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england_n	king_n	parliament_n	scot_n	5,191	5	9.5999	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66362	Eight sermons dedicated to the Right Honourable His Grace the Lord Duke of Ormond and to the most honourable of ladies, the Dutchess of Ormond her Grace. Most of them preached before his Grace, and the Parliament, in Dublin. By the Right Reverend Father in God, Griffith, Lord Bishop of Ossory. The contents and particulars whereof are set down in the next page.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1664 (1664)	Wing W2666; ESTC R221017	305,510	423

and warmes no man or the candle that is put under a bushel and lights no part of the house are in a fearfull case because that as our Saviour saith Matth. 5.13 when the salt hath lost his savour it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot The desperate condition of ignorant and negligent Ministers so when the crier hath lost his voice by being choaked with junkates and the watchman hath lost his eyes by too much sweating after worldly wealth and the Minister cannot preach either through ignorance or negligence they are thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and thrown into the bottomless pit But 2. 2. The eye of a blameless life As the Ministers of Christ should have the quick sighted eye of learning and knowledge so they should have the clear eye of a blameless life and conversation otherwise as Penelope to delude her woers is said to untwist in the night what she spun in the day so by the darkness of their evil life they pull down all that they built by the light of their preaching The Lord saith that the Priest shall not go up by steps unto his Altar Exod. 20.26 that his nakedness be not discovered thereon and Saint Bernard saith there are four things necessary for every Priest ne quid nuditatis appareat that his nakedness may not appear And they are 1. Capiti velamentum a vaile for his head and that is prudent discretion which covereth all his folly and imbecillity Four things necessary for every Priest and is not onely a virtue but the guider and moderatrix of all vertues 2. Corpori vestimentum a garment for the body and that is fervent devotion because it is the office and duty of the Minister to pray for all 1. For the good men that they may continue good and not fall 2. For the evil men that they may rise from their fall And prayer without devotion is like the body without a soul 3. Manibus munimentum a covering for the hands and that is good works because that as our works are strengthned through our prayers Hieron in Lament c. 3. so our prayers are available through our works saith Saint Jerome 4. Pedibus fulcimentum propps and shoes or sandals for the feet and that is a pure and an upright life and conversation because bad Ministers do not dispensare but dissipare bona Domini and rather dishonour then honour their Lord and Master Christ And therefore the Heathen Priests at their sacrifical solemnities were wont to say Innocui veniant procul hinc procul impius esto Casta placent superis pura cum mente venite And as the Magistrates and Ministers should be full of eyes That all good Christians should be full of eyes so all Christians in like manner should be full of eyes to look unto themselves and to their wayes for though as the Apostle speaketh they were once darkness while God winked at the time of their ignorance yet now they are light in the Lord even as the Prophet shewed they should be The people that walked in darkness have seen great light Esay 9.2 and they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined because it cannot be denied but that as Daniel saith knowledge is increased and as our Saviour saith light is come into the world And therefore the people should take heed that they love not darkness more then light or that they be not like the fool Harpaste that was as blind as a beetle and yet would not be perswaded as Seneca saith that she was blinde but that the room was dark For I fear that we have too many men that think they want no eyes but that the house of God is dark and wants light but that is because they are bleere-ey'd like L●ah and look a squint and cannot see the truth There be many others that are full of eyes Many are full of eyes yet not like these beasts but of all evil eyes but their eyes are oculi nequam evil eyes such as Saint Peter speaks of and others have eyes far worse My time will not give me leave to discover them But if the Lord should say unto me as he said to his Prophet Amos what seest thou I must answer Amos. 8.2 I dare not tell what I see and if the Lord replies should they that are to be like Lions become as fearfull as the Hares that run away from the noise of the Hounds Have I not often delivered thee as I did Elisha after he had delivered his message unto Jehu when he presently shut the door and fled 2 Reg. 9.3 v. ●0 therefore I command thee to tell me what seest thou Why then if thou commandest me I must tell and I must say with the Prophet that I have seen unrighteousness and strife in the City moreover I saw the place of judgment and wickedn●ss was there Eccles 3 16. and the place of righteousness and iniqui-qu●ty was there and I saw the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comfort because power was on the side of their oppressours c. 4. 