that the Herodians are his bitter enemies and do intend to kill him and therefore he should do wisely to convey himself out of their reach But of every such Pharisee Cum tibi dicit Ave tanquam ab hoste Cave 5. For their observation of the Sabbath they are so zealous or rather superstitious that the Disciples must not pick an ear of corn and put it in their mouth to asswage their hunger nor Christ speak a word to heal a lame or a blind man on that day without danger of a Câ—uncell to be severely censured and we read that if a barrell or vessel of wine leakt and run out on the Sabbath they would rather suffer the same to be all spilt then stop it on that day and Stow writes it in his Chronicle that one of them dwelling in the Old Jury in London happened to fall into a Privie upon the Saturday which was and is their Sabbath day and he refused to be pluckt out because he would not have his neighbour to prophane the Sabbath and his neighbour being a Christian denied to help him out on the Sunday which is the Christian Sabbath saying If thou art so precise to observe thy Sabbath I will be as zealous for my Sabbath and before the Munday he was stifled with the ill savour of his lodging So religious were these Saints in their superstition so fair in their outward holinesse of fasting praying and hearing Sermons exceeding all other men so far as Religion seems to exceed prophanenesse But he that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher of all hearts and seeth the secrets of all thoughts tells us plainly they were but meer hypocrites appearing unto men like silly sheep but were indeed ravening Wolves that devoured widowes houses and plundered all their poor neighbours not leaving to many of them bread to put into their childrens mouthes under the colour of their long prayers and the pretence of Zeal and Religion this is the very truth of the matter How mighty these hypocrites increased in number in power and authority And yet these wicked men these holy hypocrites by their dissembling and faigned holinesse grew so great both in number and power that they soon over-spread the whole land and became as it were the only Oracles of the people and their faction ruled upon the matter not only the City of Jerusalem but almost all the land of Jury so farre that as Josephus saith Herod himself was afraid to displease them they had so infinitely bewitched the people with the opinion of their knowledge in the Scripture and their zealous profession that nothing was thought well done but what they did or approved of as it appeareth by that question unto the Officers Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But let such hypocrites go on in their hypocrisie John 7.48 â—â—arth 5.20 and let them be deceived that will believe them it is not these outward shewes of holinesse and shadows of Religion that pleaseth God who is not mocked as the Apostle speaketh but requireth truth in the inward parts as the Psalmist saith and therefore tells us and we may believe him that except our righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the hypocrites that do but deceive the world and bewitch the simple people we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven 2. 2 The Scribes The next Sect that were most sedulous to betray Christ and to murder their King were the Scribes such as were the continual Writers not of Bills and Bonds Like our Presbyterians in dependants and Lay-Preachers as our Scriveners do but of the Holy Scriptures and therefore they pretended that they alone had the perfect knowledge and understanding of the same consequently that they alone were the only people of God all the rest no better or but little better then cast-aways so censorious were these scribling gnosticks But if you would examin their Exposition you should find that praeter falsitatem hypocrisin uihil habent they were such Interpreters of the Scripture as Hogs are dressers of Vines and when they stuffe their impertinent discourses with more impertinent Texts of Scripture 2 pet 3.16 they do but as Peter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrest it and pervert it and as the word implies deal with it as Shoemakers do with their Leather stretch it and tear it oft-times with their teeth when it is so that of it self it cannot reach to fit their purpose And truly the Church of God never wanted such Scribes in every place Tertullian saith credunt Scripturis ut credant adversus Scripturas they alledge Scriptures to overthrow the Scriptures and no Scripture shall be believed but as themselves interpret it and to give you a taste of their Expositions 1. When the Prophet Joel saith Your sons and your daughters shall prophesie Joel 2.28 they will justifie their Revelations and their speciall inspiration of Gods Spirit when as the Prophet meant it only of the Apostles and the immediate disciples of our Saviour 2. When the Prophet Hosea saith The children of Israel shall remain without King Hos 3.4 and without Prince many dayes this is a sufficient proof they shall be independent from all Government but their own and therefore being thus inspired by the lying spirit they were earnestly set on to kill their King and to abjure their Prince that they might still continue Independents without any regal Government 3. When Obadiah saith Thy mighty men O Teman shall be dismaid to the end that every one of the Mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter Obadiah v. 9. Malach. 4.2 3. and Malachy saith To you shall arise the Sun of righteousnesse and you shall tread down the wicked as ashes under your feet this is a sufficient warrant to destroy all Malignants and to root them out of the world as the enemies of Gods people which they say are themselves and none else 4. Esay 61.6 When the Prophet Esay saith You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glorie shall you boast your selves this is a good warrant for them that take all the wealth and possession of their malignant neighbours they need no more but take them and seize upon them and never call them to answer Whether they have offended the Law and so forfeited their estates or not And is the world now free from such Scribes as do falsifie the sayings of the Apostles as these Jewish Scribes did the words of the Prophets No no for you may find many writings and Pamphlets of our Scribes that have most strangelie perverted the words of S. Paul Rom. 13.1 2 3. to cast off all Regall power and to establish the Democratical government and as peevishiy expounded the words of S. Peter to prove the lawfulnesse of deposing and decollating their Kings many more such Scriptures you may find perverted by our new-sprung Scribes if you cast your eye
take this office upon him but he that is as well outwardly approved by such as are lawfully authorized to approve him Exod. 4.16 as inwardly called by the restifying spirit of his own conscience so also Christ saith the Apostle glorified not himself to be made an high Priest and to become the great Shepherd of Gods flock Heb. 5.5 c. 17.21 but he that said unto him Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and hath sworn Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech And therefore if no man no not Christ himself taketh this holy office upon him but he that is lawfully called by such as have lawful authority to call him I wonder how any man dares to intrude himself into the Ministry without any mission from Christ or commission from such as are lawfully authorized by Christ to admit them You know what our Saviour saith As my father sent me so send I you and they that were his Apostles never went until he sent them for there must be an Ite go ye Mat. 28.19 Mar. 16.15 John 10.1 before Praedicate preach ye and you see what our Saviour saith here Verily verily I say unto you he that entreth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber that is he that is not lawfully called and comes not the right way into the Ministry to be the shepherd of Gods flock the same is none of Gods Ministers Jer. 23.21 14.14 but is a thief and a robber stealing to himself what of right belongs to another And yet I fear we have now too many of whom the Lord may say as he doth by the Prophet Jeremy I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken unto them yet they prophesied for we are not onely to consider whether they be called and approved to be the Ministers of Christ but we must likewise consider by whom they are called and approved for as idem est non esse non apparere so it is all one to be not called and not approved as to be called and approved by such as have no right nor authority to call and approve them as when a company of thieves and robbers gives power and authority to a man to be Justice of the Peace or a Judge of Assize we say his power and authority is null and of no validity so they that give orders and approve of Priests and have no right no power nor authority to give orders and to allow them do just nothing in the just way and their orders is worth nothing But you will say this may be true of the Lay-preachers but those that are ordained by the Presbyterians and approved by an assembly of Presbyters cannot be denied to be lawfully called and to enter in by the door into the sheepfold I answer that I will not at this time discuss who gave them this power and authority to ordain Priests but I say that I dare not I cannot approve and justifie their authority let them answer for it that presume to do it I have shewed you their error in my discovery of the great Antichrist So you see how this grand Shepherd did lawfully enter into his office and how all his under-Shepherds should imitate him in their lawfull entrance and not intrude themselves nor be unlawfully admitted into the Ministry 2. 2 A perfect performance of all the duties of a good Shepherd Philo Jud. in l. de opificio mundi The other point here spoken of this great Shepherd is a perfect and most absolute performance of all the duties of a good Shepherd Where first of all you must observe that Theocritus Virgil and others writing of this office of Shepherds do make three kindes of Pastors or Shepherds and so doth Philo Judaeus where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherd Goatesman and Herdsman drive the flocks of sheep goats and bullocks and it is observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dici de pastore omnium animalium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum relatione tantum ad oves that the Greeks do call him onely that keepeth sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shepherd and our Saviour saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the good goatsman or the good herdsman John 10.14 but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the good Shepherd that taketh care for his sheep but not for goats because