adde the crimination of rebellion against the higher powers of sedition against the State of contriving of plots against their native soyle that the Kings and Princes of the earth thinking their States to be much interessed by the doctrine of godlinesse may be moved to joine hands for the extirpation thereof To that purpose Satan had never want of Doegs So Ahimelech the high Priest was accused to have conspired with David against Saul their King because f 1. Sam. 21.10 13. Ahimelech in his innocencie had given victuals and the sword of Goliah to David and had enquired of the Lord for him So Ahab imputed to the Prophet Eliah that g 1. King 18.17 he troubled Israel so he confessed that h 1. King 22.8 hee hated the Prophet Micaiah because he did not prophesie good concerning him but evill So Amazia the Priest of Bethel sent to Ieroboam king of Israel saying i Amos 7.10 13. Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the land is not able to beare all his words because Amos prophesied against the Idolatry of the ten tribes and that in Bethel which was the Kings Sanctuary and the Kings Court So Sanballat did write calumniously of Nehemiah that k Nehem. 6.6 7. hee and the Iewes thought to rebell that hee might be King and that he had appointed Prophets to preach of him at Ierusalem that he was King in Iudah So the adversaries of Iudah and Benjamin to hinder the building of Ierusalem writ to Artaxerxes l Ezr. 4.12 13 15. Be it knowne unto thee ô King that if this rebellious and bad citie be builded and the walls set up againe then will they not pay toll tribute and custome for this city is a rebellious citie and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces and they have moved sedition within the same of old time for which cause was this City destroyed c. This was Hamans common place against the Iewes m Est 3.8 They keepe not the Kings lawes therefore it is not for the Kings profite to suffer them Because n Ier. 37.17 Ieremiah warned the people of Ierusalem to yeeld to the King of Babylon according to the oath of fidelitie which they had made unto him hee was deemed to be a traytor who had falne away to the Caldeans Because Shadrach Meshach and Abednego would not worship the golden Image which the King had set up their enemies went presently to the King and said o Dan. 3.12 O King they have not regarded thee So the Presidents Princes of Persia finding no occasion against Daniel concerning his carriage in the Kings affaires charged him with contempt of the King saying p Dan. 6.13 Hee regardeth not thee ô King nor the decree that thou hast signed but maketh his petition three times a day The Iewes dreading that Pilate would not be much moved with all the accusations which they should set on foot against Christ for matters of Religion shuffled the second table with the first rebellion against Casar with blasphemie against God and said unto him q Luk. 23.2 Wee found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himselfe is Christ a king And again r Ioh. 19.12 If thou let this man goe thou art not Caesars friend whosoever maketh himselfe a King speaketh against Caesar They held the same course against Christs Disciples for seeking the meanes to wrap them in rebellion The Rulers ſ Act. 4.18 commanded them not to speake at all nor teach in the Name of Iesus whereunto refusing to obey they t Act. 5.28 40. were arraigned before the Councell and condemned to bee beaten for their rebellion The Iewes of Thessalonica set all the citie on an uprore against Paul and Silas slandering them all the Christians of the town that v Act. 17.7 they all did contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King one Iesus After that the tyrant x Tacit. Annal lib. 15. Nero had at diverse times set the towne of Rome on fire to please his wicked humour withall and purchased by such execrable acts the ill-will of the whole people he shifted them off himselfe and suborned false witnesses to lay them upon the Christians At that time and long after the y Tertull Apologet c. 40. Cyprian ad Demot Arnob. advers Gentes lib. 1. Aug. de Civ Dei li. 2. c. 3. Christians were accused to be the cause of all publick calamities and popular incommodities If at Rome the river Tibris running over his bankes overflowed the walls If in Egypt the river Nilus did not rise to a just height that overflowing the whole countrey it might make it fertile If the heavens were turned into brasse and refused to distill their dew upon the drie and dustie ground If the earth hardned into iron disappointed the painfull labours of the husbandman and defrauded the sower of the expected crop If the plague of famine if warres if anie epidemicall sickness went ransacking men and beasts who were blamed but the Christians Christians said they are the authors Christians are the causes of all our mischiefs 7 This hath ever beene since the reformation the heavie accusation against our fathers and us that as we are blasphemers against God so wee are rebellious against the high powers unprofitable to our selves offensive to our neighbours enemies to all mankinde So the Iesuites and other Romish Clergie perswaded the young King of France who knew us not that wee were plotting to set up a State within his State a Democracie within his Monarchie and intended to cast off the yoake of subjects that wee might become Reipublicanes subject to none but to our owne lusts and wills like the Swissers So when raine falls seldome upon the earth when the earth is unpleasant with the sluttishnesse of dust when the meddowes drawne dry with heate make the owners to sigh and the mowers to weepe when the hayle finisheth the vintage before it begin when the stormie whirlewindes plucke up the fruitfull trees by the rootes and beate downe houses when the ayre infected breatheth a mortal plague upon men and beasts when the licentious souldier steps into his neighbours house as if it were his owne when going out of it hee leaveth nothing behinde him but his owne filth and the cobwebs forgetteth nothing but to reckon with his Host and bid him farewell all ages all orders upbraid the Huguenots or as they call us now in France the Parpaillants that is to say Butter-flies as authors of all because we beleeve a new Law and will not hold the good old Law of our fathers who were as honest men and had as much insight into matters of Religion and more devotion than wee have The old world was a good world our fathers who worshipped our Lady the Queene of heaven and all the Angels and Saints which the Pope hath sent thither
be ascribed but to the most wonderfull power of God I put in this ranke the confusion and disorder which God sendeth amongst his enemies when he will deliver his people The Midianites come to fight against Israel but h Ver. 22. the LORD set every mans sword against his fellow even throughout all the host When i 2. Chron. 20.2 22 23 25. the Moabites Ammonites and Idumeans with one consent sought to destroy Iehoshaphat and his people the Lord troubled them with the spirit of division after such a manner that the Moabites and Ammonites slew and destroyed the Idumeans and after that every one helped to destroy another so that Iehoshaphat and his people had no more to doe but to goe and take away the spoyle and give thankes unto the Lord. How often by such divisions God hath saved the reformed Churches in forrein nations and namely in France we all know IX When God delivereth against the nature of meanes he will teach us that he standeth not in any need of meanes when his pleasure is to deliver And therefore now and then he delivereth without meanes k Pro. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him He delivered l Gen. 33.4 Iacob from Esau changing his heart and appeasing his wrath which was suddenly turned into imbracements kissing and weeping He delivered David from Saul by many meanes but when the messengers which were sent by Saul to take him prophecyed and thought no more on him what helpe of man what visible meanes were there When he preferred Ioseph in the Court of Pharao Daniel and his fellowes in the Court of Nebuchadnezzar and of Darius Nehemiah and Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes by what means did he it The Psalmist saith that m Psal 106 46. he made them to bee pittyed of all those that carryed them captives Hee converted Saul and of a persecuter made him a Christian of a Captaine an Apostle of a Ring-leader of most cruell and bloody Wolves a most vigilant and faithfull shepheard of Christs flocke David speaking through his owne experience saith to the man which is persecuted wrongfully n Psal 37.5 6. Commit thy way unto the LORD trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe and he shall bring foorth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy iudgements as the noone day Wee may wonder that he doth it but how he doth it who can tell How Saul knew Davids innocency we can tell o 1. Sam. 24.18 1. Sam. 26.21 because when he might he killed him not but it is wonderfull to consider by what unknowne wayes of Gods secret providence Saul fell twice into his hands Henry the third King of France spake of us at Tours as Saul spake of David and said that we were more righteous than hee because we had rewarded him good whereas he had rewarded us evill It was the wonderfull and immediate worke of GOD that hee could not bee saved but by them whose fathers hee had killed and was resolved to bee the protector of those whom he had persecuted if the Monks impoisoned knife had not cut too too soone for us the brittle thread of his mortall life God be praysed that amongst us there are no Clements no Barrauts no Chatels no Ravaillacs for p 2. Sam. 26.9 who can stretch forth his hand against the LORDS anointed and bee guiltlesse X. How often hath the Church beene afflicted stormed forsaken of all creatures destitute of all helpe of all counsell of all comfort and he he alone hath come on a sudden and both comforted and delivered her He prophecied by Daniel that under the persecution of Antiochus his people should be brought to such extremity that q Dan. 11.45 none should helpe them What then shall they perish for want of helpe It followeth in the next chapter r Dan. 12.1 And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall bee delivered every one that shall be written in the book Who is this Michael who but our Lord Iesus Christ called elsewhere Å¿ Iosh 5.14 15. the Prince of the host of the LORD If all the Angels of heaven if all the men of the world should stand still with their armes crossed if all the creatures should with hold their helpe from us our Michael saith unto us t Mat. 28.18 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Though he be v Phil. 2.9 10. highly exalted though he have a Name which is above every name though he x Psal 47.7 be king of all the earth and that at his Name every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth yet he is our high Priest and beareth us into the most high and inmost heavens yea weareth us as an ornament upon his shoulders and upon his breast and as the Apostle saith y Heb. 2.11 is not ashamed to call us his brethren When all things seeme to be desperate and past hope of recoverie when the faithfull are nothing but a skeliton but a carcasse a Ezech. 37.2 c. of dry bones as the people of Iuda was in the captivitie of Babylon if it please him to speak the word onely they shall come together againe bone to bone they shall live rise again and be a great Army Hee hath by his word done things greater and more wonderfull By his word he hath made heaven earth by his word he heaped plagues upon plagues while they had destroyed Pharao and his people they that are sicke cry unto him b Psal 107 7. he sendeth his word healeth them c Mat. 9.6 20 22. By his word onely he cured one sicke of the palsie and the woman diseased with an issue of blood By his word onely he quieted the winds calmed the roaring seas rendred sight and light to the blind raised the dead By his word onely he restored his people to the land of Canaan By his word he saveth the Church By his word by his onely power and good will without any visible and knowne meanes he hath given peace to the Churches of France for when we were betrayed and sold by sundry of our brethren forsaken of many pursued by a great armie he was for us and delivered us Then wee sung with thanksgiving the hundreth twenty and fourth Psalme XI There is yet another kind of deliverie which commeth immediately of God and is most wonderfull of all How he delivereth us by the ruine of our enemies how by death he giveeh us life wee shall heare in the next Sermon but that hee delivereth us when
kingdomes prosper the people have peace when generous and worthy men who hate couetousnesse flattery and envy who respect above all worldly things the honour of the King who have no other end of their actions but the weal of the State are neerest to Kings DARIVS King of Persia holding a Pomegranet in his hand wished in stead of all treasures to have as many ZOPYRES as there were graines in that Apple shewing that there is nothing so needfull and profitable to Kings as faithfull Counsellers and servants of the chiefe of the Nobilitie such as ZOPYRVS was and yet no Iewell so rare to be found For though there be many nobles about Kings there be few upon whose fidelitie wisdome and magnanimitie Kings may relie Therefore blessed is this Realme wherein so many ZOPYRES so many of the heads of the Nobilitie are ever neere our most wise religious and righteous Kings eares Amongst whom your Honour shineth as a radiant Planet among the bright and glistering starres What are generositie wisdome faithfulnesse to the King love to the native soyle good and acceptable services to the State but gorgeous and glittering sinnes if they be severed from true godlinesse from faith in our Lord IESVS CHRIST from love to his beloved Church from holinesse of life and good workes acceptable to God What are Courtiers what are the Nobles of the Land what are Kings themselves without Christian vertues but like a certaine people of Asia which were wont to carry earthen vessels in golden Boxes What are all their riches honours dignities pleasures pastimes delights but trifles but faire vanishing bubbles which must give place to things more solid that bring to true beleevers an everlasting felicitie and ioy For as the shell of an Egge howsoever it bee white smoothe and well formed must bee broken that the Chicken may come out and that wherefore the shell was made appeare So the fashion and shew of this world must passe away that the incomprehensible estate which God hath laid up and keepeth in heaven for his deare ones may shine and bee made manifest Therefore where greatnesse and godlinesse where wordly prerogatives and celestiall priviledges where carnall and spirituall nobilitie faith in Christ and faithfulnesse to the King love to the State and charitie to the Church a vehement passion for the common-weale and true zeale to God are ioyned and maried together as they are in your Honours person every man that seeth them is bound to acknowledge to admire and to praise them and to render all honour and serviceable duties to those whom God hath so mercifully wonderfully honoured This then is the cause of the Dedication of these my Sermons to your Honour For who shall blame me if so far as in me is I honour with my Penne a Lord whom God hath sorichly honoured with his Gifts And who shall denie but that Sermons of the righteous mans evils and of the Lords deliverances may yea should bee dedicated to a Lord who though living in the midst of worldly contentments eateth the Paschall Lambe not onely with unleavened bread of sincerity truth but also with the bitter hearbes of godly sorrow ever sighing ever sobbing before God for the affliction of Ioseph ever praying ever crying to heaven for the deliverance restauration of Ierusalem lapping of the glib-sliding pleasures of this transitorie and fugitive life as GEDEONS souldiers lapped of the running waters and tasting them with thanks-giving as temporall gifts of God but drinking great draughts of teares flowing from the eyes of spirituall sadnesse ever expecting with a most