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
the onely good Shepherd and in all other respects whatsoever is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Shepherd and indeed the onely Shepherd that is simply and absolutely good For Though Abel was a good Shepherd and Jacob was another good Shepherd Gen. 31.40 so carefully watching over his flock that in the day the drought consumed him and the frost by night and his sleep departed from his eyes and Moses was such another Psal 77.20 of whom the Prophet saith that God led his people like sheep by the hands of Meses and Aaron and so David was an excellent Shepherd that ventured his life to save his sheep and to pull it out of the Lions teeth and when God took him away from the sheep-folds that he might feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance the Spirit of God tells us that he fed them with a faithful and true heart Psal 78.73 Esay 44.28 and ruled them prudently with all his power And of Cyrus the Lord said He is my Shepherd and Homer calleth Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherd of the people and so not onely the Apostles and Bishops but also Constantine Theodosius King James and King Charls and all other religious Kings and pious Princes as Nehemiah the good Lieutenant of Jury under Artaxerxes King of Persia to whom if it were not for suspicion of flattery which is one of the basest of all vices and the worst kind of Scotization you may see what Minshaw meaneth by that word I might truly parallel his Excellency our Lord Lieutenant The now Duke of Ormond and many more have been very good Shepherds of Gods sheep Yet they were all and put them all together very very far short of this Shepherd in my Text which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good Shepherd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transcendently and which in all the foresaid respects and in all other respects whatsoever excelleth all the most excellent Shepherds in the world And so much shall serve to be spoken at this time of the good properties of this good Shepherd 2. As the children of God are termed Sheep in respect of Christ 2 Gods people are termed Sheep in respect of themselves Geminianus de exemplis l. 5. c. 46. 1. In respect of their innocency 2 Sam. 24.17 which is their chief Shepherd so they are likewise stiled Sheep in respect of the Analogie and resemblances betwixt them and Sheep which as Geminianus saith are in these six speciall points 1. Innocency of life for as nature gave the sheep neither horns to hurt nor claws to scratch nor teeth to bite so the children of God do nothing to the hurt of any other they neither hate their neighbour in their hearts nor strike him with their hands nor traduce him with their tongues nor think any evil or wish any hurt to him in their thoughts and therefore when David saw the Angel that smote the people in Hierusalem he said Lo I have sinned but these sheep what have they done as if he should have said these poor men that are like sheep so harmless and so innocent what hurt could they do either in themselves or to any others Et haec vera innocentia est quae nec sibi nec aliis nocet and that is the true innocency saith S. Aug. which hurteth neither himself nor his neighbours 2. 2 In respect of their patience They are resembled unto Sheep for their patience in suffering all kinds of injuries and indignities for as the Prophet sheweth and Gods people findeth it For thy sake are we killed all the day long Psal 44.22 and are counted as sheep appointed to be slain Where you may see 1. Where observe 1. The Cause The cause of their sufferings is expressed not for theft murder adultery or the like wicked acts but Propter te for Gods cause for obeying his will and being loyal to our Superiours and not treacherous unto our lawful Governours and so for being faithful in Gods service by publishing the truth and not carried away with every new form of service and every wind of false doctrine this is cause enough to suffer and this is propter te for thy sake O God which is our onely comfort 2. 2 The Sufferings Here is the sufferings of Gods sheep and servants specified we are mortified or killed And that is 1. By our selves in our repentance and contrition for our sins every day or all the day long that is throughout our whole life according as the Apostle saith we die daily that is to sin and for our sin And then 2. We are killed by others when with the rest of the Martyrs we are as we have been not long since throughout all this Kingdome robbed of our good names filled with reproach plundered of our estates banished from our dwellings clapt up in prisons and then led as sheep unto the slaughter In all which and in all other sufferings I know no better remedy then what our Saviour prescribeth to us in our patience to possess our souls which may be lost for want of patience but will be supported and eased if we will be like sheep patient and silent in our sufferings Quia levius fit patientia Horatius quicquid corrigere est nefas because the more we struggle when we are in the briars the more we shall be scratched and intangled and the less able we shall be to bear our indignities and the less we murmure the less will be our sufferings and the more favours we shall finde at the hands of God and therefore the Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We ought to suffer patiently whatsoever God layeth upon us and so the Saints of God do suffer whatsoever is laid upon them as you may see in the said 44 Psalm from the 10. v. to the 22. 