes in token that they are subiect to it and why it was of old set vp where triumphall Arches were wont to stand that the world might haue so many witnesses as it were of the Triumph of it Which superstition at length abused and therefore haue they in many places iustly been abolished though the originall of the erection of those Crosses deserued rather praise than blame But we may not omit to obserue the seeming Contradiction that is in the Prophets words At first it is said The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders as if hee did beare it afterward it is said that Hee shall sit vpon the Throne and the Kingdome as if it did beare him The reconciliation is easie The body politicke is like the body naturall the foundation of it stands vppermost the head stands aboue the feete and a man would thinke that the feet did beare the head but indeede the head beareth the feete For were it not for the influence of sense and motion which the head deriues vnto the feete the feete could not sustaine themselues much lesse could they beare the body Wee see it in a dead palsie that intercepts the intercourse of the spirits betweene the head and feet We haue another Simile also of our Soules and our Bodies We would think that our Body did containe our Soule but indeed it is the Soule that containes the Body For no sooner doth the Soule part from the Body but the heterogeneous parts fall asunder and this goodly frame commeth to nothing Euen so fareth it betweene the Prince and the People he seemeth to rest vpon the people as the head vpon the body but indeed the people doe rest vpon him and therefore in Greek a King is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a phrase borrowed from a Building whereunto the Common-wealth is compared and whereof the King is said to be the Foundation For a wise King as it is Wisd 6. is the vpholding of the People and King Dauid Psal 75. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolued I beare vp the Pillars thereof And indeede the parts of euery State were they not vnited and supported by the Soueraignty of the Prince would sooner moulder and come to nought than doe the parts of our Naturall body when it wants a soule for there is not so much nor so eager naturall ambition and coueteousnesse in the elements whereof our bodies consist whereby they striue to gaine the one vpon the other and to tyrannize the one ouer the other vntill the one hath wrought the others bane as there is ciuill both ambition and coueteousnesse in the Members of euery State whereby the one striueth to get the vpperhand of the other and each man would denour his brother Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim and both against Iuda as the Prophet speaketh in this Chapter vntill the Kindome of Israel be layd waste Whereas then in euery State there are rich and poore that the rich doe not deuoure the poore crafty and simple that the crafty doe not circumuent the simple strong and weak that the strong doe not offer violence to the weake the reason is There is a King Rege incolumimens omnibus vna The King maintaines the Concord By him it commeth to passe that euery man sitteth quietly vnder his own vine and dwelleth safely vnder his owne roofe Mutiners and Murmurers are therefore iustly to be abhorred who speake euill of Authority and would withdraw their necks from obedience vpon this ground That superiours liue by the sweat of the inferiours browes being themselues deuoyd of care Their quarrell is like that which in Menius Agrippaes Apologue the outward members of the body had against the stomacke They complained of his lazinesse and their owne painfulnesse and therfore conspired to starue him and ease themselues They euen discouered their folly for soone after the hands began to faint and the leggs to faulter and the whole body to pine Then they perceiued that the stomacke which they condemned as lazie laboured for them and that they were beholding to the labour of the stomacke that themselues had any strength to labour So is it in the body politicke though the State of the Prince is supported by the Commons yet the spring of the Commons wealth is the prouidence of the Prince and soone would these streames dye if that fountaine were dammed vp It is so in a ciuill state but in the spirituall state it is much more so If a mortall Prince bee so beneficiall vnto a temporall State much more is the immortall King of heauen and earth beneficiall to the state of his Church sustaining and supporting the same That which you haue heard of mortall Princes sheweth rather what they should doe than what vsually they doe But this immortall King doth what he should hee is not so much aduanced aboue his people as his people are eased by him He beareth them vp on his wings as an Eagle doth her yongue ones as it is Deut. 32. but more amply Esay 36. his care his prouidence and the efficacie thereof are most aptly most significantly set downe there But because of this we shall speake more hereafter when wee come to entreate of his excellent managing of his State wee will pursue that Point no further nor trouble you further at this time O Lord who art high in place and great in care in thy Person and by vertue of thy bitter Passion exercising thy prouidence which guides and supports the whole frame of and euery member in thy Church Lord wee beseech thee to guide vs that wee bee not mis-led and that wee faile not to sustaine vs. So shall we neuer repine at thy sitting vpon vs thy Kingdome seeing wee rest more vpon thee that art our King And euer good Lord so rule vs from Heauen that wee may rest on thee in Earth So shall wee beeing translated from Earth vnto Heauen fully rest and reigne with thee
