Heathen knowledge of his Laws he that prohibits to cast Pearls before Swine and to give that which is holie to Doggs he that brings a drought upon one City when he makes it raine upon another he that commands Paul to Preach in Macedonia and forbids him to Preach in Asia shewes plainly that he is not tyed in any obligation to offer so much as the internall meanes of Salvation to all but of those many that are called few are chosen Matth. 20. Will ye have a type of it six hundred thousand are called out of Aegypt but onely two of them enter into the promised Land Three and twenty thousand are called to fight against Midian but onely three hundred are chosen Jud. 7. Gideons Fleece is wet when the whole Earth is dry Eight persons are saved in the Ark when the whole World that would not hearken unto the Preacher of righteousness is drowned five Cities are burned only three Soules that believed God and fled unto the Hills were preserved The Seed falls foure waies out of the Sowers hand some amongst Thornes and that is choaked some amongst stones and that is withered some by the way side and that is devoured scarce the fourth part falling into good ground is preserved Christ hath a little Flock but the Devill hath a Kingdome nay a world of Kingdomes All these are mine He lyed but in some sort his speech was true he is the Prince of this World he drives the whole World in a drift before him as a Butcher doth his Flock to the Shambles Christ catcheth here a Sheep and there another out of Satans Drove to make up to himselfe a little Flock he hath the Vintage Christ hath the Gleanings as the scattered Grapes when the Vintage is ended and as the after shaking of an Olive Tree here a Berry and there a Berry on the outmost boughs Isa 24. 13. For this cause as if it were too much that Christs Church should be called a Flock it is elsewhere called a Houshold Eph. 2. Gal. 6. This is too large a name and therefore is it limited in a House there be Vessels of honour and Vessels of dishonour the former onely are Christs the other he leaves to Satan there be Sons in an house and there be Servants Christ makes challenge to none but Sons and Daughters the reason is plaine the way to Hell is a broad way they may go by thousands to it there is roome for Foot and Horse and Cart and Coach and all it is plaine and pleasant no hedges to keep passengers in no mire to withhold them no blocks to stop and hinder their passage But the way to Heaven like that described by Livie to Tempe in Thessalie is but one single narrow craggy path all that go that way must as neer as may be tread in the footsteps of him that is gone before Viz. Christ There is the sharp thorny hedge of the Law to pale them in and the fiery Cherubs to affray them and the blade of a Sword shaken to discourage them and the mire and clay of tribulation to keep their legs as it were in the stocks and many blocks and stops doth Satan cast before them to bring them to the ground and when thou art come to the gate it is but like a needles eye If thou be puffed up with luxury and drunkennesse thou must empty thy selfe If thou bee swelled with pride and ambition thou must humble thy selfe If thou be loaden with the drosse and trash of this world thou must disburthen thy selfe thou must pull downe thy top-mast and strike saile and become slender and little and nothing in thine own eyes or thou shalt never finde entrance This being thus I much wonder why either Bellarmine or the most impudent and brazen-faced Divine that ever the Roman Church bred should not blush to place multitude and a glorious visibility of Professors amongst the infallible marks of the true Church which if they prove I will not say to be proper and inseparable marks the mark which Bellarmine aimes at but to carrie so much as a shew of probability I dare boldly inferr that neither Abraham nor any of the Patriarchs nor Elias nor any of the Prophets nor Athanasius nor any of the Orthodoxall Bishops of that time nor Christ nor any of his Apostles were of the true Church all of which had multitude and glorious visibility of Professors as strongly against them as the Romanists can prove it to be on their side Where was this multitude and visibility when Abraham and his Wife were Pilgrims in Aegypt and Canaan and had not so much as a child to leave behind them where when Elias complained that he was left alone that small remnant which God had reserved to himselfe being so hid that they were unknown to Elias himself though a principall member of the Church Where when the Prophet complained that not a righteous man could be found in Jerusalem Jer. 5. 1. Where when Christ first began to preach and made choise of 12. Apostles for this purpose one of which proved a thief Where in the time of the Arian persecution when to use Hieroms words the whole world groaned and wondered to see her selfe become an Arian When this plague spread over the whole Christian world and infected two Bishops of Rome and was strengthened by ten severall Councels in which the decrees of the Nicene Synod were repealed When whole burthen of the Church in respect of men lay upon the shoulders of Athanasius and a few other forlorn Bishops which endured either imprisonment or banishment or otherwise hid themselves and durst not shew their faces By this which hath been spoken as it is evident that this note of multitude notes nothing or if any thing the contrary to Bellarmines note So is it also as cleare that that glorious shew of visibility of which these Thrasoes make such great boast neither makes their cause good nor hurts ours Where was the Protestants Church for divers hundreds of years before Martin Luthers dayes many there were not of that Church true there needed not Christs flock is little gloriously conspicuous it was not true for neither was that needfull Where was this great multitude of Believers and glorious splendor of Professors when the Prophet complained that he was left alone When Esay exclaimed That from the sole of the foote to the crowne of the head there was nothing but bruises and putrified sores Isa 1. When all Jerusalem was troubled about the birth of Christ when the Christians groaned under the ten bloody persecutions inflicted by the Pagans and under the eleventh caused by the Arians As in those times so in the times before Martin Luther the western Church was at a low ebbe and the Moon did suffer almost a totall Eclipse No marvail seeing it was foretold that there should be an apostacy 2 Thes 2. And that the second Beast should cause all both great and small rich and poor free and bond
gathering when he complaineth that the covetous luxurious ambitious incestuous sacrilegious and all such hellish Monsters did flock to Rome to get a warrant from the Apostolick Sea for their proceedings And that they made no more conscience of sinning then theeves after they had robbed a man by the high way are afraid to divide the spoile Curiae tua recipere honos magis quà m facere consuevit he speakes unto the Pope mali enim illic non proficiunt sed boni deficiunt I intend now to lay open her monstrous cruelties and bloody massacres of such as truly professe the Gospel of Christ in which point she doth very well resemble Shall I say Ierusalem which killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent to her Nay rather old Rome under Nero as often as the Emperour gave commandement that any should bee slaine or banished saith Tacitus did they give thankes unto God and those things which in former time had been notes of some prosperous success were now the ensigns of publick slaughter Is not this her custom at this day are there any bloody butcherings of Christs flock any cruel murthering of Christian Princes by Romish Jebusites but it shall be received at Rome with Bonefires and Hymns in most triumphant manner all which things when I consider I am fully resolved that a learned Divine of later yeares doth not speak of any malicious humour when he saith that there be three points of divinity he calleth them Capita arcana Theologiae which go current in Rome The first that there is no God the Second that whatsoever is written of Christ is lies and deceits The third that the Doctrine of the resurrection and the last judgement is meerly fabulous now then this being the case of that great and glorious Citie we may well collect that her horrid desolation and fearfull downfall is at hand For there is no state so strong no Citie so fenced but the sinnes of the people will bring it unto destruction which is my third and last proposition out of the second generall branch of my Text whereof I am now by your patience to intreat That Kingdoms and Common-wealths have their periods and downfalls is a conclusion which the premises of all former ages do demonstrate learned Athens stately Sparta rich Babylon victorious Carthage ancient Troy proud Ninive and a thousand more have numbred their years and at this day have no stronger fence then Paper walls to keep their names from oblivion the great enemie of antiquitie Now for the true cause of their subversions it is a truth which the greatest wizards of this world after much study and many serious consultations with nature could never finde out The Epicures attribute it to Fortune the Stoicks to Destinie the Pythagorians to numbers Which last opinion Plato made such reckoning of that he will have numbers to be the sole cause of the transmutations of Common-wealths Whose words be so Aenigmatical that Tullie makes them a Proverb and Marcilius Ficinus invocateth not Oedipus but Apollo to unfold them Aristotle who of all others cometh nearest unto the truth maketh the cause to be a disharmonie in the bodie politick as too much wealth of some few the great miserie of many injurie fear c. I little marvel that Heathen Philosophers should shoot so wide when Christians have so grossely mistaken their mark Bodin how wittie is he in pleading for numbers what vertue doth he attribute to 7. or 9. or 12. and their squares and cubiques How doth he shift himself to prove his opinion sound by instances of the most Common-wealths that have been hitherto in account adding or detracting years at his pleasure from the Calculation of the best Chronologers to make the number square or cubick or spherical or at the least some way consisting of 7. or 9. or of their roots or squares Cardanus hangeth all upon the tail of the greater Bear The common sort of Astrologians refer it to the Planets and Stars making such a scheme at the first foundation of any Citie which made Varro as Plutarch witnesseth so earnest with Taruncius Firmanus to enquire the opposition and aspect of the Planets when Rome was first situated thinking here by to conjecture how long that Empire should endure Copernicus will have the conversion and motion of the center of his imaginary excentricle circle which circle according to him is not caused by the Heavens motion for the Heavens in his opinion are unmoveable but by the earth which he will have to be continually wheeled about to be the cause of these alterations of Common-wealths Thus while they groped in the dark they missed their mark as the Sodomites did Lots door and while they professed themselves wise they became fools And little marvel for the wisdom of this world is foolishnesse with God None of all these have happened on the true cause it is the sins of the people which bringeth every Common-wealth to ruine And how can it be otherwise for if thou lay more weight on the root then the piâ—â—ars can support the house must needs fall Now sin is of such an intollerable weight that no house nor citie nor common-wealth can stand under it but it will presse it down it is a burden to the whole earth and makes it reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man it is a burden to all the creatures and maketh them groan and travel in pain it is a burden to God himself which makes him cry out in the Prophet against the Jews that they had pressed him with their iniquites even as a cart is pressed with sheaves it lay so heavy upon Christs shoulders that it made him sweat drops of blood This burden of it self so heavy like a malefactor that is pressed to death cries for more weight to presse the sinner to the pit of Hell it calls to Heaven for the burden of the Lord that is for vengeance to be inflicted upon the impenitent sinner God in regard of his patience and long suffering is said to have leaden heels he cometh slowly even against his will to punish but in respect of his justice he is said to have iron hands He striketh with a witnesse when once he begins to smite in his proceedings against the sins of men he hath a double method sometimes and this method is most usual when he proceedeth against the sins of his children he comes to them as he came to Elias First he sendeth a mighty strong winde to blow down the tall cedars and cast them to the ground as Paul was before he was converted Then an Earth-quake to shake the flinty rocks I mean the stonie hearts of men and to make them tremble as Felix did when Paul disputed of the judgement to come then a fire to burn up the stubble and consume the bryars and then when these fore-runners like John Baptist have
over the whole globe of the earth is but a God of Gods footstool Your circuit is farre lesse you are but Gods of an out-corner nay a little portion of an out-corner of Gods footstoole Let me then speak unto you in the words of the Tragoedian Vos quibus rector maris atque terrae Jus dedit magnum necis atque vitae Ponite inflatos tumidosque vultus you whom the God of heaven and earth hath so highly extolled as to make Judges of life and death be not proud of your authorities but think with your selves that Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur What hurt soever your inferiours shall sustain by your means there is a greater God that threatneth the same nay a worse unto you Be wise now therefore O yee Gods be learned ye that are Judges ef the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce before him with trembling kisse the sonne lest he be angry Let his word be a law to direct your sentences his will the line to measure your actions With what conscience can those hands subscribe to an untruth which should be Gods instrument to confirm a right with what faces can those mouthes pronounce an unjust sentence which should be the organes of God to confirm a right When you do amisse you are not only injurious unto man whom yee wrong but contumelious unto God whose sacred judgements ye pollute Give me leave then to say unto you with good king Jehosaphat take heed what ye do for ye execute not the judgements of man but of the Lord and he will be with you in the cause and judgement Wherefore now let the fear of God be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity in the Lord our God neither respect of persons nor receiving of reward Therefore in every cause that shall come unto you between bloud and bloud between law and precept statute and judgement ye shall judge the people according unto right and admonish them that they trespasse not against the Lord. Let me say with Moses Judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him ye shall have no respect of persons in judgement but shall hear the small as well as the great With Jeremiah unto the king of Judah Execute judgement and righteousnesse deliver the oppressed from the hands of the oppressour vexe not the stranger the fatherlesse nor the widow do no violence nor shed innocent blood in this place And finally with my Prophet in this Psalm Defend the poor and fatherlesse see that such as be in need and necessity have right deliver the outcast and poor save them from the hands of the ungodly 16. I speak not this as if I would have you to exceed the limits of justice for commiserating the cause of the poor I know the poor may offend as well as the rich and as the poor is to be pitied so the rich is not to be wronged And he that hath given this law unto the Magistrate that he should not respect the person of the mighty hath given this also that he should not favour the person of the poor It is not the misery of the one nor the felicity of the other that the Judge is to respect For the matters in question sound them to the bottome anatomize them to the least particle and sift them to the branne but for the parties whom they do concern farther then this that ye are to judge between a man and a man ye ought not to enquire The law in the Greek tongue comes from a verb that signifieth to divide because it divideth to every man that which is his own You then which are dispensers of the law should give to every one poor or rich that which is his right Hereupon it is that Aristotle cals the Judge in commutative justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as some copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medianus or medijurus a mean between two because he should not propend to the one party more then the other but only so farre as the weight of the cause carrieth him and should give to every man that which is his right and that not according to geometrical but according to arithmetical proportion that is not with Xenophons young Cyrus give the greater coat unto the greater man and the lesser coat unto the lesser man but to give the greater coat if it be his due unto the lesser man and let the greater man if he have right to no more be contented with the lesser coat 17. But the principal thing which it beseemeth me to put you in mind of and which is chiefly required at your hands as ye are factors for the God of heaven is the care of religion and the true worship of God Nothing is so dear unto God as his own worship He that toucheth it wounds him to the heart and pierceth the apple of his eye It is an injurie which he will not put up at the hands of any man but will come against him as the fire that burneth up the stubble and as the hammer that breaketh a stone Therefore it most neerly concerneth you who are his deputies to maintain his service and to put what strength you can unto the hammer of justice that ye may as farre as the lawes will give you leave burst into pieces whatsoever shall advance it selfe against his worship 18. The sicknesses in religion that are amongst us are not Novatianisme Brownisme Catharisme No no these hot phrenzies are scarse heard of in this cold climat wherein we live They are cold Epilepsies and dead Apoplexies and sleepy Lethargies and dangerous Consumptions that vexe us The main root whence they all spring is a disease with which this land is sick And that is the bold profession of Popery for hereby the true Christian are mightily discouraged those that are infected with Romish superstition take occasion by little and little to fall away from us The ignorant are doubtful and know not what to do but are ready to embrace any religion or no religion as time and occasion shall require The Atheist a vermine wherewith this whole country swarmes though they cannot be well discovered by reason that they wear vizards upon their faces is hardned and heartned in his impiety For us we do what we can to cut in sunder this bitter root Gladly would we heal them of Babylon but they will not be healed For our privat conferences with any of them if they want wit to answer our reasons they have will to let them alone For our publike work of the ministery lest we should catch some of them they will not come within the compasse of our nets The last weapon of the Church is fulmen excommunicationis to drive them out of our Synagogues And what care they for this who will not come in them no when we do entreat them they
octo pedum He whom the whole earth could not content was at length contented with a parcel of ground of eight yea of six foot long Herod when upon a day he was arrayed in royal apparel and sate on the bench and gave such an excellent charge that the people cried non vox hominem sonat It is the voyce of God and not of man immediatly after proved neither God nor man For he was eaten up of wormes and gave up the Ghost Rare examples for the Gods of the earth to look down into their own bosomes and to remember that they must die as men It is a good custome of the Emperour of the Abyssenes Prester John to have every meal for the first dish that comes on his table a dead mans skull to put him in mind of his mortality So was that which was used by Philip namely to have a boy every day to put him in mind that he was to die as a man Not much unlike was the old practise of the Egyptians who when their Princes went to banquet used to beare before them the picture of a dead man to put them in mind of their mortality 24. Seeing then that ye must die study to have your accounts in readinesse that whensoever the Lord shall call you hence hee may finde you provided Be faithfull in those high rooms wherein God hath placed you Ye execute not the judgements of man but of the Lord. Aske counsel therefore of God and weigh your proceedings in the ballance of the sanctuary Do nothing but what God commands you and the testimony of a good conscience will warrant to be lawful remembring that ye must one day God knowes how soon that day will come be summoned to appear before the common Judge of all flesh who is a burning and consuming fire who is not blinded with secret closenesse nor corrupted with bribes nor moved with friends nor allured by flatterers nor perswaded by the importunity of intreaters to depart anâ— haires breadth from the course of justice no though these three men Noah Daniel and Job should stand before him and make intercession in your behalf These things remember and do and ye shall have comfort in your lives comfort at your deaths And when your souls shall be removed from those earthly cottages wherein they now dwell they shall be translated into everlasting habitations and received with this joyful and comfortable welcome it is well done good servants and faithful ye have been faithful in a little I will make you rulers over much enter into your masters joy 25. Like men It is implied in the conclusion of my text that it is the lot and condition of all men to die And therefore as it concernes magistrates so it concerns all others to provide themselves for their end because as the tree fals so it lies that is as the day of death shall leave them so the day of judgement shall finde them Remember this yee that are to be witnesses for giving testimony unto the truth and jurers for giving a verdict according to the truth And as you love and reverence the truth it selfe as ye desire the benefit of your Christian brethren which ye should love as your selves as ye wish the glory of God which ye should tender more then your selves let it be a forcible motive unto you to deal uprightly in every cause with every man without declining to the right hand or to the left then shall ye sanctifie the name of God by whom ye do swear to speak truly to deal truly ye shall give occasion to good men to praise God for you and ye shall not need to be ashamed to meet God in the face when he shall call you to a reckoning for your doings But on the other side if rewards shall blind you or fear enforce you or pitty move you or partiality sway you or any respect whatsoever draw you to smother the truth and favour an evil cause yee pearce your selves through with many darts For first you are false witnesses against your neighbour secondly ye are thieves ye rob him of his right thirdly ye are murtherers ye kill him in his body or in his name or in his maintenance fourthly and which is worst of all ye take the name of your God in vain yea as much as in you lieth ye take his godhead from him and make him who is the truth from everlasting to be all one with the devil who is a lyar from the beginning If ye must be countable unto God when he shall call you hence for every idle word that goes out of your mouthes and if the least ungodly thought of your hearts in the rigour of Gods justice deserve eternal death how shall ye be able to stand in judgement under this ponderous Chaos of so many crying sins I cannot prosecute this point only for conclusion I say with Moses behold this day have I set before you life and death blessing and cursing choose life and ye shall live If not I pronounce unto you this day ye shall surely perish The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it 26. You whose profession is to open the causes in controversie and by your knowledge in the laws to distinguish between right and wrong truth and falshood remember that ye must die And therefore I beseech you in the fear of God to study to make the cause of your clients sure as that ye do not in the mean time forget S. Peters counsel to make your own election sure I urge this the rather because absit reverentia vero I will speak the truth in despite of all scoffes and I hope such as are ingenious will bear with my plainnesse if as Philip said of the Macedonians I call a boat a boat and a spade a spade because it seemeth to be much neglected by many of your profession who with Martha trouble themselves about many businesses but anum necessariâ—m to meet Christ and talk with him they scarce remember it I remember the saying of Demades touching the Athenians when they refused to make Alexander one of their Gods and Cassander who was his successour threatned that unlesse they would do it he would presently overthrow their city the Athenians said Demades have reason to look to themselves lest while they are too curious about heaven they lose the earth But these men have need to look to themselves lest while they trouble themselves too much about the earth they lose heaven by whose means especially it is effected that our courts do too much resemble the Lyons den which howsoever other beasts in simplicity went flocking on heaps unto yet the fox that found by experience how others sped durst not come near it Quia me vestigia terrent said she Omnia te adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum All comes to them little from them they have as attractive a force for silver as the loadstone
to receive a marke in their right hands and in their fore-heads Apoc. 13. 16. And that all Nations should be drunk with the wine of the fornication of the whore of Babylon Apoc. 18. 3. Yet even then I make no doubt but God had his true Church because the gates of Hell shall never prevaile against it Although I could neither neither name the persons who nor the places where which notwithstanding I can do both as I doubt not but wee had all Ancestors living 120. yeares agoe and yet none of us can name either person or place or profession of any of them and I doubt not but there is a moone immediately after the change although I cannot point out the place with my finger and say here it is Now as this doctrine proves amplitude and multitude of Believers to be no true and infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods Church So it takes away an excuse which is common in the world to do as the most do wherein we may justly renew Seneca's complaint Inter causas malorum nostrorum est quod vivimus ad exempla nec ratione componimur sed multitudine abducimur Quod si pauci facerent nollemus imitari cum plures facere caeperunt quasi honestius sit quo frequentius sequimur recti apud nos locum tenet error ubi publicus est factus Here comes into my minde a story recorded by Munster in his discription of Frisland Carolus Mertellus Duke of Brabant coming into Frisland perswades Rapotus Duke thereof to embrace Christian Religion and to this purpose sent Wolfrancus a certaine Bishop to instruct him in the grounds of Christian Faith After a time Rapotus yeelds and going into the water with the Bishop to receive the Sacrament of Bapt. having one foot in the River where he was to have been baptized he demands of the Bishop whether more of his Progenitors were in Hell or in Paradise the Bishop replying in Hell presently the Duke steps back and refusing baptisme said I had rather be in Hell with the most then in Paradise with the fewest Many deride the folly of this man who follow his example rebuke the Adulterer for his dallying or the Drunkard for his carousing or the Swearer for his blaspheming or the Usurer for his grinding or the Sabboth-breaker for his prophaning What but universality of sinne must procure him a pardon but multitudâ— peccantium non parit erroris patrocinium saith Hierome and he that excuseth his fault by alledging of multitude saith St. Austin seeks not a patron for his cause but a fellow for his punishment and God hath commanded us not to follow a multitude to do evill and we have now learned that Christs Church is not a great but a little flocke It is a true saying of Livie major pars plerumque vineit meliorem In doing of good it is good to have company but where they leave the way of God we must leave their wayes It is the worst kind of good fellowship to go to Hell for company Bonum quo communius eâ— melius but malum quo communius eo pejus It 's more dangerous when a whole house is sick of the Plague then when only one of the family is infected worse when it is in a whole Towne but worst of all when it is spread through the whole Kingdome The universality of sin is an argument that Gods plague is wayting at the doors of that house or City or Kingdome to fall upon it and to destroy it Poets fable that a little before the Trojane warre the Earth made complaint to Jupiter that she was loaden with the sins of wicked men and could no longer beare them the offenders were â—o many Whereupon Jupiter stirred up the Trojan wars to ease of the earth of the multitude of offenders and indeed Warres are commonly Gods new brooms which sweep cleane whereby he purgeth this Augaeum stabulum and sweepeth away the common heaps of sinnes And in them it falls out according to the proverb Vt victor fleat victus intereat That both parties sustaine losse as then it fell out But wee have better examples then Poeticall fictions for illustration of this point What was the cause of the drowning of the old World See Gen. 6. 12. Universality of sinne All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth What was the cause why Sodome was burned See Gen. 18. Community of sinne not ten righteous men could be found in five Cities For shame then plead not universality for sinne lest if thou be partaker with the multitude in their sinnes thou suffer with them in their punishments If Noah had been like unto them of the old world he had been drowned with them And if Lot had been like his neighbours of Sodome he had been burned with them If thou wilt enter into life be singular goe not with the most but with the best Abraham must come out of Chaldaea though none but his Wife accompanie him and Lot must leave Sodome though all his neighbours forsake him He that will follow the streame and current of Rivers shall at length come to the deep Sea and hee that will follow the stream and current of times shall at length come to the deep of Hell So much of the second the third followeth Feare not Of that feare whereby a man is moved either to obey God or depart from his precepts Peter Lombard sets downe 4. kinds Servile which hath poenam for its object it ariseth from the apprehension of Gods wrath and curses of the Law He that is the subject of this fear will abstaine from sinne and do that which is good Non virtutis amore sed formidine paenae as Horace speaks Non timore amittendi aeternum bonum quod non amat sed timore patiendi malum quod formidat as Austin notes This is a preparation or previall disposition to the next kind of feare which is called chast and filiall It is the beginning of wisdome as Solomon calls it and it is to filiall feare as the needle is to the thread so Austin illustrates it the needle makes way for the thread and draws it after it yet so as that the thread not the needle remaines in the cloath and tyes the parts together Filiall feare the second kind is joyned with faith and love of God and hath Culpam for its object this is a speciall part of Gods worship Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serve him Deut. 6. 13. The third is Initialis which doth not specifically but modally and gradually differ from filiall And indeed in the best of Gods children as all other vertues so also filiall feare is but Initiall Cunctorum in terris gementium imperfect a perfectio est saith Hierome they are pilgrims and a pilgrims motion is as all mutations are actus entis in potentia as the Philosopher defines motus The fourth is mundane and humane unto which we may referre that
is wronged make complaint rather then to his Father and to whom shall a man have recourse for redress of injuries done to him but to them who are Gods Deputies Fathers of their Countries and living Laws to give every man his owne And if every wrong should be put up with patience it would imbolden such as we speak of to multiply their abuses and with greater impudency to goe on in their lewd courses Veterem ferendo injuriam invitas novam whereupon the Ephori amongst the Lacedemonians did punish a man that had put up many injuries and never made complaint Nam si primum vel alterum accusasset vel jure vindicasset cateri abstinissent But yet it 's not fit that Fathers of great Families such as our reverend Judges should be molested with the petty complaints of every peevish Boy that is in the house In this case there is utterly a weaknesse of mind amongst men especially in these parts so remote from the chief Coures of Justice that they go to Law one with another As for the Wrangler of whom I was last speaking who makes the Law sometimes a Sword to revenge himself of his Brother sometimes a Coak to cover his theft Surely if that law of Pittacus was good that he who committed a fault when he was drunk should suffer a double punishment one for the offence the other for being drunk then this deserves a double one one for abusing the Law the other for wronging his Neighbour to whom he should perform all duties of brotherly love But I leave him and will end this branch with a generall exhortation As we all professe our selves to be children of one father so let us be affectioned to love one another with brotherly love Rom. 12. 10. Now then as the elect of God children of one father holy and beloved put on the bowels of mercie kindnesse meeknesse long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrell against another even as God for Christs sake forgave you And let the peace of God rule in your hearts and the God of peace shall be with you O holy Father sanctifie them whom thou hast given unto thy Christ the sheepe of thy little flock keep them in thy name pour into their hearts the spirit of peace and unity That they may be all one as thou thy sonne are one Last of all Is Almighty God the great Judge of the World Is he a Father to his little flocke Here then Judges and Magistrates and the great ones of this World and all those whom the great God of Heaven and Earth hath set over others and stiled with his owne name are to be exhorted to imitate him whose person they beare in this relation of Paternity remembring bring that as they are called Gods so are they also named Fathers so Job a Judge or as some think a King is stiled Job 29. 16. And David speaks to his Subjects as unto children Psal 34. Come ye children Naamans servants call their Master father 2 King 5. 13. And Joseph when he was made ruler over Aegypt was called Abroch that is tender Father and the Philistims called their Kings Abimilech as who should say the King my Father So amongst the old Romans the worthiest of their Senators were called Fathers as Juvenall speaks of Tullie Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit They must then as Jer. exhorts not only abstain from violence and shedding of innocent blood but after Gods example deliver the oppressed from the hands of the Oppressor as much as in them lies shew themselves fathers and protectors of the righteous This God requires at their hands and those that purposely neglect it shall one day hold up their hands and answer for it when the Judge of the world shall sit on the Bench. And this they are the rather to look too because the more eminent their places are the more conspicuous will their faults be if they neglect their duties As a blaine on the eye beseems worse then a wart on the face and a wart on the face worse then a wenne on the back or other part that is not seen That which others may doe great men and those that are in authority may not Quibus omnia licent propter hoc ipsum multa non licent saith Seneca other men may looke out at a window and observe passengers in the streets Sophocles when he is on the bench may not Praetorem decet non manus solum sed oculos habere abstinentes another man may stoop and take up something that lies in his way Themistocles may not Others may weare Sycionian Pantophles but they become not Socrates though fit for his feet Magistrates play Gods part and a Fathers on the stage and therefore have need to remember Jehosaphats rule Take heed what ye doe They walk upon the top of a steep Rock they have need to tread warily And if their places and their names put them in mind of their duties especially of protecting the innocent after Gods example a shame befall those Courts and Magistrates and Advocates too who by the greatnesse of their places think to manage and inlaw the foulest enormities Vbi is qui sedet crimina vindicaturus admittit as Cyprian complains Or as Aeneas Sylvjus once said of the Court of Rome where Justice is made the lure Suiters the fowls Attorneyes and Solliciters the drivers Pleaders the fowlers the Law the net and he that should sit in the gate to protect the cause of the Innocent sits lurking in the theivish corners of the streets that hee may ravish the poore and such as he gets into his net It was a bold but a true Speech of Diomedes a Pirate to Alexander the Great when he was convented before him for Piracy I who robb with one poor Pinace am called a Pirate and thou that dost it with an invincible Navy art called a Monarch I because I robb one private man am called a Theife and thou because thou robbest and wastest whole Kingdomes to which thou hast no right art called an Emperour I by the misery of a few have purchased a name of disgrace and thou by the misery of a great part of the World hast got the Sirname of Magnus If I had thy Navy by Sea and thy Forces by Land to command I should be saluted Emperour if thou wert alone and a poor prisoner as I am the whole World would condemne thee for a notable Theife For in the cause we differ nothing save that he is the worse who doth more manifestly forsake Justice and more notoriously impugne the Laws those whom I flee thou persecutest whom I after a sort reverence thou scornest it was the iniquity of Fortune and want of necessaries that made me it 's intollerable pride and insatiable avarice that made thee a Theife had I more I would be better thou the more thou hast the worse
thou art Thus thus alas it too often falls out Diomedes is a Pirate but Alexander a Monarch Magnum prosperum scelus virtus vovatur Landlords and such as doe eminently beare the image of Gods in respect of his power and consequently should shew themselves Fathers to those that are under them if they prove unto their Tenants like Briars and Thorny hedges and squeaze and waste whole Towns and Villages and turne those Streets which used to be sowne with the seed of men to the sending out of Bullocks and the treading of Sheep they take but their owne the Law must be their discharge The poor hunger-starved Caitiff if in extream necessity he take a Sheep from a Pasture or a Sheet from a Pale must and deservedly hold up his hand at the Barr for it If a Cutpurse take a few pence out of a mans pocket its felony a Magistrate or an Advocate if for expedition or procrastination or managing of an unjust cause or otherwise unjustly or deceitfully he shall exhaust the Purses and Coffers of many its Honorarium the former by his practice becomes odious and disgracefull the latter by his great and worshipful Ille crucem paenam scelenis fert hic diadema Verily for the matter I see no difference but that the latter is in a greater degree an oppugner of Justice not onely in respect of the sin it selfe which is farr fouler as Alexanders sin was worse then that of Diomedes and of the cause impulsive want and necessity being the one pride and avarice the other but chiefly in respect of the persons who act a part directly contradictory to their profession If upon the Stage a father sitting to examine and correct the faultes of his family shall cheat some of them or if a Magistrate sitting on the Bench when a Suppliant shall come to him with a Petition shall put his hand into the Suppliants pocket and â—eale away his Purse Attollent omnes equites peditesque cachinnum All the spectators would deride the folly of the Poet as when an inâ—ulse Actor cryed O Jupiter and held his hand downward and after cryed O terra and looked up to Heaven Polemo who was Master of the company rann off the Stage and cryed out Manu hic soloecismum fecit â—aliud voce aliud gestibus designans No more but this Id histrio videbit in Scaena quod non sapiens in vita The two lowest Elements are not heavy but when they are out of their proper places no more is sin any where so heavy as when it is displaced Meretrix male facit quòd est meretrix sed non male facit accipere quatenus meretrix saith Bodin So it may be said of a Thiefe and consequently of all Offenders A thiefe doth ill that he is a thiefe but hee doth not ill to steale quatenus a thiefe This is after a sort his profession he is in his owne element But a Magistrate and such as should be a Father to those that are under his jurisdiction for him to play the Thiefe is to imitate Horace his Painter Delphinum sylvis appingit fluctibus aprum It 's to displace the Elements and to put the water in place of the fire with Cleanthes to put vice in Vertues chair with Antiochus to set up the image of Jupiter in Solomons Temple and the abhomination of desolation in the holy place For a filcher and hedg-creeper to pill a sheep it 's no great matter it 's ordinarily done but for a Shepheard to do it were a foule blemish If a man be cosened at Cards with a common Cheater I 'le never pittie him he might have looked better to himselfe but to be cosened by a common Lawyer to whom he shews his cards hoping by his direction to win the game here is an element displaced it 's heavy and grievous to be borne and I am sorry that it should be applied to any of that worthy profession which was spoken of Usurers Alienas negotiantur miserias lucrum suum aliorum adversitatem faciunt They make it their vocation to make men miserable and to make themselves great by other mens falls and hurts to hurt them whom they pretend to help But enough of this subject I know well that it befalls a Minister in touching the faults of great men and such as are heads of the people as it doth a Butcher in fleaing a Beast he goes smoothly away with the skinn that covers the Carkas but when he comes to the head it sticks so that unlesse he work very warily he shall be reprehended for mis-guiding his hand If he hold his knife high hee shall leave part of the skin behind if low he takes part of the flesh with him So it is with a Minister in preaching to men of place if he as is commonly done preach nothing but Placentia and sing a Gloria patri without a Sicut erat and Gentleman-like shoot faire and farre off and for feare of hurting hold his knife too high he shall leave sinne top whole if he go deep hee shall be censured for cutting the quick flesh a meane were to be wished but it 's of so little latitude that it 's hard to be hit upon of the extreams I hold the latter the better I had rather be reproved for saying too much against sinne then for speaking too little I had rather be counted an enemie then a flatterer in Gods businesse Plus timeo illum qui jubet quam illum qui detrahit I am more affraid of him who saith Cry aloud and spare not then of any that can censure me for want of discretion Christs Church in my Text is a little Flock And he said truly if he be rightly understood Multi sunt Placentini Landenses pauci Veronenses Lauden and Placentia are populous Townes and their Citizens swarm every where but Verona is a poor ruinated Village and hath few Inhabitants Tacitus writes that Caepio Crispinus a man well acquainted with the vitious life of Tiberius accused Marcellus an honest Citizen of Rome for certain bad speeches touching the Emperour The Emperour knowing the things to be true that Marcellus was accused to have spoken was easily perswaded that he had spoken them Nam quia vera erant ideo dicta credebantur None I hope will Sure I am none justly can censure mee for aiming at any particular save he whose conscience with Tiberius accuseth him to be guilty of the same sins I have reproved and Si vera sint ideo in eum dicta credantur If he find those things in himselfe let him think that he is the man or rather his sins the mark that I have aimed at And let him goe his way and sinne no more lest a worse thing befall him I am perswaded we have at this day as many worthy and religious Gentlemen as many learned and religious Lawyers as many reverend learned and religious Judges and Magistrates as ever England had and for you
God affords us in this land of the living in a conscionable walking with God after the example of Enoch and Noah To omit the generall as every man hath a particular calling so let him make conscience to use as to Gods glory so to the good and benefit of his Country the Minister in a faithfull dispensation of the Word of God to them that are committed to his charge the Magistrate in using the sword of Justice put into his hands for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of him that doth well He is Vir gregis the Belweather in Christs little Flock and as he goes the rest will follow if by honest and upright and conscionable dealings he shall lead them the right way the lesser and weaker Sheep will be ready to follow him into the green Pastures of the Lord that are beside the waters of comfort To this purpose let him remember that God hath set him in his own room and stiled him with his owne name The studie of a Poet that every speech and action and gesture be sutable to the person hee brings upon the Stage Sit Medea Ferox c. The fifth Sermon MATTH 7. 22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied And then I wil professe to them I never knew you THAT which our Saviour delivered in the former part of the Precedent verse That not all that professe Christ to be their Lord shall be saved is in these two verses confirmed for a man may have most excellent gifts and in respect of his Calling come neer unto Christ be his Vice-gerent and supply his roome and for all that misse heaven Many will say unto me c. In which words note 1. The plea of certaine persons 2. Christs answer Then will I professe c. In the Plea note 1. The persons described by their Offices they are Prophets and they have taken pains in their calling Have not wee prophesied 2. Their number Many 3. The time when this plea shall be made At that day 4. The Judge before whom Vnto me The first will be as much as I shall be able to runne through at this time which I purpose not to handle ut thema simplex but as it hath relation to Christs answer Have not we in thy name That is by thy authority and appointment as being called by thee to that office Prophesied that is either foretold things to come that 's the proper signification of the word or else explained and expounded the word The Prophets in the time of the Law did both and in the New Testament it is used both wayes In those days there came certain Prophets from Jerusalem to Antiochia Act. 11. 27. That is such as by revelation of the Spirit did foretell things to come such was Agabus and the daughters of Philip Acts 21. There you have it in the former signification Despise not prophesie 1 Thes 5. 20. Covet spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie 1 Cor. 14. 1. And in the next verse Prophesie is defined A speaking unto men to edification and to exhortation and to comfort there you have it in the letter here it 's taken generally as infolding both these particulars So that from hence may be gathered these two propositions which shall be the subject of my speech at this time 1. A man may be a Prophet that is a foreteller of things to come and be a reprobate 2. A man may be a learned Preacher and a meanes of saving others and for all that be damned himselfe To foretell future contingents as they are considered in themselves and not in their causes for so they are in some sort present its proper to him from whose all-seeing eyes nothing is hidde Who calleth things that are not as though they were and understandeth the thoughts of our hearts things of all other most purely contingent long before and therefore the Lord brings this as an argument against the Idols of the Heathen to prove that they were no gods because they could not foretell things to come Isa 41. 23. It 's hee and none but hee that could name Josias long before he came into the world and call Cyrus his Shepheard above 100. yeares befor he was borne and number the years of the Jewes captivity before they were carried to Babylon and foresee the foure great Monarchies of the world before they were notwithstanding as the true Prophets have foretold these and other future events not by help of Melancholy which made them more addicted to contemplation as Bodin fondly dreameth but meerly by divine illumination so hath the Lord revealed some of the like nature unto such as were not of the houshold of faith which as it is plain by my Text so also by the example of Caiphas an enemie to Christ and Balaam A stranger from the common-wealth of Israel and Saul a reprobate and the Devill himselfe who could never certainly have foretold Sauls death unlesse the Lord had revealed it unto him which places are so plain that Bellarmine De gratia libero arbitrio lib. 1. cap. 10. confesseth as much in substance as now I labour to prove If it please you to leave the Scriptures a little and to passe to heathen men you shall find that they were not without their Prophesies Hierom upon his Epistle to Titus saith that Epimenides whom Paul calls a Prophet of Crete wrote a booke of Predictions out of which the Apostle borrowed that heroicall verse which is cited in the first Chapter of that Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning their Oracles although they were oftentimes given in amphibologicall termes when the event could not be known such as was that to Pyrrhus if such was given which Tully doubts Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse And that given to Croesus Croesus Halyn penetrans pervertet plurima regna Croesus passing Halys shall great Kingdomes overthrow viz. either of his owne or others and such as was given to Alexander King of Epirus that he should beware of the Citie Pandosia and the river Acheron those two being in Epirus and others of that name in Italie where he was slain and sometimes were of things already begun to be done the news whereof was carried by Spirits in a moment of time unto places far distant such as that was in the first book of Herodotus where the Oracle tells Croesus his messengers what he was doing at that time in his own house and sometimes were of such things as had naturall causes unknown to men yet known to Devils by reason of their greater subtilty and quick apprehension yet were they not all of these kinds some being of such nature as could never be knowne without divine revelation To tell Alexander the time place and manner of his death as the Indian Oracle did if that Epistle be not counterfeit which
Bibulus when they were Consuls the one being little better then a Cypher to supply the room the other ruling at his pleasure may not unfitly be applied to our Ecclesiasticall and civill Courts Non Bibulo quidquid nuper sed Caesare factum est Nam Bibulo fieri consule nil memini Both Caesar and Bibulus are Consuls they have both the Sword of Authority put into their hands but non Bibulo quidquam sed Caesare factum est Caesar doth all Bibulus scarce any thing at all except drinking up of Fees and as Philip in Plutarch said of two Brethren whereof one was called alteruter and the other uterque having heard them both speak out of a dislike he had of the one and approbation of the other alteruter quoth he shall be uterque and uterque shall be neuter In our Fore-Fathers daies the Ecclesiasticall power did not only stretch over Ecclesiasticall persons but like the Tree which Cambyses saw in his Dream it over shadowed and over topped the temporall power too and like Noahs Floud it overflowed the highest Mountaines as well as the lowest Vallies Then he might well have been tearmed and so he was by some uterque but now the case is altered alteruter is become uterque and uterque is become a plain neuter or rather as Vlysses tearmed himselfe to Polyphemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a no body So that when on the one side I consider the Stiles and Papall Commands for I think they had them from Rome which our Ecclesiasticall Judges use in their Monitories and Citations and on the other side finde how little is effected and how easie all their doings are dashed out of countenance at the first sight of a Prohibition it makes me call to minde the Story of a Lacedemonian who hearing a Nightingale singing in a Hedge supposed she had been some great Bird but having afterwards catched her and found her almost nothing but a few feathers he said vox es praeterque nihil and I cannot better resemble them then unto the counterfeit shewes of Semiramis when she fought against the King of India which a far off seemed to be Elephants and dromedaries but when they were throughly tried proved nothing but Oxen-Hides stuffed and bomebasted with straw Or to those Enemies of Agesilaus which seemed as they had been Giants but one of them being gotten it was found that they had stuffed their Dabblets and Breeches only to this end that they might appeare terrible to their Enemies I disallow not Prohibitions where the Law allows them where there is as sometimes there may be just cause for them a River if it keep its selfe within its bounds is as good a Neighbour as a man can have but when it swels above its compasse and overflowes the Banks Sternit agros sternit sata laeta boumque labores it sweeps away and makes havock of all things that comes in its way My wish is that every river were confined within its own bank that for the more speedy dispatch of Law-Suits every Court were bounded within its own limits that neither Ecclesiasticall would incroach upon Civill nor Civill upon Ecclesiasticall that when Prohibitions are granted and the suggestion not sufficiently proved the party wronged may be speedily dispatched by consultation or otherwise convenient expedition releived according to Justice and Equity I am no Proctor for Ecclesiasticall Courts in which I heare there be as many rubs and lingring delaies as in any other It s piety and commiseration of the Clergy that moves me thus to speak who between these are tossed up and down like Balls in a Tenes-Court having no sooner ended in one they must begin a fresh in the other So that in this case it falls out with a Minister as with a silly fly which with much labour and trouble having got out of a Spiders webb presently falls into another that holds her fast and the faster for this that having spent her strength in the former she hath no power to resist in the latter Or as it is with Sysiphus whom Poets faine to be continually rowling a stone to the top of an Hill as soon as he hath got it thither it tumbles down again so that he is put to a new labour Aut petis aut urges rediturum Sysiphe saxum Sysiphus tumbling a stone may be a fit emblem of a Minister suing for his Tithes and the Motto agrees very well aut petit aut urget Thus far of my former Proposition its the duty of a Magistrate to see that the good and wholesome Lawes of his Country be duly and speedily executed together with a touch by way of use of some impediments which stop the due Execution of Judgment both in matters criminall and civill the latter followeth A Magistrate must without partiality or respect of persons give just Judgment a Lesson as commanded in my Text so long before commended to Magistrates by the first Law-giver Judge righteously between every man and his Brother and the stranger that is with him yee shall have no respect of persons in Judgment Deut. 1. 16. 17. Yee shall not wrest the Law Deut. 16. 19. and by Jehosophat in every cause that shall come before you between blood and blood between Law and Precept Statute and Judgment yee shall judge the people according to right 2 Chron. 9. 10. he must not be so hard hearted as not to be pitifull and compassionate to the poor nor so high minded as not to give to the mighty his due titles and honour nor so opinative and selfe-conceited as never to be led by a multitude nor so precise and scrupulous as for feare of temptation to debar a rich man from his presence but neither pity of the poor nor honour of the mighty nor consent of the multitude nor reward of the rich must draw him an haires bredth from the Rule of Justice this is the way in it he must walk not pity of the poor for thou shalt not esteem a poor man in his cause Exod. 23. 3. reliefe of the poor is a proper work of Charity not of Justice not honour of the great for thou shalt not honour the person of the mighty Lev. 19. 15. not consent of the multitude for thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evill neither agree in a controversie to decline after many and overthrow a truth Exod 23. 2. not love of the rich for thou shalt take no reward because reward blindeth the eies of the wise and perverteth the words of the Just Deut. 16. 19. The Law must be the Copy he must write by the rule he must build by the Cynosura he must saile by and as Job saith of the Seas Hither he must goe and no further hanc ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum he must neither go too short nor too far nor too much nor too little nor one way nor other tread awry but as the Sun keeps a streight course under the Ecliptick line without declining
to either side of the Zodiack so must he keep a strict course under the line and rule of the law and not decline to either party further then equity and a good conscience will warrant him he must not like Marriners and Saylers Obliquare Sinus fetch a compasse when the wind will not serve his turn but rather be like the two Kine which carried the Ark of the Lord from Eckron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left unlesse as in some case it may fall out there be just cause of mitigation In a word he must lay judgment to the rule and righteousness to the ballance and as the ballance puts no difference between gold and lead not giving a greater weight to gold because it is gold nor a lesse to lead because of the baseness of the mettall but giveth an equall or unequall poyse to both without respect of either so should a Magistrate with an equall hand weigh every mans cause alike not respective to one more then another This the Aegyptians figured by the hieroglyfical from of a man without eyes or hands intimating thereby that he should neither have hands to receive bribes nor eyes to behold and respect the persons of men The same did the Greeks signifie when they painted Justice between Leo and Libra meaning that the Judg should be courageous in executing and equall and indifferent in determining For the effecting whereof three things are to be avoyded as so many dangerous rocks any of which of it self is enough to cause him make ship-wrack of honesty and a good conscience The first is that which the Apostle calls the root of all evill Covetousness it 's the very cut-throat and cankerworm of all Justice it and Justice be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur they cannot lodg within one breast Facite me Romanae urbis Episcopum ero pretinus Christianus said the wicked Pagan in Hierome Give a covetous man such and such an Office give him gold enough or what will ye give him and you shall have him sure he will be what ye will he wil doe what ye will though as absurd and repugnant to justice and right reason as that Atheist thought it was to be a Christian He will make the Laws as fit for your purpose as Procrustes fitted his guests for his Bed if they were too long he cut them off by the knees if too short he stretched out their joynts till they were as long as the Bed For avoyding of this the Judg must remember that it is a property of every good Officer and Magistrate to be an hater of covetousnesse as a thing eâ—diametro repugnant to his profession Exod. 18. 21. And that he cannot act such works of darkness though never so closely neither by himself nor by such Brokers as he keeps about him for like purposes But God who is like a wel-drawn picture that eyeth every man in the room doth behold it Quaecunque capesses testes factorum stare arbitrabere divos saith the Poet. Quare si peccare vis quaere ubi te non videat fac quod vis saith Saint Austin The 2. Rock is fear or favour of great persons but a Magistrate must be a man of courage and where doth courage appear but in resisting the mighty in using the severity of the Law against Great ones if they offend He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poet called a King a Shepheard of his people and should have that care over those that are under his charge which a Shepheard hath over his Flock who will not only destroy Maggots and flesh-flies and such little Vermine as are noysome to his Sheep but much more Foxes and such Beasts as make havock of them because one Fox may do more hurt in one night then 10000. Maggots can in a whole year Now to make the Laws like Cobwebs to hold Flesh flies and such little Vermin and for fear of displeasure or hope of gain to let great ones escape is as if a Shepheard should kill the Maggots in his Sheep but withall give liberty to Foxes to worry them at their pleasure or with Domitian to have a flap for every flie that cometh and neglect the weighty affayrs of the Common-wealth Hath not God styled the Magistrate with his owne name Psal 82. I have said ye are gods Hath he not made him a promise of his presence and assistance God standeth in the congregation of gods he is a Judge among Gods He will be with you in the cause and judgement 2 Chr. 19. 6. And he that hath assurance of Gods presence needs not feare any other though his Magistracie set aside far greater then himself no more then David the Lion and the Beare when they assaulted his Sheep The third and last Rock is Kindred and Friends and surely if any thing may give the Magistrate leave to set the Law upon Tenters to rack and stretch it beyond its compasse or to strain courtesie with it or to muzzle and smother it if it be against him it must be Kindred Those whom Nature hath made dear and neer unto us we cannot choose but love this is a lesson we learn not by reading or hearing but Ex natura arripuimus expressimus hausimus as the Oratour speaks This every man may see if his own affections will not tutor him in this point in Davids love to his sonne Absolon an incestuous person a murtherer a Rebell against his own Father one that sought to kill him from whom he received life all this could not make David forget he was his son What a mournfull Elegie sings he upon news of his death O Absolon my son O my son Absolon would God I had died for thee O Absolon my son my son This was it that made good K. Asa dispense with the rigor of the law against Idolaters when his Mother was found guilty 1 King 15. 13. And which made Seleucus King of the Locrenses to be cruell unto himself that he might shew some pity on his sonne when he had made this law against Adulterers that both their eyes should be pulled out his own son being taken in the act and brought before him out of a fatherly pity he divided the punishment between his sonne and himself and caused one of his sons and one of his owne eyes to be pulled out But this how potent soever to flesh and blood must not prevail with Gods Deputy and Vice-gerent to cause him to make the least digression from the course of Justice Truth must be neerer to him then any of his Kindred If thy brother the sonne of thy mother or thine owne sonne or thy daughter or the wife that lyeth in thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine owne soule shall offend the law thou shalt deale with him according to law Deut. 13. All should be of like kinn to the Judge he should be as it is