valley and David 1 Chron. 14. v. 1â— 17. smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together they are said to be 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Mâ—st High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Virgil. l. 3. Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and The greatest Kings and Princes were most familiar with the Priests Orators and Philosophers conference with their Bishops and Priests especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and Alexander King of Macedon consulted often with Aristotle and sometimes with Diogenes the Cynick and King Pyrrhus with his dear friend Cineas So Pharaoh King of Egypt called and consulted with his Priests that were the Magicians and deemed the wise men of Egypt when Moses came to treat of God's Service And though Moses appointed 70 men of the choicest gravest and wisest men that could be found of all the Elders of Israel to be the Sanhedrim and as it were a standing Parliament to end all controversies and all the civil affairs of the Kingdom Yet when the Case of Religion came in question and the differences about God's Worship came to be decided neither the Kings of Israel nor the Kings of Juda to whom the principal care and custody of God's Laws and Service was committed did ever commend the same unto the Sanhedrim to be concluded and setled But as King David here calleth and consulteth with Nathan the Prophet about the building of God's House so when Religion was corrupted and the Service of the True God neglected in the time of King Ahab he calleth not the Sanhedrim to rectifie and redress the same but he leaves the same to be determined and adjudged betwixt the Priests of Baal and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat 1 Reg. 18. 17 18. 19 20. 2 Chron. 15. 2. 8 c. Mâ—tâ— 2. 4. and Ezechias consulted not with their lay Lords or the Sanhedrim but with Azariah the son of Oded the Prophet and with Esay and the rest of God's Prophets Nay when the Wise men came to inquire for Christ Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ shâ—uld be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Bâ—sebius Socrates Zozomen and other Ecclesiastical Historians had always some special Bishops with whom they conferred and consulted about matters of Religion as Charles the Fifth did with Cassander and Henry the Eighth with Bishop Crammer For they conceived that their Crowns had the greater Lustre when it was in conjunction with the Miter And therefore in no great Councel was the Man of God ever baulked but that they might be sure to serve God before themselves and be assured that while the Church prospered the Bishops directed and they had God and his Messengers amongst them all would go right and be safe and therefore in all or most Courts of Conscience where the Law reached not they thought none so fit as these men of conscience to decide all differences Neither could I ever find that the Church of God was so much pestered with miseries and poisoned with Errors Heresies and Sects or Divisions until the lay Lords and Gentlemen like the Long Parliament neglected their proper Offices to look into the affairs of the Common-wealth and to see Justice and Judgement truly executed among the people and began immittere falcem in alienam messem to thrust their sickles into other mens harvest and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as Esay 1. 12. The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion to chop and change Articles of Religion and to set down and compose points of faith when the Lord saith Quis requisivit haec Who hath required these things at your hands It is your duty to come into the Temple and to perform the service that David and Nathan the King and the Bishops shall prescribe unto you and to confirm those Articles of Religion and cause them in all things to be observed as the Parliament did in Queen Elizabeth's dayes the 39. Articles of our Religion when they are as those were setled and concluded by the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their Convocation for the Lord tells us plainly That the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they that is the people be they what and whom you will Sanâ—edrim of the Jews or Parliament of any other Nation should seek the Law that is the Law of God at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts that is to declare his will and to expound his Laws unto the people But what saith the Lord in this Case when the people be they what you will shall usurpe the Priests Office and begin to make new Orders and Ordinances for the Service of God that never required such things at their hands He tells them plainly You are departed out of the way and you have caused many to stumble at the Law that is by your false glosses and injoyned observations thereof and you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts that is you have wronged and quite thrown out the Bishops and Priests from their Offices which is to consult with the King to see God rightly worshipped And therefore saith the Lord I have Malach. 2. 7 8 9. also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law that is by making Religion and my Service like a nose of wax to turn which way you please when as every one should do the duties that belong unto him Curabit praelia Conon CHAP. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that
gold and pretious stones and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and 2 Chron. 32. 27. Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God and to set Levites 2 Sam. 6 17. to do the service of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers 1 Chron. 16. 4. and 37 c. and Bishops to attend the Church and to teach the people and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of 1 Reg. 15. 12. Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10. 25. And to make this more apparant and clear that all good Kings and That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of the proper place of it and was obscured and hemmed and as it were imprisoned in private houses so that the people had no publique place of Assembly to here the law and to offer Sacrifice unto God but every one had his Chappell of ease and his private Oratory by himself to serve God as he listed as now of late it hath been with us David assoon as ever he was chosen to be King in Hebron the first work he did was to consult with his Captains and all the Congregations of Israel to cite and summon the Priests and Levites and all the 1 Chron. 13. 1. 3. Clergy that were for the service of the Tabernacle to appear before him and to cause the Ark of God to be brought again unto them that they might inquire at it which they did not nor could do in the daies of Saul and when he had assembled the Children of Aaron and the Levites he shewed 1 Chron. 15. 4â— 12. Vers 11. them the abuses that Religion had sustained in the daies of Saul and he caused the Aâ—k to be carried upon the shoulders of the Levites unto the place that he had prepared for it and when he had called for Zadok and Abiathar the Priests and for the Levites for Vriel Asaiah and Joel Shemaiah and Eliol and Aminidab he did set down which of the Levites should serve and in what order they should Minister before the Ark and he injoyned 1 Chron. 16. 39. 41. 42. the sons of Aaron that were Priests how they should go forward every one in their course And so according to this Practice of King David King Solomon his son and all the succeeding Kings that were good and godly did the like for of Solomon it is recorded that he appointed according to the order of David his father the courses of the Priests to their service and the Levites to their charges to praise and Minister before the Priests as the duty of every 2 Chron. 8. 14. day required the Porters also by their courses at every gate for so David the man of God commanded And it is further Chronicled of King Solomon that what his father here projected and consulted about the building of an House to the Lord he really performed and when he 2 Chron c. 5. c. 6. c. 7. had built it he made a very godly speech and a most excellent Oration unto the people touching the Worship of God and his Religion and he deposed Abiathar and set up Sadoc in his place and Sanctified the Temple and placed the Ark of God therein and offered burnt offerings and Sacrifices and directed the Priests and Levites in all their proceedings even as his father David had done before him and that which is very observeable it is said that the Priests and Levites left nothing unobserved but did all things according as they had received in commandment from the King So likewise King Jehosophat is highly commended for his piety and Religious care of Gods Worship for it is recorded of him that he appointed and disposed the Priests and Levites to do the service of the Tabernacle and that by order of his Authority the Woods and Groves and High places which were the lets and hinderances of the true Religion were quite removed and taken away because the people by their private Meetings and Conventicles in those places to serve God as they now adayes do with us wholly neglected the Cathedral and Mother-Church which was at Hierusalem and to which they were from every corner of the Kingdom yearly 2 Chron. 17. 7 8 9. to repair And when the Service of God was corrupted and the Temple most filthily defiled through the negligence and sinfulness of the Priests King Ezechias commanded it to be purged and he caused lights to be set up incense 2 Chron. 29. per totum to be burned Sacrifices to be performed and the Brazen Serpent that was become an Idol and worshipped by the people to be broken down and consumed to ashes So King Joas reproved the Priests of his time for their excessive abuses and the insolent behaviour that was seen in them for he sequestred the oblations of the people which the Priests had unjustly and wantonly taken and appropriated to themselves and by his Royal Authority caused 2 Reg. 12. 7. them to be converted for the reparation of the Temple And King Josias to his everlasting praise shewed himself most careful to suppresse the Idolatrous Priests to purge the Church from all Idolatry and Superstition and to put the Priests and Levites in mind of their duties as you may see in 2 Reg. 23. per totum 2 Reg. 23. Obj. And if our adversaries of the Roman Church do object and say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperour or any lay-Prince to do with the Church let him rule the Common wealth and leave Religion and what belongs to God's Worship to be ordered and observed by the Pope Bishops and Priests whose Office and Calling is to take care and to see the Church of God should be sufficiently served and all holy duties holily performed And the examples alleaged infringe not the force of this Objection because David was a Prophet even as Moses was and his ordering the affairs of the Temple and setling the Service of the Church was done by vertue of his Prophetical and not of his Princely Office And Solomon was Divinely inspired
Donatists possessed were not destroyd but they were taken from them as we took ours from the Roman-Priests and were given to the Catholick Bishops And therefore why should not we use those Churches that were Religiously dedicated and Holily Consecrated for Gods service and could not themselves commit any offence nor be so Prophaned as the accursed things of Jericho or the Bullock and groves of Baal or the Churches of the Arians and Donatists to be the Temples and Sanctified Houses wherein our people should meet to hear Gods Word to pray unto him and to receive his Holy Sacrament But I remember Plutarch and Titus Livius tell us how that the Romans Plutarch in viâ— Publicolae pag. 113. Tit. Livius l. 2. pag. 57. after they had expelled Tarquinius Superbus when his son Sextus Tarquinius had most shamefully ravished Lucretia they all took a Solemn oath they would never suffer any King to Reign over them and because this was not sufficient to free them from the fear of a Regal Government the Consul Brutus in the behalf of the people makes a solemn Oration to his fellow Consul Tarquinius Collatinus to give over his Consul-ship and to depart the City to free the people from that fear because that although â—â— was a very honest man and was a principal actor in expelling Tarquinius Superbus and they could lay nothing to his charge that ever he did or said against the liberty of the people or for the Government of Kings yet seeing his name was Tarquinius the freedom of the City could not be fully secured nor the men free from the fear of Tyranny so long as a person of that name how just and innocent so ever he were continued within the City So I believe it is not for any evil that these men can or could ever espy in our Churches they cry so much and yell like Wolves against them but only for the name that they are said to be built by Roman Catholicks and that Popish Priests have served in them but it is nothing to us who built them or who served in them so we serve God aright in them this is all that we are to look unto For so we find that our Saviour Christ and his Apostles in their time frequented the Temple not that which Solomon built nor that which Zorobabel erected but that which Herod that sought our Saviours life builded Joseph Antiq. l. 15. c. 14. and beautified and that which the Scribes and Pharisees had as much as in them lay defiled with their false-glosses and the other Jews had made it a den of Thieves and though Castor and Pollux were become Idols and Matth. 21. 13. worshipped as gods among the Heathens yet Saint Paul refused not to sail in a Ship whose badge was Castor and Pollux and Saint Luke is not affraid to set down those Titles of the Paganish Idols And therefore as Eunomius was most foolish for refusing to enter into Socrat. Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 33. the Temples of the Martyrs lest he should be thought to worship the dead and Eustathius was most fantastical for detesting all publick Churches and leading his Schollers to private Conventicles in ordinary houses for fear they should be defiled with the memorial of the Saints that were mentioned in the Churches so these our brethren of the Separation are most simple for disclaiming our Churches Prayers and Ministry and like the Elder brother in the Parable hearing afar off the melody of our prayers and understanding of our intertainment into our Fathers House are very angry and will not come into Gods House for fear of infection but will convene in private houses and run abroad into the fields like Esau to hunt there for the blessing which with Jacob they might get nearer home in their Fathers House and when we would according to our injunction seek to compel them to come out of the High-waies and Hedges to the marriage of the Kings son they will waste their wealth leave their mansions and like Heliodorus the fool of Athens sail beyond the Straights of Gibraltar and make Ship-rack before the Tempest rather then they will come into Gods House whereby they might sit still under their own Vines injoy the food of their Fathers House the safe-gard of their wealth and the safety of their soules which they do hazard by their own simplicity in being like the Jews zealous but not according to knowledge CHAP. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedralls and Churches are built and beautified as is fitting for his service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochiall Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not IT is well and truly observed as the holy Scripture sheweth That although the wise God hath most mercifully decreed and accordingly exhibited and gave a Saviour in himself altogether sufficient for the saving of all Man-kind and all the lost sons of Adam and he hath most wisely and graciously taken a course on his own part and in it self also fully sufficient and appointed a course and order on mans part that being duly observed might make the same sufficiently effectuall unto all yet it so fals out that Mens destruction very many men attain not to that end for which God did send his Son to save them but are seized on by Gods Justice and cast to eternal condemnation And that chiefly by mans own default and partly in some respects through the default of his Rulers and Teachers yet so that he dies and suffers only for his own sins 1. Through their own default when Kings and Princes whom God hath 1. By their own fault appointed and set to be their Governors and Rulers do by their under-Magistrates and their just laws prohibite them from all evil and wickedness and require them to imbrace all virtues and godliness of life and to this end do appoint their substitutes the Bishops and other Teachers to guide them and to instruct them to let them know what is good and what is evil and so what they ought to believe and what not and these do faithfully discharge these Offices as Moses and Aaron David and Nathan and many other godly Kings and Bishops did yet men will not obey their Governors but Rebel like Corah Dathan and Abiram and as of late we have done Jer. 11. 21. they will not hearken to the voyce of their Teachers but say to the Prophets Prophesy not unto us and say to God himself Depart from us for we Job 21. 14. desire not the knowledge of thy Laws or they relye upon their own wisdom and
made him a man made him Emperour and he that gave him his spirit gave him his power And Irenaeus saith God ordained earthly Kingdomes for the benefit of the Gentiles Et cujus jussu homines nascuntur illius jussu reges constituuntur And by whose command That God is the ordainer of all kings Aug de Civit. Dei l. 4. c 33. men are born by his command Kings are made And S. Augustine more plainly and more fully saith God alone is the giver of all earthly Kingdomes which he giveth both to the good and to the bad neither doth he the same rashly and as it were by chance because he is God but as he seeth good Pro rerum ordine ac tempore in respect of the order of things and times which are hid from us but best known unto himself and whosoever looketh back to the original of all governments he shall find that God was the immediate authour of the Regal power and but the allower God the immediate authour of Monarchy and confirmer of the Aristocratical and all other forms of government which the people erected and the Lord permitted lest the execution of judgement should become a transgression of justice for as Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss â— And Aristotle tells us that the Regal power belonged to the father of the Aristot Polit. l. 1. c. 8. family who in the infancy of the world was so grandevous and long-liv'd that he begat such a numerous posterity as might well people a whole Nation as Cain for his own Colony built a City and was as well the King as the father of all the Inhabitants and therefore Justin saith very well that Principiâ— rerum Gentium nationumque impâ—rium penes reges erat The rule of Justin l. 1. Nations was in the hands of Kings from the beginning and the Kingly right pertaining to the father of the family the people had no more possibility in right to choose their Kings then to choose their Fathers and to make it appear unto all Nations that not onely the Kings of Israel but all other Heathen Kings are acknowledged by God himself to be of divine institution he calleth Nebuchadnezzar his servant and Cyrus Jerem. 43. 10 Esay 45. 1. his annointed And therefore though I do not wonder that ignorant fellows should be so impudent as to affirm The King or kingly government to be the Ordinance Jo. Goodwin in his Pamphlet of Anti-Gavalierism p. 5. or Creation or creature of man and to say that the Apostle supposeth the same because he saith Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King c. whereas he might well understand that the same act is oftentimes ascribed aswel to the mediate as to the immediate agent as Samuel's annointing of Saul and David Kings denieth not but that God was the immediate giver of their Kingdomes and the Authour of that regal power for God annointed Saul Captain 1 Sam. 1â— over his inheritance and by the mouth of Nathan he telleth David that he annointed him King over Israel and Solomon acknowledgeth 2 Sam. 12. 1 Reg. 2. 1 Reg. 11. 1 Sam. 11. 15. that the Lord had set him on the Seat of his Father David and Abijah in the person of God saith unto Jeroboam I will give the Kingdome unto thee and yet it is said that all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul King before the Lord and the men of Juda annointed David King of Juda and Zadock the Priest and Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 5. annointed Solomon King that is God annointed them as Master of the substance and gave unto them regal power in whom is all power primariò per se and the Prophets a â—ointed them as Masters of the Ceremony and declared that God had given them that power And therefore the power and authority of Kings is originally and primarily Constituere regem est facere ut regiam potestatem exerceret Pinedaâ— de reb Solom c. 2. as Saint Paul saith the Ordinance of God and secondarily or demonstratively it is as Saint Peter calleth it the ordinance of man when the people whose power is onely derivatively makes them Kings not by giving unto them the right of their Kingdomes but by receiving them into the possession of their right and admitting them to exercise their royal authority over them which is given them of God and therefore ought not to be withstood by any man And this Anti-Cavalier might further see that Saint Peter meaneth not that the King is the creature of man or his Office of mans Creation but that the Lawes and Commands of Kings though they be but the Commands and Ordinances of man yet are we to â—bey the same for the Lords sake because the Lord commandeth that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers Or if this will not satisfie him because the Greeks word is not so plain for this as the English yet let him look into Pareus that was no friend to Monarchy and he shall find that he doth by seven speciall reasons prove that the authority of Pareâ—s in Rom. c. 13. p. 13. 27. Kings is primarily the Ordinance of God and he quoteth these places of Scripture to confirm it Proverbs 8. 15. 2 Chron. 19. 6. Psalm 81. 6. Joh. 10. 34. Genes 9. 6. 1 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 12. 2 Kings 9. Dan. 2. 21. Job 34. 30. Eccles 10. 8. And to this very objection he answereth that the Apostle calleth the Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane Ordination or Creation not causally because it is invented by man and brought up onely by the will of men but subjectively because it is born and executed by men and objectively because it is used about the government of humane society and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the end because it is ordained of God for the good and conservation of humane kind and he saith further that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellatio the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Deum primum autorem nos revocat sheweth plainly that God is the first author of it for though the Magistrate in some sense as I shewed may be said to be created that is ordained by men yet God alone is the first Creatour of them as Aaron though he was ordained the high-Priest by Moses yet the Apostle tells us None taketh this office upon him but he that in called of God as Aaron was Yet I do admire that Buchanan or any other man of learning to satisfie the people or his own peevish opinion will so absurdly deny so divine and so well known a verity and say that any Kings have their Kingdomes and not from God so flatly contrary to all Scripture CHAP. VII Sheweth the Reasons and Examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy
station but would fain be promoted to higher dignity and because Moses and Aaron were setled in the government befâ—re them and they knew not how either to be adjoyned with them or advanced above them therefore discontent begat Envy and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reads it They envied Moses Private meetings do often produce mischief 2. This sinne being thus conceived in the womb of the heart at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mâ—tter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say We are all good we 2 Sam. 15. 3 4 are all holy and They are no better then we and as Absolon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountains unto the people if he were King so do they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happy if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the son of Pride and Discontentment is born into the world and spreads it self from the inward thought to open words Then Moses hears the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himself and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bad these rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treat and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisdom and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen And here I do observe the care and wisdom of the Prophet that at The wisdom of Moses the first appearance of their design would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had been so weakened that he had never been â—ble afterwards to defend himself to teach all Kings to beware that they yield not their Bishops and Priests unto the desires of the people which is the fore-runner of rebellion against themselves for as King Philip told the Athenians that he had no dislike to The witty tale of Demosthenes to save the Oratours and to assure all Kings that if Aarons tongue and the Prophets pen perswade not the conscience to yield obedience Moses's power and Joshua's sword may subdue the people to subjection but never retain them long without rebellion Evil men grow worse worse Vers 12. Vers 13. them but would admit them into his protection so they would deliver to him their Orators which were the fomenters of all mischief and the people were mad to do it till Demosthenes told them how the Wolf made the same Proposition unto the Sheep to become their friends and protectors so they would deliver their Dogs which were the cause of all discontent betwixt them and the Shee being already weary of their Dogs delivered them all unto the Wolves and then immediately the Wolves spared neither Sheep nor Lambs but tore them in pieces without resistance even so when any King yieldeth his Bishops unto the peoples Votes he may fear ere long to feel the smart of this great mistake Therefore Moses wisely delivereth not his brother but stoutly defendeth him who he knew had no wayes offended them and offered if they came to a convenient place to make this plain to all the people But as evil weeds grow apace and lewd sons will not be kept under so the more Moses sought to suppresse this sinne the faster it grew and spread it self to many branches from secret muttering to open rayling from inward discontent to outward disobedience They tell them plainly to their faces they will not come è Castris from their strong holds they accuse them falsely that Moses their Prince aymed at nothing but their destruction and to that end had brought them out of a good land to be killed in the wildernesse and contemning them most scornfully in the face of all the people whatsoever Moses bids them do they resolve to do the contrary So now Moses well might say with the Poet Moses is in a strait Fluctibus hic tumidus â—ubibâ—bus ille minax Quocunque aspicio nihil est nisi pontus aether And therefore it was high time this evil Weed should be rooted out or else the good corn shall be choaked these Rebels must be destroyed or they will destroy the Governours of Gods people and Moses now must wax angry Nam debet amor laesus irasci otherwise his meeknesse had been stupidnesse and his mercy had proved little better then cruelty when as to spare the Wolfe is to spoile the Sheep and because these great Rebels had with Absolon by their false accusations of their Governours and their subtle insinuations into the affections of the people stole away the hearts of many men therefore Moses must call for aid from Heaven and say Exsurgat Deus And let him that hath sent me now defend me So God must be the decider of this dissention as you may see he was in the next verse And by this you find Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did and how their sin was not Simplex peccatum but Morbus cumulatus a very Chaoâ— and an heap of confused iniquity for here is 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering The ten fold sin of rebels 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Rebellion A Monster indeed that is a ten-headed or ten-horned beast 1. Pride which bred the distraction in the Primitive Church and will 1. Pride be the destruction of any Church of any Common-wealth was the first seed of their rebellion for the humble man will easily be governed but the proud heart like a sturdy Oak will rather break then bend 2. Discontent was the second step and that is a most vexatious vice for 2. Discontent though contentation is a rare blessing because it ariseth either from a frâ—ition of all comforts as it is in the glorious in Heaven or a not desiring of The poyson â—f discontent that which they have not as it is in the Saints on earth yet discontent is that which annointeth all our joyes with Aloes for though life be naturally sweet yet a little
Idolatry nor any other injury or tyranny should move us to rebell 196 CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane reason and the welfare of the Weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A three fold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of Tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 201 CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates nor the greatest Peers of the Kingdom may take arms and make War against their King Buchanan's Mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 207 CHAP. VII Sheweth the reasons and the examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full Answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy inferiour Magistrates have no power but what is derived from the superrour and the ill successe of all rebellious resisting of our Kings 214 CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Parliament hath no power to make War against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth 220 CHAP. IX Sheweth the unanimous consent and testimonies of many famous learned men and Martyrs both ancient and modern that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine 225 CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they war against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical Disswasion from Rebellion 230 CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten several steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envying 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the ways to all Râ—bellion and the reasons which move them to rebell 235 CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do batch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 242 The particular Books that the Authour hath formerly Published and are sold by Phil. Stephens the elder and Phil. Stephens the younger at their Shops in Saint Pauls Church-yard and Fleet-street 1. A Large Book in Folio Intituled The best Religion Comprehending 1. The Resolution of Pilate touching the Super-scription on Christ his Crosse 2. The delights of the Saints which are Grace and Peace 3. The 7. golden Candlesticks holding the 7. greatest lights of Christian Religion videlicet 1. The miseries of man 2. The knowledg of God 3. The Incarnation 4. The Passion 5. The Resurrection 6. The Ascension 7. The duty of Christians of Christ And the Donation or Mission of the holy Ghost 15. Sermons preached before King James and King Charles and at Pauls Crosse and upon several occasions 2. Another large book in Folio Intituled The true Church and divided into six Books 1. Treating of the visibility quality and unity of the Church 2. and 3. Expounding the ten Commandements 4. Shewing the Intention of the Prophets to expound the Law to prophesy of the Gospeâ— 2. The summe of the Gospel which is 1. Justification 2. Sanctification 5. Shewing the sincerity of the Scriptures the uncertainty of Traditions the fruits of Christianity good works the calling of the Gentiles and the gathering of the Jewes 6. Shewing 1. the Governours of Gods Church the Magistrates and Ministers 2. the task of Church-governours and 3. the quality of Christians 3. The great Antichrist revealed never till now discovered and proved to be neither Pope nor Turk but a multitude of most wicked men that have killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ Moses and Aaron Magistrate and Minister King and Priest 4. Seven Treatises to prevent the seven last Vials of Gods wrath that are to be powred down upon the earth 1. The monstrous murder of the most righteous King 2. The Tragedy of Zimri that slew his King and his Master 3. Gods warre with the wicked Traytors Rebels c. 4. The lively picture of these lewd times 5. The properties and Prerogatives of Gods Saints 6. The chiefest duties of every Christian man 7. The true cause why we should love God THE DISCOVERY OF MYSTERIES OR The Plots and Practices of a prevalent Faction in the Long PARLIAMENT To overthrow the established Religion and the well-setled Government of this glorious Church and to introduce a new framed Discipline not yet agreed upon by themselves what it shall be to set up a new-invented Religion patched together of Anabaptistical and Brownistical Tenets and many other new and old Errors And also To subvert the fundamental Laws of this famous Kingdom by devesting our King of His just Rights and unquestionable Royall Prerogatives and depriving the Subjects of the propriety of their goods and the Liberty of their persons and under the name of the Priviledge of Parliament to exchange that excellent Monarchial Government of this Nation into the Tyrannical Government of a Faction prevailing over the major part of their well-meaning Brethren to Vote and Order things full of all injustice oppression and cruelty as may appear out of many by these few subsequent collections of their Proceedings By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS Lord Bishop of Ossory London Printed for Phil. Stephens the younger 1663. TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yeâ— the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te vidère superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of the Captain of the hoast of the Lord so I say to you that are his Lieftenant Ride on with your honor or ride prosperously Because of the word of truth of meekness and righteousness the people shall be subdued unto you and because the King putteth his trust in the Lord and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry especially while he fighteth as he doth the battail of the Lord in defence of the Church of Christ who hath promised to be his