hee desired Christ not to take so much paines marke what reason he giueth I my selfe am a man set vnder authoritie and I haue souldiers vnder me and I say vnto one Come and he commeth and to another Goe and hee goeth and if I a petty Captaine that haue but a handfull of men vnder mee can so easily command them what mayst thou doe that art Generall of heauen and earth thou mayst doe whatsoeuer thou wilt for all things are thy host wherefore only speake the word and my seruant shall be whole Where by the way and yet fitly to our purpose we may obserue that he reputeth sicknesse one of Christs souldiers before I made the Armies consist only of persons I must now enlarge it also vnto things for indeed no lesse things than persons are Christs souldiers The Sunne shineth and scorcheth the Earth whereupon followeth a drought accompanied with those noisome creatures which are engendred in a drought these are souldiers of Christ And Ioel setteth them forth like an Armie The raine fals and glutteth the earth from whence spring weedes the off-spring of raine and vndigested moystures whereupon followeth the diseases of fruit and corne these are souldiers of Christ The pestilence wasteth the citie the sword cateth vp the people these are souldiers they come to execute Christs wrath as truly as the good Angels do pitch their tents about vs for to guard vs or any other good meanes is bestowed vpon vs to doe vs good Wherefore wee must not consider the Creatures only as they are in their owne nature but according to that employment also which they haue vnder God for they are all souldiers of the Lord of Hostes There is one thing more which I may not forget the whole world is called Gods Host but the Church is it in a speciall sort Salomon calleth it en Armie with banners Cant. 6. Moses speaking of the Church vnder the Old Testament calleth it the entring into the Leuiticall ministrie ingressâ—m in militiam St. Paul of the New Testament bids Timothie doe what himselfe had done fight a good fight 2 Tim. 2. and cap. 4. the whole body is called a Church Militant When we assemble together then Dauid will tell vs Psalme 110. Thy people O Lord will come willingly at the time â—f mastering thine armie in holy beauty The Lords day is his muster day all that are enrolled should then appeare before him Ephes 6. partly to furâ—â—â—h hemselues out of his armorie and partly to be directed how to carly themselues in their seuerall stations for euery man must walke as hee is called 1 Cor. 7. Which they should obserue that little frequent the Church and take as little notice why these Church meetings were instituted No wonder if they be vnarmed no wonder if they offend were we carefull to appeare at the musters we would be more resolute when we are gone thence because we should be compleately armed and more vigilent against the enemie because we should be better instructed As the Church is an Armie so it is but one Armie though diuided into seuerall bands Though there be particular Congregations yet there is but one holy Catholicke Church and seeing the Host is but one there should be no mutinie against the Generall That disloyall speech Nolumus hunc regnare super nos Wee will not haue this man raigne ouer vs Luke 19.14 receiued in the Gospel a iust reward of treacherie As we must not mutinie against the Generall so must not the souldiers side betweene themselues We should not sheathe our swords one in another corporally much lesse spiritually there should be no ciuill there should be no ecclesiasticall rents between the parts of Christendome for so Michaels Host doth degenerate into the Host of the Dragon that of the Womans feede into the opposite which is the Host of the Serpents brood To weaken them God is pleased that his enemies should be as the Madianites by his prouidence one of them doth ruine the other but hee would haue his children alwaies one man and be alwaies of one minde not to hazzard their owne liues nor the liues of others but in his quarrell and against his enemies This religious this honourable disposition of a Christian that is a souldier in Gods Host is much to bee wisht though little to be hoped for in these vncharitable and bloudy daies I haue spoken enough of the power of the person I come now vnto his signature which I told you is plaine and peremptorie It is plaine for here are no logicall demonstrations nor rhetoricall declamations but a plaine expression of Gods minde This is the best eloquence of Kings or Generals they are not bound to yeelde a reason of their commands or to vse insinuations into their peoples affections it is enough for them to expresse their pleasure in those things that are of their absolute command and if they do more they do it out of their goodnesse shew that they do as much desire to leade their subiects by reason as to require their obedience Much more may the Lord of heauen and earth do thus whose wisedome is vndeceiueable and his power most absolute though he be pleased sometimes to giue vs a reason of his command yet may we not expect it farther than he is pleased to vouchsafe it The signature is plaine but it is peremptorie for hee that speaketh so plainely speaketh as one that hath authoritie we may not dispute much lesse resist such commands because they are the commands of the Lord of Hostes This is to be noted both by Pastor and People for thus saith the Lord of Hostes is the Pastors warrant for his message he must bring nothing to the people without this signature I speake of things necessary to saluation For otherwise as in the Common-weale so in the Church there be many indifferent things which are left vnto the disposition of those that are in authoritie who are referred only vnto the generall rules 1 Cor. 14.26 Let all things be done to edification Let them bee done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 But in matters necessary to saluation it is with the Church as it is with the Common-weale wee must distinguish betweene the Law-makers and the Executioners thereof They that are the Executioners of Lawes may not take vpon them to make new Lawes Iudges and Iustices in their assizes and sessions informe the people what is the Law already established and by vertue of their Commissions they doome euery mans cause according to such Law Euen so God the King of kings hath decreed the Lawes of Christian Faith and Life and these Lawes hath hee committed to the Pastors of the Church hee hath committed vnto them the promulgation application of his lawes and more he hath not committed The Church of Rome agreeth with vs in the generall rule that thus saith the Lord of Hostes must be the warrant of the Pastors proceeding the Councell of Trent layeth it for
them all I begin with Christs right Wee are first to enquire of what sort it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word vsed by the Euangelist doth signifie an Eminency now that may be either in Ability or in Authority in men these are often times seuered some haue abilities that haue no authority some haue authority that haue no ability some haue good gifts that are in no place of gouernement and some are in place of gouernment that haue no sutable gifts But in God and Christ it is not so both concurre in them and in them both are equall the Authority to the Ability and the Ability to the Authority And it should be so in those that serue them it is pity but that those which haue good gifts should bee set in good places but it is a shame for them that are set in good places to be without good gifts Wherefore let this be your sacred ambition who are now to receiue holy Orders neuer to let your preferment out-steppe your indowments labour to bee as able to serue as you are willing to be employed Something we haue said of Christs power but not that which is principally intended here To make you see that I must remember you of a Logicke Rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur esse à subiectis suis when any attribute or title is giuen to a person it must bee conceiued in such extent as the person is capable of Now in Christ there are two capacities for he is God and he is also Man If we looke vpon him as hee is onely God so hee hath an infinite and an eternall power hee is as Almighty a Gouernour as Maker of all things This is potestas innata not data But becomming Man hee had another capacity and power proportioned thereunto a power fitting to a Mediatour a Mediatour that should recouer man fallen and reconcile him vnto God gather a Church and establish a Kingdome of Heauen Of this power our Sauiour Christ speaketh when he confesseth vnto Pilate that he is a King but addes My King dome is not of this world Iohn 18. and St. Paul the Kingdome of Heauen is not meate and drinke it standeth not in any earthly thing but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 The Scepter of this Kingdome is the Gospell the seate of it is the Conscience of man it is as Christ speaketh in St. Luke chapt 17. Regnum Dei intra nos a Kingdome of God within vs a spirituall Kingdome mannaged with a spirituall power Such is the power of Christ the Mediatour But this power doth not in Christs person exclude the other power of a Creatour nor the Deriuatiue therefrom the power of Scepters and Crownes which are all subiect thereunto they are by Christs Ordinance and he that is Mediatour hath power ouer them and doth dispose of them as is best for his Church But hee doth not doe this as a Mediatour Kingdomes are founded vpon another ground a ground that went before the Fall vpon Paternall Authority though in time it hath receiued many variations yet did not