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
SEVEN TREATISES Very necessary to be observed in these very bad Days To prevent the Seven last Vials of God's Wrath that the Seven Angels are to pour down upon the Earth Revel xvi I. The Monstrous Murder of the most righteous King Paralel'd to the Murder of King CHARLES the First Act. vii 52. II. The Tragedy of Zimri that slew his King that was his Master 2. Reg. ix 31. III. God's War with the wicked Rebels Murderers c. Esay lvii 21. IV. The lively Picture of these lewd times Jeremy xiv 10. V. The four Chiefest Duties of every Christian Man 1. Peter ii 17. VI. The true Properties and Prerogatives of the true Saints John x. 27. VII The Chiefest Cause why we should love God 1. John iv 19. Whereunto is annexed The DECLARATION of the just Judgment of GOD 1. Upon our late King's Friends that neglected him 2. Upon the King's Enemies that rebelled and warred against him I. The perfideous Scots II. The bloody Irish III. The Anti-Christian Presbyterians and Parliament that killed the two Witnesses of Jesus Christ Moses and Aaron Magistrates and Ministers 1. In general upon all the Long Parliament and especially upon the Rump-Parliament so termed 2. In particular upon many of the most wicked Limbs of the great Anti-Christ and the Members of that Parliament AND The superabundant Grace and great Mercy of God shewed towards this good King CHARLES the First I. In his Life II. In his Death III. After his Death 1. In his Honour 2. In his Children and Posterity 3. In all his Friends and loyal Subjects By Gr. Williams Ld. Bishop of Ossory LONDON Printed for the Authour 1661. The Resolution of the Authour By the Grace of God and the assistance of his blessed Spirit I will flatter no man I do fear none nor any danger but God I desire nothing of any man but Love I covet no Preferment but to keep what the blessed King and my most gracious Master at the Motion of my ever Honoured Lord the Earl of Pembroke hath given me And He gave me all that I have and to lose all for his sake that gave me all I never cared I can have no long time to live being now full Seventy and four years old I will speak nothing to my knowledge but truth and if I perish I perish as Qu. Hester said Let God's will be done Jehovae Liberatori GR. OSSORY TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTIE And to the now-Convened PARLIAMENT and all Posterity The Humble Remonstrance of Gruffith Williams Lord Bishop of Ossorie Sheweth THAT he is most strictly obliged and indispensably bound as he is sent a messenger from God to instruct his people and called by His late Majesty his most gracious Master and now most Glorious Martyr Charles the first of ever blessed memory to be the Bishop of Ossorie to declare and make Remonstrance unto Your Majesty to the now-Convened Parliament and to all Posterity these few Subsequent things As First that ever since 1625. I lived with my ever-honoured Lord and Master the Earl of Pembroke and Mountgomery for the most part in His Majestie 's house at the Cock-Pit about the space of eighteen years together and about seven years of that time in His Majestie 's service and in that respect I had fitter opportunity to observe His Majestie and to understand the affairs and Trans-actions of the Court better then most others of His Majestie 's Chaplains that waited only their accustomed Moneth and then returned to their residence And mine Obligations to His late Majestie are so many and so great that I cannot with the best of mine endeavours discharge the Dimidium of those duties that low to the blessed memory of that King for he gave me all that I had and all that I have and had not the late Arch Bishop of Canterbury provided and commended to His Majestie a far better and abler man every way then my self His Majestie intended to make me the Teacher and Tutour to Your Majestie as I heard it from His own mouth when my ever Honoured Lord and Master the Earl of Pembroke and Mountgomery brought me to examine His Son and my Scholar the Lord Charles Herbert before His Majestie And therefore I conceive that I am more obliged and bound in Conscience to declare what I do infallibly know to be truth to perpetuate the understanding thereof unto Posterities and to undeceive the Ignorant and Simplest sort of people that know not things aright but in hearing the lying reports of most Malicious men do swallow down the same for truths then many others of His late Majestie 's Chaplains And I call the great God of Heaven and the Searcher of all hearts to be my witness that what I do is neither out of Envie Hatred or Malice to any particular man or to Flatter and to Insinuate my self into the favour of any one the greatest man living or for the hope and expectation of any benefit or Preferment in the World whereas I never did nor ever intended to desire any thing of Your Majestie or of any other but onely to retain and to enjoy what