no Heir by Inheritance to the Crown and was rejected by Gods Spirit and David by Gods own appointment was to Succeed him in that Kingdom 1 Sam. 16.1 13. and was anointed by Samuel to be King in his stead which was very much Yet this Good Subject when Saul was put into his Hands and his servants perswaded him to take the Advantage of that good opportunity 1 Sam. 24 24. and to do justice upon that Wicked King he would by no meanes be advised by them nor suffer them to Rise against his King and when Abishai told him that God had delivered his enemy i.e. Saul into his hands and therefore desired that if David would not do it himself he would suffer Him to smite him David answered No by no means 1 Sam. 26.9 10 11. and he yeelds this reason Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless And he addeth The Lord shall smite him but God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against him Nay more then this when David took the Speare and the cruse of water from Sauls boulster and then went a great way from them he cried unto Abner and said Vers 16. Wherefore hast thou not kept thy lord the King As the Lord liveth ye are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords anointed Where you see David sweareth a Great oath As the Lord liveth and therefore he jesteth not They are worthy to die not they Alone that Kill their King but they also that hazard not their own lives to Protect and preserve the life of their King be their King never so Wicked I am sure in Davids judgment this is True Divinity Yea more then all this when Saul had fallen upon his own sword because he would not fall into the hands of his uncircumcised enemies and being in extream anguish desired a young Amalekite that was passing by to rid him out of his pain and the young man in favour to him performing his request and out of his respect to David that was to succeed him he brought the Crown that was upon his head and the Bracelet that was upon his arm unto David that the enemies might not have them and to shew that he took no pleasure in the death of Saul he came in a very mournfull manner with his Clâ—athes rent and Earth upon his head and likewise to shew his Loyal respect unto David he fell to the Earth and did Obeysance unto him and though he was a stranger and Subject neither to Saul nor to David therefore owed no service unto either of them yet because he took away the Life of Davids King the anointed of God and his Vicegerent here on earth David caused one of his young men 2 Sam. 1. to fall upon the poor Amalekite and for his mistaken curtesie unto Saul and unwelcome service unto David to smite him that he died So dear was the life of this Wicked King unto this Godly man that was a man according to Gods own heart the best subject that ever we read of and therefore was honored by God to become the best King that ever Israel had So that in the Genealogie of Christ the King of Kings he is preferred before Abraham as S. Matth. 1.1 Matthew sets it down The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham And is it not Strange that these Jews that were given so much to read the Scripture and had them more readily then our Puritans have them at their fingers end and could tell how many Affirmative and how many Negative precepts were in all the Bible and how many times every word was therein mentioned and yet that they would not now consider that Job saith Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked Job 34.18 Psal 105.15 Eccl. 8.4 Numb 16. Deut. 33.5 Hos 1.4 2 Reg 21.24 and that God himself saith Touch not mine anointed and the wisest amongst the sons of men saith Where the Word of a King is there is power and Who may say unto him What doest thou Or that they could not remember how fearfully God destroyed those Rebels that rose against Moses that was a King in Jesuron and destroyed the posterity of Jehu because he had destroyed his own King Ahab and stirred the people to slay all them that had slain Amon though he was a most wicked King But the truth is that the Old Serpent the Prince of darkness teacheth his Schollers to reject the Old light and now to stand altogether for New lights new Revelations and new Divinity therefore S. Augustine speaks most truely of these Scripturists that they had the Bible In manibus but not In cordibus and they had the truth in Codice but not in Capite for now Caiphas contrary to all the Old Scripture Joh 18.14 hath a New Revelation that it is expedient Pro salute populi that One man should dye for the people therefore Christ their King must needs be Killed and all the people cried out for justice and double their crie Crucify Him Crucify Him Salus Populi doth require it 2 From the Word of God 2. To prove it Lawfull to put any King to death Prosalute Populi he that hath all Scripture ad unguem can furnish you with a Text of S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.13 that affirmeth the Kingly office to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Humane Ordinance or creature therefore the people being the maker of the King Ob. they may destroy their Own creature if he failes in the End for which he was created To this our True Divines have oftentimes most truly answered 1. That the Jews held their Royal Government to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sol. Immediate from God and to be in force without the Election of Ordination from man and all other dominions and rule to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Humane Ordinance because God had determined and set down the Plat-form of their Government which he had not