a childe what should I note more not rub or scratch in publike God commands them to weare Totaphoth phylacteries Vex Egyptiaca Versus quidam ex lege Mosis in pergameno scripti sez 14. priores 13. Exo. 4 5 6 7 8 9. 6. Deut. Pagn Quo ferrum vim assandi habet Praec Mos cum expos Ibid. they doe which our Sauiour reproues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlarge them and these must bee written with right lines in a whole parchment of the hide of a cleane beast God commands to celebrate and rost the Passeouer they will haue it done in an excesse of care not with an iron but a woodden spit and curiously chuse the wood of Pomegranate God commanded to auoid Idolatry they taught their Disciples if an Image were in the way to fetch about some other if they must needes goe that way to runne and if a thorne should light in their foot neere the place not to kneele but sit downe to pull it out lest they should seeme to giue it reuerence I weary you with these Iewish niceties Consider then how deuout how liberall how continent how true dealing how zealous how scrupulous how austere these men were and see if it bee not a wonder that our Sauiour thus brandeth them Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the kingdome of Heauen That is If your doctrine bee not more righteous you shall not be entred of the Church if your holinesse bee not more perfect you shall not enter into heauen behold Gods kingdome below and aboue is shut vpon them The poore Iewes were so besotted with the admiration of these two that they would haue thought if but two men must goe to heauen the one should be a Scribe the other a Pharisee What strange newes was this from him that kept the keies of Dauid that neither of them should come there It was not the person of these men not their learning not wit not eloquence not honour they admired so much but their righteousnesse and loe nothing but their righteousnesse is censured Herein they seemed to exceed all men herein all that would bee saued must exceed them Doe but thinke how the amazed multitude stared vpon our Sauiour when they heard this Paradox Exceed the Pharises in righteousnesse It were much for an Angell from heauen What shall the poore sonnes of the earth doe if these worthies bee turned away with a repulse yea perhaps your selues all that heare mee this day receiue this not without astonishment and feare whiles your consciences secretly comparing your holinesse with theirs finde it to come as much short of theirs as theirs of perfection And would to God you could feare more and bee more amazed with this comparison for to set you forward must wee exceed them or else not bee saued If we let them exceed vs what hope what possibilitie is there of our saluation Ere wee therefore shew how farre we must goe before them looke backe with me I beseech you a little and see how farre we are behinde them They taught diligently and kept Moses his chaire warme How many are there of vs Matth. 23.3 whom the great Master of the Vineyard may finde loitering in this publike market-place and shake vs by the shoulder with a Quid statis otiosi Why stand you here idle They compast sea and land Satans walke to make a proselyte we sit still and freeze in our zeale and lose proselytes with our dull and wilfull neglect They spent one quarter of the day in praier how many are there of vs that would not thinke this an vnreasonable seruice of God We are so farre from this extreme deuotion of the old Euchita Correcti à Concilio Toletan Bellar. that wee are rather worthy of a censure with those Spanish Priests for our negligence How many of you Citizens can get leaue of Mammon to bestow one houre of the day in a set course vpon God How many of you Lawyers are first clients to God ere you admit others clients to you How many of you haue your thoughts fixed in Heauen ere they be in Westminster Alas what dulnesse is this what iniustice All thy houres are his and thou wilt not lend him one of his owne for thine owne good They read they recited the Law some twice a day neuer went without some parts of it about them but to what effect There is not one of our people saith Iosephus but answers to any question of the Law as readily as his owne name Quilibet nostrū de lege interrogatus facilius quam nemen suū respondet Ios cone◠App. lib. 2. How shall their diligence vpbraid yea condemne vs Alas how doe our Bibles gather dust for want of vse while our Chronicle or our Statute-booke yea perhaps our idle and scurrilous play-bookes are worne with turning Oh how happy were our fore-fathers whose memory is blessed for euer if they could with much cost and more danger get but one of Pauls Epistles in their bosomes how did they hugge it in their armes hide it in their chest yea in their hearts How did they eat walke sleepe with that sweet companion and in spight of persecution neuer thought themselues well but when they conuersed with it in secret Loe now these shops are all open we buy them not these books are open we read them not and we will be ignorant because we will The Sunne shines and wee shut our windowes It is enough for the miserable Popish Laitie to bee thus darke that liue in the perpetuall night of Inquisition Shal this be the only difference betwixt them and vs that they would read the holy leaues and may not we may and will not There is no ignorance to the wilfull I stand not vpon a formall and verball knowledge that was neuer more frequent more flourishing But if the maine grounds of Christianitie were throughly setled in the hearts of the multitude wee should not haue so much cause of shame and sorrow nor our aduersaries of triumph and insultation Shew lesse therefore for Gods sake and learne more and ballace your wauering heart with the sound truth of Godlinesse that you may flie steadily thorow all the tempests of errors Make Gods Law of your learned counsell with Dauid and be happy Matth. 8.12 Else if you will needs loue darknesse you shall haue enough of it you haue here inward darknesse there outward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is your owne darknesse Choshet Aphelab Tenebrae caliginis that his of whom the Psalmist He sent darknesse and it was darke Darke indeed A thicke and terrible darknesse ioyned with weeping and gnashing I vrge not their awfull reuerence in their deuotion our sleepy or wilde carelesnesse their austere and rough discipline of the bodie our wanton pampering of the flesh though who can abide to thinke of a chaste Pharisee a filthy Christian a temperate Pharise a drunken
we are all fooles and in silence all are wise In the two former yet there may bee concealement of folly but the tongue is a blab there cannot be any kinde of folly either simple or wicked in the heart but the tongue will bewray it He cannot be wise that speakes much or without sense or out of season nor he knowne for a foole that saies nothing It is a great misery to be a foole but this is yet greater that a man cannot be a foole but he must shew it It were well for such a one if he could be taught to keepe close his foolishnes but then there should be no fooles I haue heard some which haue scorned the opinion of folly in themselues for a speech wherein they haue hoped to shew most wit censured of folly by him that hath thought himselfe wiser and another hearing his sentence againe hath condemned him for want of wit in censuring Surely hee is not a foole that hath vnwise thoughts but he that vtters them Euen concealed folly is wisdome and sometimes wisdome vttered is folly While others care how to speake my care shall be how to hold my peace 83 A worke is then onely good and acceptable when the action meaning and manner are all good For to doe good with an ill meaning as Iudas saluted Christ to betray him is so much more sinfull by how much the action is better which being good in the kinde is abused to an ill purpose To doe ill in a good meaning as Vzza in staying the Arke is so much amisse that the good intention cannot beare out the vnlawfull act which although it may seeme some excuse why it should not be so ill yet is no warrant to iustifie it To meane well and doe a good action in an ill manner as the Pharisee made a good praier but arrogantly is so offensiue that the euill manner depraueth both the other So a thing may be euill vpon one circumstance it cannot bee good but vpon all In what euer businesse I goe about I will enquire What I doe for the substance How for the manner Why for the intention For the two first I will consult with God for the last with my owne heart 84 I can doe nothing without a million of Witnesses The conscience is as a thousand witnesses and God is as a thousand consciences I will therefore so deale with men as knowing that God sees me and so with God as if the world saw me so with my selfe and both of them as knowing that my conscience seeth me and so with them all as knowing I am alwaies ouer-looked by my accuser by my Iudge 85 Earthly inheritances are diuided oft-times with much inequality The priuilege of primogeniture stretcheth larger in many places now than it did among the ancient Iewes The younger many times serues the elder and while the eldest aboundeth all the latter issue is pinched In heauen it is not so all the sonnes of God are heires none vnderlings and not heires vnder wardship and hope but inheritors and not inheritors of any little pittance of land but of a Kingdome nor of an earthly Kingdome subiect to danger of losse or alteration but one glorious and euerlasting It shall content me here that hauing right to all things yet I haue possession of nothing but sorrow Since I shall haue possession aboue of all that whereto I haue right below I will serue willingly that I may reigne serue for a while that I may reigne for euer 86 Euen the best things ill vsed become euils and contrarily the worst things vsed well proue good A good tongue vsed to deceit a good wit vsed to defend errour a strong arme to murther authority to oppresse a good profession to dissemble are all euill yea Gods owne Word is the sword of the Spirit which if it kill not our vices kils our soules Contrariwise as poisons are vsed to wholesome medicine afflictions and sinnes by a good vse proue so gainfull as nothing more Words are as they are taken and things are as they are vsed There are euen cursed blessings O Lord rather giue me no fauours than not grace to vse them If I want them thou requirest not what thou doest not giue but if I haue them and want their vse thy mercy proues my iudgement 87 Man is the best of all these inferiour creatures yet liues in more sorrow and discontentment than the worst of them whiles that Reason wherein he excels them and by which he might make aduantage of his life hee abuses to a suspitious distrust How many hast thou found of the fowles of the aire lying dead in the way for want of prouision They eat and rest and sing and want nothing Man which hath farre better meanes to liue comfortably toyleth and careth and wanteth whom yet his reason alone might teach that he which careth for these lower creatures made onely for man will much more prouide for man to whose vse they were made There is an holy carelesnesse free from idlenesse free from distrust In these earthly things I will so depend on my Maker that my trust in him may not exclude all my labour and yet so labour vpon my confidence on him as my endeuour may be void of perplexity 88 The precepts and practice of those with whom we liue auaile much on either part For a man not to bee ill where hee hath no prouocations to euill is lesse commendable but for a man to liue continently in Asia as he said where hee sees nothing but allurements to vncleannesse for Lot to be a good man in the middest of Sodom to bee abstemious in Germany and in Italy chaste this is truly praise-worthy To sequester our selues from the companie of the world that we may depart from their vices proceeds from a base and distrusting minde as if wee would so force goodnesse vpon our selues that therefore onely we would be good because we cannot be ill But for a man so to bee personally and locally in the throng of the world as to withdraw his affections from it to vse it and yet to contemne it at once to compell it to his seruice without any infection becomes well the noble courage of a Christian The world shall be mine I will not be his and yet so mine that his euill shall be still his owne 89 He that liues in God cannot be wearie of his life because he euer findes both somewhat to doe and somewhat to solace himselfe with cannot bee ouer-loth to part with it because hee shall enter into a neerer life and societie with that God in whom hee delighteth Whereas he that liues without him liues many times vncomfortably here because partly he knowes not any cause of ioy in himselfe and partly he finds not any worthy employment to while himselfe withall dies miserably because hee either knowes not whither he goes or knowes he goes to torment There is no true life but the life of faith O Lord let me
could be also in affection Oh that mine eies like the eies of thy first Martyr could by the light of Faith see but a glimpse of heauen Oh that my heart could be rapt vp thither in desire How should I trample vpon these poore vanities of the earth How willingly should I endure all sorrowes all torments How scornfully should I passe by all pleasures How should I be in trauaile of my dissolution Oh when shall that blessed day come when all this wretched worldlinesse remoued I shall solace my selfe in my God Behold as the Hart braieth for the riuers of waters so panteth my soule after thee O God My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God Oh when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God CHAP. XXXI 4. An humble Confession of our disability to effect what we wish AFter this Wishing shall follow humble Confession by iust order of nature for hauing bemoaned our want and wished supply not finding this hope in ourselues we must needs acknowledge it to him of whom onely we may both seeke and finde wherein it is to be duly obserued how the minde is by turnes depressed and lifted vp Being lifted vp with our taste of ioy it is cast downe with Complaint lift vp with Wishes it is cast downe with Confession which order doth best hold it in vre and iust temper and maketh it more feeling of the comfort which followeth in the conclusion This Confession must derogate all from ourselues and ascribe all to God Thus I desire O Lord to bee aright affected towards thee and thy glory I desire to come to thee but alas how weakly how heartlesly Thou knowest that I can neither come to thee nor desire to come but from thee It is Nature that holds me from thee this treacherous Nature fauours it selfe loueth the world hateth to thinke of a dissolution and chuseth rather to dwell in this dungeon with continuall sorrow and complaint than to endure a parting although to libertie and ioy Alas Lord it is my misery that I loue my paine How long shall these vanities thus besot me It is thou onely that canst turne away mine eies from regarding these follies and my heart from affecting them thou onely who as thou shalt one day receiue my soule into heauen so now before-hand canst fix my soule vpon heauen and thee CHAP. XXXII 5. An earnest Petition for that which we confesse to want AFter Confession naturally followes Petition earnestly requesting that at his hands which wee acknowledge our selues vnable and none but God able to performe O carrie it vp therefore thou that hast created and redeemed it carry it vp to thy glory Oh let me not alwaies be thus dull and brutish let not these scales of earthly affection alwaies dim and blinde mine eies Oh thou that laiedst clay vpon the blinde mans eies take away this clay from mine eies where-with alas they are so dawbed vp that they cannot see heauen Illuminate them from aboue and in thy light let mee see light Oh thou that hast prepared a place for my soule prepare my soule for that place prepare it with holinesse prepare it with desire and euen while it soiourneth on earth let it dwell in heauen with thee beholding euer the beautie of thy face the glory of thy Saints and of it selfe CHAP. XXXIII 6. A vehement Enforcement of our petition AFter Petition shall follow the Enforcement of our request from argument and importunate obsecration wherein we must take heed of complementing in termes with God as knowing that he will not be mocked by any fashionable forme of suit but requireth holy and feeling intreaty How graciously hast thou proclaimed to the world that who-euer wants wisdome shall aske it of thee which neither deniest nor vpbraidest O Lord I want heauenly wisdome to conceiue aright of heauen I want it and aske it of thee giue me to aske it instantly and giue me according to thy promise abundantly Thou seest it is no strange fauour that I begge of thee no other than that which thou hast richly bestowed vpon all thy valiant Martyrs Confessors Seruants from the beginning who neuer could haue so cheerefully embraced death and torment if through the middest of their flames and paine they had not seene their Crowne of glory The poore Theefe on the Crosse had no sooner craued thy remembrance when thou earnest to thy Kingdome than thou promisedst to take him with thee into heauen Presence was better to him than remembrance Behold now thou art in thy Kingdome I am on earth remember thine vnworthy seruant and let my soule in conceit in affection in conuersation be this day and for euer with thee in Paradise I see man walketh in a vaine shadow and disquieteth himselfe in vaine they are pittifull pleasures he enioyeth while he forgetteth thee I am as vaine make me more wise Oh let mee see heauen and I know I shall neuer enuie nor follow them My times are in thine hand I am no better than my fathers a stranger on earth As I speake of them so the next yea this generation shall speake of me as one that was My life is a bubble a smoake a shadow a thought I know it is no abiding in this thorow fare Oh suffer me not so mad as while I passe on the way I should forget the end It is that other life that I must trust to With thee it is that I shall continue Oh let mee not be so foolish as to settle my selfe on what I must leaue and to neglect eternitie I haue seene enough of this earth and yet I loue it too much O let me see heauen another while and loue it so much more than the earth by how much the things there are more worthy to be loued Oh God looke downe on thy wretched Pilgrim and teach me to looke vp to thee and to see thy goodnesse in the Land of the liuing Thou that boughtest heauen for me guide me thither and for the price that it cost thee for thy mercies sake in spight of all tentations enlighten thou my soule direct it crowne it CHAP. XXXIV AFter this Enforcement doth follow Confidence wherein the soule 7. A cheerefull Confidence of obtaining what we haue requested and enforced after many doubtfull and vnquiet bickerings gathereth vp her forces and cheerefully rowzeth vp it selfe and like one of Dauids Worthies breaketh thorow a whole Armie of doubts and fetcheth comfort from the Well of life which though in some latter yet in all is a sure reward from God of sincere Meditation Yea be thou bold O my soule and doe not meerely craue but challenge this fauour of God as that which he oweth thee he oweth it thee because he hath promised it and by his mercy hath made his gift his debt Faithfull is he that hath promised which will also doe it Hath he not giuen thee not onely his hand in the sweet hopes of the Gospell but his seale
holy laughter that followes his And pity the preposterous courses of them which make religion but a foot-stoole to the seat of aduancement which care for all things but heauen which make the world their standing marke and doe not so much as roue at God Many had sped well if they had begun well and proceeded orderly A false method is the bane of many hopefull endeuours God bids vs seeke first his Kingdome and earthly things shall find vs vnsought Foolish nature first seekes the world and if she light on God by the way it is more then she expects desires cares for and therefore failes of both because shee seekes neither aright Many had beene great if they had cared to be good which now are crossed in what they would because they willed not what they ought If Salomon had made wealth his first suit I doubt he had beene both poore and foolish now hee asked wisedome and gained greatnesse Because he chose well he receiued what he asked not O the bounty and fidelitie of our God! because we would haue the best he giues vs all Earth shall wait vpon vs because we attend vpon heauen Goe on my Lord goe on happily to loue religion to practise it let God alone with the rest Bee you a patterne of vertue hee shall make you a Precedent of glory Neuer man lost ought by giuing it to God that liberall hand returnes our gifts with aduantage Let men let God see that you honour him and they shall heare him proclaime before you Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King will honour To M. Newton Tutor to the Prince EPIST. IV. Of Gratulation for the hopes of our Prince with an aduising apprecation SIR God hath called you to a great and happy charge You haue the custody of our common Treasure Neither is there any seruice comparable to this of yours whether we regard God or the world Our labours oft-times bestowed vpon many scarce profit one yours bestowed vpon one redounds to the profit of many millions This is a summary way of obliging all the world to you I encourage you not in your care you haue more comfort in the successe of it then all worlds can giue you The very subiect of your pains would giue an hart to him that hath none I rather congratulate with you our common happinesse the hopes of posterity in that royall and blessed issue You haue best cause to be the witnes of the rare forwardnes of our gracious Master and I haue seene enough to make me thinke I can neuer bee enough thankfull to God for him That Princes are fruitfull is a great blessing but that their children are fruitfull in grace and not more eminent in place than vertue is the greatest fauour God can doe to a State The goodnesse of a priuate man is his owne of a Prince the whole worlds Their words are Maximes their actions examples their examples rules When I compare them with their royall Father as I do oft and chearfully I cannot say whether he be more happy in himselfe or in them I see both in him and them I see and wonder that God distributes to naturall Princes gifts proportionable to their greatnesse The wise Moderator of the world knowes what vse is of their parts hee knowes that the head must haue all the senses that pertaine to the whole body and how necessary it is that inferiours should admire them no lesse for the excellency of their graces then for the sway of their authority Whereupon it is that hee giues heroicall qualities to Princes and as he hath bestowed vpon them his owne name so also hee giues them speciall stamps of his owne glorious Image Amongst all other vertues what a comfort is it to see those yeares and those spirits stoope so willingly to deuotion Religion is growne too seuere a Mistresse for young and high courages to attend Very rare is that Nobility of blood that doth not challenge liberty and that liberty that ends not in loosenesse Loe this example teacheth our Gallants how well euen Maiestie can stand with homage Maiesty to men with homage to God Farre be it from me to doe that which my next clause shall condemne but I think it safe to say that seldome euer those yeares haue promised seldome haue performed so much Onely God keepe two mischiefes euer from within the smoake of his Court Flattery and Treachery The iniquity of times may make vs feare these not his inclination For whether as English or as men it hath beene euer familiar to vs to fawne vpon Princes Though what doe I bestow two names vpon one vice but attired in two sundry suits of euill For Flatterie is no other than gilded treason nothing else but poyson in gold This euill is more tame not lesse dangerous It had beene better for many great ones not to haue been than to haue beene in their conceits more than men This Flatterie hath done and what can it not That other Treacherie spils the blood this the vertues of Princes That takes them from others this bereaues them of themselues That in spight of the actors doth but change their Crowne this steales it from them for euer Who can but wonder that reads of some not vnwise Princes so bewitched with the inchantments of their Parasites that they haue thought thēselues Gods immortal and haue suffered themselues so styled so adored Neither Temples nor Statues nor Sacrifices haue seemed too much glory to the greatnesse of their