the Mediatour intermeddle with those humane policies he erected no power ouer those powers but left them to the former Prouidence of God neither would hee haue them any way preiudiced or impeacht by the entertainment of the Gospell This Christ testified in his time the Apostles in theirs the Primitiue Church for many hundred yeares as our Writers haue clearly proued against the Vsurpation of the Bishop of Rome who claimeth by some of his Aduocates directly by other some indirectly a power at least ouer all Christian Scepters and Crownes But this is to confound that which God hath distinguished the power which the Church deriueth from a Mediatour which is a spirituall power with the power which Kings deriue from the Creatour and Founder of humane policy Obserue then in few words how Princes and Pastors are superiour and subiect in seuerall respects one to the other In Foro Poli in cases of Conscience and things that belong to ghostly counsell and comfort those things that belong to the saluation of the soule the Prince must be ruled by the Pastor so long as he is a faithfull Minister of Christ But in Foro Soli in the Iurisdiction that is annext to the sword the Pastor must submit to the Prince and obey his command This you may learne out of the Titles which are giuen them For as Princes are Children of the Church and Pastors reputed their ghostly Fathers so Pastors are Children of the Kingdome Ezechias calleth the Leuites his Sonnes 2. Chron. 24. and the Prophet calleth Princes nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of the Church Esay 49. Constantine the Emperour distinguished well in his speech to the Prelates Vos estis Episcopi ad intra ego ad extra you are Bishops seruing for the administration of sacred things and mannaging of the Keyes but I also am a Bishop of the Church to see it well gouerned countenanced and protected While they serue God Princes are as it were Sheepe of the Fold but they are Shepheards also and must see God well serued This I obserue the rather because that you seeing the fountain of your Calling may keepe your selues within the Boundery thereof and not with either Papists or Schismatickes encroach vpon the Princes Sword deny vnto him his Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall or vsurpe vpon his Temporall two diseases which raigne much in this age which a man may more wonder at that readeth the New Testament wherein the Iewes dreame of their Messias worldly Kingdome is so plainly discouered and the ambition of the sonnes of Zebeaee Iames and Iohn who would sit one on Christs right hand and the other on Christs left hand in his Kingdome is checked so discreetly and that generall rule giuen Matth. 20. the Kings of the Nations beare rule they that are great men exercise authority but it shall not be so with you you shall receiue a spirituall but no temporall Iurisdiction you shall haue power not of the Sword but of the Keyes not ouer mens bodies but their soules in them must I raigne you must erect my Kingdome there And thus much of the kind of Christs power This power of Christ is lawfull because giuen to him giuen by his Father as elsewhere we learne And here wee must first obserue that if data Iohn 3. Daniel 7. Esay 49. Psal 2.48.13 Rom. 14. then it is not rapta that which is giuen is not vsurpt the Prince of this world hath power euen in the consciences of the children of disobedience and their soules are captiued to his pleasure God hath permitted this but he hath made him no grant of this power onely hee is contented to leaue men to his will by reason of their sinne though the Diuell be so arrogant vpon this permission that hee told Christ himselfe The Kingdomes of the earth and the glory thereof are mine and theirs to whom
In the Old Testament it is so and it is so in the New The place Eccles 10. is a knowne place Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich no not in thy bed-chamber where Rich and King both signifie persons in authoritie for so is the place generally applyed In the New Testament St Mathew calleth Ioseph of Arimathea a rich-man St Marke an honourable-man as if rich and honorable were Synonyma's But the ant thesis that St Iames maketh betweene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puts it out of all question for what is the opposite to a man of low degres but a man of high Enough of the word The point intimated by the word is that no member of the Church ariseth to so high a degree of worldly state but CHRIST calleth vpon them to take vp his Crosse and follow him Kings themselues in Baptisme are signed with the signe of the Crosse in token that they shall not be ashamed of CHRIST crucified but shall continue his faithfull Souldiers vnto their lines end they eat the body and drinke the blood of CHRIST in token that they must communicate in his sufferings yea Kings moreouer since the dayes of Constantine the Great haue borne the Crosse on the top of their Crownes to note what else but that they will take their parts thereof That which the Prophet Isay speakes of CHRIST Imperium habet super humeros Cap. 9. is a phrase borrowed from earthly Kings who are called in the Hebrew tongue Nâ—se as if you would say Portatores the erymologie of the word is set downe by GOD himselfe Numb 11. where he designes those that shall helpe Moses to beare his burthen and Iethro obserues it in the 18 of Exodus The prouerbiall speech which Elizaeus vsed of Elias My Father my Father Currus auriga Israel reacheth not onely Prophets but Princes too both sustaine a double part in the societie of men they direct and they beare and one part of their burden is the Crosse euen plaustra conuitiorum whole loads of reproaches and contumelies what the King of Aram said to the Captaines fight not against small nor great but onely against the King of Israel seemes to be the charge which the Bishop of Rome giues to euerie pettie Souldier in his host They were wont in their writing to vndertake a Luther or a Caluin a Beza or a Iewel or some man of their ranke but now there is not the basest Pamphleter that hath not some venomous dart to shoote at the Lords Anointed whom in better times of the CHVRCH the greatest Patriarches did not mention without that lowly respect which GOD hath made due vnto sacred Maiestie But what is to be done in the mid'st of these vnbridled tongues and pens Kings themselues must resolue that they are vncti non tantum ad Regnum sed etiam ad luctam men of their place must be men of such worth as here is described by St Iames in such cases it belongs vnto them and to them principally to endure the Crosse out of the loue of GOD. The first part of their worth is to endure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word implyes two things not to sinke in their courage for they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor shrinke from their burden for they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they must not sinke is the first 1 Cor. 4. Tribulationem patimur saith St Paul sed non angustiamur whereupon a Father Quomodo angustiari potest qui dilatatur virtutibus Vertue is like gold in the fire which looseth nothing of its weight but gaines in luster yea as gold when it is melted in the fire diffundit se in longum latum Beda in Ps 65 it spreads farther and extends longer so saith Bede doth the vertue of a child of GOD when he is exercised by the Crosse more are the better for it and himselfe is the better setled to continue in it his vnderstanding is more cleared for the acknowledgment of the truth and his heart more strengthened for to sticke to it and this is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to continue the same and not to be altered vnto worse by reason of the Crosse but though we be nipt as corne with the frost of winter to stocke better and to beare a goodlyer eare of corne As we may not sinke vnder the Crosse so we may not shrinke from it there be many that be like St Peter who said vnto CHRIST Master though all men forsake thee yet will not I forsake thee I will lay downe my life for thee yet when they are put to it they will as he did deny and forswear their Master The experiments that the Primitiue Church had in this kind were no lesse innumerable then lamentable the names of Libellatici and Traditores are infamous to this day wherof the one signed their renouncing of CHRIST with their owne hand and the other with their owne hands gaue vp GODS Word to be burnt in the fire Epist ad Tert. Those words of Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerne verie many in all age But we haue better examples to follow in the Booke of Daniel of the Maccabees in the 11 to the Hebr. wherein most memorable is that of Moses who esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Aegypt and had rather suffer affliction with his brethren then to liue as the sonne of Pharaohs daughter But here are two cautions to be obserued the first is as we must not shrinke from the Crosse so must we not offer our selues to it before we be called Stand vpon thy guard saith St Chrysostome and be ready to resist the assaulting enemie but do not rashly make thy selfe enemies Hoc enim non est militis sed seditiosi it is enough for the Souldier of CHRIST to march forth when the alarum is sounded by the trumpe of the Gospel Lib. 10. Conf. c. and St Austin Tolerare tentationes iubes nos Domine non amare nemo quod tolerat amat etsi tolerare amat quamuis enim gaudeat se tolerare tamen mavult non esse quod toleret and we pray lead vs not into temptation Those Frierly speaches then one of him that being released of his temptation expressed his griefe in these words Bibliothech Patr. Domine nen sum ego dignus modica tribulatione the other of him that being sollicited to Adulterie by his owne lust refused the prayers of him that offered to intreat GOD on his behalfe out of a conceipt that his striuing with that lust would turne to his greater glorie sauour too much of Cloyster superstition it may be impuritie also The second caution is that as we must not vndergoe the Crosse before we are called so being vnder it we must not rest vpon our own strength we must put on that same compleat Armour mentioned â—phes 6. if we stand vpon this