Monteagle for Crassus our Cecil for her Cicero our late Soueraigne for her whole Senat. Thus the Lords mightie hand hath done for vs great things and holy is his name It hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their owne hearts and holpen our Israel in remembrance of his mercie To contract and conclude all and therewithall in a neerer application of this Text to apply our selues vnto thankes Deut. 32.3 Let vs publish the name and the hand of our Lord Ascribe ye greatnesse vnto our God Deut. 32.9 The Lords portion is his people and Iacobs off-spring the Lot of his Inheritance As for his People with his owne right hand hath hee gotten the victorie ouer the strong holdes of their crooked and stubborne hearts It was his onely hand that pierced that filme which inuolueth their hearts making it to send forth that cordiall water of compunction the shedding whereof mortifieth Nature and irrigateth the grace of their Conuersion Deut. 32.10.12 And as for Iacobs off-spring the Lords hand brought him backe not long since from a desert Land He led him about he instructed him hee kept him as the apple of his eye The Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God with him that I may so apply those passages in Moses his Song Deut. 32. The Lords hand fortified his Royall heart against all danger both of soule and bodie so that the Idolatrous Nation could neither detayne his person nor obtayne their purposes Their loose Religion did knit him faster to his Lord and Sauiour and their superstitious shewes and seruices did the more confirme his sacred resolution of persisting with sinceritie of heart in the Orthodoxe and Apostolicall Faith Yea the same hand did in some sort reuerse the purposes of our Soueraigne himselfe to reserue him for the accomplishment of Gods owne diuine purposes Cant. 2.1 Hee who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valleyes brought backe our Soueraigne Rose from that barren soyle in whose Plot hee could neuer haue prospered the ground thereof being so deceitfull And now hee hath bedded it with the Royall Lilly in his owne fruitfull Land O let the Almightie Hand knit vp their hearts both together as one Poesie in the bundle of life making him alway a fragrant Rose of a sweet smelling sauour before God And her the turnd Lilly vnto the Lord bearing vp both of them that they may not dash the foot of their affections against the stone and stumbling blocke of Idolatry but rather may dash that in pieces against the Rocke Christ Iesus In the next place consider wee how graciously the Royall Protector of the Soueraigne heart hath enclined the royall heart of our gracious Soueraigne to be the Protector and Auenger of his distressed Sister and Nephewes in the Netherlands whose Land Strangers haue deuoured and in whose low estate the heart of Religion hath long layen vpon bleeding Finally let Leuies Tribe gratefully consider and remember how the Lord enlarged the other day the heart of our graciously enclined Soueraigne for the enlarging of Leuies portion many of whose Tribe want the corporall bread while they prepare the spirituall food As soone as our Lord the King had notice from his loyall Subiects that there was in many barren places of his Maiesties large Dominions a Famine by so much greater then that in Samaria 2. Kings 6. by how much the Soule is better then the Bodie And that in those places it fared with his people as it did with those Samaritans in the 25. Verse of the forementioned Chapter Sacrilegious Simonyaks obtruding to them by way of sale an Asses head to feed their hunger-starued soules yea an Head possessed with a dumbe spirit whose jaw-bone euen while it wanteth motion may bee said to slay as many Soules as Samson did Bodies with his Iaw-bone of an Asse Iudges 15. heapes vpon heapes as it is in the 16. Verse of the Chapter Hauing graciously laid to heart that this was the Kings Euill and by him only to bee cured vnder God and that therefore his Subiects did cry like her in Samaria 2. Kings 6.26 Helpe our Lord O King He soone returned a more comfortable answer then she receiued there namely that the Parliament assembled at that time should take speciall care that for the better propagating of the Gospell in prouiding able Pastors prouision should bee made that aswell the owners of Parsonages Impropriate as the Inhabitants of Parishes vntaught should allow competent maintenance for sufficient Ministers in those Churches whose Cures did neerely concerne themselues in particular Thus the Lord hath highly enriched our Soueraigne with the blessings of Salomon so that hee is wise in his youth and as a Floud filled with vnderstanding His Name is gone farre Ecclus 47.14 16. and for the peace and prosperitie which he wisheth vnto Sion he is highly beloued and renowned And as for the Iles vnder him the Lord hath blessed them with the blessings of the Gentiles in the last