firme hope the accomplishment of the Prophecies by the ruine of Babylon and deliverance of the Church ever hastening setting forward that necessary glorious worke by courageous and faithfull counsels and all other meanes lawfull and possible I cannot omit that which toucheth my selfe For being banished from France for the Gospell of Christ and for my nations sake and comming to his Maiesties Court where like unto ENDIMION after his long sleepe I saw nothing but new faces and seemed to my selfe as a man fallen out of the Cloudes your Honour embraced me with such kindnesse and humanitie and recommended me to his Maiestie with such affection that I should be iustly condemned of ingratitude if I did ever forget it Let that foule vice goe and burie it selfe in the gulfe of hell where it was bred I had rather be esteemed clownish and home-bred by rendring to your Honour in these unpolished sheetes such thankes as I can than called unthankefull by neglecting of my dutie The poore woman with her mite was as acceptable to God as the rich men with their rich gifts because shee gave what she had with a free heart And great Lords receive of their Vassals strawes and trifles for homage of great tenements I doubt not but this small and unworthy hommage shall finde in your most worthy Lordship the like acceptation as comming from one who with a true heart poures out his prayers to God for the increasing of all the blessings of this life and of the life to come upon your most honourable Person and illustrious Familie and who is Your Honours most humble most obedient and most affectionate Servant Gilbert Primerose THE RIGHTEOVS MANS EVILS AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES THE FIRST SERMON Of Evils incident to man as he is man and of the Righteous man PSAL. 34. VER 19. Many are the evills of the righteous but the LORD delivereth him out of them all I. ALl men are subiect to many evills II. Kings Princes great men III. As well as other men IV. David ascribeth to the righteous man mo evills than to other men V. If the righteous man be examined according to the rules of the Law there is none righteous VI. If in Gods mercifull acceptation of the will for the deed all true Christians are righteous VII Description of the righteous negatively and affirmatively VIII He that is righteous and holy may call himselfe so IX Although hypocrites and wicked men claime that name to themselves X. The true characters of wicked men XI Their best workes are great sinnes XII The Church is the Congregation of righteous men and is assaulted with many evills XIII Exhortation to righteousnesse I IF wee take but a slight view of man who in his own pride and loftinesse of minde hath taken to himselfe the glorious title of the Little world if wee consider him in his person in his state wee shall finde that he is but a cage of rottennesse a sinke of filth and a world of wretchednesse The seed wherof he comes is a stinking excrement and the ground wherein he is sowen is a quagmire of dirt a sinke of uncleanenesse a strait and darke pit of loathsome and pestilent putrefaction from whence he doth not escape but is thrust out as a noisom troublesome guest who neyther can be kept longer nor set at libertie without unspeakeable torments both to the mother who hath
our fathers who were content to beleeve as the Church beleeved our good fathers who turned and whirled about so devoutly their Paternosters and mumbled them so religiously before the holy Images which these new upstart fellowes call abominable Idols had bread and drinke enough but now since prayers are made to God alone in a knowne tongue since a few unlearned rascals and out-casts of the world begin to prate most fondly of heavenly things to flirt the holy Father on the nose and call him the Antichrist to beate downe Altars to breake Images as LEON the fourth Emperour of the Orient did c. we starve for hunger and thirst and are diven to such miserie that our state cannot bee worse This was the Iewes answer to Ieremiah a Ier. 44.17 18. Wee will burne incense unto the Queene of heaven and poure out drinke offerings unto her as we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Iudah and in the streets of Ierusalem For then had we plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evill but since we left off to burne incense to the Queene of heaven and to poure out drinke offerings unto her we have wanted all things and have beene consumed by the sword and by the famine 8 Salomon saith b Prov. 25.18 that a man that beareth false witnesse against his neighbour is a hammer a sword and a sharpe arrow he is a hammer to the hearer who yeeldeth attention unto his slandering hee casteth him with the blowes of his viperous tongue into many dangerous symptomes and perplexitles of minde as if he felled an Oxe he is a sword to his owne soule which he killeth with such artificiall lyes he is a sharpe arrow to the innocent man whom he thus slandereth shooting at his reputation a farre off to breed him harme in one thing or other for c Psal 27.12 false witnesses breathe out crueltie d Psal 64.3 4 5. They whet their tongue like a sword and shoot in stead of their arrowes bitter words that they may shoot in secret at the perfect suddenly do they shoot at him and feare not They encourage themselves in an evill matter they commune of laying snares privily they say Who shall see them From hence arise most cruell persecutions Then yee see nothing but kindling of fires but sharpning of Swords but smoothing of Pikes but cleering of Partisans but preparing of Muskets but ravenous Harpies flying into the houses and fowling the righteous mans goods Then ye heare nothing but edicts of proscription but Spoyle spoyle Ransack ransack Kill kill with all kinde of reproaches curses and execrations Then wheresoever ye shall turne your face ye shal meet with nothing but with faces inflamed with threatnings and slaughter as e Act. 9.1 2. Sauls was when he went to Damascus to bind the Disciples of the Lord ye shal mark nothing but woodnesse but outragiousnesse but a wofull sorrowfull face of all things but hell opened the Divels unchained and all their fiery malice displayed against the righteous but ravishing of goods defiling of maried women deflowring of Virgins banishing murthering exquisite punishments grievous tortures new kindes of death and which is most insupportable to an honest heart scoffing upbraiding despitefull rayling or if you will have the roll which the Apostle hath made of the righteous mans evills f Rom. 8.35 tribulation distresse persecution famine nakednesse perill sword without exception of sex without pitie towards little children and sucklings without any reverence to the gray haire and old age The Apostle speaking of the godly and righteous men which lived under the tyrannie of the Idolatrous Kings of Iuda and Israel and under the Kings of Syria and of Egypt saith that g Heb 11.36 37 38. they had tryall of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment They were stoned they were sawen asunder were tempted were slaine with the sword they wandred about in sheepes skinnes and goat skinnes being destitute afflicted tormented Of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and caves of the earth What is deare to the righteous man in this world His goods What more deare than his goods His life What dearer to him what much more esteemed of him than his goods his life and all the world Gods glory and his owne reputation Marke in this catalogue of evils the righteous man bereft of all these things 9 The first unexpected message that the bringers of ill news reported to Iob was of the losse of all his goods the second of the unlooked-for and violent death of all his children And as if all that had beene but sport and play h Iob 2.7 the divel smote him with so many sore biles that from the sole of his foot even unto the crowne of his head there was nothing found in him but the skin of his teeth i Iob 19.12 c. His byles were so loathsome to the eyes so stinking to smell that his breath became strange to his wife his servants and those that dwelled in his house counted him for a stranger and when hee called them gave him no answer his acquaintance were estranged from him his familiar friends forgot him the men to whom hee committed his secrets abhorred him the young children despised and spake against him his familiar friends which came to comfort him gaped upon him with their mouth and adding affliction to the afflicted vexed his soule with reviling words calling him an oppressor of the poore a wicked man an hypocrite and disputed eagerly against him that the hypocrites and wicked men are the meere and onely object of afflictions yea his owne wife scorned his godlinesse and uprightnesse and mocking him with ironicall and pinching words k Iob 2.9 Doest thou still said shee retaine thine integrity Blesse God and die Besides that l Iob 7.13 when hee thought that his bed should comfort him and his couch should ease his complaint then hee was scared with dreames and terrified through visions so that he consumed like rotten wood and as a garment that is moath-eaten It seemes that God had made him an example and patterne of the manie evills wherewith the righteous are compassed and besieged on all sides 10 If ye reade the storie of Davids life ye shall judge that his owne sensible experience of the many evills which lay heads and hands together to overthrow the righteous man whereof hee speaketh in this Psalme made him to cry with griefe in another Psalme m Ps 42.7 Deep calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water spouts all thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me Consider n 2. Sam. 23.12 him consider o 1. Kin. 19.4 9. Elijah the Prophet consider the p 1. Mac. 1.28 29. Maccabees and all those worthy Confessors and Martyrs whom the blessed Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes recommendeth to
the wind playeth in the ayre So I have shewed you that both by externall grievances and internall griefes Many are the Evills of the Righteous XI Now the righteous man may say to the wicked as David said to Saul t 1. Sam. 24.11 Know thou and see that there is neither evill nor transgression in mine hand and I have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my soule to take it and as v Dan. 6.22 Daniel said to Darius who had cast him into the Lyons den Before thee O King I have done no hurt For although it pertained to Christ alone to say to his adversaries x Ioh. 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sinne yet all the righteous men may say of their persecuters that which David said of his enemies y Psal 35.7 Without cause have they hid for me their not in a pit without cause they have digged for my soule And when they pray they feare not to protest of their innocencie in that hehalfe and to say to God a Psal 58.3 4. They lye in waite for my soule the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord They run and prepare themselves without my fault awake to helpe me and behold The rule of the righteous mans life is Christs commandement and example His commandement is b Mat. 5.39 42 44. Resist not evill but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheeke turne to him the other also c. Give to him that asketh thee Love your enemies blesse them that curse doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you The same commandement he gave by his Apostle saying c Rom. 12.21 Be not overcome of evill but overcome evill with good What he commanded that he practised in his life d 1. Pet. 2.21 22 23. He suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sinne neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that iudgeth righteously Yea not onely he did them no harme but also hee did them all kind of good He went about all Iudea teaching the Gospell of the kingdome of heaven healing all manner of sicknesse and all manner of disease among the people made the blind to see the deafe to heare the lame to walke cleansed the lepers raised up the dead fed by the miraculous multiplication of bread at divers times many thousand soules restored the eare to Malcus which came to take him prayed for those which crucified him and therefore asked of his enemies who tooke up stones to throw at him e Ioh. 10.32 Many good workes have I shewed you from my Father for which of those workes doe you stone me What ill did the Apostles wherefore they should bee used so cruelly They went through the whole world converting men from darknesse unto the maruellous light of the Gospell and did so many wonders amongst the people that thence f Act. 14.11 some Idolaters tooke occasion to worship them but the Iewes to perswade the people to stone them g 1. Cor. 4.11 12. Being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it being defamed they intreated Much good did they to many ill they did to none Read more ancient examples of h Gen. 13.8 Abraham yeelding for peace-sake to his Nephew Lot of i Gen. 49.5 6 7. Iacob cursing his owne sonnes Simeon and Levi for their bloodie anger against the Sichemites though having a goodly shew of righteous vengeance of k 1. Sam. 25 7 8.15 16. David leading with his souldiers a most innocent life amongst Nabals heards of cattle and flocks of sheep sparing Sauls life who sought his and bringing him to this true confession l 1. Sam. 24.17 Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill m Psal 38.12 being as a deafe man when his enemies spake mischievous things against him n Psal 35.12 13. cloathing himselfe with sackecloth humbling his soule with fasting praying most affectuously when his enemies which rewarded him evill for good were sicke If ye desire examples of the Christians carriage during ten persecutions in the space of three hundred and odde yeares o Tert. Apol. cap. 1. 37 When the people invaded them they resisted not when the Magistrate condemned them they gave thanks when the dead bodies of their brethren and kinsmen were drawn out of the rest of their graves were pulled away from the Sanctuarie of death they sought no revenge albeit they were in greater number than their enemies and might with a few little firebrands set on fire all the Townes Boroughes Villages Castles of the Empire if Christian Religion did not forbid all private men p Rom. 12.19 to avenge themselves because it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay it saith the Lord. For this cause the holy Spirit often calleth the afflictions of the righteous Sufferings because they suffer the evill which is done unto them but they do no evil to any man wherunto also Christ hath bound them when he callth then q Mat. 10.26 Sheepe insnuating that they should be sheepe in simplicitie to never thinke any evill in innocencie to never doe any evill in patience to beare all evills meekly without grudging and murmuring in utilitie and commoditie to feede with their milk to cloath with their wooll whosoever stands in need of their helpe to doe ill unto no man r Gal. 6.10 to doe good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith Alas alas the number of such sheepe of such righteous men how rare is it how many suffer not Å¿ 1. Pet. 3.17 1 Pet. 4.29 for well doing as Christians and righteous men but for evill doing as murtherers theeves robbers and ravenous wolves rather than sheepe how many cannot abide to suffer but thinking it a shame to packe up an injurie will needs be avenged of their enemies how many doe seeke to defend the Gospell against persecuters by burning killing murdering filling the house of innocent peasants of poore countrey folkes with orbitie desolation and mourning intending to cure one sinne with another sinne taking the way of hell to goe to heaven and thinking to defend the Gospell by unlawfull meanes which the Gospell hath condemned For it is not hee which suffereth evill but he which doth it that sinneth And therefore the true righteous man is ever a patient not an agent in evill and the wicked not onely have no cause wherfore they should hate him but have in his manifold good deedes a good cause wherefore they should love him and yet not withstanding his innocent and good carriage Many are the Evills of the Righteous XII Sometimes many blind-folded with ignorance deeme that the righteous man is the
able to deliver us from the burning fierie fornace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King When the deepe gulfe of the red sea is before our faces when Pharao and his most dreadful and cruell armie followeth us hotly at the heeles when high and steep mountaines runne along by our sides and bereave us of all hope of flight then to say k Exod. 14 13. Feare ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew you to day In a present evill to looke for present deliverie in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death to see to imbrace life l Heb. 11 24 25 26. to refuse great riches and honours for the denying of Christ to chuse povertie by confessing him to preferre suffering of affliction with the people of God to the enjoying of the pleasures of sinne for a season to esteeme the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt as Moses did and as many Christians have done and doe still is a most wonderfull and speciall exercise of true faith What Vertues are more commanded unto us by precept 2. Meeknes charity and recommended unto us by most excellent examples of the Patriarkes of the Prophets of David of Iesus Christ of his holy Apostles than humilitie meekenesse charitie where find ye better occasion to practise them than in your greatest adversitie m 1. Cor. 4 11 12. Ye are reviled and ye blesse ye are defamed and ye intreat as Paul did ye are stoned to death as Steven was and ye kneele down and cry with a loud voice n Acts 7.6 Lord lay not this sinne to their charge This is true meekenesse this is true charitie We are tossed to and fro with most grievous and tedious tribulations 3. Patience then as the Apostle saith o Heb. 10.36 wee have neede of patience that after we have done the will of God wee may receive the promise then it is time to be that which we professe We say that Patience is the fairest flower of of the Christian mans garden Other flowers delight in faire weather and grow not but in ground well weeded and gnibbed up This groweth among the brairs thistles of stinging tribulations and spreadeth most faire when the weather is most foule Frost and Snow Haile and Lightning Stormes and Tempests make it to blossome with a most pleasant shew and to breathe a most sweet sent Then the righteous man not looking to the stone that hurteth him but lifting up his eyes to the almightie hand of the heavenly Father which threw it saith as David said of Shimei who cursed him p 2. Sam. 16.10 So let him curse for the Lord hath said unto him Curse Dauid Who shall then say Wherefore hast thou done so Men have their mischeivous ends when they afflict the righteous man and it may be that they molest him wrongfully Tribulations also may come upon him by his owne faults and many other wayes yet God hath an hand in all his most wise providence guideth them Shall he then repine shall he kicke against the prickes God forbid But rather knowing that his sufferings are Gods owne worke and that q Deu. 32.4 all his wayes are iudgement he taketh David for his President and saith with him I was r Psal 39.9 dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Here here then is the wonderfull patience of the Saints who bridle their mouthes from grudging against God and open them not in their temptations but to poure out their humble requests and prayers before him Prayers 4. Prayers which faint and as it were droope in the faire summer-dayes of our peace and wealth but recover their vigor yea redouble their force in the fleeting and freezing winter of our calamitie God saith to the righteous man Å¿ Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble so he doth Ionas t Ioh. 2.1 snorted in the ship but hee was awake praied in the Whales belly The Disciples so long as the sea was calme and quiet prayed not but when the tempest arose and the winds spake lowd and the surges threatned the ship with sinking then they prayed then they cried v Matt. 8.25 Lord save us wee perish So Peter walked a little while upon the sea without praying but when hee saw the wind boistrous and began to sink he cried x Matt. 14 30. Lord save me Prayer is the meane whereby God bestoweth his blessings upon us It is the bucket which we dive and thrust farre into the undraynable fountaine of his graces that we may receive of his fulnesse and grace for grace Then tribulations are behoovefull unto us that by them knowing our need we may be moved to pray Are wee not saved y Rom. 8.24 by hope 5. Hope what hope what desire can wee have of heavenly things when all things laugh upon us in the world the present enjoying of the one expells out of our hearts the desire and hope of the other Therefore by the counterpoize of the evils of this life God stirreth up in us a most vehement desire of the life to come and holds our hope perpetually busied in praying and crying z Rev. 22.20 Even so Come Lord Iesus XVII All these graces without perseverance are nothing for a Matt. 24.13 he that shall endure unto the end 6. Perseverance Constancy shall bee saved And there is no perseverance without constancie The maine object of Constancie is tribulation neither is it seene but in things very difficult to undertake or to overcome b 2. Mac. 7. Consider the courage of seven brethren suffering all kinds of most cruell torments because they would not at the Kings commandement transgresse Gods commandement and eate swines flesh Wonder at the constancie of their marveilous mother who with a manly heart in a womans breast exhorted them to take their death cheerfully for Gods cause and after their execution went joyfully to the burning caldron and sealed also the truth with her blood How many faire promises were made unto them But c Heb. 11.35 they refused to be delivered that they might obtaine a better resurrection In the Ecclesiasticall stories of Christians such examples are infinite At d Euseb hister Eccles lib. 5. c. 1. Sanctus Vienne in France a Deacon of the Church called Sanctus being torne in pieces with hot pincers being at divers times so cruelly racked that hee was nothing but wounds but bruises but putrefying fores but a peece of swollen flesh without almost any figure or shape of a man could never be compelled to tell his name his familie his dwelling place His onely answer to all their rackings scorchings burnings was I am a Christian Neither could the Executioners by the Tympan by the hot and burning pans by the teeth of wild beasts wring out of Blandina a maide and servant to a Dame
salvation and my high tower His deliveries are not palliative cures easing for a while and not healing altogether nor anodins taking away for some houres all sense of paine and not the paine it selfe They are salvations and as it were resurrections from among the dead b Dan. 6.27 He delivereth and resoueth and he worketh signes and wonders in heaven and in earth Such were the deliveries of Israel out of the land of Egypt of David from Saul of Hezekiah and Iosaphat from their enemies of Shadrac Meshac and Habed-nego out of the burning furnace of Daniel from the power of the Lions of his people out of the captiuitie of Babylon such have ever beene the deliveries of the Church such was this last deliverie of the Churches of France XI Having such a Deliverer such a Redeemer such a Saviour let us neither feare men nor trust in them yea let us not feare the divell himselfe For the divell was not so hardie as to doe violence to c Iob 1.12 Iob or d Mat. 8.29 to enter into the swine without Gods leave The divels e Eph. 6.12 are principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesse in high places and yet we should not feare all their spirituall and powerfull wickednes because God who is our deliverer is stronger Shall we then feare men which are borne which live which dye in weaknes What can the mightiest of them all doe without the Lord what can they all doe against the Lord If he be with us if he be against them who shall be against us who shall be for them What fearest thou their multitude and number If thou hast received grace to say with David f Psal 3.5 6. the Lord susteined me thou hast also received grace to say with him I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me What fearest thou Their strength and great might Could g Gen. 6.4 7. the Giants which were on the earth in the dayes of Noah keepe themselves from the flood of Gods wrath h Numb 13.32 33. Num. 14 19 The people of Israel feared the people of Canaan because these were men of great stature and among them were the Giants the sonnes of Anak and they were as grashoppers compared to them Then Iosua and Caleb said to them Feare not the people of the Land for they are bread for us their defence is departed from them and the LORD is with us feare them not Conformably whereunto i Ios 11.21 Ioshuah cut off the Anakims and destroyed them utterly with their cities and there was none of them left in the land of the children of Israel When k Deut. 3.1 2 11. Og king of Bashan came against the people of Israel with all his people the people had occasion to feare for Og was of the remnant of gyants his bed-sted was of yron the length thereof was nine cubits and the breadth foure cubits after the cubit of a man But God said to Moses Feare him not for I will deliver him and all his people and his land into thy hand What did then all his â—â—gnesse and tallnesse availe him Could it hinder the children of Israel from singing to God l Psal 136.18 19 20. He slew famous kings for his mercy endureth for ever Sihon king of the Amorites for his mercy endureth for ever and Og the king of Bashan for his mercy endureth for ever m 1. Sam. 17.4 7 11 32. When the Israelites saw the great and huge monster Goliah the staffe of whose speare was like a weavers beame and the head thereof weighed sixe hundred shekels of yron they were dismayed and greatly afraid But David led with another spirit said to Saul Let no mans heart faile because of him thy servant will goe and fight with this Philistine and he went with a sling in his hand and with a stone which he flung at him he slew him according as he had said n Ver. 47. The Lord saveth not with sword and speare for the battellis the LORDS What fearest thou their prudence their wisedome their slight and shifting devices Feare not o Psal 94.11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanitie He bloweth upon them and they vanish away with their authors For p Pro. 21.30 31. there is no wisedome nor understanding nor counsell against the LORD q Iob 12.13 17 20 21. with him is wisedome and strength he hath cousell and understanding he leadeth counsellers away spoyled and maketh the Iudges fooles he remooveth away the speech of the trustie and taketh away the understanding of the aged hee powreth contempt upon Princes and weakeneth the strength of the mightie Finally r Psal 90.3 he turneth man to destruction and saith Returne ye children of men And therefore he saith to his children when they feare the power of his enemies Å¿ Esa 51.7 8. Hearken unto me ye that know righteousnesse the people in whose heart is my law feare ye not the reproch of men neither be ye afraid of their revilings for the moth shall eate them up like a garment and the worme shall eate them like wooll but my righteousnes shall befor ever and my salvation from generation to generation Wicked and mighty men build their designes upon the hope of long life and learne not by so many examples of the mortality of the greatest among men that t Esa 40.23 24. the Lord bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity yea they shall not be planted yea they shall not be sowen yea their stocke shall not take roote in the earth and he shall also blow upon them and they shall wither and the whirle-wind shall take them away as stubble This was v 1. King 22.27 28. Achabs trust when he commanded to put Micaiah in prison and to feed him with bread and water of affliction untill he came backe in peace but Micaiah answered with great confidence If thou returne at all in peace the LORD hath not spoken at all by me The wicked and malicious Apostate Iulian threatned the Christians whom hee called Galileans in derision with many evills and mischiefes as soone as he should come backe from his expedition against the Persians trusting in the predictions of the Magicians and in the ambiguous oracles of his gods But the Christians feared him not knowing that he was a mortall man or as Athanasius called him Nubeculacitò transitura a cloud which is soone gone Henry II. King of France said that hee should see with his owne eyes Anne de Bourg burnt quicke That same day he received at the tilting a stroake with a speare in the eye whereof he died His sonne Francis II. erected the scaffold for the martyrizing of the Prince of Condé Prince of his owne blood That same night a paine in his eare killed him and the Prince escaped For these causes taken from Gods deliveries
unfained commeth charitie a vehement love of God and of man for Gods sake and therefore God describeth the righteous man whom he delivereth by those two markes of knowledge and of love saying p Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because hee hath knowne my Name This love is conjoyned with a great reverence and respectuous feare of God and the keeping of his most holy commandements in the simplicitie of an upright life Wilt thou then bee assured of Gods salvation q Psal 85.9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that feare him r Psal 103.17 18. The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him and his righteousnesse unto childrens children to such as keepe his Covenant and to those that remember his commandements to doe them Å¿ Psal 116.6 The LORD preserveth the simple Such righteous cannot with dry eyes behold the sinnes of the world whereby God is exceedingly offended but they mourne and weepe before God and in their weeping have a most sure marke of Gods love and care towards them When God turned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes t 2. Pet. 2.7 8. He delivered the righteous Lot who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds When he was to destroy Ierusalem he gave commandement to his Angell saying v Ezech. 9.4 Goe thorow the midst of the Citie thorow the midst of Ierusalem and marke a marke upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the middest thereof If the righteous man sigheth for the abominations that be done in the world hee is no way a complice in them therefore God said to Elijah x 1. King 19 â—8 I have left me seven thousand in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him If these markes of a righteous man be in thee they are sufficient to make thee partaker of Gods deliveries he looketh not to thy qualities which make thee to bee redoubted or contemned among men y Psal 147 10 11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man the LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy a Luk. 16.19 The purple and fine linne sumptuous and dainty fare musicke and dancing could not deliver the rich man from the torments of hell because he was wicked Povertie beggerie nakednesse pining sicknesse could not barre Lazarus from the everlasting pleasures of Paradise because he was righteous b Pro. 11.3 4 6. The integritie of the upright shall guide them but the perversenesse of transgressors shall destroy them Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse delivereth from death The righteousnesse of the upright shall deliver them but transgressors shall be taken in their owne naughtinesse XVII The righteousnesse of the upright delivereth him not as a cause meritorious of deliverie as the Papists would perswade you for it is stained with many spots and blemishes of sinne as yee have learned in the first sermon but as a quality requisite in him whom the Lord will deliver for if we seeke the true causes of our deliveries God saith first negatively that c Deut. 9.4 it is not for our righteousnesse Next he saith affirmatively that it is d Ezech. 20.9 14 44 Ezec. 36.22 for his owne Names sake If temporall deliverie from the evill of affliction come not from our merits can eternall deliverie from sinne and hell bee the merite of any mans righteousnesse The bread for which we sweat before we can have it to eate is the gift of God and wee aske it of God in that qualitie and shall the bread of life be the reward of an hireling No no e Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord If Papists say that David praieth f Psal 7.8 Iudge me O LORD according to my righteousnesse and according to mine integritie that is in me and saith plainly g Psal 18.19 20. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousnesse according to the cleannesse of my hands hath he recompensed me c. Answer that in these and such like places which are infinite he declareth that he was inriched with the qualities wherewith hee that waites on the Lords deliverance must bee graced but speaketh nothing of the causes of his deliverance which in the end of the 18. Psalme he acknowledgeth to bee Gods free mercy saying h Ver 50. Great deliverance giveth hee to his King and sheweth mercy to his anoynted to David and to his seed for evermore And else-where confesseth that it is Gods righteousnesse and not his when he prayeth thus i Psal 143.1 2. Answer me in thy righteousnesse and enter not into iudgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be iustified So he forsaketh all merits and asketh grace when in another part he prayeth k Psal 25.18 O bring thou me out of my distresses looke upon mine affliction and my paine and forgive all my sinnes Such prayers are they not most frequent in the Psalmes When the Papist singeth in the Church a de Profundis if hee understand what hee saith will he not be mooved to deny all merits when he considereth this prayer of righteous David l Psal 130.2 3 4 7. Lord heare my voice let thine eares be attentive to the voyce of my supplications If thou LORD shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shal stand but there is forgivenesse with thee that thou mayest bee feared Let Israel hope in the LORD And why because forsooth there is a great deale of righteousnesse in Israel Not so why then because with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plentious redemption Let us also acknowledge and confesse with heart and mouth that m Iam. 3.22 it is of the LORDS mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not XIIX Though this doctrine of the nullitie of the righteous mans merits and of the efficacie of the saving mercies of our righteous God be most true yet n 2. Thes 1.6 it is a righteous thing with God to deliver the righteous man 1. because being iust by nature o Psal 45.7 he loveth righteousnesse and hateth wickednesse and is as sensible of the one to protect it as of the other to punish it p Psal 34.15 16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open unto their cry the face of the Lord is against them that doe evill to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth 2. Because the cause for which righteous men suffer is
murtherers have slain shall arise and bee received into eternall glory in the presence of their enemies with this welcome from the eternall Iudge g Mat. 25 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world O most wonderfull inheritance h Aug. Hareditas Domini nou minuitur multitudine possessorian tanta singulis quanta universis It is not diminished by the multitude of those which possesse it It is as large to every one apart as to the whole multitude together O most excellent and glorious inheritance It is a kingdome wherein our darkenesse shall bee converted into light our sorrow into ioy our trouble into peace our weaknesse into strength our dishonour into honour our ignominie into glory our misery into happinesse our death into life our patient hope into the reall enioying of all good our prayers into thanks-giving Where the heavens shall receive us the holy Angells welcome us the blessed Saints ioyne themselves unto us where our bodies being made of mortall immortall of naturall spirituall of burthensome nimble shall shine brighter than the fairest summer-day Where i 1. Cor. 15.28 God himselfe without any meanes shall bee all in all perfect and absolute knowledge to our mindes an ocean of love to our hearts soveraigne good and the blessed center of eternall rest to all our restlesse affections where he himselfe after a most wonderfull and glorious manner which cannot be imagined shall be light in our eyes melody in our eares the wished and longed-for obiect of all our senses where he saith That k Rev. 21.3 he himselfe shall be with us and be our God l Aug. de Civit Dei li. 22. capaile i. he shall be unto us all whereby we may be satisfied and whatsoever all may honestly desire life salvation meate drinke riches glory honour peace and all good Which David expressed in few words saying m Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore And againe n Psa 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I will be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse For then God shall be the end of all our desires then o Aug. idid Ipse finis evit desideriorum nostrorum qui sine fine vide bitur sine faslidio amabitur sine fatigatione laud abitur We shall see him without end wee shall love him without loathing we shall prayse him without wearying Then also our enemies shall see our glory in him and with him and as the Author of the booke of Wisedome saith p Sap. 5.2 When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible feare and shall be amazed at the strangenesse of our salvation so farre beyond all that they looked for c. XXII O then dearely beloved let us learne to discerne wisely q Mal. 3.18 betweene the righteous and the wicked betweene him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Salomon saith that r Pro. 13.9 the lampe of the wicked shall bee put out comparing wicked men to a candle which when it begins to burne giveth a faire light but endeth in stinking smoake and caligiousnesse for their end is worse than their beginning because Å¿ Iob 21.30 they are reserved to the day of destruction to the day when wrath shall be brought foorth On the other side t Psal 37.37 39 40. Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace because the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD he is their strength in the time of trouble and the Lord shall helpe them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him The short dayes of mans fading and dying life me thinkes may be most conveniently compared to a stage-play wherein often Kings sonnes mount on the scaffold disguised in poore mens rags and beggers march with a stately pase attired in sumptuous robes about their greasie bodies hiding scurvie heads under crowns of gold and stretching forth a royall Scepter with scabbed hands but when the curtaines are remooved when the Tragedy is ended and the Players are stript of their borrowed apparell he that made so many vaine glorious shewes and called himselfe Hercules or Agamemnon is knowne to be poore Irus who goeth begging thorow the streetes and crackling crusts of browne bread betweene his muddie and rotten teeth and hee that was thought to be Irus is knowne to be the royall sonne of Aeacus T is even so betweene the Church and the world when v Luk. 16.19 20. Lazarus starves for hunger at the rich mans gate and the rich man jetteth in his purple and makes good cheere when x Mat. 27.39 Christ is nayled upon the crosse and his enemies stand hard by reviling him when the y Rev. 11.9 10 11 12. dead bodies of Christs two witnesses lye unburied in the streets of the great City and they that dwell upon the earth reioyce over them and thanke their gods of gold silver brasse because they have overcome them it seemes that those which are thus afflicted are but poore snakes forsaken of God and that those others which swim with content in the Ocean of worldly pleasures are Gods deare ones But when the divells shall bury the rich Glutton in the lowest pit of hell when boiling there in the lake of fire and brimstone he shall lift up his eyes and see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of the house of God drinking great draughts in the river of his pleasures when the spirit of life from God shall enter into his two witnesses when they shall rise againe stand upon their feet and ascend up to heaven when a Mat. 24.30 Iesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory when he shall set his sheepe on his right hand and the goates on the left when b Rev. 1.7 they which pierced him shall see him and by him shall be throwne downe into the rich Mine of eternall torments c Aug. 50. homil Homil 16. Morituri vitae morti sine sine victuri to dye there unto life and to live unto death world without when those d Sap. 5.4 5 whose life they accounted madnesse and their end disgrace shall be received into the haven of eternall securitie then then all the Bulls of Bashan shall know that al their life was but a ridiculous move-merry their pleasures but a shew their felicitie but the glympse of a shadow that those whom they had sometimes in derision and who were in their mouthes a Proverb of reproach are Gods beloved children and his most precious jewells XXIII O then where are they that thinke to overthrow the Church And when will they listen to this truth Minde they to raine downe upon the Church a deluge of
