Wilt thou be without fear of the Power Do well then and so shalt thou be praised of the same for he is the Minister of God for thy wealth But and if thou do that which is evil then fear for he beareth not the Sword for nought for he is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evil Wherefore ye must needs obey not only for fear of vengeance but also because of conscience and even for this cause pay ye tribute for they are God's Ministers serving for the same purpose Here let us learn of St. Paul the chosen Vessel of God that all Persons having Souls he excepteth none nor exempteth none neither Priest Apostle nor Prophet saith St. Chrysostom do owe of bounden Duty and even in Conscience Obedience Submission and Subjection to the higher Powers which be set in autho ty by God forasmuch as they be God's Lieutenants God's Presidents God's Officers God's Commissioners God's Judges ordained of God himself of whom only they have all their Power and all their Authority And the same St. Paul threatneth no less pain than everlasting damnation to all disobedient persons to all resisters against this general and common Authority forasmuch as they resist not Man but God not Man's device and invention but God's Wisdom God's Order Power and Authority The Second Part of the Sermon of Obedience FOrasmuch as God hath created and disposed all things in a comly order we have been taught in the First Part of the Sermon concerning good Order and Obedience that we ought also in all Commonweals to observe and keep a due order and to be obedient to the Powers their Ordinances and Laws and that all Rulers are appointed of God for a goodly Order to be kept in the World And also how the Magistrates ought to learn how to Rule and Govern according to God's Laws And that all Subjects are bound to obey them as God's Ministers yea although they be evil not only for fear but also for Conscience sake And here good People let us all mark diligently that it is not lawful for Inferiors and Subjects in any case to resist and stand against the Superior Powers For S. Paul's words be plain that whosoever withstandeth shall get to themselves damnation for whosoever withstandeth withstandeth the Ordinance of God Our Saviour Christ himself and his Apostles received many and divers injuries of the unfaithful and wicked Men in Authority yet we never read that they or any of them caused any Sedition or Rebellion against Authority We read oft that they patiently suffered all troubles vexations slanders pangs and pains and death itself obediently without tumult or resistance They committed their Cause to him that judgeth righteously and prayed for their Enemies heartily and earnestly They knew that the Authority of the Powers was God's Ordinance and therefore both in their Words and Deeds they taught ever Obedience to it and never taught nor did the contrary The wicked Judge Pilate said to Christ Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power also to loose thee Jesus answered Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Whereby Christ taught us plainly that even the wicked Rulers have their Power and Authority from God and therefore it is not lawful for their Subjects to withstand them although they abuse their Power Much less then is it lawful for Subjects to withstand their Godly and Christian Princes which do not abuse their Authority but use the same to God's Glory and to the Profit and Commodity of God's People 1. Pet. 2. The Holy Apostle Peter commandeth Servants to be obedient to their Masters not only if they be good and gentle but also if they be evil and froward Affirming that the Vocation and Calling of God's People is to be Patient and of the suffering side And there he bringeth in the Patience of our Saviour Christ to persuade Obedience to Governors yea although they be wicked and wrong-doers But let us now hear St. Peter himself speak for his words certifie best our Conscience thus he uttereth them in his first Epistle Servants 1 Pet. 2. obey your Masters with fear not only if they be good and gentle but also if they be froward For it is thank-worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endureth grief and suffer wrong undeserved For what praise is it when ye be beaten for your faults if ye take it patiently But when ye do well if you then suffer wrong and take it patiently then is there cause to have thank of God for hereunto verily were ye called For so did Christ suffer for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps All these be the very words of St. Peter 1 Kings 1â— 19 20. Holy David also teacheth us a good Lesson in this behalf who was many times most cruelly and wrongfully persecuted of King Saul and many times also put in jeopardy and danger of his Life by King Saul and his People yet he neither withstood neither used any force or violence against King Saul his mortal and deadly enemy but did ever to his Liege Lord and Master King Saul most true most diligent and most faithful Service Insomuch that when the Lord God had given King Saul into David's hands in his own Cave he would not hurt him when he might without all Bodily peril easily have slain him no he would not suffer one of his Servants once to lay their hand upon King Saul but prayed to God on this wise Lord keep me from doing that thing upon my Master the Lord 's Anointed keep me that I lay not my hand upon him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord For as truly as the Lord liveth except the Lord smite him or except his day come or that he go down to War and perish in Battel the Lord be merciful unto me that I lay not my hands upon the Lords Anointed And that David might have killed his Enemy King Saul it is evidently proved in the first Book of the Kings both by the cutting off the lap of Saul's Garment and also by plain Confession of King Saul Also another time as is mentioned in the same Book when the most unmerciful and most unkind King Saul did persecute poor David God did again give Saul into David's hands by casting of King Saul and his whole Army into a dead sleep so that David and one Abisai with him came in the night into Saul's Host where Saul lay sleeping and his Spear stuck in the ground at his Head Then said Abisai unto David God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hands at this time now therefore let me smite him once with my spear to the earth and I will not smite him again the second time meaning thereby to have killed him with one stroke and to have made him sure for ever And David answered and said to Abisai Destroy him not for who