our late Pious King and my most gracious Master hath given me because that although I was Plundered in England and Plundered in Wales and Sequestred of all my Means both in England and Wales and had not left me one peny of any Ecclesiastical Means nor twenty Pound per annum in all the World to maintain my self and my Servants of any Temporal Estate so that I was forced for these twelve last years and more to live upon a little Tenement for which I payed fifty shillings rent to Sir Gr. Williams and four Pound land by the year of mine own poorer then poor Curates with Oaten-Bread and Barly-Bread and a little Butter-Milk or Glas-Door and sometimes Water being not able to keep any drop of Ale or Beer in my house for these two lustra's of years and more as all my Neighbours know and to go attired in very mean Country Cloaths and to do many servile works my self about my House Garden and Cattel for want of means to hire labourers yet for all this my sad condition lest I should be ensnared and hindred to discharge my duty and my tongue entangled with such Bird-lime I resolved to accept of no means benevolence or maintenance from the Usurpers Rebels and the Robbers of the Church of Christ and of their brethren whatsoever they should offer unto me and how great soever my wants should be as being contented with the Apostle with any state or condition whatsoever and hoping that as the Poet said of Pompey Non me videre superbum Prospera fatorum so Nec fractum adversa videbunt But what I say herein I do it onely to demonstrate the truth of things not to those that knew His Majestie which were needless but to those that knew Him not and upon mis-apprehension of His Majesties action's related by Malicious Adversaries misunderstood the same
youngest son as it hapned afterward unto Hiel the Bethelite So would the instruments of Satan deal with all Gods Prophets 1 Reg. 16.24 as Jehu did with the Prophets of Baal and as it hapned to Segub and Abiram the sons of Hiel after the re-edifying of Jericho And did not the Long-Parliament take the same course to root out all the Bishops all the Hierarchy and all Episcopall men all must down root and branch and not one of them must be left Alas alas were they all wicked or did some offend and must all be condemned for the offence of few or will they shew themselves like the implacable goddesse which as the Poet saith Exurere classem Argivûm atque ipsos voluit submergere ponto Unius ob noxam furias Ajacis Oilei destroyed all the Navie and drowned all the Argives for one mans fault This is to condemn the righteous with the wicked and the Lord saith the Judges should justifie the righteous Deut. 25.1 and condemn the wicked and not to condemn the righteous for the wicked nor with the wicked for the Poet speaking of some lewd women saith Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes Spectetur meritis quaeque puella suis Though some be loose and wanton yet must you not for this blame those that are honest so though some of the Bishops might perhaps be found unworthy of so high a calling Is that a sufficient argument to destroy them all Yet such hath been the Devils Logick to perswade his late Schollars to make their distruction as universal as Noahs deluge to take them all away And so much shall serve for the first point 2 The killing of the Preachers i.e. The progression of these persecutors in their wickednesse which is the persecution of the Prophets The next point is 2. Occidio praedicatorum And that is their progression and their going forward in their wickednesse more and more As the Sun goeth higher and higher unto the perfect day so do they go from one sin unto another still from the lesser unto the greater for they have not only persecuted the Prophets saith this holy Martyr but they have also slain them which shewed before of the coming of the just one that is the Preachers of Jesus Christ wherein you may behold as in a glasse the lively perfect picture of all wicked men and the innate inseparable condition of all malicious persecutors that is to proceed from bad to worse from one step to another from one degree of evill to a viler untill at last they fall into the bottomlesse gulph of all the most horrid wickednesse and as the Poet saith Flumina magna vides parvis de fontibus ortâ— Plurima collectis multiplicantur aquis From a small fountain thou maist see great flouds to arise and many waters to make great Seas so from the small seeds of these mâ—ns â—â—â—ice their sins ascend to the top of intolerable mischief or rather descend to the bottomiesse gulf of their own unavoidable destruction for so Cain at first was but angry with his brother because the Lord accepted him and liked better of his sincerity than of the others hypocrisie then Acrior ad pugnam redit vim suscitat ira he began to hate and to maligne him after that malitia excoecavit eum his malice moved him to persecute him and last of all most