deceased which being once confirm'd k Gal 3.15 S. Paul thought no man so impious as to abrogate Gal. 3. that though it ayme at never so good charitable vses yet if they haue but somuch wit and so litle conscience as to picke a quarell with it all is hazarded It was therefore a wise and blessed resolution of him who intending to haue the poore fare the better by him said hee would not stand to the curtesie of Executors Overseers after his death but in his life time would make his owne hands his executors his owne eyes his overseers O that this were also the common care and resolution of you the worthy Almoners of this honorable city whom the Lord in the riches of his mercy hath annointed with the oyle of gladnesse aboue your fellows that at least some part of it might run downe to the chearing and cherishing of the poore distressed members of Iesus Christ Yee are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as l Laërt l 6. the Philosopher sometime spake sheepe cloathed with golden fleeces Oues faetosae sheepe great with yong even with great store of yong poore and fatherlesse Orphans Qui suxerunt vbera senserunt vellera who haue sucked the paps of your bounty felt the warme fleece of your charity And though many glorious things be spoken of thee ô thou city of God yet among them all nothing so glorious as that thou so aboundest with piety and mercy that thou fillest so many empty bellies cloathest so many naked backes lodgest so many houselesse strangers relievest so many maimed souldiers providest for so many impotent creeples and mainteinest so many fatherlesse Orphans Into these and many other the like channels do the sylver-streames of your mercifull devotion runne But yet giue me leaue to speake freely what I may truely speake The fountaines from which these streames flow are for the most part dying not liuing fountains A blessed thing no doubt it is thus to do good though it be but at your death But much more blessed should ye be in your work not only in the sight of men but of God himselfe if in your life time ye would deale distribute with your owne hands that which ye cannot tell whither ye shall hold till your death which indeed is to do good rather as sheepe than as swine vitâque magis quà m morte iuvare as m Ovid. Met. l. 15. the Poët speaks of sheepe to benefite others rather by your life than by your death So should ye be well assured that no posthumous fraude or cunning should be able to disappoint your religious purposes And I doubt not but ye would soone fall to a godly vy and aemulation one with another which of you should haue the precedency in this kinde of mercy being both the surest the truest kinde of mercy if ye could but perswade your selues as the n Prov. 11.17 wiseman doth Prov. 11. that Benefacit animae suae vir misericors He that is a benefactor to others is a benefactor to his owne soule or as some of our English translations haue it He that is mercifull rewardeth his owne soule 2 If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast because it is his ought not then every righteous Minister to provide for the good and welfare of his flocke be cause they are his And every righteous Magistrate for the good and welfare of his people because they are his Are not these o Rom. 13.4 the ministers of God ordeined by him for the wealth of those that are vnder them Rom. 13. 3 Againe If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast because it is his ought he not then much more to reguard both Vitam victum the life and living the Greeks haue exprest both in this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both Esse and Benè esse the being and well-being of his wife because shee is his of his children because they are his of his servants because they are his Knowing that as p 1. Tim. 5.8 the Apostle teacheth 1. Tim. 5. If there be any that provideth not for his owne and namely for them of his houshold he denieth the faith and is worse than an infidell And if he ought to provide for their corporall welfare ought he not then much more to provide for their spirituall welfare And to say with good q Iosu 24.15 Iosuah c. 24. Ego domus mea I and my house will serue the Lord 4 Lastly in a word If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast because it is his ought he not then much more to reguard the life of his owne naturall body Not to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lay violent hands vpon himselfe as some in a desperate fit of male-contentednesse haue done whom the Apostle deemeth monsters rather than men For r Eph. 5.29 no man saith he euer yet hated his owne flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Eph. 5. And if the life of his naturall body how much more then his spirituall life the life of his soule which is so his owne as that without it himselfe were not his owne What a madnesse then is it saith one Plorare bestiam amissam non plorare animam To mourne for the losse of thy beast and not to mourne for the losse of thine owne soule It is therefore the counsaile of ſ Sirac 30.23 Siracides c. 30. Miserere animae tuae placens Deo Haue pity vpon thine owne soule pleasing God Please him better thou canst not than if thou haue pity vpon thine own soule And it is the rule of the schoole Charitas ordinata incipit à seipsâ Regular charity begins with it selfe And as it begins with it selfe so will I end with it Beseeching God even the Father of our Lorde and Saviour Iesus Christ for his sake to giue a blessing to that which hath ben spoken in your outward eares that it may inwardly fructifie bring forth much fruit of mercy in your hearts in some 30 in some 60 in some an hundreth-fold that so when that great day of refreshing shall come ye may every one of you receiue seven-fold into your bosome c. FINIS
belongs a whip to the asse a bridle a rod to the fooles back Pro. 26. The Divell himselfe is not so vniust but that hee will truely pay his seruants that is sinners the wages due vnto them Now what 's the wages due vnto sin and sinners g Rom. 6.23 The Apostle tels vs Rom. 6. that the wages of sin is death And because he will be sure to pay them home he will double their wages Their wages shal be not only a first but a second death Why then he that will defraude the labourer of his hire whither it be his beast or his man or maide-servant or his day-labourer or the Minister who is also h 2. Cor. 4.5 his seruant for Iesus sake 2. Cor. 4. and somuch doth the Latin word Minister imply he is worse than the divel himselfe for he duly payeth his servants their wages i Iac. 5.4 S. Iames tels vs c. 5. that to deteine the wages of the hireling is a fearefull and crying sin and the cry of it enters into the eares of the Lord of hosts And for the Minister k 1. Cor. 9.9 S. Paul 1. Cor. 9. citeth l Deut. 25 4. that place out of Deut. 25. Non ligabis os boui trituranti Thou shalt not mussell the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corne Boui trituranti that is saith m Sedulius Hiberniensin 1 Cor. 9. Sedulius Hiberniensis Doctori triticum virtutum a paleâ vitiorum separanti the Oxe that treadeth out the corne that is saith hee the teacher or the minister that severeth the wheate of virtues from the chaffe of vices 2. Iumenti not Ferae or Reptilis 2 Againe A righteous man is mercifull to the life Iumenti quia tumenti of his beast because it is a helpfull creature Not Ferae or Reptilis not of wilde or savage beasts not of venemous or noxious beasts For the fewer of them the better because though some of them after their death by skilfull Physitions may be made medicinable as serpents others edible as wilde beasts yet in their life time they are not helpfull but hurtfull to man n Herodot in Thalia l. 3. Herodotus in his Thalia delivers it as an argument of the providence and mercy of God to mankinde that those beasts which are timorous and fit to be eaten hee hath made to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 numerous and fruitfull lest by mans dayly vse of them their store should be consumed but those which are of savage and malignant nature hee hath made to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to haue but few at a birth lest by their number they should get the maistery of man and consume him It is therefore rather crueltie than mercy to spare them because they are so cruell as not to spare man Beloued Are there not also such wild and venemous and noxious creatures among men Man when hee is at his best is o Psa 4â— â—â— Comparatus iumentis insipientibus Psal 49. compared to the foolish beasts without vnder standing foolish but yet Iumentis helpfull beasts But take him at his worst and then neither Lyon nor Tygre nor Wolfe nor Beare nor Fox nor serpent nor any other creature that for malice may bee compared to him For Quid bestialius homine rationem habente ratione non vtente saith p Bernard S. Bernard What beast more beastly than a man that hath reason and yet will play the beast beyond all reason Here could I tell you of diverse sorts of beastes that had neede bee hunted out of this Kingdome by those that sit in the seat of authority and should therefore be Nimrods mighty hunters of such kinde of beasts before the Lord. But I shall now bee faine only to point at two of them which in my opinion had most neede of hunting 1 The one are those drunken beasts who when they are intoxicated with strong drinkes tanquam poculo Circeo as with that inchaunting cup of Circe which transformed men that dranke of it into swine then are they presently like wild boares foaming and vomiting out their owne shame then who is hee that shall bee free from the danger of their tuskes Yea when once they haue drunke all the money out of their purse all the wit out of their braine all good thoughts out of their minde and all religion out of their soule were it not then better to meete with a wild boare or with a shee-beare robbed of her whelps than with one of them 2 The other are those q Cant. 2.15 foxes and little foxes that spoile Gods vineyard Cant. 2. I meane Papists who if ever for these many yeares togither they had neede to be hunted now is the time For it 's too too true that r Mat 8.20 Foveas habent these foxes haue hoales as it is Matt. 8. Yea and Fouentes habent they haue friends too both in Court and Countrey I had called them Cubbs of Samsons foxes saue that they though they were Caudis igniconiunctis ioined togither with Å¿ Iudic. 15.4 firebrands in their tailes Iudic. 15. yet were they Vultibus disiunctis their faces lookt contrary waies But these agree both In Capite and in Caudâ in head and taile too They all agree in one Head which is the Pope and in one taile one ende which I feare if they be not better lookt to will bee the combustion and burning vp of all both the reekes and standing corne in the fielde of Gods Church Yee know how likely they were not many yeares since to haue giuen vs a deadly flap with their fierie tailes And yet for all that we wil not be warned I know not whither we receiue them to such nearenes and familiarity because we take them to be good Physicke against the palsey I meane the commotion shaking of the whole State of our Land but sure I am that the rankenesse of them both for sent and number is very offensiue to al true Professors And it cannot be but that their Foveae the deepe hoales of their vndermining subtilty should be very dangerous both to Prince and people What though it be a common practise among them as the manner of foxes is Venatores suos vrinâ respergere to fill their bushie tailes with vrine wherewith they besprinkle those that hunt them that is to fill their followers with stinking slaunderous reports whereby they defame them that pursue them Yet let not ô let not the Magistrate whom it concerneth either feare or forbeare to vnearth and hunt these foxes lest a worse thing happen both to them and the whole kingdome It is noted by t Aurel. Vict. Aurelius Victor that when the Roman souldiers had flaine Maximinus the tyrant they made inquisition for his Son and slew him also saying E pessimo genere ne catulum quidem relinquendum that of a vile litter not somuch as one whelp is to be saved aliue For u Margarit Decrec
the weale publike as is the siders web out of her bowels but as q Laert. l. 1. Solon once complain'd even as spiders webs indeed which every great Droane or Humble bee will breake thorow at his pleasure when the poore seely fly shall be caught and entangled in them to his overthrow Nay without these two what will Iudges themselues be but as Greater thieues sending lesse thieues to execution Nay without these saith r Austin de civit l. 4. c. 4. Austin Quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia quia latroâ—inia quid sunt nisi parva regna What are kingdoms themselues but as great robberies For what else are robberies but little kingdomes Mercy must bee aboue iustice in the Magistrato Howbeit as before I noted that though God be both mercy and iustice it selfe yet mercy hath the predominaÌ„cie and preeminence over his iustice So I hold it a good caveat to all Magistrates that Å¿ Margarita decreti Rationem praelati tutiùs reddent de miscricordiâ quà m de crudelitate When the righteous Iudge of all the world shall call Iudges themselues to the bar of his iudgement more easily will he dispense with their overmuch lenity than with their overmuch crueltie For God who loveth mercy so well that he hath made her as it were a Queene giving her the supremacy and soveraigntie t Psal 145.9 over all his workes Psal 145. and hath so inserted and ingraffed her within the very bowels of man that when hee would speak to mans capacitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the maner of men and would insinuate his owne mercifull affection to man he is wont to expresse it by calling himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man as in that parable Luc. 14. u Theophil in Luc. 14. where it is said A certeine man made a great supper c. no doubt but as himselfe is abundant in mercy so will his mercy abound to those that abound in mercy but there shall bee iudgement mercilesse to him that sheweth no mercy and mercy reioiceth against iudgement as it is * Iames. 2.13 Iames 2. Be it then that our English lawes be not alwaies written in bloud but somtimes in oyle providing for some malefactors of better hope some easier penaltie than death as the Pylorie rather than the Galowes or perhaps a note of invstion in the eare or in the hand or whipping or slitting of the nose or the like shall they therefore be condemned as partiall because they would in iustice punish sinne and yet in mercy spare the Sinner No no there must bee that which the Morall Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an aequity that must allay and lenify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the severity of iustice Reverend x Ioh. Gerson Gerson sometimes Chancelour of Paris cals it Iustitiam interpretativam a iustice that will make a favourable yet a conscionable construction of law respecting that intent and meaning which the Law-giver had or of likelyhood would haue had in this or that particular case each circumstance thereof being duly and rightly pondered Wel and wisely therefore hath it been provided that there should be a conscionable Court of Chancery to mitigate the rigid austerity of other Courts because as y Cicer. the heathen man saith SummuÌ„ius summa iniuria Extremity of right is no better than extremity of wrong And truely The occasion of this text I should do my text but right if I should terme it a Chancery-text For to confesse a truth that which caused me to fasten my me ditations vpon it was this that I haue often heard it fal from the lips of my most honourable Lord the Lord Chancelor as great as graue as wise as noble as iudicious as mercifull a Iusticer as ever this kingdome had that with such sweete complacency of affection that he hath sometimes professed that were he a Preacher this should be His Text A righteous man is mercifull to the life of his beast As is the song of the Civill Magistrate Mercy and iustice in the Minister such must also be the song of the Spiritual magistrate which is the Minister It must be a song bipartite of mercy and iudgement Mercy in applying the sweet promises of the Gospel iudgement in delivering the feareful threats of the Law A thing not obscurely signified vnto vs z Act. 2.3 in those Linguae dispertitae or cloven tongues wherein the holy Ghost appeared to the Apostles Act. 2. Cloven tongues to teach them that their song must be both of mercy iudgement Not alwaies of mercy for feare of presumption nor yet alwaies of iudgement for feare of desperation but of mercy and iudgement both for that 's good discretion because either of them without the other is like a good medicine ill applyed which rather hurts than helps the wound Mercy aboue iustice in the Minister But ô let the smoaking flaxe never be quenched so long as the paenitent sinner can but send forth smoaky sighes and sobs for his sinnes and so long as there is any light or sparke of grace in him let him never want cherishing But when with the sharpe share of the law we haue made as it were deepe furrowes of sorrow in the hearts of our hearers then let vs sow the comfortable seed of the gospell following the example of God him selfe who first said to Adam a Gen. 2.17 Morte moriêris thou shalt dy the death there is the furrow of the law then comes with b Gen. 3.15 Semen mulieris the seed of the woman shall break the head of the serpent there is the seed of the gospell But must iustice and mercy rest only vpon the heads of Moses Aaron the magistrate and the minister No beloved they must be like that pretious ointment Mercy and iustice in all sorts of men which being powred vpon Aarons head ran downe to his beard and so to the very skirts of his garments they must descend to the very lowest meanest of the people And so deare must they be to all sorts of men that c Prov. 3.3 Salomon Prov. 3. not content to haue said Let not mercy truth forsake thee addeth further Bind them on thy necke or weare them vt torquem aureum as a chaine of golde about thy necke and write them in the tables of thy heart He afterward giues the reason d Prov. 21.21 Prov. 21. He that followeth after righteousnes and mercy shall finde life and glory 2. HYPOTHESIS And so from my first generall part which is the Thesis A iust man is mercifull I now descend to the second which is the Hypothesis that in particular he is mercifull to the life of his beast Wherin I told you we are to note first How then Why he is to reguard it In the handling whereof because I am not to teach you husbandry but divinity I will briefly make particular