can lay his hands on the Lords anointed and be guiltless And David said furthermore As sure as the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend or go down into Battel and there perish the Lord keep me from laying my hands upon the Lord 's anointed But take thou now the spear that is at his head and the cruse of Water and let us go And so he did Here is evidently proved that we may not withstand nor in any ways hurt an anointed King which is God's Lieutenant Vicegerent and highest Minister in that Country where he is King But peradventure some here would say that David in his own defence might have killed King Saul lawfully An Objection and with a safe Conscience But holy David did know than he might in no wise withstand An Answer hurt or kill his Sovereign Lord and King He did know that he was but King Saul's Subject though he were in great favour with God and his Enemy King Saul out of God's favour Therefore though he were never so much provoked yet he refused utterly to hurt the Lord 's anointed He durst not for offending God and his own Conscience although he had occasion and opportunity once lay his hands upon God's high Officer the King whom he did know to be a Person reserved and kept for his Office sake only to God's Punishment and Judgment therefore he prayeth so oft and so earnestly that he lay not his hands upon the Lord 's anointed And by these two Examples Holy David being named in Scripture a Man after God's own Heart Psal 88. giveth a general Rule and Lesson to all Subjects in the World not to withstand their Liege Lord and King not to take a Sword by their private Authority against their King God's anointed who only beareth the Sword by God's Authority for the Maintenance of the good and for the Punishment of the evil who only by God's Law hath the use of the Sword at his command and also hath all Power Jurisdiction Regiment Correction and Punishment as Supreme Governor of all his Realms and Dominions and that even by the Authority of God and by God's Ordinances Yet another notable Story and Doctrine is in the second Book of the Kings that maketh also for this purpose When an Amalekite 2 Kings 1. by King Saul's own consent and Commandment had killed King Saul he went to David supposing to have had great Thanks for his Message that he had killed David's deadly Enemy and therefore he made great haste to tell to David the chance bringing with him King Saul's Crown that was upon his Head and his Bracelet that was upon his Arm to persuade his tidings to be true But Godly David was so far from rejoycing at this news that immediately and forthwith he rent his Cloaths off his Back he Mourned and wept and said to the Messenger How is it that thou wast not afraid to lay thy hands on the Lords anointed to destroy him And by and by David made one of his Servants to kill the Messenger saying Thy blood be on thine own head for thine own mouth hath testified and witnessed against thee granting that thou hast slain the Lords anointed These examples being so manifest and evident it is an intolerable ignorance madness and wickedness for Subjects to make any Murmuring Rebellion Resistance or withstanding Commotion or Insurrection against their most dear and most dread Sovereign Lord and King ordained and appointed of God's Goodness for their Commodity Peace and Quietness Yet let us believe undoubtedly good Christian People that we may not obey Kings Magistrates or any other though they be our own Fathers if they would command us to do any thing contrary to God's Commanments In such a case we ought to say with the Apostle Acts 7. We must rather obey God than man But nevertheless in that case we may not in any wise withstand violently or rebel against Rulers or make any Insurrection Sedition or Tumults either by force of Arms or otherwise against the Anointed of the Lord or any of his Officers But we must in such case patiently suffer all wrongs and injuries referring the Judgment of our Cause only to God Let us fear the terrible Punishment of Almighty God against Traytors and rebellious Persons by the Example of Korah Dathan and Abiram who repined and grudged against God's Magistrates and Officers and therefore the Earth opened and swallowed them up alive Others for their wicked Murmuring and Rebellion were by a sudden Fire sent down from God utterly consumed Others for their froward behaviour to their Rulers and Governors God's Ministers were suddenly striken with a foul Leprosie Others were stinged to death with wonderful strange fiery Serpents Others were sore plagued so that there were killed in one day 2 Kings 18. the Number of Fourteen thousand and seven hundred for Rebellion against them whom God had appointed to be in Authority Absalom also rebelling against his Father King David was punished with a strange and notable Death The Third Part of the Sermon of Obedience YE have heard before in this Sermon of good Order and Obedience manifestly proved both by the Scriptures and Examples that all Subjects are bound to obey their Magistrates and for no cause to resist or withstand or rebel or make any Sedition against them yea although they be wicked Men. And let no Man think that he can escape unpunished that committeth Treason Conspiracy or Rebellion against his Sovereign Lord the King though he commit the same never so secretly either in Thought Word or Deed never so privily in his privy Chamber by himself or openly communicating and consulting with others For Treason will not be hid Treason will out at length God will have that most detestable Vice both opened and punished for that it is so directly against his Ordinance and against his high Principal Judge and Anointed on Earth The Violence and Injury that is committed against Authority is committed against God the Commonweal and the whole Realm which God will have known and condignly or worthily punished one way or the other For it is notably written of the wise Man in Scripture Eccl. 10. in the Book called Ecclesiastes Wish the King no evil in thy Thought nor speak no hurt of him in thy privy chamber For the bird of the air shall betray thy voice and with her feathers shall bewray thy words These Lessons and Examples are written for our Learning Therefore let us all fear the most detestable vice of Rebellion ever knowing and remembring that he that resisteth or withstandeth common Authority resisteth or withstandeth God and his Ordinance as it may be proved by many other places of Holy Scripture And here let us take heed that we understand not these or such other like places which so straitly command Obedience to Superiours and so straitly punished Rebellion and Disobedience to the same to be
provoking him to slay King Saul when opportunity served him thereunto Neither is it to be omitted and left out how when an Amalechite had slain King Saul even at Sauls own bidding and commandment for he would live no longer now for that he had lost the Field against his Enemies the Philistines the said Amalechite making great hast to bring first word and news thereof unto David as joyous unto him for the death of his mortal Enemy bringing withal the Crown that was upon King Sauls head and the Bracelet that was about his arm both as a proof of the truth of his news and also as fit and pleasant Presents unto David being by God appointed to be King Saul his Successor in the Kingdom 2 Reg. 1. c. 12. yet was that faithful and godly David so far from rejoycing at these news that he rent his Cloaths Wept and Mourned and Fasted and so far off from thanksgiving to the Messenger either for his deed in killing the King though his deadly Enemy or for his Message and News or for his Presents that he brought that he said unto him How hapned it that thou wast not afraid to lay thy hands upon the Lords Anointed to slay him Whereupon 2 Reg. 1. c. 4. c. 15. immediately he commanded one of his Servants to kill the Messenger and said Thy Blood be upon thine own head for thine own mouth hath witnessed against thy self in confessing that thou hast slain the Lords Anointed This Example dearly beloved is notable and the Circumstances thereof are well to be considered for the better instruction of all Subjects in their bounden Duty of Obedience and perpetual fearing of them from attempting of any Rebellion or hurt against their Prince On the one part David was not only a good and true Subject but also such a Subject as both in Peace and War had served and saved his Princes honor and life and delivered his Countrey and Countrey-men from great danger of Infidels Foreign and most cruel Enemies horribly invading the King and his Country 1 Reg. 8. d. 18. g. 30. for which David was in a singular favor with all the People so that he might have had great numbers of them at his Command if he would have attempted any thing 1 Reg. 16. c 12. c. c. 1 Reg. 18. c. 11. 2 Reg. 15. c. 11. 1 Reg. 18. 10. 12. Besides this David was no common nor absolute Subject but Heir apparent to the Crown and Kingdom by God appointed to Reign after Saul which as it increased the favor of the People that knew it towards David so did it make Davids cause and case much differing from the case of common and absolute Subjects And which is most of all David was highly and singularly in the favor of God On the contrary part King Saul was out of Gods favor for that cause which is before rehearsed and he as it were Gods Enemy and therefore like in War and Peace to be hurtful and pernicious unto the Commonwealth and that was known to many of his Subjects for that he was openly rebuked of Samuel for his disobedience unto God which might make the People the less to esteem him 1 Reg. 15. 22. 26. King Saul was also unto David a mortal and deadly Enemy though without Davids deserving who by his faithful painful profitable yea most necessary Service had well deserved as of his Country so of his Prince but King Saul far otherwise the more was his unkindness hatred and cruelty towards such a good Subject both odious and detestable Yet would David neither himself slay nor hurt such an Enemy for that he was his Prince and Lord nor would suffer any other to kill hurt or lay hand upon him when he might have been slain without any stir tumult or danger of any Mans life Now let David answer to such demands as Men desirous of Rebellion do use to make Shall not we specially being so good Men as we are The Demand Rise and Rebel against a Prince hated of God and Gods Enemy and therefore likely not to prosper either in War or Peace but to be hurtful and pernicious to the Commonwealth The Answer No saith good and godly David Gods and such a Kings faithful Subject and so Convicting such Subjects as attempt any Rebellion against such a King to be neither good Subjects nor good Men. But say they The Demand shall we not rise and rebel against so unkind a Prince nothing considering or regarding our true faithful and painful Service or the safeguard of our Posterity No saith good David The Answer The Demand The Answer whom no such unkindness could cause to forsake his due obedience to his Sovereign Shall we not say they rise and rebel against our known mortal and deadly Enemy that seeketh our lives No saith godly David who had learned the Lesson that our Saviour afterward plainly taught that we should do no hurt to our Fellow-Subjects though they hate us and be our Enemies much less unto our Prince though he were our Enemy Shall we not Assemble an Army of such good Fellows as we are and by hazarding of our lives The Demand and the lives of such as shall withstand us and withal hazarding the whole Estate of our Country remove so naughty a Prince No saith godly David for I The Answer when I might without Assembling force or number of Men without tumult or hazard of any Mans life or shedding of any drop of Blood The Demand have delivered my self and my Country of an evil Prince yet would I not do it Are not they say some lusty and couragious Captains valiant Men of stomach and good Mens Bodies that do venture by force to kill and depose their King The Answer being a naughty Prince and their mortal Enemy They may be as lusty and couragious as they list yet saith godly David They can be no good nor godly Men that so do for I not only have rebuked but also commanded him to be slain as a wicked Man which slew King Saul mine enemy though he being weary of his life for the loss of the Victory against his Enemies desired that Man to slay him The Demand The Answer What shall we then do to an evil to an unkind Prince an Enemy to us hated of God hurtful to the Common-wealth c Lay no violent hand upon him saith David but let him live until God appoint and work his end either by natural Death or in War by lawful Enemies not by traiterous Subjects Thus would godly David make answer and St. Paul as ye heard before willeth us also to pray for such a Prince If King David would make these Answers as by his deeds and words recorded in the Holy Scriptures indeed he doth make unto all such Demands concerning rebelling against evil Princes unkind Princes cruel Princes Princes that be to their good Subjects mortal Enemies Princes
that man which openly before the Magistrates refused to marry her And it was not a reproach to him alone but to all his Posterity also For they were called ever after The House of him whose shoe is pulled off Another place out of the Psalms Psal 75. I will break saith David the horns of the ungodly and the horns of the righteous shall be exalted By an Horn in the Scripture is understood Power Might Strength and sometime Rule and Government The Prophet then saying I will break the horns of the ungodly meaneth that all the Power Strength and Might of Gods Enemies shall not only be weakned and made feeble but shall at length also be clean broken and destroyed though for a time for the better tryal of his People God suffereth the Enemies to prevail and have the upper hand In the 132 Psalm it is said Psal 132. I will make David 's horn to flourish Here David's Horn signifieth his Kingdom Almighty God therefore by this manner of speaking promiseth to give David Victory over all his Enemies and to stablish him in his Kingdom spite of all his Enemies And in the threescore Psalm it is written Moab is my wash-pot Psal 60. and over Edom will I cast out my shoe c. In that place the Prophet sheweth how graciously God hath dealt with his People the Children of Israel giving them great Victories upon their Enemies on every side For the Moabites and Idumeans being two great Nations proud People stout and mighty God brought them under and made them Servants to the Israelites Servants I say to stoop down to pull off their shoes and wash their feet Then Moab is my wash-pot and over Edom will I cast out my shoe is as if he had said The Moabites and the Idumeans for all their stoutness against us in the Wilderness are now made our Subjects ouâ— Servants yea Underlings to pull off our shoes and wash our feet Now I pray you what uncomely manner of speech is this so used in common phrase among the Hebrews It is a shame that Christian men should be so light headed to toy as Ruffians do with such manner of speeches uttered in good grave signification by the Holy Ghost More reasonable it were for vain men to learn to reverence the form of Gods Words than to sport at them to their Damnation Some again are offended to hear that the godly Fathers had many Wives and Concubines although after the phrase of the Scripture a Concubine is an honest name for every Concubine is a Lawful Wife but every Wife is not a Concubine And that ye may the better understand this to be true ye shall note that it was permitted to the Fathers of the Old Testament to have at one time moe Wives than one for what purpose ye shall afterward hear Of which Wives some were Free-women born some were Bond-women and Servants She that was Free-born had a Prerogative above those that were Servants and Bond-women The Free-born Woman was by Marriage made the Ruler of the House under her Husband and is called the Mother of the Houshold the Mistress or the Dame of the House after our manner of speaking and had by her Marriage an Interest a Right and an Ownership of his Goods unto whom she was married Other Servants and Bond-women were given by the Owners of them as the manner was then I will not say always but for the most part unto their Daughters at the day of their Marriage to be Handmaidens unto them After such a sort did Pharaoh King of Egypt give unto Sarah Geâ— 29. Abraham's Wife Agar the Egyptian to be her Maid So did Laban give unto his Daughter Lea at the day of her Marriage Zilpha to be her Handmaid And to his other Daughter Rachel he gave another Bond-maid named Bilha And the Wives that were the owners of their Handmaidens gave them in Marriage to their Husbands upon divers occasions Sarah gave her Maid Agar in Marriage to Abraham Gen. 16. Lea gave in like manner her Maid Zilpha to her Husband Jacob. So did Rachel his other Wife give him Bilha her Maid Gen. 30. saying unto him Go in unto her and she shall bear upon my knees which is as if she had said Take her to Wife and the Children that she shall bear will I take upon my lap and make of them as if they were mine own These Hand-maidens or Bond-women although by Marriage they were made Wives yet they had not this Prerogative to Rule in the House but were still Underlings and in such subjection to their Masters and were never called Mothers of the Houshould Mistresses or Dames of the House but are called sometimes Wives sometimes Concubines The plurality of Wives was by a special Prerogative suffered to the Fathers of the Old Testament not for satisfying their carnal and fleshly Lusts but to have many Children because every one of them hoped and begged oft-times of God in their Prayers that that Blessed Seed which God promised should come into the World to break the Serpents Head might come and be born of this stock and kindred Now of those which take occasion of carnality and evil life by hearing and reading in Gods Book what God had suffered even in those men whose commendation is praised in the Scripture As that Noe 2 Pet. 2. Gen. 9. whom St. Peter calleth the eighth Preacher of Righteousness was so drunk with Wine that in his sleep he uncovered his own Privities Gen. 19. The just man Lot was in like manner drunken and in his drunkenness lay with his own Daughters contrary to the Law of Nature Abraham Gen. 17. whose Faith was so great that for the same he deserved to be called of Gods own mouth a Father of many Nations Rom. 4. the Father of all Believers besides with Sarah his Wife had also carnal company with Agar Sarah's Handmaid Gen. 29. The Patriarch Jacob had to his Wives two Sisters at one time The Prophet David and King Solomon his Son had many Wives and Concubines c. Which things we see plainly to be forbidden us by the Law of God and are now repugnant to all publick Honesty These and such like in Gods Book good People are not written that we should or may do the like following their examples or that we ought to think that God did allow every of these things in those men But we ought rather to believe and to judge that Noe in his drunkenness offended God highly Lot lying with his Daughters committed horrible Incest We ought then to learn by them this profitable Lesson that if so godly men as they were which otherwise felt inwardly Gods Holy Spirit inflaming their hearts with the fear and love of God could not by their own strength keep themselves from committing horrible sin but did so grievously fall that without Gods great Mercy they had perished everlastingly How much more ought we then miserable
continual Prayers unto Almighty God even from the bottom of our hearts that he will give his grace power and strength unto our gracious King to vanquish and subdue all as well Rebels at home as Foreign Enemies that all Domestical Rebellions being suppressed and pacified and all outward Invasions repulsed and abandoned we may not only be sure and long continue in all obedience un o our gracious Sovereign and in that peaceable and quiet life which hitherto we have led under his Majesty with all security but also that both our gracious King and we his Subjects may all together in all obedience unto God the King of Kings and unto his holy Laws lead our lives so in this World in all Vertue and Godliness that in the World to come we may enjoy his everlasting Kingdom which I beseech God to grant as well to our gracious Sovereign as unto us all for his Son our Saviour Jesus Christs sake To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God and King immortal be all glory praise and thanksgiving World without end Amen Thus have you heard the First Part of this Homily Now good People Let us pray The PRAYER as in that time it was Published O Most mighty God the Lord of Hosts the Governor of all Creatures the only giver of all Victories who alone art able to strengthen the Weak against the Mighty and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine Enemies with the Countenance of a few of thy Servants calling upon thy Name and trusting in thee Defend O Lord thy Servant and our Governor under thee our Sovereign Lord the KING and all thy People committed to his charge O Lord withstand the cruelty of all those which be Common Enemies as well to the Truth of thy Eternal Word as to their own natural Prince and Country and manifestly to this Crown and Realm of England which thou hast of thy Divine Providence assigned in these our days to the Government of thy Servant our Sovereign and gracious KING O most merciful Father if it be thy holy Will make soft and tender the stony Hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy Truth and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of England or to oppress the Crown of the same and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only Saviour of the World Jesus Christ that we and they may joyntly glorifie thy Mercies Lighten we beseech the their ignorant Hearts to embrace the Truth of thy Word or else so abate their cruelty O most mighty Lord that this our Christian Realm with others that confess thy holy GOSPEL may obtain by thy aid and strength surety from all Enemies without shedding of Christian Blood whereby all they which be oppressed with their Tyranny may by relieved and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted and finally that all Christian Realms and especially this Realm of England may by thy Defence and Protection continue in the Truth of the Gospel and enjoy perfect Peace Quietness and Security And that we for these thy Mercies joyntly all together with one consonant Heart and Voice may thankfully render to thee all Laud and Praise that we knit in one Godly concord and unity amongst our selves may continually magnifie thy glorious Name who with thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost art one Eternal Almighty and most merciful God To whom be all Laud and Praise World without end Amen The Second Part of the Homily against Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion AS in the First Part of this Treaty of Obedience of Subjects to their Princes and against Disobedience and Rebellion I have alledged divers sentences out of the holy Scriptures for proof so shall it be good for the better declaration and confirmation of the said wholsom Doctrin to alledge one example or two out of the holy Scriptures of the Obedience of Subjects not only unto their good and gracious Governors but also unto their evil and unkind Princes As King Saul was not of the best but rather of the worst sort of Princes as being out of Gods favor for his disobedience against God in sparing in a wrong pity the King Agag whom Almighty God commanded to be slain according to the Justice of God against his sworn Enemy and although Saul of a Devotion meant to Sacrifice such things as he spared of the Amalechites to the Honor and Service of God yet Saul was reproved for his wrong Mercy and Devotion and was told that Obedience would have more pleased him than such lenity which sinful humanity saith holy Chrysostom is more cruel before God than any Murther or shedding of Blood when it is commanded of God But yet how evil soever Saul the King was and out of Gods favor yet was he obeyed of his Subject David the very best of all Subjects and most valiant in the service of his Prince and Country in the Wars the most obedient and loving in Peace and always most true and faithful to his Sovereign and Lord and farthest off from all manner of Rebellion For the which his most painful true and faithful Service King Saul yet rewarded him not only with great unkindness but also sought his destruction and death by all means possible so that David was fain to save his life not by Rebellion or any Resistance but by flight and hiding himself from the Kings sight Which notwithstanding when King Saul upon a time came alone into the Cave where David was so that David might easily have slain him yet would he neither hurt him himself neither suffer any of his Men to lay hands upon him Another time also David entring by night with one Abisai a valiant and fierce Man into the Tent where King Saul did lie asleep where also he might yet more easily have slain him yet would he neither hurt him himself nor suffer Abisai who was willing and ready to slay King Saul once to touch him Thus did David deal with Saul his Prince notwithstanding that King Saul continually saught his death and destruction It shall not be amiss unto these Deeds of David to add his words and to shew you what he spake unto such as encouraged him to take his opportunity and advantage to slay King Saul as his mortal Enemy when he might 1 Reg. 24. b. 7 c. 1 Reg. 26. b. 9. b. 10 c. The Lord keep me saith David from doing that thing and from laying hands upon my Lord Gods Anointed For who can lay his hand upon the Lords Anointed and be guiltless As truly as the Lord liveth except that the Lord do smite him or his days shall come to die or that he go down to War and be slain in Battel the Lord be merciful unto me that I lay not my hand upon the Lords Anointed These be Davids words 1 Reg. 24. a. 1 Reg. 1 b. 7. b. 9. 2 Reg. 1. b. spoken at sundry times to divers his Servants
obtain that thing now of me which hereafter Time shall obtain of me If a Man be called an Adulterer Usurer Drunkard or by any other shameful Name let him consider earnestly whether he be so called truly or falsly if truly let him amend his fault that his Adversary may not after worthily charge him with such Offences If these things be laid against him falsly yet let him consider whether he hath given any occasion to be suspected of such things and so he may both cut off that suspicion whereof this slander did arise and in other things shall live more warily And thus using ourselves we may take no hurt but rather much good by the rebukes and slanders of our Enemy For the reproach of an Enemy may be to many men a quicker spur to the amendment of their life than the gentle monition of a Friend Philippus the King of Macedonia when he was evil spoken of by the chief Rulers of the City of Athens he did thank them heartily because by them he was made better both in his Words and Deeds For I study saith he both by my Sayings and Doings to prove them Lyars The Third Part of the Sermon against Contention YE heard in the last Lesson of the Sermon against Strife and Brawling how we may answer them which maintain their froward sayings in Contention and that will revenge with words such evil as other Men do them and finally how we may according to God's Will order ourselves and what to consider towards them when wâ— are provoked to Contention and Strife with railing Words Now to proceed in the same matter you shall know the right way how to disprove and overcome your Adversary and Enemy This is the best way to disprove a Man's Adversary so to live that all which shall know his Honesty may bear witness that he is slandered unworthily If the fault whereof he is slandered be such that for the defence of his Honesty he must needs make answer let him answer quietly and softly on this fashion That those faults be laid against him falsly For it is truth that the Wise Man saith A soft answer asswageth anger Prov. 15. and a hard and sharp answer dâ—th stir up rage and fury The sharp answer of Nabal provoked David to cruel Vengeance 1 King 25. but the gentle words of Abigail quenched the fire again that was all in a flame And a special remedy against malicious Tongues is to arm ourselves with patience meekness and silence lest with multiplying words with the Enemy we be made as evil as he But they An Objection Prov. 26. that cannot bear one evil word peradventure for their own excuse will alledge that which is written He that despiseth his gâ—od Name is cruel Also we read Answer a Fool according to his foolishness And our Lord Jesus Christ did hold his peace at certain evil sayings but to some he answered diligently He heard Men call him a Samaritan a Carpenters Son a Wine-Drinker and he held his peace But when he heard them say Thou hast the Devil within thee he answered to that earnestly Answer Truth it is indeed that there is a time when it is convenient to answer a Fool according to his foolishness lest he should seem in his own conceit to be wise And somtime it is not profitable to answer a Fool according to his foolishness lest the Wise Man be made like to the Fool. When our Infamy or the Reproach that is done unto us is joyned with the peril of many then it is necessary in answering to be quick and ready For we read that many holy Men of good Zeal have sharply and fiercely both spoken and answered Tyrants and evil Men which sharp words came not of Anger Rancor or Malice or desire of Vengeance but of a fervent desire to bring them to the true knowledge of God and from ungodly living by an earnest and sharp rebuke and chiding In this Zeal Saint John Baptist called the Pharisees Adders brood Matth. 3. Gal. 3. Titus 1. And Saint Paul called the Galatians Fools And the Men of Crete he called Lyars evil Beasts and sluggish Bellies And the false Apostles he called Dogs and crafty Workmen Phil. 3. And his Zeal is godly and to be allowed as it is plainly proved by the example of Christ who although he were the Fountain and Spring of all Meekness Gentleness and Softness Matth. 23. yet he called the obstinate Scribes and Pharisees Blind Guides Fools painted Graves Hypocrites Serpents Adders brood a corrupt and wicked Generation Also he rebuketh Peter eagerly saying Go behind me Satan Matth. 16. Likewise Saint Paul reproveth Elymas saying Acts 13. O thou full of all Craft and Guile Enemy to all Justice thou ceasest not to destroy the right ways of God And now lo the Hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind and not see for a time And Saint Peter reprehendeth Ananias very sharply saying Ananias Acts 5. how is it that Satan hath filled thy Heart that thou shouldst lye unto the Holy Ghost This Zeal hath been so servent in many good Men that it hath stirred them not only to speak bitter and eager words but also to do things which might seem to some to be cruel but indeed they be very just charitable and godly because they were not done of Ire Malice or contentious Mind but of a fervent Mind to the Glory of God and the correction of Sin executed by Men called to that Office For in this Zeal our Lord Jesus Christ did drive with a Whip the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple John 2. In this Zeal Moses brake the two Tables which he had received at Gods Hand Exod. 32. when he saw the Israelites dancing about the Calf and caused to be killed twenty four thousand of his own People Numb 25. But these Examples are not to be followed of every body but as Men be called to Office and set in Authority Prov. 20. In this Zeal Phineas the Son of Eleazer did thrust through with his Sword Zimri and Cosby whom he found together joyned in the act of Uncleanness Wherefore now to return again to contentious Words and specially in Matters of Religion and Gods Word which would be used with all Modesty Soberness and Chastity the words of Saint James ought to be well marked and born in memory where he saith That of Contention riseth all Evil. And the wise King Solomon saith Honour is due to a Man that keepeth himself from Contention and all that mingle themselves therewith be Fools And because this Vice is so much hurtful to the Society of a Commonwealth in all well-ordered Cities these common Brawlers and Scolders be punished with a notable kind of pain as to be set on the Cucking-stool Pillory or such like And they be unworthy to live in a Commonwealth the which do as much as lieth in them with Brawling and Scolding to disturb
Lies Deceits Uncleanness Filthiness Dung Mischief and Abomination before the Lord. Wherefore Gods horrible wrath and our most dreadful danger cannot be avoided without the destruction and utter abolishing of all Images and Idols our of the Church and Temple of God which to accomplish God put in the minds of all Christian Princes And in the mean time let us take heed and be wise O ye beloved of the Lord and let us have no strange gods but one only God who made us when we were nothing the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ John 17. who redeemed us when we were lost and with his Holy Spirit doth sanctifie us For this is life everlasting to know him to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Let us honour and worship for Religions sake none but him and him let us worship and honour as he will himself and hath declared by his Word that he will be honoured and worshipped not in nor by Images or Idols which he hath most strictly forbidden neither in kneeling lighting of Candles burning of Incense offering up of Gifts unto Images and Idols to believe that we shall please him for all these be abomination before God But let us honour and worship God in Spirit and in Truth John 4. fearing and loving him above all things trusting in him only calling upon him and praying to him only praising and lauding of him only and all other in him and for him For such worshippers doth our Heavenly Father love who is a most pure Spirit and therefore will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And such worshippers were Abraham Moses David Elias Peter Paul John and all other the Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all true Saints of God who all as the true Friends of God were enemies and destroyers of Images and Idols as the Enemies of God and his true Religion Wherefore take heed and be wise O ye beloved of the Lord and that which others contrary to Gods Word bestow wickedly and to their damnation upon dead stocks and stones no Images but Enemies of God and his Saints that bestow ye as the faithful Servants of God according to Gods Word mercifully upon poor Men and Women Fatherless Children Widows sick Persons Strangers Prisoners and such others that be in any necessity that ye may at that great day of the Lord hear that most blessed and comfortable saying of our Saviour Christ Come ye blessed into the Kingdom of my Father prepared for you before the beginning of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat thirsty and ye gave me drink naked and ye clothed me harbourless and ye lodged me in Prison and ye visited me sick and ye comforted me For whatsoever ye have done for the poor and needy in my name and for my sake that have ye done for me To the which his Heavenly Kingdom God the Father of Mercies bring us for Jesus Christs sake our only Saviour Mediator and Advocate to whom with the Holy Ghost one immortal invisible and most glorious God be all Honour and Thanksgiving and Glory World without end Amen AN HOMILY FOR Repairing and keeping clean and comely adorning of Churches IT is a common custom used of all men when they intend to have their Friends or Neighbours to come to their Houses to eat or drink with them or to have any Solemn Assembly to treat and talk of any matter they will have their Houses which they keep in continual reparations to be clean and fine lest they should be counted sluttish or little to regard their Friends and Neighbours How much more then ought the House of God which we commonly call the Church to be sufficiently repaired in all places and to be honourably adorned and garnished and to be kept clean and sweet to the comfort of the People that shall resort thereunto It appeareth in the Holy Scripture how Gods House which was called his Holy Temple and was the Mother Church of all Jewry fell sometimes into decay and was oftentimes profaned and defiled through the negligence and ungodliness of such as had the charge thereof But when godly Kings and Governors were in place then Commandment was given forthwith that the Church and Temple of God should be repaired and the Devotion of the People to be gathered for the reparation of the same We read in the fourth Book of the Kings 4 Kings 12. how that King Joas being a godly Prince gave commandment to the Priests to convert certain Offerings of the People towards the reparation and amendment of Gods Temple Like commandment gave that most godly King Josias 4 Kings 22. concerning the reparation and re-edification of Gods Temple which in his time he found in sore decay It hath pleased Almighty God that these Histories touching the re-edifying and repairing of his Holy Temple should be written at large to the end we should be taught thereby First that God is well pleased that his People should have a convenient place to resort unto and to come together to praise and magnifie Gods Holy Name And secoâ—dâ—â— he is highly pleased with all those which diligenâ—ly and zealously go about to amend and restore such places as are appointed for the Congregation of Gods People to resort unto and wherein they humbly and joyntly render thanks to God for his benefits and with one heart and voice praise his Holy Name Thirdly God was sore displeased with his People because they builded decked and trimmed up their own Houses and suffered Gods House to be in ruine and decay to lye uncomely and fulsomly Wherefore God was sore grieved with them and plagued them as appeareth in the Prophet Aggeus Thus saith the Lord Agge 1. Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled Houses and the Lords House not regarded Ye have sowed much and gathered in but little your meat and your clothes have neither filled you nor made you warm and he that had his wages put it in a bottomless purse By these Plagues which God laid upon his People for neglecting of his Temple it may evidently appear that God will have his Temple his Church the place where his Congregation shall resort to magnifie him well edified well repaired and well maintained Some neither regarding godliness nor the place of godly exercise will say The Temple in the Old Law was commanded to be built and repaired by God himself because it had great Promises annexed unto it and because it was a figure a Sacrament or a signification of Christ and also of his Church To this may be easily answered First that our Churches are not destitute of Promises forasmuch as our Saviour Christ saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst among them A great number therefore coming to Church together in the name of Christ have there that is to say in the Church their God and Saviour Jesus Christ present among the
overthrow of all Rebels of what number State or Condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such that God thereby doth shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any Person nor the multitude of any People nor the weight of any Cause as sufficient for the which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes Turn over and read the Histories of all Nations look over the Chronicles of our own Country call to mind so many Rebellions of old time and some yet fresh in memory ye shall not find that God ever prospered any Rebellion against their natural and lawful Prince but contrariwise that the Rebels were overthrown and slain and such as were taken Prisoners dreadfully executed Consider the great and noble Families of Dukes Marquesses Earls and other Lords whose Names ye shall read in our Chronicles now clean extinguished and gone and seek out the causes of the decay you shall find that not lack of Issue and Heirs Male hath so much wrought that decay and wast of Noble Bloods and Houses as hath Rebellion And for so much as the Redress of the Common-wealth hath of old been the usual feined pretence of Rebels and Religion now of late beginneth to be a colour of Rebellion let all godly and discreet Subjects consider well of both and first concerning Religion If peaceable King Solomon was judged of God to be more meet to build his Temple whereby the ordering of Religion is meant than his Father King David though otherwise a most godly King for that David was a great Warrior and had shed much Blood though it were in his Wars against the Enemies of God Of this may all godly and reasonable Subjects consider that a peaceable Prince specially our most peaceable and merciful King who hath hitherto shed no Blood at all no not of his most deadly Enemies is more like and far meeter either to set up or to maintain true Religion than are bloody Rebels who have not shed the Blood of Gods Enemies as King David had done but do seek to shed the Blood of Gods Friends of their own Country-men and of their own most dear Friends and Kinsfolk yea the destruction of their most gracious Prince and natural Country for defence of whom they ought to be ready to shed their Blood if need should so require What a Religion it is that such Men by such means would restore may easily be judged even as good a Religion surely as Rebels be good Men and obedient Subjects and as Rebellion is a good Mean of Redress and Reformation being it self the greatest deformation of all that may possibly be But as the truth of the Gospel of our Saviour Christ being quietly and soberly taught though it do cost them their lives that do teach it is able to maintain the true Religion so hath a frantic Religion need of such furious maintainances as is Rebellion and of such Patrons as are Rebels being ready not to die for the true Religion but to kill all that shall or dare speak against their false Superstition and wicked Idolatry Now concerning pretences of any Redress of the Common-wealth made by Rebels every Man that hath but half an Eye may see how vain they be Rebellion being as I have before declared the greatest ruin and destruction of all Common-wealths that may be possible And who so looketh on the one part upon the Persons and Government of the Kings most Honorable Counsellors by the experiment of so many years proved honorable to his Majesty and most profitable and beneficial unto our Country and Country-men and on the other part considereth the Persons State and Conditions of the Rebels themselves the Reformers as they take upon them of the present Government he shall find that the most rash and hair-brain'd Men the greatest unthrifts that have most lewdly wasted their own Goods and Lands those that are over the ears in debt and such as for their Thefts Robberies and Murders dare not in any well governed Common-wealth where good Laws are in force shew their Faces such as are of most lewd and wicked Behavior and Life and all such as will not or cannot live in peace are always most ready to move Rebellion or take part with Rebels And are not these meet Men trow you to restore the Common-wealth decayed who have so spoiled and consumed all their own Wealth and Thrift and very like to amend other Mens manners who have so vile Vices and abominable Conditions themselves Surely that which they falsely call Reformation is indeed not only a defacing or deformation but also an utter destruction of all Common-wealth as would well appear might the Rebels have their wills and doth right well and too well appear by their doing in such places of the Country where Rebels do rout where though they tarry but a very little while they make such Reformation that they destroy all places and undo all Men where they come that the Child yet unborn may rue it and shall many Years hereafter curse them Let no good and discreet Subjects therefore follow the Flag or Banner displayed to Rebellion and born by Rebels though it have the image of the Plough painted therein with God speed the Plough written under in great Letters knowing that none hinder the Plough more than Rebels who will neither go to the Plough themselves nor suffer other that would go unto it And though some Rebels bear the Picture of the five wounds painted against those who put their only hope of Salvation in the wounds of Christ not those wounds which are painted in a Clout by some lewd Painter but in those wounds which Christ himself bare in his precious Body though they little knowing what the Cross of Christ meaneth which neither Carver nor Painter can make do bear the Image of the Cross painted in a Rag against those that have the Cross of Christ painted in their Hearts yea though they paint withal in their Flags Hoc signo vinces By this Sign thou shalt get the Victory by a most fond imitation of the Posie of Constantinus Magnus that noble Christian Emperor and great Conqueror of Gods Enemies a most unmeet Ensign for Rebels the Enemies of God their Prince and Country or what other Banner soever they shall bear yet let no good and godly Subject upon any hope of Victory or good Success follow such Standard-bearers of Rebellion For as examples of such Practices are to be found as well in the Histories of old as also of latter Rebellions in our Fathers and our fresh Memory so notwithstanding these Pretences made and Banners born are recorded withal to perpetual Memory the great and horrible murders of infinite multitudes and thousands of the Common People slain in Rebellion dreadful executions of the Authors and Captains the pitiful undoing of their Wives and Children and disinheriting of the Heirs of the Rebels for ever the spoiling wasting and destruction of the