Chapter of Isaiah Esay 66. cap. vers 12.14 Hee hath extended peace like a Riuer our hearts reioyce and our bones flourish like an hearbe and the hand of the Lord is knowne towards vs. Now the same Almightie hand of the euerliuing God who hath placed and planted our Soueraigne as the Heart in the bodie of this Triangled Iland reserue euer to it selfe only that little Triangle of his heart giue him an heart to loue and dread the Lord and diligently to liue and rule according to his Commandements that so when hee shall haue finished his course kept the Faith and giuen vp the Account of his high Stewardship hee may heare that comfortable and heart-reioycing voyce pronounced vnto him Math. 25. â—1 Well done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things Enter thou into the Ioy of thy Lord. A BRIEFE MEDITATION VPON THE FIFTEENTH VERSE OF the twenty fourth Chapter of the second Booke of Samuel Deliuered at a vveekly Lecture in Deuon Anno 1625. By J. P. THOV SHALT LABOR FOR PEACE PLENTIE LONDON Printed by William Stansby 1626. 2. SAM 24.15 So the Lord sent a Pestilence vpon Israel from the morning euen vnto the time appointed and there dyed of the people euen from Dan to Beersheba seuenty thousand men YEE see euen at the first sight that this Text affoordeth fit matter for the taking vp of our Meditations in these times It maketh report of a great Pestilence spreading it selfe in Israel in the time and specially for the sinne of King Dauid Dauids heart is lifted vp in the number of his people The Lord lifteth vp his hand to cut it off He pricketh that swelling bladder of vaine and carnall confidence with a sharpe and grieuous sicknesse I note in the Text these seuerall particulars First The Author or Inflicter of this mortalitie The Lord. Secondly The Nature of it It was a
Pestilence Thirdly The time in which it raigned From the morning euen to the time appointed Fourthly The Place to which it was confined From Dan to Beersheba Fiftly The Number of people which it consumed Seuentie thousand men First The Author is Iehoua The Lord set out by that great Name of his deriued from an Hebrew word signifying Being to shew and make knowne his independencie from any other hee being an eternall Being of himselfe I am that I am Exod. 3.14 and also to manifest that hee giueth being to all the creatures whence some haue well obserued that the name of Iehoua the Lord was not vsed before the whole worke of the Creation was finished but is first mentioned in the second Chapter and fourth Verse of Genesis And lastly to giue vs to vnderstand that God giueth being and accomplishment to all his promises he causeth them to bee brought to passe and become as it were things in Esse in Being Therefore God telleth Moses in the sixt Chapter of Exodus Verse the third That he was not knowne vnto Abraham Isaak and Iacob by his name Iehouah because though they beleeued that he would yet they liued not to see that he did effectually accomplish that which hee had graciously promised in deliuering their seed from the Aegyptian seruitude and inuesting them with the possession of the Land of promise So then the Inflicter of this great and terrible Pestilence was Iehouah the Lord a great God and a terrible as Moses stileth him that vncaused Being the cause of all Being who keepeth his word and that specially in the execution of his wrath vpon sinne Secondly The Nature of the punishment by him inflicted was pestilentiall The Lord sent a Pestilence c. The sicknesse as wee call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. a most grieuous deadly violent and infectious disease seizing on the spirits and suddenly sending to the graue A most vncomfortable sicknesse in as much as when God visiteth vs with it all refraine from visiting vs. Our Louers and friends stand aloofe from this sore and our Kinsmen stand afarre off as Dauid saith of himselfe in another and more generall sense Psalme 38.11 Thirdly As for the time in which the Pestilence raigned Some say it was from morning to mid-day some for the whole three dayes threatned A third sort for halfe the space The Text saith it was euen to the time appointed And if wee shall thinke that the triduall terme was abridged vpon Dauids humiliation repentance or at least that the Plague ceased before the third day ended the Lord being said in this Chapter to repent of the euill forbearing in his anger to punish and forbidding his Angell to proceed any further the phrase of Scripture will bee our warrant in which Gods temporall punishments are not euer decreed irreuocably but determined conditionally and if men will not repent hee will proceed to accomplishment yet will it not therefore follow that Gods will dependeth vpon mans for it is knowne to him from eternitie who they are that shall turne to him by repentance and he is the orderer of their wayes and the ouer-ruler of their wils and their repentance is meerly of his grace and from his gift Fourthly The place to which the Pestilence was confined was from Dan to Beersheba Dan is heere taken locally for a Citie bounding Israel as elsewhere personally for a Sonne borne vnto Iacob T was the vtmost confine of Israel on the North side as Beersheba a Citie of Iudah was on the South towards the Philistines So from Dan to Beersheba is in effect throughout all Israel T were the like phrase of speech if wee of these parts should say of some generall Plague dispersed in all the Iland of Great Brittaine that it raigned from the Start-point on our Southerne Seas vnto Straithy-head in Scotland which is the farthest point stretching it selfe into the North Seas Fiftly The number that dyed were seuentie thousand men A great Catalogue for so small a continuance or in so small a compasse Insomuch that if the mortalitie should haue held the same course which it beganne but a moneth or two it is likely by conferring the number which Ioab tooke of the people with the number which God tooke away by the Pestilence that in all Israel there would not haue beene a man or two left I grant that it is apparant that Ioab brought not an exact number of all the people but withall I say it is most probable that all the people who fell by the Pestilence are not heere numbred but chiefly if not only those whom God subtracted and tooke away from the former computation of those men of warre in whom Dauid gloried So the Lord punished Dauid in the thing wherein he offended God Dauid gloried of the number of his people in his pride and God diminished them with his Plague Thus haue I ouer-runne the particulars to hasten to my obseruations I finde many a notable Emphasis in this Text. Death is not so strange and yet there is notice to be taken of it but for men to die of so strange a death as of the pestilence and for so many to dye of the pestilence and that in so small a compasse of time and within Israels Confines this is that which should force vs to take a more speciall notice of the heauie hand of God The Obseruation which I first draw out of this Text is this Doct. The pestilence is Gods speciall Rod whereby he scourgeth the sinne and punisheth the pride of the most potent and populous Nations God had greatly multiplyed his great mercies vpon Israel and in great mercie had greatly multiplyed Israel made it a great and a mightie Nation of small beginnings and now for Dauids sinne of numbring and for the number of their sinnes he beginneth greatly to diminish them The Lord sent a Pestilence The Pestilence is his great scourge for sinne When you are gathered together in your Cities I will send a Pestilence among you saith the Lord viz. for your breach of my couenant Leuiticus 26.25 Indeed euery sicknesse may be said to bee Gods scourge but the Plague that is specialis plaga Gods speciall and proper stripe the signes that it makes are Gods speciall markes and therefore the Word of the Lord calleth it the Sword of the Lord 1. Chron. 21.12 As Iehouah the name by which God is heere stiled is peculiar to him so the spreading of the pestilence which hee here sendeth is from him alone Wee may rayse other sicknesses to cast downe our selues by our owne surfets and distempers this seemeth to bee meerly of his sending and he only to haue a finger heerein So Dauid acknowledged when he chose to fall into the hands of God by the falling of his people by a Pestilence in the Verse before the Text. And now for vse to vs Beloued Israels calamitie in the time of King Dauid is Englands case in the time of King Charles Facta est
of humiliation stay Gods punishing hand With teares let vs ioyne prayers pouring out our soules like water before the Lord. When the Lord bid Hezekiah prouide for present death he prayed and wept sore hereupon the Lord heareth his prayers seeth his teares healeth his sore and lengtheneth his dayes And in this Chapter God hauing denounced a three dayes pestilence doth yet vpon Dauids humble petition shorten the time and in the time appointed cease the plague which hee threatned They of Tyre and Sidon made Blastus the Kings Chamberlaine their friend but as for vs non Blastum sed Christum Intercessorem habeamus Let vs not sue or seeke to those glorious Seruants and Chamberlaines of the Almightie who stand euer in his presence not to Seraphins or Cherubins not to Saints or Angels But as Themistocles tooke vp the Sonne of King Admet into his armes Plut. in vit Themistoc that by him hee might appease the angrie father so let vs take vp Christ the Sonne of God by the hand of faith and set his merits betweene vs and his fathers wrath that hee may dull the point of his punishing sword in the wounds of his beloued Sonne O let vs make him our friend that hee may make our peace with God for otherwise teares and prayers they are all in vaine no better then the howling of dogs or the lowing of Oxen. Let vs goe out of all confidence in our Selues in our Worthies in our Allyes in our Armies in our Nauies and stripping our selues naked cast our selues ouer-board into the bottomlesse Sea of his mercie as our onely safeguard and saluation Lastly they of Tyre and Sidon in the height of blasphemous flatterie hearing the Herodian oration said it was the voice of God and not of Man But let vs in the depth of a contrite penitencie feeling the hand of God say and acknowledge that it is the stroke of God and not of man and that it is in vaine to looke for any helpe but from him Vna manus nobis vulnus opemque feret The hand that casts vs downe can onely raise vs vp It is God that dealeth with vs of England now as of old he did with Ephraim Hos 5.14 taking away when none can rescue If wee shall crye vnto him how long Lord It may bee answered as it followeth in the next verse of the same Chapter till wee acknowledge our offence and seeke his face O let our hearts answer in the Psalmists Eccho Thy face O Lord will wee seeke So it followeth againe in the same verse In their affliction they will seeke mee early they are the last words of that Chapter Then according to that ioynt-motion for a generall humiliation in the beginning of the sixt and next Chapter Come let vs returne vnto the Lord for he hath torne and hee will heale vs hee hath smitten and hee will bind vs vp This doing as it there followeth in the next words After two dayes hee will reuiue vs in the third day he will raise vs vp that is if wee seeke him early he will soone cease his plagues as he ceased this generall pestilence after the terme of two dayes in the time of King Dauid and as he moderated in like manner the violent rage of the Parisian massacre in which within three dayes space there fell ten thousand as it were on our right hands through the raging crueltie of the Romish Catholickes Psal 91 7â— and yet as the Psalmist hath it it came not nigh vs. Let vs goe onward with the Text. The Lord sent a Pestilence vpon Israel from the morning euen to the time appointed and there dyed of the People euen from Dan to Bersheba seuentie thousand men Doct. Seuentie thousand men Hence I gather that oft-times the Lord God punisheth sinfull man in the same thing and in some sort after the same kind in which sinfull man prouoketh the Lord God Dauid is a speciall instance for proofe of this point here and elsewhere elsewhere he vnsheathed the sword against Vriah drew the Lords sword vpon his owne house Vriam iniusto sed non inulto cruore respersit the shedding of Vriahs bloud as 't was vndeserued so 't was not vnreuenged but was punished in due time in its owne kind Here he falleth to numbring of his people and a number of his people fall by the pestilence Hee sendeth about to vnderstand the number of his nation and to know the end thereof And God is about to number his people as hee did Belshazzars Kingdome and to finish and make an end of it Dauid reckoneth without the Lord. It is the poore mans guise saith the Poet to number his small flocke Pauperis est numerare pecus I am sure t was great weakenesse in Dauid to number his great forces as though by their strength and by his owne right hand he had gotten his victories chased his enemies and compassed the Crowne of Soueraigntie Yee may set Dauid in this act in opposition with Abraham Abraham hauing but one Sonne will entrust him with God who telleth him that hee will for a reward of his obedience multiplie his seed Dauid hauing a multitude of people will relye on their strength and the Lord sheweth by this plague that hee can reduce them to nothing he sweepeth away vpon a suddaine seuentie thousand men I suppose there are few trauellers who hearken after strange newes but haue heard of that vulgar report in the Eastern parts as fabulous I thinke as famous concerning those vast stones scattered within a small compasse in that warlike monument on the Playnes of which they tell you that after you haue once numbred them if yee number againe yee shall faile of your former reckoning the Deuill it may be increaseth mens superstitious and groundlesse credulitie by deluding the sight or dazeling the eye But in this wonderfull pestilence popular plague dispersed in that Easterne Israel if Dauid had gone to take an account of his warriers after the first numbring he might haue found a wonderfull abatement threescore and ten thousand fallen off from the number and felled by the pestilence within Israels confines God punishing his pride in not reposing his alone safetie and securitie vnder the meere and mercifull protection of his mightie hand Now beloued not to rest the proofe of the doctrine too long vpon Dauid If considering this septinarie Decade of Thousands destroid and decaid in Dauids number I should affirme that Dauid had specially offended God by his numbring and that God is set downe in the Text punishing him in a most speciall number Those who are so curious in obseruing numbers and haue such a number of curious obseruations touching the seuenth number terming it with Ambrose a sacred number and with Augustin a number mystically portending a kind of perfection might happily befriend me herein But Chrysost would more iustly befoole mee for my labour who tearmeth this curiositie a fabling and a deuice of mans braine God tyeth
not himselfe to numbers neither should we seeke to bring him to it by our abstruse obseruations and schoole-quiddities Ne sutor vltra crepidam Wee may not thinke if I may so speake to fit him with the seauens who filleth heauen and earth making the one his throne and the other his footstoole T was chiefly for curiositie of numbring that so many fell of the pestilence in the Text. Much better had it beene for Dauid and so t were for vs in this case instead of such a foolish and needlesse numbring shortning the dayes and hastning the deaths of thousands to haue desired as else where he doth that God would teach him to number his dayes and so to apply himselfe vnto wisedome All Histories diuine and humane are so full of proofes for the confirming and illustrating of my doctrine that me thinkes I delight to dwell longer vpon it then ordinarily I vse to doe vpon other Doctrines How memorably hath Gods hand punished notoriously sinfull acts in their owne kind in all Ages Doe Nabab and Abihu prouoke and incense the Lord with strange Incense God punisheth them with strange fire Leuit. 10 1.2 Are the Israelites not contented with the Lords feeding Numb 11. hee maketh them leaue their carkasses where they lusted after flesh Doe the people of Ierusalem offer Incense to the Hoast of Heauen on the tops of their houses Ier. 19.13 The Caldeans shall come and set fire on that Citie and burne it together with those houses Chap. 22.29 Doe the Ammonites sacrifice their children to Molech their Idoll themselues are forced to passe through the Brick-kilne in all their Cities 2. Samuel 12.31 Doth that cut-finger Adonibezek make himselfe sport with mangling the hands and feete of captiue Kings the Lord maketh him when hee is taken captiue to beshrew his fingers for it by dipping them in the same bloudy dish and seruing him with the same sawce Iudges 1. Doe the stiffe-necked Iewes crucifie Christ at the time of the preparation of their Passeouer It seemed good vnto the most iust God that Titus should plant his siege before Ierusalem at the time in which the Iewes were assembled to celebrate that Feast in which siege he also crucified diuers thousands of them before the walls of Ierusalem as Iosephus reporteth Doth the Whore of Babylon set fire vnto Gods faithfull witnesses What saith hee who calleth himselfe the faithfull and true witnesse Apoc. 3.14 Hee acquainteth Saint Iohn that she shall bee burnt with fire Apoc. 18.8 Doth shee cast the Saints of God aliue into the fire shee her selfe shall bee cast aliue into a Lake of fire burning with Brimstone Apoc. 19.20 Doth Edward the Second King of England burne with the vnnaturall lusts of So dome Gods justice suffereth his vnnaturall Subiects to depriue him of his Souereigntie and to force a hot burning Spit thorow his fundament into his entrailes Doth Henry the Second King of France protest that with his own eyes he will see a Protestant burnt to ashes See how in a iust RetributioÌ„ at a Iust or Tourney the splinter of a Speare passeth through the sight of his Beauer pierceth thorow his Eye perisheth his Braine and procureth his death Doth Alexander the Sixt Pope of Rome prepare a cup of Poyson for his Cardinals that by destroying their persons he might enioy what they possessed himselfe vnawares is made the first taster and dieth of his owne drench Doth bloudie Gardiner Bishop of Winchester deferre his Dinner vpon a greedie and bloudie desire of hearing certaine newes from Oxford of some Martyrs Dispatch wherewithall he might make merry God deferreth not long the kindling of a fire in his body through the intolerable heate whereof he dieth miserably as he liued mercilessely Two other examples I find in the Martyrologie of our Church making mainly for the farther proofe if farther proofes yet need of my last proposed doctrine I purpose to mention no more but those The first is of a certaine Smith who had seemed to haue beene sometimes a zealous professor but left his Sauiour to saue his life and forsooke the faith for feare of the fire giuing no other answer to a message brought him from a dying Martyr by which hee was exhorted to constancie but this That he could not burne What became of him He was afterwards burnt as he went in to saue his goods when his house was fired The other example is of a most vnmercifull Churle who willingly suffered a poore diseased Christian Brother to lye and dye in a ditch neere vnto his house and would by no meanes suffer him to be sheltred in any of his Barnes or Back-houses Stalls or Styes Master Fox compareth him to Diues and well he might for as Diues loued the Dogges which hee kept more then Lazarus which lay at his gates fed them but cared not though he sterued so this wicked wretch would not afford so much as a Dogge-kennell to that distressed creature Now marke the miserable end of this Miser not long after he was found in a Ditch not farre from that in which he left his poore Brother not only dead but sticking in the stinking puddle of the ditch GOD punishing him in the same kind in which he transgressed and returning his reward vpon his owne head as the Prophet Obadiah speaketh Thus yee haue seene the Lord measuring vnto men according to their owne measure that hee may be memorably knowne by the iudgements which he executeth Yee haue seene him following men close by the heeles in their owne wayes to shew in despight of all cauils that his wayes are equall and his iudgements iust Yee haue seene the fat Buls of Bashan beastly and bloudie men frying in their owne torments like Perillus in his brazen Bull that they might know their tortures to be as a Heathen speaketh Indigna passis Autoribus dignissima vnworthy of the Martyrs who indured them worthy of the Authours who inuented them It is high time to wind vp the threed of my speech in a word of application Doth the Lord then vsually confound sinfull men in their owne proiects cast them in their owne play as it were pay them in their own coine Beware we then that we willingly sin in no case sith God can punish vs in the same kinde If wee haue sinned let vs soone iudge our selues least hee suddenly condemne vs. Let vs weepe for sorrow and blush for shame lest he make vs bleed to death O ler vs not proceed in sinne least we giue him a patterne by which he may punish vs. In the second place let vs consider how wee haue dealt with God when wee cast with our selues and seeme to wonder why he should thus and thus deale with vs. His iudgements are alwayes iust and sometime wee may see them manifestly marked out vnto vs with the character of 〈◊〉 on He suffering vs to please our selues 〈◊〉 speciall sinne till it procureth a speciall iudgement proportionable thereunto as Anacreon the Poet so long fell to his wine till at last he was choaked with the kernell of a Grape Let vs beloued conferre Gods workes with ours and see how iustly he hath proceeded against vs in many instances or may at least whensoeuer his abused patience shall disdaine any longer to leaue our prouocations vnpunished If the corrupt Magistrate shall spare to execute Gods iudgement on notorious offenders is it not iust with God to powre downe iudgements on his owne head If hee deny patronage to the innocent depriuing the Orphan of his due and put him by his portion what can hee expect but that the Lord should also put him out of his protection If the sacrilegious person and Symoniacall Patron shall prey vpon God by pilling his Church shall he not pull downe Gods plagues vpon his owne house If the superstitious person shall adde vnto Gods Word out of mans inuentions shall not the Lord adde vnto him the plagues which are written in his Booke If the Swearer shall as it were teare the Name of God with his teeth shall not the Lords curse enter into his house Zach. 5. rent the timber from the stones and consume both together If we take away ought by Extortions and vniust exactions and will not restore 〈…〉 in iustice depriue vs of his blessings 〈…〉 â—â—store them also If wee shut our eares at the cry of the poore wil not God shut his eare at the cry of our prayer If we seeke to Egypt for helpe looke for shelter from Idolatrous associates will not the strength of such Pharaohs be our shame and the trust in such shadowes our confusion Esay 30.3 Let vs consider these things beloued and is it not time to consider them now the Lord sendeth his messengers abroad to call vs to an account Shall wee shut our hearts alwayes against him euen now when he is ready to shut our doores vpon vs and seale them vp with his plagues which waxe so hote among vs of this Countrey yea of this Countie God forbid The Lord giue vs vnderstanding and repentant hearts the Lord turne vs vnto him and his fauourable countenance towards vs The Lord receiue our Prayers heare our groanings and helpe our griefes c. To the Reader ANd thus Gentle Reader I haue communicated vnto thy view these precedent papeâ—â— which were penned for the most part in great want of time aâ— thou are already aduertised Yet are they sent abroad without adding altering augmenting or amending of any materiall passage that so they may follow their originall Copy which together with another Tract not yet published found acceptance at the hands of our Dread and Deare Soueraigne In respect of whose gracious Aspect I haue the more cause to presume of thy fauour or if that may not bee obtayned the lesse reason to esteeme thy Censure