more vengeance upon themselves by committing the more sins 3. Reason 3 He answered not because he held that Power which at that time the sword had so unjustly gotten to be insufficient and unjustifiable in his case to try his person and to condemn Him to death who in respect of the Hypostaticall union was Rex universae terrae and so King of the Romans as well as of the Jews therefore he would not answer to that charge that was so illegally charged against him coram non Judice before a Judge that had no lawfull commission to be his Judge So Bradshaw had no commission to be King Charles his Judge Or 4. Reason 4 It may be said that he answered nothing to the false charge laid against him because of the illegall power authority or right that his enemies had to require it when as he being their King was not to answer for any faci that he had done to any one of all his Subjects as the King that was according to Gods own heart sheweth when after he had committed both adultery and murder he saith to God Against thee only have I sinned And therefore the Jews being Christ his Subjects and so having neither right nor authority Math. 27.11 to lay any charge against Him that was their King he was altogether silent in all that concerned the charge laid against him Mar. 15.2 But for any other question that Pilate his servant and now made his Judge Luk. 23.3 did ask him He gave him a full and a sufficient answer as you may see in all the Evangelists Or else Joh. 18.34 36. and chap. 19 11. as S. Jerom. comments upon the Evangelists he spake nothing that is nihil durum nihil asperum nothing that might offend either the Judge or the Jews But we find What this King spake not to save his own life but for others that neither Jews nor Gentiles neither High Priest nor Pilate would condemn this King before they gave him liberty to speak and they were ready to hear what he would or could say for himself Because the law of the Jews as Nicodemus a Counsellor of their law testifieth judged no man before it heard him and it was not the manner of the Romans Jo. 7.51 Act. 25.16 to deliver any man to die before he had liberty to answer for himself as Festus another Judge of the Romans confesseth And yet such was the injustice shewed to Charles our King which you may remember by his subject-Judge that contrary to all Laws both of Heaven and Earth both of Jews and Gentiles he would not hear those just Reasons that he sought to shew for himself against their unjust proceedings against him And therefore no doubt but Annas and Caiphas and unjust Pilate will rise in Judgment to condemn that unjust Judge at the last day But though this good King Christ said nothing to their Charge to save his own life yet at his death he spake much to preserve his enemies from Everlasting death as when he said I thirst that was not for the blood of his enemies as they and the Souldiers did for his blood but it was for the accomplishment of the mysterie of theirs and our salvation that was to be effected by his death And especially when as Bellar mine observeth he prayed for his very murderers that were slaughtering and tormenting him and said Father forgive them for they know not what they do and some of them are simply ignorant of the wickedness of this fact being seduced by their false Teachers and others though wilfully blind yet are they ignorant of the consequents of this act that is the heavy punishment that is due to them and without great repentance must light on them for this wicked deed therefore O my Father I pray thee revenge not my death but forgive them for my sake And this prayer prevailed for Longinus that thrust him through his side How mightily the prayer of Christ prevailed with God to forgive his enemies to become a Convert if old Tradition may be believed for truth and for 3000. more at one clap when S. Peter took off the vail that shadowed the truth and shewed to the poor seduced people the horrible wickedness of their malicious leaders and for many many more that returned unto him immediately after and would have prevailed for all the very worst of his murderers even for Judas Annas and Caiphas yea and for the Judges the first and second Pilate that pronounced the Sentence against their Kings if they had had the grace to repent them of their evill deed and to believe in this their Saviour 4. Consider 4 How Speedily they condemned their King I pray you how speedily they executed and made an end of him after he was Condemned for he was apprehended but upon Thursday when-as upon Wednesday at night he did eat the Pass-over with his Disciples and tels them that after two daies was the Feast of the Passover the greatest feast that they had Math. 26.2 solemnized in remembrance of their great and wonderfull deliverance out of Pharaohs bondage And yet they would not suffer him to live till that Feast was past but being taken upon Thursday he must all that day and all that night be hurried from Annas to Caiphas from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod and from Herod back again to Pilate and so from place to place and the very next day which was Friday by nine of the clock in the morning which was their third hour of the day they fastened him to his Cross Mar. 15.25 with nails so large that being found they made a helmet and a bridle for Constantine as it is reported And this was a very quick dispatch indeed King Charleâ— I remember another King that was murdered in like manner by his subjects but though suddenly enough dispatched out of the way yet had a litle more favour and a litle longer time before he was beheaded But why would not these miscreants suffer their King to live one day Quest to prepare himself for his death after he was condemned They answer That the next day after he was adjudged to die Resp Why they would not suffer their King to live one day longer was their Feast day and the greatest feast in the year therefore they must not suffer him to pass over that day nor to die on that day for these two speciall Reasons 1. Reason 1 Lest there should be an uproare among the people because that day being set apart for an holy meeting as the Lord commanded it and as our Apprentices are permitted upon Shrove-tuesday Servants had liberty on Holy dayes and Feast-dayes to take their liberty and to go a Shroving where they please So were their labourers and servants under colour of going to the Temple suffered on this day to gad abroad and to go where they would And therefore the raskality of the people and
the seduced followers of the Scribes Pharisees and Presbyters cryed for Justice Justice Crucifie him Crucifie him yet seeing all the rest of the honest people that had well observed his meekness and his sweet carriage amongst them and had received so much justice and so many favours from this good King did exceedingly love him and said He did all things weâ—l and were ready to venture their lives for him the Priests and Presbyters durst not venture to delay his execution till that day were past lest they should attempt to rescue him and so to save his life on that day So you see the subtilty of the crafty foxes and the greediness of these Bloody-hounds to take away the life of their good King and to hinder al others to preserve his life Reason 2 2. They would not have him to suffer on their Feast day lest they should be defiled John 18.28 a most damnable hypocrisie that stumble at a straw and leap over a block that fear to be defiled on their Holy day and yet fear not the shedding of innocent blood the blood of their King and of the Son of God on any other day Just like our hypocritical Saints that cannot endure to misie the hearing of two Sermons on the Lords day and care not to deceive and destroy 200. of their neighbours if they can do it upon any other day And therefore these holy Saints are none of Gods Saints but do belong to that Angel of darkness The great hypocrisie of these holy murderers that can so finely transform himself as these men do into an Angel of Light And so you see how speedily they executed their King and the main Reasons why they did so And this speedy execution of his death doth exceedingly aggravate the heynousness of the action for after they had him in their hands their feet were swift to shed his blood and they ended all proceedings in few dayes their unsatiable thirst for blood can never suffer these Blood-bounds to rest until their thirst be quenched But you will say He was almost four years amongst them after he was Baptized A Question and began to dresse his Vineyard and to sway the Scepter of his Dominion if they were so greedy of his extirpation Why stayed they all this while before they executed their intention I answer Not because they wanted will but by reason of some remora's The Answer for three Reasons Luke 22.2 that hindered their desires and they were especially these three 1. The love of the people who for his justice innocency and fair carriage towards all men and the great good he did to many men did for many years exceedingly love him and apologise for him until these subtile Foxes by their Remonstrances and Aspersions had wrought this unstable multitude that understood nothing right to a jealous and a causeless suspition of this Just King and a wicked compliance with these unjust murderers 2. The want of fit opportunity made that they could not so safely do it until the people at the Passeover were drawn up to the Metropolis Hierusalem where by the Law they were to convene at this Feast and whereby you may see how their subtilty made way for their villany 3. The factions and oppositions that were among themselves and especially betwixt their chief Commanders Pilate the Roman Commander and Herod the head-Ruler of the Jews stayed their purposes till these differences were composed and these two great Opponents made great Friends and this assoon as ever done they presently do what they intended and never rest till all be finished 5. When they had thus devilishly condemned 5 The Attendants that followed Christ to the place of execution Math. 27.33 So was King Charles beheaded in the High-way where they used to bait Bears Bulls and thus speedily resolved to kill their King I pray you mark the place where they carried him to be executedâ—â— and that place where they would have him to be executed I told you before was Golgotha that is to say A place of a skull the most infamous place about Hierusalem where their Malefactors were hanged and their bones were scattered and gnawn of Dogs A fit place think you for a King to end his life And then 6. Consider the attendants that accompanied this great King to this despicable place of Execution and we shall find them to be Either 1. His friends Or 2. His foes And 1. Of his friends I find but very few that durst be seen to follow him 1 How few of his friends Joh. 19.26 Chap. 18.15 not any man that I find recorded but only one and that was the Disciple that our Saviour loved and that Disciple was known unto the High Priest and therefore the bolder to follow him whom he loved The rest I presume loved him well but they saw the malice of his persecutors was so great not only against their King but also against all those that loved him How cruel the enemies of Christ were to all that loved him that if they were seen to follow him or heard to speak a word in his behalf they had presently been taken for Malignants and most severely punished as most haynous Delinquents And therefore all the rest of his Apostles and Disciples and all others that loved him were so mightily terrified that they durst neither be heard nor seen So cruel were these Subjects even unto their King Some Women indeed that loved him well were permitted to be present at his death their Sex was their only warrant but these Women and the rest that knew him were fain to stand afar off and durst not come near him and it seems they durst not speak one word either of him or to him but smote their breasts and returned Luke 23.48 But 2. For his foes we read of enough that followed him 2 How many of his foes a guard of Souldiers for fear he should be rescued and the Rulers that derided him and the foolish people that were the flatterers of those lewd Leaders saying He saved others let him save himself if he be Christ the Son of God Luc. 23.25 and some no doubt were present that betrayed him Such villany and impudence had covered the foreheads of these monsters of men yet one of these bloody Souldiers that were the chief actors in the execution of this King received here the benefit of this Kings prayer and was inlightened by his Spirit to say Math. 27.54 Truly this was the Son of God But for the Priests and Presbyters the Scribes and Rulers of the people they could bring him to his death and mocked him upon the Cross when humanity should have rather taught them to pity him than to scoffe at him not one of them notwithstanding all the wonders that were then shewed as the rising of many that were dead the rending of the vail of the Temple and the great Earth quake that immediately followed his death had the grace