1. And worse then the parable of Menenius Agrippa when all the members conspired against the stomach I have seen a monstrous ill-shap'd body cutting off his own most excellent and unreprovable head and the worst Parliament that ever England saw rebelling and warring and doing far worse to the best King that ever England had And I have seen the Commons-house of that Parliament encroaching by little and little upon the rights and priviledges of the Lords as the Plebeians did upon the nobility of Rome till at last they had quite supplanted them felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum I hope O Lord that I shall never see the like again Yet I see one thing more that troubles me much many men that say excepting the conscience of their religion that should not undo them they are innocent from any offence done either against their King or against their neighbors and yet to be driven out of house and home and those that were known to be rebels to have fought against their King to enjoy their Lands and Livings and to become great men and to hold in their fingers the Lands of Innocents of the King of the Church and of God himself which can as hardly be pluck'd out of their fingers as it was to pluck the club out of Hercules's hands for they have got possession of them and possession being as they say eleven points of the Law twelve Juries cannot dispossess them But for the trial of the truth hereof his Majesty hath most graciously appointed and his Grace here doth most favourably countenance these wise and religious men that shall justly and religiously determine these things And I am confident that being wise men as they are they will shew themselves

of Genua who promised to deliver Constantinople into the Emperours hands so he would make him King of such a place that he desired And Mahomet yielded and assured him that he would do it and so he did Pet. Primanday c. 39. pag. 423. for as soone as ever the said Justinian had betrayed the City into his hands he presently made him King for that good service which he had done unto him but for a reward of his treachery to his Lord and Master Augustulus he cut off his head within three dayes after And so all the wise men that I have read of do conceive that no good service done to succeeding Kings can merit the blotting out of the perjury and perfidiousness of Traytors to their former Kings and Masters but that after they be rewarded for their good turns done to the latter they should likewise receive the merit of their perfidiousness to the former Theodorus in Collect. l. 2. The reasons why perfidiousness should not be pardoned And the reason is rendred by the foresaid Sages 1. Because that as Theodoric the Arian said when he cut off the head of an Orthodox Deacon whom he loved because he revolted to please Theodoric as he thought to Arianism they that keep not their oaths and faith to God can never be faithful to any mortal man Flav. Vopisc in vita Aurelian 2. Because that as Aurelian said when he suffered Heraclemon which had done him so good service to be slain he could not believe that he which would betray his Countrey and prove faithless to his own Prince could ever continue faithful unto him but that upon the like discontent or hope of a greater gain such Traytors as will turn the leaf and saile with every winde will become as treacherous to their latter benefactors as they have been unto their former Masters And therefore though we should forgive them as Christians yet it is neither wisdome nor pollicy to believe them as friends because not onely the Fable of the Snake but the Son of Syrach also teacheth us what little credit is to be given to reconciled friends Eccles 10.12 And the wise heathen bids us semper diffidere to suspect such faithless men continually Object But what if the Kings and Princes have promised Pardons unto the Traytors for some special service done unto them Can they afterward punish them for their precedent offences unto others I answer that as Cicero saith Sol. every man is bound and much more it is for the honour of a Prince to keep his word and promises inviolable though upon some exigent necessity he may be constrained to make the same to his prejudice and against his will and it was well said that the bare word of a Prince should be of as great force as the oath of a private man But though Kings and Princes should inviolably observe their words in their Pardon 's granted unto Rebels and Traytors and other Malefactors Not to countenance and favour those that have been Traytors and why yet as Philip King of Macedon answered Lasthenes that betrayed the City of Olynthum and Augustus Caesar said to Rymetalces King of Thracia that had forsaken Antonius to joyn with him that he loved the treason that