ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ OR The Princes Royal Being the Sum of a SERMON Preached in the Minster at York on the Lords-Day morning in the Assize week March 24. 1650. before the Right Honorable Francis Thorp and Alexander Rigby Esquires Barons of the publique Exchequer and Justices of the Assize for the Northern Circuit the Honorable the Lord Major of York the Right Worshipful Sir John Savil Knight High-Sheriff of York-shire the Right Worshipful Justices of Peace Gentry and others of the City and County of York By JOHN SHAVVE M. A. Sometimes of Christ-Colledg in Cambridge and now Preacher of Gods Word at Kingston upon Hull DAN 7. 27. And the Kingdom and Dominion and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him LONDON Printed by John Macock for Nathaniel Brooks and are to be sold at his shop at the Angel in Cornhil 1650. To the Right Honorable William Lenthal Esq Speaker of the PARLIAMENT of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND RIGHT HONORABLE VEry ancient Historians call this our Nation Primogenitam Ecclesiarum the first begotten of all the Churches and tell us that though Christ was preached in some other Nations before this yet that this was the first wherein the Christian Faith was publiquely entertained by Prince and State Omnium Provinciarum prima Britannia publicitus Christi nomen recepit and they add that Lucius King of Britain was the first Christian King in the world and did in the year after Christ 169. send two learned men Elvanus and Medvinus to Eleutherius then Bishop of Rome to receive further instruction in the Christian Faith and for the better Government of this Land Eleutherius returned Answer by two learned men Faganus and a Others call them Fugatius and Dimanus Damianus in these words You require of us the Roman Laws and the Emperors to be sent over to you the Roman Laws and the Emperors we may ever reprove but the Law of God we cannot you have received by Gods Mercy in the Realm of Britain the Law and Faith of Christ you have with you within the Realm both the parts of the Scriptures the Old and New Testament Out of the same by Gods grace with the counsel of your Realm take you a Law and by that Law through Gods sufferance rule you your Kingdom of Britain for a King hath his name of ruling and not of having a Realm you shall be a King while you rule well but if you do otherwise the name of a King shall not remain with you and you shall lose it which God forbid c. And though the Gospel was preached here before then yet not till then were the Temples of Idolatry the twenty eight Flamines and three Arch-Flamines removed and a marvellous great change made throughout Lucius his Dominions Romanorum inaccessa loca Christo fuere subdita After when Gregory sent Augustin the Monk hither who brought over some Truth and much Superstition in the Saxons reign here anno 596. he found the wife of Ethelbert King of Kent viz. Queen Berta and her Chaplain Bishop Luidhard and many others zealous Christians especially in Wales yet some light broke out then and much more in the reign of a childe King Edward 6. and more by a woman Queen Elizab. that God alone might have all the glory and surely God is carrying on the same work still in purging and reforming of his Church shaking Nations that Christ may the more come in And I verily beleeve that no ten Hagg. 2. 7. years since Lucius his time can speak of so great wonders if not miracles wrought for England and wherein the Lord hath more appeared for the good of his People here then since Your Honor hath sate in the Chair of that Honorable Assembly of Englands Parliament God grant that our murmuring which never makes any thing better but provokes a father and brings more rods and lashes on the childe and which God calls Rebellion Numb 16. 41 46. with c. 17. 10. do not either quite overturn us or at least protract eleven days journey into fourty years travel as the Israelites murmuring did Numb 14. 26 30. and cause that many of us shall fall in the Wilderness and never see the good Land Far be from me such thoughts such praise b Adulator Laudator have both the same letters or rather flattery as to think or say that the Grand Assembly whereof You have so long and with such indefatigable pains been the faithful Speaker hath had no faults and errors though I desire rather to weep over them to God then blaze them to men remembering often that story of Gilbert Foliot Bishop of London in H 2. raign Anno Christi 1161. who saith of himself that when he first entered into the Monastery he zealously cryed out against the sluggishness of his Governors afterward being chosen Governor he inveighed against his superiors being chosen Prior he cryed out against the Abbots afterwards being chosen Abbot he excused them and deeply charged the Bishops but being chosen Bishop I began saith he to see how much easier it is to finde faults then when it is our own case to mend them I cannot say of your Honorable Senate what that learned and holy c Who was as Nazian said of Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza who lived 86. years said of himself that his Head never once aked but truly I think a bad Stomack may make a good Head to ake and our sins and murmurings may much further that which we so much complain against Israel sinned and God left David to number the People 2 Sam. 34. 