and made a simple conversion of White to Black and of Good to Evil. For As I shall answer for what I say at the Dreadfull day of Judgment I do here profess that in all mine Observation of what I saw and what I heard of the Lords and Gentlemen of His Court in so many years as they know I lived therein which was ever since King James died till the Wars began I knew neither Lord nor Knight nor Gentleman nor any other man whatsoever neither have I read in any Historie Greek or Latine of any Emperour or King I will not except Constantine nor Theodosius nor St. Edward of Ingland that was a juster King a wiser Governour and a better man then King Charles that was so Pious in his Devotions so just and upright in all His Actions so sweet in His Disposition so loving to His Friends so mild to His Servants so ready to forgive His Enemies and so free from all revenge for His greatest wrongs that when His own Subjects and Servants so Undutifully and Maliciously Rebelled and Warred against Him and bespotted His Innocent Conversation and pure Life with most false and venomous Aspersions I heard him say I thank God I can freely forgive all my Enemies and I pray God that God would forgive them and I dare boldly affirm it and can justifie it that He was as good a Protestant if not the best Protestant in all the Christian World and I am sure the best Protestant King or Prince that ever England saw who when I came unto Him immediately after Edg-Hill-fight and said that whatsoever otherwise we wanted in our Abilities yet our Prayers should never be wanting to beseech the Almighty God night and day to bless Him and to protect Him from all His Adversaries He answered that He thanked us for our Prayers and desired us to continue our Prayers still as He hoped we would do for Him because He suffered all this War and whatsoever else should betide Him for our sake and for the defence of the true Protestant Religion as it was Established in the Church of England and for the preservation of the known Laws of these Kingdoms and all the while I lived in His Court I never saw the man Clergy or Laity that shewed himself so punctually professing the Protestant Religion and so zealously and regularly observing the true service of God as His gracious Majestie What other Character I should give to this most excellent Prince for a loving faithfull Husband to His Queen and for a dear indulgent Father to all His Children His goodness therein is very very far beyond my ability of Expression as it is indeed in all the other particulars so that the praise and Eulogie which Homer gave to Achilles and Ulysses Virgil to Aenaeas Xenophon to his Cyrus Eusebius to Constantine and Osorius to Emmanuel King of Portugal I may truly ascribe to Him or rather what the Prophet Jeremy and the Son of Sirach saith of the good King Josias or the Scripture of King David that he was a man according to God's own heart so I hope and believe that I may say with out mistake without offence that King Charles the First was a man according to God's own heart and though as Christ non dimidiavit dies suos so God did soon bring this good King to His death that He might be soon delivered from the contradictions of Sinners and soon brought to enjoy the glorious Crown of Eternal life yet was He most blessed both in His life and death as hereafter I shall more fully shew unto you And therefore I had rather say no more then to say too too little as I shall when I say my best of this most gracious and now most glorious King Charles the First And though he was so good so gracious and so pious a King yet this good gracious and incomparably pious Protestant King the gentlest meekest and of the sweetest disposition of all the men I ever saw was as you well know most rebelliously Warred against most Judas-like sold most treacherously betrayed and most maliciously Barbarously and for the spiteful mischeivous manner thereof most Jewishly and unexpressably Murthered and many more Noble-men and Gentle-men Clergy and Laity Murthered in like manner onely for His sake and for the truth of their Loyalty unto Him and their Fidelity unto God as I have Mystically and yet fully shewed in my Book of The great Anti-Christ revealed and in these Treatises following And can any thing so fowly defile the Land and so highly provoke the Wrath and Indignation of God against his people as the shedding of so much Innocent Blood or shall we think that the just God will rest satisfied and contented to have his Wrath appeased especially if we consider what he saith to the three sons of Noah Gen. ix 5 6. and of the Bloody sins of Manasses 2 King xxiv 4. and to Ahab for letting Benhadad to escape 1 King xx 42. when he seeth the pretious Blood of so Good so Gracious and so Pious a King His own Vicegerent and the Blood of so many faithfull Christians Noble-men Gentle-men and other loyal Subjects that have lost their lives for their constancie in professing the true service of God the right Faith of Christ and their duty and loyalty to their true and lawfull King left unexpiated and according to the Law of justice unrevenged and unpunished The truth of God saith Not so therefore His now gracious Majestie lest His filiall affection of so good and so loving a Father and His anger and indignation against such monstrous Murtherers might seem to transport Him with Passion to be over-partial too rigid and too severe in His censure against these Murderers did most wisely religiously and Christian-like transmit the Judgment and Punishment of these transcendent Malefactours to his Parliament who as he knew had infinitely suffered most unspeakable Detriment and Dammage as well though not near the like nor so much as himself in the loss of their so good a King And the late Parliament that was The Keepers of the Liberties of Ingland by the Authority of our Parliament and you may compute what Number of Arithmetical Letters this name contained and had very many of the King's Enemies in it and therefore likely not to do all things so well as they should do yet hath it most gallantly religiously and justly sentenced many of them to death and the just God without Question doth most propitiously accept and approve of all those their doings which are just according to his own Precepts But though herein they have done very well yet do you think that they have done sufficiently well I will not presume to teach them that in State Affairs are better able to be my Teachers then I to advise their Wisdoms what they ought to have done yet as I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must humbly crave leave to set down what I conceive to be the just Will of God
all think that which is evil and all speak that which they think and finally where all men do what they list in such and so unfortunate a Realme where the people are so wicked let every good man beware that he be no inhabitant for in a short time there must happen there either the ire of the gods or the fury of men to the depopulation of the good or the destruction of the bad when as nothing can betide the people in such a Kingdom but Oppressions and Taxes murmurings distractions and dissentions until the fire be kindled among them to consume and to destroy one another But if the personal shedding of the innocent blood be thus haynous and so severely punished what shall we say to National shedding of such Blood as was shed in these Kingdoms that was so infinitely more abominable than the other But as Doctor Turner when he was terrae filius in the University said to his Opponent Thinkest thou with terrible words to terrifie terrible Turner So these monsters of men that dare to kill both Kings and their Masters and then to suppresse the good and to advance the wicked to silence the wise and to magnifie fools will say these things are but shadows and bug-bears to frighten Babes and poor-spirited men that have neither the courage of Heroicks nor the knowledge of Scriptures for they can tell us well enough that although some King-killers have been punished like Zimri for slaying their Masters yet à particulari non est syllogizari we must not conclude a General Rule from particular examples for Baasha slew his King and his Master Nadab and yet he reigned 24. years and died peaceably in his bed And Jehu killed Joram his King and his Master and yet he reigned 28. years and prospered and died peaceably in his bed And Menahem slew Shallum his King and reigned 10. years and died peaceably in his bed and so did many more that are recorded in prophane Authors and the ambitious hunters after Kingdoms perswade themselves that they may speed with the best and not perish with the worst fortune And so likewise those Common-wealths and Kingdoms that have killed their Kings which they conceived to be wicked In the third speech at the Conference of Parliament pag. 15. Eutrop. l. 1. did not only escape free from punishment but were prosperous and had good successe and were the instruments of much good unto the people As it fared with the Senate of Rome which as Halicar l. 1. saith killed and cut in pieces their King Romulus and afterwards expelled Tarquin and judicially sentenced Nâ—ro to death as some do write and is the onely sentence for death that I have read in any history though for deprivation not so which sentence notwithstanding was never executed yet was it decreed and as those and the like Senators do alleadge the Common-wealth prospered after it I answer that una hirundo non facit ver and though Balaams asse once spake shall we think that all other asses shall be able to speak So one or two examples in particular are of no force in the generall but the truth is that Gâ—ds judgements are unsearchable his wayes are in the Seas his paths in the great waters and his footsteps are not known yet this we may know for certain that although a sinner do evill an hundred times and God prolong his dayes yet it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes but be shall be like a shadow because he feareth not before God and so the Prophet David testifieth at large and Job did the like before him And we may know also that although Jehu and some others that had speciall Commissions from God to fulfill his will prospered and escaped the hand of judgement for their zeal to Gods service and their repentance for their transgression Psal 37.9.10 yet is it a most certam truth that murderers King-killers and all other like wicked malefactors shall never escape unpunished and yet God doth not alwayes punish them in like manner Either in respect 1. Of the time or Either in respect 2. Of the punishment or Either in respect 3. Of the persons for 1. In respect of the time he reserveth the punishment of some though they be never so wicked for the next life and suffereth them to prosper all their dayes in this world as he did the rich glutton what evill soever he did and this both holy Job and the good King David do sufficiently prove and examples enough might be produced of most wicked tyrants and murderers and the like malefactors that escaped the hand of God in this life but how they escaped the next I cannot tell themselves by this time know and this future punishment is the heaviest punishment in the world and the prosperity of such malefactors is the worst and the unhappiest prosperity that can be Others he punisheth in this life and yet those not all alike in respect of the time of their punishment but some presently as Achan Cosbi Corah Dathan and Abiram Nadah and Abihu Ananias and Saphira and the like others have some time given them to see if in that time they will confesse their sinnes repent them of their wickednesse amend their lives and make satisfaction to the parties wronged Zimri 7. dayes so Zimri had 7. days given him before he was punished Shallum that slew Zacharia had one month given him Otho that caused Galba to be slain had leave to reign four months before he suffered for his murder Otho 4. months Vitel. 