the Lord careth for the righteous but as the Prophet saith he scattereth abroad all the ungodly And seeing that he is a Shepherd you know what the Poet saith Pastorem Tytere pingues Pascere oportet oves Vagil Eglog 6. The Shepherd ought to feed his sheep for as the old proverb goeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spartam nactus es hanc orna every one should look to his own office as the learned Divine to preach the Word of God the Cobler to mend his shoes the Countrey-man to plough his ground curabit prelia Conon and the King or whosoever is the chief Magistrate to provide for war and to conclude peace which is the onely way to keep all things in the right way because that mittere falcem in alienam messem for the Coachman with his whip to lash the pulpit the Taylor with his shears to divide the Word of God the shepherd with his hook to rule the people and the unruly people to reign as Kings is that which as the Poet saith Turbabit fadera mundi Lucan phars l. 1. and is the readiest way to pull all things asunder to tear in pieces the whole course of nature and to subvert all the order of Gods creatures and indeed to reduce the total frame of the creation to a speedy dissolution whereas that man is worthy of all praise as Aelian saith which meddleth with nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that pertaineth nothing unto him but looketh onely and carefully to his own duty and he is worthy to be reproved as our Saviour checkt Saint Peter for his curiosity to know what John must do that is a stranger in his own affairs and busieth himself onely with what onely belongs unto others And therefore not to do my self what I blame in others or to extend my discourse beyond my line to treat of the art of war with Phormio before Hannibal or to tell you the office of a King or a Judge when my text tels me I am to treat of a Shepherd but to keep my self contrary to the common practise ad idem to my own proper task I shall desire you to remember that the duty of a good Shepherd consisteth chiefly in these two points 1. Negatively what he should not do to his sheep 2. Affirmatively what he should do for them 1. The heathen man could tell us that boni pastoris est pecus tondere non deglubere it is the part of a good Shepherd to fleece
fashion devised by the false Prophets now serving him in his Temple and consecrated house dedicated for his worship and presently serving him in Chambers in the Groves and under every green Tree But I conceive that the Prophet means according to Tremelius translation that they erred from the right service of God and from the performance of their duties unto their neighbours and so straid like lost sheep without a shepherd The Law of God is the way wherein we ought to walk both from the way of piety and from the rules of equity and the further they go on the harder it is for them to return to the right way for you must know that the way wherein we ought to walk is the Law of God even as the Prophet David sheweth saying Blessed are they that are undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 that walk in the Law of the Lord and not in the way of sinners which is the transgression and aberration from the right way that is the Law of the Lord. And this people The Jews and ourselves like the Egyptians and why the Jews were as we are for the most part of us like unto the Egyptians that received the most plentifull benefits of the river Nilus and yet they knew not the fountain from whence it sprang so did they reap all the favours of God his Oracles his Prophets and his blessings more then any other Nation of the World and yet they neither knew God nor the will of God Hos 4.1 Vide Esay 1.3 for as the Prophet Hosea saith There was neither truth nor mercy nor knowledg of God in the Land and therefore they wandered indeed and wandered far out of the way But you will say it is very strange that the Jews of all other people should be ignorant either of God or of the law of God when as the Apostle saith Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God and Rom 3.2 chap. 9.4 Psal 76.1 What great means the Iews had to understand learn the true service of God Amos 3.7 as the Prophet saith In Jurie is God known and his name is great in Israel and he gave unto them Priests and Levits Scribes and Pharisees that should continually expound his Laws both to them and to their children for ever and when they failed to do their duties he raised up his Prophets to direct them to the right way and to shew them how they should both worship God and love their neighbour and as the Prophet Amos saith Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he reveileth his secrets unto his servants the Prophets and therefore How could this people be ignorant of God or wander out of his waies To this the Prophet answereth in the next point and sheweth the true cause of their wandering and of all their deviation and starting aside from the right service of God for 2. He saith They loved to wander therefore what wonder is it Where the Jews erred that they should erre and go out of the right way when they loved desired and were well pleased to go out of it but it is strange and a great deal more strange for men to love to erre then it is to erre For humanum est errare God alone is truth and every man a lyer the best of us all is subject unto error when as ever since the fall of Adam there were four things Four things imposed on Adam and on all his seed for his transgression saith Beda most justly imposed upon all his seed for his unjust transgression 1. Ignorance 2. Impotence 3. Concupiscence 4. Malice For the healing of which four maladies the second Adam was made unto us as the Apostle saith 1. Wisdom 2. Righteousness 3. Sanctification 1 Cor. 1.20 4. Redemption Therefore seeing ignorance is incident unto all men and every man is born blind every one may well say with the Eunuch How can I understand without a Teacher or Act. 8.31 how can I walk in the right way without a guide But for a man to put out the light or for a blind man to refuse a guide and for an ignorant man to refuse knowledge this is the condemnation whereof our Saviour speaketh That light is come into the world Joh. 3.19 and men love darkness more then light And yet this was the Epidemicall disease of this people and it hath continued among all Nations to this very day for as the Scripture testifieth of the ungodly Noluerunt intelligere ut bene agerent but they say to God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy waies So it is true of too too many they will not understand the truth that they might do right they will not hear the true Preachers Job 21.14 2 Chr. 18.7 but as the King of Israel would not hear Micaiah but hated him so will not many men hearken to the true Prophets but they will do as Ahab said he did to Micaiah hate them and as the Jews dealt with the teachers of Gods true worship that is stone the Prophets and kill them that were sent unto them as Samuel was rejected Esay sawed in pieces Jeremy thrown to a filthy dungeon Zachary the son of Jehâ—ida was stoned with stones even in the court of the House of the Lord Micheas thrown down by Joram to break his neck because he rebuked him for the sins of his fathers Amos killed with a club Ezechiel slain Vrias the son of Semeiah for Prophesying against Jerusalem was killed by Joakim Jer. 26.23 Elias persecuted and threatned to be killed by Jezabel and the spirit of God demandeth of the Jews Act. 7.52 Which of the Prophets had not their fathers persecuted Even so do many men in many places and in most Countreys use the true Preachers and teachers of Gods true worship and the repairers of their errors in these very daies and if the true Preachers say with this Prophet Jer. 6.16 Ask for the old pathes where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls I am affraid our people will answer with the words of this people and say We will not walk therein But to proceed to shew unto you the doings of this people the Prophet tels us they have not only rejected the true Prophets and refused the bright shining light of the truth and right service of God offered unto them by the legitimate messengers of God but as our Prophet speaketh they have committed two evils 1. Jer. 32.33 chap. 7.25 They have forsaken the Fountain of living waters 2. They have hewed them out Cisterns even broken Cisterns that can hold no water And these two evils do commonly go together to silence and deprive the old and true Preachers and to advance and magnify the young novices that are fitter to be taught then to teach yea to forsake God and then to adore the Calf to throw away the service of
will endeavour to discharge his duty by good report and evil report 2. You may observe that goodness it self is hated and truth it self slandered and traduced for in his mouth was found no guile but as Saint John saith he is the way the truth and the life and yet all that malice can invent is thought little enough to be laid on him he must bear in his bosom the reproach of a mighty people and he must endure the contradictions of a wicked generation And therefore what wonder is it if the best King and Governour in the world were he as mild as Moses as religious as King David as upright as Samuel and as bountiful to Gods servants as Nehemiah or if as worthy Preachers as ever trod pulpit were they as faithful as Saint Peter as loving as Saint John and as zealous as Saint Paul should be maligned traduced and slandered for you may assure your selves it is no new thing though a very true thing for the wicked to deal thus with the good and godly at all times But among all the subtil arguments doubtful questions and malicious disputations that the Scribes Christs good deeds inraged the wicked Pharisees and Heredians had with our Saviour Christ which were very many and all only for to intrap him in his speech that they might bring him to his death and not to beget faith in their own hearts that they might attain-to eternal life this conflict in this chapter seemeth to be none of the least for after he had so miraculously healed the poor man that was born blind their malice was so inraged and their rage so furious against him that they excommunicated the poor fellow and thrust him out of their Synagogue for speaking well of him that had done so much good for him or because he would not be so wicked and so malicious as themselves and then gathering themselves together round about Christ they began to question him about his office and very strictly to examine him whether he was the Christ the Messias or not And Our Saviour Christ Christ answereth for the good of the godly that knew their thoughts better then themselves intendeth not to satisfie their desire which was to receive such an answer whereby they might accuse him yet for their instruction