but patiently waited upon God doing his will yea when God two severall times had put Saul into his hands once in the Cave where David and his men were hidden another time in Sauls owne Tent where with such courage hee had adventured hee was so farre off from taking away his life which easily hee might have donne that his heart checked him for cutting off the lap of the Kings garment at the one time he sharply rebuked Abner for guarding the Kings person so weakly at the other Thus did this holy man wisely carry himselfe in the perfect way of patience and loyalty to his cruell Prince and persecuting father in law till God himselfe by the way that he appointed had set him in the Kings seat The contrary is reported of Don Carlo Infant of Spaine if the relation bee true that hee through impatience and ambition practiced against his Father and for that cause suffered in the yeare of the Lord made up in the numerall letters of this old verse Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos Once we are sure that our late neighbour King the sooner to get the quiet possession of that Crowne to which hee had unquestionable right if their Salique lawe be in force forsooke that religion in which hee was brought up and such as were disposed to play with his name found in it while he stood out Bonus Orbi but afterward Orbus boni but God dallied not with him suffering him to be dangerously stricken in the mouth upon the first abjuring of his religion and afterwards in or neer the heart in the midst of his Triumphes Nobility and imperiall Citie to the great astonishment of the Christian world Indeed it was a speech borrowed frow Euripides and often repeated by Caesar Si violandum est ius Violandum est propter imperium But rather befitting the mouth of a Heathen then a Christian yet are our owne Chronicles but too plentifull in Examples in this kinde of such as being heirs apparant to the Crowne rather snatcht it before their due time then received it when it fell Among others we read that Richard eldest sonne then living to King Henry the second approaching the corps of his Father as it was carrying to bee interred adorned according to the manner of Kings with all royall ornaments open faced the blood gushed out at the nostrils of the dead a signe usually noted of guiltiness as if nature yet after death retained some intelligence in the veines to give notice of wrong and check the malice of an unnaturall offender at which sight Richard surprised with horror is saide to have burst ouâ— into extreame lamentations Neither was Edward the fourth free from this imputation who when his father and himselfe had voluntarily and solemnly sworne to suffer Henry the sixt quietly to enioy the Crowne during his life yet did hee as thinking the time long till hee had it on his owne head set his brother of Glocester to dispatch King Henry teaching him by the same Art to kill his owne sonnes and successors Edward and Richard For those Kings that sell the blood of others at a lowe prize doe but make the market for their enemies to buy theirs at the same rate On the other side it is recorded in the French History to the eternal commendation of Robert eldest sonne to Hugh Capet the first King of their last race that being by his fathers consent and desire crowned King and proclaimed his LieutenaÌ„t General in the kingdome hee notwithstanding still continued a sonne without waywardness a companion without iealousie a King without ambition And wee may speake it without flattery that his Maiesty now living and long to live hath left to posterity a worthy paterne in this kinde by receiving this crown of England even from the hand of God having patiently waited the due time of putting it on howsoever hee were provoked to hasten it refusing the assistance of her enemies that wore it as long with as great glory as ever Princesse did not entring by a breach or by blood but by the ordinary gate which his owne right and divine providence set open Neither would hee for the settling of his right admit the toleration of any other religion then that which hee heer found and himselfe professed protesting openly that hee would chuse rather if hee were forced to it to spend the last drop of his blood than to enter upon such conditions But God would not suffer one drop of that sacred blood to be spilt which was so ready to be poured out for his sake Now those who thinke this Psalme was penned by David after his coming to the Crown conceive that at his entrance thereunto hee thus prayed for the speciall assistance of Gods Spirit aswell in the private carriage of his owne Affairs and Person as in governing the people committed to his charge well knowing that without it hee could not observe this Vow to which hee had bound himself nor administer Mercy and Iustice nor behave himselfe wisely in a perfect way nor performe any duty belonging to the office of a King or a good man as he ought Hee therefore desires of God that as hee had set him in the Kings Throne so hee would indue him with all maner of graces and royall vertues fit for so high a place and not onely so but to assist and direct him in the exercise of those graces and vertues The Heart of the King is in the hand of God hee turneth it as the rivers of waters Pro. 21. 1 hee turneth it to his good if hee flee to him for assistance but to his confusion if he stand upon his own strength It behooves all men to implore the aid of G O D but specially Kings and Princes as in all their actions so principally in negotiations and treaties of greatest Consequence That of King Salomon then chiefly concerns them Trust in the Lord with all thine hart and leane not to thine owne wisdom in all thy waies acknowledge him and hee shall direct thy waies Pro. 3. 5. 6. Princes have fewer then private men that dare freely tel them the truth which is indeed one of the great mischiefes of great places whereas on the other side their temptations are many and strong and their actions of weight importance drawing after them either much good or much evill It behooveth them then above all not to presume too much upon themselves upon their owne policy and forecast but rather upon the providence and assistance of him whose substitutes they are Thâ—ir Vice-Roys dare doo nothing of moment without consulting with them so neither ought they enterprise any thing of importance without consulting with the Oracle of God by religious invocation of him for the illuminating of their understaÌ„dings guiding of their wils following therein the example of the Wise man who treating of the excelleÌ„cy of true wisdom acknowledging it to be the special gift of God
tenne times sought to eat him up to raven all hee could get from him This was the reward he had from his Master for his faithfull service But now God so blessed him for his sincerity in religion that the very Presents he sent his brother Esau were able to make a rich maÌ„ Gen. 32. And of himself hee professeth in the same chapter verse 10 With my staff came I over this Iordan and now have I gotten two bands In regard of men it fared worse with Ioseph though God prospered his Masters house for his sake neither would he hearken to the impudent and importunate suâ—e of his mistresse yet his recompense was disgrace and imprisonment they put his feet in the stockes and the iron entred into his soule But God in stead of the stocks set him in the seat of Iustice and in stead of his fetters put a chaine of gold about his neck I will conclude this point with the exhortation of St. Peter Servants bee subiect to your Masters with all feare not onely to the good and courteous but also to the froward for this is thank-worthy if a man for conscience towards GOD endure grief suffering wrongfully 1. Pet. 2. 18. Secondly as godliness is requisite in a servant in regard of himself so is it in regard of his Master First because if hee feare his Master and not God all that hee doth will bee but eye-service hee will certainely intend his Masters good no further than hee sees it may sort with his owne whereas if God the fear of him bee before his eyes hee is the same man when his Master is absent as if hee were present hee desires and endeavours his best advantage as much though he were a thousand mile off as if hee stood by and lookt on If Gehezi had thought that his Master had been so far indued with a propheticall spirit that hee could have tould him what hee did in so great a distance from him hee would never have taken such paines to run after the Syrian Captaine for a bribe to the disgrace of his Master and the undooing of himself And if Iudas had beleeved our Saviour to have been God and consequently that hee had knowne the thoughts of his heart undoubtedly hee would never have hatched against him such a foule treason within his breast It was nothing that made Achitophel to side as a Rebel with Absolon and to plot against his Master David and Ziba against Mephibosheth but worldly respects and want of true religion Besides as ungodliness in the servant cannot but put the Master in continuall fear both of his estate and person so it serves to infect as wel the children of the house as his fellow-servants wheras on the other side the godliness of one beeing countenanced and incouraged therein serves to shame the lewder sort and to draw-on the well-disposed Thus Daniel beeing admitted into the King of Babylons Court was an instrument for the reforming and converting even of the King Nebuchadnezar himselfe And Ioseph was admitted into the King of Egypts Court that hee might inform his Princes and teach his Senatours wisedom Psal. 125. 22. In the second of Kings and the fift wee read of a poore silly maid but a Iewesse by Nation the onely people of God at that time who being taken captive by the Aramites and serving Naamans wife tolde her Mistris of the Prophet Elisha in Samaria and by that meanes gave occasion to her Lord of going thither and cleansing himselfe from the leprosie both of his bodie and his soule Lastly a godly and religious servant will ever be praying unto God to send a blessing on that worke which he is set about as Abrahams servant did Gen. 24 and so God prospered his journey and the business he was intrusted with accordingly All which considered great reason had our Prophet to say and to double it to promise and to vow it He that walketh in a perfect way he shal serve mee He he Now because the word heer used to Serve in the Originall signifies a free and liberall kind of service it may well bee thought that our Prophet intended not only the admitting of faithfull and godly servants into his family but the advancing of such to the highest offices the placing of them in the chiefest roome of government under him And surely this consideration and promise was no less nay more necessarie then the former in regarde that the good which froÌ„ hence might arise is more publique They that bee of high calling if they bee good and desire their goodness may spread abroad and reach unto others for this purpose may not unâ—ily bee likened to great Cisterns or ponds full of cleare and wholesome water that might bee beneficial to many if there were sound and sweet pipes to convay it whereas on the other side it yeeldeth no benefit at all if the pipes bee stopt nay proves hurtfull if they bee poysoned and corrupted Whereof it commeth to passe that even when there be good Princes yet things doe still continue out of frame as wee see in the dayes of Iosiah a most excellent and carefull King who feared God betimes twice in his dayes reformed religion his remembrance is as the perfume made by the Art of the Apothecarie and as musick at a banquet of wine there was no King before him either after him that like Iosiah turned to God with all his heart as hee did yet were there in his dayes even in the time of his raigne horrible abominations atheisme and contempt of God pride in apparell oppression and cruelty yea much damnable Idolatry notwithstanding the good King by his laws had taken as good order against these as possibly he could The cause of all was that such as were under him in the Common-wealth and in the Church did not that which hee willed and belonged to their place According to that complaint of Zophonie That the Princes were as roaring Lions the Iudges as Wolves in the Evening which leave not the bones till the morrow the Prophets were light and wicked persons and the Priests such as polluted the Sanctuary and had wrested the lawe of God to serve their owne turne And so what marvaile though in a rare Kings daies iniquity overflowed and abounded Esay in like manner prophecied under good Kings Vzziah and Iotham and Hezekiah yet he justly and sorely complaines how farre all things were even then out of order their silver vvas become drosse and their wine mixt with water Cap. 1. 22 and hee addes the reason hereof in the verse following because their Princes that is their chiefe Officers under the the King vvere rebellious and companions of theeves They loved gifts and followed after rewards they iudged not the fatherless neither did the widowes cause come before them The people themselves do so sensibly see and feele this that they reioyce vvhen the righteous bee in authority Prov. 29. 2 whereas cleane contrariwise they sigh and mourne when
a sharpe greeting sent him 1. King 20. Because thou hast let goe out of thine hand a man whom I appointed to die thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people And many times wee see by experience that a desperate wicked man reserved from due punishment proves a continuall vexation vnto him that hath spared him As the nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan being not cast out and destroyed by the Israelites as God had commanded them became by his just judgement a snare destruction unto them a whip on their sides and a thorn in their eyes Ios. 23. 13. Iudges 2. 3. Verse 8. I will earely destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the Citie of the Lord. HItherto of the three kindes of lawfull destroying by some phantasticall and Anabaptisticall spirits held unlawfull Now it remaines that I speake of three other unlawfull kindes of destroying by some irreligious and profane spirits held lawfull whereof the first is selfe homicide the destroying of a mans selfe the cutting off the threed of his owne life with his owne hands The second is destroying of another by Duel in single combate whether hee send or accept the chalenge it matters not The third is the destroying of a subject by the sword and at the command of a civill Magistrate onely for reason of State or politique respects without due order of law or course of justice First then of the first of the unlawfulness of a mans destroying himselfe whether it bee for the shunning of shame or griefe or misery or sinne Our Prophet himself was often broght into great distress marvailous streights plunges both bodily and ghostly as may appear by his dolefull complaints through-out this booke of Psalmes Yet would hee not destroy himselfe thereby to bee ridde of them Saul who would not destroy Agag destroyed himselfe but David voweth to destroy the wicked himselfe hee would not destroy Paul though he had fightings without and terrors within and desires to bee dissolved yet dissolve himselfe or hasten his dissolution hee would not Iob though scourged with unmatchable chastisements yet he would not moove from his station without his Generalls command he would not change himselfe but patiently wait all the dayes of his appointed time untill his changing came 14. 14. It was a worthy speech which Iosephus the Iew made to his Souldiers being in a cave where they lay hid after they lost the City Iotapata taken by Vespasian they rather than they would bear the disgrace of being taken by the enemy would needs make an end of themselves like Fannius of whom the Poet Hîcrogâ— Non furor est ne mâ—riare mâ—ri Yet some might perhaps commend this resolution but what saith the good Iosephus to perswade them to the contrary The Almighty hath given unto us our life as a most precious iewell hee hath shut it and sealed it up in this earthen vessel and given it us to bee kept till hee himself 〈◊〉 ask for it againe wee are neither to deny it when hee shall require it nor to cast it forth till hee command it Among other reasons for which the Books of the Maccabees are held Apocryphall this is not the least that they commend 〈◊〉 his destroying of himself as a manfull and noble act whereas indeed it is the truest signe of a minde truely 〈◊〉 like a Cube to stand upright in all fortunes Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest The second kinde of unlawfull destroying by too many held lawfull is the killing of another in Duel not such as our Prophet himself undertook with Goliah the Philistine by publike authority from the State and for the publike good of the State but when men for private revenge righting their conceived or pretended wrongs either send or accept a chalenge for single combate all the Sope and Niter in the world cannot wash away the guilt of blood from this practice whatsoever men pretend heerin either for the triall of man-hood or the putting-by the imputation of cowardise or for the maintenance of reputation it cannot excuse in this case And howsoever the world applaud it many times with tearms of worth of gallantry of brave spiritednes and the like yet is it doubtless no better than murder in Gods account and disloyalty to the civill Magistrate by wresting the sword out of his hand and taking his office from him Sin then against God is more to bee feared than shame amongst men and true Christianity to bee preferred before the opinion of such fool-hardy courage Think not I read a Lecture of basenesse since true valour consists not in quarrelling brabbling for private injuries or in stabbing for a word of disgrace but in maintenance of Gods honour in preserving thy alleageance to thy Prince in safe-garding thy Countrey Hee may well bee reckoned among Martyrs who upon conscience and knowledge engageth himself upon these occasions Was Augustus Caesar a coward in the repute of the Heathen when receiving a chalenge from Anthony he returned him this answer that if Anthony had a disposition to dy or were weary of his life there were waies enow else to death besides that The chalenge was rejected and yet his honour untainted I will shut up this point with an excellent speech of Bernards concerning unjust fightings and in that number I esteem these If in thy fighting thou hast a minde to kill another man and then art slain fighting thou diest a murtherer if thou prevail and kill the other thou livest a murtherer Whether then thou live or dy beest conquered or Conquerer it is not good to bee a murtherer So that the conclusion is that which way soever it fall out murther it is before God Miserable for a man to bee slaine and so to goe to his reckoning while hee is malitiously labouring to take away anothers life as miserable if hee kill to bee continually haunted with the guilt of blood All the fame and commendation of doing it upon fair tearms cannot countervail that vexation I have the rather touched this point for that it is one of the evils of our times many scarce accounting themselves men till they have made a braul and like the Youngsters of Helkethhazzurim sheathed their swords in their fellowes bowels whereby the Land is becomne a very Acheldama a Field of blood The more are wee to blesse God who hath put it in the mind of our David not any way to countenance these Cutters but to range them among those wicked ones whom hee hath vowed to destroy and cut off The third kinde of unlawful destroying by some held lawfull is the cutting off of a Subject by the sword or at the command of the civill Magistrate for politick or private respects without just cause and due desert Almightie God who out of the earth moulded man and breathed into him the spirit of life might as an absolute Lord of life and