3. 3 In respect of their obedience C. 10. v. 4. Damase l. 3. c. 4 They are resembled to Sheep in respect of their obedience to do the commands of God for as the Sheep do follow the Shepheards whistle and do know his voice so do the servants of God obey the voice of Christ listening to his words with their ears Unde veteres dicebant obaudio pro obedio imbracing it in their souls Quia obedientia est voluntatis propriae subjectio preceptis Dei which they are most ready to peform to say with him in Plautus Plaut trin Adsum impera quidvis neque tibi ero in mora neque latebrosè me abs tuo conspectu occultabo For Aug. in Gen. l. 9. habetur 33. q. 5. c. est ordo as S. Aug. truly saith Est ordo naturalis in hominibus ut serviat foeminae viris filii parentibus quia in illis haec est justitia ut majori serviat minor it is the order of nature among men that the women should serve the men children their parents servants their masters and subjects
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
herein and that is that all and every one that had any hand or finger in that good King's Death or in the death of any of those His good Subjects that were unjustly and illegally sentenced to death I do not speak of them that were killed in the War because as the Poet Lucan saith Pharsal lib. 1. Victrix causa Diis placuit sed victa Catoni And as the Prophet David saith The Sword devoureth the one as well as the other but of those that in cold blood by usu ping Judges under the Colour of Law were contrary to the Laws both of God and of the Land most unjustly condemned unto death should for that their unjust Proceedings be justly questioned and legally tryed for their former Offence the same being of so high a Nature as I shewed to you before But you will say many of them as blinde Bartimaeus might easily see that acted very highly against the last King and as it is conceived had their hands deep in his death were as active as any others and most special Instruments to bring His now Sacred Majesty unto His Right whereby they have fully expiated their foul offence and deserve rather to be well rewarded and honoured as some say they are then any ways questioned as their Adversaries would have them to be I answer that His Majesty is wise as the Angel of God and knoweth best what he should best do and the Policy of State is far beyond the Sphere of mine Intelligence and their doings therein ought highly to be commended and deserve not meanly to be rewarded though as Will. Sommers told King Henry the Eight that such a Gentleman threatned to kill him and the King answered that if he killed him he would have him hanged for it Will. Sommers replied Nay good King let him be hanged before he kills me or else his death will not preserve my life and his hanging will do me no good so I heard some say that they would have had the Enemies of the last King first punished for their Rebellion and the Murder of Him and then rewarded for their good Service to His now gracious Majesty or else reward them well for their good Service done to our now gracious King and then question them and punish them answerable to their Deserts for their Disloyalty and Treachery to our late King as I read it in the Turkish History and in some other Historians of some very wise Kings that did so to the like Offenders because we may believe it for a truth that they which have proved false to their own true just and lawful Prince will scarce ever prove faithful to any Prince nor seem to be but either for hope still to reap the fruit of their Subtlety to turn when the Winde turns or for fear to be dash'd in Pieces if they turn not their Sayls to escape those Rocks which they cannot otherwise avoid and no thanks to such men for any good they do when they do it perforce and therefore should be trusted perchance And it may be many of the very Murderers both of the good King and of his loyal Subjects have robbed and spoyled not the Aegyptians of their Jewels but the Israelites their Brethren of their Goods Lands and Possessions which they have gotten into their own hands and thereby became exceeding rich and enabled themselves to match their Sons and their Daughters to great Families and to bestow large Gifts that do blind the eyes of the wise on others to make to themselves Friends of their unrig hteous Mammon to preserve them from ther just deserts and to pull down the Wrath and Vengeance of God on others for this their obstructing of the straight rule of Justice that teacheth us to do otherwise Or if it were not so many men do wonder how so many men as were conceived to have been active and most of them to have their hands embrued in the good King's Blood and were likewise guilty of the death of His innocent Subjects should escape uncensured and so few of them sentenced to expiate and appease the Wrath of God for such horrible unparallebd and transcendent Murthers for I knew eight persons executed at Dublin for the Murther of one ordinary Traveller and is it not strange that we see no more brought to their Trial for such a Sâ—aughter as was done upon our good King and His innocent Subjects so judicially and yet so illegally and altogether unjustly