promise of protection to godly Kings in the doing of their office for this comming in and going out is a Periphrasis familiarly vsed by the Spirit of God to expresse the Royall function I am now said Moses an hundreth and twenty yeere old and can no more goe out and in before you that is I can no more doe the Office of a Gouernour vnto you And againe when he prayed for Ioshua The Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh appoint a man to go in and out before the Congregation that they be not as sheepe without a Shepheard This same is more cleere out of that Prayer of Salomon I am but young and know not how to goe in and out Now what he meanes by this he expounds himselfe Giue to thy seruant an vnderstanding heart that I may discerne betweene good and bad and may iudge thy people So that to goe out and in before the people is to iudge the people rightly and to discerne betweene the good and the euill Of this first may appeare what a great blessing of God a religious Ruler is walking himselfe in the way of righteousnesse and leading his people both by Law and example to follow him when hee so rules his Subiects as onely caring how to make them subiects vnto God Such was the Princely and most Christian disposition of Frederic the Emperor who being demanded whom of his subiects hee loued best answered Them who so please me that in no case they will displease God As the King leadeth so commonly the people follow Ipsi se homines in Regis velut vnici exempli mores formant men fashion themselues to the manners of the King as their onely paterne and example Qâ—â— in saeculi cubnâ—ne constituti sunt aut plurimos secum perdunt aut ad salutem ducunt they who are placed into the top of honour either they saue or destroy many with themselues if they be euill they are euill to others and to themselues if they be good they can not but doe good vnto others Also a wicked Ieroboam will cause Israel to sinne but a good Ezekiah will turne them againe vnto the Lord. Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the sonne of Nobles that is noble for vertue wisedome and godlinesse When the Ruler of the Land dare cast the first stone at Adulterers being innocent himselfe When he dare with Nehemiah shake his lap against Oppressors being free of Oppression himselfe Such a one with a good conscience may pray as he did O my God remember me in goodnesse according to all that I haue done for this people Againe we see here that the Office of a King is full of labour it is a comming in and a going out the end of one businesse is the beginning of another The Egyptians were wont to figure vigilancy by the Lyons head Manethon the Egyptian in his writs to Herodotus giues out that the Lyon sleepes not at all though Aristotle with better reason affirme Nullum animal perpetua vti vigilia that no creature can watch continually yet two things moued them to that opinion the one was that when the Lyon resteth he stirreth his taile continually the other is quòd Leo magnos habeat oculos palpâ—bras as adeoparuâ—s vt non possint oculum penitùs obtegere that the Lyon hath great eyes and so little eye-lids as are not able to couer the eye fully therefore is it that euen in sleeping the Lyon lookes as if hee were waking Howeuer it be hereby properly is figured the restlesse care of conscientious Kings They may lye as one sayes in beds of Iuory trimmed with carpets of Egypt but ouer-hanged with curtaines of care their mindes are in a continuall motion day and night how to go in and out before their people Neither is it possible that any man could be sufficient for so laborious and hard a charge for it is ars artium regere hominem were not as the calling is singular so it hath a singular vnction accompanying it Presumptuous men out of their ignorant mindes may thinke themselues fit enough for the highest places But let men beware to vsurpe for a Royall office without the Royall vnction is a burden that will beare downe and oppresse the stoutest the strongest and the wisest Damocles may stand for an example who being set in the Chaire of King Dionysius when hee looked vp to the sword hanging aboue his head loathed all the honour and pleasure offered to him by such as were appointed to serue him and was well content quickly to quit his place and no maruell for it was not his calling and therefore had he not that vnction that only maketh men strong able and meet for the calling But to returne a conscientious King for so are they who haue the calling and the vnction is full of cares hee is not like that womanly Emperour of Assyria Sardanapalus of whose base behauiour it is shame to speake among men nor yet like that Romane Emperour Domitian quitantae fuit desidiae vt in cubiculo solus acuto stilo muscas configeret who was so giuen to idle loytering that hee would sit alone all day in his chamber pricking at Flyes with a sharpe