that would believe in him he setteth down an institution or an infallible induction whereby both their subtil question was fully answered and his own true servants perfectly expressed and distinguished from them that serve him not in these words My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me Wherein The means ways to save us our Saviour setteth down the means whereby the true Christians are eternally saved in being called justified and sanctified which are the three main steps or degrees whereby we pass from our natural state of corruption unto the blessed state of grace that brings us to eternal glory 1. Called in these words My sheep hear my voice 2. Justified in these words I know them 3. Sanctified in these words They follow me 1. Then the Christians are called to come to Christ in that he saith My sheep hear my voice for as Adam after his transgression never sought for God until God sought for him and said Adam Where art thou So all the children of Adam would never come to Christ if Christ did not call them to come unto him but as wisdom crieth without and uttereth her voice in the streets Prov. 1.20 so doth this wisdome of God Jesus Christ cry Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you and if he did not cry and utter forth his voice his sheep could not hear his voice but God sendeth forth his voice yea and that a mighty voice and as the Prophet David saith The Lord thundered out of heaven Psal 68 33. and the most high uttered his voice And that not onely as he did once unto the Israelites God uttereth his voice two wayes when he delivered his laws on mount Sinai but also to all others whom he calleth and uttereth his voice unto them two special ways 1. To the ears of his people by the mouths of his Prophets 1 To our ears Apostles and Preachers of his holy Word that do continually call and cry unto them to come to hear his voice and to obey his Precepts 2. To the hearts of his servants by the inspiration of his blessed Spirit 2 To our hearts which teacheth them to cry abba Father and perswadeth them to yield obedience to all his heavenly motions And our Saviour saith that his sheep or servants will hear his voice that is both uttered by his servants and inspired by his Spirit and they will neither neglect to hear the preaching of his written Word nor suffocate or choak the inspired Word that is the internal motions of his holy Spirit but they will most readily and willingly hear both these voices My sheep hear my voice howsoever uttered Three things observable For the further and the better understanding of which words you may observe these three things 1. The denomination Sheep 2. Their appropriation my sheep 3. Their qualification hear my voice 1. By Sheep here is understood not those four-footed silly creatures The children of God called sheep in a double respect that by their wooll and lamb and milk and their own flesh are so profitable unto us and by their simplicity are so easie to be kept and are the most innocent among all the beasts of the field but those children of God and true Christians that are called and compared unto sheep in a double respect 1. In respect of Christ that is their Pastour or Shepherd 2. In respect of themselves that are his flock 1. Christ is often called in the Scriptures our Shepherd 1 Grand Shepherd of the sheep Christ the good Shepherd in two respects 1. A lawful entrance into his Office Heb. 5.4 1. By the testimony of his own conscience 2. By an outward approbation and he is set forth unto us in this 10. c. by a double manifestation 1. Of a lawful entrance into his Office 2. Of an absolute performance of his Duties 1. The Apostle saith No man taketh this honour unto himself that is to be the Shepherd over Gods flock and a Priest to teach Gods people but he that is called of God as was Aaron And how was Aaron called 1. By God inwardly by the testimony of his own conscience that tells him the Spirit of God calleth him to such an Office 2. Because a man is not to believe his own private spirit that many times deceiveth us therefore God would have Aaron to take his commission and his ordination from Moses as you may see Exod. 28.1 and as the Lord had formerly said unto Moses that he should be instead of God unto Aaron to call him unto the Priests office And as no man taketh or should
for judgement against the Bishops that were the Authours of these evils and so as all the Mariners were tossed for Jonas his sin so all the Bishops must suffer for the offence of few And though as Eusebius saith all the malice of the world and all the persecution of Tyrants and all the Stratagems of that old Serpent could not darken the glory of Christ his Church while the Bishops and the rest of the Priests and Preachers of God's word held together and kept the Unity of Faith in the Bond of Peace yet when the Bishops fell together by the ears and dissented in their opinions the one from the other the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that held the faith of one Substance which is the right Catholick faith from them that maintained the faith of the like Substance which was and is the Arrian Heresy and when the Priests banded against the Bishops and the Bishops did therefore seek to suppress those Priests then the Lord darkened the glory of the daughter of Sion and the Church that formerly triumphed sate then as a Sparrow that is alone mourning upon the House-top even so now in our days when they that ought and had promised and vowed most solemnly when they were admitted to Holy Orders to reverence their Bishops and to be advised by them and obedient to them began to spurn with their heels to spit in their faces and to bark against them in their Pulpits our Saviour's words must hold true that A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand and much less the Hierarchy when the Priests and Bishops are at such ods and so contrary to themselves And this division of Reuben with the aforesaid distempers was a great presage of their present fall yet I believe not all the cause that moved God to permit the Devil to stir up Enemies to throw them down but the true cause was greater sins if I judge right then either of these for the former might be the aspersions of Enemies and but onely the allegation of ill-willers without any sound ground for their Justification or if true but the Acts of some few of the inferiour Bishops and the Divisions of the Clergy might lessen our repute and weaken our Authority but not utterly to overthrow our Hierarchy as all the contentions of the Primitive Church never did And therefore the true causes of our ruine must needs be of an higher nature and they might be besides the forenamed and some others that we know not of these three main faults that can neither be denied nor excused 1. The misguiding of the good King before the Long Parliament The three great saults of the Bishops 2. The neglecting of him in the Parliament 3. The evil Counsel they gave him with the Parliament First The King having a reverend opinion of the Bishops Fault was perswaded to second and to set forward the Designs of the Bishop of Canterbury in many things that brought him the ill opinion and so diminished the love of the people as in the matter of Saint Gregory's by Saint Paul's and especially in sending the newly amended Liturgy unto the Scotish Church and the Prosecution of that business so eagerly to the great prejudice of the King which was to speak what I conceive to be truth without flattery such an Episcopal offence as cannot be expiated with words nor could be defended with the power of the King as the Scots alleadged Non omnibus unum est Quod placet hic spinas colligit ille rosas and which I conceive to be the Original and the Seed of all the King's troubles and misfortunes and the Bishop's overthrow mittere falcem in alienam messem to busie themselves out of their own Diocess especially among the Scots that were bewitched with the love of the Presbytery and hated all forms of Liturgies but such as was without form or beauty like Christ at his Passion that was then as the Prophet saith without form or beauty for had they rested quiet without raising up those Northern blasts and those Spirits that they could not lay down they might no doubt in my Judgement have remained quiet to this very day but they throwing these stones into the Air they fell into their own fore-heads and they verified the old Proverb Qui striut insidias aliis sibi damna dat ipse he that diggeth a pit for another shall fall into it himself for by troubling the Scots with the new service they pull'd an old house upon their own heads and an unspeakable trouble upon the King and this Kingdom as they soon felt it afterwards and all the people smarted for it Secondly Great fault of the Bishops When they had troubled these unsavory waters and raised up these foul Spirits that they could not binde and had engaged the good King in this bad cause they neither justified the King with their pens nor assisted him with their purses near so much as so good a Patron both of them and of their Churches had deserved but as men stupified with that storm that the Parliament had raised they were tongue-tied in his Cause and hand-bound for any great help or assistance they afforded him against his and their own enemies And what a neglect was this of so good a King by wise men to save their Wealth and to lose both their King and themselves I would they had remembred Ausonius his Epigram 55. Effigiem Ausonius Epigt 55. Rex Croese tuam ditissime regum Vidit apud manes Diogenes Cynicus Constitit utque procul stetit majore cachinno Concussus dixit Quid tibi divitiae Nunc prosunt regum Rex O ditissime cumsis Sicut ego solus me quoque pauperior Nam quaecunque habui mecum fero cum nihil ipse Ex tantis tecum Croese feras opibus But they skulked to escape the storm I could name the men that had and let abundance of Wealth and ready Coin behind them and yet did nothing to relieve the King and suffered their King to suffer Ship-wrack a fault not unworthy to be punished by the Judges and an unthankfulness yea and such unthankfulness as exceeded all their former defects and faults to do so little for him that did so much for them and was contented to lose his life as he did rather then he would consent that they should lose their honour and be degraded of that Calling to which Christ had called them I am sure it is our duty and we ow it unto our King as I have fully shewed in my Book Of the Right of Kings to hazard our lives for our King and to spend all that we have in the defence of our King and I think this King well deserved if ever any King deserved at the Bishops hands that they should hazard their lives and expose all that they had in the just defence of so just a King and therefore God dealt most justly with us to suffer all our Bishops to