sentenced to death or shall we think that no more were guilty then were condemned or not rather that the guilty Murtherers by their Wealth Subtlety and Friends made many others guilty of God's anger and the pulling down of God's vengeance upon many more for their excusing covering and clearing such abominable Transgressours for I would have all men to consider duly how destructive Murther is to mankinde and how odious and hatefull it is to God above all other sins whatsoever especially when an innocent man is judicially and illegally Murthered as you may rightly finde the truth hereof fully proved in the fifth Chapter of the first Book of The Great Anti-Christ revealed and in these Sermons following And I would the Protectours of the King's Murtherers would rightly weigh what the people sayd to King David that His life was worth ten thousand of the lives of the common people and how the Lord punished the whole house and posterity of Saul and all the Kingdom of Israel until his wrath was satisfied for the innocent death of the Gibeonites that were but a poor contemptible people but killed without cause 2. Sam. xxi and especially that there be not any more but two sins that I can finde in the whole Book of God that the Lord saith cannot be pardoned and obliterated without their due punishment and they are 1. The high Abuse of God's Messengers and Publishers of his Will 2. The unjust shedding of innocent Blood For Of the First the Spirit of God saith that when the Lord God sent his Messengers unto the Children of Israel and they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets the wrath of the Lord arose against his People until there was no Remedy as if he had said For other sins of these Israelites some ways and remedies might have been found out as Moses and Aaron by their prayers and censers appeased the wrath of God to turn away the Punishment of them and David and Ezra did the like from the Jews but when they mocked his Messengers despised his Word and misused his Prophets which were the onely Sâ—â—ve or Medicine that could heal their sickned Souls when they refused and cast away these Remedies from them then there was no Remedy in the World for them to preserve them from their just deserved Punishment and therefore saith the Text The Lord brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the Sword in thâ— House of their Sanctuary and had no Compassion
upon young Man or Maiden old Man or him that stooped for Age he gave them all into his Hand for that there was no Remedy 2 Chron. xxxvi 15 16 17. And of the Second the Spirit of God saith that the Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of the Chaldees and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Children of Ammon and he sent them against Juda to destroy it and to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasses and for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Hierusalem with innocent blood as the Judges of the Rump-Parliament did fill Ingland which the Lord would not pardon 2 Reg. xxiv 4. as if he had said though the Lord God might have been perswaded by Prayers and Tears and Sacrifices to pardon all other Sins yet this sin of shedding innocent Blood especially when it is judicially shed the Lord will no ways nor by any means pardon it and though men would fain pardon it yet God will not pardon it because God which is the God of truth and Truth it self hath said it and that we should not doubt of it he hath said Surely your blood of your Lives will I require at the hand of every Beast will I require it and at the hand of man at the hand of every man's Brother will I require the life of man And Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the Image of God made he man Gen. ix 5 6. and see how fully and how energetically the Lord hath said and the Scripture hath set down all these things against the pardoning of them that shed innocent blood And then these things being duly weighed as Saint Ambrose said to Theodosius Quod inconsulto fecisti consultius revocetur so I believe that if any man hath inconsideratly either through ignorance corruption or partiality caused or consented to let any Agag to escape whom the Justice of God hath designed to death he would assuredly consultius errorem corrigere amend His former errour and not let the death of such a King as was worth ten thousand of us and the Blood of so many of His loyal Subjects as were judicially and unjustly condemned to death pass away unpunished and unquestioned whensoever any of the Authours or Contrivers of their death should be found out or at least wise he would be satisfied and not blame others for doing if they do what he should have done It is no matter when better late then never for Nunquam sera est ad Justitiam via The way to do Justice is never too far nor the time too late and God deserreth his Judgments for many years together when we finde Murderers flourishing in all Pomp and Power a long time as I have shewed it at large in the Tragedy of Zimri and yet at last to come to tast of their just deserved Punishment as Pilate and Herod and the rest of the Murderers of Jesus Christ were not apprehended by God's Justice some of them in fourty years after they had condemned their just and lawful King and many more such Murderers you may finde in Dr. Beard 's Theatre of God's Judgments and in other Authours to have lain secure and to have slept in their sins for a long Season before the hand of Vengeance hath rouzed them up and yet after many Ages to pay Death for Death And therefore though the Parliament and Parliaments have passed over and perhaps pardoned those whom God saith he will not pardon yet I conceive that whensoever any of them that had their hands imbrued or the least finger stayned in our King's Blood or in the Blood those His loyal Subjects that were judicially unjustly condemned shall be found out and made known to be such they should be brought unto their Trial especially when we consider that Justice donâ— upon such transcendent Malefactours that do now as yet as it is conceived wallow in those innocent Bloods that they have spilt and do jet up and down most proudly in the spoils of their Slaughtered and Beggered Brethren would as the Scripture testifieth purge the Land from the stain of that innocent Blood which they have so plentifully lost and doth still crie like Abel's Blood for Vengeance against them appease the Wrath of God for our former neglect of doing Justice increase the King's Revenues by the Forfeited estates of these Transgressours satisfie the Friends of those Murthered innocents terrifie all other Rebellious hearts from such horrible attempts and all other Judges from abusing the Laws and perverting Justice and be an excellent Example of a just and unpartial proceeding against Traitours for the Foreign Kings to applaud it and for their Subjects to fear it if ever the like thoughts should enter into their hearts of doing such things as were done by these Murtherers And truely it hath often grieved me to hear the vulgar people so generally complaining that they see divers of the late King's Enemies and Rebels that they suspect guilty some way of the Kings death so much favoured in the World and so domineering over others jetting up and down in Pride so gloriously trimmed with the spoils of the loyal Subjects and some of the King's Friends and faithfull Servants sneaking up and down wholly dejected so as if there were an Act of Oblivion past of the King's Friends and an Act of Indempnity for His Adversaries To whom I have often answered that our King is wise as the Angel of God and He knoweth best what He hath to do far better then the best of us all and they should rather remember what the Psalmist saith Fret not thy self because of the ungodly neither be thou Envious because of the wicked doers for they shall soon be cut down like the Grass and be withered like unto the green Herb especially when their Iniquitie their Treasons and Treacheries that as yet are hidden from the Eyes of men shall be found out and be made apparent unto the World And therefore though I say all this that I said before as from the straight unpartial rule of severe Justice yet as I am a Bishop of Jesus Christ and a Messenger of the God of mercy that takes no delight in the blood of his Brethren nor desireth the death of any one I am obliged most humbly and earnestly to pray and beseech Your gracious Majesty to be still gracious as You have demonstratively shewed Your Self to be hitherto unto these ungracious Offenders and when the Law of Justice hath decreed their Desert to stretch forth unto them the right Hand of Mercy and to do with them as the Wisdom of the most merciful God shall direct Your Majesty Secondly The next thing that I am bound to declare and to remonstrate unto Your Majesty and to all others is lest Your Majesty should be misinformed concerning me as I understood by Mr. Secretary Nicholas I have been misrepresented in Your Majestie 's Court most humbly to
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
the words of God And It should teach the people to esteem of their Preachers as of the Ministers of Christ and as Legati à latere the Embassadours of Christ and the dispensers of the manifold mysteries of God and it should likewise move them to hear our words not as the words of men but as the words of the true Preachers are indeed the words of God Therefore Christ saith to his Disciples that while the Scribes and Pharisees do sit in Moses chaire and so teach the doctrine that Moses taught all whatsoever they bid you observe Aug. advers lit Petil. l. 2. c. 6. that observe and do but do not ye after their works Dicunt enim quae Dei sunt faciunt quae sua sunt for they say the words of God while they teach the Doctrine of Moses but they do the works of their own Wills when they do what Moses forbids them saith Saint Aug. And that should perswade the people to hear the Preachers words with more reverence and to believe them with lesse doubting 2. 2 God himhelf As the Prophet is Gods Herald and Embassadour to proclaim Gods will so God himself is the chief Authour of this Proclamation and the principall proclaimer of this war against the wicked for there is no peace to the wicked Psal 62.2 saith my God And God hath spoken it once and twice and the Prophet heard the same That power belongeth unto God and he hath said it once and twice that there is no peace to the wicked as you see here in this Text Aug. ad Pollent l. 2. c. 4. and in c. 48.22 Et verba toties inculcata vera sunt viva sunt planae sunt therefore we may be sure we need not doubt it there is no peace unto the wicked because God which proclaims this war is able to make it good against them because he is as he is stiled the Lord of Hosts And his Host is both 1. Celestial And 1 Part of Gods Host threefold 2. Terrestrial And 3. Infernal And 1. 1 Regiment of Gods Army Aietie His Celestial Host is threefold 1. Aiery And 2. Starry And 3. Glorious And By the first he drowned and destroyed the world for the Windowes of heaven were opened Gen 7. c. 19 24 Josh 10. and by the same Host he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and the Ammorites with hail-stones and we see great winds destroyed many on the Seas and great frosts do devour many on earth Psal 147.17 for if God sends forth his Ice like morsels the Prophet demands Who is able to abide his frost The second part of his Host is the starry heaven 2 Regiment starry that is called Caelum quasi caelatum engraven and enamel'd with such glorious aspects And this Host as it speaks for God and declares the glory of God as the Psalmist saith so they fight for God Psal 19.1 as the stars in their order did fight against Sisera and the Sun stood still at Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Aialon to assist Joshua to overthrow Gods enemies Josh 5.20 c. 10.13 3. Regiment glorious which is threefold The third and most powerful part of Gods Host which is most glorious resideth in the Empyreal heaven and they are 1. Saints And 2. Angels And 1. 1 The Saints blessed souls Raynold de Idol l. 2. c. 1. The Saints and blessed souls departed saith Raynold De sua faelicitate securi de nostra salute solliciti sunt and without question they do pray for the Church in Generall against the wicked and their prayers are very available 2. The Holy Angels are instruments of Gods love and mercy 2 The Holy Angels Act. 5.19 to help the faithfull servants of Christ as you may see how the Angel helped Tobias and brought the Apostles out of prison and they are the executioners of Gods justice against the wicked as you may find how an Angel slew all the first-born in Egypt and an Angel of the Lord went out Exod. 12.19 and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning Behold they were all dead Corps 2 King 49.35 And if one Angel was able to slay so many what cannot millions of Angels do And we read what a glorious King was Herod and how he was magnified by the people as a god and not as man but because he gave not the glory unto God the Angel of the Lord smote him Act. 12.23 so that he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost and our Saviour testifieth unto us Math. 24.31 what service the Angels shall do to God and for his servants at the last day 2. Gods terrestriall Host is both 2 Part of Gods Host two fold 1. The Sea 2. The Land And all that are contained therein and you know 1. How the Sea drowned Pharaoh and all his mighty Army and drowned many thousands since and you cannot forget 2. How the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah and his companions So the frogs flies and worms do fight for God Num. 16.32 against the wicked and as the Prophet saith The stone shall cry out of the wall Ps 106.17 and the beam out of the timber shall answer it Wo to him that buildeth his house with blood Hab. 2.11 and so all the parts of the earth shall fight against the wicked 3. Gods infernall Host are the very Divels and damned spirits 3 Part of Gods Host that can do nothing without Gods leave and must do all that he commands them For so we read that an Evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul 1 Sam. 16.14 and vexed him for his wickedness And so they will do to all wicked men vex them and plague them for their wickedness And so you see how it is impossible for any transcendent wicked man Murderer Rebel Idolater or the like to have any peace either with himself or his neighbour or especially with God that is so powerfull a God so able to destroy all his wicked enemies And therefore let all such wicked men repent and all others take heed of being wicked because my God which is the true God and the God of truth proclaims this truth unto the world that There is no peace unto the wicked THE FOURTH TREATISE Jer. 14.10 Thus saith the Lord unto this people Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins WHAT our Saviour saith of the Prophesy of Esaias Esay 61.1 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears which was a very joyfull fulfilling of it indeed Luk. 4.21 so I am affraid I may say of this Prophesy of Jeremy that in these daies you may see this Scripture fulfilled amongst us because
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
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
because this our City is built upon a Rock and the gate of hell shall never be able to prevail against it not only because that being upon a Rock it can never be undermined but especially because as S. Cyprian saith Cyprianus Non plus valet ad dejiciendum terrena paena quam ad erigendum divina tutela And this good Shepherd which is the Lamb that standeth upon Mount Sion to defend it is more powerful to save it then the Roaring Lyon which is the Prince of darkness to destroy it 2. The same Prophet David saith The Lord is my Shepherd 2 From wants Psal 23.2 therefore I shall want nothing he shall feed me in a green pasture and lead mo forth besides the waters of comfort And in the Propher Ezekiel this good Shepherd saith Ezek. 34.14 The best food for Gods sheep what it is I will feed my sheep in a good pasture and upon the high Mountains of Israel shall their Fold be there shall they lye in a good Fold and in a fat Pasture shall they feed upon the Mountains of Israel where you must observe that this Fold is the Church of Christ and the fat Pastures are the Lilies Violets and the sweetest of all pleasant flowers especially the three leaved grass that as Aristotle saith is most delight some unto the sheep for this is the food of the Shepherd even as he professeth in the Canticles Cantic 2. that he feedeth among the Lilies and that is as Psellus doth interpret it where he seeth the graces of Gods holy Spirit and the virtuous examples of the Saints these are as meat and drink unto him and so they are unto his sheep For as S. Ambrose saith the Pastures of Gods sheep are the blessed Sacraments the holy Scriptures heavenly Sermons pious books and holy meditations of heavenly things and especially the three leaved grass which is the understanding of that great mystery of godliness that our God which is but one God in Essence is distinguished into three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And the waters of comfort The waters of comfort what they are are those plentiful streams of milk and honey of Divine Consolation wherewith the Spirit of God doth as it were inebriate the souls of his servants for the Church of Christ is the Land of Promise which floweth with milk and honey it is the Wilderness where the Lord raineth Manna the bread of heaven to fatisfie the fouls of his children it is the Spouse of Christ whose loves are better then Wine and it is the House of God Cantic 2. whereof the Psalmist speaketh that the sheep of Christ shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of his house and he shall give them drink of his pleasure as out of a River that is alwayes running Psal 36.8 and yet never dried up And Christ being our Shepherd his sheep shall not only have the spiritual food of their souls and be satisfied with these heavenly juncates but they shall have also whatsoever is necessary for the sustentation of their temporal life For as S. Paul saith Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4.8 and of that which is to come And our Saviour saith that if we first seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and so to become the sheep of this good Shepherd Matth. 6. then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the other things that you seek as food and rayment shall be given unto you for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things therefore he that feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him will much rather feed you that are the sheep of Christ if you relye upon him And they shall not only have sufficient for themselves but also to help and to relieve many others as the poor and their children and their childrens children for the blessing of the Lord saith Solomon maketh rich and a good man leaveth an inheritance to his childrens children Prov. 10.22 Prov. 13 22. Psal 112. v. 2 3. Iob 22.23 for riches and plenteousness are in his house and his Seed is blessed And Eliphas the Temanite saith If thou return to the Almighty and put away iniquity far from thy Tabernacles then shalt thou lay up gold as dust and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks Yea the Almighty shall be thy Defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver even as the Lord blessed Abraham that he became very rich in cattel Gen. 13.2 c. 12.16 in silver and in gold and had sheep and oxen and he-asses and men-servants and maid-servants and she-asses and Camels Or were it so that God did not thus bless us with outward wealth but suffer the world to frown upon us and to bring us to some want and poverty as he did to Job Lazarus and others either for the tryal of their faith patience and constancy in his service or for some other causes best known unto himself yet if we be the sheep of Christ what need we care or fear any such want so long as we want not the Wedding Garment and the spiritual food of our souls Quia major est suavitas mentis quam ventris because the garment of righteousness is of more worth then any Imperial Robe and the satisfying of our Souls is a great deal better then the filling of our bodies whose food be the same never so dainty is compared with the other nothing but ackorns and husks and other like vanities that are as soon done and gone as they are begun whereas a good conscience is a continual feast and the food of our souls Iohn 6.50 54. which our good Shepherd giveth us never perisheth but feedeth us to everlasting life as our Saviour sheweth O then beloved Brethren What a blessed and a happy thing it is to be the sheep of Christ to be thus innobled with such a Master thus protected from all evil and thus satisfied with all good though therefore the Proverb tells us and it is very true if thou make thy self a sheep the Wolfe will eat thee yet it is far more excellent and to be chosen rather to be a sheep of Christ then a wolfe of the world and to be a Lamb of God rather then a Lyon of the devil when at the last we shall find it far better to be devoured then to devoure and to be spoiled then to spoil our Neighbours 3 The duties and properties of Christ his sheep Two special points Iohn 10. v. 5. But then 3. If you would be the sheep of Christ you must be qualified with these two special properties 1. To hear the Voice of Christ 2. To refuse the hearing of a strangers voice For So our Saviour saith My sheep hear my voice but a stranger will they not follow but will fly from him because they know not the voice of strangers So