inhumanely to kill him So Pharaoh first envied the prosperity of the children of Israel because he thought that Fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris God blessed them and all that they had better then he blessed him then vim injuriam intulit he began to oppresse them by laying hard taxes and most cruel labours upon them and then he killed their children and in all likelyhood would have killed them if God had not delivered them out of his hands And the reason of this their progression in wickednesse The reason why the wicked grow from bad to worse is truly rendred by Seneca Quia omne scelus majori scelere tuetur every hainous and most wicked deed can never subsist and be upheld but by a more wicked deed and therefore the Lyar will swear and forswear himself to justifie his lye the robber will kill the honest traveller for fear he should accuse him and the Rebell that riseth to resist and to warre against his King and the Traytor that betrayeth his King never thinks himself safe untill he can be the death of his King so the Hereticks maintain their heresies and errors with far greater heresies and the Presbyterians that oppose and refuse to be directed by their Diocesans think themselves never satisfied untill they see the Bishops wholly supprest and destroyed And so the Jewes walked in the same steps and dealt after the same manner with Gods Prophets And so likewise ever since the wicked worldlings deal with the true Preachers of Jesus Christ for the whole companie of Gods children knowes what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great gulph and a huge distance and difference not in nature originally figmentum unum when as all men are made from the same lump but in generality and condition there is and hath been ever seen betwixt the Lay Commonalty and the learned Clergy of any Land and how as Ismael that was born after the flesh persecuted his own brother Isaac that was born after the Spirit so the Lay-worldlings do ever maligne and persecute unto death all the right spiritual Clergy-men And this persecution we of the Clergy have felt now of late to the very height when very very many of the very best of them that did feed daintily even with the Kings dishes were as the Prophet saith left desolate in the street and glad to sustain their lives with a little Barley bread and Glass-door and they that were clad in Scarlet were driven to embrace the dung-hills Jerem. 4.5 and be clad in rags and with Joshua the high Priest to be clothed with filthie garments Zechary 3 3. and so were made the scorn and Table-talk of their neighbours and blamed that they did not live and go according to their degrees and calling when as the Proverb is ultra posse non est esse none is able to do beyond his ability and he onely that weares the shooe knoweth where it pincheth him And as the Jews not only persecuted the Prophets but also slew the Preachers so many of us were slain some with the sword of these mercilesse men and many more with hunger and want Zechar. 3 3.1 when their hearts were broken with the extremity of grief and the weight of those miseries that were laid upon these good men were far heavier then the pillars could support And so this persecution thus proceeding did far exceed all former persecutions beyond Nero's tyranny and Dioclesians cruelty and was of the same kind but of a higher strain than Julians stratagems which was not only to suppresse Presbyteros
no Heir by Inheritance to the Crown and was rejected by Gods Spirit and David by Gods own appointment was to Succeed him in that Kingdom 1 Sam. 16.1 13. and was anointed by Samuel to be King in his stead which was very much Yet this Good Subject when Saul was put into his Hands and his servants perswaded him to take the Advantage of that good opportunity 1 Sam. 24 24. and to do justice upon that Wicked King he would by no meanes be advised by them nor suffer them to Rise against his King and when Abishai told him that God had delivered his enemy i.e. Saul into his hands and therefore desired that if David would not do it himself he would suffer Him to smite him David answered No by no means 1 Sam. 26.9 10 11. and he yeelds this reason Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless And he addeth The Lord shall smite him but God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against him Nay more then this when David took the Speare and the cruse of water from Sauls boulster and then went a great way from them he cried unto Abner and said Vers 16. Wherefore hast thou not kept thy lord the King As the Lord liveth ye are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords anointed Where you see David sweareth a Great oath As the Lord liveth and therefore he jesteth not They are worthy to die not they Alone that Kill their King but they also that hazard not their own lives to Protect and preserve the life of their King be their King never so