selfe-loue Now none of al their actions could be either euill or vnbeseeming nothing could proceed from them worthy of censure vnworthy of admiration Their very spots haue beene beauty their humors iustice their errors witty their Paradoxes diuine their excesses heroicall O the damnable seruility of false mindes which perswade others of that which themselues laugh to see beleeued O the dangerous credulity of selfe-loue which entertaines all aduantages if neuer so euill neuer so impossible How happy a seruice shall you do to this whole world of ours if you shall still settle in that princely minde a true apprehension of himselfe and shall teach him to take his owne height aright and euen from his childhood to hate a Parasite as the worst Traytor To break those false glasses that would present him a face not his owne To applaud plain truth and bend his browes vpon excessiue prayses Thus affected hee may bid Vice doe her worst Thus shall he striue with Vertue whether shall more honour each other Thus sincere and solid glory shall euerywhere follow and crowne him Thus when hee hath but his due he shall haue so much that he shall scorne to borrow the false colours of adulation Goe on happily in this worthy and noble employment The worke cannot but succeed that is furthered with so many prayers To Sir THOMAS CHALLONER EP. V. A report of some Obseruations in my Trauell SIR besides my hopes not my desires I trauelled of late for
was shut as Cyril Chrisostome Eusebius Hierome vnderstand it rather it is a prophesie of that outward and during peace vnder the Gospell which all the true professors of it should maintaine with themselues All nations though fierce sterne of disposition Bellicosa pectora vertuutur in mansuetudinem Christianam Hier. Suniae Fritellae yet if they once stoop sincerely to the Gospel shall compose themselues to a sweet accordance and imploy their vnited strength to the seruice of God But how is this fulfilled Some in all ages haue run forth into fury troubled the cōmon peace It is true but these are blanks such as vpon whom God hath not written holines It is no hoping that all horses shall be bridled or all bridles written on As grace so peace is not in such sort vniuersall that all should incline to it on all conditions There are some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace-haters it is as possible to tame a waspe as to incline them to peace Such are the wilful Romanists of our time to omit Schismes which will rather mingle heauen earth together than remit one gainefull error But what euer become of these Manizers which doe thus exclude themselues from the cōgregation of God it were happy if all the true acknowledged sonnes of the Church would admit the inscription of an holy peace Alas why doe wee that are brethren fall out for our change of suits by the way and make those quarrels deadly which deserue not to be quarrels Oh that some blessed Doue would bring an Oliue of peace into this Arke of God! Who is so fit for this glorious seruice as our gratious Peace-maker Nemo me impune lacesset is a good Posie but Beati pacifici is a better Let the Vice-gerent of him which is the Prince of peace as he was made for the peace of the walls and prosperity of the gates of Sion be that Angelus pacis Es 33.7 Let his wisdome and sweet moderation proceed to allay all these vnkindly stormes of the Church that we may liue to see that happy greeting of the Psalmist Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other And as this holds in matter of iudgement so of practise too Do you see a loose lawlesse man wilful in his desires vnbridled in his affections inordinate in his life imploying his wit to scoffe at his Creator caring for nothing but the worse part of himselfe There is one of Zacharies horses when Gods Spirit breathes vpon the soule of this man he is now another from himselfe Holinesse to the Lord is written vpon his Bels. This was done sometimes of old Saul was among the Prophets Salomon and Manasses great patternes of conuersion but rarely in respect of the daies of the Gospell What should I speake of S. Paul No ground would hold him he runs chafing and foaming from Hierusalem to Damascus of his Iaylor of Mary Magdalen Behold whole troupes of wilde natures reclaimed Eph. 4. Col. 3. Act. 2. Who can despaire where God vndertakes Shew me neuer so violent and desperate a sinner let him be as Iobs wild asse in the desert or as Amos his horse that will run vpon the rocks Amos 6.12 if God once take him in hand thou shalt soone see that his horse is flesh and not spirit and shalt sing Deborahs Vngulae ceciderunt Iudg. 5.22 or Ioshuahs Subneruabis Ios 11.6 Now shalt thou see him stand quaking vnder the almighty hand of God so that he may write what he will in his bridle yea in his skin And if there be any such headstrong and restie stead here among vs let him know that God wil either breake his stomacke or his heart Flagellum equo saith Salomon and if that will not serue Collidā in te equum equitē Ier. 51.21 But alas how rare are these examples of reclamation Where is this power of the Gospell Men continue beasts still and with that filthy Gryllus plead for the priuilege of their bestiality The sins of men striue to outface the glory of the Gospell What shall I say to this If after all these meanes thou haue no bridle or thy bridle no inscription it is a fearefull doome of the Apostle If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that perish Thus much of the horses bels Now from the pots and bowles you shall see the degrees of the Churches perfection and see it I beseech you without wearinesse with intention The pots of the Temple were seething vessels for the vse of sacrifice These are the Priests themselues here for that there is a distinction made betwixt the Pots of the Lords house and euery pot in Ierusalem The ordinary Iew was euery pot therefore the Pots of the Lords house must be his Ministers These vnder the Gospell shall be of more honourable vse as the bowles before the Altar like as the Altar of perfumes was more inward and of higher respect The pots were of shining brasse bowles of gold 1 King 7.50 It is no brag to say that the Ministery of the Gospell is more glorious than that of the Law The least in the kingdome of Heauen saith CHRIST is greater than Iohn Baptist Matth. 11.11 The Kingdome of Heauen that is the Church not as Austen Ierome Bede expound it of the third heauen for Christ would make an opposition betwixt the old and new Testament The not vnlearned Iesuite Maldonat while he taxeth vs for preferring euery Minister of the Gospell to Iohn Baptist mends the matter so well that he verifies it of euery person Minimus quisque in Euangelio that is qui Euangelium recipit maior est illo not feeling how hee buffets himselfe for if the least of those that receiue the Gospell how much more the least of those that preach it This is no arrogance God would haue euery thing in the last Temple more glorious than in the first which was figured by the outward frame more glorious in CHRISTS time than that of SALOMON as that was beyond the Tabernacle This is a better Testament Hebr. 7.22 That had the shadow this the substance Heb. 10. Vnder this is greater illumination Effundam spiritum meum saith the Prophet before some few drops distilled now a whole current of graces Effundam If therefore Iohn Baptist were greater than the sonnes of men because they saw Christ to come hee pointed at him comming ours must needs be more glorious because wee see and point at him now come and fully exhibited Wee will not contest with the Leuiticall Priesthood for cost of clothes for price of vessels let the Church of Rome emulate this pompe which cares not if shee haue golden vessels though shee haue leaden Priests wee enuie it not but for inward graces for learning knowledge power of teaching there is no lesse difference than betwixt the pots of the Temple and bowles of the Altar God sayes of them in way of reiection Non est mihi voluntas in vobis Mal. 1. Hence the
the condition of our mortalitie are passed ouer It shall be fully when the first things of the world are passed Passed not by abolition but by immutation as that Father said well Not the frame of the world but the corruption of that frame must passe The Spirit of God is not curious he cals those things first which were onely former not in respect of the state which is but that which shall be For those things which were first of all were like their Maker good not capable of destruction Our sinnes tainted the whole creation and brought shame vpon all the frame of heauen and earth That which we did shall be disanulled that which God did shall stand for euer and this dissolution shall be our glory other dissolutions strike teares into our eyes as this day is witnesse it is our sorrow that the first things are passed our offices our pensions our hopes our fauours and which we esteemed most our seruices are gone Let this last dissolution comfort vs against the present Who can grieue to see a Familie dissolued that considers the world must bee dissolued This little world of ours first whereof this day giues vs an image for as our seruice so our life must away and then that great one whose dissolution is represented in these The difference is that whereas this dissolution brings teares to some eies that wipes them away from all For all our teares and sorrow and toile and crying and death are for our sinnes take away corruption and misery goes away with it and till then it will neuer be remoued No man puts new wine into old vessels much lesse will God put the new wine of glory into the old vessels of corruption They are our sinnes which as in particular they haue rob'd vs of our Prince changed our seasons swept away thousands with varieties of deaths so in generall they haue deformed the face of heauen and earth and made all the Creation sigh and groane and still make vs incapable of the perfection of our blessednes for while the first things continue there must needs be teares and sorrow and death Let vs therefore looke vpon heauen and earth as goodly creatures but as blemished as transitory as those which we shall once see more glorious Let vs looke vpon our selues with indignation which haue thus distained them and as those which after some terme of their cottage expired are assured they shall haue a marble palace built for them doe long after the time perfixed them and thinke the dayes and moneths pace slowly away till then so let vs earnestly desire the day of the dissolution of this great house of the world that wee may haue our consummation in the new heauen For so soone as euer the old is past Behold saith God I will make all things new Yea the passage of the one is the renewing of the other As the Snake is renewed not by putting on any new coat but by leauing his slough behind him the gold is purified by leauing his drosse in the fire Therefore hee addes not I will but I doe make all new and because this is a great worke behold a great Agent He that sate vpon the Throne said Behold I make all new A Throne signifies Maiestie and sitting permanence or perpetuity God sayes Heauen is my throne in the Psalme but as Salomons throne of iuory and gold was the best piece of his house So Gods throne is the most glorious heauen the heauen of heauens for you see that tho heauen and earth passe away yet Gods throne remain'd still and hee sitting on it neither sinne nor dissolution may reach to the Empyreall heauen the seat of God Here is a state worthy of the King of Kings All the thrones of earthly Monarchs are but pieces of his foot-stoole And as his throne is maiesticall and permanent so is his residence in it Hee sate in the throne S. Stephen saw him standing as it were ready for his defence and protection S. Iohn sees him sitting as our Creed also runnes in regard of his inalterable glory How brittle the thrones of earthly Princes are and how they doe rather stand than sit in them and how slippery they stand too wee feele this day and lament O Lord establish the throne of thy seruant our King and let his seed endure for euer Let his throne be as the Sunne before thee for euermore and as the Moone a faithfull witnesse in heauen But howsoeuer it be with our earthly Gods of his kingdome there is no end Here is a master for Kings whose glory it is to rise vp from their thrones and throw downe their Crownes at his feet and to worship before his foot-stoole Be wise therefore O ye Kings be learned ye Rulers of the earth serue this Lord in feare and reioyce in him with trembling Yea behold here since wee haue the honour to serue him whom Kings serue a royall Master for vs It was one of our sinnes I feare that wee made our Master our God I meane that we made flesh our arme and placed that confidence in him for our earthly stay which we should haue fixed in heauen Our too much hope hath left vs comfortlesse Oh that we could now make God our Master and trust him so much the more as we haue lesse in earth to trust to There is no seruice to the King of heauen for both his throne is euerlasting and vnchangeable and his promotions certaine and honourable He that sits on the throne hath said it To him that ouercomes will I giue to sit with mee in my throne euen as I ouercame and sit with my Father in his throne Behold yee ambitious spirits how yee may truly rise to more than euer the sonnes of Zebedee desired to aspire to seruing is the way to raigning serue him that sits vpon the Throne and ye shall sit yourselues vpon the Throne with him This is the Agent the act is fit for him I make all things new Euen the very Turkes in their Alcoran can subscribe to that of Tertullian Qui potuit facere potest reficere I feare to wrong the holy Maiesty with my rude comparison It is not so much to God to make a world as for vs to speake He spake the word and it was done There is no change which is not from him He makes new Princes new yeeres new gouernments and will make new heauens new earth new inhabitants how easie then is it for him to make new prouisions for vs If wee bee left destitute yet where is our faith Shall God make vs new bodies when they are gone to dust shall he make new heauens and new earth and shall not he whose the earth is and the fulnesse thereof prouide some new meanes and courses of life for vs while we are vpon earth Is the maintenance of one poore worme more than the renewing of heauen and earth Shall he be able to raise vs when we are not and shall he
an Antichristian estate if God giue secret mercie what is that to her Gods superaboundant grace doth neither abate ought of her Antichristianisme nor moue you to follow him in couering and passing by the manifold enormities in our Church wherewith those good things are inseparably commingled Your owne mouth shall condemne you Doth God passe ouer our enormities and doe you sticke yea separate Doth his grace couer them and doe you display them Haue you learned to be more iust than your Maker Or if you be not aboue his iustice why are you against his mercy God hath not disclaimed vs by your owne confession you haue preuented him If Princes leasurees may not be stayed in reforming yet shall not Gods in reiecting Your ignorance enwrapped you in your errors his infinite wisedome sees them and yet his infinite mercy forbeares them so might you at once haue seene disliked stayed If you did not herein goe contrary to the courses of our common God how happy should both sides haue beene yea how should there be no sides How should we be more inseparably commingled than our good and euill But should you haue continued still in sinne that grace might haue abounded God forbid you might haue continued here without sinne saue your owne and then grace would no lesse haue abounded to you than now your sin abounds in not continuing What neede you to surfet of another mans Trencher Other sinnes need no more to infect you than your graces can sanctifie them As for your further light suspect it not of God suspect it to bee meere darknesse and if the light in you bee darknesse how great is that darknesse What so true and glorious a light of God and neuer seene till now No Worlds Times Churches Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Fathers Doctors Gen. 1.2 Esa 5.20 Woe to them that put darknesse for light Esa 59.9 Christians euer saw this truth looke forth besides you vntill you Externall light was Gods first creature and shall this spirituall light whereby all Churches should be discerned come thus late Mistrust therefore your eyes and your light and feare Esayes woe and the Iewes miserable disappointment we wait for light but loe it is darknesse for brightnesse but we walke in obscuritie SEP But the Church of England say you is our Mother and so ought not to be auoyded But say I we must not so cleaue to holy Mother Church as we neglect our Heauenly Father and his Commandements which we know in that estate we could not but transgresse and that hainously and against our consciences not onely in the want of many Christian Ordinances to which we are most straightly bound both by Gods Word and our owne necessities SECTION XVII THE Church of England is your Mother to her small comfort she hath borne you The Motherhood of the Church of England how far it obligeth vs. Deut. 21 22 23. and repented Alas you haue giuen her cause to powre out Iobs curses vpon your Birth-day by your not onely forsaking but cursing her Stand not vpon her faults which you shall neuer proue capitall Not onely the best Parent might haue brought forth a rebellious sonne to be stoned What then Doe we prefer dutie to piety and so plead for our Holy Mother Church that we neglect our Heauenly Father yea offend him See what you say it must needs be an Holy Mother that cannot be pleased without the displeasure of God A good wife that opposes such an husband a good sonne that vpbraids this vniustly Therefore is shee a Church your Mother holy Mater Ecclesia Mater est etiam Matris nostrae Aug. Epist 38. because shee bred you to God cleaues to him obeyes his commandements and commands them And so farre is shee from this desperate contradiction that shee voweth not to hold you for her sonne vnlesse you honour God as a Father It is a wilfull slander that you could not but hainously transgresse vnder her I dare take it vpon my soule that all your transgression which you should necessarily haue incurred by her obedience is nothing so hainous as your vncharitablenesse in your censures and disobedience Conscience is a common plea euen to those you hate we inquire not how strong it is but how well informed not whether it suggest this but whereupon To go against the conscience is sinne to follow a mis-informed conscience is sinne also If you do not the first we know you are faultie in the second He that is greater than the conscience will not take this for an excuse But wherein should haue beene this transgression so vnauoidable hainous against conscience First in the want of many Ordinances to which we are most strictly bound both by Gods Word and our owne necessities SECTION XVIII CAn you thinke this hangs well together The want of pretended Ordinances of God whether sinfull to vs and whether they are to bee set vp without Princes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nâ—m per exteriorem viâ—lâ—â—tiaÌ„ corâ—â—pitur si interior innocentia custodiatâ—r cap. 114. 3. Custodi c. Ad docendum populum Israelâ—ticum omnipotens Deus Prophetis praeconium dedit non Regibus imperauit Aug. l. 2. contra Gau. c. 11. Barr. causes of separat def p. 6. Barr. Reformation without tarrying Aug. contra Petilian l. 2. Optatus Mileuit lib. 30. Bar. second Examination before the Lord Archbishop and Lord Chiefe-Iustice compar with his reply to M. Gyff Art 5. You should here want many of Gods Ordinances why should you want them Because you are not suffered to enioy them who hinders it Superior powers Did euer man wilfully and hainously offend for wanting of that which he could not haue What hath conscience to doe with that which is out of our power Is necessity with you become a sinne and that hainous Dauid is driuen to lurke in the wildernesse and forced to want the vse of many diuine Ordinances It was his sorrow not his transgression Hee complaines of this but doth he accuse himselfe of sinne Not to desire them had beene sinne no sinne to be debarred them Well might this be Sauls sinne but not his Haue you not sinnes enow of your owne that you must needs borrow of others But I see your ground You are bound to haue these Ordinances and therefore without Princes yea against them so it is your transgression to want them in spight of Magistrates Gaudentius the Donatist taught you this of old And this is one of the Hebrew Songs which Master Barrow sings to vs in Babylon that we care not to make Christ attend vpon Princes and to be subiect to their Lawes and Gouernment and his Predecessor the root of your Sect tels vs in this sense the Kingdome of Heauen must suffer violence and that it comes not with obseruation that men may say Loe the Parliament or loe the Bishops decrees and in the same Treatise The Lords Kingdome must wait on your policy forsooth and
Christs descent into Hell except he had ouer-reached not that Call you our Doctrines some generall truths Looke into our Confessions Apologies Articles and compare them with any with all other Churches and if you finde a more particular sound Christian absolute profession of all fundamentall truths in any Church since Christ ascended into Heauen renounce vs as you do we will separate vnto you But these truths are not soundly practised Let your Pastor teach you Inquir into M. Wâ—â—te p. 35. Mat. 13.33 that if errors of practise should bee stood vpon there could bee no true Church vpon earth Pull out your owne beame first wee willingly yeeld this to bee one of your truths that no truth can sanctifie error That one heresie makes an Heretike but learne withall that euery error doth not pollute all truths That rhere is hay and stubble which may burne yet both the foundation stand and the builder bee saued Such is ours at the worst why doe you condemne where God will saue No Scripture is more worne with your Tongues and Pens than that of the Leauen 1 Cor. 5.6 If you would compare Christs Leauen with Pauls you should satisfie your selfe Christ sayes The Kingdome of Heauen is as Leauen Paul sayes A grosse sinne is Leauen Both leauens the whole lumpe neither may be taken precisely but in resemblance not of equalitie M. Bredwell as he said well but of qualitie For notwithstanding the Leauen of the Kingdome some part you grant is vnsanctified So notwithstanding the Leauen of sinne some which haue striuen against it to their vtmost are not sowred The leauening in both places must extend onely to whom it is extended the subiects of regeneration in the one the partners of sinne in the other So our Sauiour saith Yee are the salt of the earth Yet too much of the earth is vnseasoned The truth of the effect must bee regarded in these speeches not the quantitie It was enough for S. Paul to shew them by this similitude that grosse sinnes where they are tolerated haue a power to infect others whether it be as Hierome interprets it by ill example or by procurement of iudgements Hierom. In hoc ignoratis quia malo exemplo possunt plurimi interire Sed peâ— vntus delictuÌ„ in omnâ—â— populuÌ„ Iudaeorum â—am Dei legimus advenisse and therevpon the incestuous must bee cast out All this tends to the excommunicating of the euill not to the separating of the good Did euer Paul say If the incestuous bee not cast out separate from the Church Shew vs this and we are yours Else it is a shame for you that you are not ours If Antichrist hold many truths and wee but many wee must needs be proud of your praises We hold all his truths and haue shewed you how we hate all his forgeries no lesse than you hate vs Yet the mysterie of iniquitie is still spun in the Church of England but with a finer threed So fine that the very eyes of your malice cannot see it yet none of our least Motes haue escaped you Thanks bee to our good God 1 Tim. 3.16 we haue the great mysterie of godlinesse so fairely and happily spun amongst vs as all but you blesse God with vs and for vs As soone shall yee finde Charitie and Peace in your English Church as heresie in our Church of England SEP Where say you are those proud Towers of their vniuersall Hierarchie One in Lambeth another in Fulham and wheresoeuer a Pontificall Prelate is or his Chancellor Commissarie or other Subordinate there is a Tower of Babel vnruinated To this and I desire to know of you whether the office of Archbishops Bishops and the rest of that ranke were not parts of that accursed Hierarchie in Queene MARIES dayes and members of that Man of sin If they were then as shoulders armes vnder that head the Pope and ouer the inferiour members and haue now the same Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction deriued and continued vpon them whereof they were possessed in the time of Popery as it is plaine they haue by the first Parliament of Queene ELIzABETH why are they not still members of that bodie though the head the Pope be cut off SECTION XXX Whether our Prelacie be Antichristian Seuen Argu. first Answ Counterpoys TO the particular instances I aske where are the proud Towers of their Vniuersall Hierarchie You answer roundly One in Lambeth another in Fulham c. What Vniuersall Did euer any of our Prelates challenge all the World as his Diocesse Is this simplicitie or malice If your Pastor tell vs that as well a World as a Prouince Let me returne it If hee may be Pastor ouer a Parlour-full Why not of a Citie And if of a Citie why not of a Nation But these you will proue vnruinated Towers of that Babel You aske therefore whether the Office of Archbishops Bishops and the rest of that ranke were not in Queene MARIES dayes parts of that accursed Hierarchie and members of that Man of sinne Doubtlesse they were Who can denie it But now say you they haue the same Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction continued This is your miserable Sophistrie Those Popish Archbishops Bishops and Clergie were members of Antichrist not as Church-Gouernours but as Popish while they swore subiection to him while they defended him whiles they worshipâ— him aboue all that is called God and extorted this homage from others how could they be other but limmes of that Man of sinne shall others therefore which defie him resist trample vpon him spend their liues and labours in oppugnation of him bee necessarily in the same case because in the same roome Let mee helpe your Anabaptists with a sound Argument The Princes Peeres and Magistrates of the Land in Queene MARIES dayes were shoulders and armes of Antichrist their calling is still the same therefore now they are such Your Master Smith vpon no other ground disclaymeth Infants Baptisme Character of the Beast against R. Clifton crying out that this is the maine relique of Antichristianisme But see how like a wise Master you confute your selfe They are still members of the bodie though the head the Pope be cut off The head is Antichrist therefore the bodie without the head is no part of Antichrist He that is without the head Christ is no member of Christ so contrarily I heare you say the very Iurisdiction and Office is here Antichristian not the abuse What in them and not in all Bishops since and in the Apostles times Alas who are you that you should oppose all Churches and times Ignorance of Church-storie and not distinguishing betwixt substances and appendances personall abuses and callings hath led you to this errour Yet since you haue reckoned vp so many Popes let mee helpe you with more Was there not one in Lambeth when Doctor Cranmer was there One in Fulham when Ridley was there One in Worcester when Latimer was there One at Winchester when Philpot was
it selfe in this spirituall verdict that vnlesse it be taken in the manner it will hardly yeeld to a truth either shee will denie the fact or the fault or the measure And now in this case they might seeme to haue some faire pretences For though Samuel was righteous yet his sons were corrupt To cut off all excuses therefore Samuel appeales to God the highest Iudge for his sentence of their sinne and dares trust to a miraculous conuiction It was now their Wheat Haruest the hot and dry ayre of that climate did not wont to afford in that season so much moist vapour as might raise a cloud either for raine or thunder He that knew God could and would doe both these without the helpe of second causes puts the triall vpon this issue Had not Samuel before consulted with his Maker and receiued warrant for his act it had beene presumption and tempting of God which was now a noble improuement of faith Rather then Israel shall go cleare away with a sinne God will accuse and araigne them from heauen No sooner hath Samuels voice ceased then Gods voice begins Euery cracke of thunder spake iudgement against the rebellious Israelites and euerie drop of raine a witnesse of their sin and now they found they had displeased him which ruleth in the Heauen by reiecting the man that ruled for him on Earth The thundering voice of God that had lately in their sight confounded the Philistims they now vnderstood to speake fearfull things against them No maruell if now they fell vpon their knees not to Saul whom they had chosen but to Samuel who being thus cast off by them is thus countenanced in Heauen SAVLS Sacrifice GOD neuer meant the Kingdome should either stay long in the Tribe of Beniamin or remoue suddenly from the person of Saul Many yeares did Saul reigne ouer Israel yet God computes him but two yeares a King That is not accounted of God to be done which is not lawfully done when God which choose Saul reiected him he was no more a King but a Tyrant Israel obeyed him still but God makes no reckoning of him as his Deputie but as an Vsurper Saul was of good yeares when he was aduanced to the Kingdome His Sonne Ionathan the first yeare of his Fathers Reigne could lead a thousand Israelites into the field and giue a foile to the Philistims And now Israel could not thinke themselues lesse happie in their Prince then in their King Ionathan is the Heyre of his Fathers victorie as well as of his valour and his estate The Philistims were quiet after those first thunder claps all the time of Samuels gouernment now they beginne to stirre vnder Saul How vtterly is Israel disappointed in their hopes That securitie and protection which they promised themselues in the name of a King they found in a Prophet failed of in a Warriour They were more safe vnder the mantle then vnder armes both enmitie and safegard are from heauen goodnesse hath beene euer a stronger guard then valour It is the surest policy alwayes to haue peace with God We find by the spoiles that the Philistims had some battels with Israel which are not recorded After the thunder had scared them into a peace and restitution of all the bordering Cities from Ekron to Gath they had taken new heart and so be slaued Israel that they had neither weapon nor Smith left amongst them yet euen in this miserable nakednesse of Israel haue they both fought and ouercome Now might you haue seene the vnarmed Israelites marching with their Slings and Plough-staues and Hookes and Forkes and other instruments of their husbandrie against a mighty and well furnished enemy and returning laded both with Armes and Victorie No Armour is of proofe against the Almighty neither is he vnweaponed that caries the reuenge of God There is the same disaduantage in our spirituall conflicts we are turned naked to principalities and powers whilst we go vnder the conduct of the Prince of our peace we cannot but be bold and victorious Vaine men thinke to ouer-power God with munition and multitude The Philistims are not any way more strong then in conceit Thirty thousand Chariots sixe thousand Horsemen Footmen like the sand for number makes them scorne Israel no lesse then Israel feares them When I see the miraculous successe which had blessed the Israelites in all their late conflicts with these very Philistims with the Ammonites I cannot but wonder how they could feare They which in the time of their sinne found God to raise such Trophees ouer their enemies runne now into Caues and Rockes and Pits to hide them from the faces of men when they found God reconciled and themselues penitent No Israelite but hath some cowardly blood in him If we had no feare faith would haue no mastery yet these fearfull Israelites shall cut the throats of those confident Philistims Doubt and resolution are not meet measures of our successe A presumptuous confidence goes commonly bleeding home when an humble feare returnes in triumph Feare driues those Israelites which dare shew their heads out of the Caues vnto Saul and makes them cling vnto their new King How troublesome were the beginnings of Sauls honor Surely if that man had not exceeded Israel no lesse in courage then in stature he had now hid himselfe in a Caue which before hid himselfe among the stuffe But now though the Israelites ran away from him yet he ranne not away from them It was not any doubt of Sauls valour that put his people to their heeles it was the absence of Samuel If the Prophet had come vp Israel would neuer haue runne away from their King Whiles they had a Samuel alone they were neuer well till they had a Saul now they haue a Saul they are as farre from contentment because they want a Samuel vnlesse both ioyne together they think there can be no safetie Where the Temporal and Spirituall State combine not together there can follow nothing but distraction in the people The Prophets receiue and deliuer the will of God Kings execute it The Prophets are directed by God the people are directed by their Kings Where men doe not see God before them in his Ordinances their hearts cannot but faile them both in their respects to their Superiors and their courage in themselues Piety is the Mother of perfect subiection As all authoritie is deriued from heauen so is it thence established Those Gouernours that would command the hearts of men must shew them God in their faces No Israelite can thinke himselfe safe without a Prophet Saul had giuen them good proofe of his fortitude in his late victorie ouer the Ammorites but then Proclamation was made before the fight through all the Country that euery man should come vp after Saul and Samuel If Samuel had not beene with Saul they would rather haue ventured the losse of their oxen then the hâ—â—â—id of themselues How much lesse should we presume of any safety in
a Prophet But what doe J with-hold your Lordship in the bare heads of this insuing discourse Jn all these your piercing eies shall easily see beyond mine and make my thoughts but a station for a further discouery Your Lordships obseruation hath studied men more then bookes here it shall study God more then men That of bookes hath made you full that of men iudicious this of God shall make you holy and happy Hitherto shall euer tend the wishes and indeuours of Your Lordships humbly deuoted in all faithfull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations REHOBOAM WHO would not but haue looked that seuen hundred wiues and three hundred concubines should haue furnished Salomons Palace with choise of heires and haue peopled Israel with royall issue and now behold Salomon hath by all these but one Sonne and him by an Ammonitesse Many a poore man hath an house-full of children by one wife whiles this great King hath but one sonne by many house-fulls of wiues Fertility is not from the meanes but from the author It was for Salomon that Dauid sung of old Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward How oft doth God deny this heritage of heires where he giues the largest heritage of lands and giues most of these liuing possessions where he giues least of the dead that his blessings may bee acknowledged free vnto both entailed vpon neither As the greatest persons cannot giue themselues children so the wisest cannot giue their children wisdome Was it not of Rehoboam that Salomon said I hated all my labour which I had taken vnder the Sunne because I should leaue it vnto the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a foole Yet shall he rule ouer all my labour wherein I haue laboured and shewed my selfe wise vnder the Sunne All Israel found that Salomons wit was not propagated Many a foole hath had a wiser sonne then this wisest father Amongst many sonnes it is no newes to finde some one defectiue Salomon hath but one sonne and he no miracle of wisdome God giues purposely so eminent an instance to teach men to looke vp to heauen both for heires and graces Salomon was both the King of Israel the father of Rehoboam when he was scarce out of his childhood Rehoboam enters into the Kingdome at a ripe age yet Salomon was the man and Rehoboam the child Age is no iust measure of wisdome There are beardlesse sages and gray-headed children Not the ancient are wise but the wise is ancient Israel wanted not for thousands that were wiser then Rehoboam Yet because they knew him to be the sonne of Salomon no man makes question of his gouernement In the case of succession into Kingdomes we may not looke into the qualities of the person but into the right So secure is Salomon of the peoples fidelity to Dauids seed that he followes not his fathers example in setting his sonne by him in his owne throne here was no danger of a riualitie to inforce it no eminency in the sonne to merit it It sufficeth him to know that no bond can bee surer then the naturall allegeance of subiects I doe not finde that the following Kings stood vpon the confirmation of their people but as those that knew the way to their throne ascended those steps without aid As yet the soueraignty of Dauids house was greene and vnsetled Israel therefore doth not now come to attend Rehoboam but Rehoboam goes vp to meet Israel They come not to his Ierusalem but he goes to their Shechem To Shechem were all Israel come to make him King If loyalty drew them together why not rather to Ierusalem there the maiestie of his fathers Temple the magnificence of his palace the very stones in those walles besides the strength of his guard had pleaded strongly for their subiection Shechem had beene many wayes fatall was euerie way incommodious It is an infinite helpe or disaduantage that arises from circumstances The very place puts Israel in minde of a rebellion There Abimelec had raised vp his treacherous vsurpation ouer and against his brethren There Goal against Abimelec There was Ioseph sold by his brethren As if the very soile had beene stained with perfidiousnesse The time is no lesse ill chosen Rehoboam had ill counsell ere he bewraied it For had he speedily called vp Israel before Ieroboam could haue beene sent for out of Egypt he had found the way cleere A little delay may leefe a great deale of opportunity what shall we say of both but that misery is led in by infatuation Had not Israel beene somewhat predisposed to a mutinie they had neuer sent into Egypt for such a spokesman as Ieroboam a fugatiue a traitor to Salomon long had that crafty conspirator lurked in a forraine Court The alliances of Princes are not euer necessary bonds of friendship The brother in law of Salomon harbours this snake in his bosome and giues that heat which is repaid with a sting to the posterity of so neere an allye And now Salomons death calls him backe to his natiue soile That Israel would entertaine a rebell it was an ill signe worse yet that they would countenance him worst of all that they would imploy him Nothing doth more bewray euill intentions then the choice of vicious Agents Those that meane well will not hazard either the successe or credit of their actions vpon offensiue instruments None but the sluttish will wipe their faces with foule clothes Vpright hearts would haue said as Dauid did to God so to his anointed Doe not I hate them that hate thee Yea I hate them with a perfect hatred Ieroboams head had beene a fit present to haue tendered vnto their new King and now in stead thereof they tender themselues to Ieroboam as the head of their faction Had not Rehoboam wanted spirits he had first after Salomons example done iustice to his fathers traytor and then haue treated of mercy towards his subiects The people soone found the weaknesse of their new Soueraigne else they durst not haue spoken to him by so obnoxious a tongue Thy father made our yoke grienous make thou it lighter and we will serue thee Doubtlesse the crafty head of Ieroboam was in this suit which his mouth vttered in the name of Israel Nothing could haue beene more subtill It seemed a promise it was a threat that which seemed a supplication was a complaint humility was but a vaile for discontentment One hand held a paper the other a sword Had they said Free vs from Tributes the capitulation had beene grosse and strongly sauoring of sedition now they say Ease vs they professe his power to impose and their willingnesse to yeeld onely crauing fauour in the weight of the imposition If Rehoboam yeeld he blemisheth his father If hee deny hee indangers his kingdome His wilfulnesse shall seeme worthily to abandon his scepter if he sticke at so reasonable a suit