Discovery of Mysteries and the Revelation of the great Anti-Christ And for which doings the Lord God hath if not sufficiently yet apparently shewed his just Wrath and Indignation against them many ways First In the discovery of their secret Hypocritical and hidden under-ground Mysteries of their Iniquitie which could not otherwise be sifted out and manifested but by the omniscient Spirit of the all-seeing-God Secondly In raysing so many godly men though to many with the hazard and to some with the loss of their lives and fortunes to oppose them and with a courage raysed by the divine Spirit to withstand their wicked ways and to uphold the true service of the living God Thirdly In the reducing of their chiefest Plots and Devices to nothing though out of his patience and long-sufferings he suffered them for a while to prosper and to walk on still and to proceed in their wickedness for they intended like those Gyants that built the Tower of Babel to erect such a frame of Government in these Kingdomes that they only and their Posterity and Successours should sit at the Stern to turn and guide the same as the thirty Tyrants did for a while in Athens so long as the Sun and Moon endureth and to that end they destroyed their King they suppressed the Bishops they excluded the Lords and then framed such an Engagement as might infringebly oblige and tie all the inhabitants of these dominions to adore them for their good Masters and Governours for ever But lo he that dwelleth in Heaven laughed them to scorne Psal ii 4. and the Lord had them in derision for as the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel and upon Barak and Gedeon to destroy the Aramites Canaanites and Midianites and as the Lord stired up Sampson and David to destroy the Philistines so the same Spirit stirred up one even the Lord General Cromwel a Philistine from among these Philistines and a grand Rebel out of these Rebel's that did first so wisely disannul their brazen Engin the Engagement and then seeing his opportunity and finding how acceptable it would be to God and beneficial to all good men he did with an Heroical courage dissolve that knot and scatter those Parliament-men as the Lord scattered the Jews that were the murderers of his Son and their own King over all the parts of this Kingdom And thus by the just Judgment of God the whol Mass of that long Parliament that thought to remaine as Kings for ever became like the chaff which the winde scattereth away from the face of the earth And therefore Secondly The just Judgment of God upon the dismembred members of the long Paâ—liament I must now proceed to shew you the just Judgments of God upon the dismembred parts of this great body as I finde them driven by the winde of God's wrath here and there throughout all the parts of these Dominions But I must confess that for the particular persons of that Parliament and their adherrents that have in a great measure already felt the heavy hand of God's wrath for their Transgressions in that confederacie it is a work beyond mans reach either to set them down or to shew their punishments and therefore I will confine my self and as the Lord shewed unto Moses the land of Canaan from the top of Mount Nebo afar of which sight must needs be therefore but very partial and imperfect so will I give you a tast and a glimmering light of some judgments of God and the justness thereof upon some particular men and the more noted Members of that Parliament and I will begin with him that was the beginning of our trouble the first disturber of our peace and the General of the late unhappy War the Earl of Essex First It was said as I remember of Dionysius King of Sicily Of the Earl of Essex that he was a Tyrant begot of Tyrants then which a worser Character could not be given and a baser description could not be made of him saith Plutarch But I will not say of this noble Lord who in deed had a great deal of Honour in him and carried himself for ought that ever I heard like a man of Honour and pius inimicus a noble Adversary unto the King that he was a Traytor begot a of Traytor yet I must say that his Father was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth and was arraigned and beheaded for Treason à ainst the Queen whether justly for his deserts or unjustly by the malice of his enemies I will not determine and though her Royal Majesty did Royally and most Graciously restore this man both to his Fathers Lands and Honours and King James confirmed the same and King Charles more then that made him one of his Privy Council and Lord Chamberlain of his House-hold which was for Honour one of the best Offices as I take it in the Court and for profit a place worth viis modis near about 2000. pounds per annum as I heard and conferred many other favours upon him and for all this this Lord as is conceived out of no other cause then ambition of popular praise which greedy desire of popularity hath undone many a noble minde or as others think out of a secret grudg which he bare to this good King and to King James his linage for giving way to his Lady and Wife to be divorced from him onely