done to other Nations that as the Prophet saith had not the knowledge of his Laws and therefore S. Peter writing here to the Jews tels them that although the Kingly office should be but as they held an Humane Ordinance and not as theirs was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Rule yet his Precept was that they should Submit themselves thereunto for the Lords sake i.e. though the Governours were Heathens and their Government Heathenish yet Obedience and not Resistance is due unto them for the Lords sake by whom All Kings both Jews and Gentiles do bear rule 2. That although the Jurisdiction of Kings for Extent in some Part 2 Sol. and in some Degree might be said to be Humane from men yet the power of the Sword which hath Potestatem vitae necis is simply and absolutely Divine from God For who can give power over the Life of man but he that
straightly prohibite to be done is a disgracing of God himself and all the contempts done to this Image do presently redound to God that is represented without all question in this Image And the City of Thessalonica besides many others can well testifie how severely the Emperours punished the abusing of their Images when they deemed all the dishonour that was done against their Images to be Treasons against themselves 8. And lastly this killing of a man not only defaceth the Image of God but also robbeth God of his Temple which is Sacriledge and makes none account of but trampleth under feet that which God did so highly esteem and purchased at so high a rate as with his own blood And in a word it is so odious so haynous and so horrible a sin every way as it is impessible for me to expresse the vileness and the haynousnesse of this sin of Man-slaughter or the malicious killing of a man And therefore to shew how odious this sin is in the sight of God immediately after the Flood the great Commandment and the only Commandment that he gave to all the sons of Noah was to abstain from shedding of mans blood and he doth so pathetically and with such terrible threatnings expresse the punishment of the Transgressors saying Surely that you need not doubt it your blood of your lives will I require yea at the hand of every beast will I require it See Exod. 21.28 and though they be void of reason and understanding of what they do yet will I not hold them guiltless if they shed mans blood And therefore much rather and much sooner at the hand of man and at the hand of every mans brother Gen. 9.5 6. See Numb 35.31 33. Levit. 24.17 Math. 26.52 will I require the life of man and to that end he did appoint Kings that they should ordain Magistrates under them that whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man should his blood be shed And the reason why God is so severe against Man-slayers is here rendered for that in the Image of God made he man and so whosoever killeth a man except it be whom the Law killeth destroyeth the Image of God and God cannot endure to have his own lively Image which no painter but Himself hath made to be defaced And therefore in Numbers 35.31 the Lord saith Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murderer which is guilty of death but he shall be surely put to death And the reason is rendered verse 33. And truly I do not find any sius I will not say that are irremissible but that are so difficult so hard and so seldom remitted as these two Videlicet 1. The abuse of God's Messengers and 2. The shedding of Innocent blood For Of the first it is said that when the Jews mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets 2 Chro. 36.16 the wrath of the Lord arose against his people until there was no remedy Of the second it is said 2 Kings 24.4 that the Lord sent Bands of the Chaldees to revenge the Innocent blood that Manasses had shed which the Lord would not pardon Also when God gave his Laws unto us on Mount Sinai the first Commandment of all that doth concern men after the duty that we owe to our Parents that bring us into the World and bring us up and feed us when we cannot feed our selves is Thou shalt not kill And truly in these respects I for my own part do so far hate the killing of any man except it be to save mine own life from him that would maliciously take it from me that I had rather do any servile work for a penny a day Greg. habetur 23. q. 8. si in mortem than receive the greatest Salary Honour and Preferment for killing of men And I think S. Gregory not far from my mind when he said Si in mortem Longobardorum me miscere voluissem hodie Longobardorum gens nec regem nec ducem baberet sed quia Deum timeo in mortem cujusâ—ibeâ— hominis me miscere formido For he that feareth God will be afraid to be the death of any man and will study by all means vacuas caedis habere manus Ovid. de arte l. 1. to keep his hands clean from blood And if it be so unnatural so unreasonable so devilish so beastly so haynous and every way so inexplicable and so detestable in the sight of God and all good men to kill and murder a man I would fain know what tongue what eloquence what Orator though he had the tongue of men and Angels can expresse the haynousness of a subject's killing his own King and a servant's killing his own kind and loving Master as Zimri did his King and his Master Elah 2 Sam. 18.3 and some others did such a King as was worth ten thousand of his subjects And therefore well and wisely might Jezabel demand Had Zimri peace that slew his Master But the wit of man is so crafty that it thinks to find a way to effect his own end and yet to evade the hand and escape the judgement of God when they keep their own hands free from blood but will notwithstanding prosecute the innocent person whom they hate either judicially as the Jews did Christ by their high court of Parliament that pronounced judgement against him for a malefactour which may and ought to be put to death by the Law of God or else secretly by others their assassins whom they procure to be their instruments to bring whom they hate to his untimely death either by poyson as Alexander was by Thessalus and Sir Thomas Overbury by Sir Jervase Eloway or by some other secret contrivance as King David plotted the death of Vrias and then as the Harlot commits Adultery and wipes her mouth and is clean so they will bring Christ and his servants to their death and then with Pilate they will wash their hands clean from their blood Truly methinks these are very fine shifts for murderers and malefactors to free themselves from blame if they could as well blind the eyes of the All-seeing God as they do many times deceive simple men that think those Judges to be just that have most unjustly beheaded innocencie it self And those murderers to be innocent that have killed their neighbors by the hands of their assassins But though Davids hands were far from that fact free from the blood of Vrias that was slain by the sword of the enemy yet God tels him he was the murderer his wit shall not serve his turn to wipe away his punishment though it was the High Court of Justice that condemned Naboth unto death yet the Prophet tells Ahab that God will condemn him and his posterity for it for as the devill saith S. Aug. is said to be a murderer non gladio armatus non ferro accinctus sed quia ad hominem veniendo verbum
were noâ— took to gather those evill examples to evill ends for we are to live by Lawes and not by Examples and especially by the Lawes of God or otherwise you may live as you list and you may do whatsoever you please for if a King means to play the Tyrant That we are to live by Lawes and not by examples he may have examples enough to justifie his Tyranny if he be an adulterer he may alledge King David that was a man according to Gods own heart and 100. more that did commit adultery and if thou pleasest to be a drunkard thou hast the examples of righteous Noah and of Lot and 1000. more that may justifie thee for being drunk or to be brief if thou wouldst be an oppressor or a robber and a Rebel and a Traytor to depose thy King or to kill him thou hast a Jeroboam and a Zimri and Jehu too though he had a speciall warrant for it and an infinite other examples that may be produced to shelter thee from blame for committing the greatest Treason or any other execrable villanie if the producing of examples might serve the turn But the truth is whatsoever other men whatsoever Councils Kingdoms or Commonwealths have done contrary to the will and Lawes of God we ought not to imitate them therein because their Examples be no excuse for us that should have recourse to the Law and to the Testimony Esay 8.20 as the Prophet speaketh to direct us what we ought to do And therefore no Precedents no Examples in the world though you should produce ten thousands of them can excuse Zimri nor any other Zimries in the whole Universe for killing their King but 2. Here is another relation betwixt Ela and Zimri 2 A Servant that should more strictly have tyed and ingaged Zimri to be true and faithful unto Elah for he was his servant and his menial servant in ordinary which all other subjects could not be and this is rightly observed by Jezabel and therefore she saith not Had Zimri peace that slew his King but Had Zimri peace that slew his Master And a Master that gives meat drink and wages means and maintenance unto his servant is loco parentis instead of a Father unto him and therefore he should be respected and honoured of his servant next unto his Father and we find that many true and faithful servants have done so indeed I cannot well remember where for I remember I read it in Appian that when Scipio had gained Carthage or some other opulent Town he gave a strict charge that none of the Citizens upon pain of death should hide any of the wealth or treasure of that rich City yet one of the wealthiest Merchants having a great store of Gold and inestimable Jewels hid a great deal thereof so secretly that no man could find it but the Servant that helped him to hide it and that Servant like a false Judas went and revealed it to the General who making a strict search for the Merchant another of the Merchants servants seeing how his Master if he were taken should be condemned to death for that fact goeth unto Scipio and protesteth unto him An excellent story of a most faithful servant that it was he which did hide that treasure altogether unknown unto his Master and therefore desired that his innocent Master might be freed and let him lay what punishment he pleased upon himself that had offended but the other servant stood stiffely to his former accusation that it was his Master and not the Servant that had hid it then Scipio would needs find out the Merchant who being found confest the truth that he himself with the help of his accuser had conveyed away that treasure and that altogether unknown to his other servant who to preserve his Master was so ready to sacrifice his own life whereupon Scipio like a brave Commander and a Heroick indeed seeing the fidelity of the one servant and the treachery of the other pardons the Master for his faithfull servants sake and puts the accuser to death for his treacherie and infidelity and we read of many other servants that have so dearly loved and been so truly faithful unto their Masters that they have hazarded their own lives to save their Masters as you may read the servants of King David have done and as it is recorded that Mauricius Duke of Saxony being in a battle thrown to the ground his servant casting himself upon him covered him and so defended him from his enemies untill he was rescued by his friends and so with his own death he saved his Masters life And it is written of Eros servant to Antonius that when his Master was overcome by Augustus and would have him to dispatch his life he drew his sword and killed himself rather then he would kill his Master for as a Master next to his own children is to respect provide care for his servants above all other friends or kinsfolks whatsoever according to the saying of the wise man Hast thou a faithful servant let him be unto thee as thine own soul so the servant next to his Father and Mother ought to honour and to preserve his Master before all other men whatsoever And therefore Zimri can no waies be thought any other than a most Villanous Traytor to slay his Master worse then Ditalcon and Minuro that were corrupted by Capio Appian p. 112. Of the Roman wars with the Spaniard 3. A servaut in an honourable setvice to kill their Master Viriatus that brave Spaniard that gave work enough to the Romans eight years together Especially if we do confider 3. Qualis servitus in what manner of service he was under his Master Elah for though the Romans and many others used most of their servants that were their slaves like dogs which produced that proverb Of so many servants so many enemies which ever feared but never loved their Masters as the Romans found it most true to their cost when they made the servile War that proved so hazardous unto them Yet Elah did not so with Zimri but he preferred him to a very honorable place and made him Captain of halt his Charrets and so a Master to keep many servants under him as you see all Captains have The three fold impiety of Zimri and therefore for a servant to kill such a Master that had thus advanced his servant is a note beyond Elah and doth exceedingly aggravate the offence of Zimri and makes it to ascend higher and higher or rather to descend lower and lower even to the bottomless pit of hell To commit murder as hainous as any murder can be to kill his King his Master and a Master that was so lâ—ving and had so honorably preferred him which was a three fold cord to bind him in Obedience but is soon snapt asunder by this wicked Traytor that was a Traytor just like Judas of whom the Prophet in the person of Christ
that end the Lord gave unto his people the same Law the same Sacraments and the same Gospell that the same God might have the same worship in all places and that his people might believe the same faith use the same prayer receive the same Sacraments and do the same publick service unto God in every City and in every place that so they might attain unto the same end which is the kingdom of heaven And therefore the Reverend Bishops and Governours of Gods Church were so careful herein to preserve the unity of the Church and the uniformity of Gods service that they prescribed the same prayers the same Psalms The set form of prayers and service of God justified 1. By the people of God the same Chapters and the same Service to be used in all Churches that all the world might know we worship the same God And to justifie this their practice of a set form of Prayers and Service of God they have 1. The Precept of God himself saying unto Moses Speak unto Aaron and to his sons saying On this wise ye shall blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee Numb 6.22 and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and so likewise he prescribeth unto them the very prayer that they should make and the very words that they should use both as they went forth and as they returned home from Battle for when the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when the Ark rested Numb 10.35 he said Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel and the Prophet David useth the very same prayer and the same words saying Let God arise Psal 68.1 and let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him 2. 2 By the Precept of Christ Luke 12.2 They have the Precept of Christ himself that biddeth us to use that prayer which he taught us saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven c. 3. 3 By the practice of the godly people in the Old Testament They have the practice of the godly people of the Old Testament as you may see the very words that they were to use in Gods service when they offered their first fruits and the very prayer that they were to make in Deut. 26. from the third verse to the tenth and verse 13. And so the very words that the Priests were to use unto the people when they came nigh unto the battle as you may see in Deut. 20.3 And the godly King Hezechias made certain Psalms after his recovery from his sicknesse and saith We will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord Esay 38.20 and when he reformed the service of God that the people had neglected and the wicked Kings had corrupted he prescribed a set form of Gods worship and commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord not as every simple Priest 2 Chro. 29 30. or silly Levite pleased but with the words of David and Asaph the Seer And Mr. Selden in his Notes upon Eutychius sheweth Selden in Eutych pag. 41. dist ad pagin 25. that since Ezra's time when after their return from Babylon the true Service of God was restored the Jews constantly used a set form of Gods worship in all their Synagogues every Synagogue using the same Service 4. They have the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament 4 By the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament Luke 11.1 Matth 26.44 Psal 22.1 as 1. Of John Baptist that taught his disciples a Set form of serving God and a set form of Prayer 2 Of Christ himself that used the same form of prayer and repeated the same words three times together and commanded us to do the like and when he was upon the Crosse he used the very words of the Psalmist changeing onely the Hebrew phrase into the Syriack Dialect 3. Of the Primitive Church as the Lyturgy of Saint James Saint Basil S. Chrysostom and the short Form of serving God which Saint Peter left at Rome and the other which Saint Mark left at Alexandria do sufficiently testifie 4 Of the whole Catholick Church as it appeareth out of Cassander and other Writers of the Lyturgica And Therefore the religious Emperour Constantine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vità Const l. 4 c 17. rendered Set Formes of prayers unto the Christians saith Eusebius and his Nobles used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayers that the Emperour liked and they were all brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray the same prayer yea he prescribed a Set Form of Service for his souldiers Idem l. 4. c. 20. as the same Eusebius testifieth And Saint August saith that Sursum corda lift up your hearts are words ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus petita used in the Church of Christ even from the very times of the Apostles and are agreeable to the Constitutions of the Apostles L. 8. c. 16. 5. They have the practice of the Heathens that were so wise herein 5 By the practice of the heathens Plato de legibus l. 7. Alexand ab◠Alexand. l. 4. c. 17. Why the Gentiles used the same set prayers in their service as to use the same Service to every false god as both Plato and Alexander ab Alexandro do bear witnesse and they caused their prayers to be read out of a Book 1. That so the people might learn to repeat the same Prayers with the Priest when the same Prayers are constantly used in Gods service which they shall never be able to do when they shall have a new Prayer and a new Service upon every new day 2. Their Prayers were prescribed and read lest the simple and ignorant Priest should ask of God any evill thing that should not be asked and 3. Ne quid preposterè dicatur their Petitions were set down in verbis conceptis as we use to send messages to great persons in these and these very words lest we should offend either in the matter or in the manner in the thing requested or in the words wherein we have requested it Out of all which you may perceive how necessary it was for the Governours of Gods Church to see that the same God should have the same Service and that very Service which himself prescribeth and not what new Prayers and new worship in what Form and under what words soever every ignorant Priest should extemporarily pour forth to the Almighty God For if we ought to be very carefull to keep our feet when we go to the house of God Eccles 5.1 then how much more carefull ought we to be to keep our mouths and look to
that the same true God which giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to his children only giveth the Earthly Kingdoms both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth yet alwaies justly And for Nimrod I say the words bear no more then he became mightier then other Kings or began to Tyrannize more then all the other Kings And for S. Peters words I say he means it only of Elective Kings Which in another place I shewed more fully than the time will now give me leave in what sense he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore I say the calling of Kings is the proper Ordinance of God as it is fully and most learnedly shewed by a most Reverend Prelate of our Church lately published and intituled Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas Howsoever as I said we condemn not as unlawfull the right of all Elective Kings yet we ought to acknowledg how much more bound we are to God that himself in a rightfull line of succession hath appointed our Kings to raign over us so that we need not fear the error of our Election if there be no error in our submission 2. As we are to consider quem whom so we ought to remember qualem what manner of King we are commanded to honor for as the unjust Vsurper may govern the people justly as they do sometimes and in some places so they that have just Titles to their Crowns may prove unjust in their Governments as too too many both of the Kings in Israel and Judah and I fear many other Kings have been And yet if they be our lawfull Kings be they what they will Cruell Tyrannous or Idolatrous or if you will put all together I say we are bound to honor them and no waies to Rebell against them for if thy Brother the son of thy Mother or thy son or thy daughter Deut. 13.6 or the wife of thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soul shall intice thee to Idolatry and to serve strange gods thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou have any pity upon him but for the son to rise up against the Father the wife against her Husband the servant against his Lord or the subject against his King here is not a word and we are not to do what the Lord doth not command as Tostat well observeth upon this place Therefore though Jeroboam made Israel to sin by setting up his calves to be adored Nâ—buchadnezzar commanded all his people to worship his Golden Image Ahab Manasses Nero Julian and the rest of the persecuting Emperors did most impiously compell their Subjects to Idolatry and exercised all kinds of cruelty against Gods servants yet you shall never find that either the Jews under Jeroboam or Daniel in Babylon or Elias in the time of Ahab or any Christian under Julian or the rest of those bloody Tyrants did ever rebell against any of those wicked Kings for they all considered the law of God and I beseech you all to consider it likewise 1. Exod 22.28 Moses saith Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people yea though he should be evil yet must thou not speak evil of him for as thou art to honor thy Father not so much because he is good as because he is thy Father and therefore the son of Noah was accursed because he despised his Father when his father sinned so we are to honor our King and to speak no ill of him though he should be never so ill for Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked And to Princes Ye are ungodly Job 34.18 2. 2 Not to do the least indignity unto our King As we are to bridle our tongues so much more ought we to refrain our hands from offering the least violence unto our King When the Lord saith peremptorily Touch not mine annointed where he doth not say Non occides or ne perdas the worst that can be but ne tangas the least that may be neither doth he say Sanctos meos my holy ones but Christos meos my annointed ones whether they be holy or unboly good or bad therefore though Saul was a wicked King and a heavy persecutor of David without cause hunting him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and seeking no less then to take away his life yet when the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee what seemed good unto him Truely no waies to hurt him nor to do the least indignity unto him for his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of his robe and therefore he said unto his men 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords annointed to stretch forth my hand against him And why so because he is the annointed of the Lord that is not because he is a good man but because he is my King Nay we are not only forbidden to offer violence That we are to protect our King with the hazard of our lives but we are also injoyned to give our best assistance to protect the persons of our most wicked Kings for David not only staid his servants with the former words and suffered them not to rise against Saul but when Saul lay sleeping within his trench and David and Abishai took away his speare and had the power to destroy him What saith David unto Abner Art not thou a Valiant man And who is like thee in Israel Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth 1 Sam. 15.16 ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords annointed And if this thing is not good and David jesteth not but sweareth As the Lord liveth they are worthy to dye that preserve not the life of their King be he never so wicked then certainly this thing is not good and they are more then worthy to die that not only refuse to assist but also rise in Arms to persecute and to take away the life of a most Pious and a Gracious King So you see the person whom we are to honor the King whatsoever he be good or bad 2. The Honor that we are to exhibite unto him is to be considered out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word so significant that it not only comprehendeth all the duty which we owe to our Father and Mother but it is also used to express most if not all the service of God when he saith If I am a father Malach. 1.5 where is my honor And therefore when Ahassuerus asked Haman What should be done unto the man Whom the King would honor he answered let the Royall apparell be brought which the King useth to weare and the Horse that the King rideth upon
Noble Ancestors in Nobleness that is in Piety and Vertue the very Heathens will tell us our springing from them is worth nothing but rather a shame then a credit unto us because as Theognis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue is the great Glory which never perisheth and therefore Juvenal saith as I have shewed to you before in my first Treatise Malo pater tibi sit Thyrsites Juven Sat. 8. dum modo tu sis Aeà cidae similis vulcaniaque arma capessas Quam te Thyrsitae similem producat Achilles I commend the son of a Clown that is vertuous and carrieth himself nobly more then the son of a Prince that is vitious and behave himself like a Clown And Codrus Urceolus saith Sis licet ingenuis clarisque parentibus ortus Urceolus in Epigrammatibus Sint tibi divitiae sit larga munda supellex Denique quicquid eris nisi sit prudentia tecum Magna quidem dico bestia semper eris Though thou beest born of never so noble Parents and hast never so much Wealth and Lands and what thou wilt and hast no Wisdome nor understanding to be vertuous thou art but a very beast for so the Prophet saith Man being in honour and without understanding is campared to the beasts that perish and the Poet saith Ovid de Ponto Nam genus proavos quae non ferimus ipsi vix ea nostra voco Hieron ad Celan Non Census nec clarum nomen avorum Sed probitas magnos ingeniumque facit And therefore S. Hierom tells Celantia that Sola apud Deum libertas est non servire peccatis summa apud deum nobilitas est clarum esse virtutibus he is the onely Free-man that serves not sin and followeth not his own lust and he is the true Noble-man that is truly vertuous and godly And Palingenus saith Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus hac nobilis Hector Alcidesque fuit And the Prophet saith He had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God that is to be a Porter and to have the meanest office that is in the Service of God then to have the greatest honour in the world in the Courts and palaces of the ungodly and the meanest man that serveth God is more honourable then the greatest Potentate that serveth his own lust for as Abraham is said to be Pater sanctorum the Father of the faithfull though he was Filius peccatorum the off-spring of sinners and the son of Terah that was an Idolater because his Fathers Idolatry was not able to obscure his Glory so all the Indignities and Contempts that this world can cast upon the servants of God can no wayes blemish their worth or diminish their reputation in the sight of God To serve God truly is to be truly noble And therefore I had rather be a sheeep of Christ that is a simple Christian that deceiveâ—h no man and hurreth none but suffereth much than to be a Fox of this world to beguile the simple or a Lion to crush my neighbours all to pieces for so I be with John Baptist Magnus coram Domino great in the sight of the Lord that is of good esteem with God as he is said to be I shall never greatly care how meanly I shall be accounted of in this world but as Constantine rejoyced more in that he was Filius Ecclesiae a Son of the Church and a Member of Christ then in being Caput imperii the Emperour of the whole world so I will be more glad and take it for a greater Honour to be one of Christs simple sheep of what condition soever my Earthly Father be then to be the Son of the Noblest Father in the world and to be as the Jews were and all other our wicked ungodly and unrighteous men though termed Saints are the children of their Father the Devil 2. 2 The security and safety of all good Christians As the servants of God are truly noble in being Christ his Sheep so being his sheep they are and may be secure and free from all fear either 1. Of Injuries or 2. Of Wants For 1. 1 From wrongs the Prophet David saith The Lord is on my side therefore I will not fear what man can do unto me for though the Idol sheperd whereof Zechary speaketh and I told you before of his ill properties Zech. 11. and the Hiveling shepherd that our Saviour speaketh of Qui lanas plus quam oves diligunt which love the Wages better then the Work and the Fleeces better then the Flock will flie away that is from his Duty and do any thing that is enjoyned him when the Wolf cometh that is when the Devil or the Tyrant or the Heretick commandeth any other Service to be observed or any other Faith to be professed yet Christ that is the good Shepherd as he neither left his sheep nor forsook them but gaue his life for them to deliver them from eternal death What the false shepherds and covetous of timorous Preachers do so he will strengthen his Under-shepherds and their sheep that are his sheep likewise by his Grace against all fear either of want of Necessaries or loss of Life so that none of these shall make them flie away from the performance of their Duties because they know that this their good Shepherd is both able and willing to protect them from all evil And therefore Terra fremat regna alta crepent ruat ortus orcus Si modo firma fides nulla ruina nocet let Tyrants threaten us and let the world rage against us as much as they will 1 Tyrants cannot prevail and let them do as much as they can take away our Churches rob us of our Estates banish us from our dwellings cast us into prison and deprive us of our lives yet if we still continue Christ his sheep and retain the innocency and simplicity of sheep and obey the voice of this our good Shepherd we need not fear the face of any man nor the rage strength and malice of any Wolfe but we may comfort our selves sufficiently with what the Angel saith unto the Church of Smyrna Revel 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer but be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life and so turn the evils that thine enemies shall do thee to thine eternal good And the striving of the Hereticks to corrupt the Faith 2 Hereticks cannot prevail and to suppress Gods service and the strugling of the Wolves to devoure the Sheep and to destroy Gods servants is but as Christ saith to Saul when he breathed slaughters against the Church to kick against the pricks or as the Poet saith Coelum ipsum petere stulstitia most foolishly and madly to fight against Heaven it solf which is a harder task then the twelve Labours of Hercules or to take the City of Troy that endured ten years siege
by the importunity of their People to yield to many things that they desired And what Favours and Priviledges they thus obtained from these Kings they challenged as their Right and Due from the succeeding Princes and the more Favours and Priviledges they obtained the more still they desired and at last in some Parliaments from Advisers the Members thereof would fain become Directours and instead of being Counsellours they aymed to be Commanders of their Kings and to perswade them that they ought and must enact what Laws and do what things as they concluded should be done But seeing as the Poet saith Flumina magna vides parvis de fontibus orta small Springs do often make great Rivers therefore to prevent the increase of this growing Mischief to allay the Disease before the Sore grew to be incurable and to quench the Flame before the Fire burnt the House the wise and prudent Kings retained always in their own hands the power to dissolve the Parliament whensoever they pleased that as they called them together when they thought good so they might dismiss them when they listed either when all things were reasonably concluded or when they conceived the Parliament men to become unreasonable in their Demands which was the first Signal Evidence of the Ambitious Desire of Kingly Majesty in the Lord Protectour when he dissolved the Long Parliament which made me to believe he aymed to be a King Therefore when the King perceived Qui sâ—mel verecundiae fines transgress us fuerit eum oportet gnaviter esse impudentem Cicero not the importunity but as some of the King's Friends said the impudency of this Long Parliament beyond all the Parliaments that preceded it and saw them so insolent and their proceedings so violent in all their courses for him then to pass away that Supreamest Power or at least one Branch of the Highest Power which was in him and which never any other King passed before and so to give that Sword which God had put into his hands into the hands of any mad men or to the usage of his Enemies was such a fault in my apprehension as passed all the errours that this good King ever committed or as I believe any other for this was none other then to give the Sword to his enemies to enable them to destroy him So that this good King might well cry out with the Poet Heu patior telis vulnera facta meis Indeed Golias's Head was cut off with his own Sword but David took it from him perforce and Golias gave it not neither could he hold it when he lay at David's feet when as the King was not so when he passed this Act but he might have easily denied to pass this Bill of an indissoluble Parliament which had never been an Act had he not given his consent unto the same which in a short time after made his Enemies Kings and unkinged him and the Lord Protectour was hereby put in mind of his Grammar Lesson Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum and therefore he never gave to his Parliaments such advantage against him But you will say that the Parliament deceived the good King who was therefore the sooner deceived because he was good for as the Oratour saith Cicero Epist l. 10. Vt quisque est vir optimus it à difficilimè esse alios improbos suspicatur and Cicero saith most truly that Credulitas error magìs est quà m culpa quidem in optimi eujusque mentem irrepit facillimé So the credulous and well-minded King believed the deceitful Protestations of the subtle Parliament who pretended onely they desired him to pass this Act that they might the sooner be trusted to raise up Moneys to satisfie their Brethren the Scots that were their Brethren indeed but intended hereby to change the Government to root out the King and to exstirpate the Royal Race and so to settle themselves and their Successours in the Throne of Supremacy for ever as it is more amply expressed in the Discovery of Mysteries and as afterwards they shewed their intentions unto all I answer that it is most true they deceived the good King so did the Serpent deceive our Progenitours and the old Prophet deceived the Man of God yet this excused neither of them And the Lord Coke saith Tantum abest Cokus Dè Jure Râ—gis Ecclesiastico ut ignorantia excuset aut extennet ejus errorem qui veritatem invenire poterat quam necessariò agnoscere debeat tantùm investigare noluit ut in causa sit cur graviùs plectatur And it cannot be denyed but that the King should have searched and sifted into their Plots and not to have been ignorant of their Wiles as we are not to be ignorant of the Wiles of Satan as the Apostle testifieth And I must confess that as it was wickedness in them to deceive the King so it was want of good Counsel in him to be deceived and suffer himself to be circumvented by them for had he consulted with God and by God's Ministers that were now to be all tumbled down I believe these Foxes of Satan should not have ensnared his Majesty because they could have sufficiently informed him how the Old Serpent hath Emissaries enough to deceive if it were possible the very Elect. And therefore as he was as innocent as the Dove so he should have been as wise as the Serpent to avoid the Stings and to finde out the Windings of the Infernal Serpent and one man's head though the wisest among many is scarce sufficient to pierce into the Plots and Subtilties of many heads And if you say he had his Counsellours true and I could name them and they were great ones too and wise men too but as I said before they were not the Ambassadours of Christ the Counsellours that are sent for God for their Advice was not suffered at this time to be desired their presence was to be excluded and themselves shortly to be imprisoned And therefore as Lucan saith Hoc placet ô Superi cùm vobis vertere cuncta Propositum nostris erroribus addere crimen Therefore as the King though unwillingly gave way to these Foxes to suppress and to exclude God's Ministers from his Counsels so God might justly give way for his Counsellours to betray him to his enemies by yielding to their Desires to have an everlasting Parliament thereby to end him and to remain as Kings themselves without end Some other Misprisons it may be the good King might commit of less moment and not so easily to be observed though easily pass as Plutarch saith in great affairs But howsoever for all that this good King did and in all the things that he suffered or have happened unto him you may see that God is just in all his ways and holy in all his Works and how the Judgments of the great God as they proceed from him may easily be justified by the weakest of men And yet as in the sufferings and