THE RIGHTEOVS MANS EVILS AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Minister of the French Church of London PSAL. 129.2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevayled against mee LONDON Printed by H. L. for Nathanael Newberry and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre in Popes-head Alley Anno 1625. TO THE RIGHT NOBLE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND RIGHT RELIgious Lord IAMES MARQVESS of HAMMILTON Earle of Arran and Cambridge Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter Counsellor of the Kings most honourable privie Councell in both Realmes of England and Scotland Lord Great Steward of his Majesties houshold c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE WHat reading of holy Scripture and of Ecclesiasticall stories what experience hath taught mee of the Righteous mans Evils and the Lords deliverances that I preached to my Church at London in nine Sermons which in this booke I have dedicated to your Honour as an acknowledgement of the heroicall and Christian vertues which shine in your most Noble and Honourable person and as an homage due to them not as having any worthinesse and excellencie from their author whereby he should presume to offer them to such a Lord in whom all things excell in worth and shine in a most eminent degree of excellencie In Empires Kingdomes States Cities Families wee read and see the truth of the Oracle which said to ATTALVS King of Bithinia THOU AND THY SON NOT THE SONS OF THY SON His Maiestie who now holdeth the raines of this peaceable and flourishing kingdome is the onely King knowne in the world by stories who can reckon neere two thousand yeeres since his roiall Ancestors of whom he is lincally descended wore Crownes and Scepters In France they thinke it much if a man can prove his Nobilitie by foure Descents Since three hundred and odde yeeres that SIR GILBERT HAMMILTON came from England to Scotland was there advanced to all titles and degrees of honours of dignities of greatnesse among the most noble and honourable of the Realme by the HEROS of those dayes and King without peere ROBERT BRVCE who had knowne in England the antiquitie of his noble house and of all men then living could best iudge of his courage martiall actes and deserts and being preferred there to the mariage of the onely Daughter to my Lord Earle of Murray the Kings Nephew by his Princely Sister became the Stocke of the illustrious Race of the HAMMILTONS in Scotland whereof your Honour is the golden head how many Descents how many generations may be reckoned The fables tell of BELLEROPHON how after he had done many feates of armes not so much by his owne wisdome and strength as by the helpe of his winged Horse called PEGASVS he waxed proud and attempting with the same wings to mount up to heaven was flung to the earth and brake his leg whereby they teach us in a mysticall sense that many after they have beene borne upon the wings of their Princes favour and thereby have done good services conceive too ambitious and proud hopes and as if favour were desert aspiring to ascend into heaven to exalt their Throne above the rest of the starres and to be like unto their Maker are cut downe to the ground in an instant where all their pompe is laid in a grave of shame and dishonour as the Scripture speaketh of the King of Babylon under the name of LVCIFER In all the ancient stories hardly shall we finde any great man whose predecessors or himselfe have not beene stained with the blot of rebellion against their Soveraignes or of some negligence of their dutie towards them But your Honours forefathers had ever their affections so addicted to our Kings that King IAMES the third with the consent of the States and applause of the whole Realme thought them worthy to be rewarded with the mariage of his onely and deare Sister whom he gave in wedlocke to IAMES Lord Hammilton of whom your Lordship is come by many lineall successions This proximitie of blood to our Kings hath ever beene to your Ancesters and to your owne selfe a most attractive Adamant drawing and tying inseparably your hearts desires wills affections duties and services to their will and desires in all innocencie and uprightnesse according to Gods commandement the practice whereof is the stay of the State and the maintainer of peace in the Church and Common-weale FEARE GOD AND THE KING AND MEDDLE NOT WITH FACTIOVS MEN. So that this may be the Poesie of the Cognizance of your Honours most ancient and honourable Family FIDEET OBSEQVIO Of this fidelitie of these long profitable and acceptable services to our Kings continued in your Lordships familie from generation to generation and most effectually confirmed by your owne generous wise and good cariage in the Court and in the State the Kings Maiestie is a most glorious witnesse and a most magnificent rewarder For that affection which his Maiestie sheweth to your Honour those Dignities wherewith hee hath honoured you namely this last of LORD STEWARD of his royall House what are they but publike testimonies of the continuation of your good faithfull and well liked services to his Maiesties Royall person to our most excellent and hopefull Prince his Royall and onely Sonne and to the states of both kingdomes In the Court you are to his Maiestie that which IOSEPH was to PHARAO King of Egypt OBADIAH to ACHAB King of Israel MORDECAI to AHASVERVS King of Persia and ELIAKIM to whom God gave the key of the house of DAVID to the good King EZECHIAH and most like unto THEODORVS in the Court of VALENS Emperour of the Orient who being come of a most ancient and noble stocke and well brought up from the Cradle was not inferiour to any of the Imperiall Court in modestie wisedome erudition and good carriage ever seemed better than the charges and places whereunto he was advanced and was the onely man whose tongue was never licentiously unbridled never spake without consideration and foresight yea was never shut through feare of danger or hope of preferment and therefore was equally loved of great and small as your Lp. for the same vertues is much respected and loved of all states and degrees in both nations For by Gods speciall and rare blessing you carry your selfe in all your demeanour at Court and abroad so wisely that I may boldly affirme that to none if not to you doth belong that rare and wonderfull praise which Cicero giveth to BRVTVS and Marcellin to PRETEXTATVS saying that they did no thing to please yet whatsoever they did pleased and that other which all men gave to ANTHEMIVS Governour to the religious Emperour ARCADIVS HE SEEMED TO BE WISE AND SO HE WAS. The Royall Prophet David saith most truly in the twelfth Psalme that wicked men walke on every side when rascals are exalted among the sonnes of men Then DAVID fleeth and DOEG triumpheth But innocencie is protected oppression is repressed the states flourish