8. mon. Phil. Arabs 5. years Decius 2. years Niceph. l. 18. c 58. Phocas 8. years 2 Kings 15. Peka 20. years and Vitellius that was the destruction of Otho had 8 months before Vespasian brought him to death Philip Arabs that slew young Gordian had 5. years given him before Decius revenged the death of Gordian and Decius that was the death of Philip raigned 2. yeares before he was punished for the death of Philip Phocas had 8. years after he killed his Master Mauricius before he had his punishment and Peka raigned 2. years after he killed Pekahiah before Hoshea revenged the death of Pekahiah so the Prophet tells the Nintvites they should have 40. days before they should be destroyed the children of Israel 40. years in the wilderness and Jerusalem was not destroyed in 40 years after they had crucified Christ the Son bearing with them just so long as his Father bore with them in the wilderness the old world had 120 yeares given them to repent before they were destroyed and the wickednesse of the Amorites remained well-nigh 400. years before it was revenged having continued from the wandring of the Israelites in the wildernesse even till the dayes of King Saul And therefore let no man wonder that we see not adulteries oppressions and murders presently punished neither should we think that because
they prosper bear rule and raign in a flourishing stare for some years they shall therefore flourish for ever and never be punished because the Lord is flow to anger and cometh to punish on leaden feet using much patience towards the most wicked reprobates to see if his long sufferance can lead them to repentance But if they be such as the wise man speaketh of that Because sentence against an evill work treason Eccles 8.11 or murder or the like is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill Te peccare sinit siquidem divina potestas Temporis ad spatium parcit quandoque nocenti Sed gravius tandem tormentum rector Olympi Injungit torquetque magis delicta nocentum Obadiah v. 15.16 Exod. 1.22 15.5 then will God recompence the slownesse of his coming with severity of vengeance and smite then home with iron-hands for this law is irrevocably enacted in heaven that murders adulteries oppressions perjuries and other such wickednesses shall not always prosper but shall undoubtedly be punished though the times and the manner are not by us to be known 2. For the punishment of malefactors it is 1. Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they shall suffer the same strokes and receive the same measure as they have measured unto others As thou hast done it shall it be done unto thee Even as Pharaoh drowned all the male-children of the Israelits in the waters of Nilus so was He and all his Host drowned in the red Sea and as the sword of Agag had made many women childless so did the sword of Samuel make Agags mother childless among women and as all the foresaid examples that have proved Traytors and have kil'd their Kings have been kil'd themselves just as the Lord had said Whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed 2. Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall suffer some punishment that shall be somewhat like to the sin 2 Chron. 12.5 that they have committed for so the Lord saith You have forsaken me and therefore I have also left you and so it hapned to Solomon that as he divided Gods service betwixt God and the Idols so God divided his Kingdom betwixt Rehoboam his son and Jeroboam his servant And this likeness of the punishment hath a reference sometimes 1. To the Subject 2. To the Place 3. To the Time of our sinning for 1. 1 Kings c. 11. c. 12. As Adam sinned in eating the forbidden fruit so his punishment shall be to eat the fruit of the ground in the sweat of his face and Hezechias for shewing his Treasure was punished with the loss of his treasure 2 King 20. as many other men for being proud of their wealth do lose their wealth some one way and some another 2. The Lord saith that 2 In respect of the place 1 King 21.20 In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood even thine which came to pass accordingly you may see in 1 King 22 38. 3. Sometimes the punishment hath reference to the time of our sinning 3 In respect of the punishment as the spies that searched the land of Canaan 40 daies and sinned by their false report were punished by wandering in the wilderness 40 years and it is observed that Pompey was killed by Septimius and Achillas as upon the same day wherein he had formerly triumphed for the spoile of Jerusalem and the Jews had their City utterly destroyed by Titus at the same time of the year and as some think on the same day of the month wherein they had crucified our Saviour Christ 3. In respect of the persons sinning and punished we are to observe 3 The persons sinning 2 King 14.6 that although the Lord saith The fathers shall not be put to death for the children nor the children be put to death for the fathers but every man shall be put to death for his own sin and the soul that sinneth that soul shall die and God will not have them say The fathers have eaten sower grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge Yet it is most certain that many times the wickedness of the fathers is remembred in their posterity and the punishment of that wickedness is oftentimes delated and after a sort both deferred and in part transferred as well to the children and to the childrens children of them that walk in the same steps and follow the same courses as their fathers did and sometimes upon the very innocent Infants as upon the wicked fathers that are murderers and malefactors themselves For so the Lord saith that for the sin of Jeroboam therefore behold and mark it well I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam 1 King 14.10 11. and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam asa man taketh away dung till it be all gone And so Baasha the son of Ahijab smote all the house of Jeroboam 1 King 15.29 he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed untill he had destroyed him 1 King 16.3 4. according to the Word of the Lord and the Lord threatneth the very same punishment and the rooting out of all his posterity to Baasha 1 King 16.11 12. that killed his King Nadab and did other evils in the sight of the Lord and this Zimri the servant of Elab brought to pass according as the Lord had threatned and the very like punishment happened to all the posterity of Ahab even for Naboths murder and other sins of Ahab 2 King 9.9 and c. 10.17 and too many more murderers and wicked men that by their sins and desire to raign and unjust preferring of their children have pulled down vengeance upon themselves and rooted out all their posterity And for Romulus Tarquinius and Nero I say neither of them were either good or honest and yet the holy Scripture doth not allow the killing or sentencing of them to death and the proof of the Senat 's killing Romulus or sentencing Nero to death is not Authenticall nor the examples by any means to be followed when they are so apparantly contrary to the practice and precepts of the holy Apostles and the success which followed Neroes death proved so lamentable Corn. Tacit. l. 20. 21. as the Tragicall butchering of three of their succeeding Emperors Galba Otho and Vitellius that had been three most famous Captains and had done very worthy exploits for their Countrey And therefore whosoever thinketh by murder and slaughter to usurp another mans Kingdom Inheritance or Possession and thereby to raise his house and to advance his children as Zimri Baasha Shallum and others thought to do or thereby to benefit the Common-wealth as they pretend to do he deceives himself because this is the only
that end the Lord gave unto his people the same Law the same Sacraments and the same Gospell that the same God might have the same worship in all places and that his people might believe the same faith use the same prayer receive the same Sacraments and do the same publick service unto God in every City and in every place that so they might attain unto the same end which is the kingdom of heaven And therefore the Reverend Bishops and Governours of Gods Church were so careful herein to preserve the unity of the Church and the uniformity of Gods service that they prescribed the same prayers the same Psalms The set form of prayers and service of God justified 1. By the people of God the same Chapters and the same Service to be used in all Churches that all the world might know we worship the same God And to justifie this their practice of a set form of Prayers and Service of God they have 1. The Precept of God himself saying unto Moses Speak unto Aaron and to his sons saying On this wise ye shall blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee Numb 6.22 and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and so likewise he prescribeth unto them the very prayer that they should make and the very words that they should use both as they went forth and as they returned home from Battle for when the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when the Ark rested Numb 10.35 he said Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel and the Prophet David useth the very same prayer and the same words saying Let God arise Psal 68.1 and let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him 2. 2 By the Precept of Christ Luke 12.2 They have the Precept of Christ himself that biddeth us to use that prayer which he taught us saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven c. 3. 3 By the practice of the godly people in the Old Testament They have the practice of the godly people of the Old Testament as you may see the very words that they were to use in Gods service when they offered their first fruits and the very prayer that they were to make in Deut. 26. from the third verse to the tenth and verse 13. And so the very words that the Priests were to use unto the people when they came nigh unto the battle as you may see in Deut. 20.3 And the godly King Hezechias made certain Psalms after his recovery from his sicknesse and saith We will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord Esay 38.20 and when he reformed the service of God that the people had neglected and the wicked Kings had corrupted he prescribed a set form of Gods worship and commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord not as every simple Priest 2 Chro. 29 30. or silly Levite pleased but with the words of David and Asaph the Seer And Mr. Selden in his Notes upon Eutychius sheweth Selden in Eutych pag. 41. dist ad pagin 25. that since Ezra's time when after their return from Babylon the true Service of God was restored the Jews constantly used a set form of Gods worship in all their Synagogues every Synagogue using the same Service 4. They have the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament 4 By the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament Luke 11.1 Matth 26.44 Psal 22.1 as 1. Of John Baptist that taught his disciples a Set form of serving God and a set form of Prayer 2 Of Christ himself that used the same form of prayer and repeated the same words three times together and commanded us to do the like and when he was upon the Crosse he used the very words of the Psalmist changeing onely the Hebrew phrase into the Syriack Dialect 3. Of the Primitive Church as the Lyturgy of Saint James Saint Basil S. Chrysostom and the short Form of serving God which Saint Peter left at Rome and the other which Saint Mark left at Alexandria do sufficiently testifie 4 Of the whole Catholick Church as it appeareth out of Cassander and other Writers of the Lyturgica And Therefore the religious Emperour Constantine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vità Const l. 4 c 17. rendered Set Formes of prayers unto the Christians saith Eusebius and his Nobles used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayers that the Emperour liked and they were all brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray the same prayer yea he prescribed a Set Form of Service for his souldiers Idem l. 4. c. 20. as the same Eusebius testifieth And Saint August saith that Sursum corda lift up your hearts are words ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus petita used in the Church of Christ even from the very times of the Apostles and are agreeable to the Constitutions of the Apostles L. 8. c. 16. 