bodkin But a good King is like that good Iehosaphat of whom it is written that he went and returned through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim setting Iudges in the Land City by City and bringing home againe to the Lord God of their Fathers such as had falne from him from one Prouince one City one house to another he trauaileth continually exercising his Royall function Blessed bee the Lord who hath set such a Iehosaphat ouer vs who taketh the paines and counteth it his pleasure to trauell from one end of the I le to the other for the good of his people In respect of them from whom he commeth his Maiesty his iourney is a going out they looke after him not without sorrow as vnto the Sunne descending comforted only with assured hope that it will shortly rise againe vnto them In respect of vs it is a comming in yea a comming home and his Maiesties subiects here of all estates looke vnto him with ioy as a Sunne rising which long had been absent from them We wish that as in the dayes of Iosua the Sunne stayed in Gibâ—ah and the Moone in the valley of Aialen so this Land might for euer enioy the presence of our Soueraine but in this the will of our God and the will of our Soueraine must be the limits of our desires Yet as the Sunne rolling in his Sphere benefites euery place wherevpon he shineth and leaueth tokens of remembrance till hee come againe so is it expected that his Maiesties comming into this Land shall be like the raine vpon grasse new mowne where the sythes of the Sonnes of Aâ—ak haue
in Israel and euery man did what was good in his owne eyes yea how deere a good King should be to his people and how heauy a losse it is to want him that one place may teach vs The breath of our nosthrills the anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets of whom we said vnder his shadow we shall be preserued aliue among the heathen A happy thing therefore is it when Prince and people goe together as Dauid and his subiects did their loue was mutuall their care mutuall their prayer one for the other mutuall when the people were strucken with pestilence Dauid their King praied for them and wished that the punishment might be turned on him and his house and the people spared O Lord I beseech thee let thy hand be on me and my fathers house and not on thy people for their destruction And againe when Absalom rebelled against his father King Dauid the people interponed their liues for their King they would not let him goe out to the battell they accounted him the light of Israel more worthy to be preserued then many thousands of them But now must I contract my selfe Since all other things requisite for your Maiesties iourney are in readinesse attending your Highnesse forth comming it is also time that our prayer should betake her to her wings and let goe to her flight to accompanie your Maiestie wheresoeuer yee goe As I said in the beginning so now say I in the end in the name of all your Highnesse subiects of this Kingdome Since our hands cannot be with your Highnesse to waite on and serue your Maiestie as our hearts would The hand of the Lord be with you That hand which preserued you in the wombe of your Mother and brought your Highnesse safely into this world That hand of the Lord which made your armes strong to wrestle with the Gowrian traitor before the hands of your seruants came neere you That hand of the Lord which deliuered your Maiestie from that abominable powder treason and first reuealed to your selfe the counsell of your enemies In a word That hand of the Lord which hath made your Maiestie glorious by many deliuerances that same hand of the Lord be with your Maiestie in this iourney and for euer The ancient Israelites vsed this prayer for Cyrus Nehemiah Zerubabel such others that were to be the instruments of their comfort before euer they receiued any comfort from them how much more should we vse it for your Highnesse since we doe so abundantly enioy the fruits of your Highnesse most happy gouernment For your Maiestie hath bin vnto vs an other Cyrus when he came to the Kingdome then came deliuerance to Israel from their seauentie yeeres bondage in ancient Babel and with your Maiesties comming into the world to enioy these Scepters wherevnto your Highnesse was borne a lineall and lawfull heire then came our deliuerance from mysticall Babell And your Maiesties most christian care to establish our Church by prouiding portions for the Leuites who serue the Lord in his Sanctuary and to free the common people from oppression in their tithes hath shewed that your Maiestie is to vs a Nehemiah and Zerubabel Yea your Highnesse words and workes are witnesses that yee are vnto vs a King giuen of God in his mercy A sonne of his right hand Patriae parens populi pastor a publike father of the countrey and pastor of the people Among innumerable words and discourses royall philosophicall and theologicall deliuered almost euery meale and most worthy to be remembred I doe onely make mention of one vttered by your Maiestie on your birth-day after supper in the Castle of Edenbrugh when your seruant had said the Grace and a litle more then customably I vsed had praied for the continuance of many such daies wherein we might with ioy celebrate the remembrance of your Highnesse most happy natiuitie your Maiestie arose from the chaire with this speach in publike audience of the whole house You haue said the Grace for mee and now will I pray for my selfe which your Maiestie with all reuerence and zealous affection deliuered in these words THE LORD GRANT ME NO LONGER TO LIVE NOR MY HEART BE SET TO ADVANCE THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO PROCVRE THE GOOD OF HIS CHVRCH All that heard it were affected yea rauished with great ioy and seconded it with their prayers vnto God The Lord grant thee according to thine heart For in this did your Highnesse open the integritie and sinceritie of your soule that your Highnesse desired to liue Non vt praeesses sed prodesses not for your selfe but for the glory of GOD and benefit of his Church And as to your Maiesties worke all places of this Kingdome Highland Inland and the borders are stored with seuerall testimonies of your Highnesse wise and happy gouernment but leauing them all this Countrey and Towne wherein your Maiestie now is reioyceth aboue others in the sweet fruits first of religion and pietie next of singular and vnaccustomed peace which now by your Highnesse prudencie and fatherly care they eniâ—y As to the first the time hath beene as your Maiestie doth well remember wherein this Towne and Countrey about it was like to a field all ouergrowne with the popple of Papistrie the litle handfull that then was of the Religion were but like to the gleanings and after-gatherings of the haruest But now SIR the case is altered there is here a flourishing Church God hath so blessed the labour of the Preacher Ouerseer of this people that there is not to be found three Pâ—ecusants in all this Towne as I am informed and the countrey about it is filled with good wheat in steede of popple so that they who are of the Popish sort are like vnto the grapes which remaine after the vintage here one and there one easie to be discerned And for this cause I haue heard sundry of their ancient men blesse the Lord for that he had sent the light of his Gospell among them to illuminate them protesting that without it they had died in most pitifull ignorance The other fruit of singular peace is so apparant to you all that I neede not to point at it Yee who stand here in great multitudes beare witnes your selues before the Lord his Anointed Tell as the truth is Are yee troubled now with any forayes in the night Are yee wakened from your rest by the Alarum or sound of the drumme Is there crying now for armour to represse the incursion of robbers Doe yee not sit peaceably euery one of you in your owne houses without molestation of the oppressor May ye not now as the prouerbe is porrectis dormire pedibus in respect of securitie sleepe soundly Is not that promise made by the Lord accomplished now He setteth peace in thy borders Now are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein euery good subiect may peaceably
labour in his calling and that which beastly men called Mans world is away What cause haue yee then for this to blesse the Lord your God and this happy King whom he hath set ouer vs and who this day sitteth before you by whole fatherly care we enioy this quiet and peaceable life Now must I in end turne me a litle toward you most worthy Nobles of England not for any doubt we haue of your loyall affection or any neede your Honors haue to be exhorted to your dutie by our weaknesse farre be it from me vt officy sui satis memores immemores facere videar yet remembring that of the Poet Qui monet vt facias quod iam facis ille monendo Laudat hortatu comprobat acta suo I hope what I am to say will not be vngratious but rather very welcome to you Haue a care we beseech of that incomparable iewell yee haue receiued from Scotland both yee and wee haue our mutuall interest in him when the sunne rises to you it shineth to vs also it it decline and fall downe vpon any of vs which I pray God wee neuer see it bringeth a darke night vpon vs both yea all Christendome in respect of the good they enioy by his Maiestie doth cry for a carefull conseruation of this Iewell It is true your willing and hearty acceptation of your natiue King hath inlarged his Diademe without dinne and as true his royall Diademe hath increased the glory and fame of your Kingdome through the world but all these and many more your Honors out of wise and vnderstanding hearts haue pondered better then I can point them out I will therefore content mee with this one which when I haue said I know will be lesse then I should haue said or your Honors haue iustly deserued The noble and comely behauiour yee haue vsed in attending our Soueraigne in all this iourney did present to him who could obserue it that which Plato calls putcherrimum spectaculuâ— when mannerly mindes appeare in beautifull bodies Your kindnes and intire loue among your selues liuing together ac si omnes eiusdem mus ae essetis aemuli voto viueritis vno which the Poet said was rare to be found for velle suum cuique est Your conuersation in all things answerable to your place and station in ipsa regia non sine regula incedentes Your courtesie and great humanitie towards vs. In a word all sort of graces pertaining either to learning or pietie most eminent in you shall binde our hearts to a louing and honorable remembrance of you by our mentall Pyramides and Piâ—ars so long as we can remember our selues Now our bodies in respect of place must be diuided but I hope our hearts and affections shall neuer diuide any more God hauing so many manner of waies conioyned vs that in one Ile with one language and one religion we are now the coniunct subiects of one natiue King and Soueraigne to vs both And as to you who haue that hap and honour beyond others to bee his Maiesties Cubiculars and Domestickes consider with your selues what is the weight of your charge and how the place wherevnto aboue others otherwise not your inferiors yee are promoted bindes you to a daily tribute of daily vigilance and attention Remember that word which Dauid cried to Abner for a rebuke to him and the rest of Sauls seruants because they were sleeping when their master was in danger of his life by Abishai if Dauid had not stayed him ye are all said he worthy to die because yee haue not kept your Master the Lords annoynted If they were thus threatned and most iustly because they were remisse and carelesse in conseruation euen of an euill King what a sinne is it to be negligent in attending such a King as God hath giuen vs it cannot but procure heauy iudgements both from God and man But we perswade our selues the best things of you that conscience more then commodity will stirre you vp to be faithfull in that calling not with eye-seruice as men pleasers but in singlenesse of heart fearing God Alwayes since the surest safty of Kings is the protection of Iehoua for his name is a strong tower and the righteous runne vnto it Sir let him euer be as you haue found him your rock and refuge Continue still in that resolution of King Dauid I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the worke of them that fall away it shall not cleane vnto me so shall the word which Amasa from the Spirit of the Lord spake vnto Dauid be established to your Maiestie Peace peace be vnto thee and peace be vnto thy helpers for thy God helpeth thee To this effect that we may end wee will now againe turne vs to our prayers from which we shall neuer turne so long as we liue and yet I am still stayed or rather forced to stay I would make an end but am pearced with the sorrowfull looks of this people who desire no ending not so much for delight of any thing they heare from me as for that which they see in your Maiesty they cannot bee satiate in looking to your face the shorter time they haue to behold it the stronger is their affection O how hardly comport they to part with their Soueraigne But deere Soueraigne let it not be offensiue to your Maiesty that you are compassed heere with an assembly of mourners whose faces are watred with ouerflowing teares of their heart Can they part with their Prince without sorrow Can they want the light of their eyes and breath of their nostrils and not lament for it Yet what speake I of wanting bee of comfort good peole wee shall not want him wee cannot want him God hauing now so enlarged his royall armes that they can reach from one end of the Isle to the other to be at vs to succour and helpe vs as we neede them Let vs therefore moderate our mourning let our passions giue place to his royall pleasure let our hearts with joy and cheerefulnesse send vp these our prayers The hand of the Lord be with our most Gracious Soueraigne the name of the God of Iacob defend him The Lord bee to your Maiesty as he was to Abraham a buckler in this life and your exceeding great reward in the life to come God grant it for Iesus Christs sake Amen FINIS Summe of this Verse Dauid was the heart the tongue and penne of the great King How this is also competent to our Souereigne 1. Tim. 1.17 This verse is to be resolued in a promise Foure circumstances to bee conâ—â—dered in this verse First circumstance is who makes the promise to wit the Lord. 1. Sam. 2.9 Mat. 10.30 Aug. All the godly reserue to the Lord the praise of their preseruation Psal. 91.11 Cyrill Alexand. Conâ— Iulian. 2. King 6. Though they haue all secondarie helpes yet doe