Wicked I am sure in Davids judgment this is True Divinity Yea more then all this when Saul had fallen upon his own sword because he would not fall into the hands of his uncircumcised enemies and being in extream anguish desired a young Amalekite that was passing by to rid him out of his pain and the young man in favour to him performing his request and out of his respect to David that was to succeed him he brought the Crown that was upon his head and the Bracelet that was upon his arm unto David that the enemies might not have them and to shew that he took no pleasure in the death of Saul he came in a very mournfull manner with his Clâ—athes rent and Earth upon his head and likewise to shew his Loyal respect unto David he fell to the Earth and did Obeysance unto him and though he was a stranger and Subject neither to Saul nor to David therefore owed no service unto either of them yet because he took away the Life of Davids King the anointed of God and his Vicegerent here on earth David caused one of his young men 2 Sam. 1. to fall upon the poor Amalekite and for his mistaken curtesie unto Saul and unwelcome service unto David to smite him that he died So dear was the life of this Wicked King unto this Godly man that was a man according to Gods own heart the best subject that ever we read of and therefore was honored by God to become the best King that ever Israel had So that in the Genealogie of Christ the King of Kings he is preferred before Abraham as S. Matth. 1.1 Matthew sets it down The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham And is it not Strange that these Jews that were given so much to read the Scripture and had them more readily then our Puritans have them at their fingers end and could tell how many Affirmative and how many Negative precepts were in all the Bible and how many times every word was therein mentioned and yet that they would not now consider that Job saith Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked Job 34.18 Psal 105.15 Eccl. 8.4 Numb 16. Deut. 33.5 Hos 1.4 2 Reg 21.24 and that God himself saith Touch not mine anointed and the wisest amongst the sons of men saith Where the Word of a King is there is power and Who may say unto him What doest thou Or that they could not remember how fearfully God destroyed those Rebels that rose against Moses that was a King in Jesuron and destroyed the posterity of Jehu because he had destroyed his own King Ahab and stirred the people to slay all them that had slain Amon though he was a most wicked King But the truth is that the Old Serpent the Prince of darkness teacheth his Schollers to reject the Old light and now to stand altogether for New lights new Revelations and new Divinity therefore S. Augustine speaks most truely of these Scripturists that they had the Bible In manibus but not In cordibus and they had the truth in Codice but not in Capite for now Caiphas contrary to all the Old Scripture Joh 18.14 hath a New Revelation that it is expedient Pro salute populi that One man should dye for the people therefore Christ their King must needs be Killed and all the people cried out for justice and double their crie Crucify Him Crucify Him Salus Populi doth require it 2 From the Word of God 2. To prove it Lawfull to put any King to death Prosalute Populi he that hath all Scripture ad unguem can furnish you with a Text of S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.13 that affirmeth the Kingly office to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Humane Ordinance or creature therefore the people being the maker of the King Ob. they may destroy their Own creature if he failes in the End for which he was created To this our True Divines have oftentimes most truly answered 1. That the Jews held their Royal Government to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sol. Immediate from God and to be in force without the Election of Ordination from man and all other dominions and rule to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Humane Ordinance because God had determined and set down the Plat-form of their Government which he had not done to other Nations that as the Prophet saith had not the knowledge of his Laws and therefore S. Peter writing here to the Jews tels them that although the Kingly office should be but as they held an Humane Ordinance and not as theirs was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Rule yet his Precept was that they should Submit themselves thereunto for the Lords sake i.e. though the Governours were Heathens and their Government Heathenish yet Obedience and not Resistance is due unto them for the Lords sake by whom All Kings both Jews and Gentiles do bear rule 2. That although the Jurisdiction of Kings for Extent in some Part 2 Sol. and in some Degree might be said to be Humane from men yet the power of the Sword which hath Potestatem vitae necis is simply and absolutely Divine from God For who can give power over the Life of man but he that
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
Alexander the Great was so addicted to this vice that many times in his drink he slew his dearest friends as Clitus and others that we read of in Q. Curtius Valued worth 600. crowns and making a Supper on a time for his Captains he propounded a Crown to him that could drink most and one Promochus drank 5. gallons of wine but died within three dayes after and 41. more and so his Crown did him no credit Dan. 5.2 3 4 5. And Belshazar the son of the Great Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon drinking and quaffing in the Vessels that his father took from the House of God espied the hand-writing upon the wall that his kingdom should be taken from him and given to the Medes and Persians And many men in these dayes drink away their Lands their Monies their Wits and all that they have And therefore most wisely doth the Mother of King Lemuel say Prov. 31.4 It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink wine nor for Princes to drink strong drink And the son of Syrach saith Eccles 31.25 Plin. de viris illust c. 14. Shew not thy valour in wine for wine hath destroyed many As here King Elah was destroyed in his wine And Pliny the younger saith that Antiochus was killed at a Banquet by his own Minions because he would have forced them to drink beyond their abilities and against their wills And S. Augustine writes that one Cyrillus a Citizen of Hippo had an ungracious son that in the midst of his drunkenness killed his own mother great with child and his father that sought to restrain his fury and would have ravished his sister Aug. 60.10 Ser. 33. Vt citatur à Beard p. 491. Euseb hist l. 8. c. 16. had not she escaped from him with many wounds And Eusebius writeth that the Emperour Maximinus was so often deeply plunged in drunkenness that he became many times so mad that in his drunken madness he commanded many things to be done which he greatly repented of when he became sober again and no marvel for temulentia signifieth a voluntary madness and wine is termed temetum quia tentat mentem it shaketh the minde The notable Story of some young Drunkards out of Athenaeus Athenaeus l. 2. and destroyeth the senses as it appeareth by that notable Story which Athenaeus writeth of certain young men that drank so much that they verily believed they were sailing in a Gally and so tossed with the winds that they threw all things in the Chamber out at the window as Mariners use to throw their ladings over-board in a Tempest whereupon some Captains seeing the same came in unto them and finding them extreamly vomiting asked What they ayled who answered That they were Sea-sick and the storm forced them to throw all their goods into the Sea and because they supposed those Captains to be Tritons or Sea-gods they said That if they would help them at this time to arrive safe to land they would honour them for their Saviours ever after such madness is in drunkenness And Gregorius Turonensis saith that Attila which was called The scourge of god having married a Wife of excellent beauty and having well carowsed on his Marriage day fell at night into so dead a sleep that lying upon his back the blood that usually issued at his nostrils descended into his throat and strangled him and so indeed Drunkenness hath destroyed many more And yet Elah would not follow the counsel of King Lemuels Mother which might perhaps have saved his life and therefore Zimri takes this occasion to conspire his death So I come to the second Person mentioned in this Text which is Zimri 2. This Zimri was 1. King Elah's subject Second person is Zimri 2. King Elah's servant 3. A servant in an honourable place 1. Elah was Zimri's King and Zimri was Elah's subject 1 A subject and the Spirit of God sets down what honour is due unto our King Eccles 8.2 when he counselleth us to keep the Kings commandment or as the phrase imports to observe the mouth of the King and that in regard of the oath of God i.e. the solemn vow which thou madest at thine incorporation into Gods Church to obey all the Precepts of God whereof this is one To fear God and to honour the King or else the oath of alleageance and fidelity How straightly God prohibiteth the subject to offer the least dishonour unto his King which the subject makes unto his King in the presence and with the approbation of God who will most certainly plague all perjurers that take his Name in vain And so the same Spirit of God hath imprisoned and chained up our very thoughts words and works in the links of the strictest prohibition that they should no way peep forth to produce the least dishonour unto our King For 1. He saith Curse not the King no not in thy thought i.e. Eccles 10.30 Think not any ill nor to do any evil unto thy King and therefore the very thought of Treason was adjudged by the Court of France to be Treason and he that confest unto his Priest that he once thought to kill the King but afterwards repenting him of his intention he utterly abandoned the execution yet he was executed for that very thought 2. The same Spirit saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods i. e. the Judges of the Land nor curse that is in S. Paul's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak evil of the Ruler of the people And 3. The Lord of Hosts gives this peremptory charge to every subject Touch not mine Annointed which is the least indignity that may be Psal 105.15 1 Sam. 24.4 5. and yet may not be done to our King by any means And therefore Davids heart smote him when he did but cut off the lap of Saul's garment And therefore it appears that Zimri had no fear of God no regard of his Laws nor any thought of his favour when he fostered so vile a thought and committed so horrible an act as to kill his King But is that so transcendent a sin for a subject to kill his King Quest What if the King proves a Tyrant or an Heretick or else seeks the ruine of his subjects may not the subjects then in such a case kill such a King Look into the 9. several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the power of Parliament to proceed against their King for misgovernment and there you shall find many examples of subjects that have deposed and killed their Kings when their Kings deserved the same and therefore Zimri may be excused if King Elah deserved to be killed I answer that many Kings indeed have proved very wicked Answ and have justly deserved some severe censure but from God not from their subjects we need not go far for proof hereof but if we may believe Sir Walter Rawleigh our own King Henry the Eight was bad enough and might
rebellion and disobedience of the people as here because Zedechia was not suffered by these stubborn and disobedient people to follow the advice of this our Prophet therefore they were all delivered into seventy years Captivity And as the Lord is extream angry with those rebellious people that disobey and labour to displace the Kings and Governours that he sets over them So he sheweth abundance of his love and kindnesse to them that submit themselves to his ordinance and behave themselves dutifully and loyally towards those Kings whatsoever they be that God placeth over them as you may see it in the whole course and Story of King David and Saul for as he was the most dutiful and most faithful subject that ever we read of so God was pleased to raise him to be the best King that ever reigned over Israel for his King and his Governour was Saul the very first of that Order among the Jews and he was an hypocrite a persecutor a murderer a tyrant and a mad man yet when David whose life he thirsted after had him at his mercy and could as easily have taken off his head as to cut off the lap of his garment he said The Lord forbid 1 Sam. 24.6 that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords Annointed to stretch forth my hand against him and his heart smote him because he had cut off his skirt And when he had him again in the like trap he said 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 you are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords Annointed and his oath As the Lord liveth sheweth 1 Sam. 26.16 that he spake it in good earnest and jested not And if they be worthy to die that defend not and protect not such a wicked King especially in going about so vile an action as the murdering of so good a man and so dutiful a subject as David was then what shall become of them and what are they worthy of that murmur and grudge and plot against the life of such a â—ood King as maintained peace and jâ—stice amongst his people and offered no special injury to any particular man of us all Surely if I had the wisdom of Solomon and the eloquence of Demosthenes I were not able to expresse the odiousnesse of their sin that conspired against the person and proceedings of such a King as is inoffensive before God and all good men But to go on to shew unto you how faithful this good subject was to this bad King when the young man that was an Amalekite and none of Saul or Davids subjects came of his own accord to bring tidings unto David of Sauls death and of the good service that he thought he had done unto Saul at his own request to put him out of his pain David presently caused him to be put to death 2 Sam. 1.15 because he durst presume to offer any violence though that violence seemed to be a favour unto the Ruler of the people whom we are straightly forbidden to revile Exod. 22.28 or to speak evil of him So dutiful and so loyal a subject was David to so evil a Governour and so wicked a King as Saul And this his loyalty and fidelity unto Saul was one of the chiefest vertues that we find commendable in him before God had according to his fidelity to his King raised him to the Rule and Government of his people And I wish that all and every one of us would strive and study to imitate this good man in our obedience fidelity and loyalty to our King and Governours that God hath placed over us But here it may be some troubled and discontented spirit will say I could willingly yield all due respect and obedience unto our Kings and Governours could I be satisfied that God appointed them to be the Kings and Governours of his people Jeremy 23.21 but as the Lord saith of the false Prophets They run and I sent them not So he saith They have set up Kings but not by me Hosea 8.4 and they have made Princes and I knew it not And should we be obedient and faithful to such Kings and Governours that ambitiously set up themselves and are not righteously set up by God To these men that stumble at this block I answer 1. That the Prophet speaketh there as I shewed to you before not of any Soveraign Monarch but of the Aristocratical government of many men that will all be as Kings and Princes ruling and domineering over the people for so you see the Prophet speakes in the plural number of many Kings that in all the whole Scripture you shall never find to be either appointed or approved by God to be the Governours of his people for indeed those many Kings and Governours of equal authâ—rity are none of Gods Governours neither are they set up by God nor as I find approved by God in any place of all the Scripture But as God is One and the only Monarch of all the World so he ever appoints one Monarch only to be his Deputy to govern the people or nation that he committeth under his charge 2. I say that this Monarch and Governour whom God raiseth to govern his people attaineth unto his Throne and right of Government even by the ordination of God divers wayes as 1. Sometimes by Birth which is the most usual best and surest way and most agreeable to Gods will 2. Sometimes by Choice and the election of the people as Herodotus saith the Medes chose Deioces to be their King and the Princes of Germany now chuse their Emperour and they commonly chuse him that is by Birth the eldest son of the deceased King 3. Sometimes by the power of the Sword as God gave the Monarchy of the Medes unto Cyrus and the Kingdom of Darius and of many others unto Alexander and the Empire of the Romans unto Augustus and many other Kingdoms unto others that had no other right unto their Dominions but what they purchased with the edge of their Sword Which right though it be nothing else but Vsurpation and Intrusion in these ambitious hunters after rule and dominion yet notwithstanding it must needs be a very good right as the same cometh from the just God who is the God of war and giveth the victory unto Kings when as the Poet saith Victrix causa diis placuit And he having the right and power Paramount to translate the rule and transferre the dominion of his people to whom he will he hath oftentimes for their sins thrown down the mighty from their seat and translated the government of his people unto others whom some waies he thought fitter to effect his Divine will as he did give the Kingdom of Saul unto David and of Belshazzers unto Cyrus and
we while we feared and served God we may easily perceive if we be not wilfully blind how we our selves that live in these Kingdomes while we feared God and observed his service were more happy then any of all our Neighbour-Nations both in regard of those many many deliverances that God hath wonderfully wrought for us far beyond usual favâ—urs both in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth and of King James as that Reverend Bishop Carleton hath collected and compiled them together and also in powring down so many inestimable blessings upon us bâ—â—a si sua norint Agricolae had we but the grace to acknowledge them as I dare confidently affirm it of our selves as Moses doth of the Israelites no Kingdome under heaven had the like as chiefly the purest preachâ—ng of the Gâ—spel the most learned Clergy the gravest and I believe the most uncorrupted Judges the wisest and the meekest Governours and above all the upholder of all the best and most pious Protestant King that ever these Kingdomes enjoyed O that we were wise and would consider these things and would understand these loving kindnesses of the Lord. But when How miserable did we be come when we did cast off the fear of God as Moses said of the Israelites dilectus meus impinguatus we began to surfet of these great blessings to loath Manna and to cast off the fear of God to deem the highest of Gods messengers not worthy to eat with the dogs of our flocks not fit for any thing but to be trodden under feet as mire and clay in the streets when we make our strength to become the Law of Justice when we despise Governours and speak great swelling words against authority yea and raise a Rebellion as odious as I shewed our King is pious then you see and I pray God you do not still feel what mischiefs and miseries do