5. They have the practice of the Heathens that were so wise herein 5 By the practice of the heathens Plato de legibus l. 7. Alexand ab◠Alexand. l. 4. c. 17. Why the Gentiles used the same set prayers in their service as to use the same Service to every false god as both Plato and Alexander ab Alexandro do bear witnesse and they caused their prayers to be read out of a Book 1. That so the people might learn to repeat the same Prayers with the Priest when the same Prayers are constantly used in Gods service which they shall never be able to do when they shall have a new Prayer and a new Service upon every new day 2. Their Prayers were prescribed and read lest the simple and ignorant Priest should ask of God any evill thing that should not be asked and 3. Ne quid preposterè dicatur their Petitions were set down in verbis conceptis as we use to send messages to great persons in these and these very words lest we should offend either in the matter or in the manner in the thing requested or in the words wherein we have requested it Out of all which you may perceive how necessary it was for the Governours of Gods Church to see that the same God should have the same Service and that very Service which himself prescribeth and not what new Prayers and new worship in what Form and under what words soever every ignorant Priest should extemporarily pour forth to the Almighty God For if we ought to be very carefull to keep our feet when we go to the house of God Eccles 5.1 then how much more carefull ought we to be to keep our mouths and look to
considered that if the war was unjust yet as S. Augustine saith Aug. contra Manich. Reum facit regem iniquitas imperandi innocentem militem ostendit ordo serviend the iniquity of commanding makes the commander guilty and the order or duty of serving sheweth the Souldier to be innocent because that being commanded he may not refuse and he must not resist nor lift up his hand against his Governour but tolerate whatsoever is inflicted upon him unlesse he can by a fair and lawful means prevent it because it is far better to be a Martyr then a Traytor and as the Prophet saith Obedience is better then Sacrifice and Rebellion it is as the sin of Witchcraft And if the Apostles and Martyrs and the Primitive Christians were thus dutiful obedient and loyal subjects to such Tyrants and Usurpers and Persecutors as the aforesaid wicked Governours were how much more dutiful and obedient and thankful to God for him ought we to have been to such a loving mild and godly Christian King as wronged none of us but did preserve peace in these dominions and upheld Justice and Judgement among us untill that Antichristian long-Parliament rebelled against him And so the premises being well considered to the boyling spirits of discontented persons that distast all meats that sute not with their palats and have not the patience to tarry Gods leisure and to espic a convenient opportunity to do the work that is just and ought to be done in its due time but will inconsiderately and unseasonably like Brutus and Cassius attempt to do good service uuto the Common-wealth by taking the usurper out of the way I say their intention is very good and their desire most laudable yet lest with Brutus and Cassius they disturb the Common wealth and lose their own wealth and destroy themselves by their unseasonable prosecution of their commendable design I would advise them and all of their mind in all places where such Vsurpations are maintained to follow the example of Jehoiada to watch their opportunity and then to do it throughly and not to fail which as I conceive is both a just and a wholesome counsell But this people whereof this our Prophet speaketh murmured and spurned and like our Parliament rebelled and kicked not against an Vsurper which had been commendable in them but against their own lawful king which was most displeasing unto God And therefore these Jewes and all that imitate these Jewes are here justly threatned to be rejected and cast off by God for their stubbornesse 1 Sam. 15.22 disobedience and rebellion against their lawful King For as Samuel saith that obedience is more acceptable to God then sacrifice so I say that obedience to our lawful King and his Magistrates is the best thing that we can do to procure the peace and tranquillity of the Common-wealth 3. The last branch of their wandring from the right way 3 Branch of their wandring three-fold was their injuries and oppressions against their neighbours and this was three-fold 1. The robbing of their goods 6 Robbing their neighbouâ—s of their good Jerem. 22.17 2. The imprisoning of their persons 3. The taking away of their lives 1. The Prophet tells us the heart of this people was for covetousnesse and for oppression and for violence they builded their houses by unrighteousnesse and their chambers by wrong C. eode v 13. they used their neighbours service without wages and gave him not for his work and this they did saith the Prophet that they might build them wide houses or stately Palaces V. 13. with large chambers and great windowes cieled with Cedar and painted with Vermilion They cared not what wrongs they did to others so they might get it unto themselves they had no regard to justice as you may see it in the 15. and 16. verses but whatsoever they did to inrich themselves and from whomsoever they took it it must be reputed just and none dare speak against it And yet the Prophet tells us that as a Cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceits Jer. 5.27 and therefore they are become great and waxen rich yea they are waxen fat and shine and do overpasse the deeds of the wicked And Amos 8.6 as the Prophet Amos saith they bought the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes So greedy was this people to scrape together the wealth of this world and had no regard to equity honesty or good conscience And which is more wonderful from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet even to the Priest Jerem. 6.13 Esay 56.1 every one dealeth falsely and the Prophet Esay calleth them greedy dogs that could never have enough And whether any such covetousnesse and oppression be amongst our men and especially amongst our Levites in these dayes let them that are oppressed with over-heavie Taxes Customs Excise c. judge I leave it to you that have best experience of these times to determine and I will not be the accuser of my brethren as some Duns Scotus of them have been of me though to no purpose But whether it was the love of Justice to punish us for our sins or covetousnesse to inrich themselves and their associates that made our Grandees of late years to take away the reward of our labours even of all our labours from our very youth to our decrepit age I leave it to the Judge of all the world to detetmine for they have done it and he knoweth best why they did it onely we professe it to all the world that our consciences cannot tell us of any thing that we have done to deserve to be deprived of it And therefore we presume to pray to God though we taxe them not that the woe which the Prophet denounceth against this people Jerem. 22.13 for their covetousnesse and injustice may not light upon any of them that took away the bread out of our mouthes and our childrens and left many of the most painful labourers in Gods Vine-yard to dig or beg or starve 2. 2 Imprisoning their persons Jerem 5.26 This people laid wait as he that setteth snares to catch men i.e. they had spies in every corner and if they found any that spake any thing against them or against their covetousnesse or injustice though it were never so true then as they did with Jeremy they would throw him into the dungeon so Herod did with John Baptist and with S. Peter and with the rest of Gods Servants that reproved their injustice and spake the truth to them And do I say that any of our men in these day es did so or doth the like But as when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord in the dayes of Job Satan came also among them so I fear that when the children of God do now come to present themselves in his
their sins were suddenly destroyed and their punishment was not delayed that others by their example might be affraid to offend God lest his wrath should as suddenly consume them as it had done the others before they had any time to cry for pardon Yet sometimes he beareth long before he seems to be angry as the punishment of the Ninivits was to be deferred forty daies which forty daies were extended to forty years before Ninivy felt the smart and of the Israelits the Lord saith Forty years was I grieved with this Generation and to the old world he gave one hundred and twenty years to repent before he punished them and to the Amorits 400 years and which is more to be admired that the punishment of such a transcendent sin should be so long deferred The Jews that murdered their King the son of God remained full forty years before Jerusalem was destroyed and the death of Candaules slain by Gyges was not punished untill the daies of Craesus which was four Generations after as Herodotus saith out of the mouth of the oracle as the Prophet saith the like of Jehu for the slaughter that he committed so the Murderers of King Charles and of his Loyall subjects may perhaps escape for some time and yet their punishment may come at last and it may be with them as it was with Joab for the murder of Amasa and Abner So wounderfull is the long suffering and the patience of our God which he useth as the Apostle sheweth that he might lead them by that great patience unto repentance or if they repented not that they might be without excuse and that as Lactantius saith the long sufferance of God in expecting their amendment might be recompensed with the severity of vengeance in their punishment for the offendors must not think that because their payment is deferred therefore it shall be lessened or that the Lord hath forgotten it because they think not of it but as the longer you keep the Vsurers money the more interest he expecteth and the more debt is on your score and the higher you lift up your hand the heavier the blow will fall so the longer God beareth with the wicked transgressors of his laws before their punishment cometh the sorer and the severer will be their punishment when it cometh The deferring of Gods help no argument of Gods hate And therefore the long deferring of Gods aide and help to relieve his distressed servants and their often over-throws in their just defence is no argument that God hath forsaken them and will not help them no more then he forsook holy Job when he seemed to leave him destitute of all help or the ten Tribes when they fought and were twice beaten by the Tribe of Benjamin and the long flourishing of the wicked their good successes in all their bad causes The long prosperity of the wicked no argument of Gods speciall love Job 21.13 their prevailing against the righteous and their freedome of all punishment in this life but especially the deferring of their punishment is no token of Gods love unto them or especially of his acceptance of them no more then it was to Dives that without any rubs ran all his race in pleasure or to them whereof Job speaketh that spend their daies in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave because God dealeth with the wicked herein as Claudian saith he did with Ruffinus Tolluntur in altum Vt lapsu graviore ruant God lifteth them up and they abusing that favour he casteth them down and destroyeth them But the Prophet David seems to tell us the very set time The very time when God most commonly useth both to help and to relieve those that serve him and to punish and destroy those that prophane his fervice and continue in their wickedness under the Hypocriticall shew of holiness for he saith that the Lord is Deus in opportunitatibus a God in the needfull time of trouble that is as a holy Father expounds it Tum incipit auxilium divinum 1 When God helpeth his servants cum desinit auxilium humanum God will then help us when we cannot help our selves and when we are as Moses was at the red sea betwixt two huge Mountains and the raging sea before him and Pharaohs mighty host behind him ready to be destroyed either drowned in the waters or slain by the sword or break their necks if they assaid to climb those rocky Mountains or as the disciples of Christ were in the ship ready to perish as themselves confess When they see no hope of any human help then will God shew himself and send them help out of his holy place as he did to Job to restore his health when all his friends could not ease his pain and delivered Daniel out of the Lions den when the King himself could not free him from it And so will he do to all them that serve him and put their trust in him send them deliverance when man seeth no hope of assistance as he doth many times raise the sick when the Physitian giveth him over And the reason of this manner of his proceeding Why God deserreth and the long deferring of his help is to teach us with Moses Gideon Daniel Job Jonas and the rest of Gods servants to ascribe all the glory of our wonderfull and extraordinary deliverances to God and not to our selves nor to any other creature but to God Psal 115.1 and so to say with the psalmist Not unto us not unto us but unto thy name give the praise And for the time 2 When he punisheth the wicked when God usually punisheth the transgressors of his Laws the same Prophet saith When the ungodly are green as the grass and when all the workers of wickedness do flourish then shall they be destroyed for ever Psal 92 7. that is when they have brought all their projects to their own wished ends subdued their adversaries trampled the just harmless men under feet and perhaps with Ahab killed and taken possession too of poor Naboth's Vineyard and with the rich man in the Gospel pulled down their old barns and cottages and builded large Palaces filled their coffers and laid up store for many years and now thought to eat drink and be merry then suddenly when they look not for it will the Lord awake as a Giant out of sleep and will smite his enemies upon the cheek bone and put them to perpetuall shame and say unto them as he did to that fool in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away your souls from you and your lives shall pay for the lives of them that you have murdered and then Who shall have those treasures that you have so unjustly scraped together and those possessions that you have so wrongfully plucked and detained from the right owners And you your selves might have observed within these few lustra's many famous men that have been suddenly taken away
judge de actionibus mediis quaevel in malo vel in bono animo fieri possunt of such actions as may proceed and come either from an evil mind or from a good heart or else de futur is contingentibus of future things what may happen to any one because that in all these things we may easily be deceived as we see some man like unto S. Paul de quo desperamus subitò convertitur fit optimus of whom we despaired is suddenly converted and as he was from a persecuting wolfe became a holy Saint so is this other man from a deboist drunkard become a devout Christian and we see other men like King Saul and Judas and Simon Magus de quibus multum praesumpseramus defecerunt facts sunt pessimi of whom we conceived much good have suddenly relapsed and became most wicked so that nec timor noster certus est nec amor neither our fear of the one nor our hope of the other can have any certainty at all And on the other side he would have us to strive and study to the uttermost of our power by the ways and means that are left unto us to know the truth of outward things and to search for the understandiug of those things that God hath revealed unto us Of what thing â—ve may judge and so to judge righteous judgement in those things wherein we are allowed to judge and that is de praesentibus externis apertis of things present or past and the things that are manifest and externall as to discern white from black light from darknesse good from evill and a sober man from him that is drunk or a true subject from a false Traytor and the like so far as their outward actions do appear Which may be done without entring into the hearts and thoughts of men or diving to deep into the secrets of God for our Saviour tells us that as the tree is known by his fruit that is cujus generis sit of what kind it is an apple or a crab The words and works of every man do testifie whâ—t he is Judg. 12.6 John 10.25 a fig tree or a thistle so we may know men by their words and by their works whether they be therein good or bad the blessers of God or the blasphemers of God for as the damsell said to Saint Peter Thy speech bewrayeth thee and the pronouncing of Shiboleth discovered who was an Israelite and who not who a Gileadite and who an Euphraimite And our Saviour saith The works that I do do bear witnesse of me so the words and works of every man else do sufficiently testifie what he is for the present good or bad But though I do know by the fruits of what kind the tree is yet I know not thereby whether the tree be rotten at the root or not so though I know by the words and works of men whether they be therein vertuous or vitious Saints or sinners yet I cannot judge thereby what kind of hearts they have good or bad or what will become of them for the time to come For you know what the Prophet saith Many give good words with their mouths but curse with their hearts and the Israelites drew near unto God with their mouthes and honoured him with their lips but their hearts were farre from him and therefore seeing that virtus consistit in actione vertue consisteth in action in our works rather then in our words our Saviour tells us Matth 7.21 Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in heaven and Saint Paul saith directly Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law though you should hear a Sermon every day in the week but the doers of the Law shall be justified because our works do more fully and more certainly shew what we are rather then our words for quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta to what purpose shall I hear good words Our words like the leaves and our works like the fruit while the tongue like Joab saith Iâ— it peace my brother and the hand stabs us to the heart they will avail us nothing being like the Spiders web that will make no garment for us because our words are like the green leaves that make a fair shew upon any tree and our works are like the solid fruits whereby we discern the sweetnesse and the goodnesse of the tree And yet I told you how far we may judge of the fruits and works of men so far as 〈◊〉 see and no further because we may as easily be deceived by the specious works of the hypocrite as by the scandalous deeds of the transgressors which perhaps for ought we know may have better hearts towards God then the others that have far more glorious works in the sight of men And therefore I say that we ought not to make a distinction among Christians and gather Churches unto our selves to be a congregation of Saints separated from the rest of the wicked as the Apostles gathered Churches from the unbelieving Jewes and the Idolatrous Gentiles Because all those that are baptized and are received as the children of the Church and do professe the Faith of Christ are comprehended in this Brotherhood and is not to be rent in pieces like Jeroboams garment but ought to be kept intire like the Coat of Christ and to be loved and and cherished as this our Apostle adviseth us But then seeing this brotherhood which we are thus chiefly to love is not the brotherhood of society which reason perswadeth nor of consanguinity which nature teacheth nor of our Election and Adoption to be the Sonnes of God which we know not but of the profession of the faith of Christ and receiving of the signes and badges of Christianity which are visible to our eyes of flesh and credible to the judgement of charity Quest it is much questioned and of too many men very unjustly resolved whether all that are baptized and do thus professe the Christian Religion and are not cut off from the Communion of the Church for some detected and apparant iniquity are comprehended in this brotherhood and are thus specially to be loved To which our rigid Saints do absolutely deny it because we see so many Sects and so many kinds of men that do thus professe Christianitie and say They do all believe in Christ and do wear his badge and do him service as Papasts Puritans Brownists Anabaptists and the like And therefore if this be true that all these are contained and united within this bond of fraternity and with a Christian love to be imbraced you will make the way to heaven very broad and this bond of brotherhood of a very large extent But I answer that I must not shut the gate of heaven against those Sol. to whom Christ hath opened it nor make the way thither narrower then God hath made it
that the same true God which giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to his children only giveth the Earthly Kingdoms both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth yet alwaies justly And for Nimrod I say the words bear no more then he became mightier then other Kings or began to Tyrannize more then all the other Kings And for S. Peters words I say he means it only of Elective Kings Which in another place I shewed more fully than the time will now give me leave in what sense he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore I say the calling of Kings is the proper Ordinance of God as it is fully and most learnedly shewed by a most Reverend Prelate of our Church lately published and intituled Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas Howsoever as I said we condemn not as unlawfull the right of all Elective Kings yet we ought to acknowledg how much more bound we are to God that himself in a rightfull line of succession hath appointed our Kings to raign over us so that we need not fear the error of our Election if there be no error in our submission 2. As we are to consider quem whom so we ought to remember qualem what manner of King we are commanded to honor for as the unjust Vsurper may govern the people justly as they do sometimes and in some places so they that have just Titles to their Crowns may prove unjust in their Governments as too too many both of the Kings in Israel and Judah and I fear many other Kings have been And yet if they be our lawfull Kings be they what they will Cruell Tyrannous or Idolatrous or if you will put all together I say we are bound to honor them and no waies to Rebell against them for if thy Brother the son of thy Mother or thy son or thy daughter Deut. 13.6 or the wife of thy bosome 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 pity upon him but for the son to rise up against the Father the wife against her Husband the servant against his Lord or the subject against his King here is not a word and we are not to do what the Lord doth not command as Tostat well observeth upon this place Therefore though Jeroboam made Israel to sin by setting up his calves to be adored Nâ—buchadnezzar commanded all his people to worship his Golden Image Ahab Manasses Nero Julian and the rest of the persecuting Emperors did most impiously compell their Subjects to Idolatry and exercised all kinds of cruelty against Gods servants yet you shall never find that either the Jews under Jeroboam or Daniel in Babylon or Elias in the time of Ahab or any Christian under Julian or the rest of those bloody Tyrants did ever rebell against any of those wicked Kings for they all considered the law of God and I beseech you all to consider it likewise 1. Exod 22.28 Moses saith Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people yea though he should be evil yet must thou not speak evil of him for as thou art to honor thy Father not so much because he is good as because he is thy Father and therefore the son of Noah was accursed because he despised his Father when his father sinned so we are to honor our King and to speak no ill of him though he should be never so ill for Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked And to Princes Ye are ungodly Job 34.18 2. 2 Not to do the least indignity unto our King As we are to bridle our tongues so much more ought we to refrain our hands from offering the least violence unto our King When the Lord saith peremptorily Touch not mine annointed where he doth not say Non occides or ne perdas the worst that can be but ne tangas the least that may be neither doth he say Sanctos meos my holy ones but Christos meos my annointed ones whether they be holy or unboly good or bad therefore though Saul was a wicked King and a heavy persecutor of David without cause hunting him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and seeking no less then to take away his life yet when the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee what seemed good unto him Truely no waies to hurt him nor to do the least indignity unto him for his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of his robe and therefore he said unto his men 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords annointed to stretch forth my hand against him And why so because he is the annointed of the Lord that is not because he is a good man but because he is my King Nay we are not only forbidden to offer violence That we are to protect our King with the hazard of our lives but we are also injoyned to give our best assistance to protect the persons of our most wicked Kings for David not only staid his servants with the former words and suffered them not to rise against Saul but when Saul lay sleeping within his trench and David and Abishai took away his speare and had the power to destroy him What saith David unto Abner Art not thou a Valiant man And who is like thee in Israel Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth 1 Sam. 15.16 ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords annointed And if this thing is not good and David jesteth not but sweareth As the Lord liveth they are worthy to dye that preserve not the life of their King be he never so wicked then certainly this thing is not good and they are more then worthy to die that not only refuse to assist but also rise in Arms to persecute and to take away the life of a most Pious and a Gracious King So you see the person whom we are to honor the King whatsoever he be good or bad 2. The Honor that we are to exhibite unto him is to be considered out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word so significant that it not only comprehendeth all the duty which we owe to our Father and Mother but it is also used to express most if not all the service of God when he saith If I am a father Malach. 1.5 where is my honor And therefore when Ahassuerus asked Haman What should be done unto the man Whom the King would honor he answered let the Royall apparell be brought which the King useth to weare and the Horse that the King rideth upon
Copy hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza translates Non norunt vocem alienorum they know not the voice of strangers as our English translation hath it very right Therefore I conceive that by the stranger Whom doth Christ mean by the stranger and who by the strangers he meaneth that foolish Idol Shepherd whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh that should come in the time of Christ to be the type of the great Anti-christ that should be manifested in our time and by the other strangers he meaneth those many Anticks that S. John speaks of the Hereticks and false Prophets that from time to time and now more then at any other time Ier. 14.14 c. 23.21 do intrude themselves into the Sacred Function of the Ministry and as the Prophet Jeremy saith do run when Christ hath not sent them and do speak what he hath not commanded them but do preach the lying inventions of their own heads to seduce the sheep of Christ to follow the Anti-christ and to relinquish the true received worship of the living God But the true and right sheep of Christ will hear none of these nor follow after any of them for they know that as they which are not lawfully called or allowed to be the lawful Ministers of Gods Word should not preach and cannot do it without great offence to God that may justly say to them as he doth to the Jews by his Prophet Quis avobis requisivit hac Who hath required these things at your hands So they cannot hear them without the like offence to God yea though they should preach the truth and nothing but the truth unto them for as Christ reproved Satan and bad him hold his peace when he spake the very truth that he was the Son of God because he had no Commission to be the Embassador of Christ to publish that truth unto his people so shall they be sharply censured by God though they preach the very truth when they are not lawfully called and have no Commission from God to do the same 2 Chro. 26.21 I think the fearful Judgement of God upon King Uzzia for invading the Priests office and upon Uzza for doing that which appertained to the Levites to do 1 Chron. 13.10 and upon King Saul for offering Sacrifice to the Lord should be a sufficient warning for them to take heed how they thrust themselves into the Ministry for King Uzzia presuming to burn Incense unto the Lord which appertained to the Priests the sons of Aaron to do the Lord suddenly smote him with Leprosie and so he continued a Leper to his dying day And Uzza putting forth his hand to hold up the Ark when the Oxen shook it which belonged only unto the Levites to carry it the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza that he smote him dead in the very place and Saul lost his Kingdome for his intrusion into the Priests Office and how date these men to intrude themselves into this Sacred Office to be the Embassadors of Christ to declare his will and to expound his meaning without Commission And if they should dare to preach how dare the sheep of Christ hear their voice when as Christ tells us plainly his sheep will not hear the voice of strangers and the Lord commands them by his Prophet not to hearken to those whom he hath not sent And Solomon saith Ier. 27.14 c. 29.8 Cease my son to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Prov. 19.27 Surely none would do it but that we love to shew our selves to be the children of Adam and to stretch forth our hands to the forbidden fruit and as the Poet saith Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata We long to do what we are forbidden and will the rather do it because it is forbidden like the man that for some just impediment never went out of his house but being for some offence injoyned to keep his house he was so moved for the debarring of his liberty that to cross the command of his Superiours and to become liable to his censure he would needs presently walk abroad and so with Shimei 1 Reg. 2.46 Our wilfulness to do what we are forbidden bring himself to death And so it is with us we will not hear when we are commanded to hear and we long to hear those that we are forbidden to hear as if God envied our good when he forbad us when as he forbids nothing but for our good as when we forbid a man to drink poyson that it might not kill him 2. Having heard how the sheep of Christ are called Secunda pars I know them it followeth that I should shew how they are justified in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I know them that is I do acknowledge them for my sheep and do own them for my people for my servants and for my children for there be very many that go under the shape and shew of Gods sheep and are indeed the Foxes Wolves and Lyons of Satan of whom Christ never saith I know them but rather Depart from me I know you not you workers of iniquity Yet these subtil Foxes and these Wolves in sheeps cloathing The wicked and the hypocrite not acknowledged by God to be his sheep Gen. 34.23 The Sichemites how served for their deceitful hypocrisie V. 26. that profess themselves to be the only Saints and are indeed the destroyers of Gods servants may easily blind the eyes of men but they cannot beguile the all-seeing God for as the Sichemites whereof Moses testifieth that they came with dissembling hearts to deceive Jacob and his children were contented to be circumcised and take upon them the habit of Gods children in hope that all theirs should be their own if they were circumcised as themselves confess yet the Lord that knew the◠to be hypocrites doth not acknowledge them for his children and therefore their dissembling of Religion brought on their destruction and their Circumcision which they thought would be the means to inrich them became the means to destroy them for while they were weak and sore by reason of their Circumcision the sons of Jacob fell upon them and slew all that were male which was a just judgment of God for the dissembling of their Religion And as the Gibeonites with false hearts and a dissembling shew of a religious desire of communion with Gods children came to the children of Israel and through their lies and dissimulation made a league with them and so freed themselves from the Sword of Joshua and deceived the Israelites Josh 9.15 yet they could not deceive the Lord who knew their hypocrisie and knew them not for any of his people and therefore made them slaves and drudges to draw water carry wood V. 27. The Gibeonites how served for their dissimulation and do all manner of servile work for the sons of Israel So amongst us in
all places and at all times we have such Sichemites and Gibeonites as deceive the world and do blind the eyes of men by making them to believe they are the only Saints of God and do all for the honour of God but the Lord knoweth them not for any such Saints and Christ doth not acknowledge them for any of his sheep but though they shall say to Christ Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out devils and in thy Name done wonderful works that is preached and fasted and prayed and fought for thy service and the like evidences of our faithfulness unto thee yet Christ that knoweth very well they did all these things for their own ends Mat. 7.22 23. will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity And S. Luke is more ample in setting out the discourse and Dialogue betwixt Christ and these men at the last day saying When once the Master of the house is risen up How S. Luke describes the hypocrites and hath shut the door and they standing without shall knock at the door saying Lord Lord open to us and he shall answer and say unto them I know you not whence you are then shall they begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence that is when they received the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood at his own Table and thou hast taught in our streets and we were daily hearers of those Sermons that were preached though but in Chambers or in Barns or in the streets but he shall say I tell you as being angry for their presumption and hypocrisie I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets and the rest of Gods faithful servants whom they persecuted in the Kingdome of God Luke 13.25 26 27 28. and themselves thrust out of doors But can they perswade themselves that our Saviour Christ will not know them when as they seem to be so zealous of his worship How hardly it is to perswade hypocrites to acknowledge themselves to be hypocrites and profess themselves so earnestly and so strictly to observe his will and to do nothing without a warrant from his written Word Surely no they cannot be perswaded hereunto but it is easier to convert the drunkards adulterers and harlots then to perswade these hypocritical Saints that they are sinners save in that general notion that we are all sinners for as decipimur specie recti we are deceived in them and the world is blinded through that shew of piety and profession of Religion which they make so they deceive themselves hereby Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis umbra For it is most certain that vice deceives the owner under the shew and shadow of virtue when as our Saviour saith to his Apostles they shall persecute you and imprison you Lament 4.5 Was there ever any time wherein this was more truly fulfilled then now in our daies and scourge you silence you and rob you of your means and maintenance and as the Prophet Jeremy saith cause those that did feed delicately to lie desolate in the streets and those that were brought up in Scarlet to imbrace dunghills and yet they that do these things shall not be Infidels and Pagans but such as shall think themselves very good Christians and to do God herein very good service to persecute his servan s. And what a cruel deceit is this to beguile their own hearts and to deceive their own souls to think they have God Almighty by the hand when the devil holds them fast by the toes and to perswade themselves they are the sheep of Christ when Christ professeth he knows them not to be his sheep but knoweth them to be the Wolves of Satan But can any thing be unknown to God or be hid from him which knoweth the secrets of our hearts and understandeth our thoughts long before he knoweth what is in the deep Sea and how far the world extendeth he knoweth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names and he knoweth the height of heaven the depth of the Sea and the length of all the Spheres and doth he not know these men Indeed we know them not they are such Camelions that can change themselves into all colours saving white that is put on all manner of shews and shapes but that which is virtuous and honest but God knoweth them very well intus in cute both within and without for so the Lord professeth I know their works and their thoughts Esay 66.18 And therefore you must understand there is a twofold knowledge in God 1. The one general or universal 2. The other special or particular The first is over all the things in the world as they are his creatures The twofold knowledge of God and the works of his hands and so he knoweth all men good and bad and all creatures both in heaven and in earth The other is only over his Church that is his children whom he hath chosen and loveth and which therefore do love honour and obey him in doing his will and keeping his Commandments And thus he knoweth not the wicked hypocrites How God knoweth both the godly and the wicked oppressors extortioners and the like sinful generation and brood of Vipers as John Baptist calls them to be his children but knoweth that they are none of his children but rather the children of their Father the Devil for as a Father knoweth his Son and as he is his Son provideth for him an inheritance and knoweth his servant but knoweth him not for his Son and therefore provideth no inheritance for him but appointeth him to do some drudgery and keepeth him for his service So Christ knoweth his sheep and as they are his sheep he provideth for them eternal life and he knoweth the Goats the Wolves and the Foxes and knoweth them not to be his sheep and therefore provideth no inheritance for them but wil severely punish them because they neither follow him nor hear his voice but as the Lord saith Refused his counsel and despised his reproof Prov. 1.30 And this should be an exceeding grief and terrour unto the wicked when God shall say unto them as a Father doth to his disobedient Son I will not know him that is I will not acknowledge him for my son so God will not own nor acknowledge these men for his children though he knoweth them and knoweth their works well enough And on the other side this is an exceeding comfort and joy unto the godly when as a friend shall say of his friend I will know him wheresoever I see him before friend and foe and I will acknowledge him my friend and my self his friend in what state or condition soever he be rich or poor
curse God to his face and therefore God may justly say to them as S. Augustine saith of the like you have shewed me love indeed and in some things kept my commandments but it was for your own profits sake non quia me pure diligebatis Aug. despeculo humanae miseriae sed quia a me lucrari volebatis not because you did Sincerely love me but because you desired to be inriched and exalted by me like those Jews that followed Christ not because they saw his miracles and were edified by his heavenly doctrine but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled i. e. for his temporal blessings John 6.26 and not for the love of his spiritual graces or like S. Peter that would build tabernacles unto Christ upon Mount Tabor where he was transfigured in glory but did forsake him on Mount Calvary when he was oppressed with calamities and overladed with injuries just like too many of the servants of our now gracious King that could serve and extoll him in White-hall while he sate on his throne of Majestie and yet now serve and magnifie his oppressors and opponents when he is compassed with afflictions which is to love in Summer and not in the cold of Winter yet I say the true lovers of God will as truely love him in the Winter of adversity and persecution Job 2.10 as in the Summer of prosperity and exaltation and will say with holy Job shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evill or shall we rejoyce at our advancement and shall we not be contented at our abasement 7. And lastly by the wound that she had opened in her side is shewed that true love revealeth the very secrets of the heart to his beloved so will they that love God confesse all their sins with Daniel and lay open all their wants with David unto God and they need not be ashamed to confesse them when as before their confession they are all patent to his eyes as the Apostle sheweth But because all these are signes of any true love to any object therefore I will shew you some more proper signs of our love to God and The 1. Acts 7.48 is to love Gods house for though as S. Steven saith God dwelleth not in houses made wiah hands but as the Poet saith Enter praesenter The chiefest Signs of our Love to God 1. To love Gods House Deus est ubique potenter That is in the Prophets phrase he filleth all places yet as he chooseth a Seventh day for his service when as all dayes are his and challengeth a tenth part of our goods for his servants when as all we have is at his disposing so he requireth a Church and a material house to be served in when as all the houses and all the places in the World Psal 27.4 Psal 84.2 cannot comprehend his Majesty therefore the Prophet David saith one thing have I required of God which I will desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life and again my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord Hag. 1.4 and the Prophet doth extreamly tax them that dwell themselves in seiled houses and suffer the house of God to be wast fit for nothing but as I see it now in many places to lodge beasts and birds and they may be as much and more blamed that neglecting his consecrated house do think their polluted barns to be good enough to serve our God Secondly 2 To love Gods Word Psal 119.79 47. 72. VVhat we understand by Gods word To love Gods Word is another sign of our love to God therefore the Prophet David saith O how do I love thy Law my delight is in thy Commandements and again thy testimonies are better unto me than thousands of gold and silver But here you must observe that because every one pretendeth to love Gods Word as they do professe to love God by Gods Word we understand not the bare Written letter but the truth of the holy Scripture for as the Hereticks in Tertull. time credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas believed not the Scripture but what themselves pleased out of the Scriptures so now and oftentimes alwayes the Word of God is perverted and mis-interpreted especially by two sorts of men as S. Peter noteth 1. 2 Pet. 3.16 Two sorts of men pervert Gods word Those that are unlearned and have not knowledge enough to undestand the truth of these high Mysteries 2. Those that are unstable and unconstant and therefore change the sense of Scriptures as they see the times and occasions change As for example 1. Mat. 20.26 27 The words of Christ whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant the Presbyterians allegde them to prove a parity of orders and an equality amongst all the Ministers of Gods Church and yet the very same words are produced by all the Fathers and all the most learned Divines to shew the diversity of our callings and the superiority of some of them above the others which is indeed the very truth because otherwise he would never have said whosoever will be chief but he would have told them plainly and briefly they were all equal and none was chief or none was greater than the rest but in saying whosoever will be chief let him be your Servant he sheweth the duty and humility that should be in him which was to have the priority and doth sufficiently confirm the superiority of some above the rest 2. Mat. 26.26 The words of the consecration of the Eucharist take eate this is my body are interpretd by Bellarm. and all the Church of Rome that quote the Authors of all ages to prove the Transubstantiation of that holy bread into the very body of Christ and yet the very same words are expounded by the Lutherans to prove their consubstantiation and by the Fathers rightly understood as they are amply quoted by Pet. Martyr and by the most learned of our Church do prove not the oral or corporal eating but the spiritual and sacramental eating of the body of Christ by Faith which is indeed there really but ineffably eaten and should be so believed to be without any further searching into these Divine Mysteries lest with the men of Bethshemesh we be justly smitten for peeping too narrowly into the Ark of the Lord. 3. The very same Scriptures to the number of forty places were alleged by the Arians to prove their Damnable Heresie that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the like nature with his Father as were produced by the Orthodox to prove him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence with God 4. That Scripture which commandeth us Matth. 22.21 to render unto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods is truly
