their sins were suddenly destroyed and their punishment was not delayed that others by their example might be affraid to offend God lest his wrath should as suddenly consume them as it had done the others before they had any time to cry for pardon Yet sometimes he beareth long before he seems to be angry as the punishment of the Ninivits was to be deferred forty daies which forty daies were extended to forty years before Ninivy felt the smart and of the Israelits the Lord saith Forty years was I grieved with this Generation and to the old world he gave one hundred and twenty years to repent before he punished them and to the Amorits 400 years and which is more to be admired that the punishment of such a transcendent sin should be so long deferred The Jews that murdered their King the son of God remained full forty years before Jerusalem was destroyed and the death of Candaules slain by Gyges was not punished untill the daies of Craesus which was four Generations after as Herodotus saith out of the mouth of the oracle as the Prophet saith the like of Jehu for the slaughter that he committed so the Murderers of King Charles and of his Loyall subjects may perhaps escape for some time and yet their punishment may come at last and it may be with them as it was with Joab for the murder of Amasa and Abner So wounderfull is the long suffering and the patience of our God which he useth as the Apostle sheweth that he might lead them by that great patience unto repentance or if they repented not that they might be without excuse and that as Lactantius saith the long sufferance of God in expecting their amendment might be recompensed with the severity of vengeance in their punishment for the offendors must not think that because their payment is deferred therefore it shall be lessened or that the Lord hath forgotten it because they think not of it but as the longer you keep the Vsurers money the more interest he expecteth and the more debt is on your score and the higher you lift up your hand the heavier the blow will fall so the longer God beareth with the wicked transgressors of his laws before their punishment cometh the sorer and the severer will be their punishment when it cometh The deferring of Gods help no argument of Gods hate And therefore the long deferring of Gods aide and help to relieve his distressed servants and their often over-throws in their just defence is no argument that God hath forsaken them and will not help them no more then he forsook holy Job when he seemed to leave him destitute of all help or the ten Tribes when they fought and were twice beaten by the Tribe of Benjamin and the long flourishing of the wicked their good successes in all their bad causes The long prosperity of the wicked no argument of Gods speciall love Job 21.13 their prevailing against the righteous and their freedome of all punishment in this life but especially the deferring of their punishment is no token of Gods love unto them or especially of his acceptance of them no more then it was to Dives that without any rubs ran all his race in pleasure or to them whereof Job speaketh that spend their daies in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave because God dealeth with the wicked herein as Claudian saith he did with Ruffinus Tolluntur in altum Vt lapsu graviore ruant God lifteth them up and they abusing that favour he casteth them down and destroyeth them But the Prophet David seems to tell us the very set time The very time when God most commonly useth both to help and to relieve those that serve him and to punish and destroy those that prophane his fervice and continue in their wickedness under the Hypocriticall shew of holiness for he saith that the Lord is Deus in opportunitatibus a God in the needfull time of trouble that is as a holy Father expounds it Tum incipit auxilium divinum 1 When God helpeth his servants cum desinit auxilium humanum God will then help us when we cannot help our selves and when we are as Moses was at the red sea betwixt two huge Mountains and the raging sea before him and Pharaohs mighty host behind him ready to be destroyed either drowned in the waters or slain by the sword or break their necks if they assaid to climb those rocky Mountains or as the disciples of Christ were in the ship ready to perish as themselves confess When they see no hope of any human help then will God shew himself and send them help out of his holy place as he did to Job to restore his health when all his friends could not ease his pain and delivered Daniel out of the Lions den when the King himself could not free him from it And so will he do to all them that serve him and put their trust in him send them deliverance when man seeth no hope of assistance as he doth many times raise the sick when the Physitian giveth him over And the reason of this manner of his proceeding Why God deserreth and the long deferring of his help is to teach us with Moses Gideon Daniel Job Jonas and the rest of Gods servants to ascribe all the glory of our wonderfull and extraordinary deliverances to God and not to our selves nor to any other creature but to God Psal 115.1 and so to say with the psalmist Not unto us not unto us but unto thy name give the praise And for the time 2 When he punisheth the wicked when God usually punisheth the transgressors of his Laws the same Prophet saith When the ungodly are green as the grass and when all the workers of wickedness do flourish then shall they be destroyed for ever Psal 92 7. that is when they have brought all their projects to their own wished ends subdued their adversaries trampled the just harmless men under feet and perhaps with Ahab killed and taken possession too of poor Naboth's Vineyard and with the rich man in the Gospel pulled down their old barns and cottages and builded large Palaces filled their coffers and laid up store for many years and now thought to eat drink and be merry then suddenly when they look not for it will the Lord awake as a Giant out of sleep and will smite his enemies upon the cheek bone and put them to perpetuall shame and say unto them as he did to that fool in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away your souls from you and your lives shall pay for the lives of them that you have murdered and then Who shall have those treasures that you have so unjustly scraped together and those possessions that you have so wrongfully plucked and detained from the right owners And you your selves might have observed within these few lustra's many famous men that have been suddenly taken away
that the same true God which giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to his children only giveth the Earthly Kingdoms both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth yet alwaies justly And for Nimrod I say the words bear no more then he became mightier then other Kings or began to Tyrannize more then all the other Kings And for S. Peters words I say he means it only of Elective Kings Which in another place I shewed more fully than the time will now give me leave in what sense he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore I say the calling of Kings is the proper Ordinance of God as it is fully and most learnedly shewed by a most Reverend Prelate of our Church lately published and intituled Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas Howsoever as I said we condemn not as unlawfull the right of all Elective Kings yet we ought to acknowledg how much more bound we are to God that himself in a rightfull line of succession hath appointed our Kings to raign over us so that we need not fear the error of our Election if there be no error in our submission 2. As we are to consider quem whom so we ought to remember qualem what manner of King we are commanded to honor for as the unjust Vsurper may govern the people justly as they do sometimes and in some places so they that have just Titles to their Crowns may prove unjust in their Governments as too too many both of the Kings in Israel and Judah and I fear many other Kings have been And yet if they be our lawfull Kings be they what they will Cruell Tyrannous or Idolatrous or if you will put all together I say we are bound to honor them and no waies to Rebell against them for if thy Brother the son of thy Mother or thy son or thy daughter Deut. 13.6 or the wife of thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soul shall intice thee to Idolatry and to serve strange gods thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou have any pity upon him but for the son to rise up against the Father the wife against her Husband the servant against his Lord or the subject against his King here is not a word and we are not to do what the Lord doth not command as Tostat well observeth upon this place Therefore though Jeroboam made Israel to sin by setting up his calves to be adored Nâ—buchadnezzar commanded all his people to worship his Golden Image Ahab Manasses Nero Julian and the rest of the persecuting Emperors did most impiously compell their Subjects to Idolatry and exercised all kinds of cruelty against Gods servants yet you shall never find that either the Jews under Jeroboam or Daniel in Babylon or Elias in the time of Ahab or any Christian under Julian or the rest of those bloody Tyrants did ever rebell against any of those wicked Kings for they all considered the law of God and I beseech you all to consider it likewise 1. Exod 22.28 Moses saith Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people yea though he should be evil yet must thou not speak evil of him for as thou art to honor thy Father not so much because he is good as because he is thy Father and therefore the son of Noah was accursed because he despised his Father when his father sinned so we are to honor our King and to speak no ill of him though he should be never so ill for Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked And to Princes Ye are ungodly Job 34.18 2. 2 Not to do the least indignity unto our King As we are to bridle our tongues so much more ought we to refrain our hands from offering the least violence unto our King When the Lord saith peremptorily Touch not mine annointed where he doth not say Non occides or ne perdas the worst that can be but ne tangas the least that may be neither doth he say Sanctos meos my holy ones but Christos meos my annointed ones whether they be holy or unboly good or bad therefore though Saul was a wicked King and a heavy persecutor of David without cause hunting him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and seeking no less then to take away his life yet when the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee what seemed good unto him Truely no waies to hurt him nor to do the least indignity unto him for his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of his robe and therefore he said unto his men 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords annointed to stretch forth my hand against him And why so because he is the annointed of the Lord that is not because he is a good man but because he is my King Nay we are not only forbidden to offer violence That we are to protect our King with the hazard of our lives but we are also injoyned to give our best assistance to protect the persons of our most wicked Kings for David not only staid his servants with the former words and suffered them not to rise against Saul but when Saul lay sleeping within his trench and David and Abishai took away his speare and had the power to destroy him What saith David unto Abner Art not thou a Valiant man And who is like thee in Israel Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth 1 Sam. 15.16 ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords annointed And if this thing is not good and David jesteth not but sweareth As the Lord liveth they are worthy to dye that preserve not the life of their King be he never so wicked then certainly this thing is not good and they are more then worthy to die that not only refuse to assist but also rise in Arms to persecute and to take away the life of a most Pious and a Gracious King So you see the person whom we are to honor the King whatsoever he be good or bad 2. The Honor that we are to exhibite unto him is to be considered out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word so significant that it not only comprehendeth all the duty which we owe to our Father and Mother but it is also used to express most if not all the service of God when he saith If I am a father Malach. 1.5 where is my honor And therefore when Ahassuerus asked Haman What should be done unto the man Whom the King would honor he answered let the Royall apparell be brought which the King useth to weare and the Horse that the King rideth upon
saith Lex non justior ulla est Quam necis Artifices arte perire sua There cannot be a juster Law 2 In retaliation of good for good then for him that diggeth a Pit to fall into it himself or that he that loveth War should perish in the War and he that sheddeth mans Blood should have his Blood shed by man so in the retaliation of good for good the same Law holdeth most just and more especially 1. In Giving 2. In Suffering 3. In Loving For For 1. 1 In giving Is it not just that we should give to him that hath given all to us And what have we that we have not received from God Why then should we think much either to give the Tenth to God or our Almes unto the Poor when the Lord himself professeth he that giveth unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord and whatsoever you do to these you do to Him 2. 2 In suffering Is it not as just that we should be ready to suffer for him that hath suffered so much for us The Apostle saith that Christ exinanivit seipsum though he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 yet he emptied himself of all his Royal Dignities and suffered all the Indignities that could be laid upon him for our sake and shall we grudge to suffer the Losse of a little Worldly Trash or the bearing of some Light Affliction for him and for the Defence of his Truth and True Service that hath suffered all Sufferings for us No no when we suffer any thing for the Faith of Christ or our Loyalty to our King let us but consider what Christ hath suffered for us and what our good King hath suffered for the Defence of our Faith because he will not yield to deface the Church of Christ and to destroy the True Service of God and this will support us in all our Sufferings we suffer a little for him that suffered much for us 3. Because all men have not wealth to give 3 In loving and all men have not the patience to suffer yet all men have hearts to love God and they can have no excuse if they love him not because he hath so dearly loved them for if you consider all the Motives and procurements of Love which are very many as Beauty Benignity Bounty Wisdom Valour and the like yet there is none of these nor all these nor any other thing in the world so powerful to beget Love as Love it self neither is there any thing so available to encrease or to continue Love as Love it self Therefore the Poets feign that when Venus the Goddess of Love brought forth her first begotten Son she called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love and when she saw he thrived not but was still lean meager and bloodless How Venus consulted with Themis about her son Eros she consulted with Themis the Goddess of Justice which was Mother to Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom to know the reason of the sad condition of her Son and she told her that she must bring forth another Son which she did and called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Love for Love and then both her Children prospered and became exceeding beautiful and lovely So among men when we prosecute any one with Love it is impossible that Love should be lasting if at no time in no measure it should be requited with Love again for as the Coales Conjoyned will preserve the heat but when they are scattered will be soon extinguished so debet amor laesus irasci love when it is deserted and forsaken or left alone will be soon lost And therefore if we desire the Love of God to continue towards us we must resolve to shew our Love to God again for I will love them that love me and shew mercy unto Thousands of them that loue me saith the Lord Prov. 8.17 And so the Apostle saith we love him because he loved us first that is seeing he hath loved us therefore we are bound to love him where you may observe 1. The Persons We. We love him 2. The Act Love We love him 3 Parts 3. The Object Him We love him 1. The persons here said to love God are not the Angels 1 The persons that love God We. though they do exceedingly love him when as the Script saith He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire where you may see three most admirable and transcendent excellencies of the Angels as 1. Purity of substance because they are Spirits 2. Readiness of obedience because they are his Angels and his Ministers Three excellent properties of the Angels and such as for their swift execution of Gods commands are compared to the wings of the wind 3. Ferventness of charity or burning love not only of one towards another but especially towards God because they are flames of fire but the persons here meant are men we love him i.e. we that are the sons of Adam do love him seeing mans love to God is but Radius divini amoris erga homines in deum reflexus a beam of Gods love towards man reflected from man to God again as Zanchius saith and seeing that where so powerfull a cause doth exist the subsequent effect must needs follow Therefore seeing God loveth all men it must needs be that all men How all men do love God Acts 17. in some measure do love God again that is as God is their Creator Preserver and Cause in whom they live and move and have their being and from whom they have and do receive all the good that they have so the Jews Turks and Heathens Worldlings Rebels and Traytors and all the wicked men in the world doe love God But seeing this love is too general and too base for all Christians scarce worthy of the name of love it will not serve the turn to make us happy but will deceive and destroy those lovers that have none other love to God but this poor confused general love Therefore 2. To proceed unto the stricter discussion of the act or the affection of love 2 The act love The Original cause of love twofold 1. General We love him you must note the same to be according to the original cause and ground thereof And that is two-fold 1. General as the many manifold benefits that we continually receive from God as he is the faithful Creator a wise Preserver and a bountiful Bestower of abundance of all good gifts upon his Creatures So the Reprobates love God 2. Special and in this respect the very Reprobates as I told you cannot chuse but love the Lord that is their Creator and Preserver 2. Special as the serious apprehension of our own infinite wants and miseries and of those Miracles of Love and Mercies which God hath performed to cure our souls from those Miseries Thus the Saints only love God by sending his only Son to
of death for the King then to be perswaded for what pretense of good soever and by whomsoever were it an Angel out of Heaven to consent unto his death is to become guilty of a great fault and to say that he was perswaded thereunto by the Bishops whose fault was therefore greater then his Majestie 's can no more excuse him then for the man of God to say that he was seduced by the old Prophet And therefore this might be a just cause with God to suffer him that to satisfie sinful men would offend his good God by giving way to them to take away the life of an innocent man to have his own life taken from him even by those men to whom he had yielded to take away the life of another man which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conformity of our punishment to our offence and is nothing else but lex talionis an eye for an eye a tooth for tooth and death for death which was the first Law that God published after the Deluge saying Whosoever sheddeth man's blood that is either per se as Cain did Abel or per alium as David did Vriah's and Ahab Naboth by Act or it may be by consent by man shall his blood be shed Secondly touching the Bishops my self knoweth that he loved them all and honoured their Calling very much being fully satisfied of the truth of their Divine and Apostolical Institution as appeareth by that learned and exquisite defence that himself most graciously made against the Presbyterians of the Episcopal Order and he was indeed a right Constantine to all the Bishops rather hiding their infirmities if he spyed any fault in them with the Lap of his Garment then any ways multiplying or publishing the same unto the People And this was a most Christian course in him for I may justly say Victima sacra Deo res est succurrere Cleris And as our Saviour saith of them He that receiveth you receiveth me And the Bishops of all other his Subjects were his most loyal Servants and most faithful Oratours never thwarting their King nor crossing any of his just Designs but ever cleaving unto his Cause and voting on his side so far as truth and right and a good Conscience would give them leave contrary to which his Majesty never desired any thing And therefore when the King saw the malice of most wicked men qui oderunt eos gratis and did bear an intestine hatred against these true Servants of God and did strive manibus pedibúsque with all their might against all justice to thrust them out of their undoubted Right by the favour we confess of our most pious Princes for him as we conceive against his own mind and to his own prejudice to please and satisfie the implacable hatred of his and their enemies to pass an Act to exclude the Bishops out of his Great Council the Parliament when above thirty Acts of Parliament had confirmed their right Interest therein since the confirmation of Magna Charta was an errour as I conceive not salvable and a fault that cannot be justly excused by his best Friends and therefore God might justly suffer all his Counsels to fail and his Counsellours to become perfidi familiares his familiar Traytours such as the Poet speaks of Saepe sub agnina latet hirtus pelle Lycaon Subque Catone pio perfidus ille Nero. And though I do not nor dare not say it was so yet I may say that for this God might so give way to his Enemies to prevail against him and to thrust him out of his Kingdom when he gave way to thrust his Embassadours out of his house which is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even as Solomon divided God's Service betwixt God and the Idols of Zidon Moab and Ammon 1 Reg. 11. c. 12. so God divided his Kingdom betwixt his Son Rehoboam and his Servant Jeroboam so might he deal with King Charles when he yielded to expel the Bishops that were his true Friends and God's Servants out of his Council to suffer his Enemies to exclude him out of his Kingdom and not unjustly or without cause neither as the same proceeds from God whose ways are always just for who could better declare the right and truth of things unto the King then the Expounders of the Book of Truth Who could advise and direct him to make better and juster Laws then the Teachers of the Law of God and who fitter to judge of right and to require Justice to be enjoyned and practised by all People then they whose Calling is continually to call upon all men to live godly and soberly and justly in this present World Why then should they be excluded from the Seat of Justice either in the making of Laws or to see those Laws executed unless it were that the Lay-Justices might do what they would without shame and what they pleased without controul when as heretofore the reverend Presence of the Bishops and grave Divines and their sage Counsel did oftentimes stop the Current of Injustice and made some ashamed of some gross dealings that in their absence they were not ashamed to have effected and therefore I suppose I may justly say that as it was said of the Emperour Justinian when he caused Aetius his brave General to be cut off he had cut off his right Arm with his left Hand so did King Charles when he pâ—ssed that Act that prejudiced himself more then the Bishops Thirdly touching the Parliament we must understand that Parliaments were first instiâ—uted by the Kings of this Nation to inform them of the Abuses Dangers and Defects which the Lords and Peers and the wiser sort of their Subjects which each Countrey had elected and the chief Cities had chosen for that purpose had observed and to advise and consult with their King de arduis rebus Regni of these and all other difficult and great Affairs of the Kingdom as the Writs that call them together do declare and then to consider by what good means the Dangers of the Kingdom might be prevented by what Laws ' the abuses might be redressed and which ways the peace of the People might be preserved and the happiness of all his Subjects continued and enlarged and if they understood of any sorreign dangers invasions or injuries to consult how the same might be prevented and rectified And when the King understood what his Lords and Commons conceived fitting to be done He with the Advice of His Council ratified what he approved and rejected what he disliked with the usual phrase in that kind But in process of time the Parliament-men as I heard wise men say began to incroach more and more upon the Rights of Majesty upon the Power and Authority of the King especially of those Kings that either had no Right or at the best but doubtful Titles unto the Crown or those that were of less Abilities or of an easie and facile disposition and would soon be perswaded
for judgement against the Bishops that were the Authours of these evils and so as all the Mariners were tossed for Jonas his sin so all the Bishops must suffer for the offence of few And though as Eusebius saith all the malice of the world and all the persecution of Tyrants and all the Stratagems of that old Serpent could not darken the glory of Christ his Church while the Bishops and the rest of the Priests and Preachers of God's word held together and kept the Unity of Faith in the Bond of Peace yet when the Bishops fell together by the ears and dissented in their opinions the one from the other the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that held the faith of one Substance which is the right Catholick faith from them that maintained the faith of the like Substance which was and is the Arrian Heresy and when the Priests banded against the Bishops and the Bishops did therefore seek to suppress those Priests then the Lord darkened the glory of the daughter of Sion and the Church that formerly triumphed sate then as a Sparrow that is alone mourning upon the House-top even so now in our days when they that ought and had promised and vowed most solemnly when they were admitted to Holy Orders to reverence their Bishops and to be advised by them and obedient to them began to spurn with their heels to spit in their faces and to bark against them in their Pulpits our Saviour's words must hold true that A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand and much less the Hierarchy when the Priests and Bishops are at such ods and so contrary to themselves And this division of Reuben with the aforesaid distempers was a great presage of their present fall yet I believe not all the cause that moved God to permit the Devil to stir up Enemies to throw them down but the true cause was greater sins if I judge right then either of these for the former might be the aspersions of Enemies and but onely the allegation of ill-willers without any sound ground for their Justification or if true but the Acts of some few of the inferiour Bishops and the Divisions of the Clergy might lessen our repute and weaken our Authority but not utterly to overthrow our Hierarchy as all the contentions of the Primitive Church never did And therefore the true causes of our ruine must needs be of an higher nature and they might be besides the forenamed and some others that we know not of these three main faults that can neither be denied nor excused 1. The misguiding of the good King before the Long Parliament The three great saults of the Bishops 2. The neglecting of him in the Parliament 3. The evil Counsel they gave him with the Parliament First The King having a reverend opinion of the Bishops Fault was perswaded to second and to set forward the Designs of the Bishop of Canterbury in many things that brought him the ill opinion and so diminished the love of the people as in the matter of Saint Gregory's by Saint Paul's and especially in sending the newly amended Liturgy unto the Scotish Church and the Prosecution of that business so eagerly to the great prejudice of the King which was to speak what I conceive to be truth without flattery such an Episcopal offence as cannot be expiated with words nor could be defended with the power of the King as the Scots alleadged Non omnibus unum est Quod placet hic spinas colligit ille rosas and which I conceive to be the Original and the Seed of all the King's troubles and misfortunes and the Bishop's overthrow mittere falcem in alienam messem to busie themselves out of their own Diocess especially among the Scots that were bewitched with the love of the Presbytery and hated all forms of Liturgies but such as was without form or beauty like Christ at his Passion that was then as the Prophet saith without form or beauty for had they rested quiet without raising up those Northern blasts and those Spirits that they could not lay down they might no doubt in my Judgement have remained quiet to this very day but they throwing these stones into the Air they fell into their own fore-heads and they verified the old Proverb Qui striut insidias aliis sibi damna dat ipse he that diggeth a pit for another shall fall into it himself for by troubling the Scots with the new service they pull'd an old house upon their own heads and an unspeakable trouble upon the King and this Kingdom as they soon felt it afterwards and all the people smarted for it Secondly Great fault of the Bishops When they had troubled these unsavory waters and raised up these foul Spirits that they could not binde and had engaged the good King in this bad cause they neither justified the King with their pens nor assisted him with their purses near so much as so good a Patron both of them and of their Churches had deserved but as men stupified with that storm that the Parliament had raised they were tongue-tied in his Cause and hand-bound for any great help or assistance they afforded him against his and their own enemies And what a neglect was this of so good a King by wise men to save their Wealth and to lose both their King and themselves I would they had remembred Ausonius his Epigram 55. Effigiem Ausonius Epigt 55. Rex Croese tuam ditissime regum Vidit apud manes Diogenes Cynicus Constitit utque procul stetit majore cachinno Concussus dixit Quid tibi divitiae Nunc prosunt regum Rex O ditissime cumsis Sicut ego solus me quoque pauperior Nam quaecunque habui mecum fero cum nihil ipse Ex tantis tecum Croese feras opibus But they skulked to escape the storm I could name the men that had and let abundance of Wealth and ready Coin behind them and yet did nothing to relieve the King and suffered their King to suffer Ship-wrack a fault not unworthy to be punished by the Judges and an unthankfulness yea and such unthankfulness as exceeded all their former defects and faults to do so little for him that did so much for them and was contented to lose his life as he did rather then he would consent that they should lose their honour and be degraded of that Calling to which Christ had called them I am sure it is our duty and we ow it unto our King as I have fully shewed in my Book Of the Right of Kings to hazard our lives for our King and to spend all that we have in the defence of our King and I think this King well deserved if ever any King deserved at the Bishops hands that they should hazard their lives and expose all that they had in the just defence of so just a King and therefore God dealt most justly with us to suffer all our Bishops to
subjects to become perjurers and rebels against their King but ambition and impatience are the two hands that pull down Kings out of their Thrones 1. Impatience in the subjects that can not tarry Gods leasure to relieve them 2. Ambition in those that desire the Crown and are bewitched with the inordinate desire of bearing rule Other things are but pretences these only are the causes that move subjects and servants to kill their Kings whom they think do misgovern them or Tyrannize over them 2. Having seen the hatred and malice of Zimri towards Elah The second thing ment oned which is Peace his Treason against his King his ingratitude to his Master and his most horrible sin of Murder in slaying his King and his Master We are now come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the second thing mentioned in this speech of Jezabel and that is Peace Had Zimri peace which is a question what reward he had or rather what punishment he suffered for that tragicall exploit to kill his Master Had he peace for his pains And peace as I told you is the best and the most excellent of all earthly blessings and it is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth quiet sweet gracious and by the Latins pax quasi pacata i.e. calm gentle courteous for so the Apostle meaneth when he saith that Rahab received the Spies with peace that is courteously Heb. 11.31 But you must understand that this blessed peace is two fold 1. Perfect And Peace two fold 2. Imperfect And 1. The perfect peace is not here to be found on earth 1 Perfect but among the blessed Saints in Heaven where is pax super pacem Perm Serm. 23. de verb. Psal pax quae exsuperat omnem sensum Peace upon peace and peace which passeth all understanding peace that shall have no end but will put an end to all our labours And this peace was not meant here by Jezabel she knew not what belongs to this peace 2. The other peace which Jezabol meaneth 2 Imperfect and this is threefold is that which may be obtained here on earth and that peace is three fold 1. With God 2. With our selves 3. With our neighbours The first peace is with God for our Forefather sinning against God 1 With God and eating the sower grapes hath set all our teeth on edge Esay 1.24 and made us all enemies unto God as the Apostle sheweth and God saith He will be avenged of his enemies and therefore there is no way for us to be delivered out of his hands unless we be reconciled to be at peace with him And at peace with God we cannot be but by faith in Jesus Christ who became peace to them that were a far off Eph. 2.17 and to them that were neer i. e. both to the Jews and to the Gentiles as S. Jerom expoundeth it The second peace is with our selves 2 With our selves for after we became enemies unto God posuit nos nobis ipsis graves God did not only arm all his creatures against us but he hath set enmity within our selves and raiseth such rebellions wars and troubles in our own thoughts and consciences that we can never be at rest untill we find our selves at peace with God but when we believe that our peace is made with God through Jesus Christ our Lord who hath paid our debts and satisfied God for our fins then our minds are quieted and our consciences are at peace and as our Saviour saith let not your hearts be troubled neither fear for I have overcome the world so nothing in the world troubles them that believe they are at peace with God The third peace is with men 3 With our neighbors that are without us and are our neighbours for sin hath set all the world together by the ears Non hospes ab hospite tutus But they that are at peace with God do obey the precepts and counsell of God to follow peace with all men and to do good to all men and these be the three kinds of peace that are had in this life and are the greatest blessings in this world And this last kind of peace i. e. peace and concord among men which is the more generall and the more sensible then the other kinds of peace was ever esteemed both of the Jews and Gentiles to be the greatest happiness that men can enjoy under heaven Et quia contraria juxta so posita magis elucescunt As the horror of the night commends the brightness of the day so the miseries of war do shew the benefits of this peace I will make this point plain unto you And war is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the abundance of blood that is shed in war and by Divines it is termed flagellum Dei the scourge of God and God hath many scourges as poverty sickness imprisonment but especially these three Grand Scourges 1. Three speciall scourges of God Famine 2. Pestilence 3. Sword Whereof war is the worst of all comprehends them all and brings them all upon us and therefore Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is an unsociable and a most wicked man that will bring war which is the most deadly thing unto the people for then as Virgil saith Non ullus aratro Dignus honor There is no regard of husbandy Sed multae scelerum facies Et curvaerigidum falces conflantur in ensem And as Tibullus saith The plow Shares are turned to Swords Tunc caedes hominum generi tunc praelia natae Tunc breviter dirae mortis aperta via est And you see how in the time of war the poor infants that never offended do perish upon their mothers brests and many times in the womb before they see the light the goodly houses the stately Palaces the pleasant gardens that are like paradises the fruitfull trees that have been some hundreds of years before they came to this perfection are all burnt destroyed and demolished in a moment the poore are starved in the streets the fruitfull land is become a wilderness and as Learned Vives writing to King Henry the eighth saith No Common-wealth is more unstable then that which is most exercised with war as we see how often the Athenians came to their last gasp when as à Persis exustae à Lacedemoniis oppressae à Philippo fractae ab altero Philippo afflictae à Mithridate occisae à Sylla propedum deletae And warlike Rome was taken by Tatius besieged by Porsenna burnt by the Gaules terrified by Pyrrhus shaken by Hanniball and at last torn in pieces by her own weapons And the like lamentable events have hapned to this our own Kingdom in the time of the Barons war and that civill dissention betwixt the two houses of York and Lancaster wherein
consumed to ashes and reduced to nothing their power weakness their prudence folly and their excellency base in respect of that boundless Omnipotencie infinite Wisdome and incomprehensible transcendent excellencies of God For if he is not barren that imparteth fecundity unto others nor he poor that can make many rich then surely he must needs be most beautiful that can adorn the poor Lilies of the field with a far more glorious mantle then any of those choicest robes that covered the body of the wisest Solomon For though fields and gardens and Palaces and the bodies of men and women and so the Heavens and the Angels and the whole frame of this Universe which the Grecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is so admirably beautified and composed in number weight and measure are all innamelled with abundance of beauty yet all these beauties proceeds from him and reside in him and are comprized in him in a far more eminent degree of excellency How eminently all perfections are in God then they are in the best of these creatures themselves because that in these creatures they are all limited in Essence and hedged within the narrow bounds of natural perfections But in God all the Attributes of his bounty simplicity verity charity justice mercy benignity and all other amiable colours and most glorious beauties of his perfections which the Angels rejoyce to behold the blessed Saints contemplate and we poor wandring Pilgrimes do all aspire to see are all illimited infinite and boundless And befides all this if we consider him truly he is whatsoever is desirable or can be desired by any one as Omnipotency to him that affecteth power Omnisciency to him that desireth knowledge and the Antient of daies to him that desighteth in antiquity And as S. Ambrose saith Siesuris ipse est panis if thou art hungry he is the Bread of Life Whatsoever we desire we may have the same in God if thou art thirsty he is the Fountain of Living Water if thou art naked he is the Garment of Righteousness if thou art sick he is a heavenly Physitian if thou art in prison he is with thee as he was with Joseph if thou art in danger he is a present help in trouble if thou beest dead he can restore thee to life for he is life which is of all things so infinitely desired and he is light which is so much admired he is truth which is so much commended he is the God of Peace which is the Mother of all plenty he is the God of Unity which is the honour of all Brethren he is the God of Constancy which is the Crown of all Friendship and he is the God of Wisdome which is the glory of every man And to be brief all things that are good are in him and derived from him who is goodness it self And therefore causa diligendi Deum Deut est this only consideration that he is God and such a God is a sufficient cause of loving God as S. Bern. saith because these are excellencies enough to attract love from the stoniest hearts quae genuere ferae which the most salvage men have produced if they did but truly consider them And yet this is not that which the Apostle setteth down here to be the ground and cause of our loving God but seeing our weakness could not ascend so high as to conceive the excellent brightness of this everlasting glory therefore his goodness was pleased to descend so low as to express that which is neerer unto us and doth more feelingly concern our selves Whom men do naturally love best that is the love of God towards us and the great good that we receive from that love for the Apostle knew that all men were naturally inclined to love their benefactors and to love them best which do profit them most And albeit very often this kind of love is but base and vitious yet being guided with reason Iob 1. and ruled by charity it may prove good and virtuous therefore as the devil maliciously suggested of holy Job that he served not God for nought so the Apostle wisely doth here intimate that we love not God without cause especially if we consider that great and real love of God which hath and doth continually so infinitely profit us for we love him because he loved us first Touching which words though our love to God is first set down in the series of these words yet seeing by the order of nature causa precedit effectum the cause doth ever precede the effect I will by Gods help speak 1. Of that great love which God hath shewed unto us 2. Of that love which in requital thereof we owe unto God And the first shall be the subject of my whole discourse at this time wherein you may observe as many parts 1 In Gods love to us four things observable as there be words 1. The Lover he He loved us first 2. The affection loved He loved us first 3. 1 The Lover Divers pretend to love us The beloved us He loved us first 4. The time first He loved us first 1. Who is this He that loveth us for there be very many that pretend to love us and yet in very deed do love us not at all especially 1. The Devil 1 How the Devil professeth to love us 2. The World 3. Our own selves 1. In the third of Hosea v. 1. Diabolus Dicitur amicus saith a Father Satan is said to be the lover of the seduced soul even as the lascivious loves the Harlot for the Devil comes unto us as he came unto Adam and saith You shall be as gods and I will make you happy and you shall be victorious when he means to plunge us into all miseries and to hurl us headlong into hell And to that end we can intend nothing nor resolve upon any good action What manner of love the Devil beareth to us wherein this dissembling Lover is not alwayes ready to intrap us as Progne did to Tereus proponendo quod delectabile supponendo quod exitiale by giving us like the Whore of Babylon a drink of deadly poyson in a golden Cup to teach us Heresies out of the holy Scriptures to set up a meer Anarchy under the glorious title of a Gospel-Government and to raise a most odious rebellion under the name of King and Parliament and under the pretence of Faith and Religion But O good God is it possible that tantum potuit Religio suadere malorum No no God will tell us this is nothing else but Satans plot who desires our ruine and he desires not only thus to fill us up with evil but also to infect all our good for if we pray he casteth wandring thoughts into our minds and when our hearts should think most of God he will guide our eyes to withdraw them to some other object as S. Hierom confesseth of himself that while his tongue was talking with God in
are not able to seed the poor ' nor scarce our selves and some for other longer time reserving onely some small rent for the succeeding Bishops as in my Diocess theat Lordship was set for 10. l. yearly that is well-nigh worth a 200. l. and that was set for 4. l. that is worth a 100. l. and the like And therefore seeing the Bishops themselves did so unjustly destroy their succeeding Bishops what wonder is it that the just God should suffer the haters of the Bishops and the Enemies of all goodness to destroy them And therefore not to do my self what I blame in others lest God should justly condem me out of mine own mouth I have resolved and do pray to God continually to give me the grace to perform it and do hope that God will grant it me That I will take no Fine for any Lands or Lordships belonging to my Bishoprick while I live that I may not wrong any of my succeeding Bishops nor lessen the Revenue of the Church of Christ but to take heed and beware of covetousness which is the cause of much and many evils especially in all Church-men as you see it was the root that sprang to the destruction of Judas and to cause Demas to apostatize from the Ministery of Christ Secondly For the discharging of the Episcâ—pal duties which is a very great charge onus Angelicis humeris formidandum as a Father calls it if Revelat. ii 14. with the Church of Ephesus we have not forsaken our first love and grown cold in our care to promote the gospel of Christ yet I fear the Bishops had amongst them those that held the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to set a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel that is as the Apostle expoundeth it to love the wages of unrighteousness and for the love of worldly honour wealth and other sinister respects to grow cold in the love of truth which made a Preacher at Paul's cross to pray that God would be pleased to make the Lords Temporal more spiritual and the Lords Spiritual less temporal and it grieves me much to set down how the Bishops Courts were generally complained of how justly or how unjustly I cannot tell as the greatest Oprressours of the People and the publique grievance of the Kingdom their delays unsufferable their excommunications unreasonable Corn. Agâ—ippa De vanitâ—ue Scientâ—arum cap. 61. their Fees intolerable and often times their injustice no ways to be excused which made the Lay people to exclaim against the Bishops and their Courts as much and in like manner as Cornelius Agrippa and our Presbyterians do against the Romish Bishops And if they say as they do the Courts belonged to their Chancellours that were learned men Doctours of the Civil and Canon Laws and of honourable repute among all Nations and what they did should not be imputed to the Bishop's fault It may be answered Qui facit per alium idem est quasi faceret per seipsum he that offends by his Proctor shall suffer by himself And we must confess the Courts were the Bishops Courts and the Chancellours were but their Deputies and they should have rectified the Abuses of their own Courts Yet I must ingenuously confess that I can accuse none of the Bishops for this fault but that this is the complaint of the People how truly I know not unless the Chancellour might say to the Bishop as it was said to the Pope of the like Officer Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius He had paid him dear for his place therefore he must take great Fees and sell justice or he shall lose much by the Bargain for indeed he cannot sell cheap that buyeth dear and be a saves thereby nor can he prove but very seldom an upright Judge that hath bought his office and by corruption obtained his place and therefore this selling of the Chancellour's office and other places in the Bishops Courts was the root of all the corruption that were of those Courts and so the Bishops that did this even for these faults besides the neglect to redress their other abuses can not in my judgement be any ways excused But I will shew you yet To ordain unworthy persons to be Priests a great fault to the shame of some greater Abomination which I have often bemoaned when I considered how some of the Bishops not following Saint Paul's counsel in the ordination of Priests and Deacons to lay hands on no man rashly but to see the Persons to be admitted to Holy Orders should be no Novices and no ways unworthy of that high Calling but every way qualified both for life and doctrine so as the word of God doth require have notwithstanding Vide Englands Reprover pag. 67. either by the solicitation of friends or for some other respects and perhaps worser corruption many times made young Novices illiterate men and which is worse men of corrupt minds and bad life the Priests of the most high Gods to wait at his Altar that were not worthy to wait on our Tables and therefore as the Bishops that did this did herein falsifie their faith to God and betrayed his Service to these unworthy men so the just God hath most rightly suffered these perfidious men to betray their Makers to spit in their Father's faces and to combine with the Enemies of God to destroy the Bishops of Christ and so as the Poët saith in another kind Ignavum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent Neither was this all the Bishops fault to ordain these to drive away themselves but as it was said of old Rector eris praestò Men obtained their livings four manner of ways de sanguine Praesulis esto or as another saith Quattuor Ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Quarta sed paucis solet patere Dei So to put weapons into their hands to enable them to war with their Bishops it was the practice of some of the Bishops if we may believe the common report of the Country Mercury to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other preferments not on such worthy Scholars and Academicks as best deserved them but either upon their own Friends Children Kinsmen or Servants or on such as according to the old riddle could tell them who was Melchisedec's Father and his Mother too and could say Saint Peter's Lesson Aurum argentum non est mihi the clean contrary way And this very practice of those Bishops that did so bred ill blood and many corrupt humours against the Episcopal function as especially First A disdain of them amongst those worthy men that were so carelessly neglected Secondly A neglect of God's People and leaving them untaught and unguided by those unworthy men that were thus promoted Thirdly A general distast of the people against all the Bishops when they resented these distempers that were onely caused by very few And all these things cryed to God for redress and