propter frigiditatem naturae which all Divines and Canonists do not consent to be a sufficient cause of divorce presently and willingly accepted the motion of the House of Commons Plinius lâ—b 8. cap. 23. and commission of the Parliament to become the General of all their Forces against the King wherein as Pliny writeth of the Aspick saying Conjunga ferè vagantur nec nisi cum compare vita est itaque alterutra intercepta incredibilis alteri ultionis curá persequitur interfectorem unúmque eum in quantolibet populi agmine notitia quadam infestat perrupit omnes difficultates ut perdat eum qui comparem perdiderat that he pursueth him which hath hurt or killed his Mate and knows him among a multitude of men and therefore hunteth him still and layeth for him breaking throughout all difficulties to come at him so it may be this Lord was such as Seneca speaks of qui tantùm ut noceat cupit esse potens that accepted of his office that he might be revenged for his disgrace when notwithstanding King Charles was not the Author of his dishonour nor did any wayes further that divorce and therefore should not have been maligned for anothers fault Or if it was not for this cause as I heard some confidently say it was yet for what cause soever this or any other and with what minde soever this Lord accepted that office as being loth to stain his Honour and Ambitious to retain the Fame of an honourable Soldier I never heard the King nor any other of the Nobility accusing him for any base ignoble and perfidious act
with grief and sorrow of heart we do confess that we have sinned with our Fathers and with our Teachers that have mis-taught us to do amiss and to deal wickedly to prophane those thy Sanctuaries to destroy thy Temples and to make those houses of thee our God to become Dens of Thieves Cages of unclean Birds Stables for our Horses and the Receptacles of other bruit and fouler Beasts and as the Prophet saith of the Heathen so we may truly say of our selves Thy holy Temples have we defiled and made thy Churches heaps of Stones the Monuments of thy Martyrs we have thrown down and the dead Bodies of thy Servants we have given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Air and the flesh of thy Saints unto the Beasts of the Field And for this our great Wickedness we are become an open shame to our Enemies and a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us and we do confess that we have justly and most justly deserved all the evils that are come upon us and we say with Ezra that thou our God hath punished us less then our Iniquities deserve Yet thou O Lord God like a most gracious Father didst not suffer thy wrath to burn like fire to encrease more and more and to continue as our Iniquities continued but in the midst of thy Judgments thou hast remembred thy mercies and commanded thy destroying Angel to put up his Sword and to punish us no more but to turn our heaviness into joy by rooting out our Oppressors and the Depravers of thy Service and restoring to us our most gracious King for which great Blessings and inestimable favours of thine O gracious God we laud and praise thy glorious Name and we will thank thee and magnifie thee for ever And now O Lord seeing we are taught by thy holy Prophet that Holyness becometh thy House for ever and thou hast commanded thy people of Israel that they should keep their Tents and Habitations holy and clean lest thou that can'st abide no impurity in thy sight shouldst depart from them which was a Type to signifie unto us how much more holy and clean thou would'st have us to preserve thy House where thy Service is celebrated thy Name magnified and thy Presence promised to be assistant unto thy Saints we do therefore in all humility beg of thee and from the bottom of our hearts beseech thee to blot out and pardon all the Abuses Prophaneness and Wickedness that hath been done in and against this House and we pray thee to accept of these our Prayers and Supplications unto thee to sanctifie the same and to make it a fit place for thy Service and so to preserve it an holy Tabernacle for thy Majesty to be present with thy Saints to have thy Name magnified thy people instructed and their Petitions presented unto thee and when they do pray unto thee in this place do thou hear them out of thy holy Heaven and let thine Eyes be open towards this House night and day even towards this place of which thou hast said My Name shall be there and thy dear Son and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ hath said Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be there in the midst of them and this House being erected for the gathering together of thy Saints dedicated for thy Service and by our Prayers consecrated for thy Worship we do most humbly beseech thee to be present amongst us to hear our Prayers to grant our Requests and to give us strength and enable us through thy Grace to finish the Reparation of this House with Joy and to thy Glory which with such Alacrity we have begun and we pray thee likewise to guide us by thy blessed Spirit to walk according to thy Will that our sins may not provoke thee to suffer the Sectaries and the Enemies of thy truth and the Depravers of thy divine Service to prophane the same any more grant this O blessed Lord for Jesus Christ his sake to whom be all Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen