many years after even to the days of Samuel from thence they began their expeditions they randezvous'd there there they incamped when they renewed the Kingdome to Saul 1 Sam. 11. 14. Yet in Gilgal in the camp of the men of war is the seat of justice Thirdly Mizpeh is the place whither the people were assembled by Samuel to pray for them and to expiate their Idolatry And Rupertus is of opinion that the waters which the people drew there had the same vertue which the waters of jealousie had Numb 5. 24. which were waters of bitterness to all offenders which drank thereof and caused the belly to swell and the thigh to rot and so discover the worshippers of Baalim and Ashtaroth Yet even in Mizpeh where an expiation of Idolatry was to be made was the seat of Iustice. 1. Samuel goes to Bethel the house of God The time is come says St. Peter that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4. 17. Which words although they principally reflect upon those persecutions and afflictions w ch shall befall Gods people yet have they an eye to those chastisements and punishments w ch shall be inflicted upon offenders within the pale of the Church But here I hope neither the Conclave nor the Consistory hear me should my voice reach either Rome or Geneva I should stir a Wasps nest Which places although far remote from one another yet in this case are they coupled together by the tails like Samsons foxes with a fire-brand of sedition between them Most Scholars know what Bellarm hath wrote De exemptione clericorum à jugo seculari so he calls the mild mercifull government of Kings 't is a yoke an intolerable yoke w ch neither they nor their Proselytes can bear Where he ties up the hands of the secular power from executing judgment upon a Clerk though stain'd with treason or murther or sins of the deepest die I meddle not with those priviledges w ch Christian Emperours and Kings have in their respective dominions given to the holy Church Let those that have them plead them But that by the moral or positive law of God all Clergy-men should be exempt from all civil sanctions and the coercive power of the Magistrate is so destructive to Kingdomes nay even to Christianity it self that nothing more 'T is that w ch Christ never pleaded he paid tribute for fear of bringing a scandal upon the Gospel Mat. 17. Nay he was obedient to the sentence of death pronounced against him by the secular power that power w ch he acknowledged had that authority from him which was used to his destruction Ioh. 19. 11. He suffered for us says the Apostle leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. That is to suffer and to submit not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to plead an exemption and then to lord it over others I but says Bellarmine the Pope hath exempted all Clergy-men from subjection to secular Princes that as to them they are not Princes nor higher Powers And I pray who exempted the Pope Why the Canonists will tell you that Papa est jure divino directè Dominus totius orbis the Monarchy the temporal Monarchy of the world was absolutely and inseparably given to the See of Rome as a branch of the Charter which Christ gave to Peter Why but what think they then of the Apostles injunction Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. 1. That is say they Lay-men to their respective Clergy as sheep to their shepherds sons to their spiritual parents Why but St. Chrysostome makes Every soul of a larger extent and fetches in the Clergy too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Oh then by higher Powers says he is meant the Pope Why but St. Peter interprets it of secular powers 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme Oh says Bellarmine Eo tempore valde necessarium erat diligenter monere Christianos ut Regibus obedirent ne fidei praedicatio impediretur I quote his own words lest you should suspect that I abuse him At that time says he obedience to Kings ought diligently to be prest upon the people lest they should stop the free passage of the Gospel Let heaven and earth hear this and stand amazed At that time What is the eternal spirit of truth become a servant of the Times Is scripture become a Lesbian rule and bowed to our fancies But this is the very answer that a classical Brother gave me in the days of Englands rebellion when I pinch'd him with those Apostolical precepts and asked him whether he thought St. Peter and S t Paul wrote true divinity he answered that Paul and Peter wrote seasonable doctrine for the times they lived in were they alive now when Christians knew their strength better he thought they would change their copy Thus the Jesuite and the Covenanter like men that run in a circle turn back to back and run from one another in a seeming difference but never cease till they meet face to face and kiss each other But some of the brood of Loyola have met with the best confutation that is a halter and have found that a cart at Tiburn is but an ill chair to dispute in having been justly cut off by those laws from which they pleaded exemption As for my Consistorial friends if they repent not their brother Guthry will tell them they must expect the same condemnation For they that travel the same rode if they keep the same pace must needs come to their journeys end both together Indeed so long as the Lemane lake bounded them they were to be pitied not to be feared but cùm proximus ardet Ucalegon 't is time to look about us when our neighbours house is on fire If any please to turn over that sober and modest history of Scotland written by the most reverend Archbishop of St. Andrews he will finde rebellions even to a prodigy hatched under the wings of Religion There Pont dares tell King James and his Councel that they do not acknowledge them judges in causes Ecclesiastick which is the cause perhaps why our brethren now adays leave that clause of His Majesties titles out of their prayers There will they finde the Ministers of Edinborough proclaim a fast on a day appointed by His Majesty for a solemn feast and to detain the people at Church three Preachers make Sermon all day long And we know who wrote after that copy in England too In a word for the raking in this kennel makes it stinke abominably there Blake audaciously tells the King that speeches delivered in the pulpit although alledged to be treasonable cannot be judged by the King till the Kirk first take cognizance thereof Did the Priests of Bethel here put in a Declinator think you against Samuel did they appeal to the Sanhedrim or the Schools of the Prophets No
the days of Eli But when the sins of the people had devoured their Iudges Hos. 7. 7. when the Ark of God was taken and old Eli like the state of Israel was faln backward and had broke his neck Almighty God to prevent the mischief of Anarchy and confusion calls Samuel now grown a man to a new imployment even to the exercise of publick judicature which he continued till Sauls investiture in the Kingdome during the space of thirty years Indeed St. Paul in his sermon at Antioch Act. 13. 21. drawing up a Breviary of the Jewish story seems to blend both these Governments together and assignes 40 years between them That whereas Samuel exercising his Prophetical office had at first govern'd Israel alone and afterward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declining under the great burthen of years he joined his sons in commission with him after that by Gods direction condescending to the importunate desire of the people whom he could not disswade from their obstinate resolution he anoints Samuel to be King over them yet still as a faithfull counsellour he ceased not to be assisting to him till his death which hapned say the Hebrews four moneths before the death of Saul So that he judged Israel all the days of his life And now the linen Ephod and little Coat is turned to a purple Robe and the Stall in Shilo is changed to a Seat in the gates of Ramah when he judged Israel where if we look upon him under two considerations farther I conceive the first part of the Text can point at no more consider him then in his Individuality and his Personality His Individual he was but one His Person this one was Samuel 1. He was but one For God is too much a God of Order to prepare a government for his people with a face looking to confusion The Pythagoreans thought One to be the Deity but Two to be the Devil because it first separates from Unity And truly what ever wild notions some fantastick Commonwealths-men have found out to adorn the Babel of their Oceana's or Utopian fancies both reason and experience as well as religion teach us that those frames of Government stand surest which have but one Basis those reel most which stand upon many legs An unconstant cowardly Christian is called by St. Iames 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 1. 8. one of two souls two hearts As if the more hearts the less courage I am sure the most tottering states may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more heads the less counsel Therefore says the wisest of men to whom you may add the wisdome of the Holy Ghost Prov. 28. 2. For the transgressions of a land many are the Princes thereof Princes shall I call them or servants set on horse-back such as have spurgalld thispoor jaded Nation where Ambition Rapine Faction and the study of parts hath rid us out of breath whilst the multiplying the number of our masters hath but increased the baseness of our bondage Hereupon the Philosopher after he had pondred the strength of arguments on all sides draws up this conclusion Ethic. l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kingdoms and Monarchies are the best of Governments But what talk I of Philosophy when St. Austin convinces it to be the most natural For whereas God says he created at first many individuals of all other kinde of creatures as many horses many dogs many birds and the like he made but one man on whom by theright of priority all the descendents of that stock must depend And Herodian gives this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God alone is King in heaven so he allots each particular kingdome upon earth to one particular person Hand bellè quaedam faciunt duo Two are too many for some imployments Observe I pray in the several changes of the names of the Iewish Government how God still avoyded Polyarchy and Aristocracy when Captains but one Moses in temporals one Aaron in Spirituals When Iudges but one Othniel When Priests but one Eli When Prophets but one Samuel And when for their own ease they joyn'd others in commission with them they presently verged to corruption and declined in their reputation Thus fared it with Hophni and Phineas in the days of Eli And good old Samuel found no better success in his two sons Ioel and Abia For besides the grievance which they brought upon the people to travel to one corner of the land to Beersheba for judgement the Elders of Israel had too just a complaint against them that they turned aside after lucre took bribes and perverted judgement Let no man object my Lords that every Circuit now hath two Iudges and that you are of the Quorum of a numerous commission All your authority flows but from one fountain and although the eyes be two blessed be God there is but one head Your commissions come now from Gods vicegerent our Soveraign Lord the King not from that Chimaera that many headed Fiction The Keepers shall I call them or the Goalers of Englands liberties Not long since England might have cryed out as once the Carians did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Too many Commanders have destroyed me But now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessed be God that hath set his King upon his holy hill of Sion And I dare appeal to all sober-minded Christians in the words of Abimelech Judg. 9. 2. whether is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal which are threescore and ten persons should raign over you and so many they say that fag end of that reproach of Parliaments consisted of or that one should raign over you But secondly consider the Person and this one was Samuel and this Samuel was a Levite bred up in Shilo where he ministred to God before he was set over the people and yet no scruple was made of the lawfulness of these concurrent powers 'T is strange that Ecclesiastical persons should by many in our days be thought so unfit for the exercise of civil power Eli before him was a Priest and so was Phinehas too and yet he executed judgement upon Zimri and Cosbi the two idolatrous adulterers A thing never quarrelled at by any nations Christian or Heathen before our critical days when the power of Church-men hath been supprest that Religion it self might be the more easily prostituted to the spurious fancy of vulgar brains The Romanes thought Pontifex O. M. was an embellishment of the Imperial titles Before them the Aborigines had both powers concenter'd in one person Rex Anius Rexidem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos So had the Graecians in their Lycurgus too Before them the Egyptians united them says Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 witness Josephs father-in-law Potiphera the Prince or Priest of On Gen. 41. 45. Before them Melchizedeck who was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God Thus by Gods own appointment Deut. 17. 8 9. the difficultest cases between blood and blood between plea and plea being matters of
of judgement here that perhaps even Poenae formidine they might be diverted from the evil of their ways and not be judged of the Lord hereafter My Lords we have hopes that that religious zeal fills your hearts which once touched Davids whose eyes gushed out with water because men kept not Gods law Psal. 119. 136. And indeed My Lords it is time for all to weep if once God laughs Because I have called says God and ye refused I have stretched out mine arm and no body laid it to heart I will also laugh at your calamity Prov. 1. 22. It is time for you and us and all the Nation to draw waters at Mizpeh and pour them out abundantly if once God comes to his subsannabo to have us in derision His frown is not so terrible as such a Sardonick laughter He hath been graciously pleased once more to turn that laughter into a smile and with it our mourning into joy He hath thundred upon our enemies with a terrible thunder But it was not the tears of our repentance which were sufficient to raise these storms Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name give we the praise Our enemies worshipped Ashtaroth The sins of the Amorites were full their guile and hypocrisic their sacriledge and bloud-guiltiness their perjuries and treasons made the wrath of God break out like fire against them And now our storms are scattered I perswade my self God makes tryal whether the Sunshine of his Mercy cannot court us out of those cloaks those garments spotted with the flesh which the blasts of afflictions could not ruffle us out of whether our hearts of flint will not be broken upon the downy beds of mercy For let me seriously put the question Are we men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 born to live under a civil government such as pretend to honour our gracious King And shall let loose the reins to such facinorous actions as shall provoke God to number and finish our kingdome Dan. 5. 26 and cast his Anointed once more into exile out of the land of his Nativity Consider seriously how Samüel threatens the stiff-necked Israelites 1 Sam. 12. 25. But if you will still do wickedly says he you shall be destroyed both ye and your King Hear this you pretenders to Loyalty who dare fight against God as well as for your King ye are the greatest Traitours to the Crown Are we Christians such as took a military oath in our Baptism to fight Gods battels against the world the flesh and the devil and shall we prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall we fight on the devils side against God Are we penitent Christians such as in the day of our captivity made many solemn vows and covenants of a better obedience I do not mean that Solemn League and Covenant that covenant with death Isa. 28. 15. which was not so truly a holding up of our hands to God as a lifting up of our hands against God But a promise and profession of devoting our selves and all that God should rescue for us out of the Harpyes talons to God and to his service And is this performed by sacrificing all to Baalim and Ashtaroth to Venus and Bacchus parta meae veneri sunt munera to intemperance and uncleanness to luxury and prophaneness Pardon I beseech you a just indignation Our little cock-boats are tost on the same waves with the greatest gallies and are in danger of shipwrack sooner we had need look about us lest the fluctus decumanus be still behinde Shall after ages say that they are made Anathema's cursed in their cradles cursed before their nativities because their fore-fathers did not pay their vows My Lords you are the Ministers of God to take vengeanee of them that do evil Rom. 13. 4. and we hope and believe that you will not bear the sword vain We could wish your power enlarged yet still you have a power to be a terrour to evil doers I beseech you exerite brachia make bare your arm strike at prophane libertinisme as far as your swords can reach And if your adjudging in Mizpeh will not serve the turn follow the accursed Agags back to Gilgal and hew them there in pieces Thus have we run through the circuit and yet have not begun the Assizes The last part he judged Israel in all those places of which a word and so shall I break up this session 3. He judged and how judged he I answer first negatively not like his sons who did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Iosephus walk quite contrary to their father they turned aside after lucre to take bribes and to pervert judgement But secondly affirmatively from his own challenge 1 Sam. 12. 3. In general that he had done no injury whose ox have I taken or whose ass have I taken In special that he was not guilty of Fraud Oppression or Bribery Whom have I defrauded or whom have I oppressed or of whose hands have I received any bribes to blinde mine eyes therewith The three first of these have piceatas manus Injury Oppression and Fraud have birdlime fingers now a Iudge should not be an Autolicus The last Bribery hath manus oculatas hands full of eyes now a Iudge should not in this sense be like old Isaack dim of sight but nimble of touch The time does not permit me to enter into a full discourse of these particulars I shall onely add that none of these could agree with Samuels temper Not Injury as he was a Man not Fraud as he was a Prophet not oppression as he was a Magistrate not Bribery as he was a Iudge First as he was a Man enlightned with the noble beams of reason he would not be injurious What if beasts and birds and fishes rob one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the wild ass says the son of Sirach is the Lyons prey in the wilderness Wisd. 13. 19. Man must degenerate into beast he must be homini lupus if he worry and spoil and plunder another And St. Iames tells us of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 2. 8. a royal law that is given us Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Royal because dictated by that Magisterial rule of refined nature right reason And Royal because inculcated by our King and Law-giver Christ Joh. 13. 34. And Royal because a Law given principally to Kings and Magistrates who should scorn quocunque modo rem To make the Commonwealth their private gain and are presumed to have so much already that they have over-grown that root of evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the covetous desire of having more Samuel did not desire that he that came to plead at his bar should bring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ox upon his tongue as was said of Demosthenes that is the first Whose ox have I taken He did no man injury Secondly as he was a Prophet he knew what the written law injoyned Levit. 19. 13. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour The