suspiciones malenolae calumniantium suspitiones beneuolae Gubernantium malitious suspitions proper to calumniators beneuolous and friendly suspitions proper to Gouernors If my friend betray me I beshrew him but if my enemie betray me I beshrew my selfe said he But goe we on and follow his Maiestie into the darke chamber of death and then tell me if Zenacheribs armie Rabsaches threats the inconstancie of the people the disloyaltie of Shebna could put Ezechiah in such danger or that it was euer higher time for God to put to his helping hand then now no beloued here here stand you still and behold the saluation of the Lord which he shewed as on this day open the booke of his workes read the doctrine of prouidence Exod 14.13 did euer God shew himselfe to bee a God almighty and a God of power did hee euer manifest his particular prouidence more articulatly beyond the strength of reason and compasse of second causes then now Was it not strange and miraculous that he that was appointed to bee the murtherer should presently vpon the sight of the King as Baltashar when he saw the hand-writing on the wall stand trembling and quaking rather like one condemned then an excutioner of such an enterprise Was it not strange and miraculous that the King should dragg Alexander to the window and that his Nobles at the selfe same instant should bee vnder that and the very same window Lastly was it not strange and miraculous that that blessed Angell and messenger of the Lord that Iosuah and mighty Deliuerer Sr Iohn Ramsey should finde the turnepicke doore open follow it vp to the head enter into the chamber rescue the King from Alexander and strike bloudy Gowry himselfe stone dead in the place All these are as so many bookes wherein he that runneth may read Gods especiall prouidence ouer his annoynted Turne ouer the leafe againe That hee that should haue been the murtherer should now stand as one that was to be murthered That the King should dragg Alexander to the window That his traine should be at that very time vnder that very window That Sir Iohn Ramsay should lite vpon that darke vnused vnknowne by-way free him from Alexander and strike bloudy Gowrie dead in the very roome read it aduisedly and then awake all antiquitie and shew mee the like instance of Gods especiall prouidence againe I know you will tell me of Noah in the Arke for what in the eye of reason should become of Noah in the Arke in the Arke without Anchor to stay her without mast to poize her without sterne to mooue her without Pilot to guide her had not the same God who forgets nothing that he hath made both shut him in with his owne hands and preserued him being in which otherwise in reason could neuer haue been I know you will tell me of the Israelites deliuerance from 70 yeers captiuitie Psal 126. which the Prophet Dauid saith strooke such an amazement in them that they were like them that dreame Liuius 33. Psalme 126. and as Liuie saith in a case of great ioy much liberty and freedome Maius gaudium fuit quà m quod vniuersum homines caperent vix satis credere se quisque audiuisse alij alios intueri mirabundi velut somni vanam speciem I know you will tell of Peters inlargement out of prison which so maruellously affected the blessed Apostle that hee was scarce his owne man hee knew not that it was true which was done by the Angell but thought he had seene a vision Acts 12.9 Acts 12.9 But what was there in all these or any one of them that you shall not read in some one page or other of this most omnipotent and all powerfull deliuerance of his sacred Maiestie Reg 12.9 Great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised and his greatnesse is incomprehensible Psalme 145. Generation shall praise thy workes vnto generation and declare thy power Obiect Another circumstance followeth In applying whereof durst I presume either on the time or your patience or mine owne strength much might be inserted to the indelible shame of these bloudy Gowries For they miscreants as they were thirsted not after the bloud of a priuate man nor any subordinate Magistrate but of the King himselfe A King not precario or by conquest pag. 29. read his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but an absolute Monarch and free borne King the which with vndaunted presence of minde he tould pale Alexander for the righteous are as bold as a Lyon hee was borne a free King and should die a free King A King not offensiue or grieuous vnto his subiects but a King surnamed by the voice of all his people of all humors of all factions of all religions the geude King A King and a King of the line of Dauid a King and a King of the tribe of Iudah Euent But here I must lay my hand vpon my mouth I cannot say what my heart conceiues nor yet conceiue what ought and should be said wherefore I come to the euent For what of all this a King and a free borne King a King and a geud King a King and a King of the line of Dauid a King and a King of the tribe of Iudah what of all this It was a foule treason they were bloudy villaines what of all this did you neuer heare of a treason before did you neuer heare of a King murthered and what a quoyle here is about one Gowrie seduced happily by pestilent firebrands abroad in Italie or what if his deep Melancholy now brake forth and growing starke mad as Aiax offended with Vlisses Agamemnon and Menelaus wreckt his malice vpon a sillie and a harmlesse sheepe thinking it had been Vlisses So hee insteed of those that had done him wrong as hee thought and proceeded against his Father missed his ayme and fell vpon the King as vpon a sillie and harmlesse sheep who was in his minoritie and wholy passiue in all that businesse why what of all this Beloued shall a Prince and a great man fall in Israell the second of Samuel at the third 2 Sam. 3.38 and will the sonnes of Zeruiah stand still will no tumults no vprores no alteration follow And shall an absolute Monarch though but now in Hebron as Dauid yet in expectation and sight of all the world to the ioy and comfort of Gods Saints to the terror and amazement of the enemies of God and his Gospell the puissant Monarch of Great BRITAINE and of all Israel shall he I say be bloudily mangled and hewen in peeces and no horror no murthers no massacres follow Yes yes for to omit what thousands â—â—e obserued hoâ— about that very same yeere nay within the compasse of one moneth and weeke almost many subiects of principall note miscarried and grew corrupt in their allegeance many treacheries were attempted many Protestant Princes miraculously preserued what meant what meant that posting to Rome that gadding
length a list of Shebnaes foule sinnes and offences Shebna was an hypocrite Shebna was ambitious Shebna was ingratefull Shebna was enuious and giuen ouer to those crying sinnes of detraction supplanting slandering lying and what not but yet we haue not named the sinne of Shebna the particular capitall crime the predominant sinne of Shebna which awaked Gods iustice and prouoked him thus in all seueritie to proceed against him For all these which but now I named hypocrifie ambition ingratitude enuy why they were rather peccata hominum peccata Iudaeorum then any appropriated sinnes of Shebna they were sinnes incident to the corrupt nature of man familiar to the people of the Iewes and cannot by way of denomination be termed the sinnes of Shebna Insita est mortalibus naturâ saith he men by nature are wholy giuen to taxe and maligne vertue and goodnesse in others pari dolore aliena commoda ac proprias iniurias metiri and to take other mens benefits and blessings as much to heart as their owne proper iniuries But especially the Iewes no people no nation so giuen ouer to hypocrisie ambition ingratitude and enuy as the Iewes Besides it is worth the noting that God proceedeth after another fashion with the Princes of Iudah and the rest of the inferiour sort of people and punisheth their offences in another kinde as he that will peruse the former part of this Chapter may easily perceiue and I as easily shew you could I now stay But when he cals to minde the sinne of Shebna he bids our Prophet addresse himselfe to Shebna in particular as vnto a supereminent notorious offender aboue all the rest Goe get thee vnto this Treasurer euen vnto Shebna which is ouer the house and say It was not then his hypocrisie it was not his ambition nor yet his ingratitude no nor yet his enuie it was a sinne of a deeper die accomcompanied I grant you with all these but yet not any one of all these And that was his sinne of Treason Shebna was a Traitor patriae proditor which as one saith comes à prodendis consilijs hostibus so that Shebna as I verily thinke reuealed both arcana dominationis domus secrets of State and secrets of Court and most treacherously combined to betray Ezechiah and Ierusalem into the hands of a professed enemie and atheall miscreant Zenacherib as hoping forsooth that when once Zenacherib should be vested in the Throne of Iudah he would thinke on Shebna and make him King ouer his owne Countrey at the least And this I take to be the sinne of Shebna As for those other sinnes I make no doubt but Shebna had of a long time nourished them and God might say vnto him as it is in the Psalmist Psal 49.21 Haec fecisti tacui These things hast thou done Shebna and I held my peace But when once he committed the sinne of treason then was it high time for God who as the sonne of Siracke saith patient est etiam redditor Wisdome to come downe and visit Shebna with a rod of iron Goe get thee vnto this Treasurer euen vnto Shebna that is ouer the house and say Shebna then was a Traitor his offence Treason nay I added more a transcendent Treason For looke vpon the most hainous Treasons and bloudie assassinats in the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and other faithfull stories in the word of God you shall finde somewhat that will lessen them and giue occasion of extenuation In all of them you shall obserue that flesh and bloud will haue some Sanctuarie to flie vnto and an indulgent obseruer will easily inuent arguments to mitigate if not quite to purge the foulenesse of each offence But Shebna his treason was so dangerous and inexcusable that it will admit of no extenuation In the second of Ester you shall reade of a dangerous treason attempted by Bigthan and Teresh Ester 2. vpon the body of an annointed King the King Assuerus where if we looke vpon the authors of the treason it was very dangerous and inexcusable for what could not these mischieuous villaines doe that were Squires of the body and had the life and being of the King in their owne custodie But yet if wee cast our eie vpon the obiect of their treason why surely it extended no farther neither had they any other obiect then the bare life only of Assuerus at the most In the third of that booke you shall finde recorded a barbarous massacre intended by Haman against the person not of one or two but euen of Mordecay and the people of Mordecay Heere now if you looke narrowly vpon the latitude of the obiect Mordecay and all the Iewes verily the crueltie of mercilesse Haman can no way be extenuated but yet if you will search a little farther and enquire after the end he proposed vnto himselfe we cannot say that the life of his liege Lord or that the welfare of the proper inhabitants of that Countrey or that the preseruation of the state wherein he liued and whereof hee was a principall member was any way put in hazard onely Mordecay and certaine Iewes dispersed vp and downe thorowout the Kings prouinces were aimed at In the second of Samuel at the 15 we haue storied a foule and vnnaturall treacherie of Absolon against his father Dauid 2. Sam. 15. where if we marke well the end he proposed vnto himselfe to wit the vsurpation of the Kingdome or the meanes he vsed for the atchieuing of this his end namely by stealing away the hearts of the people sollicitando pollicitando as Simo chargeth Crito in the Comedie feeding their fansies with affable gestures and faire promises by getting armes and militarie forces into his hands by quarrelling the execution of iustice and course of gouernment by deluding his father with a pretence of performing his vow and the more free seruing of God and a world of such like traiterous lies and deuices nothing can be said for it But yet if you will weigh the issue and euent which in probabilitie must needs haue followed you will not thinke it so hainous for the worst that can be said or feared was but the change of a Prince of the father for the sonne of an old for a new the Law should haue remained the same the Religion the same the gouernment the same and there would haue ensued little or no inuersion much lesse euersion of the state So that in all these though dangerous and inexcusable treasons and murders in themselues yet somewhat there is that a man partially affected may picke out to alleadge if not for defence yet for excuse and extenuation of them But Shebna his treason heere is like a strong poison composed of whatsoeuer was most bad in the worst of these And it was dangerous and inexcusable not onely in regard of the author as that of the Eunuches nor yet of the obiect as that of Hamans nor yet of the end and meanes
and as in all good confirmation we may ghesse pullus puppus the minion and darling of the multitude So that though hee entred into a desperate peece of seruice where his life and honour and all lay at stake yet hee did nothing but what hee saw and knew they would second And now tell me whether this were not a dangerous treason if we goe no farther then the author who you see had made all so sure that it was euen tempus faciendi Domino high time for God to put his helping hand otherwise the power of Zenacherib without the inconstancie of the leauder sort of people within considered Shebna went as neere as the wit of a man actuated by the deuill himselfe the author of all mischieuous subtiltie and deepe deuices could goe to compasse the ruine and destruction not of one Assuerus or a Mordecay and those of his Religion but of his liege Lord and master Ezechiah and the whole Land of Iudah Heere now the obiect and the latitude of the obiect much aggrauates Shebna his treason For Shebna aimed not at the ruine of a priuate man which had beene bad and inexcusable sith as one saith domestica familiaris Deo est hominis natura and quicunque effuderit humanum sanguinem Gen. 9.6 per hominem fundetur sanguis illius Genesis 9.6 Neither leueld Shebna at Eliachim alone at some chiefe Magistrate or Sentinell of the state which had been worse sith publike Ministers stand for thousands and hundreds they are the charets and horsemen of a common-wealth 2 ReguÌ„ 2.12 they are Gods Lieutenants and Vicegerents on earth and therfore the least contempt the least sinister thought tending to their hurt God takes as done vnto himselfe But as those two and thirty Captaines in the 1 of Kings and the two and twentieth 1 ReguÌ„ 22.31 did Shoot neither at small nor great saue at the King himselfe so Shebnah his chiefe aime was at the King and this King was Ezechiah I say Ezechiah so that here Shebna his treason appeares in it's full bignesse sith there was more in Ezechiah then can be verified of many I had almost said of any King besides and therefore the more eminent and worthy the Prince the more vile and inexcusable the traytor the more goodly the obiect the fouler the treason For first had Ezechiah been a King onely by conquest without iust title to the crowne this fact of Shebna had been the lesse sith Kings by conquest are no better than great theeues Augustine Elegant and excellent was the Pirats answer to the great Macedonian Alexander saith St Austin in his 4th booke de ciuitate Dei and 4th chapter The King asking him how he durst molest the sea so hee replied with a free spirit saith the Father how darest thou molest the whole world but because I doe it with one onely Galley-foist I am called a theife thou doing it with a great Nauie art called an Emperour And Lucan makes no scruple to terme Alexander a happy theife of the earth Terrarum fatale malum Earths fatall mischiefe and a cloud of thunder Renting the world a starre that strucke in sunder The Nations Conquerors then whose right is their power are theeues and there is such an antipathie between the Conqueror and the conquered that it is impossible for subiects of any good bloud truly and in heart to loue a Conquerour whervpon it is that the Politiques giue a precept and their schollers put it in practise A Conqueror say they must subuert and destroy all such as suffer great losse in that Conquest and altogether roote out the bloud and the race of such as before gouerned there This doctrine Thrasibulus taught when he led a Messenger into a field of corne and bruised the tallest eares between his hands and this from him Periander practised when hee tooke out of the way the chiefe and noblest men of Corinth This Tarquin the proud commended to Sextus his sonne when he cut off summa papauerum capita and this Sextus accordingly put in vre when hee caused to be massacred in their houses all the greatest and noblest of the towne of Gabium But Ezechiah was no such bloudy conqueror Hee was an absolute Monarch and free borne King Secondly had Ezechiah been offensiue or burdensome to his subiects or dissolute in his gouernment Shebna might haue had some pretence Bellar de Rom Ponâ— lib. 5. c. 7. For though I am not of their opinion who teach that Kings receiue their Crownes from men and hold them at their dispose yet I rest assured that the vertue worth and affable vsage of a Prince are they that gaine and keepe the affections of the people whereas on the other side the enormious defects and harsh vsage of a King alienates their mindes from him as from one that abuseth his Soueraigntie and causeth them to flie to others whom they hold more fit to command and vnto whom they are more willing to yeeld obedience A Prince as he is aboue others in place so he should shine aboue others in vertue pettie blemishes in a Prince breed a loathing in the subiect their least defects are soone spied and as soone censured Qui magno imperio praediti in excelso aetatem agunt eorum facta cuncti mortales nouere Ita in maxima fortuna minima licentia est saith Caesar in Salust neque studere neque odisse sed minimè â—…asci debet Quae apud alios Iracundia dicitur ea imperij superbia atque crudelitas appellatur The ill-willers of Pompey the great obseruing that now and then he scratched his head with one finger thought the worse of him for that The Athenians found fault with Simon because he loued to drinke a cup of good wine And the Romans finding no other thing in that famous Leader Scipio Plutarch precep pol. tooke occasion to blame him saith Plutarch in his precepts of policie onely for sleeping For like as a little freckle a little mole or pendant wart in the face of a man or woman is more offensiue then blacke and blew marks then scarrs and maimes in all the rest of the body euen so small and light faults otherwise of themselues shew great in the liues of Princes saith that author Now if men be so apt to take offence at such pettie scapes as these what will they not doe when they descry those prints of tyrannie murders breach of promises and othes frauds and deceit and all kinde of iniustice he will tell you Qui sceptra duro saeuus imperio regit timet timentes And Tully No force or power of Empire be it neuer so great can long stand if it be prest with continuall feare and hatred of the subiects Comminaeus Memorable is that which Comminaeus sets downe at large in his 7 booke 11. chapter of Alphonso a rich and potent King who for that he forced his subiects to feed and fat his hoggs for that hee bought