more then thirty three years olde by his malitious enemies so the like enimies have shortened the life of this good King and cut him off at the eight and fourtieth year of his age yet as Esay saith of Christ Generationem ejus quis enarrabit who shall be able to declare his Generation for he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days and as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall his seed and his name remain that is for ever and ever so I doubt not to say of King Charles that howsoever and for what cause soever the wisdom of God hath been pleased to permit his enemies to shorten that life which at the best and to the best is accompanied with abundance of infelicities yet instead of that Crown which was replenished with cares and circumvironed with thorns and which his persecutors have snatched from him God hath now crowned him with eternal felicity and hath set a crown of pure gold upon his head that is as himself said the crown of Martyrdom which is the crown of the greatest glory because none can go higher or do more for Christ then to dy for Christ for the defence of the service and servants of God and the laws of this Kingdom as he testified upon the Scaffold And so the Lord hath dealt with him just as he saith of his chosen people for a small moment have I forsaken thee that is while I suffered thine enemies so furiously to rage against thee and so maliciously to behead thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment when in justice I punished thee for thine errors those small things wherein thou hast failed but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee when as now I make thee to be numbred with my Saints in glory everlasting Therefore as Balaam wished that he might dy the death of the righteous and that his last end might be like his Numb 23 10. so from my soul I wish that my soul may rest as I hope it shall when it leaves my body with this righteous King that doth now rest in Abraham's bosome CHAP. II. SEcondly For of his other subjects that were against him I shall speak in an other place touching the King's subjects that honoured loved and served him and were of his party and have been and still were persecuted banished killed and afflicted so long as the Tyrants ruled they are either 1. Clergy or And 2. Laity or And First as for the Clergy that are the other second witness of Jesus Christ they are either 1. the Bishops 2. the Priests And whatsoever hath befallen to these or to either of these I may truly and justly say with Ezra Ezra ix 13. and God hath punished us less then our iniquities deserved First Touching the Bishops that are the prime part of the spiritual Witness of Christ I do cordially love all their persons and honour their calling being all of them very learned and most reverend men and therefore not to discover the nakedness of such worthy Fathers whose imperfections and imbecillities like neves in a fair face I had rather with the good King like the most Christian Constantine cover with the lap of my garment then expose them to the view of the Vulgar but yet to justify the doings of our just God whose Judgments alwaies are according to truth I must say as Christ saith to the Angel that is the Bishop of the Church of Ephesus and to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus that God had somewhat against them and I fear more then he had against those Angels for which he might most justly remove their candlesticks and remove them Two things considerable in all Clergy-men as he did out of their places For there be two things considerable in the calling of all God's Ministers as well those of the highest as the other of the lowest order 1. Their introduction or coming into their places 2. The Execution of their office after they are entred into it For first Their entrance into that holy calling So the Articles of our Church and of our religion testify Whosoever shall not be called by the spirit of God to the great office as Aaron was or shall not enter through the gate that is Christ or the Ordinance of Christ set down by his holy Apostles is a thief and a robber and not the Vicar of Christ but of Judas Iscariot and of Simon the Samaritan but whether all our Bishops came rightly in I cannot judg we cannot search into the testimony of any man's conscience yet for the investigation of the truth and the outward election and approbation of them which Dionysius calleth the Sacrament of Order I am sure the King was so careful that none should be admitted to that high and holy office but such as should be thought worthy both for uprightness of life and soundness of learning of those places whereof most of them The execution of their office if not all of them he knew to be such himself 2. For the execution of their office they were to do it 1. by the example of a good life 2. by the discharging of their Episcopal duties First By a good example of a just and holy conversation because By a good example as the Poët saith Exemplar vitae populis est vita regentis The common people look rather after our example then after our Precept Christs slock to be sed three ways therefore the Expositours do apply the thrice repetition of the same thing to Saint Peter Feed my Sheep to a threefold manner of feeding that is 1. Pasce verbo 2. Pasce cibo 3. Pasce exemplo First Feed them with the word of God and with good instruction With the word of God how they ought to behave themselves as becometh Saints and what to believe like good Christians 2 With Alms-deeds Secondly Feed the poorer sort with food and alms-deeds so far as thy means and ability will give thee leave Thirdly Feed all of them with the good examples of humility meekness With good examples gentleness patience piety contentedness and contempt of these worldly vanities And here I must confess that instead of giving good Example unto the People many of the Bishops that were our Predecessours gave the worst example that could be both to their succeeding Bishops and to all other people whatsoever The evil Example of our Predecessors if the example of covetousness injustice and neglect of God's Service be evil examples for what pious men and good Christians had formerly bestowed upon the Church and Church-men for the honour of God and the promoting of the Christian Faith they either through covetousness for some Fine or affection to their Children Friends or Servants have alienated the same from their Successours in Fee-Farmes or long Leases some for a 1000. some for an 100. years Whereby we
of Ormond had resolved to travel in his own person as he did to Kilkenny and Clonmel to cause the concluded Articles of peace to be proclaimed in the chiefest Cities of that Kingdom these wretched men bewitched with the poyson of Rebellion in the pride of their heart which as the Prophet saith of the Edomites hath deceived them instead of a thankful acceptance of so merciful a favour and abundance of graces concluded for them did most desperately reject their own happiness and as not forgetting their usual Treacheries they laid snares and plotted how they might take the noble Marquess and render evil what or how much I know not to him that had with much cost and more paines procured so much good for them To shew unto us that as the Inhabitants of the Isle of Malta unjustly said of Saint Paul so we might justly say of them though the mercifull King desired not their Blood to their ruine yet vengeance would not suffer them to escape Act. 28.4 but as the Lord said of Edom behind they whose judgment was not to drink of the Cup have assuredly drunken and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished thou shalt not go unpunished but thou shalt surely drink of it for I have sworne by my self saith the Lord that Bozra shall become a desolation a reproach a waste Jerem. xlix 1â— Jerem. xlix v. 37. and a curse and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes and as the Lord said of Elam I will cause it to be dismaid before their enimies and before them that seek their-life and I will bring evill upon them even my fierce anger saith the Lord and I will send the Sword after them till I have consumed them so the very like judgment doth now fall upon the Irish for the Sword is sent after them And yet the last v. of this C. may be a great comfort unto the Irish for it shall come to pass in the latter dayes that I will bring againe the captivity of Elam saith the Lord and so the Irish repenting and reduced to their obedience may be received again into a sociable communion and become a great and a good nation and they are dismaide before their Enemies and they are become a Desolation a reproach a waste and a curse and their cities as they were theirs perpetual wastes and that even in the judgment of man most justly too because as I shewed to you before they have rebelled against the Lord and against a good King and were so cruel against their brethren and have committed such horrible wickedness against innocent persons and yet as blinded in their own malice they have refused their own happiness for now the Lord God that ministreth true judgment unto the people maketh inquisition by his Magistrates for all the Blood that they have spilt and if the Blood of Abell that was but one man cried so loud to God from off the Earth for vengeance against Caine that was likewise but one single murtherer then how much more loud do the Bloods of so many hundreds of men so many women and so many infants as so many thousands of these Irish Rebells have most cruelly spilt crie to God for Vengeance against those wicked murtherers And therefore whatsoever hath befallen them or shall happen unto them God must needs be justified in all the judgments of these rebells and themselves cannot deny but that he which sits in the Throne that judgeth right hath done them right in all that is done unto them And I fear that before God makes an end of their punishment as the Prophet saith I will houle for Moab and I will crie out for all Moab mine heart shall mourne for the men of Kir-heres O vine of Sibmah Jerem xlviii 31. I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer so we may weep and lament for the desolation of Ireland and the sad condition of the poor Irish people when they shall find and feel the mighty distance and difference betwixt a mercifull King that they had and merciless enemies and a cruel Tyrant whose little fingers shall be found heavier then the King's loynes and who For these things weâ—e written in the time of the Usurper in stead of those twigs wherewith the King would have most gently whipped them will most severely Scourge them with Scorpions Fourthly touching the Scots I shall as brief as I can speak 1. Of Charles Stuart whom they Crowned to be their King and is both their and our lawfull King 2. Of those perfideous and distressed Subjects that have Crowned him First their Crowned King Charles Stuart as the Son of a good Father and no less Virtuous a mother is in the judgment of all that now know him a verie wise discreet and Prudent Prince and they say as Valiant and Couragious as any Gentleman whatsoever I need not say much of his worth it is so well known to all that know him and his Enemies cannot deny it neither doth the Relation of his worth any ways lessen theirs that have any worth in them but were he as wise as Solomon the mysteries of States and the requisites to govern many people will require many heads and those likewise not of the meanest sort but of the wisest and greatest capacities to assist him for as Xenophon saith Pauca aliqua unus videat unus audiat one man can neither see much nor hear much and therefore Tacitus none of the meanest States-men saith Xenophon Cyr. lib. 8. Non est unius mens tantae molis capax but great affairs such as fall out within the Spheres of Kings and Princes do require many Heads to advise and many hands to effect and manage them How requisite it is for all Kings and Princes to have wise Counsellours to advise them and to be consuited with when as one arm is altogether unsufficient to bear up so unsupportable a Burthen as is the Government of many people and one brain is not capable of such a charge as to be alone sufficient to advise how to discharge so great a business but as Velleius saith Magna negotia magnis adjutoribus egent great businesses do require great assistants and therefore a Princes or King's affairs being great especially to regain such a loss as this Prince received he must not follow his own opinion though grounded upon very probable suppositions but he must yield to his faithful Counsellours when they produce more forcible reasons because he that needeth no Counsel especially in great matters must be more then a man and he that refuseth all Counsel is not much better then a Beast And it was most wisely said of Mar. Antoninus the Philosopher Aequius est ut ego tot taliumque amicorum Consilia sequar quam tot talesque amici mei unius voluntatem Tit. Liv. lib. 44. It was fitter that he should follow the Counsel of such and so many Friends then that such and so many men should follow the mind and will of