grind him to powder For this cause we must be subiect not onely for feare but also for conscience sake nor onely to the King as to the chiefe but also to Rulers as to them that be appointed by him for the punishment of those that doe ill and praise of them that doe well His pleasure if it could be knowne should be a kind of law vnto vs his law when it is promulgated should tye vs by a kind of oath of Alleageance Laudo fidem saith Tertullian quae ante credit obsâ—ruandum esse quam didicit I like of such a faith as beleeueth it ought to obserue this or that before it hath learned the euident reason thereof This hath place in some mysteries of Religion and so in some State-matters a kind of simple obedience is many times necessary but Tergiuersation and reasonings and murmurings and contentiousnesse they must be done away with all vnquietnesse What a motiue is this to induce vs to study by all meanes to giue content to our higher Powers for that we may say of them truly which the flattering Oratour said of the Romane Gouernour falsely Act. 24. By their meanes we enioy much peace and many worthy things are done to our Nation by their prouidence and for that we may say with the words of my Text that they sitting on the Throne of Iudgement doe scatter away all euill What doe they doe They scatter away What doe they scatter away Euill all euill It is said of Christ that he hath his Fan in his hand and will thorowly purge his floore c. Math. 3. The like office is here ascribed to a King a good King that he hath his Fan in his hand and before he doe scatter he doth Fan sift winnow trie for that is implyed in the originall word Zarah so then hee doth not scatter away all causes and persons that are brought before him the righteous as well as the vnrighteous like the cruell Tyrant that cryed out A Calvo ad calvum To the pot with them euery mothers sonne and as Benhadad proclaimed Whether they be come out for peace take them aliue or whether they be come out to fight take them yet aliue make bond-men of them all spare none And briefly as Henricus Stephanus writeth of a Iudge that his manner was when an old fellow was brought before him vpon suspition of felony to say Away with him hang him he hath committed many a felony I warrant you if a young fellow were brought Away with him too hang him he will commit many a felony if he be suffered I say good Gouernours doe not goe thus rashly to worke and as it were by whole-sale but they will separate the precious from the vile as the Prophet speaketh and weigh all things in the ballance of Prudence and will order their Iudgement with discretion as Isaak would not blesse his sonne before he had felt him and Salomon full wisely found out the true mother by tendring an offer and Claudius the Emperour almost as wisely found out the true son by making the like offer witnesse Suetonius in Claudio Ch. 15. Thus by searching they found out who hath right on his side who not who deserue punishment who reward then accordingly they proceed to Iudgement and scatter away all euill All Euill If all euill then the euill that is in the Tribe of Leui as well as in other Tribes Here then the Kings Supremacy ouer all persons is proued againe if all euill then the euill of impiety against the first Table as well as of iniquity against the second Table here then the Kings Supremacy in all causes is vouched What if Gallio and Festus in the Acts of the Apostles did put from them or did not care to meddle with Church-matters and matters of faith They were both Pagans and neither of them a member of the Church much lesse head of any Church So what if Constantine the Great tooke so little vpon him in the Councell of Nice albeit that Councell and others were conuocated by his authority and in that Councell he commanded the books of the Old New Testament to be produced forth tryall of controuersies What if Valentinian the second did endure to heare of Ambrose Ad Imperatorem palatia pertinent ad Sacerdotem Ecclesiae that is The Emperour hath to doe in his Palaces but the Bishop or Priest in Churches why Constantine and Valentinian were both Neophytes or young Schollers in the faith and neither of them as yet baptized Should this be a barre either to Theodosius the Great or to Martianus or to Iustinian or to Carolomannus or to his nephew Charles the Great or to the Othoes Fredericks Henries or to the Kings of France England Scotland Denmarke Swedeland or to such Princes and States that haue Iura Regalia that they should not make Lawes for the aduancement of the true faith and Seruice of God for the abolishing of Idolatry for the curbing of superstition for the rooting out of Heresies for the punishing of blasphemous and seditious Heretickes Briefly for the maintenance of the Ministery and for the inioyning of Ministers to their duty and so forth What reason in the world against this or that Princes should looke for a Commission and as it were an Oracle from Rome This for instruction So for Institution or admonition a word or two had need to be spoken for as S. Peter prophesied that in the last times there should come mockers walking after their owne lusts and saying Where is the promise of Christs comming or presence so peraduenture in this prophane age some will demand prophanely Where is the truth of Salomons assertion He saith That a King sitting in the Throne of Iudgement scattereth away all euill Now it is euident that the King sitteth on the Throne of Iudgement by himselfe and others carefully and Iustice was neuer better administred without respect of persons or Country and yet we see not all euils scattered away For when say some was there more impiety iniquity impurity in the world Quando maior avaritiae patuit sinus alea quando hos animos c. that is When was there more couetousnesse more deceiuing and cogging when was there more gluttony and drunkennes chambring and wantonnes strife and enuying neither can they be content to be drunke with wine and strong drinke as in former ages but they must be drunke euery day and almost euery houre of the day with smoake a sinne that our Elders heard not of Neither are they that weare soft clothing in Kings Courts onely as it is said in the Gospell but they iet it not onely in soft clothing but in cloth of gold and of siluer euen in townes and villages and many haue more vpon their backs then they are worth in their coffers Further euery man hunteth his brother as with a net as the Prophet saith Euery one catcheth his fellow seruant by the throate
naturally Wheat doth encrease by sowing first the blade then the stalke then the eare c. but yet the Learned know that it hath not only rained downe wheat diuers times but it hath beene found growing in the knee of a child So naturally it must be the hand of a man and ioyned to the body that must write and he that will haue bread must haue flowre kneaded and baked and he that will haue shields must haue the Smith to forge them and he that will haue a well must digge deepe for it c. And yet who knoweth not of the fountaine of water that the drye iaw-bone of an Asse yeelded to Samson Of the writing of the tenne Commandements And of that on the wall before Belshasar without the hand of man Of the feeding of Elias by Rauens and of the same Manna which came downe from heauen Now shall any man bee so vnreasonable as to say Because these and the like things cannot bee done by man therefore they cannot bee done by the higher powers or Because he neuer saw the like done in all his life therefore the like was not done in any age Then by the same reason Because there are no kniues in this Land made of other matter then of metall therefore I may deny that in the Indies the sauage people make their kniues of Flint stones as also the manner was in old time among the Iewes which yet they that haue trauelled thither doe most constantly auouch or because salt is not otherwise had among vs but by boyling of bryne therefore wee may discredit such as haue deliuered it in writing for a truth that in diuers parts of Sicily and else-where they haue their salt for digging euen as we haue stone or cole Or briefly because with vs there iâ— no water to bee had but from fountaines or from brookes or from the like therefore I will condemne it for a fable that there should be in one of the Canaries a Tree of that miraculous vertue that the very leaues thereof be a Well-spring of water yeelding and powring it downe as from a conduit nay as from a great spout in such aboundance that there is sufficient for the Inhabitants and for all commers For as in these matters we beleeue more then we haue seene in our Country vpon the report of them that haue made tryall thereof else-where vpon their report I say by word of mouth so why should wee not as well beleeue their writings of old that haue registred such strange and prodigious things done before time though wee in our time haue had no experience of the like Thus much for answer to them that are hardly brought to beleeue miracles and so that a Virgin should conceiue except they could see the like done in their time But now to answer them more familiarly What if without any miracle at all euen by the demonstration of naturall experiments the same may bee made probable will they then relent and giue ouer their obstinacy Surely as Tertullian thought good to demonstrate the Resurrection by the Phoenix which repaireth himselfe by his ashes and as Austine thought good to demonstrate our Regeneration by the Snake which casteth his slough from yeere to yeere and as our Sauiour Christ himselfe borrowed an example from the wind to shew the secret and inuisible working of the holy Ghost So if we shall take vpon vs by familiar and naturall examples to shew the possibility of a Maidens conception I hope it will be well enough taken especially since I meane not to stand vpon it but onely to touch it and not to inforce beliefe from the incredulous but to draw assent from the flexible This therefore I say which yet is not my saying alone but Origens and Basils and Ambrose his too for the most part that in certaine birds and fishes and beasts the Lord hath drawne as it were certaine pictures and resemblances of this mysterie to condemne the incredulity of the incredulous and to make Faith more probable to vs. And what be those vnreasonable creatures that conceiue without the male Truly of fowle the Vultur as Tertullian remembreth besides the other Authors which I named euen now For fish the Erythinus as Pliny reporteth for beasts certaine Equae Hispanicae remembred almost by euery writer also for Insects the Bee Now he that worketh these strange things in these creatures and by these creatures euery yeere could not he or is it improbable that he should doe the same once in man-kind and the same for the saluation of man-kind especially since both Prophesie did fore-tell it and Story doth auow it to haue beene done Thus as the Apostle became a â—â—w to the Iewes to winne the Iewes and to them that were without Law as though hee had beene without Law himselfe to win such So to the vnbeleeuer I haue made my-selfe as it were an vnbeleeuer and leauing the authority of the Scriptures which are all-sufficient haue dealt onely by naturall experiments to proue if by any meanes I might satisfie them This dealing doth not want its warrant as I haue shewed already nor yet hath it beene voyd of fruit For Arnâ—bius and Lactantius their Bookes haue done good though they reasoned but from the light of Nature and that I may trouble you onely with one example Bartholomew Georgeniez writeth that disputing with a Turkish Professor in the yeere 1547. he made euen the mysterie of the Trinitie seeme probable by this rude comparison of the Sun that hath forme and brightnesse and heat in it and yet is but one and made the Turke with admiration to exclaime Allah Allah Therefore all such shadowing out of mysteries is not vtterly to be reiected if wee hap to deale with such who care not for the Scriptures A Virgin shall conceiue You haue heard first that a Virgin must be here meant or else it is no signe or miracle Secondly that it is such a miracle that â—hough it be aboue reason yet is it not contrary to reason and therefore the more easie to be yeelded vnto by them that haue any reasonablenesse or equity in them Now let vs see which kind of Virgin the Lord made choice of to make his Mother for surely shee did not chuse him but he chose her as Christ said to his Apostles You haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you The Mother of our Sauiour was to be a Virgin that is no question and for many causes too First to fulfill this Prophesie A Virgin shall conceiue and beare Immanuel Secondly to fulfill these Types The first Adam was made of the hands of God of the earth vncorupted vndelued vnplaned So the second Adam Christ was to be made by the finger of the holy Ghost of the blood of a Virgin vnstained and vnpolluted This may be esteemed for one Type Another this The Manna and the Water in the Wildernesse that I meane which issued out of the rocke was made immediatly by the hand
Rome his spouse all the while he is not our true father but a father in Law or rather against all Law nor she the true mother but a step-mother a putatiue mother like her in the 1 Kings that would haue had the child to be deuided For all the world he hath shewed himselfe such a kind of father as Saturne was who deuoured all his children that he could come at and whom Rhea hid not from him and she such a mother as Medea in the Tragedy who murthered all her sonnes that she had by her husband Iason and were sorry she had no more to murther that she might vexe him and grieue him more But as Moses said Our God is not as their god our enemies being witnesses so we may say Our father and King is not as theirs heauen and earth bearing record for their King is King of the Locusts Reu. 9. and himselfe the great Locust but our King is a King of peace and of bounty to speake the least and facilis placidusque pater veniaeque paratus as the Poet said So much of the person of the King I come now to the function and to the effect and to the instrument and I will but touch them slightly lest I should be tedious A King sitting on the Throne of Iudgement c. The Iewes write themselues and others write of them that while their Common-weale stood they had three kinds of Courts or places of Iudicature Batteidin the one in euery City where three chosen for the purpose sate and examined petite or light matters matters of trespasse and of debt this was the least Court but there were many of them The second was a greater Court and authorized to try matters of life and death the same consisted of the number of twenty three and was scattered thorowout the Tribes there were more than one for a Tribe The third and greatest and most solemne consisted of seuenty or as some would haue it of seuenty two those receiued Appeales from the other Courts and besides debated of matters of the State and of the Church This Court was holden at Hierusalem and in respect thereof it is thought the Psalmist speaketh so as he doth Psal. 122. For there Thrones are set euen the Thrones of the house of Dauid He doth not say Throne as of one but Thrones as of many by reason of the multitude of Iudges which made vp Sanhedrin as the Talmudists corruptly call it of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howbeit as Genes 37. Iosephs sheafe stood vp-right and all the other sheaues did compasse it about and did reuerence vnto it and as Ezech. 1. it is said of the wheeles that when the liuing creatures went they went and when those stood they stood c. for the spirit of the liuing creatures was in the wheeles so we may say that all the fore-named Courts both greater and smaller were subiect vnto the Kings-bench as it were as receiuing their authority and commission from it and so to be commanded by it and not to exercise any iurisdiction ouer it Baronius in his Annals a booke more painefull than faithfull speaking of the Sanhedrin that great Court holden at Hierusalem saith that it had power not onely to determine spirituall matters but also to question and conuent euen Kings he instanceth it Horum namque iudicio Herodes Rex postulatus est and for this and Herods cruelty especially he citeth Iosephus in the Margin I cannot say of this allegation as Saint Paul saith of Epimenides his testimony This Testimony is true for indeed his allegation is not true Herod was no King then when he was conuented nor sonne of a King but subiect to King Hyrcanuâ— who caused him to be sent for vpon complaint and was content that he should make an escape because a kinsman of Caesars had written for him but that Herod was King when he was conuented or that that Court had power ouer Kings to conuent them this we finde in Baronius onely but it is not to be found in Iosephus The truth is Qui Rex est Regem Maxime non habeat that is He that is a King must not haue one aboue him for such a one is a King onely in name but in truth a subiect for vnto Kingly authority or Soueraignety it is essentiall to be supreme and absolute absolute I say from the prescript of all persons but not from the obseruing of his owne Lawes vnto the which he graciously submitteth himselfe For this cause King Salomon erected a Royall Throne as of Iuory and gold to signifie the sincerity of his proceeding and how farre it should be from corruption and with Stayes and Lions to signifie that he would maintaine Iustice euen by force and power if it were impugned So with six steps or greeces and no fewer to shew the eminency of his Court aboue all other whatsoeuer Courts and Consistories and that the statelinesse of the making might procure awe and reuerence to it from all degrees and callings his meaning was not by erecting that Throne to suppresse all other Courts by no meanes for that had beene to pull downe the whole burthen vpon his owne backe which Moses the man of God disclaimed as being too heauy for him but to teach vs that all other Courts were subordinate to it as to the Court of the Lord Paramount 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I meane that all other should receiue orders and iniunctions from it but not presume to giue orders and rules to it So then as wheresoeuer the King maketh his abode there the Court is said to be the Court Royall so wheresoeuer any Court of Iudicature is holden by the Kings authority there the King himselfe may be said to sit interpretatiuè It is not therefore meant in my Text that the Kings personall presence is alwayes necessary for the scattering away of euill but that his authority should be there and that worthy and sufficient men be appointed by him for the mannaging of the affaires of Iustice. Where the King sitteth himselfe if he so please or prouideth that wise and incorrupt Magistrates doe fit there all enormities and abuses are easily chased away and scattered The Kings wrath is as the râ—aring of a Lion The Magistrate vnder him beareth not the sword in vaine What if the wicked be mighty in power in wealth in kindred in friends in alliance yet he thaâ— sitteth vpon the Throne is mightier than they What if they be as thornes that will not be taken vp with the bare hand Yet the Magistrate being fenced with Iron or with the shaft of a Speare 2 Sam. 23. will be too hard for them and they shall be destroyed in the same place It is hard kicking against the pricke saith our Sauiour and it may be well said If a man fall vpon authority it will bruise him but if authority fall vpon a man it will