succeed and are like to continue in the chiefest of these three Kingdomes the house of God is made a den of thieves the Priests are made out of the basest of the people the Pulpits are filled with Heresies Treasons and Blasphemies the highest Courts of Justice are turned to be the shops of all oppressions and wrongs and Gods Annointed is persecuted more then any other yea and the whole Kingdome is made the butcherie and slaughter-house of the Kings best subjects and Gods most faithful servants and all this and much more because there is no fear of God before our eyes And therefore let not these holy Rebels under the pretence of their great love to God cast away the fear of God and let them not think they do him service by persecuting his servants or that that is Christian Religion which breaks forth into Rebellion because they cannot obtain their Petition but as Solomon begins his Proverbs with the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom and ends his Ecclesiastes with Fear God and keep his Commandemets so I say that we and they should begin and end all that we take in hand with the fear of God and then all of us shall be blessed and whatsoever we take in hand it shall prosper But as S Gregory saith Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis and our love to God must be manifested by our love to our neighbours so our fear of God must be principally proved by that honour which we shew unto the King because as S. John saith it is impossible for us to love God and to hate his Image so it is impossible that any man should fear God which doth not honour the King because the same Spirit that saith fear God saith also honour the King and therefore S. Peter knowing how inseparably these duties go together after he had bidden us to fear God doth immediately adde honour the King which is the fourth branch of this Text. 4. Honour the King where I desire you to observe 4 Branch 1. Point and to observe it carefully when you had never more need to observe it then now 1. Who is to be honoured 2. What is the honour that is due unto him 3. Who are injoyned to honour him And all these are included in these word Honour the King 1. It is the King in the singular number and not Kings Homer Iliad 2. that every man is bound to honour for one man cannot serve two Masters much lesse can he honour two Kings but he must despise the one when he cleaves unto the other And therefore as it was like false Latine when Lamec said Hearken unto me ye wives of Lameâ— so it had been very incongruous for the Apostle to have said to any man honour thy Kings because as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocrat in Nicol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec multos regnare bonam Rex unicus esto And so not only Isocrates Lucan l. 1. after he had disputed much of all sorts of governments concludeth peremptorily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no kind of government is better then the Monarchy but also Plato-Aristotle Plutarch Herodotus Philostratus Cassius Patricius Sigonius and all the wisest men that have written of Government have proved Monarchical Government to be the best form agreeable to nature wherein God founded it and is the first Government that ever was most consonant to Gods own Government and the most universally received throughout the whole world even from the beginning of the Creation to this very day C. 3. p. 20. as I have most fully proved in my Treatise of the Rights of Kings Therefore Serâ—nus writeth that when Craesus raigned over the Lydians he would have taken his brother to be his associate in the Government but one of the wisest Lydians rose up and said Or all the good things O King that are in earth there is none greater or better then the Sâ—n without which nothing could be seen nothing could remain on earth yet if there were two Suns periculum immineret ne omnia constagrantia pâ—ssum irent we should find the danger to have all things consumed with too much heat even so the Lydians do most willingly embrace one King and most faithfully believe and acknowledge him to be their Saviour and deliverer duos vero simul tolerare non possunt but they can no wayes endure two at once and Plutarch saith that Alexander gave the like answer unto Darius when he sent word that he should raign with him saying nec terram duos Soles neque A am duos Reges ferre pâ—sse that Asia could no more abide two Kings then the earth could endure two Suns because as Caelius saith Nulla sancia societas nec fides regni est Caelius l. 24. c. 11. Omnisque potestas impatiens consortis erit And I believe this very Kingdome hath found the difference betwixt two Lords-Justices and one Lord Lievtenant even as the Poet saith Tu causa malorum Facta tribus Dominis communis Roma Lucan l. 1. nec unquam In turbam missi
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
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