the Church or to take away the lands or houses of the Church which â—s a sin so daâ—â—â—rous to themselves so prejudicâ—all to the Church and so â—minous to the Common-wealth And let them remember what I said before that if Pharaoh in the time of that great famine which was in Aegypt made such provision for the Priests Gen. 47. that although all the other his subjects were constrained to sell their lands for sustenance yet the lands of the Priests were not sold neither had any of them any need to sell them and if Popish Priests that either preached not at all or preached their own traditions or some fabulous narrations and fictions out of their legends were so riâ—hly kept and still are in France Spaine and Italy on Saint Peters patrimony Why should they deal so hardly and so niggardly with the Ministers of the Gospel that do sincerely Preach the truth of Jesus Christ unto their people as to sell unto them or take away from them that little which is left and is most due unto them Or if all this will not serve to withdraw them from this sin let them take heed of the Prophets woe that crieth out against all such dealers saying Vae accumulanti non sua Woe be to him that heapeth together those Hab. 2. 6. things that are none of his own and especially those things that are the Churches goods for he shall find that this gain doth ever bring a rod at its back When as Zophar saith God shall cause him to vomit up that which he hath devoured and shall cast them out of his belly and render vengeance to Job 20. 15. him for the detriment and injury that he hath done to his Church and servants And this vengeance Saint Augustine noteth to be more grievous than the The punishment of Sacrilodge greater then the punishment of Idolatry Exod. 20. 2 Reg. 5. 27. punishment of Idolatry for whereas God threateneth to punish Idolaters but to the third and fourth Generation we find that the Sacriledge of Jeroboam in selling the Priests Office provoked God to root out his house and all his posterity from off the earth and the simony of Gehezi was punished with such a Leprosy as stuck both upon himself and upon all his whole seed for ever And no marvell that this sin of Sacriledge should be so odious unto God Why Sacriledge is so odious to God and so prejudiciall and infestuous to man and so infestuous and pernitious unto man because that although other sins as Idolatry Murder Adultery Theft and the like may be said to be but as it were private and particular sins that infect none or but few besides the doers of them yet this sin of Sacriledge is a publick and a far-spreading sin not only against some particular persons but against a multitude of men and against the whole body of Religion when by defrauding and taking away the maintenance of the Ministers the whole Ministry of Gods service is impaired and suffered nay caused to be neglected and decayed whereby not only Idolatry and false worship hath an open gap and How Sacriledge bringeth forth Atheism Idolatry and all Wickedness a broad way of entrance into Gods Church but also Atheism and no worship of God but all corruption and lewdness must be the chiefest fruit that can grow upon this accursed tree of Sacriledge when either the Souldiers or any others of the Lords or Gentry take the lands and houses of God into their possessions or the covetous Patrons do sell and make Merchandize of any Ecclesiastical preferment 2. As the irreligious Patrons do offend in selling the Ministers living 2. The Sacriledge of the people that he should freely bestow upon him so the Parishioners are as ready and as greedy to detain and keep back that right which is due to the Priest by Gods law and the Minister hath also bought from his Patron as the Patron was to sell what he should give And it is strange to think how witty they are to go to Hell if God be not the more mercifull unto them to hold them from it What shifts and tricks they have to hold back their hands from paying their Tythes and how loath they are to set out their Tythes and think all that lost that is laid out for the Priest But alas they should know that herein they deceive not us alone that are the Priests but their own souls also that are more damnified by this their Sacriledge then the Priests can be by the loss of their Tythes because that hereby they rob not men but God himself for that the Priests are but the Lords Receivers and his Rent gatherers of that small acknowledgment The Ministers are Gods Rent gatherers which he requires from us his Tenants at will for all the great things he gives to us to be repaid to him again as the testimony of our duty and thankfulness and the stipend that he hath allotted to them that are to serve him at his Altar And therefore when the Israelites gave unto their Levites as our people in many places do give unto their Preachers the blind the lame and the maymed the leanest Lamb and the leightest Sheave the Lord complaineth that they robbed and spoiled him in Tythes and Offerings Mal. 3. 8 10. Lev. 27. 30. because the Lord saith directly that all the Tythe of the Land is the Lords and all that is Holy unto the Lord. But seeing that this Sacrilegious Age hath produced and brought forth tot manus auferendi so many hands to take away the rights of the Church and so many tongues to speak against and adversaries to oppose the truth of the Doctrine of Tythes and to take away the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church I shall leave it to be more fully handled towards the latter end of this discourse and Declaration against Sacriledge CHAP. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam. 7. 1 2. and their division when they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two persons that are here conferring together IF you look into the 2 of Sam. 7. 1 2. verses you shall find it thus written Alterward When the King sate in his House and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies The King said unto Nathan the Prophet Behold now I dwell in a house of Cedar trees and the Ark of God remaineth in the Curtains and so forth For the better understanding of which words you may observe that the sum of this whole Chapter is 3. fold and containeth these 3. parts 1. Davids deliberation The summ of the Chapter 3. fold 2. Nathans replication 3. Davids gratulation 1. The Deliberation is about an Oratory and Temple or House to 1. The Deliberation be Erected and Dedicated to God for his servants to meet in to worship him and this is delivered
unto us in the two first verses here set down 2. The Replication of the Prophet is two fold 1. Affirmative and erronious or mistaken vers 3. 2. The Replication 2. Negative and right from the 3. vers to the 18. 3. The gratulation is in an humble acknowledgement and a grateful remembrance 3. The Gratulation of the fore-passed benefits of God with an earnest and hearty prayer put up to God for the continuance of his favour unto him from the 18. verse to the end of the Chapter And I shall here treat of no more than of the deliberation or the Prophets consideration what he intended to do touching which we are to observe these three things 1. The time which hath a twofold manifestation of it 1. When he sate in his house The 3. things observable in the deliberation 2. When he was safe from his enemies 2. The Persons deliberating and they are 2. 1. David the King 2. Nathan the Prophet 3. The matter deliberated and considered of betwixt the Prince and the Prophet and that was the meanness and baseness of the then House of God and therefore he would be at the cost and charges to make it beautiful and to erect him an House befitting the Majesty and greatness of God And this his good intention he justifieth and confirmeth the same to be both honest and good by the consequent of Congruity that it was fit it should be so in respect of a double comparison 1. Of himself with God 2. Of his Court with God's Ark. 1. I that am but a poor creature have an house to dwell in and God 1. Reason that is the Creator of all the World hath not an House to put his Ark in and for his servants to meet in to hear his Laws and to do him service 2. My Court is stately covered over with Cedars but the Ark of God 2. Reason is but very meanly and basely covered over with a Canopie of skins to shelter it from the wind and the weather And therefore conceiving this to be very preposterous and a far unbeseeming thing for him to be better provided for than his God he conferreth with the Prophet and tells him he intends to rectifie this obliquity and to build God an House more agreeable to his Majesty These are the parts and parcels of the Kings deliberation and conference with the Prophet and his Bishop Nathan And 1. For the time It is said when the King sate in his house and the Lord had 1 The time of this deliberation How Sitting Standing are commonly interpreted Ezech. 3. 24. 1 Cor. 10. 12. 2 Cor. â—â— 24. Ephes 6. 14. 1 Pet. 5. 12. Ps 135. 1 2. Ps 122. 2. 2 Reg. 3. 14. given him rest round about from all his enemies So you see 1. It was when the King sate in his house and these relative words sitting and standing are noted by Divines to have some difference of sense and acceptation As standing being commonly taken in good part and sitting in the evil and worser sense as in these places where standing is well spoken of The Spirit entred into me and set me upon my feet and he that thinketh he standeth let him take heed lest he fall and stand in the Lord as dear children and by faith ye stand and stand having your loynes girt about with truth and this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand and praise the Lord all ye his servants ye that stand in the courts of the Lords House and our feet shall stand in thy gates O Hierâ—salem and the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand In all which quotations and the like the word standing hath reference unto good and is taken in the better sense and so to be interpreted And in these places and the like where the name of sitting runneth into obloquie and is attributed to iniquity Iniquity sitteth on a talent of lead and Princes sit and speak against me Zach 5. 7. Ps 119. Ps 1. and Blessed is the man that hath not sate in the seat of the scornful and the ungodly person sitteth lurking in the theevish corners of the streets and so in may other places it is interpreted in the worse sense But here the word sate in his house is of a milder meaning and of indifferent How the word sate is here taken acceptation and rather to be interpreted in the better sense as betokening the government of the King for so the King sate in his house signifieth that he sate in his Seat of Government and this sense hath been ancient and obvious in our reading as where the Poet saith Celsa sedet Aeolus arce King Aeolus sitteth in his high Tower and manageth his State-matters and in the Germane speech they say that to sit signifieth to reign as the Emperour sate that is reigned so many years And this is the moderne meaning of this phrase even amongst us for when we would shew how long any one hath exercised the Office and discharged the Place of a Bishop Judge or Prefect amongst us we are wont to say he sate in that place so long And to sit commonly signifieth to be in rest and quiet and is opposite to affairs and businesse As where it is said Shall your brethren go to battle and you sit still And where the Poet saith Sedeant spectentque Latini Let the Latines sit still and look on And in both these senses King David may be said to sit in his house without any great matter in which sense we understand the word though I rather take it in the later way because that 2. The next adjunct of the time is when the Lord had given him rest 2. When was the time that David had rest from all his enemies from all his enemies for this varieth little or nothing from the former when he sate in his house And therefore we may very well compose them and confound them together and put them to signifie the same thing But about this rest that is here spoken of the Expositors cannot all agree when it was whilest they do consider the many Battels that he fought after this conference that he had with Nathan and therefore though some take it for the peace he had at this present time yet others of a quicker sight do assign it after the second Victory he had against the Philistines when he was such an hammer so terrible to all the neighbour-Nations as that the very name of David and his doings made them afraid and glad to sue unto him for peace and to take bands of resolution with themselves to be of good behaviour towards him and never to provoke him any more And of this we read in 1 Chron. 14. 11. when the Philistines came up to Baal-Perazim and David smote them and said God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters and afterward when they spread themselves abroad in the
God should be justly and religiously served THirdly having seen the times and the persons that consulted and conferred 3. The matter about which they consulted together we are now to consider the fruits and effects that this quiet sitting at rest and peaceable times wrought in David and what was the matter that these two grave and great Persons do so seriously deliberate What peace prosperity usually produce and consult about And most commonly we find that rest and peace have been the bane and surfeit of the mind to puff it up with pride and prosperity hath often choaked piety and plenty hath made Religion to pine away and to be cast upon a bed of security as Jezabel was cast upon a bed of fornication For so Moses saith of the Israelites Dilectus meus impinguatus recalcitravit My beloved fed fatted and inlarged kicked with Deut. 32. 15. their heels or Jesuru◠waxed fat and kicked and then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation And as the Poet saith Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis Ovid. de arte Am. l. 2. Nec facile est aequâ commoda mente pati Our hearts do swell and our minds grow luxurious and riotous when our affairs do prosper and all things succeed as our hearts desire and have rest Our peace and plenty made us wanton and our wantonness brought our wars upon us and peace as now David had round about us And so indeed it fell out with our selves in these Kingdoms now of late our peace and our plenty hath undone us by making us too wanton to rebell against our King to provoke our God to scourge us for that our Wantonness and Rebellion And therefore S. Augustine saith most truly Magnae virtutis est cum faelicitate luctari ne illiciat ne corrumpat ne ipsa subvertat foelicitas it is a point of great virtue to strive with felicity lest it inticeth us corrupteth us and overthroweth us and so it is a great felicity and happiness not to be overcome with felicity or not to be undone with prosperity as many Men Towns and Kingdoms have been many times for as the said Poet saith Tum cum tristis erat defensa est Ilion armis Troy in her adversity was well defended but alas Militibus gravidum laeta recepit equum But sitting and jocond she was destroyed And so it is with many Quam facile cadunt splendidae fortuna How king Davids peace and plenty increased his Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their fair fortunes makes them to fall But it was not thus now with King David for his Rest begat Religion in him and his peace plenty and prosperity increased his Piety and as he delighteth to recount Gods benefits so he considereth how he may show his thankfulness for them and therefore he thus museth and meditateth on the matter God hath given me a Kingdom and a Royall stately House built of Cedars The summ and substance of Davids deliberation in that Kingdom Therefore I will build an House for him and he hath given me rest round about therefore I will prepare a place for his Ark which he ordained to be the sign and symbole of his presence and which hitherto hath had no resting place but many a sad and wearisome perambulations that now at last it may rest and be no more forced to be transported and carried from place to place For though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique potenter God himself hath an ubiquity of presence being essentially full and filling all places Supra coelos non elatus subter terram non depressus non exclusus nec circumscriptus yet because his gratious and his powerfull presence is promised to be and to be shewed and extended in a speciall 2 Chron. 6. 41. manner in some places more and rather then in other places and that place specially is where his Ark resideth and which is called the Ark of his Exod. 30. 26 strength and the Ark of his Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony because he Covenanted and promised by the tables of that Covenant and the Hebr. 9. 4. other symbols of his presence that were kept in that Ark to be present and assistant and most powerfully to bless and protect all those that kept the Covenant and observed those Testimonies that were preserved in that Ark therefore saith David In requital of Gods favours shewed unto me I will build a House for Gods Ark that so the tables of the Covenant betwixt God and his people and the Manna and the rod of Aaron which were to be kept in the Ark might be the more safely preserved and rest in one place without any more wandering and the people and servants of God which are obliged and commanded to come to serve God and to bring their offerings and oblations to offer unto God before the Ark where it should be might be the more certain of the place of its residence and might with the more conveniency and in a far better manner perform their duties and discharge their service unto God then while the Ark wandered from place to place And this was the result and summ of Davids deliberation and conference with the Prophet Nathan And it is no wounder that King David was so Religious and so punctual The excellency of Religion which is the preserver of all happiness in all particulars appertaining to Religion and the service of God because Religion as one truly saith is as the Poles of the World the Arctick and Antarctick or that Mount Atlas which the Poets say holds up Heaven for it stands on earth and it reacheth to God in Heaven and it is that which poyseth all Societies and all states here below for without the faith and belief of Gods Providence to oversee our actions and then to reckon for our transgressions and to punish the delinquents might craft and falshood would sway in the World alike with men as it is with the Beasts of the field and the Fishes of the Sea and the Conscience of good and evil would be all one and Religion is that which enobleth the noblest man erects his affections and estates him in a state of happiness far above nature and in a word this procures all blessings to light upon us So that whether you aime at the spiritual true and eternal felicity or the civill-Weale and temporall happiness only yet Religion is and ought mainly to be magnified and preserved and therfore the King did most wisely and Religiously call the Prophet to consult about the building of an House for the Ark and for the service of God What Davids example should teach all other Princes And this practice of King David is a pattern and a looking-glass for all Kings and Princes whereby they may see how to spend the times of peace and prosperity to their best profit and advantage and that is 1. Not to
by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the Prophet Esay to direct him in the puâ—ging of the Temple and Râ—formation of those abuses that had crepâ—â—â— into the Service of God To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in Sol. and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3. c. 51. iis divinâ—tùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil noâ— only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have referâ—nce to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands and submitt themselves in all obedience That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands directions of their Kings civil Governours to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot And I would the Pope would Exod 32. 22. do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duâ—ies and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the Obj. things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitâ—tes praestantiores â—sse secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1. 16. Rom. 13 12. And though thâ— light of the Church be the greater yet that proves not but that the King should be the prime and chief Governoâ— of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secâ—lar State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pâ—llar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and Sol. similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Isidorus in â—lâ—ssa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiastiâ—ae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular you must not so understand it Balsamon in Sextâ— Synodo Canonâ— 7. as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be
ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differenâ—es among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. the Roman Church doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regal power is only coâ—poral and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Wâ—ich is most false 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples Obj. nihil ponunt in esse and are no apodictical proofs for any weighty matters especially the examples of the old Testament to confirm the doing of the like things under the new Testament because that for us to be guided and directed by the examples of the old Law is the high-way to lead us to infinite inconveniences Therefore it followeth not that because the Kings of Israel and Juda did such things as are fore shewed unto the Priests and Levites and the setling of the Service in the Temple therefore our Moderne Princes should have the like Authority to do the like things unto the Bishops and Priests of the new Testament about the Worship of God and the Government of his Church and especially in the censuring of them that are appointed by Christ to be the Prime Governours of the same To this I answer 1. That this is as the Schooles say Petitio principii and Sol. a begging of the Question for we say that although for the pâ—rfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying or building up of Ephes 4. 12. the body of Christ that is the Church God hath set in his Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and so Bishops and Priests 1 Cor. 12. 28. primarily and principally to discharge the aforesaid Offices and Duties yet this proveth not that they are simply and absolutely the Prime Governours and Chief Rulers of the Church but that the Kings and Princes in the In what sense the Bishops Priests and in what sense Kings Princes may be said to be the prime Governours of the Church Esay 49. 23. other respects aforenamed may be justly said to be the Prime and Supreme Goverâ—ours as well in all causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal for the Prophet Esay speaking of the Church of the Gospel saith That Kings should be her nursing fathers and Qâ—eens her nursing mothers And I hope you will yield that the fathers and mothers are the Prime and Supremest Governours of their children rather than their School-masters and Teachers But though the progeny of the Pope and our frantick Sectaries would fain thrust out the eyes of the politick Prince and make him just like Polyphemus that had a body of vast dimensions but of a single fight scarce able to see his wayes and to govern himself yet I shall by God's assistance make it most apparent unto you by the testimony of the Fathers Councils and some Popish Authors that the Soveraign Prince hath and ought to have alwayes a peremptory Supreme power as well over the Ecclesiastical persons and causes of the Church as over the Civil persons and causes of the Temporal State and Common-wealth For 1. S. Augustine writing against Parmenian the Donatist that would with 1. The testimony of the Fathers Aug. p. 1. Cont. Epistâ—lam Parmon our Disciplinarians that are the very brood of those Donatists unarme the King of his Spiritual Sword saith An forte de Religione fas non est ut dicat Imperator vel quos miserit Imperator Cur ergo ad Imperatorem vestri venerunt legati Cur eum fecerunt causae suâ— judicem Is it not lawful for the Emperour and so the Prince or whomsoever he shall send to treat and determine matters of Religion If you think it is not Why did your Messengers then come unto the Emperour And why did they make him the Judge of their cause Whereby you see S. Augustine judgeth the Emperour or any other Supreme Prince to have a lawful power to hear and to determine the points and matters controverted among the Bishops and so to have a Spiritual jurisdiction as well as a Temporal Nicephorus also in his Preface to the Emperour Immanuel saith Tues Nicephorus in praefatione ad Immanuel Imperat Dux professionis fidei nostrae tu restituisti Catholiâ—am Ecclesiam reformasti Ecclesiam Dei à mercatoribus coelestis Doctrinae ab hâ—reticis per verbum veritatis Thou art the Captain of our Profession and of the Christian Faith and thou hast Restored or Reformed the Catholick Church and cleansed it from those Merchants of the heavenly Doctrine and from all the Hereticks by the word of Truth And I think nothing can be said fuâ—â—er and clearer than this to justifie the Spiritual jurisdiction of the Prince and Supreme Magistrate in causes Ecclesiastical Yet Theodoret and Eusebius say as much Theodoretus l. 1 c. 7. of Constantine the Great 2. You may read in the Council of Chalcedon That all the Bishops and 2. The testimony of the Councils Clergy that were gathered together to that place as the Members of our Parliament use to do were wont to lay down the Canons they had agreed upon in the Council until the Emperour should come to confirm them with his Royal assent and when the Emperour came they said These Decrees seem good unto us if they seem so to your Sacred Mâ—jesty And the Bishops of the Council of Constantinople that was after the first Council of Ephesâ—s Concil Chalcedon Artic. 1. pag. 831. wrote thus submissively unto the Emperour Theodosius We humbly beseech your Clemency that as you have honoured the Church with your Letters by which you have called us together Ita finalem conclusionem decretorum nostrorum corrobores sententia tua sigillo So you would be pleased to strengthen and confirm the last conclusion of our Decrees by your Royal
Government of the Common-wealth CHAP. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the function and to do the Offices of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a speciall care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge their duties of Gods service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time BUt as God hath given unto the Kings and Princes of this world a Power and Authority as well over his Church and Church-men be they Prophets Apostles Bishops Priests or what you will as over the Common wealth and all the lay persons of their Dominions So they ought and are bound to have a special care of Religion and to discharge their duties for the glory of God the good of his Church the promoting of the Christian Faith and the rooting up of all Sects and Heresies that defile and corrupt the same for as Saint Augustine saith and I shewed you before In Aug. contra Crescon l. 3. c. 51. hoc Reges Deo serviunt herein Kings and Princes do serve God if as they are Kings they injoyn the things that are good and inhibit those things that are evil and that Non solum in iis quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem sed etiam ad divinam Religionem and again he saith that Kings do serve Idem Epist 48. Christ here on earth when they do make good laws for Christ and Athanasius said unto the Emperour Jovinian Conveniens est pro principe studium amor rerum divinarum It is meet and convenient for a good Prince to study and love Heavenly things because that in so doing his heart shall be alwaies as Solomon saith in manu Dei in the hand of God and Saint Theodoret l. 4. c. 3. Cyrill tells the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian that Ab ea quae erga Deum est pietate reipublicae vestrae status pendet the state and condition of Prov. 21. 1. their Common-wealth doth wholly depend according to that piety and Religion which they bear towards God Because as Cardan truely saith Cardanus do sapientia lib. 3. Summum praesidium Regni est justitia ob apertos tumultus Religio ob occultos Justice is the best defence of a Kingdom and the suppressor of open tumults because righteousness exalteth a Nation and Religion is the only Protector and safety against all secret and privy Machinations because as Minutius Minut. Fâ—l in Octav. Foelix saith What the Civil Magistrate doth with the sword of justice to suppress the nefarious doers and actours of wickedness Religion rooteth The want of the fear of God the only thing that maketh Rebells out and suppresseth the very thought of evil which a Godly and a Religious man feareth as much and more then a wicked and prophane man doth dread the punishment of his offence and so Religion Piety and the fear of God keepeth the very hearts and souls of the subjects from swelling against their Soveraign and from the least evil thought of Rebellion and it is the want of the fear of God and true Religion whatsoever men pretend that makes Rebels and Traytors in every place because the true Religion Rom. 13. 1. tels us plainly that every soul that is every man unfainedly from his heart should be subject to the Higher Powers And the true Religion teacheth us as Tertull. saith Colere Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum Tertul. ad Scapul solo Deo minorem To acknowledge and to serve the Emperour and so our King and our Prince as the next person to God and inferior to none but to God When as he is Omnibus major solo Deo minor above all men and below none but only God And therefore it is most requisite that all Kings and Princes should have How requisite it is for Kings to have a care to preserve Religion care of the true Religion and the service of God and with the Prophet David to build Temples and Churches for him that hath given their Crowns and Thrones unto them and to provide maintenance for those servants of God that serve at his Temple as they do for those that serve themselves and so both to be Religious themselves and to see that their subjects so far as it lieth in them should be so likewise and this their own piety and goodness in the service of God will make them famous amongst all posterities and their names to shine as the Sun when as Saint Ambrose saith Nihil honorificentius quà m ut Imperator filius Dei dicatur nothing Ambrosius Epist 32. can be more honorable then that the Emperour or King should be named and called the Son of God which is a more glorious Eâ—logie then Homer The fruits and benefits of maintaining true Religion in a kingdom could give to the best Heroes of all Greece or that Alexander Julius Caesar or the like could atchieve by all their military exploits or the best domestick actions that they have done and their making provision for the Teachers of the true Religion and the promoters of Gods service the Bishops and Ministers of Christ his Church which makes their subjects both Loyall and obedient unto them and also Religious towards God will preserve the peace and procure the happiness of their Kingdoms And according as God hath given this Authority and laid this charge How many former kings were very zealous to uphold Religion upon all Kings and Princes to have a care of his Religion and the Ministers of his Church so we find very very many both in former times and also of latter years and so both of Gentiles Jews and Christians that were exceeding zealous for the Honor of God and the upholding of them that served at his Altar as 1. Gentile kings 1. The Gentile Kings as Pharaoh King of Egypt that in the extremity of that dearth which swallowed the whole Land he made provision for Gods Priests so that they neither wanted means nor were driven to sell The great bounty of king Croesus to the god Apollo and to his Priests their Lands And so Croesus King of Lydia was so wounderfull zealous of the Honor and the worship of the god of Delphos and so bountifull to Apollo's Priests that Herodotus saith that he made oblation of three thousand choice Cattel such as might lawfully be offered and caused a great stack of wood to be made wherein he burnt Bedsteads of Silver and Gold and Golden Maysors with purple rayment and Coats of exceeding value and he laid the like charge upon the Lydians that every man should consecrate those Jewels which he possessed most costly and pretious from which their Sacrifice when as the streams of liquid and molten Gold distrained in great abundance he caused thereof to be framed half slates or sheards
made him like John Baptist to be Magnus coram Domino Great in the sight of the Lord as for his Potency that made him Great among men And Eusebius that wrote the Life of Constantine and sets down his Piety saith The Court of the Emperour Valerian was so replenished with godly men and religious Christians that it seemed to be the Church of God rather than the Kings Court So great a care had he of Religion and the Service of God that as the Prophet David saith none should be his servants that served not God Psal 101. 9. but whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant said this good Emperdu◠as good King David said before him And the Emperour Jovinian that succeeded Julian the Apostate who withdrew very many from the Christian Religion to imbrace the idolatrous service and superstitions of the Heathens when he attained unto the Empire said to the people That he would be a King of Christians or he would be no King at all And Alphonsus King of Arragon is made Famous in all Chronicles for the great love he bare to Learning and especially for the great zeal he had to the Christian Religion and the great care he took to promote the Gospel of Christ and to provide for his servants and when some other King said unto him That it was too base an office for a King to trouble himself with such affairs Alphonsus answered Vox bovis ista est potius quà m regis That voice seemed to him to be the voice of an Oxe rather than of a King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the vassals of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as these pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine hath not That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane and King Canutus Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Common-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth are most excellent for the execution Speed quo supra pag. 384. of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that alle honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be
laid nor her walls erected in blood he should not build his Temple but Solomon his son that was a Prince of Peace should erect it in the Place that he appointed and with the materialls that he had provided and so he did as you may see 2 Chron. c. 3. 4 5. And when this Temple was destroyed and the people for their sins and neglect of Gods service and prophanation of this House of God were led Captives into Babylon and when after the time of their Captivity was expired that is the full space of 70. years they were permitted to return into their own Land the Lord did put it into the heart of Cyrus King of Persia as the Prophet Esay fore-shewed he should do long before the birth of Cyrus to cause Ezra Zerubâ—abel Nehemiah and the rest of the Elders of the Jews to build another House and Temple unto God in the same place where Salomons Temple did stand and when the enemies of Gods people and the prophaners of Gods House like our malignants sought to hinder the building of it the Lord put it in the heart of Darius and his son Artaxerxes to cause it to be finished according to the decree Ezra 6. 1â— of King Cyrus And the Jews were so zealous to do it that they made an end of the work in five years and so by reason of their enemies and their haste it was far disproportionable and different from the former which made the old men that had seen the glory and beauty of the first to weep and lament at the mean aspect of the second And yet it was not so mean but Josephus Antiq. l. 15. c. ult that it might be admired for the beauty and majesty of it especially after that Herod sirnamed the Great had repaired inlarged and so magnificently beautified the same so that one of his disciples in admiration of Mark 13. 1. the work saith to Christ Master See what manner of stones and what Matth. 24. 1. buildings are here And the Jews tell him that it was forty six years in building before it was brought to that perfection which Zorobabel did Joh. 2. 20. unto it Cum inchâ—atum erat in secundo anno Cyri qui regnavit annis 30. Joseph Antiq. l. 11. c. 4. Et post cum Cambyses regnavit annis 8. Et absolutum erat Darii Histaspis anno 9. Et sic dempto primo anno Cyri remanent anni 46. sicut Judaei dicunt For of this Temple the Jewes here do speak as Theophlact Tolet and Calvin do observe To this Temple and Metropolitan-Church the Jews were all required Exod. 23. 17. 34. 23. 24. to meet and to appear before the Lord to do him service three times every year and because these times were too seldom and the waies too far for them to come from all the parts of Jury any oftner they had from time to time many Synagogues and Chappels like our Parochiall Churches Act 13. 27. c. 15. 21. wherein they might publickly meet as they did every Sabbath to serve the Lord and because this Cathedrall Church the Temple of the High Priest Origo â—arum tempore captivitatis Babylonicae cepit Sigon de rep l. 2. c. 8. though very large and spacious yet was not sufficient to contain the many thousands of people that were in the great City of Jerusalem they had very many Synagogues set up in this City and Paulus Phagius recounteth no less then 400 of them And Sigonius saith there were 480. And out of Jerusalem they had many Synagogues in other Cities and Provinces as there were Synagogues in Galilee Matth. 4 23. Synagogues in Damascus Sigon de repuh Heb l. 2. c. 8. Maimon in Typhil c. 11. Sect. 1. ex Goodw. Act. 9. 2. Synagogues at Salamis Act. 13. 5. Synagogues at Antioch Act. 13. 14. And their Tradition is saith Maimonides that wheresoever ten men of Israel were there ought to be built a Synagogue and the Jews acknowledged it a great favour and were very thankfull to any man that built them any of these Synagogues as the Elders of the Jews besought Christ to heal the servant of the Centurion because He loved Luk 7. 5. their Nation and had built them a Synagogue And I would our men would be as glad and as desirous to have our decayed Churches built and not to make such havock to destroy them as they do and that without any cause in the World For You may see how Christ himself and his Apostles came and taught very often not only in the Temple but also in these lâ—sser Synagogues of the Jews and it is admirable to consider how the primitive Christians as Eusebius Euseb l. 10. c. 3. 4. recordeth erected such Oratories and Basilicaes that is Royall-houses and Churches as stately as any Kings Palace and beautified the same with excessive charges to make them fit places for the publick meetings of the Christians to serve their God and so the Church of Saint Paul in London and of Saint Peter in Westminster and the rest of the Cathedrall Churches throughout England and Ireland to pass no further can bear sufficient witness of the zeal and devotion of our Christian predecessors to erect such Mâ—gnos magnà decent Great and adorn such Beautifull Houses unto God as became so great and so glorious a God as our God is to have And as the number of the Christians waxed daily beyond number and increased more and more as you may conceive by the increase which a few weeks time hath wrought after the ascention of Christ when St. Peter's sermon converted 3000. souls in one day so it caused the distinction of Assemblies and the number of Churches to be increased and multiplied in all Countreys and Cities more and more So that in Rome about a hundred year after Christ the Congregation of the Christians became so huge great that Evaristus then Bishop of Rome for the avoiding of confusion and the easier and better instruction of them caused them to be distributed and parted into fifteen particular Parishes and assigned fifteen severall Presbyters to instruct and govern them the Presbyters then being honest men and no waies contradicting Evaristus And to prove that the first Christians who lived under persecutions The fiâ—st Christians had some kind of Churches even from the Apostles time had some kind of Churches though as then not so magnificent you may see in 1 Cor. 12. 18. 22. c. 14. 19. 23. And so the most ancient of the Fathers do bear witness as Clemens Tertullian Socrates and Eusebius proves the same out of the book of Philo Judaeus lib. 2. cap. 17. And Lactantius In carminibus de passione Domini saith Quisquis ades mediusque subis in limina Templi Siste parum Whosoever thou art that comest to the House of God stay a while that is to consider whither thou goest and as Salomon saith To
is the Lord of all things but as the signs of our thankfulness and acknowledgement that he is the Donor and Giver of them all to us and as the means to set up and to shew forth his Honour by the erecting and beautifying his Churches and the maintenance of his Worship and Ministery in those Churches For why should any man think that God hath given us such variety of all good things as Gold Silver Cattel Wine Oil and abundance of most excellent beauty to be imployed only upon our selves and for our pleasures and it may be in meer vanities without any regard or reservation of any of them to be bestowed for the upholding of his Honour and the Duties of his Service When as Solomon saith That Prov. 3. 9 Malach. 3. 20. he will be served with the chief of thine increase And the Lord himself bids thee to bring all the Tythes or Tythes of all kinds into his House And therefore Origen the greatest Clerk that lived in his dayes saith Qui colit Deum debet donis oblationibus agnoscere eum esse Deum omnium He Origen in Numb c. 18. Hom. 11. that worshippeth God must by his gifts and oblations unto God acknowledge him to be the God and Giver of all things 3. Seeing God requireth to be honoured with thy substance and with the 3. Reason Prov. 3. 9. first fruites of all thine increase and to testifie thine inward love by thine outward gifts and oblations to him you know then that the greatness and goodness of our gifts doth set forth and shew the greatness of our love and the sincerity of our affection towards God For Juxta mensuram honoris erit mensura donationis According to the quality and condition of the person whom we honour so should our gifts and our presents that we offer him be as the greater they are whom we honour the greater regard we should make of the gifts and oblations that we offer unto him As it is unseemly and a shame for us to present unto our Kings and Princes or any other person of Honour any poor mean base or paltry present So it is if we do the like to God And therefore the Prophet Malachy demandeth If you offer unto God the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame and the sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour Malach. 1. 8. will he be pleased with thee saith the Lord of Hosts So the Lord was no wayes pleased with Cains offering because that having enough and all good things from God he kept the best for himself and gave a little of the meanest and worst unto God And you know what God saith Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing and so like unto Cain keepeth the best for himself for I am a Great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among Verse 14. the Heathen and therefore you should not offer unto me the poorest and the basest things you have but the best and the greatest of all your substance Therefore the Gentiles by the light of nature and the Jews by the example How that the Heathens Jews Christians eâ—ected great and glorious Houses for the Great Glorious God And Plutarch setteth down what an infinite charge it cost Tarquinius Sylla Vespasian and Domitian to build the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome Plutarch in the Life of Publicola pag. 107. 108. of Moses David Solomon and the rest of Gods Prophets that were inspired by Gods Spirit and all the godly and zealous Christians that were illuminated by the light of truth considering the greatness and the glorious Majesty of our Great God that is Optimus Maximus The Best and the Greatest of all the things that you can imagine and is most wonderful in all his Works conceived it fitting to erect and build such great magnificent and most glorious Temples and Churches as might seem fitting and so far as they were able to make them correspondent to the Greatness and the Glorious Majesty of that Great God for whose Honour Worship and Service they erected and dedicated the same And such were the Temple of Apollo at Delphos of Diana at Ephesus of Amphiaraus and Jupiter Olympus and the Temple of Solomon in Hierusalem and the Churches of S. Paul in London and S. Peter in Westminster and abundance more which you may see in these Kingdoms that our most zealous religious and godly forefathers built and spared no cost nor charges to adorne and beautifie them most gloriously with all necessary Furnitures for the Honour and Worship of their God and the Service of Jesus Christ And shall we throw down these Houses and lay waste these Temples of God or think much to bestow a little of our wealth that God hath so liberally bestowed upon us to keep them up and to have them competently trimed and beautified God forbid that our love to God's Honour and our thankfulness to Jesus Christ should be so little as to do so CHAP. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so fowly stained and prophaned with popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayes adorned and beautified FOurthly we have some other Sectaries more brain-sick than the former 4. Objection against the being of our Churches Psal 137. 7. and these under the pretence of zeal to the purity of Religion do hotly plead for the destruction of our Churches and cry out in the language of the Edomites Down with them down with them even to the very ground for they have been defiled and prophaned by the Idolatries and superstitions of the Popish Bishops and their Mass-Priests and therefore as the Lord by a flat Precept commanded the Israelites saying You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations which ye shall possess served their gods upon the high Mountains and upon the Hills and under every green Deut. 12 2 3. 2 Chron. 17 6. 2 Reg. 18. 4. Tree and you shall overthrow their Altars and break their Pillars and burn their Groves with fire and you shall hew down the graven Images of their gods and destroy the names of them out of the place And as Jehosaphat according to this Precept took away the High-places and Groves out of Juda and Hezechias also removed the High-places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made because the children of Israel did burn incense to it So should we subvert and throw down all the Monuments of Idolatry and Superstition and all the Places where the true Religion and the Service of God have been abused And accordingly these frantick Zelots have wheresoever they came
saluberrimi timoris infunderet cum ipse etiam qui labi non posset perfectae vitae gratiam non nisi perfecta aetate praedicaret And our Redeemer that is the Creator of the Heavens and Teacher of Angels would not be made the Teacher of men here on Earth before he was thirty years of age that so he might powre forth the force and fruit of wholesome fear to them that are fallen when as he also that could not fall did not preach the grace and waies of a perfect life but in a perfect age and to see likewise that they should be no waies unworthy of so high a calling but every way qualified both for life and doctrine so as the Word of God doth require have notwithstanding either by the solicitation of friends or for some other respects and perhaps worser Corruption many times made young novices illiterate men and which is far worse men of corrupt minds and of bad lives of loose dissolute carriage the Priests of the most High God to wait at his Altar that were not worthy to wait on our Table And therefore as those Bishops that did thus did herein falsify their Faith to God and betrayed his service to these unworthy men So the just God hath most justly suffered these perfidious men to betray their makers to spit in their Fathers faces and to combine themselves with the enemies of Christ to destroy the Bishops of Gods Church and so as the Poet saith in another kind Ignavum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent This wicked brood that we our selves begat and made would drive their Sires from their hives and from our offices And I know not by what fatality unless it be by the just wrath of God to intail the wickedness of the Fathers like the Leprosy of Gehezi unto the Children for the sins and injustice of the Fathers that are so well known and ingraven in the consciences of the Children yet so it is most generally found that the Children of the precedent Bishops that have most wronged the Church and their Successors are in all things most contrariant Why the sons of Bishops are most spitefulâ— unto the Succeeding Bishops and opposites I will not say spiteful or envious to the succeeding Bishops because as I conceive their hearts tell them what injuries their Fathers did them for their sakes and themselves continue therein and therefore do conceive that the present Bishops cannot think well nor love them that have so much wronged both them and the Church of God and to requite them according to their own thoughts with hate for hate they are of all others most spiteful crossing and prejudiciall unto them or else because they do imagine that the present and succeeding Bishops will be as wicked and as unjust as their Fathers and their predecessors were and therefore deserve neither love nor favour from them And I heard many As Alexander the Copper-smith with stood S. Paul So the last Bishops son withstandeth me to recover the rights of the Church Parliament men say that in the Long Anti-Christian Parliament none were more violent against the Bishops then the sons and posterity of Precedent Bishops I found it so And I have espied another fault in some of our former Bishops not a little prejudiciall to the Honor of God and the good of the Church of Christ and that is not only to give Orders to unworthy men but also to bestow livings upon unworthy Priests for as the old saying was Rector eris praesto de sanguine praesulis esto Or as another saith Quatuor ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Sed paucis solet quarta patere Dei So it was their practice to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other Preferments not on them that best deserved them but either upon their Children friends or servants or on them that could as the story goeth tell them who was Melchisedeckâ— Faâ—her that is to say St. Peters lesson And so to the lessoâ— and to the lessâ—â— of the Church-Lands to the prejâ—dice of the Church the â—ike curse and Anathema is duâ— Aâ—rum argentum non est mihi in the affirmative way which is a fault worthy to be punished by the Judges For as it is most truely said Quicunque sacra vel sacros ordines vendant aâ—t emunt sacerdotes esse non possunt whosoever do buy or sell holy orders or any holy things cannot be Priests Vnde scriptum est Anathema danti Anathema accipienti whence it is written Let Gods curse be to the buyer and the curse of God to the receiver because this buying and selling of Holy things and things dedicated for the service of God is the Simoniâ—cal Heresie or Heresie of Simon Magus Qâ—omodo ergo si Aâ—athematizati sunt sancti non sunt sanctificare alios possunt How then if they be accursed and no Saints can they make others Habetur 1. q. 1. Can. Qâ—â—cunque Saints or sanctify them Et cum in corpore Christi non sint quomodo Christi corpus tradeâ—e vel accipere possunt Et qui maledictus est benedicere quomodo potest And seeing such men are not in the body of Christ how can they deliver or receive the body of Christ and how can he that is accursed himself bless any other And therefore seeing the Word of God requireth the Bishops and Ministers of Christ should be so Holy in their lives and so qualified with knowledge and learning for the instruction of the people as I shewed to you before and is typified by those Golden Bâ—ls and the Pomegranats that were to be set in the skirts of Aarons robes round about the Bels signifying the teaching of the people and the Pomegranats the sweet smelling fruits of a good and godly life It behoves the Kings and Princes to whom God hath given the prime Soveraignty and commandeth them to have a care of his Honor and the service of his Church to see so far as they can that the Bishops and Prelates which they place over Gods people be so qualified as God requireth and to injoyn these their prime Substitutes to look that those Priests and Deacons which they make and place in the Church be likewise such as I have fore-shewed for this God requireth at their hands and this David Jehosaphat Ezeâ—hias Josias and all the good and godly Kings of Israel and Juda and all the pâ—ous Christian Kings and Emperors did and I do know how zealously and carefully our late most gracious King Charles the I was to place Able Religious and Godly Bishops over Godâ— Church which is a special duty of every King And because also the Prelates and Bishops are not all or may not all be no more then the Apostles were all such as they should be but some of them may be such as I have shewed to you before either like Simon Magus selling what they should freely give or
made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many mulâ—itudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no new thing but a true saying and therefore our Saviour biddeth us to Take heed of false Prophets and of rebellions spirits that as Saint John saith went from us but were not of us but are indeed the poyson and Incediaries both of Church and Common-wealth 4. These Rebels had received many favours and great benâ—fits from 4. Much obliged for many favours unto their Governours their Governours for they were delivered è lutulentis manâ—um operibus as Saint Augustine speaketh and as the Prophet saith They had â—ased their shoulders from their burthens and their hands from making of pots they had broken the Rod of their opprâ—ssâ—rs and as Moses tells them they haâ— separated them from the rest of thâ— multitude of Israel and set them near to God Numb 16. 9. himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and therefore the light of nature tells us that they were most ungrateful and as inhumane as the brood of Serpents that would sting him to death which to preserve his life would bring him home in his bosome And it seems this was the transcendencie of Judas his sin and that which grieved our Saviour most of all that he whom he had called to be one of his twelve Apostles whom he had made his Steward and Treasurer of all his wealth and for whom he had done more then for thousands of others should betray him into the hands of sinners for if it had been another saith the Psalmist that had done me this dishonour I could well have born it but seeing it was thou my familiar friend which didst eat and drink at my table it must needs trouble me for thought in others it might be pardonable yet in thee it is intolerable and therefore of all others he saith of Judas Vâ— illi homini woe be unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed it had been better for him he had never been born as if his sin were greater then the sin of Annas Caâ—aphas or Pâ—late But the old saying is most true Improbus à nullo flâ—ctitur obsequio no service can satisfie a froward soul no favour no benefit no preferment can appease the rebellious thoughts of diâ—contented spirits And therefore notwithstanding Mâ—ses had done all this for Corah yet Corah must rebell against Moses So many times though Kings have given great honours unto their subjects made them their Peers their Chamberlains their Treasurers and their servants of nearest place and greatest trust And though Aaron the High-Priest or Bishop doth impose his hands on others and aâ—miâ— them into Sacred Orders above their brethren to be near the Lord and bestow all the pâ—â—ferment they can upon them yet with Corah these unquiet and ungratefull spirits must rebell against their Governours For I think I may well demand Which of all them that now rebell against their King have not had either Grand-fathers Fathers or themselves promoted to all or most of their fortunes and honours from that Crown which now they would trample under their feet Who more against their King then those that received most from their King Just like Judas or here like Corah Dathan and Abiram I could instance the particulars but I passe So you see who were the Rebels most ungrateful most unworthy men CHAP. II. Sheweth against whom these men rebelled that God is the giver of our Governours the severall offices of Kings and Priests how they should assist each other and how the people laboureth to destroy them both SEcondly we are to consider against whom they rebelled and the Text 2. Part against whom they rebelled 2. â—oints discussed saith Moses and Aaron and therefore We must discusse 1. Qui fuére who they were in regard of their places 2. Qâ—ales fuére what they were in regard of their qualities 1. In regard of their places we find that these men were 1. The chief Governours of Gods people 2. Governours both in temporal and in spiritual things 3. Agreeing and consenting together in all their Government 1. They were the prime Governours of the people Moses the King or Prince to rule the people and Aaron the High-Priest to instruct and offer Sacrifice to make attonement unto God for the sins of the people and these have their authority from God for though it sometimes happeneth that Potens the Ruler is not of God as the Prophet saith They have reigned Hos 8. 4. and not by me and likewise modus assumendi the manner of getting authority is not alwayes of God but sometimes by usurpation cruelty subtlety or some other sinful means yet Potestas the power it self whosoever hath it is ever from God for the Philosopher saith Magistraâ—ûs originem esse Aristoâ— Pâ—lit lib 1. c 1. Ambros Ser. 7. à natura ipsa And Saint Aâ—brâ—sâ— saith Dâ—tus à Deo Magistratus nâ—n modo malorum coercendorum causâ sâ—d etiam honorum sovâ—â—dorum in vera animi pieâ—atâ— honestate gratiâ And others say the Sun is not more necessary in Heaven then the Magistrate is on Earth for alas how is it possible for any Society to live on earth cùm vivitur ex rapto when men live by rapine and shall say Let our strength be to us the law of justice therefore God is the giver of our Governours and he professeth Per me regnant Reges And Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar That the most high ruleth in the Kingdome of Vide etiam â— 2. v. 37. men and he giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan 4. 25. 2. These two men were Governours both in all temporal and in all spiritual things as Mosâ—s in the things that pertained to the Common-wealth and Aaron in things pertaining unto God And these two sorts of Government are in some sort subordinate each to other and yet each one intire in it self so that the one may not usurp the office of the other for 1. The spiritual Priest is to instruct the Magistrates and to reprove them 2 Governours both in temporal and spirituall things too if they do amisse as they are members of their charge and the sheep of their sheep-fold And so we have the examples of David reproved by Nathan Achab by Elias Herod by John Baptist and in the Primitive Church of Philip the Emperour repenting at the perswasion of Fabian Euseb l 6. c. 34. Sozomen lib. 7. and Theodosius senior by the writings of S. Ambrose 2. The temporal Magistrate is to command and if they offend to correct and condemn the Priests as they are members of their Common-wealth for Saint Paul saith Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. Bernard ad Archiepis Senonensem and if every soul then the soul of the Priest as well as the souls of the People or otherwise Quis eum excepit ab
expresseth the same to be Tribute that is Imposts Subsidies Gifts or the like call it by what name you will we are commanded by God to the uttermost of our abilitie to supply their occasion and necessities even as the children are bound to relieve their parents in their extremities And if we see our Moses our King or chief Governour any wayes 3. To hazard our lives for them impugned or like to be oppressed either by forraign Aegyptians or domestick Israelites though they should be Datqan and Abiram the most prime and popular men in all the Congregation that could draw thousands after them yet are we bound to the hazard of our lives to preserve the Life Crown and Dignity of our Prince as the subjects of King David hazarded themselves to save him harmlesse And if we will not do this 2 Sam. 18. 3. Hester 4. 14. then as Mordecai in the like case said to Hester If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there inlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed So I say with King David the Lord will help his Annointed and deliver him from the strivings of his people and if we still be silent and do nothing yet the Starres in their order shall fight against Sisera Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti and as the Angell of the Lord said of the Merozites Curse ye The punishment of them that will not assist their Governours Meroz curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to help Barack against the Canaanites So let them fear a bitter curse and a curse from God that will not help their Prince against his enemies especially such enemies as have least reason to be enemies unto him So you see what obedience we owe unto our Governours and therefore their rebellion was the more intolerable that thus spurned against their Magistrates CHAP. IV. Sheweth the objection of the Rebels to justifie their Rebellion the first part of it answered that neither our compulsion to Idolatry nor any other injury or tyranny should move us to Rebell BUt we must not condemn them before their cause be heard and therefore Corah shall have his Counsell to object what he can for himself And I find but one Objection of any moment though the same consisteth of many branches As What if Moses the King or chief Governour being so much affected The objection of the Rebels and addicted unto Aaron the chief Priest or Bishop and to others his prime Councell should be led by evill advice to set up Idolatry and to play the Tyrant to take away the goods destroy the lives and bring most of his people to most miserable conditions may neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates nor the prime Nobility of the people nor any other Court or Assembly of men restrain his fury or remove this mischief from Gods inheritance from the Church and Common-wealth This is that Gordian knot which is so hard to be untied But if I might in the School of Divinity have leave to resolve this question Solutio and not to be confuted as Saint Steven was with stony arguments I would soon answer that 1. In neither of these cases 2. Neither of these Two Parts of their objection men may do it and I could make this good by very good authority for Si Magistratus est bonus nutritor est tuus if our Governour be good he is our Nursing-Father and we should receive our nourishment with thanks and no thanks to us for our obedience to such a one And if our Governour be evill he is so for our transgression and we should receive our punishment with patience and therefore no resistance but either obey the good willingly or endure the evill patiently But to proceed to break this Gordian knot in pieces and to answer each part of this Objection 1. I say that many wicked Kings and cruel Emperours have set up 1. Part of their objection answered Not to rebell for any cause 1. Not for our compulsion to Idolatry Idolatry and blasphemy against God and yet I do not find that any of Gods servants did ever rebell against them for you know Jeroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin did set up golden Calves to be worshipped Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon made an Image of gold and commanded all his people to fall down to worship it And what shall I say of those Idolatrous Kings Achab Manasses Julian and abundance more that most impiously compelled their subjects unto Idolatry and yet you shall not find that either the faithfull Jews under Jeroboam or the Prophet Daniel in Babylon or Elias the man of God in the time of Achab or any of all the good Christians that were under Julian either did themselves or perswaded others of the servants of God at any time to rebell against those Idolatrous Kings for they considered how far the Law of God that prohibiteth Idolatry and instigateth us against the allurers and perswaders of us to Idolatry and blasphemy extendeth and that is If thy brother Deut. 13 6. How far the Law of God extendeth to resist Idolaters the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul shall intice thee to Idolatry and to serve strange Gods thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou have any pitty upon him but for the sonne to rise up against the father the wife against her husband the servant against his Lord the subject against his King here is not a word and therefore by this Law they are not obliged but rather forbidden to do it for though the son is not expressely prohibited to accuse his father nor the wife her husband nor the servant his Lord nor the subject his King yet because Gods Law is absolute and perfect to which we must neither adde nor detract nor construe it as we please the Divines conceive those things forbidden which are not expressed especially in penall precepts which are to be restrained and not extended any further then they are set down as Tostatus doth most truly conclude Tostatus in Deut 13. q. 3. And what the sonne may not do against his father nor the wife against her husband nor the servant against his Lord that certainly no man may do against his King which is the father of his Country the husband of the Common wealth and the supreme Lord over all his subjects And therefore Christ himself that came to fulfill the Law and knew best how farre it reached living under the Empire of Tiberius the Principality of Herod and the Government of Pilate that were all wicked and idolatrous did notwithstanding submit himself in all things which the Law of God forbad him not unto them and though for strength policy and power he might easily have resisted them yet
for his sake for the dislike the King bare towards him the King had banished many Protestants from his Country and had killed many faithful Pastours yet would not he for all this lift up his hand against the Lords annointed but refused their gold rejâ—cted their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours Jâ—h Seâ—vinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchia Rom. p 202. as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelity and allegiance to his King and peaceable mind towards his Country Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the Ordinance of God And surely this Example is most acceptable unto God most wholesome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants Not to offer but suffer all kind of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to study to gain the favour of their Persecutors then any ways with force and arms to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose Ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offeâ—ed unto us Phalaris and degenerating from all humanity should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be allwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deem a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannical and idolatrous And therefore in such a case when some men think their King most gracious The difference betwixt king and people to be determined onely by God and others think him vitious some believe him to be good others believe him to be evil shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with arms decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civil warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs both the Scripture teacheth and That we ought not by any means to resist our kings Proved the Church believeth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safety requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evil Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane Reason and the Welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement 1. By the Scriptures and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworn before God and by God to obey him Be not hasty to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is he hath power and Ecclesiast â— 2 3 4. authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou or Why dost thou so And Solomon saith A Grey-hound an Hee-Goat and a King against whom Prov. 30. 31. there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1 Sam. chapter 8. verse 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will doe and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him Not to rebell and take up arms but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth Rom. 13. 2. the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And S. Peter saith that they which despise government and are 2 Pet. 2. 10. 12. not afraid to speak evil of dignities are presumptuous and do walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as natural brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Jude 8. 10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Coran This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evil of our Kings be they what they will but first of 1 Tim 2. 2. all or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authority And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of bell it self durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. The Church of Christ believeth this Doctrine to be the truth of God 2. By the Doctrine of the Church for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said It is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Iniquè agis Thou dost amisse for as God is Cyrill in Johan l. 12. c. 56. the supream Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are
onely subject and therefore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because I acknowledge none other my superiour on earth besides thee alone and I have no Judge besides thee which can call me to examination or inflict any punishment on me for my transgression And so the Poet saith Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis But you will object against S. Cyril If it be impiety to say unto the Object King Thou dost amisse how shall we excuse Samuel that told King Saul he did foolishly and Nathan that reproved King David and Elias that said to King Achab it was he and his fathers house that made Israel to sin and John Baptist that told Herod It was not lawful for him to have his brothers wife I answer 1. That by the mouth of these men God himself reproved Sol. What the Priest or Prophet may do private men may not do them because these men were no private persons but extraordinarily inspired with the spirit of of God to perform the extraordinary messages of God 2. I say as I said before that as Moses may correct and punish Aaron if he doth amisse so Aaron the Priest in regard of his calling may reprove and admonish Moses the chief Magistrate when he doth offend but so that he do it wisely and with that love and reverence which he oweth unto Moses as to his God not publiquely to disgrace and vilifie his Prince unto his people but modestly and privately to amend his fault and reconcile him to God and this is the work of his office which he ought to do as he is a Priest and not of his person which ought not to do it as he is his subject 3. Reason it self confirmeth this truth because the King is the head of 3. By humane reason the body politique and the members can neither judge the head because they are subject unto it nor cut it off because then they kill themselves and cease to be the members of that head and therefore the subjects with no reason can either judge or depose their King 4. The publique safety and welfare of any Common-wealth requireth 4. From the welfare of every Common-wealth The event of every warre is â—oubtful that the subjects should never rebell against their King 1. Because the event of a rebellious warre is both dubious and dangerous for who can divine in whose ruine it shall end or which party can assure themselves of victory It is true that the justest cause hath best reason to be most confident yet it succeeds not always when God for secret causes best known unto himself suffereth many times especially for a time as in the case of the Tribe of Benjamin the Rebels to prevail against the true subjects And as the event is doubtful so it must needs be mournful what side soever proveth victor for who can expresse the sorrows and sadnesse of those faithful subjects that shall see the light of their sun any wayes eclipsed the lamp of Israel and the breath of their nostrils to be darkned or extinguished and also to see the learned Clergy and the grave Fathers of the Church discount enanced and destroyed On the other side it will noâ— be much less mournful to see so many of our illustrious Nobles ancient Gentry and others of the ablest Commonalty brought to râ—ine and to pay for their folly not only their dearest lives but also the desolation of their houses and decay of their posterities Qúis talia fando Temperet à lachrymis When the Kings victory shall be but like that of David after the death of Absolon the Nobles victory but as the two victories of the Benjamites over Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos Lucan l. 1. their own brethren the Israelites and the best triumph that can succeed on either side shall be but as the espousal of a virgin on the day of her parents funeral or as the laying of the foundation of the second Temple when the shout of joy could not be discerned from the noyse of weeping And therefore a learned Preacher of Gods Word saith most truly that Mr. Warmstry in Ramo Olivae p. 23. it is a hard matter to find out a mischief of so destructive a nature that we would exchange it for this civil warre for Tyranny Slavery Penury or any thing almost may be better born with peace and unity then a civill warre with the greatest liberty and plenty seeing the comfort of such associates would quickly be swallowed up like Pharaohs fat kine by such a monster feeding with them Had we a Tyrant like Rehoboam that would whip us with Scorpions which the Devil dares not be so impudent as to alledge we have yet better it were to be under one Tyrant then many which we are sure to have in civil broyls when every wicked man becomes a Tyrant when he seeth the reines of government cut in pieces Were we under the yoke of an Aegyptian slavery to make bricks without straw yet better it were for us to be in bondage then that fury and violence should be set free and malice suffered to have her will because there is more safety in being shut up from a Tyger then to be let loose before him to be chased by him or were we wasted and oppressed in our estates yet the wisest of men tells us that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord then great treasure and trouble Prov. 15. 15 17. therewith And therefore seeing civill warre is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction full of all calamity and one of the greatest punishments that God useth to send upon a Nation it is apparent that the welfare of any State calleth upon every subject to be obedient unto his King yea though he were never so vile an Idolater or so cruel a Tyrant for though a King could be proved and should be condemned to be cruell and tyrannous unjust and impious towards God and men yet hereby that King will not yield what he doth hold from God but though the confederate conspirators should have a thousand times more men and strength then he yet he will call his servants and friends his kinsmen allies and other circumjacent Kings and Princes unto his aid and he would hire mercenary Souldiers to revenge the injury offered unto him and to suppress the Rebels both with fire and sword and if he should happen to have the worse and to lose both his Crown and Kingdom and his life and all yet all this would be but a miserable comfort and a lamentable victory a to ruined Common-wealth whose winnings can no ways countervail her losses for we never read of any King that either was disturbed expelled The miseries that follow the disturbance or deposing of any king are unspeakable or
Inferiour Magistrates have no power but what is derived from the superiour And the ill successe of all rebellious Resisting of our Kings BUt to prove their absurdities they still alledge that the inferiour Magistrates The allegation to justifie Rebellion as the Peers and Counsellours of Kings and the chief heads of all the people which are flos medulla regni are therefore added unto 1. By Reason the superiour Magistrate both to be his helpers in the government and also to refrain his licentiousnesse and to hinder his impieties if he degenerate to be an Idolater or a Tyrant And to confirm this Tenet they produce many examples both out of the 2. By Examples sacred and prophane Histories as the Judges that rose up against their neighbour-Tyrants Ezechias against the King of Assyria the people withstanding Saul that he should not slay Jonathan Ahikam defending the Prophet Jeremy against King Jehoiakim the revolâ—ing of the ten Tribes in the time of Rehoboam the Priests and Princes of Juda taking away Athalia the Jerem. 26. 24. Macchabees arming themselves against Antiochus and others of the Macedonian Tyrants Thrasibulus driving the thirty Tyrants out of Athens the Romans expelling their flagitious Kings Consuls and other Tyrants that behaved themselves most wickedly out of Rome and so many Peers and Potentates of other Kingdomes that in the like cases did the like To all which I answer 1. That it is most false that any Peer or inferiour Potentate Magistrate Sol. 1. Their Reasons answered or other is appointed by God to be the Associate of the King or supreme Governour for the government of the people for as God and not the people appointed Moses Joshua Gideon and the other supreme Judges of Israel so Moses and not God immediately as he did the others appointed the Rulers of tens fifties hundreds and thousands which alwayes acknowledged To what end kings do choose their inferiour Magistrates themselves his subjects and not his associates in the government of the people And so other Kings and Princes have alwayes chosen whom they pleased to be their Peers Counsellors and inferiour Magistrates as well to bear some part of their burthen as Jethro saith unto Moses and to lessen their care as also to afford them their best assistance and counsel in the discussion and determination of great and difficult affaires but not for them to prescribe and set down Lawes Orders and Ordinances that should either moderate their royal liberty or bridle and revenge what they conceive to be Idolatry or Tyranny I am sure no King that did intend to be a Tyrant would choose Counsellours or make Magistrates to that end but they make choyce of them as I said to further them and not to hinder them to effect those things which they conceive to be most fit and just for the Magistrates that are over the people are under the King and do all as you see in the name of the King from whom they derive all the All the inferiour Magistrates must do all in the name of the Superiour power that they have whereby it followeth that neither the people can resist the Magistrates whom the King appointeth nor those Magistrates resist their King without apparent sacriledge against God because the greater can never be judged nor condemned by the lesser but as the Apostle saith of Abraham and Melchisedech that without contradiction the lesse is Heb. 7. 7. blessed of the better so I say that without all controversie the inferiour must be alwayes judged of the superiour and therfore if these Peers Nobles or inferiour Magistrates have any wayes any power or authority over their Kings we must conclude against Saint Peter that these are above the King and so they and not the King are the super eminent power But we find no such power nor commandement that they have from God to refrain Kings in all the holy Scriptures Et si mâ—ndatum non est praesumptio est ad pâ—nâ—m proficiet non ad praemium and if there be no commandement for it it is presumption to do it which deserveth punishment and not praise because it is to the reproach of the Creator that contemning the Lord we should worship the Servant and neglecting the Emperour we should adore or magnifie his Peers as S. Augustine saith And therefore both the learned and religious Fathers and the best of our And the Homâ—ly of the Church of England against wilful Rebellion later Writers are flat against this Doctrine that any sort of men have any power over Kings but he that is the King of Kings as you may see what would be too teadious for me to set down in Johan Bodinus Apol. pro Regibus c. 27. de repub l. 2. c. 5. Barclaius contra Monarchom l. 3. c. 6 Berchetus in explicat controvers Gallicar c. 2. Saravia de Imperator autorit l. 2. c. 36. Sigon de repub Hebraeor l. 7. c. 3. Bilson de perpet Eccles gubernat c. 7. Pet. Gregor Tholos de republ l. 5. c. 3. num 14 15 16. and many more 2. For the examples that are produced to countenance Rebels against 2. Their examples answered their Kings I answer that they are unlike or of some peculiar fact or unjust and therefore no warrant for any other to do the like when as we are to live by the lawes and percepts of God and not by the examples of men which many times contrary to equity do induce us to transgresse the divine verity But to run over the particulars of their examples as brief as I can 1. I say that to conclude an ordinary rule from the doings of the Judges 1. Example answered August in Jud. c. 20. Thom. de Regâ—mine Princip l 1. c. 6. which were extraordinarily commanded by God to be done is no more lawful for us to do then it is for us to rob our neighbours because the Israelites robbed the Egyptians as Saint Augustine sheweth And therefore Aquinas if Aquinas be the Authour of that book De Regimine Princip saith excellently well Quibusdam visum est it seems to some men that it pertaineth to the honour of valiant and heroical men to take away a Tyrant and to expose themselves to the perill and danger of death for the liberty and freedom of the Multitude whereof they have an example in the Old Testament where Ehud killed Eglon But this agreeth not †Judg 3. 21. with the Apostolical Doctrine for Saint Peter teacheth us to be subject not onely to the good but also to the froward because this is thank-worthy with God if for conscience sake we patiently suffer wrongs therefore when many of the Roman Emperours did most tyrannically persecute the faith of Christ and a great and mighty multitude both of the Nobility Gentry and Commons were converted unto Christianity they are praised not for resisting but for suffering death Besides Eglon was not the lawful King A great
deal of difference betwixt a lawful King and an Usurper 2. Example answered An impertinent example of Israel but an alien an usurper and a scourge to them for their sinne and therefore no pattern for others to rebell against their lawful King 2. For the example of Ezechias rebelling against the King of Assyria it is most impertinently alledged for Ezechias was the lawful King of Juda and the King of Assyria had no right at all in his Dominions but being greedily desirous to enlarge his territories he incroached upon the others right and for his injustice was overcome by the sword in a just battell and therefore to conclude from hence that because the King of Juda refused to obey the King of Assyria therefore the inferiour Magistrates or Peers of any Kingdome may resist and remove their lawful Prince for his tyranny or impiety surely this deserves rather fustilus retundi quà m rationibus refelli to be beaten with rods then confuted with reasons as Saint Bernard speaketh of the like Argument And whereas they reply that it skilleth not whether the Tyrant be forreign as Eglon and the King of Assyria were or domestique as Saul Achab The absurdity of their replication and Manasses were because the domestique is worse then the forreign and therefore the rather to be suppressed I will shew you the validity of this argument by the like The seditious Preachers are the generation of vipers nay farre worse then vipers because they hurt but the body onely and these are pernicious both to body and soul therefore as a man may lawfully kill a viper so he may more lawfully kill any seditious Preacher But to omit their absurdity let us look into the comparison betwixt domestique Quia Dare absurdum non est solvere argumentum and extranean Tyrants and we shall find that domestique Tyrants are lawfully placed over us by God who commandeth us to obey them and forbiddeth us to resist them in every place for the Scripture makes no distinction betwixt a good Prince and a Tyrant in respect of the honour reverence and obedience that we owe unto our superiours as you see the Lord doth not say Touch not a good King and Obey righteous Princes but as God saith Honour thy father and thy mother be they good or bad so he saith Touch not the King resist not your Governours speak not evil of the Rulâ—rs be they good or be they bad and therefore Saint Paul when he was strictly charged for reviling the wicked high-Priest answered wisely I wist not brethren that he was Gods High-Priest for if I had known him to be the true High-Priest I would not have spoken what I did because I know the Law of God obligeth me to be obedient to him that God hath Bad kings to be obeyed as well as the good placed over me be he good or bad for it is Gods institution and not the Governours condition that tyeth me to mine obedience So you see the mind of the Apostle he knew the Priest-hood was abolished and that he was not the lawful High-Priest therefore he saith God shall smite thee thou whited wall But if he had known and believed him to be the true and lawful High-Priest which God had placed over him he would never have said so had the Priest been never so wicked because the Law saith Thou shalt not revile thy Ruler But for private robbers or forreign Tyrants God hath not placed them over us nor commanded us to obey them neither have they any right by any Law but the Law of strength to exact any thing from us and therefore we are obliged by no law to yield obedience unto them neither are we hindred by any necessity either of rule or subjection but that we may lawfully repell all the injuries that they offer unto us 3. For the peoples hindring of King Saul to put his son Jonathan to death 3. Example answered Saul was contented to be perswaded to spare hâ—s son I say that they freed him from his fathers vow non armis sed precibus not with their weapons but by their prayers when they appealed unto himself and his own conscience before the living God and perswaded him that seâ—ting aside his rash vow he would have regard unto justice and consider whether it was right that he should suffer the least damage who following God had wrought so great a deliverance unto the peohle as Tremelius and Junius in their Annotations do observe And Saint Gregory saith The Gâ—egor in 1 Reg. 4. people freed Jonathan that he should not die when the King overcome by the instanâ—e of the people spared his life which no doubt he was not very â—arnest to take away from so good a son 4. Touching Ahikam that was a prime Magistrate under King Jehoiakim 4. Example answered I say that he defended the Prophet not from the Tyranny of the King but from the fury of the people for so the Text saith The hand of Ahikam that is saith Tremelius the authority and the help of Ahikam â—erem 26. 24. was with Jeremy that They that is his enemies should not give him into the hands of the people which sought his life to put him to death because Ahikam had been a long while Counsellour unto the King and was therefore very powerful in credit and authority with him And you know there is a The act of Ahikam no colour for Rebellion great deal of difference betwixt the refraining of a tumultuous people by the authority of the King and a tumultuous insurrection against the King That was the part of a good man and a faithful Magistrate as Ahikam did this of an enemy and a false Traytor as the opposer of Kings use to do 5. For the defection and revolting of the ten Tribes from Rehoboam 5. Example answered their own natural lawful King unto a fugitive and a man of a servile condition and for the Edomites Lybnites and others that revolted against King Joram and that Conspiracy which was made in Jerusalem against 2 Chrâ—n 21. 2 Reg. 14. 19. Amazia I answer briefly That the Scriptures do herein as they do in many other places set down rei gestae veritatem non facti aquitem the truth of things how they were done not the equity of the things that they were rightly done and therefore Non ideô qura factum â—ctions commanded to be done are not to be imitated by us unlâ—sse we be sure of the like commandement legimus faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptum dum sectamur exemplum We must not believe it ought to be done because we read that it was done lest we violate the Commandement of God by following the example of men as Saint Augustine speaketh for though Joseph sware by the life of Pharaoh the Midwives lyed unto the King and the Israelites robbed the Aegyptians and sinned not therein yet we have no warrant without sinne to follow
or at the best to bring many men to many miseries before we can attain unto any happinesse and so as the Poet saith in this very case among the Romans when for their liberty and priviledges as they termed it in Pompey's time Exâ—â—ssit medicina modam The remedy that they procured hath proved farre worse then the disease they suffered And I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdom will feelingly confesse this to be too true when they shall more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soon he was removed and how happily it came to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Râ—chard the third was not onely a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the Crown and not the right King of England and that there is great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawful Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping Tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himself into the royal Throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously find both in the Greek and Roman stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will â—plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more which Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalie rismâ— p. 8 is taken out of 2 Kings 6. 32. where the Objector saith When Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha opeâ— his dore for him and sit still till he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himself for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him And a little after he saith Surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got in to him before the dore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer that who this Goodwin is I know not I could wish he were Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the inâ—endiaries of war none of the Tribe of Levi 1. Because I find him such an incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Qâ—Ã m speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lord and therefore I can hardly believe these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head when as Ahab was The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6. 32. If any thing more dead long before it was his ghost therefore and not he But it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the dore and desired the Elders to handle the messenger roughly or hold him fast at the dore Thus saith the Text and the Prophet in my judgement doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to do not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the dore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector tells us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand What inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure John Baptist would not do so nor Saint Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret Counsel and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not do except he be sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by word as he did to Abraham to kill his son or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from Heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to do it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those patterns that are confirmed by known and general Rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure Commentaries of humane wisdom upon the clear Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed be the gloss that corrupts the Text. But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully do to keep the messenger out of dores so long as he could and yet this man would inferre hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawful Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the School of Christ He makes some other Objections which I have already answered in this Treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six several answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must be Arcana Imperii and there must be Privie Counsellours and every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not onely be examined but also disobeyed as the three Children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the High Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resiâ—t them and to take arms against them I would he understood There is a great deal of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no means we may do CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments
the Congregation is holy and that is a lye when there can be no holinesse in the Rebels and The Lord is among them which is another lye for he will forsake all those that forsake him then they say Moses and Aaron take too much upon them which is an apparent slander and they adde that they lifted up themselves above the Congregation of the Lord which is another slander as false as the Father of lyes could lay upon them for I shewed unto you before how truly they were called and how justly they behaved themselves in their places but as Absolon knew well enough that to traduce his Father's Government was the readiest way to insinuate and to winde himselfe into a good opinion among the people and to make the King odious unto his subjects so these and all other Rebels will be sure to lay load enough of lyes and slanders upon their Governours and so the namelesse Authour of the Soveraign Antidote Goodwin Bâ—rroughs Goodwin in his Anti Caval Buâ—roughs in his Sermon upon The glorious name of the Lord of Hosts and abundance more such scandalous impudent lying libels have not blushed which a man would think the brazen face of Satan could not chuse but do so maliciously and reproachfully to lay to his Majesty's charge the things which as the Prophet saith he never knew and which all they that know the King do know to be apparent lyes and most abominable slanders against the Lord's Vicegerent but Quid domini facient audent cum talia fures You know the meaning of the Poet and you may know the reason why these grand Lyars these impudent slanderers do so impudently bely so good a King so pious and so gracious a Majesty for Lay on enough Et aliquid adhaerebit and throw dust enough in their faces and let the Governours be never so good the King as milde and as unreproveable as Moses and the Bishops like Aaron the Saints of the Lord yet some thing will stick in the opinion of the simple that are not able to discern the subtilty of those distractors And as they diminish and undermine the credit and reputation of the best Governours by no other engine then a lying tongue and a false pen so with the same instruments they do magniâ—â—e their own repute and further their unjust proceedings by deceiving the most simple with A strange equivâ—cation such equivocal lyes as any sensible man might well wonder that they should be so insensibly swallowed down as when they say They fight for him whom they shoot at and they are for the King when with all their might and main they strive to take away his power to pull the sword out of his hand and to throw his Crown down to the dust which is so strange a kind of equivocation as might well move men with Pilate to ask What is truth which we can never understand if any of these things can be true which as one saith most truly is one of the absurdest gulleries that ever was put upon any Nation much like that Anabaptist which I knew that beat his wife almost to death and said He beat not her but that evill The tale of an Anabaptist spirit that was in her Therefore the Lord hateth this abominable sinne because it is unpossible the people should be so soon drawn into rebellion if they did not credit these defamations But the wise man tells us that Stultus credit omni verbo therefore no wise man will believe those false and wicked slanders that such malicious Rebels do spread abroad against their King Prince or Priest or any other Governour of Gods people 8. After they had thus slandered these good men they fell to open rayling 8. Rayling against them as you may see Num. 16. 13 14. For now they had eaten shame and drunk after it and therefore they cared not what they said and so now we find how the Rebels deal with our King and with our Bishops too with our Moses and with our Aaron for here in Ireland they rebell against their Soveraign because he is no Papist and will not countenance the Papists as they desire And in England they rayle at him and rebell against him because they say He is a Papist and doth connive at Popery and hath a design to bring in Popery into the Kingdome which is as flat a lye as the father of lyes hath ever invented So the Bishops here are driven out of all as my self am expelled â—dibus sedibus and left destitute of all relief because we are no Papists but do both preach and write against their errours as much as any and more learnedly then many others And in England we are persecuted and driven to flee from place to place or to take our place in a hard prison as my self have been often forced to flee and to wander in the cold and dark long nights because we are Papists and Popishly given Good God! what shall we do whither shall we go or what shall we say for Nusquam tuta fides nec hospes ab hospite tutus We cannot confide in the confiders to whom we are become malignant enemies for speaking truth neither dare we trust in the followers of the publique faith nor in the professors of the Catholique faith whereof men maliciously rejecting their godly Bishops rebelliously fighting against their lawful King and mortally wounding their own souls have made a shipwrack But If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub if they said he was a glutton and a drunkard what wonder if they say these things of us and if Christ the King of Kings was crucified between two Thieves what marvel if this servant of Christ our King be thus pressed opposed and abused betwixt two rebellious factions And when we see our Saviour and our King thus handled it is lesse strange to find the Bishops and the Priests persecuted and crucified betwixt two heretical and tyrannical parties Well Jerusalem Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee take heed lest the King of peace shall say unto thee Verily thou shalt see me no more till thou sayest Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 9. When they were grown thus impudent from bad to worse both over 9 Disobedience shooes and over boots then Disobedience must needs follow and therefore now putting on their brazen foreheads they tell Moses plainly We will not come to thee we will do nothing that thou willest but will crosse thee in all that thou intendest this is our most peremptory resolution And so we see that Nemo repentè fit pessimus but the wicked grow worse and worse first you must lend then you must giveâ— if not we will take or if you deny your goods we will have your bodies so at first what soever we do it is for the King and because this is so palpable a mockery that as every man knoweth they
that fight against the Earl of Essex and his Army do warre against the Parliament so they that fight against the Kings Army do as certainly war against the King then we grow so impudent as to justifie any rebellion against our King as in England Goodwin and that seditious Pamphleter in opening The glorious name of the Lord of Host do but a little lesse For which application of Gods glorious name and abusing the holy Scriptures to such abominable transgression of Gods holy Precepts to instigate the subjects to warre against their goveraign and to involve a whole Kingdom into a detestable distraction I do much admire that they are not apprehended and transferred to the Kings Bench Barre to be there arraigned and condemned to be punished according to their deserts 10. When these Rebels had proceeded thus far then contrary to the 10. Rebellion See the place Jâ—shua 1. 16 17 18. loyal obedience which they owed unto their Prince and which the people promise unto Joshua they ascended to the height of that odious rebellion which may not unfitly be called Monstrum horrendum informe ingens câ—i lumen ademptum and is as Thuâ—ydides saith All kind of evill Et qui facit peccatum non facit sed ipse totus est peccatum and therefore Samuel saith that Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft when men do confederate to give their souls unto the Devill for now these Rebels are ready to take arms against Moses and they had reduced all civill order to a confused paritie deposed and destroyed their Governours if the Governour of all the world by whom Kings do reign and who hath promised to defend them had not prevented the same from Heaven And the reason why they did all this and proceeded thus farre against The reason of their rebellion Moses and Aaron is intimated in the words of my Text Aemulati sunt because they would emulate or imitate Moses that is to play the Moses or play the King and play the part of the chief Priest themselves for this is certain that none will envy murmure at slander and disobey his King so farre as to make an open rebellion against him but they that in some sort would rule and be Kings themselves especially when they shall seek so farre to debilitate their Prince as that he shall be no wayes able to make resistance for they think If Treason prosper 't is no Treason what 's the reason if it prosper who dares call it Treason and none would disobey their Bishops or chief Priests but they that would and cannot be Bishops themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedience and rebellion But they that are bad servants will prove worse Masters they that will not learn how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tells us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250. Tyrants And the Homily of the Church tells us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellions for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyal pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefs and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdom in a civil warre that so they may fish in a troubled water let us never be so stupid as to secure them in these actions to produce our discredit for our simplicity and destruction for our disloyalty but rather let us leave them as Delinquents to the justice of our Lawes and the mercy of the King and this will be the readiest way to effect peace and happinesse to our Nation CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 4. WE are to confider Vbi fecerunt where they did all this in castris 4. Part. Where they did lal this non in templis that is in their own houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat down rebellion in every Kingdom this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabins and corners in private Coventicles they teach rebellion which is the doctrine of those Schools And these Schools Our houses are our Castles are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every man's house is his Castle or his Fort where he thinks himselfe sure enough so did these Rebels and they would not come out of them neither Moses the King could compell them nor Aaron the Priest could perswade them to come out of their Castles and forsake their strong holds which their guilty consciences would not permit them to do and so all other rebels will never be perswaded to forsake their places of strength untill God pulleth them as he did these Rebels out of their holes for were it not for these Castra the Cities and Castles that they possesse they could not so like subtle Foxes run out and in to nullifie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithful subjects as they do for though they do all this under those fair pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintenance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our Religion it is now amongst us as it was in the days of Saint Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basilius de Spiritu Sancto cap. ulâ— c. All the bounds of our forefathers are transgressed foundation of doctrine and fortification of discipline is rooted up and the innovators which never had any other imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves have matter enough to set forward their sedition And for the other pretences I dare procaim it to all the world that mine own experience believeth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Protestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath been by them that came in the name and for the service of the Parliament and therefore I would to God that all the oppressions injustice and imprisonments that have been made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a Book of remembrance that all the world might see and read the justice and equity of our Parliament and the iniquity oppression and rapine of them that to enrich themselves deprive us of our estates and liberties and that under the How the Parliament Rebels have inriched themselves in Ireland Parliaments name For I hear that as many have been impoverished so many both the Lords and Commons in this Kingdom of Ireland that before the conjunction of these malevolent martial Planets were very low at an ebbe and their names very deep in many Citizens books have now wiped off all scores paid all their debts and clad themselves in
shield and buckler which is the daily faithful prayer of Your Majestie 's most loyally devoted Subject and most faithfully obliged servant Gryffith Ossory THE DISCOVERY OF MYSTERIES OR The Plots and practices of a prevailing Faction in this present Parliament to overthrow both Church and State CHAP. I. Sheweth the Introduction the greatness of this Rebellion the Original thereof the secret plots of our Brownistical faction and the two chifest things that they aymed at to effect their Plot. I Have long wandered in a region of Rebellion among seduced Subjects and discontented Peers and now at last after I had passed the raging Seas and very hardly escaped the storms and dangers of the surging waves I am arrived in my native soyle where I find my self incompassed with far greater storms and more violent winds then ever I thought could be on any Land for though that Grand Rebellion which you may find lately described was both magna mira very great and very grievous such as I supposed could not be exceeded by any humane malice yet now me thinks I hear the Spirit saying unto me as he did unto Ezekiel Son of man stand up â—nd I will shew thee greater abominutions and a Rebellion far greater and more odious then eithâ—â— Popish Irish or any other Sect or Nation of the World hath hitherto produced and therefore I may now say with the Poet Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let proud Babylon cease to boast Of her Pyramid's stately spires This Rebellion is more strange Surmounting all infernal fires No age the like hath ever bred Nor shall when these Rebels be dead The seed of it was unseasonably sown in the Northern storm and the The seed and original of this Rebellion Original of those Boreal blasts either why or by whom those spirits were raised is not so well known to me therefore how justly the King did undertake the quarrel I will not at this time determine or with what equity the Scots made their approach into England it is not my purpose to discuss yet I must needs say that our English Sectaries and Amsterdam Recusants which hated our Church and loved not our King justum quia justum only because he is so good too good for them did from hence arripere â—ansam take hold of this opportunity by procuring those to proceed that were coming on and discouraging the others of the Kings side that were Cowardly enough to say no worse of themselves to betray both King and Kingdom into the hands of the Invaders So the good King was now with King David brought into a strait either to take So now I fear moâ—â— the secret enemies both of Church and State that may lurk in Court then those that lie in the Earl of Essex his Camp counsel and follow the advice of those secret Sectaries and the masked enemies both of the Church and State that as yet insensible unto him were such in the bosome of his Court and most slily aymed at a further mischief then his Majesty could have imagined as now it appeareth by the consequences of this Parliament or else to hazard the dangers that his then open foes were like to bring upon his people And I assure my self eyes of flesh that cannot pierce into the mysteries of the hearts and our secret thoughts 〈◊〉 see no further nor make any better election then His Majesty did that is to call a Parliament which the hearts of all the Kingdom called and cryed for and which in former times by the wise institution and right prosecution thereof was sound to be the Pancreston or as the Weapon salve an 〈◊〉 to cure all the diseases and to heal all the bleeding wounds of this Kingdom though of late we have sensibly felt the unhappy ending of some of them which perhaps may be some accidental cause of some part of this unhappiness here was His Majesties fair mind and an act of special grace for which all His Subjects ought most thankfully to shew themselves Loyal unto Him when He preserred their safety before the prosecuting of his own resolutions But Decipimur specie recti we are many times deceived by the shadow of the truth and betrayed under the vizard of virtue for as God produceth light out of darkness and good out of evil so wicked men like the spiders do suck poyson from those flowers whence the Bees do extract honey and these subtle-headed Foxes whereof many of them had unduly got themselves elected into the House of Commons and there factiously combined themselves together to do their great exploit to overthrow the Government both of Church and Sate and minded to make the Parliament-House like Vulcans Forge where they intended to contrive their Iron net that should be able to hold fast all sorts of people from him that sitteth upon the Throne to him that wallowed in dust and ashes turned the hopes of our redresses to our extream miseries when in stead of rectifying our abuses they intended principally to work our ruine in our just apprehension though perhaps our happiness in their own mistaken conception And as the Apostle saith Known unto God are all his works from the beginning and he hath eternally decreed how and by what means to bring them all unto perfection so the Devil being God's Ape and the wicked treading in his steps do first mold their designs and intentions in the Idea of their own brains and conclude the works they would have done in their own conceits and then they frame to themselves the means and wayes whereby they are resolved to produce and perfect all those misâ— shapen embryoes that they conceived and so these factious men this brood of vipers that would gnaw through the bowels of their mother from the first convention of this Parliament had resolved upon their plot and contrived among themselves what great good work they would by such and such means bring to passe And that was as I hope this subsequent discourse will make it plain to The design â— plot of the faction of Sectaries all that will not be wilfully blind the subversion of the ancient government both of this Church and Kingdom and to introduce a new Ecclesiastical Discipline and to frame a new Common-wealth much like if not worse than that of our neighbours in the Low-Countries Gratum opus agricolis a brave exploit and a great work indeed beyond the adventure of Junius Brutus that expelled the Kings but left the Priests alone that purged the corruption of the Royal Government but meddled not with the Religion of their Bishops and Prophets and beyond the undertaking of Martin Luther that pulled down the pride of the Pope and all that Romish Hierarchy but ventured not to trample upon the Sâ—epter of Kings and the Imperial Government which he held Sacred and inviolably to be obeyed For these men perceiving how God had so wisely ordered these Governments among his people to assist each other that the
non successit aliâ aggrediâ—mur viâ Seeing we failed herein we will attempt another way And to that end they frame a Bill of Attainder against him and this if it passe by the major part of both Houses and have the Royal assent will bring him to his just deserved death And herein I will not say they shewed themselves worse than the Jews because that when their malice was at the highest pitch against Christ they said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die and these haters of the Earl seeing they had no Law will have a Law to be made that shall bring him unto his death because the House might have reasons which my sense cannot conceive Yet some of his friends have said that after a former prosecution according to Law to make a new Law where there was none before to take away The rubs of â—e Bill how taken away a mans life is almost as bad as the Romancy-Law that I read of to hang him first and then judge him afterward to which I assent not and not many lesse than 60. worthy Members of the House of Commons would never yield to passe that Bill and it had a greater rub among the Lords where it is thought not upon any slight conjectures it had never passed but that this rub must be taken away by a new device for that the Faction judging some of them might be more timorous than malicious and remembring that primus in orbe deos fecit timor Fear is a powerful passion that produceth many strange effects the Apprentices and Porters Water-men and Car-men and all the rascal rout of the ragged Regiment were gathered together by some Chedorlaomer and came as they did against Christ with swords and staves without order with great impudency to awe them and to cry for Justice against him and this was done and done again and again until the business that they came for was done A course not prevented that may undo all Justice and bring us all to be undone And yet all this will not do this deed until the King passeth His assent for as yet the new Law of Orders and Ordinances without the King was The Kings great pains to search out the truth not hatched And the good King having so graciously so indefatigably taken such care and such pains in his own Person every day to hear and see all that could be laid unto his charge and how he had answered each particular was so just and of such tender and religious conscience that he was not satisfied as men conceived with the weight of those reasons that were produced to passe the same Therefore here I find another Stratagem used such as Hannibal could not invent to effect this hard task â— What To perswade mildness to become severe or to cause a just and most clement Prince so full of mercy so proue to pardon where there is a fault and so loth to punish but where he must by the Law of Justice the greatest fault to yield to put him to death that was in many things so excellent in his life The task was to procure his assent to passe this Bill and how shall this be done As the Man of God could not be perswaded by any man but by a Man of God a Prophet by a Prophet so now the Bishops that were good men men of conscience and set apart by God to resolve and satisfie weak and tender consciences are thought fit to be sent unto this good King to perswade him as men supposed that to prevent a greater mischief he might justly passe this Bill and either 6. or 4. of the prime Prelates are requested by the Lords to go unto the King to assay how far they can prevail with him herein And so they went and how they dealt with His Majesty I do not fully understand but am informed by some that went that they assured Him he ought to satisfie himself in point of Law by his Judges and of State by his Council And how they did any otherwise in any other thing rectifie his Conscience in point of Divinity which belonged unto themselves I cannot tell But though I think no man can justly lay the least tittle of blame upon the just King no not the Earl himself as himself professed for yielding to such and so earnest perswasions of I know not how many reverend Bishops wise Counsellours grave Judges and the flower of all his people to passe that Bill whatsoever it was Yet to say what I conceive with their favour of my Brethren the Bishops The Bishops right to vote in any cause in the prosecution of this cause I am perswaded that they had no reason to withdraw themselves from the House and to desert their own Right when the Bill or the Judgement was to passe against the Earl upon this slight pretence alledged against them by the baters of the Earl and no lovers of the Bishops That a Clergy-man ought not to have any Vote or to be present at the handling of the cause of blood or death for they might know full well when my Lords grace of York did most cleerly manifest this truth that the first inhibition of the Clergy to be present and assistant in causâ— sanguinis or judicio mortis in the Canon of Innocent the third as I remember for I am driven to fly without my Books was most unjust only to tie the Bishops to his blind obedience to the apparent prejudice of all Christian Princes by denying this their service unto them and it is no wayes obligatory to bind us that are by the Laws of our Land not only freed but also injoyned to abandon all the unjust Canons that are repugnant to our Laws and derogatory to our Kings and to renounce all the usurped authority of the Pope For I would fain know what Scripture or what reason Pope Innocent can alleadge to exclude them from doing that good service both to God and their King which in all reason they can or should be better able to do than most others And I am sure that neither in the old nor in the new Testament nor yet in the Primitive Church until these subtile Popes began thus to incroach upon the Rights of Princes to take away the Prerogatives of Kings and to domineer over the consciences of men this exclusion of them from the highest act of Justice was never found For did not Moses Joshua Samuel Eliah Elizâ—us Jeâ—oida and others of The Prophets and Apostles judged in the case of life and death the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament and S. Peter also the Prince of the Apostles in the new Testament judge in the case of blood and pronounced the sentence of death against Malefactors As when Ananias and Sapphira were suddenly brought unto their end by the judgement of the Apostle and if they be able and fit to judge of any thing then why not of this If you say because
when it was first hatched after the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus if therefore you will believe Tertullian that Id verius quod prius you must needs give the precedency of all governments unto Monarchy But that which is more considerable is to understand how these birds flitted out of the nâ—st of Monarchy Our Saviour saith Every plant which my Father Matth. 15. 13. planted not shall be rooted up that he planted Monarchy I have made it plain but when this Vine began to grow wilde and instead of grapes to bring forth What caused the change of Monarchy bitter clusters that is oppression instead of justice the people grew weary of God's Ordinance and loath to be contained within the bounds of obedience when they found strength and opportunity they withstood their lawful but degenerated Kings and then they deposed them from their estates and deprived them of their lives so that as the Poet saith Ad generum Cereris sine caede sanguine paâ—ci Juvenal Satyr 10. Descendunt reges siccâ morte tyranni And thinking to finde a better way then that which they found so thorny and a better government then that which formerly they found so bad they elected those men whom they thought would make them happy sometimes The unconstancy of the people in the choice of their Governours more and sometimes fewer as their disposition was to be their Governours so after the expulsion of Tarquinius the Romanes chose two Consuls and these giving not a plenary content unto the People they added the Tribunes to bridle the disorders of the Consuls and when all this would not satisfie their unsatiable expectation they must have their Decemviros and in great dangers their The Government never settled till it came as all things in nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Monarchy Dictator then comes the Triumvirat of Antony Lepidus and Augustus who at last takes upon him the name of an Emperour but the full power of a King and governs all as the sole Monarch thus they ran in a maze and turned round like a wheel and I should but weary my Reader to trace the Greek Histories to set down the state of Athâ—ns under the thirty Tyrants or of the Lacedamonians under those Ephori that bore a fair shew to restrain their Kings but were indeed a scourge and plague unto the people so that in truth Laced aemoniorum aristocratia ex duobus Regibus quinque Ephoris octo vigiâ—â—i senatoribus composita 1 Sam. 2. 14. 15. Chap. 8. 11. 2. Reason that Monarchy is the best form of Government the remedy proved far worse then the disease excessit medicina modum and the change of Government never brought any other good but an exchange of miseries the greater for the lesser unto the people as for that one rape of Lucrece by Tarquinius to undergo a thousand greater insolencies under the new erected Government of the Consuls and Tribunes and the Israelites for preventing the snatching of the flesh out of their â—ots by the sons of Eli and growing weary of the sons of Samuel to have a Saul that shall tear their own flesh in pieces and take their sons and their daughters for his vassals 2. As the hereditary Monarch is the first kinde of Government so it is the principal and best government because it is the immediate Ordinance of God that he set down for the Government of his People for this was ordained by God himself and so continued among his people even in an hereditary way unless the same God designed another person by those Prophets that he inspired for that purpose as it was in the case of David Solomon and Jehu and it is certain that the wisest of men cannot devise a better Form of Government then God ordained therefore the choice of one or more made by the People to be their King or Governour cannot be if not without sin yet I am sure without felly but seeing as our Saviour saith a Sparrow cannot light upon the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father so I must confess haec non sine numine divûm Matth. 10. 19. Eveniunt This election of Kings and change of the first Ordinance happened not without God's providence either for the Tyranny of the evil Kings or the punishment of the rebellious people and therefore as Moses for the hardness of those mens hearts that hated their Wives to prevent a greater mischief either continual fighting or secret murdering one another suffered them to give their Wives a bill of divorcement but as our Saviour saith Non erat sic ab initio it was not Deut. 24. 1. Matth. 19. 8. any primary Ordinance of God but a permissive toleration of the lesser evil so when the people out of their froward disposition to God's first Institution of the Regal right and presuming to like better of their own choice do alter this How God allowed the Aristocratical and Democratical Government and why hereditary Right and divine Ordinance into the election of one or more Governours either annual as among the ancient Romans or vital as it is in the present state of the Venetians God out of his infinite lenity to our humane frailty rather then his people should be without Government and so many heynous sins should go unpunished doth permit and it may be allow and approve the same though sometimes not without great anger and indignation for our contempt and distaste of his heavenly institution as when the Israelites weary of the Deut. 33 5 Judges that succeeded Moses who was a king in Jesurun and that God raised still to rule as Kings amongst them to make War against their eâ—â—mies and to judge them according to the Law in the time of peace which are the two chiefest Offices of all kings desired to have a king to judg them like all the Nations not 1 Sam. 8 5. a king simply for so they had indeed though not in name but a king like all the Nations that is a king of a more absolute power then the Judges had as Samuel sheweth and they seem contented therewith God sent them a King in his wrath because they had rejected him that he should not reign over them that vers 7. is they had refused to submit themselves to his Ordinance and to obey the Kings that he appointed over them but they must needs be their own Carvers and have a King of their own election or such a king invested with a more absolute power as they desired though notwithstanding they did most hypocritiâ—ally seem to desire none but whom God appointed over them and therefore perceiving their own errour and seeing their own offence by the anger that God shewed they confessed their fault and did always thereafter accept of their kings The lamentable success of the first elective kings by succession but onely when their Prophets by the sacred Ointment had ordained another
his natural capacity that is 2. Reason as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King James when as homage cannot be done to any King in his politique capacity the body of the King being Coke l. 7. Calvin's case invisible in that sence 3. Because in that case it is expresly affirmed that the King holds the Kingdom 3. Reason of England by birth-right inherent by descent from the bloud-royal therefore to shew how inseperable this right is from the next in bloud Hen. the 4. though he was of the bloud-royal being first cozen unto the King and had the Crown resigned unto him by Rich. the 2. and confirmed unto him by Act of Speed l. 9. c. 16. Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment of Watson 4. Reason 1. Jacobi and Clerke that immediately by descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and outward Solemnization of the descent And it is illustrated by Hen. 6. Speed l. 9. c. 16. that was not crowned till the ninth year of his Reign and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have been done had The right heir to the kingdom is King before he is crowned Why the peoples consent is asked 2. Respect he not been King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings his Successor is immediately proclaimed King to shew that he hath his Kingdom by descent and not by the people at his Coronation whose consent is then asked not because they have any power to deny their consent or refuse him for their King but that the King having their assent may with greater security and confidence rely upon their loyalty 2 As the Kings of Israel had full power and authority to make war and conclude peace to call the greatest Assemblies as Moses Joshua David Jehosaphat and the rest of the Kings did to place and displace the greatest Officers of State as Solomon placed Abiathar in Sadoâ—'s room and Jehosaphat appointed 2 Chron. 19. 11 The absolute authority of the kings of England Coke 7 rep fol. 25. 6. Polyd. Virgil. lib 11. Speed Stow c. Amariah and Zebadiah rulers of the greatest Affaires and had all the Militia of the Kingdom in their hands so the Kings of England have the like for 1. He onely can lawfully proclaim war as I shewed before and he onely can conclude peace 2. There is no Assembly that can lawfully meet but by his Authority and as the Parliament was first devised and instituted by the king as all our Historians write in the life of Henry the first so they cannot meet but by the king's Writ 3. All Laws Customs and Franchises are granted and confirmed unto the people by the King Rot. Claus 1. R. 2. n. 44. 4. All the Officers of the Realm whether Spiritual or Temporal are chosen Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. and established by him as the highest immediately by himself and the inferiour by an authority derived from him 5. He hath the sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts The absurdities of them that deny the Militia to the King and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this kingdom or otherwise it would follow that the king had power to proclaime war but not to be able to maintain it and that he is bound to defend his subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraigns their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realm of England supremam potestatem merum imperium Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. apud nos habentes nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec prâ—ter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by Oath to maintain the kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that not onely as they are singularly considered but over all collectively represented in the body politick for by sundry divers old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have been bounden and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience 3. As the duty of every one of the kings of Israel was to be custos utriusque tabulae to keep the Law of God and to have a special care of his Religion and 3 Respect then to do justice and judgment according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judicial Laws of that kingdom so are the kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the The duty of the kings of England honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintain common right according to the rules and dictates of Nature And. 3. To see the particular Laws and Statutes of his own kingdom well observed amongst his people To all which the king is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his Oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these established Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but 4 Respect Psal 51. 4. onely unto God and therefore king David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God I Reason Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. 2 Reason most idolatrous tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings
no better then not to run at all and men were as good to do nothing as to do amiss and therefore true knowledge is most requiâ—te for that King that will maintain true religion and this should be not onely in generall and by others but as much as possible he can in particulars and of himselfe that himselfe might be assured what were fit to be reformed and what warranted to be maintained in Gods service for so Moses commandeth the chiefe Princes to be exercised in Gods Law day and night because this would be a special means to beatisie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church and ruine The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affairs or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect do rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindness will over-spread the Church and pride covetousness and ambition will replenish the Common-Wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all virtue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learn and finde out the true state of things and because it is â—ar unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affairs will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their books as if they were such critiques as inteâ—ded How kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to govern the same 1. To call able Clergy-men about them to exceed all others in the theorick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing soâ—th his Mathemaâ—icall figures when the City was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares therefore it is wisdome in them to imitate the disâ—reâ—t examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the mâ—ans that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attain unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their own greatest study and that is 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to inform him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his pâ—ime Orators Poets and Historians to instruct him in all affairs so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of Government of Gods Church and these Chaplains should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to do evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique loss or an advantage to themselves by the detriment How they should be qualified of the Church and to be honest without knowledge or to have knowledge without experience especially in such places of eminency and for the affaires of importance may be as dangerous when their want of skill may counsel to do matters of much hurt but when both are met together in one person that man is a fit Subject to do good service both to God and the King and the King may be assured there cannot be a better furtherance to assist him for the well ordering of God's Church then the grave advice and directions of such instruments as it appeareth by that memoâ—able example of King Ioas left to be remembred by all Kings who whilst the wise and religious Priest Jehoiada assisted and directed him had all things successefull and happy to his whole Kingdome but after Jehoiada's death the King destitute of such a Chaplain 2 Reg. 12. 2. to attend and such a Priest to counsel him all things came speedily to great ruine Therefore I dare boldly avouch it they are enemies unto Kings and the underminers of God's Church and such instruments as I am not able to express their wickedness that would exclude such Jehoiada's from the Kings counsel for was not Saul a wicked King and Ahab little better yet Saul would have Samuel to direct him though he followed not his direction and Ahab would ask counsel of Micaiah though he rejected the same to his own destruction and King David though never so wise and so great a Prophet and Josias and Ezechias 1 Reg. 22. 16. and all the rest of the gooâ— Kings had always the Priests and the men of God to be their Counsellors 〈◊〉 followed their directions especially in Church causes as the oracles of God so wicked Herod disdained not to hear Mar. 6 20. John the Baptist and to be reformed by him in many things and happy had he been had he done it in all things And if you read Eusâ—bius which is called Pamphilus for the great love he bare to that his noble Patronâ— and Sâ—crates and the rest of the Ecclesiastical â—istorians or the Histories of our own Land you shall finde that the best Kings and greatest Empeâ—ours had the best Divinâ—s and the most reverend Bishops to be their chiefest Counsellors and to be imployed by them in their weightiest affairs How then hath the Devil now prevailed to exclude them fâ—om all Counsels and as much as in him lyeth fâ—om the sight of Princes when he makes it a suspicion of much evil if they do but talk â—ogethe How hath he bewitched the Nobility to yield to be deprived of their Chaplains Is it not to keep them that have not time to study and to finde out truth themselves still in the ignorance of things and to none other end then to overthrow the true religion and to bring Kings and Princes to confusion â— When the King seeth cause God hath given him power and authority to 2 To call Synods to discuss and conclude the harder things call Synodâ— and Councils and to assemble the best men the most moderate and most learned to determine of those things together which a fewer number could not so well or at least not so authoritatively conclude upon for so Constantine the Great called the great Council of Nice to suppress the Heresâ—e of Arius Theodosius called the Council of Ephesus in the case of Nâ—storius Valentinian and Martian called the Council of Calcedon against Eâ—tyches Justinian called the Council of Constantinople against Severus that renewed the Heresie
of Eâ—tyches Constantine the Fiâ—th called the sixth Synod against the Monothelites and so did many others in the like cases God having fully granted this right and autho ity unto them for their better information in any point of religion and the goverment of the Church And therefore they that deny this power unto Kings or assume this authority unto themselves whether Popes or Parliament out of the Kings hand they may as well take his eyes out of his head because this is one of the best helps that God hath left unto Kings to assist and direct them in the chiefest part of The unparallel'd presumption of the Faction to call a Synod without the king their royal government how presumptuous then and injurious unto our King and prejudicial to the Church of Christ was the factiâ—n of this Parliament without the Kings leave and contrary to his command to undertake the nomination of such a pack of Schismatical Divines for such a Synod as might finally determine such points of faith and discipline as themselves best liked of let all the Christian world that as yet never saw the like president be the Judge and tell us what shall be the religion of that Church where the Devil shall have the power to prompt worldlings to nominate his prime Chaplains Socinians Brownists Anabaptists and the refuse of all the refractory Clergy that seem The quality of the Synodical men learned in nothing but in the contradiction of learning and justifying Rebellion against their King and the Church to compose the Articles of our saith and to frame a new government of our Church I am even ashamed that so glorious a Kingdom should ever breed so base a Faction that durst ever presume to be so audacious and I am sorry that I should be so unhappy to live to see such an unparallel'd boldness in any Clergy that the like cannot be found in any Ecclesiastical History from the first birth of Christ's Church to this very day unless our Sectaries can produce it from some of the Vtopian Kingdoms that are so far South ward In terra incognita beyond the Torrid Zone that we whose zeal is not so fiery but are of the colder spirits could not yet perfectly learn the true method of their Anarchical government or if our Lawyers can shew us the like president that ever Parliament called a Synod contrary to the King's Proclamation I shall rest beholding to them produce it if they can Credat Judaeus apella non ego The third thing requisite to a King for the preservation of true religion and 3. An authority and power to guide the Church and to uphold the true religion the government of God's Church is power and authority to defent it for though the Prince should be never so religious never so desirous to defend the faith and never so well able in his understanding and so well furnished with knowledge to set down what Service and Ceremonies should be used yet if he hath not power and ability which do arise from his right and just authority to do it and to put the same in execution all the rest are but fruitless embryoes like those potentials that are never reduced into actions or like the grass upon Ps 1â—9 6. the house top that withereth before it be plucked up But to let you see that Kings and Princes should have this power and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes and over all Ecclesiastical persons we finde that all Ages and all Lawes have warranted them to do the same for Solomon displaced Abiathar and placed Sadoâ— in his room Jeremy's case was heard by the King 1. Reg. 2. 27. 35. Jerem. 26. How all kings and Emperors exercised this power oâ—er the Church of Israel Theodoâ—â—â—s and Valentâ—nian made a Decree that all those should be deposed which were infected with the impiâ—ty of Nestorius and Justinian deposed Sylverius and Vigilius and many oâ—her Kings and Emperours did the like and not onely the Law of God whereof the King is the prime keeper and the keeper of both Tables but also the Statutes of our Land do give unto our King the nomination of Bishops and some other elective dignities in the Church the â—ustody of the Bishops Temporalties during the vacation the Patronage Paramount or right to present by the last lapse and many other furtherances and preservatives of religion are in terminis terminantibus deputed by our Lawes unto the King and for his care and charge thereof they have setled upon him our first Fruits Tenths Subsidies and all other contributions of the Ecclesiastical persons which the Pope received while he usurped the government of this Church these things being due to him that had the supreme power for the government And therefore seeing the examples of all good Kings in the Old Testament and of the Christian Kings and Emperours in the New Testament and all Lawes both of God and man excepting those Lawes of the Pontificials that are made against the Law of God and all Divines excepting the Cassian de Incarn l. 1. c. 6. Jesuites and their sworn Brethren the Presbyterians do most justly ascribe this right and power unto Kings I may truly say with Cassianus that there is no place of audience left for them by whom obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon nor any excuse for those Subjects that assist not their Soveraign to inable him to discharge this great charge that is laid upon him What then shall we say to them that pull this power and tear this prerogative out of the King's hand and place it in the hands of mad men as the Prophet epithets the madness of the people I or that furious Knox belched forth Psal 65. 7. How the Disciplinarians rob the king of this right Knox to the Commonalty fol. 49. 50 55. this unsavory Doctrine That the Commonalty may lawfully require of their King to have true Preachers and if he be negligent they themselves may justly provide them maintain them defend them against all that oppose them and detain the profits of the Church Livings from the other sort of Ministers a point fully practised by the English Scotizers of these dayes and as if this Doctrine were not seditious enough and abundantly sufficient to move Rebellion Goodman publisheth that horrible tenet unto the world that it is lawful to kill wicked Kings which most dangerous and more damnable Doctrine Dean Whittingham affirmeth to be the tenet of the best and most learned of them that were our Disciplinarians But when as true Religion doth command us to obey our Kings whatsoever their Religion is aut agendo aut patiendo either in suffering with patience whatsoever What true religion teacheth us they do impose or in doing with obedience whatsoever they do command Religion can be no warrant for those actions which must remain as the everlasting blemishes of that Religion which either commanded or approved of
the Church where it forbiddeth the Bishops to reiterate baptisme to paint or grave on earth the Image of our Saviour L. 1. tit 5. L. 1. tit 7. Novel 123. c. 10. Novel 58. Novel 137. c. 6. And in the Novels the Emperour ordaineth Lawes of the creation and consecration of Bishops that Synods should be annually held that the holy mysteries should not be celebrated in private houses that the Bishops should speak aloud when they celebrate the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue and the like And not onely these and the rest of the godly Emperours that succeeded them but also Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaigne who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a book against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himself in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Johannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a book called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Pepin his predecessour had done in the City of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councils in divers places of his Kingdoms as at Mayns at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himself was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our own Kingdom of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of God's Church But as Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said The saying of â—â—oclesian most truly of the civil government that there was nothing harder then to râ—le well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to govern the Church of Christ therefore â—s there cannot be an argument of greater wisdome in a Prince nor any â—hiâ—g of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make â—hâ—ice of a wise Council to assist him in his most weighty affaires saith Cornâ—lius Tacitus Tacitus Annâ— lib. 12. So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes foâ— that government foâ— God ouâ— of his great mercy to them and no less desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be theiâ— supporters their helpers and advisers in the performance of these 〈◊〉 and â— pray you whom did Kings chuse for this business but whom Gâ—â— â—ad oâ—dâ—ned for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian King and Emperours made their Lawes as having the supremacy and the 〈◊〉 â—â—r of 〈◊〉 â—eligion committed by God into their hands yet they dâ—d never make them that ever I could read with the advice counsel or direction of any of â—heir Peers or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and Gâ—◠〈◊〉 had Daniel and the rest of the Jâ—wish Kings and The good Kings Emperours made their Lawes for the government of the Church onely by the advâ—ce of their Clergy A good Law of Iâ—stinian Constit 123. Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Chrâ—stian Kings and Princes took their Bishops and their Clergâ—e â—nâ—ly to be their counsellors and directors in all Church causes as it appeareth out of all the 〈◊〉 Authors and all the Histories that do write thereof and Justinian pâ—blishâ—d this Law that when any Ecclesiastical cause or matter was moved his Lay officers should not intermeddle with it but should suffer the Bishops to end the same according to the Canons the words are Si Ecclesiastâ—â—â—m negotium sit nullam communionem habento â—iviles magistratus cum â—a disceptatione sed religiosâ—ssimi Episcopi secundum sacros canones negotio finem imp nuntâ— â—or the good Emperour knew sull well that the Lay Senate neither â—nderstood what to determine in the points of faith and the government of Christ's Church nor was ever willing to do any great good or any special favour unto the Shepherds of Christ's flock and the â—eachers of the true religion because the Son of God had foâ—e-told it that the world should hate us that secular men and Lay Senatours should commonly oppose cross and shew all the John 15 19. Matth. 10. 16. spite they can unto the Clergy of whom our Saviour saith Behold I send you forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sheep in the midst of wolves Whence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great distance between their dispositions being observed it grew into a Proverb that Laici semper infesti sunt Clericis And Doctour Meriton In a Sermon before King James observed this as one of the good savours the How the Laity love the Clergy A very memorable act Anno 39 Eliz. cap. 4. Clergie of England found from our Parliaments since the reformation when many men first began to be translated from the seat of the scornefull to sit in Moses chaire aâ—d to prescribe Lawes for Christ his Spouse to make an Act that all wandering beggars after their correction by the Constable should be brought to the Minister of the Paâ—ish to have their names registred in a Book and the Constable used to give to the Minister 2d for his paines for every one so registred but if he refused or neglected to do it the Statute saith he should be punished sive shillings for every one that should be so omitted where besides the honourable office I will not say to make the Minister of Christ a Bedle of the Beggars but a Register of the vagrants you see the punishment of one neglect amounteth to the reward of thirty labours therefore all the Christian Emperours and the wisest Kings considering this great charge that God had laid upon them to make wholesome Lawes and Constitutions for the government of his Church and seeing the inclinations of the Laity would never permit any of these Lay Elders and the Citizens of the world to usurp this authority to be the composers contrivers or assistants in concluding of any Ecclesiastical Law until the fences of God's vineyard were pulled down and the That the Laity should have no interest in making Laws for the Church wilde Boar out of the forrest the audacious presumption of the unruly Commonalty ventured either to govern the Church or to subdue their Prince since which incroachment upon the rights of Kings it hath never succeeded well with the Church of Christ and I dare boldly say it fidenter quia fideliter and the more boldly because most truly the more authority they shall gain herein the less glory shall Christ have from the service of his Church and the efore Be wise ô ye Kings And consider how any new Canons are to be made by our
do because the God of Heaven that hath built his Church upon a rock and will not turn away his face from his Anointed will so bless our King that it shall never be with him as it was with Zedechia when it was not in hâ—s power to save Gods Prophet but said unto his Princes Behold he is in your Jeâ—em 28. 5. hand for the King is nâ—t he that can do any thing against you yet as Mordecai said to Hester God will send enlargement and deliverance unto his Church and Hester 4. 14. they and their fathers houses that are against it shall be destroyed because as Saint Peter saith we have forsaken all to become his servants that otherwise might have served Kings with the like hâ—nour that they do and we have left the world to build up his Church we put our trust under the shadow of his wings and being in trouble we do cry unto the Lord and therefore he will hear our cry and will helpe us and we sâ—all never be confounded Amen CHAP X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensation is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure special sorts of false professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated 2. WHereas the Anabaptists and Brownists of our time with what conscience 2. That the King may lawfully grant his dispensation for Pluralities and Non-residency I know not cry out that our Kings by their Lawes do unreasonably and unconscionably grant dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency onely to further the corrupt desire of some few aspiring Prelates to the infinite wrong of the whole Clergy the intolerable dishonour of our Religion the exceeding prejudice of Gods Church and the lamentable hazard of many thousand soules I say that the Pluralities and Non-residency granted by the King and warranted by the Lawes of this Land may finde sufficient reasons to justifie them In Anno 112. for if you consider the first limitation of Benefices that either Euaristus Bishop In Anno 636. of Rome or Dionysius as others thinke did first assigne the precincts of Parishes and appointed a certain compass to every Presbyter and in this Kingdome The first distribution of Parishes Honorius Arch-bishop of Canterbury was the first that did the like appointed the Pastorall charge and the portion of meanes accrewing from that compass to this or that particular person whereas before for many years they had no particular charge assigned nor any Benefice allotted them but had their Canonicall pensions and dividents given them by the Bishop out of the common stock of the Church according as the Bishop saw their severall deserts for at first the greater Cities onely had their standing Pastors and then the Countrey Villages imitating the Cities to allow maintenance according to the abilities of the inhabitants had men of lesser learning appointed for those places Therefore this limitation of particular Parishes being meerly positive and an Pluralities and Non-residency no transgression of Gods Law humane constitution it cannot be the transgression of a divine ordinance to have more Parishes then one or to be absent from that one which is allotted to him when he is dispenced with by the Law-maker to do the same for as it is not lawfull without a dispensation to do either because we are to obey every ordinance of the higher power for the Lords sake so for the higher power to dispence with both is most agreeable to reason and Gods truth for all our Gods Law admitteth an interpretation not a dispensation of it Lawes are either divine or humane and in the divine Law though we allow of interpretation quia non sermoni res sed rei sermo debet esse subjectus because the words must be applyed to the matter else we may fall into the heresie of those that as Alfonsus de Castro saith held it unlawfull upon any occasion to sweare because our Saviour saith sweare not at all yâ—t no man King nor Pope hath power to grant any dispensation for the least breach of the least precept of Gods Law he cannot dispence with the doing of that which God forbiddeth to be done nor with the omitting of that which God commandeth but in all humane Lawes so far as they are meerly positive and humane it is in Mans Law may be dispensed with the power of their makers to dispence with them and so quicquid sit dispensation superioris non sit contra praeceptum superioris and he sinneth neither against the Law noâ— against his own conscience because he is delivered from the obligation of that Law by the same authority whereby he stood bound unto it And as he that is dispensed with is free from all sin so the King which is the dispenser is as free from all fault as having full right and power to grant His dispensations â—or seeing that all humane Lawes are the conclusions of the Law of nature or the evidences of humane reason shewing what things are most benefiâ—iall to any society either the Church or Common-wealth and that experience â—eacheth us our reason groweth often from an imperfection to be more perfect when time produceth more light unto us we cannot in reason deny an abrogation and dispensation to all humane Lawes which therefore ought not to be like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians that might not be changed Aug. de libero arbit l. 1. and so Saint Augustine saith Lex humana quamvis justa sit commutari tamen pro tempore juste potest any humane Law though it be never so just yet for the time as occasion requireth may be justly changed dispensatio est juris communis relaxatio facta cum causae cognitione ab eo qui jus habet dispensandi Dispensation what it is and as the Civilians say a dispensation is the relaxation of common right granted upon the knowledge of the cause by him that hath the power of dispensing or as the â—tymologie of the word beareth dispensare est diversa pensare The reward of learning and vertue how to be rendered to dispense is to render different rewards and the reward of learning or of any other virtue either in the civill or the ecclesiasticall person being to be rendered as one saith not by an Arithmeticall but a Geometricall proportion and the division of Paâ—â—shes being as I said before a positive humane Law it cannot be denyed but the giver of honour and the bestower of rewards which is the King hath the sole power and right to dispose how much shall be given to this or that particular person If you say the Law of the King which is made by the advice of his whole Ob. Parliament hath already determined what
without Religion and in brief a most dangerous and malicious hypocrite and were therefore banished from amongst us in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth but now deserve it far better being more dangerous because far more numerous * Huc usque Our factious Puritans bitterer against Kings then the Jesuâ—tes and therefore I cannot say with Saint Bernard Aut corrigendi nè pereant aut coercendi nè perimant for in my judgement they are incorrigible and in their own opinion they are invincible having by lyes and frauds gathered so much wealth and united such strength together that except the Lord himself had been on our side and made our very enemies the Papists to become our friends and to hazard their lives and fortunes according to their duty to preserve the Crown and Dignity of their king as God most wisely disposeth of things when he produceth light out of darkness and against their wills support our true Protestant Religion from being quite defaced by these mercilesse enemies we might well fear what destruction would have come upon us And therefore considering the bitter writings of their Prophets old and new being fuller of gall and venome against Christian Kings then can be found in the bookes of the Jesuites and considering the wicked practices and this unparallel'd rebellion of these new Proselytes and the loyalty of those that heretofore received least favour from the Church and not much from the State Tell me I pray you which of these deserve best to be suffered in a Protestant Church they that maliciously seeke her ruine or they that unwillingly support her from falling for my self I will ever be of the true Protestant faith yet for this loyalty of the Papists unto their King I will ever be in charity and rest in hope though not in â—â—e same faith with them and I doubt not but His Majesty will thinke well of their fidelity But as Saint Bernard saith Non est meae humilitatis dictitare vobis it is not for me to prescribe who are most capable of Grace or who best deserveth the Kings favour when his Princely Grace presupposeth a sufficient merit but in humility to set down mine own opinion in this point of toleration with submission to the judgement of this Church wherein also I humbly desire my reader not to mistake me as if I meant such a publick and legal toleration as might breed a greater distraction in a kingdome then the wisedome of the State could well master and raise more spirits then they could lay down but such as I have exprest in my Grand Rebellion p. 5 6. Grand Rebellion that is a favourable connivence to enjoy their own consciences so long as they live in peace and amity with their neighbours but without any publick exercise of their Religion which can produce nothing else but discord distraction and destruction to that Kingdome where two religions are profest in Aequilibrio with the same priviledges and authority These and many more are the rights of Kings granted them by God for the Government of his Church which they are to looke unto and to protect in all her rights service maintenance ordinances governours and the like if they looke that God should bless and protect them in their ways dignities and dues because it is their duties and the first charge that God layeth upon them to be nursing Fathers unto his Church for God knew the Church should have many enemies intus est equus Trojanus and they are the worst that are nearest unto kings and do with Judas kiss with fair words and Machiavilian counsels betray both Church and King and in the end destroy themselves foâ— who deceived Absolen though rightly but his own Counsellour who betrayed Ahab and that most wickedly but his lying Parasites and who overthrew Râ—heboam and that foolishly but his young favourites Which thing is purposely set down in the holy Scripture to be a caveat for all Kings not to rely too much upon young Counsellors not that wisedome and prudence are intailed to old age and inseperable from gray-haires or divorced from green heads but because commonly experience is the fruitfull mother of these faire issues and the multitude of yeares teacheth wisdom for otherwise there may be delirium senectutis the dotage of old age as well as vanitas juventutis the folly of youth and as Elihu saith Great men are not alwayes wise neither do the aged understand judgement but as Solomon saith wisdom even in youth is the gray haires and an undefiled life is the old age as we see young Ioseph was the wisest in all Egypt Solomon Daniel and Titus how wise how learned and how religious were they in their younger yeares So Alexander Hanniball Scipio in the feates of war Lucan Mirandula Keckerman and abundance more in all humane learning that were but Neophyti annis yet were egregii virtutibus young in years yet very admirable for their worth And Princes do most wisely when they make such election especially when they are inforced to call men to places of labour and industry they must have some regard to the bodies as well as to the mindes of their servants and chuse men of younger yeares though not to be their favourites but their confidenâ—s according to the French distinction as His Majesty hath lately made choice of one noble servant who is as Nazianzen speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gray in the minde though yellow in the head and supplying in all manner of excellent parts what may be conceived wanting in years whose name so much already catched at by envy I shall ever reverence though now I purposely passe it over in silence and whom may the Church fear most of all but her dissembling friends that are in most favour with Kings and therefore seduce them soonest insensibly to wound the Care and neglect the Charge that is laid upon them because as St. Bernard saith Longè plus nocet falsus Catholicus quà m si apertus appareret haereticus those eare-wigs are most pernicious whose counsels seeme to be most specious when they are but as the spirit of darkness appearing like an Angel of light when they say God indeed must be served and the Word must be preached but whether Bishop or no Bishop whether in a sumptuous Church or private house whether by an esteemed Clergy or a poore meane Ministrie in this manner or in another fashion it skilleth not much Kings may well enough give way to spare that cost to lessen that Revenue and to pull down these Cathedrals especially to give content unto the People and to defray the expensive charge of the Common-wealth But these counsels will not excuse Kings in the day of their account therefore let them take heed of such Counsellors and when they hear them begin to speak against the Church though they be-guild their beginnings never so slily let them either stop their eares with the Cockatrice that will not heare the Psal 58.
professed in Q. Elizabeth's times that was established by the Lawes justified by the paines and confirmed by the bloud of so many worthy men and faithful Martyrs but a new religion first hatched in Amsterdam then nourished in New-England and now to be transplanted into this Kingdom 3. Who are the persons that are imployed in this war he first of all that 3. Meet Members is the more disloyal because he was a person of honour that had so much honour conferred upon him by His Majesty and so much trust reposed in him and would notwithstanding prove so unthankful as to kick with his heeles against his Master and so follow whom you know passibus aequis whose example any other man that were not rob'd of his understanding would make a remora to retain him from rebellion and what are the other heads but a company either of poor needy and mean condition'd Lords and Gentlemen Who the Rebels are and what manner persons they be or discontented Peers that are misled or such factious Sectaries whose blind zeal and furious malice are able to hurry them headlong to perpetrate any mischief for their Captains and their Officers I believe they fight neither for the Anabaptists creed nor against the Romane faith nor to overthrow our Protestant Church but for their pay for which though they cannot be justified to take their hire for such ill service to rebel against their King and to murder their innocent brethren Yet are they not so bad as their grand Masters and for their common Souldiers I assure my self many of them fight against their wills many seduced by their false Prophets others inticed by their factious Masters and most of them compelled to kill their brethren against their wils and therefore in some places though their number trebled the Kings yet they had rather run away then fight and what a miserable and deplorable case is this when so many poor soules shall be driven unto the Devil by Preachers and Parliament against their wills 4. If you consider quâ authoritate by what authority they wage this war 4. The supreme authority they will answer by the Authority of Parliament and that is just none at all because the Parliament hath not the supreme authority without which the war is not publique nor can it be justified for a war is then justifiable when there is no legal way to end the controversie by prohibiting farther appeales which cannot be but onely betwixt independent States and several Princes that Albericus Gentilis de jure belli l. 1. c. 2. Subjects can never make a lawful war against their King have the supreme power in their own hands and are not liable to the censure of any Court which power the Parliament cannot challenge because they are or should be the King 's lawful Subjects and therefore cannot be his lawful enemies but they will say Master Goodwin Burroughs and all the rest of our good men zealous brethren and powerful Preachers do continually cry out in our eares it is bellum sanctum a most just and holy war a war for the Gospel and for our Lawes and Liberties wherein whosoever dies he shall be crowned a Martyr I answer that for their reward they shall be indeed as Saint Augustine saith of the like Martyres stultae Philosophiae when every one of them may Res dura ac plena pericli est regale occidisse genus be indicted at the bar of God's justice for a felo de se a Malefactour guilty of his own untimely death and for their good Oratours that perswade them to this wickednesse I pray you consider well what they are men of no worth rebellious against the Church Rebels against the King factious Schismaticks of In what condition their Preachers are and of what worth no faith of no learning that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the king and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soul to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deare to me as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soul dearer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Vniversities and all the Divines within the kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this War there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleive not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this war is lawful upon the Parliament side for though these Locusts that is the German Scottish It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king and the English puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainly this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawful King is point blanck and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c. 2. Kecâ—erm Syst pol. c. 32. Jun. Bruâ— q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de laic c. 6. Suar. de fid cathol c. 3. Lichfield l. 4. 19. sect 19. Field l. 5. c. 30. that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing kings saith that no Protestant doth maintain that damnable doctrine and that rashness of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juel and Bilson and all the Doctors of the Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Field saith that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their kings though they were Hereticks and Infidels and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainly and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebels and Traytors that do resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselyes damnation and truely I beleive most of their own consciences tell them so and they that thinke otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should aver such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justness of the War on the Parliament side But. 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his own defence for the maintenance of the
true Protestant Religion that is established by our Laws and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyal Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our own consciences to be true and therefore 2. As his Majesty professeth so we beleive him that he never intended otherwise by this war but to protect us and our Religion and to maintain his own just and unquestionable rights which these Rebels would most unjustly wrest out of his hands and under the shew of humble Petitioners to become at last proud Commanders for as one saith They whom no denial can withstand Seeme but to aske while they indeed command For the persons that war with him they are the chiefest of the Nobility 3 His assistants learned honest and religious 〈◊〉 best Gentry that hazard their lives not for filthy lucre for the Kings 〈◊〉 being so unjustly detained from him they are fain to supply his neces 〈…〉 〈◊〉 to bear their own charges and the poor common Soldiers are no 〈…〉 〈◊〉 to do their best endeavours neither need they to fear any 〈◊〉 because 4. The King hath a just right to give them full power and authority to do 4 His authority sacred and unquestionable What the pretended Parliament is execution upon these Rebels as I have proved unto you before And therefore the result of all is that the Parliament side under the pretence of Religion fighting if not for the Crown yet certainly for the full power and authority of the King who shall have the ordering of the Militia that is who shall have the government of this Kingdome which is all one as who shall be the King they or King CHARLES and which is the very question that they would now decide by the sword in taking away our goods are theeves and robbers in killing their brethren are bloudy murderers and in resisting their King are rebellious traytors that as the Apostle saith purchase to themselves damnation when as the Prophet Esay speaketh of the like Rebels Esay 8. 21 22. being hardly bestead and hungry as I believe thousands of them are in London and other Rebellious Cities they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke upward as I fear many of them do curse the King with thâ—ir tongues and God in their hearts and they shall looke unto the Matth. 8. 12. earth and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse and anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse even to utter darknesse where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth if by a true repentance they do not betimes rent their hearts and forsake their fearful sinns And the Kings side in this war doing no further then the king gives Commission do no more then what God commandeth and therefore living they shall be accounted loyal Subjects worthy of honour and dying they shall be sure to be everlastingly rewarded CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deu. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Government came up 2. HAving thus shewed you potestatem ducendi the Kings right and power of 2 part of the regal government in the time of peace Master Selden in his titles of Honour p. 15. That the first government of Kings was arbitrary making War it resteth that I should speake De potestate judicandi of his power and right of judging and governing his people in the time of peace touching which we finde none denying his right but all the difference is about the manner where 1. I finde Master Sâ—lden rejecting as ridiculous the testimony of Justiâ—â— which saith Populus nullis legibus tenebatur sed arbitria regum pro legibus crant the people were kept under by no Lawes but the will of their Kings was all the Law they had but as oportet mendacem esse memorem so it behoves him that opposeth the truth to be very subtile and very mindful of his own discourse otherwise a meaner Scholler having such advantage as the truth to assist him may easily get the victory for though he goeth about to confute the reason that some alleadge for the denyal of those times to be governed by any Law because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be found in all Homer but wheresoeuer he Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hymnis ad Apoll. speakes of Justice he expresseth the same by the word Themis and saith that this is false which he proveth from Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sheweth that there were Lawes before Homers time from Talus his Lawes that were written in brasse in the Isle of Crâ—te yet all this may be answered and Justines opinion prove most true for Talus his time must needs be uncertain Joseph advers Appion l. 5â— Plutarch in lib. de Hero and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer means the just measure of riming but never useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the set Law of living besides there were many ages and many Kings before Homers time and before Talus Minos Radamanthus or any other Law-maker that you read of Moses was the first that I finde either giving Lawes or inventing Letters and yet there were many Kings before Moses nine Kings named in one Chapter and what Lawes had they to govern Gen. 14. 1 â— their people besides their own wils and therefore Master Selden vi veritatis victus confesseth that in the first times in the beginning of States there were no Pompon de origine juris sf l. 1. sect 2. Josephus regnuÌ„ appellaâ— imperium summum unius hominis non ex lege sed ex arbitrio imperantis Antiquit l. 4. Saravia de imperand autor l. 2. c. 3. Barclaâ—us l. 3. c. 16. Arnis l. 1. c. 3 p. 49 50. Irvinus cap. 4. p. 64 65. Lawes but the arbitrements of Princes as Pomponius speaketh and pag. 4. he saith the people seeing the inconveniences of popular rule chose one Monarch under whose arbitrary rule their happy quiet should be preserved where also you may observe his great mistake in making the Monarchy to spring out of the Democracy when as I have proved before the Monarchicall government was many hundred of years before we heare mention of any other forme of government but in any government Doctor Saravia saith and he saith most truly Quisquis summum obtinâ—t impâ—rium sive is sit unus rex sive pauci nobiles vel ipse populus universus supra omnes leges sunt ratio haec est quòd nemo sibi ferat legem sed subditis suis se legibus nâ—mo aâ—stringit huc accedit illa ratio quòd neque suis legibus teneri possit scil rex cum nemo sit sâ—ipso superior nemo
Grammatically for the true right of a King that may do all this and yet no way contradict those precepts forecited by Moses to confirme which supposition they say 1. The phrase here used must beare it out for as the Hebrew word signifieth as Pagninus noteth Morem aut modum aut consuetudinem and many other things as the place and the matter to be expressed do require because every equivocall word of various signification is not to be taken alike in all places but is to be interpreted secundum materiam subjectam yet the Septuagint that should know both the propriety of the word and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that place as well as any other translate the word to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appareâ— nomen juris significare hic potestatem jure concessam Arnisaeus c. 1. p. 216. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we know the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint useth and jus which the Latine useth is never taken in the worsâ—r sence the Scripture never using to call â—ices by the names of vertues or to give a right to any one to exercise tyranny which then might be better termed jus latronis because an unjust tyrant is no better then an open thiefe 2. There is nothing here set downe by Samuel that is simply forbidden by the Law of God but that any the very best Kings may do as the occasions shall requiâ—e for being a King he must have the royalty of his house supported and the necessities of his war supplied and you may read in Herodotus how Dioces after he was chosen King had all things granted unto him that were needfâ—ll to express his royall state and magnificence and here is nothing else in the text for if you marke it the Prophet saith not he should kill their sons nor ravish their wives nor yet take their daughters to be his Conâ—ubines which are the properties of a tyrant * Instat terribilis vivis morientibus haeres Virginibus raptor thalamis obscaenâ—s adulter Diâ—itâ—busque dies nox meâ—uenda maritis Quisquis vel locuples pulchra vel conjuge notus Crimini pulsatur falso si crimina desunt Accitus conviva perit mors nulla refugit Artificem Claudian de bello Gildon Bilson diff fol. 356. but he should take them to support his State and to maintain his war which as his necessities require is lawfull for him to do so that it is not the doing of those things but the motives that cause the King to do them or the manner of doing them that do make it either an unjust tyranny or the just right of a King for as Doctor Bilson saith kings may justly command the goods and bodies of all their Subjects in the time both of war and peace for any publique necessity or utility And Hugo de Sancto Victore saith Nunquam possessiones à regia potestate ita â—longari possunt quin si ratio postulaverit necessitas illis ipsa potestas debeat patrocinium illis ipsâ— possessiones debeant in necessitate obsequium And so most Authors say the Subjects ought to supply the kings necessities and he may justly demand what is requisite and necessary for his publique occasions and who shall judge of that necessity but his own conscience and God shall judge that conscience which doth unjustly demand what he hath no reason to require because the greatness of his authority gives him no right to transcend the rules of equity whereof both God and his conscience will be the impartiall Judges And therefore in Deut. Mâ—dus describitur res non prohibetur and in Samuel Jus ponitur ratio subintelligitur for many things may be prohibited in some respect that in other respects may be allowed and many things lawfull in some wayes which otherwayes may be most sinfull as it is most lawfull to drink ad satiâ—tatem but not ad â—briâ—tatem and many other the like things so it is lawfull for the king to do all that Samuel saith ad supplendam râ—ipubl necesâ—itatem supportandam regiam majestatem but not ad satisfaciâ—â—dum suo fastui luxâ—i luâ—ro vanitati aut carnali voluptati which is the thing that Moses forbiddeth So that in briefe the meaning is if the Subjects should be unwilling to do what Samuel saith then the king when just necessity requireth may for these lawfull ends lawfully assume them And if he takes them any other way or for any other end then so habet Deum judicem conscientiae ultorem injustitiae But then it may be said Ahab did not offend in taking away Naboths vineyard Ob. if Samuel did properly describe the right of kings I cannot say that Ahab sinned in desiring Naboths vineyard neither do I Ans sinde that the Prophet blames him for that desire there is not a word of that in the text but for killing Naboth and then taking possession for this he might not do the other he might do so he do it to a right end and in the right manner wherein he failed 1. In being so discontented for his denyal because his conscience telling 〈◊〉 sin him that he had no such urgent necessity whereby he could take it and Naboth being unwilling to sell it he should have beene satisfied 2. In suffering his wife whom he knew to be so wicked to proceed in her unjust course against Naboth 3. In going down to take possession when he knew that by his Wifes wicked Naboths fault practice the poore man was unjustly murdered when he should have rather questioned the fact and have punished the murderers And yet Ahabs sin doth not excuse Naboths fault both in the denyal of the Lex posterior derogat priori specialis generali ceremonialia atque forensia cedunt moralibus Kings right if the king had a just necessity to use it and also for his uncivil answer unto the King far unlike the answer of Arauna to King David but nearer like the answer of Nabal which the Holy Ghost seemes to take notice of when after he had said The LORD forbid it me which was rather a prayer and postulation that God would forbid it as we say absit when we hear of any displeasing likelyhood then any declaration of any inhibition of God to sell it who never denyed them leave to sell it until the yeare of redemption the Prophet tells us in the next verse that Naboth said I will not give thee the inheritance of my father 1 Reg. 21. 4. Which very answer seemes to be the cause why Ahab was so much displeased But whether this speech of Samuel sheweth the just right of a King what he might do or his power what he would do what belongs to him of equity or what his practice would be by tyranny I will not determine but I say that although it should not be a just rule for him to command yet it is a certain rule for
them to obey and though it should not excuse the king from sin yet it wholly disables and disavowes the peoples resisting their king because in all this the Prophet allowes them none other remedy but to cry unto the Lord for seeing The kings absolute power not given him to inable him for oppression but to retaine his Subjects from rebellion God hath given him directum dominium absolutum imperium though he should fail of his duty which God requireth and do that wrong unto the people which God forbiddeth yet he is solutus legibus free from all Laws quoad coactionem in respect of any coaction from the people but not quoad obligationem in respect of obedience to God by his obligation for though Kings had this plenitudinem petestatis to rule and govern their people as the father of the family rules his houshold or the Pilot directs his Ship secundum liberum arbitrium according to his own arbitrary will yet that will was to rule and to guide all his actions according to the strict Law of common equity and justice as I have often shewed unto you But though this arbitrary rule continued long and very general for Diodorus Diodor. Siculus l. 2. c. 3. Boemus Aubanus tamen asserit voluntatem regum Aegypti pro lege esse Siculus saith that excepting the Kings of Egypt that were indeed very strictly tied to live according to Law all other Kings infinitâ licentiâ ac voluntate suâ pro lege regnabant ruled as they listed themselves Yet at last corruption so prevailed that either the Kings abusing their power or the people refusing to yeild their obedience caused this arbitrary rule to be abridged and limited within the bounds of lawes whereby the Kings promised and obliged themselves to govern their people according to the rules of those established lawes for though the supreme Majesty be free from all Lawes spontè tamen iis accomodare potest the king may of his own accord yeild to observe the same and as the German Poet saith German vates de rebus Frid. l. 8. Nihil ut verum fatâ—ar magis esse decorum Aut regale puto quà m legis jure solutum Sponte tamen legi sese supponere regem and according to the diversities of those Laws so are the diversities of government How diversities of government came up among the several kingdoms of the earth for I speake not of any Popular or Aristocratical state therefore as some kings are more restrained by their Lawes then some others so are their powers the lesse absolute and yet all of them being absolute Kings and free Monarchs are excepted from any account of their actions to any inferiour jurisdiction because then they had not been Monarchs but of Kings had made themselves Subjects Thus you see that rule which formerly was arbitrary is now become limited but limited by their own lawes and with their own wills and none otherwise for I shewed you else-where that the Legislative power resided alwayes in the King even as Virgil saith Virgil Aeneid I. Gaudet regno Trojanus Acestes Indicitque forum patribus dare jura vocatis And as that mirror of all learned Kings saith King Fergus came to Scotland before Rex Jacobus in the true Law of free Monarchs p. 201. any Statutes or Parliament or Lawes were made and you may easily finde it that Kings were the makers of the Laws and not the Lawes the makers of Kings for the Lawes are but craved by the Subjects and made onely by him at their rogation and with their advice so he gives the Law to them but takes none from them and by their own Lawes Kings have limited and abridged their own Right and Power which God and nature have conferred upon them some more some less according as their grants were unto their people §. The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people ANd here I would have you to consider these two points concerning these Two things considerable about the priviledged grants of Kings 1. The extent of the grants of kings Prov. 30. 15. grants of Kings unto their Subjects for 1. Of the extents of these grants 2. Of the Kings obligation to observe them 1. It is certain that the people alwayes desirous of liberty though that liberty should produce their ruine are notwithstanding like the daughters of the Horse-leech still crying unto their Kings give give give us liberties and priviledges more and more and if they may have their wills they are never satisfied Till Kings by giving give themselves away And even that power which should deny betray For the concessions and giving away of their right to govern is the weakning That it is to the prejudice of government to grant too many priviledges to the people of their government and the more priviledges they give the less power they have to rule and then the more unruly will their Subjects be and therefore the people being herein like the horses the Poets faigne to be in Phaebus chariot proud and stomackfull Kings should remember the grave adâ—ice the Father gave unto Phaâ—ton Parce puer stimulis sed fortiùs utere loris Ovid. Met. l. 1 Sponte sua properant labor est inhibere volantes They must be strongly bribled and restrained or they will soone destroy both horse and rider both themselves and their Governours Yet many Kings Constrained gifts not worthy of thanks either foâ—cibly compelled by their unruly Subjects when they might think and therefore not yield that Who gives constrain'd but his own feare reviles Not thank't but scorn'd nor are they gifts but spoiles Or else as some intruding usurping Kings have done to retaine their unjustly gained crownes without opposition or as others out of their Princely clemency and facility to gain the more love and affection and as they conceived What moved Kings to grant so many priviledges to their Subjects the greater obligation from their Subjects have many times to the prejudice of themselves and their posterity to the diminution of the rights of government and often to the great damage of the Common-wealth given away and released the execution of many parts of that right which originally most justly belonged unto them and tyed themselves by promises and oaths to observe those Laws which they made for the exemption of their Subjects But there be some things which the King cannot grant as to transfer the Majora jura inseperabilia à Majestate ne queunt indulgeri subditis ita cohaerent ossibus ab illo separari si ne illius destructione non possunt Paris de put eo Arnisaeus l. 2. c. 2. de jure ma. Blacvod c. 7. pag. 75. things that the King cannot grant right of succession to any other then the right heir to whom it doth
that they should obey their King 1. Active obedience and those that are sent of him they do willingly yield obedience to their superiours and no marvel because there cannot be a surer argument of an evil man then in a Church reformed and a Kingdom lawfully governed to resist authority and to disobey them that should rule over us especially him whom God immediately hath appointed to be his vice-gerent his substitute and the supreme Monarch of his Dominions here on earth for all other things both in heaven and earth do obsere that Law which their maker hath appointed for them when as the Psalmist saith he hath given them a Law which shall not be broken therefore this must needs be a great reproof and a mighty shame to those men that being Subjects unto their King and to be ruled by his Lawes will notwithstanding disobey the King and transgresse those Lawes that are made for their safety and resist that authority which they are bound to obey onely because their weak heads or false hearts do account the commandment of the King to be against right and what themselves doe to be most holy and just But our City Prophets will say that although the King be the supreme Monarch Ob. Diverse kinds of Monarchies whom we are commanded to obey yet there are diverse kinds of Monarchies or Regal governments as usurped lawful by conquest by inheritance by election and these are either absolute as were the Eastern Kings and the Roman Emperours or limited and mixed which they term a Political Monarchy where the King or Monarch can do nothing alone but with the assistance and direction of his Nobility and Parliament or if he doth attempt to bring any exorbitancies to the Common-wealth or deny those things that are necessary for the preservation thereof they may lawfully resist him in the one and compel him to the other to which I answer 1. As God himself which is most absolute liberrimum agens may notwithstanding Sol. Absolute Monarchs may limit themselves limit himself and his own power as he doth when he promiseth and sweareth that he will not fail David and that the unrepentant Rebels should never enter into his rest so the Monarch may limit himself in some points of his administration and yet this limitation neither transferreth any power of Soveraignty unto the Parliament nor denieth the Monarch to be absolute nor admitteth of any resistance against him for 1. This is a meer gull to seduce the people that cannot distinguish the point I cannot devise words to expresse this new devised government of a needle just like the Papist that saith he is a Roman Catholick that is a particular universal a black white a polumonarcha a many one governor when we say he is a Monarch joined in his government with the Parliament for he can be no Monarch or supreme King and Soveraign that hath any sharers with him or above him in the government 2. There is no Monarch that can be said to be simply absolute but onely God yet where there is no superiour but the soveraignty residing in the King he may he said to be an absolute Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Because there is none on earth that can controul him 2. Because he is free and absolute in all such things wherein he is not expresly limited and therefore 3. Seeing no Monarch or Soveraign is so absolute but that he is some way No Monarch so absolute but someway limited limited either by the Law of God or by the Rules of nature or of his own concessions and grants unto his people or else by the compact that he maketh with them if he be an elective King and so admitted unto his Kingdom there is no reason they should resist their King for transgressing the limitations of one kind more then the other or if any no doubt but he that transcendeth the limits of God's Law or goeth against the common rules of nature ought rather to be resisted then he that observeth not his own voluntary concessions but themselves perceiving how peremptorily the Apostle speaketh against resistance of the Heathen Emperours that then ruled do confess that absolute Monarchs ought not to be resisted wherein also they are mistaken because the histories tell us those Emperours were not so absolute as our Kings till the time of Vespasian when the lex regia transferred all the power of the People upon the Emperour Vlpian de constit Principis therefore indeed no Monarch ought No Monarch ought to be resisted to be resisted whatsoever limitations he hath granted unto his Subjects And the resisters of authority might understand if their more malitious then blinde leaders would give them leave that this virtue of obedience to the supreme power maketh good things unlawful when we are forbidden to do them as the eating the forbidden tree was to Adam and the holding up of the Arke was to Vzza and it maketh evil things to be good and lawful when they are commanded to be done as the killing of Isaack if he had done it had been commendable in Abraham and the smiting of the Prophet was very laudable in him that smote him when the Prophet commanded him to do it and therefore Adam and Vzza were punished with death because they did those lawful good things which they were forbidden to do and the others were recompenced Rebels should well consider these things with blessings because they did and were ready to do those evill things that they were commanded to do when as he that refused to smite the Prophet being commanded to do it was destroyed by a Lyon because he did it 1 Reg. 20. 38. not whereby you see that things forbidden when they are commanded è contrà cannot be omitted without sin You will say it is true when it is done by God whose injunction or prohibition Ob. Mandaâ—um imperantis tollit peccatum obedientis Aug. Sol. his precept or his forbidding to do it or not to do it maketh all things lawful or unlawful I answer that we cannot thinke our selves obedient to God whilest we are disobedient to him whom God hath commanded us to obey and therefore if we will obey God we must obey the King because God hath commanded us to obey him and being to obey him non attendit verus obediens quale sit quod praecipitur sed hoc solo contentus quia praecipitur he that is truely obedient to him whom God commanded us to obey never regardeth what it is that is commanded so it be not simply evil for then as the Apostle saith it is better to obey God then man were he the greatest Monarch in the World but he considereth and is therewith satisfied that it is commanded and therefore doth it saith Saint Bernard in l. de praecept dispensat Bernard in l. de praecept dispensat CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying
be compelled I have not learned to resist I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the Armes and Gotish Souldiers my teares are my weapons for those are the Bulwarkes of the Priest who in any other manner neither can neither ought he to resist so must all Christians rather by suffering death then by resisting our King to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven But 't is objected by our Sectaries that His Majesty confesseth there is a power Ob. The Author of the Treatise of Monarchy p. 3â— Legally placed in the two houses more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny â— answer fâ—rst when it pleaseâ— the King of His grace to 〈◊〉 His own 〈◊〉 The lâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 sâ—ould 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 pâ—wer of maâ—ing Laws to the consent of Peeres and Commâ—â—â— shaâ— by this Râ—gulating of the same â—â— mâ—ght be purged from all destructive exoâ—bâ—tances the very Law it self being tender of the legâ—â—mate rights of the King and considering the Person of the Soveraâ—gn to be single and his power counterpoysâ—d by â—he opposite wisdome of the two Houses allowed him to swear unto himself a body of Council of Staâ—â— and Counsellors at Law and the Judges also to advise him and informe him so that as he should not do any wrong by reason of the restrayning Votes of Houses so he might not receive any wrong by the incroachâ—enâ— of the Parliament upon his right and the King being driven away The â—ings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his learned Counsel and forced to make the defence of his rights by writing it is no wonder if his concâ—ssioâ—â— and promises as well in this point as in other things especially in that concerning the Act of excluding the Clergy were more then was due to them or then he needed to grant or then he ought to observe being to the dishonour of God and the prejudice of his Church when as nothing in Parliament where the wrong may be perpetual should be extracted from him but what he should well consider of with the advice of his Counsel and what he should freely grant and whatsoever is otherwise done is ill done to the great disadvantage of the King and his Posterity and the unjust inlarging of their power more then is due unto them yet 2. I say if these words of His Majesties be rightly weighed they give no colour of resisting Tyranny by any forâ—â—ble armes but as Doctor Ferne saith 〈◊〉 in his â—â—ply to sever 〈◊〉 p. 32. most truly of a Legal Moral and Parliamentary restraint for the words are there is a power legally placed in the Houses that is the Law hath placed a power in them but you shall never find any Law that any King hath granted whereby himself might be resisted and subdued by open force and violence for as Râ—ffensis saith Regeâ— suâ— soliâ—s judicâ— reservavit Deus qui stans in Synagoga dâ—orum dijudiâ—at 〈◊〉 de poâ—â—st Papâ— 291 Eâ—phants Pyâ—hig â— De Regâ—n â—pud Stohâ—um â—ol 335. â—os God hath reserved Kings to his own judgement and the Heathen man could say as Stâ—hâ—us testifieth primùm Dei deinde Regis est â—t nulli subiiciatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first it is the priviledge of God next of the King to be subject unto none because the Regal power properly is unaccountable to any man as Suidas saith and Josâ—phâ—â— saith that the holiest men that ever were among the Hebrews called essaei or esseni that is the tâ—ue practisers of the Law of God maintained that severaigne Princes whatsoeveâ— they were ought to be inviolable to their Subjects for they saw there was scarce any â— principle tenet of the Essaei And some think that the Common wealth is happier â—nder a Tyrant that â—ill keepthem â—â— awâ— then under too â—ald a Prince upon whose 〈◊〉 they will presâ—nâ—e to Rebel Jer. 27. 5. 6. A memorable place against resisting Tyâ—â—nts thing more usual in holy Scripture then the prehibition of resistance or refusal of obedience to the Prince whether he were Jeâ— or Pagan milde or tyrannical good or bad as to instance one place for all where the Lord saith I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great pâ—wer and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me and nâ—w â— have given all those Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylen my servant and he was both a Heathen an Idelater and a mighty Tyâ—ant and all 〈◊〉 shall serve him and his son and his sâ—ns son and it shall come to passe that the Nation and Kingdome which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon and that will not put their necks under the yâ—ke â—f the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with the Famiâ—e 〈◊〉 with the Pâ—stilâ—nce â—ntil I have consumed them by his hands therefore hearkeâ—â—â—t ye unto your Prâ—phetâ— nor to your Diviners whiâ—h speak unto you saying 〈◊〉 sâ—all not serve the King of Babylâ—n for they prâ—pheâ—y a lyâ— unto you which he repeateth again and again they prâ—phesy a lye unto you that you should periâ—â— and may not I apply these words to our very time God saith I have giâ—em this Kingdome unto King Charles which is a mild just and most pious king and they that will say nolâ—mus hunc râ—gnare super â—os I will destroy them by his hand therefore o ye seduced Londâ—ners beleive not your false Prophets â—ay hearken not to your diuiners your Anabaptists and Brâ—wnistâ— that prcaâ—â— lies and lies 〈◊〉 lies unto you that you should perish for God hath not seâ—â— them though they multiply their lyes in his name therefore why will you dye why will you dâ—stroy your selves and your Posterity by refusing to submit your selves to mine ordinance and what should God say more unto you to hinder your destruction and it was concluded by a whole Council that si quis potestati regiae Concil Mel dens apud Rossen l. 2. c. 5. de potest papae quae non est teste Apostolo nisi a Deo contumaci asslâ—to spiritu obtemperare irrâ—f agabil ter noluerit anathematizetur Whosoever resisteth the Kings Power and with a proud spirit will not obey him let him be accursed But then you will say this is strange doctrine that wholly takes away the liberty Ob. of the Subject if they may not resist regal tyranny I thinke there is no good Subject that loves his Soveraigne that will speake Sol. against a just and lawful liberty when it is a far greater honour unto any king to rule over free and gentile Subjects then over base and turkish slaves but as under the shadow and pretence of Christian liberty many carnal men have rooted out of their hearts all Christianity so many Rebellious and Many evils do luâ—k under fair shewes aspiring mindes have under these colourable titles
have other gods besides the God of Israel when they adore the creatures and ascribe the incommunicable attributes of the creator unto their Parliament by calling it omnipotent infallible invincible and most blessed Parliament as some of them have most blasphemously termed it for which blasphemies no doubt but as we by their Declarations and Ordinances know they are not infallible so God I feare me by their destruction will shew they are neither blessed nor invincible 2. They not onely make an idoll of their Parliament but are so far from making to themselues any graven image that they destroy all images and are just such as the Prophet David speaks of which have done evil in Gods Sanctuary and have broken down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers that have set fire upon his holy places and have defiled the dwelling place of Gods name even unto the ground for it is almost incredible how barbarously worse then any Turkes or Jewes they haue broken down those rare and sweet instruments of Musick the Organs of our Churches and have defaced those excellent pieces of work that to the honour of God were made and set up in the windowes of our Churches in Canterbury Winchester Lincoln and the other Cathedrals by the best Artists in Christendom which is a most horrible fact no wayes commanded in this precept and an irreparable loss to us and our posterity and therefore the Prophet David calleth these defacers of such carved and painted works set up in his house the adversaries and enemies of God v. 4 and 5. and v. 11. foolish people vers 19 and 23. the haters of God vers 24. and the blasphemers of his name vers 11. for none but such would have done such Prophanations as is done in God's house but let them take heed lest the Prophets prayer should light upon them Lift up thy feet O God that thou mayest utterly destroy every one of these enemies Ps 74. v. 4. which hath done this evil in thy Sanctuary 3. For swearing not vainly but falsly most wickedly and forswearing themselves 3. How they forswear themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menan l. perjurium est nequiter decipere credentem Aug 4. How they prophaned the Sabbath over and over again and again and having more dispensations and absolutions for their perjuries by their holy Prophets then ever the Popes gave for adulteries it is incredible to think and impossible to number the heads of these transgressions and therefore if you believe that God was in earnest when he gave this precept you may be assured he will not hold them guiltlesse that are such transgressors of it 4. For the day wherein we should serve our God in his Church most reverently some of them worship him more unmannerly then some of those blinde Indians that worship the Devil himself and others of them muster their men plunder their neighbours and murder their brethren which they believe to be the best way to sanctifie the Sabbath and for which resting from their work thus religiously to serve the Lord let them take heed lest God should swear in his wrath that they shall never enter into his rest 5. They curse their Father and their Mother that their dayes may be long in 5. How they curse their Fathers and Mothers Esay 8. 21. the Land which their pretended Parliament hath promised to give them for the King is the Prince and Principal Father of us all and the Prophet saith of such men they shall curse their King and their God and the Bishops are their Fathers too and they have cursed them long agone and I fear they will not cease to curse them till their curses fall upon their own heads and for all other bonds of duty and relations of Wives unto their Husbands Children unto their Parents Servants unto their Masters they are preached asunder to make way for the liberty of the Subject to rebel by authority against his Soveraign 6. Whereas God saith thou shalt do no murder they gave that first commission 6. How many they have murdered though they had not the least colour of any authority to give it to kill slay and destroy and it is most lamentable to consider how many thousands they have murdered and how they are thought worthy of the greatest honour and the best 7. How they loosened the reins to all lust hoc fonâ—e derivata clades in patriam populumque fluxit Horat. car l. 3. 8 How they are like Argivi fures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ps 94. 12. 9. How they belyed all sorts of good men Quomodo Deus pater genuit filium veritatem nempe siâ— diabolus lapsus genuis quasi filium mendacium Aug. super loh. Habac. 2. 9. Gildas de excidio Britan. reward that have killed most of God's faithfull servants and the King 's loyal Subjects 7. For adulteries Fornications and all Uncleannesse they may now freely do it lust may flow like the river whose bankes are broken down when they have overthrown those courts of Justice and were never at rest till they had most violently suppressed the power and execution of all Ecclesiastical censures that were the chiefest bars and hindrances of these unlawful lusts 8. For stealing they have changed the name but not the nature of it for under the pretence of preserving to us the propriety of our goods they have not stolne but plundered away that is robbed us of all our goods and carried them into those Rebellious Townes that are now the dens of these thieves and are stronger in their wickednesse then the â—ils of the robbers and that which makes this sin most sinful is that it is established by a Law 9. They have justified the Cretans and proved themselves the right bastard sons of the father of lyes filling all and every corner of this Kingdome with palpable intolerable and incredible lyes slanders and false witnesse-bearing against God against his Anointed against the Church and against all the reverend governours of the Church all religious Protestants all the loyal Subjects of this Nation that the Angels do now blush and the Devils do laugh and rejoyce to see they are so fruitful in begetting so many Children so perfectly formed and so compleately perfected in their own image and likenesse and if ever the saying of Gildas was true they have proved it now Moris continui gentis erat sicut nunc est ut infirma esset ad retundenda hostium tela fortis ad civilia bella infirma inquam ad exequenda pacis ac veritatis insignia fortis ad sâ—â—lera mendacia 10. They have coveted an evil covetousnesse when they coveted all evil unto 10. The extent of their covetousnesse themselves not onely their neighbours houses goods and lands and all that are theirs but also the patrimony of the Church the revenues of the Clergy and all the rights and prerogatives of the King to be entayled upon themselves
and their faction that so they and theirs might be both Kings and Priests and all not to God but to themselves and their fellow Rebels in the government of this Kingdome And as they have thus transgressed all the old Commandments of the Law so How they transgressed the new commandment of the Gospel Gen. 4. 9. they come no wayes short in transgressing the new Commandment of the Gospel for their love to their brethren is now turned to perfect hatred when they say not with Cain am I my brothers keeper but with Apollyon I will be the destroyer of my brethren neither will I fell them as the brethren of Joseph did him unto the Egyptians but I will send them if I can possibly quick to hell let those Lâ—yal subjects that have been unexspectedly murdered and those many thousands that have beene plundered of all their Estates testifie to the World the love of these men unto their brethren who have felt more cruelty and barbarity and less charity from these holy Saints then could be expected from Jews Turkes and Pagans 23. Though every sin deserves the wrath of God as the Apostle saith in general How they have committed the 7 deadly sins Rom. 6. 23. the reward of sin is death be it little or be it great yet because some sins do more provoke the wrath of God and do sooner produce this deadly fruit then other sins the Divines have observed seaven special sins which they terme the seaven deadly sins and these also you may finde committed in the highest degree by these â—actious Rebels For 1. Pride which is an high conceit of a mans own worth far beyond his 1 Their Pride Quid juvat O homines tanto turgescere sastu Nam ut ait Comicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just deserts and therefore believing himself to be inferiour to none scorns to be subject unto any is the Father that produceth and the nurse that cherisheth all rebellion and our Parliamentary faction together with the Assembly of their Divines thinking themselves holyer then the Saints and wiser then their Brethren have therefore made this unnatural war to destâ—oy us all because we will not subscribe with them to destroy both Church and State this is the fruit of pride but the punishment is to be resisted by God who throweth damnation upon their heads because they resist the ordinance of God 2. Pride cannot subsist without meanes therefore covetousnesse must support 2. Their Covetousnesse Sacrilegia minuta puniuntur magna jam in triumphis feruntur Senec. ep 87. 3. Their luxury Certa quidem tantis causa est manâ—sesta ruinis Luxuriae nimium libera facta via est Propert. eleg 11. l. 3. 4. Their envy it and I shewed you before how covetous these Rebels are not of any good but of our goods and of our lives that they may enjoy our lands even the lands of the Church that they may take the houses of God in possession which may prove to them like Aurum Tholosanum or as Midas gold that was the destruction of that covetous wretch 3. Their luxury and lust must needs proceede from fulnesse and pride and I beleive it is not unknown to many how these Rebels spend their time in revelling and feasting chambering and wantâ—nnesse which though never so secretly done by them in the night yet are they publickly seene in the day and seene to their shame if they could be ashamed of any thing 4. How envy hath possest their souls it is almost beyond all sence to consider it they envy that any man should be king and themselves subjects that any man should be a Bishop and themselves Priests or that any man should be rich and themselves not so wealthy therefore they will needs pull down what themselves cannot reach unto 5. Their Gluttony and drunkennesse 5. If Epicurus were now living or Sardanapalus came to these mens feasts they might think themselves the teachers of sobriety and the masters of abstinency in comparison of these new gulists who make a God of their bellies and fare deliciously every day that they can get it more deliciously then Dives it is incredible to consider what they devoure in delicates and how the Sisters teachers eat more good meat and drink better wines then the gravest Bishops 6 Their wrath and malice 6. They are as the Psalmist saith wrathfully displeased at us and I know not whether their envy at our happinesse or their wrath and anger that we do live is the greater yet thanks be to God Vivere nos dices salvos tamenesse negamus And God I hope will preserve us still notwithstanding all their malice 7. Their Sloath. 7. For their sloath I was a while musing how these factious Rebels could any wayes be guilty of this lazie sin for as the Divel is never at rest but goeth about continually like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may dâ—voure and he saith Job 1. he compasseth the earth to and fro so these children of this world being wiser in their generation then the children of light are as diligent as their Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they imagine mischiefe upon their bedâ— and are a great deale more watchfull and more painfull to do evil to serve the Divel to goe to Hell then the faithfull servants of God are to goe to Heaven witnesse all the victories and successes that they had by this War in the night not by any manhood but by taking the Kings Souldiers carelesse in their beds yet notwithstanding all this diligence to do wickednesse they are as lazie as any sluggard and as â—low as the snayle to any goodnesse they are asleep in evil and are dead in trespasses and sins and cannot be awakened to any service of God 24. The Scripture maketh mention of foure crying sins that do continually 24. How they have grievously committed the foure crying sins 1. How they have shed abundance of innocent bloud cry to God for vengeance against the sinners Clamiat ad coelum vox sanguinis Sodomorum Vox oppressorum merces retenta laborum And they are not free from any of these For 1. As the Psalmist speaketh Psal 79. 2. 3. so they have done and the streames of bloud that since the beginning of this unnaturall War they have most unjustly caused to be spilt and do flow like the Rivers of waters over the face of this now unhappy Land do with Abels bloud continually cry against them and cannot chuse but pull down vengeance upon their heads when God shall come to make inquisition for bloud and therefore though Pacem nos posâ—imus Psal 9. 12. omnes we all cry for peace and the Kings clemency still proclaimeth pardon yet seeing it is God that maketh Wars to cease and the Prophet saith how can the sword be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon Jer. 47. 7. as the bloudy sin of Saul upon the poor Gibeonites
13. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 13. How the Rebels swore and forswore themselves Kings at their admittance to any office to beare faith and true alleagiance to His Majesty at the beginning of this last Parliament to maintain the Kings just rights and all the priviledges of Parliament together with the liberty and property of the Subjects and yet immediately to forget their faith to break all these oathes and to make ship wrack of their conscience to drive the Bishops out of their House which is one of the first and most fundamentall priviledges of the Parliament they being the first of the three Estates of this Kingdome to take away not some but all the Kings rights out of his hands and to make him no King indeed to take away all our goods our liberties and our lives at their pleasure Holland and Bedford shew'd what trust is to be given them and then to assure the Divel they would be faithfull unto him which were thus faithlesse unto God to sweare again and make a solemne Covenant with Hell they would never repent them of their wickednesse but continue constant in his service till they have rooted out whom they deemed to be Malignants though Proverb 21. the King who is wise as the Angel of God that hath the Kings heart in his hand and turneth it like the Rivers of waters where he pleaseth knoweth best what to No trust to be given to lyars and perjurers 2 Sam. 20. 20. 16. do as God directeth him yet for mine own part either in Peace or War I I would never trust such faithlesse perjured creatures for a straw and seeing that to spare transcendent wickedness is to encrease wickednesse and to incourage others to the like Rebellion upon the like hope of pardon if they failed of their intention if our great Metropolis of London partake not rather of the wise spirit of the men of Abel then of the obstinacy of the men of Gibeah and delivered not unto the King the chiefe of those Rebells that rose up against him I feare that Judg. 20. Gods wrath will not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still until he hath fullfilled his determined visitation upon this Land and consummated all with their deplorable destruction even as he did those obstinate men of Gibeah and Benjamin for though the King beyond the clemency of a man and the How the King desired the good of the Rebels expectation of any Rebell hath most Christianly laboured that they would accept of their pardon and save themselves and their posterity yet their wickednesse being so exceedingly great beyond all that I can finde in any history Rebellion it selfe being like the sin of witchcraft the Rebellion of Christians far worse and a Rebellion against a most Christian pious Prince worst of all and such a Rebellion ingendered by pride fostered by lyes augmented by perjury continued by cruelty reâ—using all clemency despisâ—â—â— all piety and contemning The unspeakable greatness of their sins God their Saviour when they make him with reverence be it spoken which is so irreverently done by them the very pack-horse to beare all their wickedness being a degree beyond all degrees of comparison hath so provoked the wrath of God against this Nation that I feare his justice will not suffer their hearts that can not repent accept and imbrace their own happiness till they be purged with the floods of repentant teares or destroyed with the streames of Gods fearefull vengeance which I heartily beseech Almighty God may by the grace of Christ working true repentance in them for themselves and reducing them to the right way be averted from them And the best way that I conceive to avert it to appease Gods wrath and to turne away his judgements from us is to returne back the same way as we proceeded hitherto to make up the breaches How we may recover the peace and prosperity of this Land of the Church to restore the Liturgie and the service of our God to its former purity to repeale that Act which is made to the prejudice of the Bishops and Servants of God that they may be reduced to their pristine dignity to recall all Ordinances that are made contrary to Law and derogatory to the Kings right and to be heartily sorry that these unjust Acts and Ordinances were ever done and more sorry that they were not sooner undone and then God will turne his face towards us he will heale the bleeding wounds of our Land and he will powre down his benefits upon us but till we do these things I do assure my selfe and I beleive you shall finde it that his wrath shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still and still untill we either do these things or be destroyed for not doing them King James his speech made true by the Rebells Thus it is manifest to all the World that as it was often spoken by our sharpe and eagle-sighted Soveraigne King James of ever blessed memory no Bishop no King so now I hope the dull-ey'd owle that lodgeth in the desart seeth it verifyed by this Parliament for they had no sooner got out the Bishops but presently they laid violent hands upon the Crowne seized upon the Kings Castles shut him out of all his Townes dispossest him of his owne houses took How the Rebells have unking'd our King away all his sâ—ips detained all his revenues vilified all his Declarations nullified his Proclamations hindered his Commissions imprisoned his faithful Subjects killed his servants and at Edge-hill and Newbury did all that ever they could to take away his life and now by their last great ordinance for their counterfeit Seale they pronounce all honours pardons grants commissions and whatsoever else His Majesty passeth under his Seale to be invalid void and of none effect and if this be not to make King Charles no King I know not what it is to be a King so they have unking'd him sine strepitâ— and as the Prophet saith Hos 8. 4. they have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not but whom have they made Kings even themselves who in one word do What kings they would have to rule us and have now exercised all or most of the regall power and their Ordinances shall be as firm as any Statutes and what are they that have thus dis-robed King Charles and exalted themselves like the Pope as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Antichrist above all that are called Gods truly none other then king Pym king Say king Faction or to say the truth most truly and to call a spade a spade king perjurers king murderers king traytors * Which S. Peter never bade us honour The Rebells brave exchange Psal 146. 20. and I am sorry that I should joyne so high an office so sacred a thing as King to such wicked persons as I
have shewed them to be And what a royal exchange would the Rebels of this Kingdome make just such as the Israelites made when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that â—ateth hay and said these be thy Gods O Psal 146. 20. Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawful King for unlawful Tyrants and taken Jothams bramble for Judg. 9. 15. the cedar of Lebanon the Devils instruments for Gods Anointed they may justly say these be thy Kings O Londoners O Rebels that brought thee out of a Land that flowed with milke and hony out of those houses that were filled with all manner of store into a land of misery into houses of sorrow that are filled with wailings lamentations and woes when we see the faithful City is become an harlot our gold drosse and our happinesse turned to continual heavinesse But as the Rutilians considering what fruit they should reape by that miserable Virgil Aeneid l. 12. war wherein they were so far ingaged cried out at last Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia conjux Nos animae viles inhumata insletáque turba Sternamur campis We undo our selves our wives and our children to gain a wife for Turnus so our seduced men may say we ingage our selves to dye like doggs that these rebels may live like Kings who themselves sit at ease while others endure all woes and do grow rich by making all the Kingdome poore and therefore O England quae tanta est licentia ferri lugebit patria multos when as the Apostle saith evill men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving 2 Tim. 3. 1 3. Gal. 6. 7. and being deceived for God is not mocked but whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reape for though we for our sins may justly suffer these and many other more miseries we do confesse it yet the whole world may be assured The Rebels sure to be destroyed Contemptrix superûm sevaeque avidissima caedis violenta fuit scires â— sanguine natam 2 Sam. 7. 1. that these Rebels the generation of vipers being but the Rod of Gods fury to correct the offences of his children such seeds of wickedness as they sow can produce none other harvest then ruine and destruction to all these usurping Kings and Traytors who thinke to please God by doing good service unto the Devil and to go to Heaven for their good intention after they are carried into Hell for their horrid Rebellion God Almighty grant them more grace and our King more care to beware of them and when God doth grant him rest with David on every side round about him to restore his Bishops and Clergy to their pristine station that when these bramble rods are burnt and these rebels fallen the King and the Bishops may still stand like Moses and Aaron to guide and gouerne Gods people committed to their charge And thus I have shewed thee O man some of the sacred rights of royal Majesty granted by God in his holy Scriptures practised by Kings from the beginning of the world yeilded by all nations that had none other guide but the light of nature to direct them I have also shewed thee how the people greedy of liberty and licentiousnesse have like the true children of old Adam that could not long endure the sweet yoke of his Creator strived and strugled to withdraw their necks from that subjection which their condition required and their frowardnesse necessitated to be imposed upon them and thereby have either graciously gained such love and fauour from many pious and most clement Princes as for the sweetning of their well merited subjection to grant them many immunities and priviledges or have most rebelliously incroached upon these rights of Kings wresting many liberties out of the hands of Government and forcibly retaining them to their own advantage sometimes to the overthrow of the royal government as Junius Brutus and his associates did the Kings of Rome sometimes to the diminution of the dimidium if not more then halfe his right as the Ephori did to the kings of Lacedemon but alwayes to the great prejudice of the king and the greater mischief to the Common-wealth because both reason and experience hath found it alwayes true that the regal Government or Monarchical State though it might sometimes happen to prove tyrannical is far more acceptable unto God as being his own prime and proper ordinance most agreeable unto nature and more profitable unto all men then either the Aristocratical or Popular Government either hath or possibly can be for as it is most true that praestat sub malâ— principe esse quà m sub nullo it is better to live under an ill Governour then where there is no Goveâ—nment so praestat sub â—no tyranno vivere qâ—à m sub mille it is better to be under the command of one tyrant then of a thousand as we are now under these Rebels who being not fex Romuli the worst of the Nobilty but faex populi the dregs of the people indigent Mechanicks and their Wives captivated Citizens together with the rabble of seduced Sectaries have so disloyally incroached upon the rights of our King and so rebelliously usurped the same to the utter subversion both of Church and Kingdom if God himself who hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand and turneth the same wheresoever he pleaseth had not most graciously strengthned his Majesty with a most singular and heroick resolution assisted with perfect health from the beginning of their insurrection to this very day to the admiration of his enemies and the exceeding joy and comfort of his faithfull Subjects and with the best aide and furtherance of his chiefest Nobility of all his learned and religious Clergy his grave and honest Lawyers and the truly worthy Gentry of his whole Kingdom to withstand their most treacherous impious barbarous and I know not how to expresse the wickednesse of their most horrid attempts so thou hast before thee life and death fire and water good and evil And therefore I hope that this will move us which have our eyes open to behold the great blessings and the many almost miraculous deliverances and favours of God unto his Majesty and to consider the most horrible destruction that this war hath brought upon us to fear God and to honour our King to hate the Rebels and to love all loyal Subjects to do our uttermost endeavour to quench this devouring flame and to that end with hand and heart and with our fortunes and with the hazard of our lives which as our Saviour saith shall be saved if they be lost to assist his Majesty to subdue these Rebels to reduce the Luk. 9. 24. Kingdom to its pristine government and the Church to her former dignity that so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity faith and true religion and all other happinesse remaining
sufficiency greater than others but because his knowledge of himself was far better than the knowledge of others that studied other things and neglected to understand themselves And no marvel that the Oracle should proclaim him for the wisest man that doth best know himself because it is not only very good and profitable but also a very hard and difficult thing for a man fully and truly to know himself that is to know Not only the quiddities and the qualities both of his body and of his soul which notwithstanding in themselves are most admirable and excellent if we consider 1. The Parts and composition of the Body which as the Prophet saith are fearfully and wonderfully made yea so admirably composed that Galen saith the Galenus de usu partium 1. The admirable structure of mans body true expression or the tight Anatomization of them is as an holocaust or Sacrifice most acceptable to God that hath by that excellent composure of this incomparable structure shewed his own most incomprehensible wisdom as you see the least finger and the least Joynt of any Finger hath his use and cannot be spared by any means 2. That far more noble part of man that Spark of heavenly fire and immortal 2. The difficulties of understanding the particularities of the Soul spirit which is his Soul in the Original Essence Faculties Operations Use End and the like almost infinite Points thereof wherein and about which the best Philosophers have so puzled themselves that they rather bewrayed their own Ignorance than truly expressed any point of the most necessary knowledge of this Substance as learned Suarez in his voluminous work de Anima sheweth and Aristotle himself confesseth when he saith that the more knowledge a man hath of these things the more occasion of doubting is offered unto him which made him as many â—eâ— think to define the Soul to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis phisici organici Arist de Anima l. 2. c. 1. tâ—x 6. Cicero l. 1. Tujcul q. What man should chiefly know concerning himself vitam habentis potentia which is ignotum per ignotius a definition harder or at least as hard to be understood as the thing defined Whenas Cicero reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translateth the same to signifie a continued and perpetual motion wâ—â—ch is far short of the right definition of the Soul But especially to know mans Original how he came into the world his duty whâ—t â—e should do and how he should behave himself while he continueth in the world his state and condition how he standeth in relation to his God that made him preserveth him and giveth to him all that he hath while he liveth in this world and what shall become of him when he dieth and departeth out of this world these and the like Considerations concerning man are hard to know and few men do learn them which is the reason that few do attain to Eternal Life Yeâ— as the Poet saith Plagae dant Animum What effects Afflictions do work in us And as S. Greg. saith Oculos quos culpa claudit poena apperit the eyes which sin and transgrestions have blinded afflictions and punishments have opened because as the Greek proverb saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persecutions bring Instructions and suffering teacheth understanding as the Children of Jacob being questioned and afflicted in Egypt about their Brother whom they had sold unto the Ishmaelites had their eyes opened and their sin which for so many years they hâ—d buried in the Grave of Forgetfulness and in the Pit where they had thrown their Brother is now revived and makes them to confess and to say one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress Gen. 42. 21. come upon us and so Crosses and Afflictions do reduce our sins unto our remembrance and extort Confession of their Misdeeds from many others And therefore the Prophet David either upon the consideration of Absolons unnaturâ—l Rebellion and Persecution of him that was both his King and his What moved the Prophet David to compole this Psal Father or of some other violent and virulent Temptation that had seized upon him or else upon a Prophetical foresight of the Captivity of his people in Babylon as he sheweth in another place saying By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept when we remembred thee O Sion or as others think upon the considâ—â—â—tion Psal 137. 1. of the sad state and distressed condition of many good Christians labourâ—â—g unâ—er the Cross and Persecutions in this world he composeth this most Excellent Psalm of the brevity and shortness of mans life that he need not fear he shall continue long in affliction and he directeth the same to Jeduthins a chief Musician because the chiefest Artist can give most grace and the best life to any thing and the best is best cheap Physitian Preacher Lawyer or whom you will And here in this Verse which I have read unto you the holy Prophet endeavouring to teach us how we may overcome all our maladies and pertâ—rbations even as himself had done with patience he setteth down a brief definition or rather a short description of man not Phylosophically with Aristotle to teach A brief Theological description of man us what he is in his Essence Animal rationale risibile a reasonable and a sociable creature but Theologically by the light of Gods Spirit to instruct us what he is in his state and condition and that is Ammal miserabile mortale a most miserable mortal wretch a worm and no man a vain thing or meer vanity and that is to be understood while he liveth in this world for as all Divines conclude there be three states of man 1. Institutionis 2. Destitutionis 3. Restitutionis That is 1. Of his Innocency That there be three states of man in Paradise where he was created in holiness and true righteousness after the very Image of God himself 2. Of his sinfull condition and corruption while he liveth here now in this world 3. Of his Restauration begun here by grace in this life and perfected with glory in the life to come And as Origen well observeth the Prophet David describeth here not what Of what state of man the Prophet speaketh we were in our Creation nor what we shall be in our Glorification but what we are now in our natural state and corrupted condition of our peregrination or pilgrimage here in this world whereof he saith Verily every man living or every man in his best estate is altogether vanity Where summarily you may see that Man is the subject of the Discourse and Vanity is the Possession the Inheritance and the definition of every man for though God made not Death but made man for perpetuity to be united to himself in
time here how their dayes do pass away like a Weavers shuttle or like a Post that â—arrieth noâ— will alwaies be such a corrasive to their Souls as will put an end to all their earthly Comforts whenas nothing in the world is left us to rejoyce in but in that thing only which is perpetual and remaineth ours for ever But then here you must understand that besides the prime Eternity which is God there is a twofold perpetuity of men 1. The one by our Unition with God which is perfect felicity That all men both good and bad shall remain and be perpâ—tually 2. The other in our Separation from God which is the Extreamest Misery And Seeing the Souls of men are immortal and do naturally affect Eternity as not only Divinity sheweth but also the soundest Philosophers have sufficiently attested and every mans Conscience in the expectation of his reward for his Actions be they good or bad perswadeth him to believe it is most certain that those wicked worldlings which desire nothing but the Honours and the Prosperity of this present Life and those incredulous Hereticks both of the former times and of this present Age which against their Consciences do withstand this Truth shall notwithstanding be perpetuâ—l either in their Union with God or in their Separation from God and as it is the greatest Comfort of a Christian man to believe that he shall be everlastingly with God in all happiness so it is not the least torment unto a damned soul to consider that he shall be for ever and ever in Torments separated from God And therefore the Errour is not that men do seek for perpetuity which they shall be sure to have but that they seek the same amiss Either not that which is with their Union and Fruition of God or if that then either not as they should or not where they should seek it that is either not in The twofold erroâ— of men in seeking perpetuity 1. Seeking it too late the due time or not in the right place where it may be found as 1. For the time many seek it but too late and so they miss it because that now is the time acceptable ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas and our perpetuity either with God or without God either in Joy or in Torments dependeth upon our demeanour in this present and little short time that we have here to live 2. For the Place you may see how most men purchase Lands build Castles gather Riches heap up Treasures and so lay down such Foundations of perpetuity 2. Seeking it in the wrong place here on earth as if they were to live here for ever and they do so rely upon these transient things and mortal men as if they were immortal Gods and so they seek for their perpetuâ—â—y in the Regions of Vanity and they would find perfect Felicity in this Valley of Misery but as the Israelites by joyning themselves to Baal-peor separated themselves from El shadai the Almighty God so these men by seeking Eternity in these vanities shall never be able to find it and to be united with it because Eternity and Felicity are not to be found here on earth For as the Apostle saith we have here no continuing City and we are but as Pilgrims and strangers here in this world and our perpetuity is to be expected not in this life but in the life to come And so by this large Introduction that I have made you see that these words of the Prophet are not to be understood of man simply considered but of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his State and Condition in this life for though man be to abide for ever yet as he is in this life verily every man And to prove this unto you you shall find the wisest King and the most learned Preacher that ever Israel had assuring you that there is nothing here in this world but vanity and veâ—ation of Spirit and that you might the sooner believe this Truth he doubleth and trebleth his words saying Vanity of Vanitiâ—s all is Vanity that is nothing else but meer vanity And lest proud man should think that this is meant of Gold and Silver and the like inanimate things of this world or of the irrational Creatures whose Souls do perish with their bodies and not of man which is the Prince and Lord of all Gods Creatures the Glory of all Gods works and the Image of God himself the Prophet David that was both a great King and a great Prophet tels you plaiâ—ly that you need not doubt of it Verily every man living is altogether Vanity Sela. Touching which words I beseech you to consider of this Text. 1. The vaâ—ious Lections Two things to be considered about these words 2. The chiefest Observations 1. For the diversity of Reading it 1. The diversity of reading them 1 Word The first word according to the Septuagint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Hierons translateth â—nim For as the Cause of the brevity and shortness of mans life that it should be but a span long as the phrase signifieth palâ—ares fecisti dies meos because every man is vanity therefore my life is so short Others as Tremelius do render it profecto or certe surely or verily that we might assure out selves and make no doubt of the truth and certainty of this point that every man be he what he will never so strong never so wise and never so wealthy yet is he but vanity But others would have both the Hebrew word and the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie solum sive tantum duntaxat only as if the Prophet meant that of all Gods Creatures only man or man alone is the receptacle of all vanity and besides man there is nothing else wherein the signs of all vanity are to be found so evidently as they are in man because nothing in the world hath so far deviated and started away from the end for which it was appointed as man hath done whenas all other creatures stand according to Gods Ordinance the Stars keep their mâ—tions the Moon observeth her Seasons and the Sun knoweth his going down only man knoweth not his duty and so Esayas testifieth The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel hath not known my people doth not consider Es 1. 3. and therefore only man deservâ—dly and signally is vanity The second word which is used in the Original is Chol and it is a word of both Numbers and of all Genders and the Septâ—agint read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Jerâ—me 2 Word translateth omnia all the vulgar Latine renders it universa and Tremelius reads it omnimodâ— and if I rightly understand them they all mean that man is all 〈◊〉 of vanity and that there is no vanity in the world and no foolery in the world but you shall find the same in man The third
word after the Septuagint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Hierom and the vulgar 3 Word Latine and Tremelius translate 〈◊〉 but Symmacus reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Vapour to which thing S. James compareth the life of man and useth the same word James 4. 14. saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for our life is a vapour that is such a thing as soon riseth and as suddenly perisheth The fourth word that the Septuagint read is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tremelius reads it omnis hoâ—o and our English reads it every 〈◊〉 but others to whom I rather 4 Word assent do â—nderstand it to signifie tâ—tus homo that is all or whole man or a man compleat soul and body and accumulated with all the perfections that man can have â—nd with all the goods either of Nature or of Fortune that he may find under the Sun yet is he but vanity The fifth word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—iving every man living the which word Aquila reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erectus lifted up and Symmachus reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standing or subsisting â— Word and Tremâ—l translates it quantâ—â—vis constitutus maxime how excellently soever he be setled and the sense is as most Interpreters will have the Hebrew word â—itsan to signifie that every state of man or man in every state and in what condition soever he is King Priest Prophet Honourable wealthy or what you will yet is he all vanity and though such a one seems to stand and to be somthing existing firm in his strength and vigour yet in very deed and in truth the greatest the strongest the best and most powerful of them is nothing else but meer Vanity And so you have the words of this Text explained unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I would that all men would well consider it how vain they are 2. The special Points considerable in this Text. Verily every man or all man living or standing in his best estate and condition is altogether vanity and all the vanity that can be found under the Sun 2. For the Observations that may be collected out of this Text. I desire you to note with me these six principal Points 1. That man is nothing else but vanity 2. That whole man is vanity 3. That every man is vanity 4. That every man in his best estate is vanity 5. That every man in his best estate is altogether vanity 6. What Lessons of Instructions you may collect to your selves from these Observations of mans Vanity or what Application you may make of this Expression of the Prophet And so as Solomon ascended to the Throne of his Majesty per sex gradus by six special steps so we shall descend to the nothing of our Mortality by these six special Considerations and then I hope it will appear unto you all what a nothing they are that seem now to be so very great and what little reason we have to be so much afraid as we are of such great nothings But though the Application of the whole was the chiefest Point that I aimed at when I first began to treat of this Text yet mine allowance of time not abusing your patience will not permit me now to proceed any further than the first Point at this time That Man is nothing else but Vanity And 1. You may remember that the holy Scripture saith God resisteth the proud but 1 Point That man is Vanity James 4. 6. he giveth Grace unto the lowly and yet such is the pride of mans heart that Alexander would be no less than the Son of Jupiter Xerxes would correct the Hellespont and write Letters of great threatnings to Mount Athos that deemed his words no more than the wind Sapores King of Persia would needs be stiled Brother unto the Sun and Moon and Caligula would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counterthunder The palpable pride of men God and would needs be no less than Jupiter Latialis the very God of the Latines and of all Italy And so the rest of the Caesars were so transported with such palpable pride that all the Moneths of the year must be shared amongst them and as of old Janus The Moneths shared among the Caesars that looked backward and forward to the old year and the new like unto Noah that had seen the world before the Floud and that which was after the Floud had the Moneth of Jaâ—â—ary dedicated unto him so Mars the great Warriour must have March Nero must have April Claudiâ—s shall have Maii Germanicus June Julius July Augustus August Antoninus September Domitian October Tiberiâ—s November and he wittily demanded of the Senate when they dedicated this Moneth unto him what they would do when they should have more than 12 Caesars as Xiphilinus saith So Pharaoh demands Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go Exod. 5. 2. out of my Service to serve the Lord I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go And the King of Babylon said in his heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt Isa 14. 13 14. my Throne above the Stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds and I will be like the Most High And not only these great Kings and Emperors that had some small kind of The pride of many base fellowes greatness in them had such aspiring thoughts and seed of Pride in them but we find also that Clearchus a base Fellow of Pontus would needs be worshipped as a God and his Son must be called Lightning as Suidas testifieth So Menecrates a mean Physitian would fain be taken for Jupiter and Empedocles the Philosopher would in like manner have been deemed for 〈◊〉 And so many more the like unlikely fellows would fain challenge to themselves Temples Alâ—ars Sacrifices and other services proper and peculiar to the Etâ—rnaâ— God And if we our selves ascend not so high to be such prodigies of pride as these Heathens were yet I am afraid there are but very few of us that are not some wayes blâ—sted with a vain conceit of their own worth as you may see some Deifying their own persons and as it were adoring either their fair faces or their lâ—vely eyes or their goodly hair now adayes idolized by many youngsters as Absolon in former time seemed to do or their exquisite hands or some other part or parcel of their well-shaped bodies Others as the Prophet saith do sacrifice unto their net and admire their own â—it whereby they have drawn so much wealth into the same and yet preserve it from breaking as the Apostles Net was preserved unbroken when it drew to land an hundred fifty and three great Fishes Joh. 21. 11. A third sort of men make their strength to become the Law of Justice and they that are weak are just nothing A fourth sort are bâ—bled up with an high conceit of their
I said vanity and misery for though the old man be never so Glorious and never so honourable the Off-spring of Kings and Princes and though outwardly it appears never so beautiful without blemish yet if the Inner man of the heart that is begotten by Gods Spirit be not found out the other is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flesh as the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 3. termeth it and flesh is an Epithete given to Beasts by the Prophet and that by way of disparagement too where he saith their horses are but flesh and which is Esa 31. 3. viler all flesh is grass that soon withereth and rotteth and becometh the Dung of the earth and the Apostle saith that flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. of Heaven because that as I shewed you before flesh and bloud being but meer vanity which is the most opposite to Eternity they can inherit nothing but eternal misery 3. As totus homo so omnis homo vanitas every man is vanity that is not only 3 Point the Fool but also the wise man for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever but as the fool dieth so dieth the wise man therefore the wise man concluded that this also is vanity Eccl. 2. 15 16. And so likewise the young man as well as the old man the rich as well as the poor and the strong as well as the weak the heroick Achilles as well as base Thersites may soon die and vanish away to nothing And to be brief you see how the gallant Courtier and the Royal Majesty are How all the world is round and all things in the world in a perpetual â—otion no more exempted from vanity than the poorest Clown and meanest Subject for as Eternity is said to be an intelligible sphaere whose Center is every where and his circumference no where but in it self as I shewed to you before out of Trismegistus so the form of the whole world is sphaerical and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or little world which is man in state and condition is also sphaerical and round even as round as a hoop or rather indeed a meer circular center without any circumference at all and as the primum mobile the first wheel of all the Sphaeres of this whole frame is ever in motion and by that motion we see that part which is now the highest within a dozen hours to become the lowermost so suddenly is the change of the highest things even so it is in all things that are under the Sun there is a perpetual motion and that motion changeth all things which made holy Job to say a Saying worthy to be remembred that although man is but of few dayes few indeed God knoweth and those few dayes are full of troubles and that we all know yet in those few dayes he cometh forth like a Flower that is by little and little and he is cut down that is in a moment he flieth also as a shadow that is very swiftly and never continueth in one stay but is still divolved from one condition Job 14. 1 2. to another For our blessed Lord God and loving Father out of his wise Providence and secret love to man hath so tempered all the Accidents and the whole course of mans life with such proportion and equal counterpoyze of occurrents that ever and anon Joyes and Sorrows are mixt together good haps and sad tidings succeed one another as for example David as it were to day is a poor Shepherd The vicissitude of King Davids condition keeping his Fathers Flock and pulling away his sheep out of the Lions Claws and as it were to morrow he is magnified in the Court of Saul he is matched with the Kings Daughter and saluted for the Kings Son in Law and his epithalamium is Saul killed his thousands and David his â—ten thousands yet presently he sleeth as t banished man and he is prosecuted and persecuted as a Partridge is hunted upon the Mountains but within a while he is crowned King and reigneth in a short space over all Israel even from Dan to Beersheba and as a gallant Conqueror overcometh all his enemies round about him yet that Glory must not last long but his own not only undutiful Subjects but also his ungracious and unnatural Son Absalon must drive him once again to flee not to preserve his Kingdom but to save his Life and because the Wheel turns round this Cloud suddenly vanisheth Absalon is hanged and the King is joyfully received and honourably restored to his Royal Throne anâ— after all this he had many the like changes of sundry kinds of Accidents somtimes gladsom and somtimes doleful while he lived So the Son of David and the Son of God Jesus Christ in the second of Math. And of the condition of Jesus Christ is presented with Gifts and worshipped as a God by the Kings and wise men of the East and in the same Chapter he is persecuted by King Herod that he was fain to flee into Egypt to save his life yet afterwards he was so magnified by the people that he was fain to hide himself to prevent his being crowned King and upon Mount Tabor he he was so transfigured in Glory that his Face did shine as the Sun and not long after upon Mount Calvary he was so disfigured with sorrow that confusion went over his face so far that as the Prophet saith in him there was neither form nor beauty so upon Mount Olivet even now there was an Angel comforting him and by and by an Agony affrighting him and so upon the Cross even now he crieth as one destitute of all help My God My God why hast thou forsaken me and by and by after as a man full of comfort and confidence in Gods favour he saith Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And if the time and your patience would give me leave I could amplifie to you this Point in the like revolution of this wheel I dare not call it of Fortune as the Heathens did but of Gods Providence as the Scripture sheweth it is in Abraham in Joseph in Moses in C. Marius in Alcibiades and in abundance more of those Worthies whose lives you may read in the holy Scripture in Plutarch and in many other Authors and which were variarum for tunarum viri men that had tasted of all conditions and had experience of all kind of Life being tossed up and down and up again and so still turn and turn again and again from a good condition to a bad and from a bad to a good again But I had rather perswade you all to make that use of this variable vanity which Sesostris King of Egypt did of the sad condition of those Kings that horses-like he compelled to draw about his Caroach for he having four captive Kings set them like horses to draw his Caroach even as King Edgar is reported to