1. and I verily beleeve that our good and wise God that can bring light out of darkness good out of evil and extract medicines out of poysons 2 Cor. 4. 6. hath sometimes brought much good to this Land even out of Your Errors and our Enemies and hath many times a Mercy that Luther much noted and often blessed God for not taken advantage of your and our failings to our destruction but hereby made us more zealous wary and active afterwards O the wisdom and mercy of our gracious God! Of all the Saints in Scripture I finde no one that vented more impatience then Job as Cap. 3. cursing though not God as Satan promised Job 1. 11. 2. 5. yet cursing Job 6. 8 9. 7. 14 15. 10. 18 19. Yet the Holy Ghost Jam. 5. 11. highly commends Jobs patience and lays it down for a pattern never naming one word of his impatience Abraham shewed much unbelief twice thereby denying his wife yet is chronicled for the Father of the * Rom. 4. 11 18 19 20. faithful and one strong in Faith Jehoshaphat joyned friendship with Ahab 2 Chron. 18. 3. went with him to battel against Ramoth Gilead Vers 27 28. and after that he had been
eating of that bunch of Grapes his fellow-Soldiers chid him saying He ought then to minde somewhat else To whom he said I beseech you Sirs do not envy me my Grapes they will cost me dear you would be loath to have them at my rate So do not you envy nor murmur at wicked men alass when the reckoning comes you would be loath to have their sweet bits at their rate 4. Carry noble mindes of Princes Though Kings are served by the plough yet their minds are taken up with higher Eccles 5 5 matters of State It is written of our King Edward that he had a burning desire to go to the holy Land Zechar. 2. 12. for so they called the Land of Canaan though now I think there is no Land more unholy but being prevented by death he charged his Son to carry his heart thither So though we be below and trade and meddle in things here below yet let our hearts and affections be above Though we have our Commoration on Earth let us have our Conversation in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. which is a sure evidence that we are risen again already Col. 3. 1 2. 5. Let us keep company with Princes even godly men Would it not be a great shame to see the honorable Judges of Assize go off the Bench leave the Society of the Justices and Gentry of the Country and onely keep company with the Prisoners at the Bar Sheep and Wolves Princes and base Peasants have small converse together Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5. 11. 6. If you are Princes contend not for every toy Regium est malé audire quum bené feceris Jesus Christ is Prince of Life Acts 23. 15. Prince of Peace Isai 9. 6. Prince of the Kings of the Earth Dan. 8. 25. Rev. 1. 5. and he hath made us great Princes and shall we contend for every quarrel 1 Cor. 6. 1. to 7. It 's reported of Judg Dyer that when any petty Controversies came before him especially of poor men he used to say That either the parties were wilful or their neighbors uncharitable 7. In the cause and way of God go on undauntedly and with princely courage yea both in doing and suffering for Christ And here give me leave to apply it more particularly and 1. To you my Lords whom God hath been pleased to call to these publique places and that you may go on undauntedly for God and your Country Look 1. That your principles be sound and upright else however you judg men now yet poor men will judg you another day when all the Saints shal judg the world 2. Look you be upright in your ways uprightness hath boldness do not steer your course according to friends or foes or mens corrupt humors It 's said of Baldwin the French Lawyer that he had Religionem Ephemeram every day a new Religion but constant to none Beza and therefore saith Beza he became Deo hominibusque quos toties fefellerat invisus Some of you have read of a very great Courtier of this Land who was a great Favorite to King Henry the eighth a Papist to King Edward the sixth a Protestant to Queen Mary a Papist to Queen Elizabeth a Protestant and kept both great favor and places being asked how he could do so he answered I always imitated L. Pawlet the Willow and not the Oak was ready to bow and bend to the lusts of great men and humors of the Times as one not tyed to John Baptists Conscience but giving elbow-room to Jeroboams policy c. I can tell you of a Judg God ever deliver you from his steps that raised a most strange conclusion from honest Premisses I mean Pilate Luk. 23. 14 15 16. who saith concerning Christ I have examined him and found no fault in this man therefore I will chastise him Unjust Judg nay therefore chastise him not Or as it is related by John cap. 19. 6. I finde no fault in him therefore take ye him and crucifie him nay rather ought he to rescue and deliver him Epaminondas a Heathen man being poor and tempted with great presents used to say if the cause was good he would do it without a bribe because it was good if bad not for a world 3. Look your ends be right the Devil knows that that is a prevailing temptation wherewith he thought to have undone Job when all other shafts failed doth Job serve God for nought Job 1. 9. as if he had some by-ends in it This undid Jehu who executed judgment severely on the house of Ahab which God commanded and yet God revenged all that very blood upon Jehu's house Hos 1. 4. because of Jehu's by-end in the work Secondly A word to you Right worshipful and worthy 2. Take heed lest any of you favor drunken Alehouses to uphold your Rents price of Corn or Your Clerks fee◠Holy Mr Fenner saith that he heard a Clerk of the Assizes say that he was glad there were so many rogues because he got more money Justices of peace I pray you pull out the beams out of your own eyes first be not you guilty of those vices which you ought to punish in others so shall you go on with courage You see at these Assizes divers devouring Wolves arraigned would you pursue them to their den you should finde most of this to spring from and be hatched at debuched Alehouses I pray you know neither friend or soe Justice is pictured blinde as to mens persons but quick-sighted in causes Shall I punish my friend for whom such a one speaks an old servant to my Father to my Wife Son c. No nor your foe neither With all my heart spare your friend but punish the Malefactor Teach men in your Ridings and Sessions that Norman distinction that William the first taught an * Odo brother to K. William Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy Earl of Kent whom the King would punish for his foul misdemeanors the Earl being also Bishop of Bayeux in France pleaded he did not do the fault as he was Earl but as he was Bishop and so then not under the temporal Jurisdiction To whom the King replyed neither do I punish you as a Bishop but as an Earl however the party was punished spare your friend yea and your foe also if you will but punish the Malefactor 3. To you Gentlemen of the long robe to whom I spake freely 3. Britania rediviva yet truly here the last Assizes and therefore no more now but this plead now as you may with courage stand up at last and have Christ plead your cause I do not say when or while causes are dark and doubtful but when it clearly and plainly appears that the cause is untrue and unjust Do not do your best or worst to colour it over and to cause unjustice to be done or else it shall not want your furtherance Think not that this is enough
said Joh. 4. 32. 7. Served as Princes Christ serves them Joh. 13. 4 5 6. Luk. 22. 27. Angels of Heaven serve them Hebr. 1. ult Devils and wicked men are scullions to them to scour them as Luthers phrase was 8. Their work is Princes work not drudgery but servire Deo est regnare Wicked men do the Devils work some without door as profane men some within doors as Hypocries The Saints do Gods 9. They shall judg the world ere long as great Princes 1 Cor. 6. 3. How many men are converted to God so many Judges are born into the world and therefore no wonder that they are so hated by wicked men Ere long Felix shall be Prisoner and Paul the Judg Herod the Prisoner and John Baptist the Judg Pharaoh the Prisoner and Moses Judg Mat. 19. 28. Pareus observes that Christians used to bring their causes to be tryed by the Bishops as supposed godliest and just after they claimed it as a right and so would be both Bishops and Princes Saints shall judg without sin 10. They shall ere long be crowned in glory as Princes Indeed the Saints in this life are in their nonage It 's chronicled as a great happiness of a Family in Ireland the Barons of Hoath that the heirs thereof for 400 years together were always at age before their fathers death but here the Saints are not at full age till their own death and then crowned in glory Onely take heed that we be not children of the Kingdom in profession onely but in truth else we shall be cast out Mat. 8. 12. Qu. If you ask how such poor sinful creatures come to be such great Princes Ans I answer 1. By birth as before Joh. 1. 