glory shall be the shame of thy Lords house And there 's an end of Shebna A paralel example we have of our own which because it doth so aptly agree with the former I will insert It is of Sir Thomas More who bare the same office under the King of England that Shebna did under the King of Judah he was Lord Chancellour of England under Henry the eight he was a bitter enemy of the Gospel and persecuted the godly professors of it with fire and sword and thought thereby to get him a name and needs must he have a monument of his cruelty and impiety He therefore takes care to have a sumptuous and magnificent Sepulchre erected and upon it written Encomiastiques the high praises of his vertue He made his own Epitaph and sent it to Basil unto Erasmus that he might get it curiously engraven He sent also with it a stately ambling or pasing horse unto Erasmus for his reward that he might be so much the more carefull about the work So greedy was he of glory and fame Amongst the rest of his praises this was the most famous and to be written in great letters Lutheranorum profligaâ—â—r Maximus that is The great persecuter of the godly Wel but what was the end After all this presumptuous confidence The great Lord Chancellor was accused of treason condemned beheaded Ita patibulum ei pro sepulchro fuit At lost the gibbet or the fatall block was his monument Such shalt the end be of all Tyrants and ungodly Rulers a while they may stand on high but shortly the Lord will pluck them out of their places and put better men in their stead Here learn the way to preferment and how to sit sure in your places when you are advanced Would you be exalted to honor Would you stand fast in your places of dignity This is your way Be good and you shal soon be great Be the Lords servants and he wil soon preferr you Continue right and straight and sound and sincere and the Lord wil fasten you so as you shal never be removed You have the way of preferment chalked out Psal 112. The man that feareth the Lord and dilighteth greatly in his Commandments v. 1. The upright man v. 4. The good man v. 5. The merciful and liberal and righteous man he shal abound with wealth and riches and his horn shal be exalted with honor v. 3. 9. God fastens none but Eliakâ—ms in high and honorable places Shebnas may clime up a great height but the Lord wil soon throw them down again Doth God fasten only such as be godly in a sure place Then I beseech you See upon whom you may most safely depend We that are subjects are as a company of infirm vessels we must all hang upon some nail or other or else we are lost upon the ground Now our wisdom wil be to rely on sure and sound nails But you wil say perhaps how may we know the best nails I wil tel you there are now in the Kingdom two sorts of nails Court-nails and Parliament-nails Both are exalted very high now tel me which wil you chuse to depend upon Me thinks I hear some reply what nail should we depend upon but that which the Lord hath fasten'd And is not the King that nail Hath not God set him upon the throne And must I not go along with him in every thing Give me leave to answer We do acknowledg with all duty and obedience that the King is the highest Nail that he is a precious Nail that he is a nail chosen of God and anointed And the desire of our hearts is that the Lord would establish his throne and fasten him so sure that he may never be removed But that which makes our hearts sad it 's this that he is not in loco fideli in a faithful place That wall that 's made up of Papists Irish Rebels Delinquents Malignants and wicked Counsellors must needs be a rotten wall and can a nial stand sure in such a place The Parliament is a sound wall made up of worthy Eliakims loyal Subjects servants of the Lord and faithful Patriots Now the Lord bring the King into the midst of his Parliament again then should he be indeed in loco fideli and we might safely hang upon him But in the mean time his power and Authority is with his great Counsel It is an undoubted Parliament by the Kings own act But it cannot be a true Parliament without a King Why then he is with them vertually thou he be not personally The Parliament is all but one great nail The King is the head the houses are the body if you take the head off the nail what can hang safely on it Therefore now I can easily shew you what nail to hang on I thus describe it to you King and Parliament There are two mighty Armys abroad one against the other Every one of us must depend upon one of those We must take part with one against the other In the name of God see that you chuse the right nail That 's the nail that God fastens upon that you may safely depend It is the extream folly of men that they wil all chuse to hang upon the great nail and the lesser nail they dare not trust to They 'l joyn with the most numerous Army with the greatest power Who would not have hanged upon Shebna that had looked with a carnal eye and declined Eliakim Upon whom was the eye of all the Court but upon Shebna Shebna was a Vapouring Cavalier Eliakim sure a despised Roundhead Shebna had great Authority and favour in the Court Eliakim and the rest were made Underlings slighted and disregarded Shebna a great Polititian held fair correspondence with forraign Princes Eliakim a plain faithful seruant to his Master that had never put on robe nor girdle Yet you see he was the wisest man and in the safest condition that took in with Eliakins I wil give it you in a word Look impartially and mark not which is the biggest but which is the rightest and straightest nail look upon that side where you see most of God most zeal most devotion most piety and joyn with them That nail that God hath fastned shal stand sure let the Pope and the Divil and all the Malignant crew knock it and hang the weight of persecution upon it they can never pluck it out it stands in loco sideli in a sure place and all that depend upon it shal be safe But on the other side if you joyn with Idolaters Blasphemers debauched drunkards Atheists prophane Divels You hang upon a rotten nail a nail that God hath never fastned and though it appear never so great yet it wil deceive you God wil certainly pluck it out and then there is nothing but certain ruin to be expected if the nail break all that ever hangs on it falls down and it is broken and lost For a close of this I shal pass a
nayls Then take heed you do not put them out I tell you there is a company of base wayes to pluck out good nayls Upon some you hang too great a burden you lay such loads upon Magistrates and upon Ministers too that you quite break them In this case I say unto you as Jethro to Moses The thing that you do is not good you will surely wear them away for these things are too heavy for them and they are not able to perform them their selves alone Some nayls you loosen with knocks first on one side and then on the other side and at last they fall out of themselves many good Magistrates and Ministers are so hang'd amongst you with injuries and reproaches and scandals and slanders with contempt and disrespect that their very hearts are broken and they seek for all advantages to be gone from their stations Some nayls are placed in loco non fideli in a rotten hollow and deceitful wal and so they fall out per-force ther 's nothing to hold them many Magistrates and Ministers see to their thinking a fair wal before them the affections of the people many fair promises and comfortable convenants hereupon they offer to fasten here but all proves rotten love proves dissimulation promises come to nothing covenants are broken and out-goes the Nayl There 's a trick clavum clavo pellere to drive out one nayl with another There 's a knock a side made they have a friend to bring into place for their own ends I but the place is full there 's another nayl in Is there so That nayl that stands in the way shal soon be driven out with another new one and so oftentimes a golden nayl is put out and an iron one or a woodden one is driven in the roome I beseech you have a care what you do Are they able useful nails let them alone in their places till God kindly puls them out with the pincers of death use all means to preserve and cherish them love them give them all assistance and encouragement and pray pray pray for them I exhort you brethren that first of all prayers and supplications and intercessions be made for Kings and all in authority that under them we may lead a godly and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty It is your prayers must knock them in sure and fasten them in their places I would you would understand the danger of loosing a good nayl out of the wal If such a peg be pulled out down fals the great affairs of Church and State therefore preserve and cherish your good nayls 3. They must obey them Upon the nayl all the garments and vessels do depend and so must subjects depend upon the commands of their superiours and submit to their power Submit your selves to every ordinance of man saith Saint Peter for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreame or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him And Saint Paul You must needs be subject for conscience sake Rom. 13. 5. Only with a limitation Obey Governours but in things lawfull not otherwise Obey the higher Powers but yet still so as you do not disobey the highest of all So long as Magistrates command with God and for God and not against God go along with them obey them for conscience sake But if once there be a clashing The Magistrate commands one thing and God commands the quite contrary then Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles will teach you That you ought to obey God rather then men In this case disobedience is the best obedience So long as the nayl bears thee to heavenwards depend upon it but no longer It was a resolute and a pious answer which a Prelat of ours sent to Henry the first Anselm Arch Bishop of Cant. being in Banishment because he would not obey the King in some things nor observe some Laws and customs which Lanfranck his predecessor did observe The King sent Letters to him wherein he did express abundance of affection and did invite him earnestly to come over into England again promised him that if he would observe the Laws and customs which Lanfranck did observe and would obey the King as his predecessor did no man should be more welcom and dear to him and that he also should enjoy all the honors dignities and revenues which Lanfranck his predecessor did To whom Anselm being convinced that he could not observe those Laws without sin returned answer For your love and good wil Oh King I give you thanks To that which you say of your father and Arch Bishop Lanfranck I answer That I did never promise neither in my Baptism nor in any ordination that I would keep the Laws and customs of your father or of Arch Bishop Lanfranck but in my Baptism and often else I have vowed to keep the law of my God Wherefore if you please so to receive me and to re-invest me that I may live with you according to the law of God I am ready to come again into England and serve God and you Otherwise I chuse banishment Such should be the resolution of all Go with the Magistrate while the Magistrate goeth with God But if he command thee against God fly suffer dye any thing rather then obey him 4. They must be thankful for them They are no smal blessings When God brings in a good Magistrate or Minister he fastens a nail upon which hangs the welfare of Church and Common-wealth They bear our burdens when we sleep and should they not do so all would fall and ruin and come to nothing All the sweet blessings that we enjoy hang upon this nail our peace and all the benefits that peace brings with it As namely the conservation of humane society That our wives are as fruitful vines by the sides of the house our children like olive plants round about our tables That our old men and old women dwel in the streets and every man his staff in his hand for very age that the streets of our City are ful of boys and girls playing in our streets That we sit every one under our vine and figtree enjoy our possessions eate the labours of our hands that we eate and drink and plant and build marry and give in marriage That we have here stil the thrones for judgment that Schools and Universities flourish trading in our Cities continue and the business of the field is yet performed that our gramarys are ful affording all manner of store that our sheep do bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets that our oxen are strong â—o labour that there is no breaking in nor going out nor no complaining in our streets But above all that Religion is maintained the faith defended the Gospel preached and the voice of the turtle heard in our land That we enjoy these and a thousand blessings more all is from peace and our peace hangs upon this nail
what hath made England so rich What but this The Lord hath given England rest and the inhabitants have been as fixed nayls in a sure place To apply this shortly Is a fixed and setled condition such a sweet blessing And is it so grievous to be driven from our habitations Then Let us sympathize with our brethren the poor servants of God that in Germany Ireland and in the North and West of England are plucked out of their pleasant places and now are tossed as a ball from place to place and with Noahs Dove cannot find rest for the sole of their foot Alas Alas for our poore brethren the deare servants of God! What miseries do they endure They wander up and down in the desert out of the way and they find no dwelling place hungry and thirsty and their soul faints within them Or as Job They flee into the wildernesse desolate and waste they cut up mallows by the bushes and juniper roots for their meat the springs and fountains if at least they can meet with any are to quench their thirst Oh let our bowels be troubled for them Let 's relieve them to our power and let us pray for them earnestly and incessantly that the Lord would bring home his banished again and restore them to their country and to their habitation and settle them as a naile in a sure place And for our selves learn we to esteem and prize our own happinesse in these associated Counties We sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none makes us afraid We enjoy peace and plentie and libertie and proprietie and friends and all in our own Land where we were born And above all we have the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the Gospell and the Service of God and the promises and the Communion of the faithfull Oh let us praise the Lord for his goodnesse Let us walk answerable to so great mercies let us make use of our standing and improve all our advantages to the glory of our bountifull God and let us pray unto the Lord incessantly to fasten us still as a nayl in a sure place The fourth and last particular now presents it self to your view viz. The end and use of this nayl Erit in solium gloriae He shal be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And concerning this many things might be spoken but because I have held you too long already I shall only commend unto you in a word this Observation To what end we are fastened in our places Let Magistrates Ministers and every one here present duly consider wherefore they serve namely to bear burdens for the honour of God and for the glory of their Countrie and Citie and fathers house Joseph made his fathers house glorious he enriched it with the wealth with the treasures of Aegypt and made it famous and renowned through all the world as it is to this day Our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Nayl spoken of Zach. 10. 4. He is the glory of his fathers house even of the people Israel I speak first to the chief Magistrate and then to every one in his place Know that you ought not to be for your base private ends for your own honour and wealth but you must be men of publique spirits you must be for the good and for the glory of your Citie and your Countrie of the Church and Common-wealth You must endevour the publique good before your own You must be content to bear any load of pains or charge to procure the wealth and prosperity of the Kingdom that the reformation may be perfected true Religion established Popery superstition and the proud tyrannicall Hierarchy may be utterly extirpated the rights and priviledges of Parliement and the liberties of the Kingdom preserved That the Kings person and authority in the preservation of true Religion may be defended that the peace of the Kingdoms may be continued that delinquents may be brought to condigne punishment that England may be made a sure place a happie Nation a famous Kingdom Know that you are set for a throne of glory Be all of you for the honour of your Citie for the glory of Norwich Make it famous and happie this year Mind not your own things but the publique benefit The devise of Alphonsus King of Arragon was this A Pellican pecking her brest and drawing out blood wherewith to feed her young the word Pro lege pro grege So should every good Magistrate not count his blood dear for the welfare of the people The Motto of Aelius Adrianus the Emperour was Non mihi sed populo A man set in authority should not be for himself for his own profit or ease but all for advancing the common good Abate of your excesse make lesse and fewer feasts and do more good for the publique Lay lesse upon your backs and do more for the publique I know what people are ready to say for themselves That if Mayors and Sheriffes shall not make as great feasts at Sessions and other times as others before them they should be disgraceed and talked on all the Town over they should be counted covetous and miserable and people would say they knew not what doth belong to their office and it would be a dishonour to the Citie Alas alas my beloved Is it for the honour of your Citie to have Sodoms Character That pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse is in her Gentlemen if any shall jeer you for not feasting as your predecessours as if you knew not what belongs to your places Answer them as once Themistocles did who being at a sumptuons feast and not singing with the rest of the jovial company and meeting with some checks for his silence he said unto them I confess I have not learned to sing to the pipe at feasts but I have learned rempublicam ex parva magnam facere to raise a Common-wealth from a poor estate to a flourishing condition So do you answer all the world You have not learned to squander away vast sums of money in rich clothing sumptuous and excessive feasts but you have learned to lay out your money better and to part with your estate freely even to the utmost farthing for the publick safety and good I beseech you be for a throne of glory be all for the honor of your City and Country Usually you shal hear men boast much of their Country City Progenitors and they brag that they were born in such a famous place or that they are descended of such illustrious ancestors as if that were such egregious and singular nobility which consists in the vertues and noble acts of their forefathers Such cracks as these the Poet rightly reprehendeth and jerks Stemmata quid faciunt c. What is it to thee if thy progenitors were Noble Heroicall Vertuous If thou in the mean time be un-deserving unworthy and base Let me therefore tel you