did him good but he could not endure the Traytor that betrayed his Master And Alexander Severus was of the same minde but that he joyned cruelty with his hatred unto the Traytors for when he had inticed many Captains of Piscennius Niger his Competitor of the Empire to disclose their Masters secrets and had served his turn of them and settled his affairs he made all those Traytors Herod l. 3 and their children also to be put to death as Herodian writeth So the wisest men conceived that they ought not to countenance and favour those that had been Traytors unto other Princes though they had done good service unto them and that for these three reasons 1. For that he which hath turned one leaf can turn another and he that hath betrayed my Father may upon the like hopes and surmises betray me likewise and he that hath been a Rebel knows the way to become a Rebel 2. For that this honouring and magnifying of Rebels and Traytors to former Princes for their good service done to latter Masters may prove to be an encouragement for others to become Rebels and Traytors in like manner against their Kings For when amongst many thousands of Rebels they see but few punished the rest pardoned and many of them favoured and preferred why may not the seditions think that they shall either prevail or if miss of their enterprise they may escape the fortune of those few that shall be punished and be magnified like those that they do see thus rewarded 3. For that this favouring and countenancing of those that have been Rebels and false is a great offence and discouragement to those that have ever continued faithful and loyal especially if they see themselves postponed and neglected And therefore the Kings and Princes that I told you of thought it neither wisdom nor policy to regard and favour those whom they pardoned for their treachery to their former Princes though they had done never so good service unto themselves and if all Kings did so I believe fewer Traytors would spring up among the people And this appeareth plainly by our new Plotters of Rebellions and Treasons now amongst us in this Kingdom of Ireland for who and what are they that doe thus murmur and mutter against both God and his Anointed the King and his Lieutenant the Church and Common-wealth But those that have been members of the Beast and limbs of the great Anti-Christ the Rebels and Traytors that rose and warr'd and some no doubt but had their hands or fingers dipped deep in the bloud of that blessed Saint and glorious Martyr our late most gracious King Charles the First and having escaped their just deserved shame and death and being so highly rewarded by their Grand Masters for their great wickedness with the lands of the Irish without distinction whether they were bloudy Murderers and Rebels against their King or innocent Papists that were both loyal unto their King and succourers of the Protestants and now seeing the touchstone of truth and justice rendring to every one his own according to his merit either of nocency or innocency they stamp and stare and being moved with madness like boyes at blinde manbu●● they let fly their Arrows even bitter words nay false scandalous rebellious and treacherous words against the King against his Lieutenant and against the peace and happiness of this whole Kingdom they care not whom they traduce so they may stir up the coals of contention and move the discontented to a new Rebellion And what wayes do they take for this but the very same which they had learned and practised before in England under the long-Long-Parliament 1. To tax and to traduce the good King for doing that they know

not nor ever shall be able to prove that he did but the Scots say that he did and so they do say a thousand things more then I believe to be true and they should believe nothing especially what they know not against their King when as all other men that are both wise and honest can sufficiently answer and justifie all that ever his now Majesty did And I that am not worthy to be of his counsel and to know the reasons of his actions yet could shew you very just and sufficient reasons for every thing that ever I heard his Majesty did and I would do it but that Himself and his Council I know can justifie all his actions with many far deeper reasons then I can dive into Therefore these very firebrands of sedition knowing this would a little excuse his Majesty by laying the faults upon his Counsellors that seduced him And who are they They speak in general in universalibus latet error so did the long Parliament against our late King there they learned their lesson and they walk in the same paths But the former Parliaments could name their names the Duke of Buckingham so can these men name the Duke of Ormond And what hath he done I observe two things that they charge him with 1. To testifie what he knew to be truth and these men conceived to be otherwise A mighty fault because they had not their eyes open to see the truth his Grace offended to testifie the truth 2. In obeying his Majesty's gracious goodness by relieving those that were necessitous and perhaps for ought that they know had done his Majesty very good service and for ought that we know had done no injury to any of our men and this is a sin unpardonable with these uncharitable men I but they will say by relieving these he lets the Army starve and I demand what Subject ever did pawn his own lands melt his own plate lay out his own moneys to relieve the King's Armies and to shew himself I will not say more faithful but I say neer so faithful to his King and so bountiful a benefactor and friend to all the King 's loyal Subjects as the Duke of Ormond hath alwayes been I must and ever will with all thankfulness acknowledge it when the long Parliament and their whelps had robbed me of all that I had all the relief and subsistence which I had from all the friends in the world was that bountiful gift which this noble Duke sent me by Sir George Lane And I could name the many many more to whom his Grace did the like And are these things faults worthy to be reproved And I am sure he hated the Rebellion and disowned the Rebels of this Nation as much or more then any man and would you have him to be an enemy to the postnati and a stranger to the innocent God hath made him a more honourable and a more gracious man I but we are not yet come to the quick the English interest by the favour of the Duke unto the Irish and the Judges of the Court of Claim is much shaken and is like to be dismembred and left inanimate But would you have the English interest to continue be it right or wrong or would you have it so to continue that God might bless it and it to prosper If so then let it be rooted in justice and established in truth or otherwise the breath of the Lord will scatter it and the wrath of God will soon destroy it and instead of blessing will as Jacob said bring the curse of God upon you and your Posterity And you might see if you had your eyes open the great care of my L Duke and the great pains and diligence of the Court of Claim to search out the truth of every cause that the innocent should not be made guilty nor the nocent carry away the victory And what more would you have done Yet as I said before they that have learned the way to be Rebels do know the way to be rebellious still But especially because Rebels and Traytors have had their Presidents and examples to chalk and tread out the desperate pathes of treachery and rebellion unto them because as the Poet saith Nullum caruit exemplo nefas You cannot easily name the wickedness that I can not parallel with the like example as If Alexander and Holophernes were drunk so was Noah long before them If Oedipus committed incest with Jocasta so did Lot commit incest with his own daughters and if Polynices kill'd his own brother Eteocles so did Alexander Caracalla kill his own brother Getha Romulus killed Remus and Cain his onely brother Abel And so the men that became Rebels and Traytors unto their King and murderers of their Brethren here amongst us may alledge they are not the first that rebelled but they can name enough that murdered their oppressors which they onely intended to do and they can cite you great Massacres and the rooting out of many Potentates that Lorded and domineered over the poor people as the massacres in France the Cicilian Vespers the treachery of Mithridates and the subjects of Pontus that conspired together to destroy all the Romans that were dispersed over all the Kingdom of Pontus so the Saxons became treacherous and the murderers of all the British Lords on Salisburie-plain and they say the Irish did the like to eradicate the Daues out of this Kingdom and they have done no more unto their Oppressours But to answer these subtle Pleaders for the defence or lessening of their sinful mischief by the example of others wickedness I say 1. That no example can any ways excuse wickedness but rather aggravates the sin that the sight of others falling into the ditch should teach us to beware of the like fall yea though we should have never so many examples of any evil-doing yet we ought not to follow them because the Lord tells us plainly We ought not to follow a multitude to do evil and it is our duty not to do what others do but what God commands us and all others to do 2. I say that herein hîc hîc caruit exemplo nefas those two fold treachery and rebellion 1. Of the late English-Scotizing Rebels And 2. Of the bloody Irish murderers can not be fitted with any Presidents nor parallel'd out of any Histories I do assure you that I have read as many English Greek and Latin Histories as well I could yet in all the Histories that I have read I do profess unto you I never found so much cruel subtlety and such infernal impiety as I saw in the English Rebels nor so much ingratitude inhumanity and cruelty as we read in Sir John Temples Book was acted in the Irish Insurrection if you will afford it no worser name for 1. Touching the English and Scotish Rebellions first for their subtlety the subtle serpent devised not so many lies to deceive our forefathers as they most impudently