13. 2. By Acts 20. 28 Ephes 1. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 People of Gods purchase 1 Pet 2 9 1 Cor. 6 20 marriage they marry unto the royal line Isai 54. 5. 3. By Purchase Christ bought it for them and them for it 4 By deed of gift Luk. 12. 32. Edward the sixth could not give his Kingdom away if he could it had not come as it did to Queen Mary but our Father can and will both that of grace and glory Psal 84. 11. Favor me right honorable and well-beloved with a little more of your patience and attention and I shall apply this briefly and dispatch the rest in few words And 1. It shews the happiness and honor of all the Saints such Vse 1 honor have they all Psal 149. 9. They are no base or vile persons Psal 15. 4. but mighty Princes There is not the poorest godly man alive would change estates with the greatest wicked man in the world for would great Princes change Estates with Beggars every wicked man though swelled as big as Nimrod or Pharaoh are Beggars and live upon the Alms of the Parish as I may say They are spared alive out of Hell awhile for the Saints sake God spares the Tares for the Wheats sake and Sodom for the Rightâ—ous sake if it be spared Job 22. 10. Nay wicked men are condemned already They are reprieved not from Assizes till the next Assizes but from moment to moment but the Saints though they walk on foot as Solomon observed Eccles 10. 7. are Princes They have much in present possession and much in reversion happy they no wonder they would not change not Moses with Pharaoh not John Baptist with Herod not Paul with Felix c. Time is coming when Haman would be glad to be Mordecai's Lacky as old World would have been glad to have been in the place of Noahs Dog when flood came The righteous is now more excellent then his neighbor Prov. 12. 26. and wicked mens Consciences convince them now but much more at the great Day Theodosius used more to glory that he was servant of Christ then that he was Emperor of the East So King David glories that he was Gods servant twice in one Verâ—e Psal 116. 16. Moses though dead not onely was but is so Josh 1. 2. 2. The next shews how joyful a day the day of our conversion Vse 2 is it 's our Coronation-day we then enter upon our dominion it was decreed before Time purchased in the fulness of Time but we are not crowned till our Conversion In every Town Parish Village so many as are converted so many Princes are in that Town Object But I cannot tell the day of my Conversion Ans But thou canst tell the day that thou wast unconverted and God hath wrought a change in thee A man knows he was born into this world though he cannot remember the day when and a woman knows that she was married though she cannot tell just the day and hour when it was 3. Bless God that would look on such poor creatures and Vse 3 raise us out of worse then the dunghil and make us great Princes Psa 113. 7 8. Oh that Christ would make those Princes in whom Satan once raigned and bound more then eighteen years Luk. 13. 16. 11. 21 22. 4. Then let us be exhorted to carry and behave our selves Vse 4 as Princes 1. Cry not for toys and trifles Was it not a great shame for a great Prince to weep and mourn for the loss of two or Monstrosares est sedes prima vita ima Bern. three pins poynts or sarthings Jerom tells of one Dydimus a godly learned Preacher who was blinde Alexander a godly man comes to him and asks him Are you not sore troubled and afflicted for want of your sight Oh yes said Dydimus it 's a great affliction and grief to me Then Alexander chid him saying Hath God given you that which is the excellency of an Angel of an Apostle and are you troubled for that which Rats and Mice and brute beasts have So hath God made us Kings and Princes to God and shall we mourn or murmur for these outward trifles c. 2. Are you Princes Away then with all base employments Is it no ashame to see Princes rake the channels turn Scavengers shovel the dirt c. The Heathen Romans did conceit that there was a filthy Hag or Witch called Lulla that strangled their children in the Cradle so that when the Nurses rocked the children to sleep they cryed Lulla abi Lulla abi Lulla begone avoyd whence to this day Nurses use at such times to sing Lullabie Let all spiritual Princes Isai 30. 22 say to all cursed lusts Begone get thee hence Shall they swear be drunk worldly No remember thou art a heavenly Prince 3. Envy not wicked men Shall great Princes envy the happiness of poor condemned and reprieved Beggars I have read of a Souldier that upon a strict command of the General that no Soldier should break into the Vineyards as they marched nor take any thing from that place upon pain of death he broke into the Vineyards and took onely one bunch of Grapes for which he was condemned and as he went to execution was