inrighteousnesse and this is also likened to a fit vessel for the Finer Take away the drosse from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer So take away the wicked c. First by drosse is here signified and represented unto us the wicked in general i. e. all ungracious unregenerate and ungodly men whatsoever all the Sons of Belial as they are stiled in the old Testament all the Children of Disobedience as they are so called in the new especially all perfidious Servants to their Master all treacherous and rebellious Subjects to their Prince that either secretly revolt and subtilly withdraw their hearts from or openly lift up their hands against the Lord Anointed against their Liege and lawful King and Soveraign And touching this crimen capitale this crimen laesae Majestatis this hainous and capital sin of Treason the Wise man both warily and worthily admonisheth saying Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought neither curse the rich in thy Bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall declare the matter these then with all other Mutherers Malefactors all Mischievous and Blood-thirsty persons must be abolished abandoned and taken away from before the King for they are but drosse so likewise David compareth them Psal 119.119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse therefore I love thy testimonies Note here that some of these notes were preached in the late Kings time even in the beginning of that fatal and fearful and disasterous Insurrection some wondring at it how I durst Preach so when for the divisions of Reuben there were such great thoughts of heart But not to insist upon generalities for the times and the iniquity of the times requires us to instance in some sorts and kinds of wicked men though not to nominate or name the persons and patties for that is extra lineam praedicamentalem that are here compared to drosse as you know they are elsewhere compared to chaffe Psal 1.5 for David having spoken before of the blessed and prosperous estate of the godly man in the 5th verse he saith non sic Impijs non sic as for the ungodly it is not so with them but they are like the chaffe which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth more particularly then false prophets in the first place may fitly be compared to drosse who are described in the 13th of Deut. to have this odious and damnable quality namely to draw and intice us to Idolatry and to go after other Gods or to worship the true ever-living God in a false erroneous idolatrous and superstitious way By the Law of Moses such as these were to be stoned to death and good reason because saith he they have sought to thrust thee away from the Lord the God which brought thee out of the land of Aegypt from the house of Bondage and all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickednesse as this is among you Secondly covetous and unjust Judges may likewise here be resembled to drosse with all corrupt bribe-taking Lawyers and inferiour Officers that are under them or any way depend upon them for these are like the Image which Nebuchadnezar saw in his dream whose head was of gold Deut. 2.31 his breasts and his arms of silver his belly and his thighs of brasse his legs of iron his feet part of iron and part of clay and so the lower you descend the more vile and corrupt and degenerate are they In the third place we may esteem wicked and seducing Counsellors no better than drosse and therefore are to be carefully sequestred weeded out removed and taken away from the King lest they should infect and poyson and possess his heart with base Tyrannical principles and Machiavilian pollicies Fourthly all fawning Sycophants and Parasites I mean all proud ambitious flattering and aspiring Courtiers therefore as Hamons face was covered when that great Monarch was offended and displeased with him Hest 7.8 so let these or such as these not have so much privilege or favour to behold the Kings face for they are no true friends of his I dare say it no good Subâ—ects to the State they eat like mothes into liberal mens coats they are the very bane and consumption of greatnesse they rob many a great man of his goodness and make him rob and deprive the Common-wealth of her happiness therefore let us banish and abandon them and away with them from before the King Fifthly all male-contented Humorists all factious and fanatick Sectaries Seditious Scismaticks and all hypocritical dissembling Professors whatsoever I mean those who dispise all kind of Ecclesiastical Discipline and Church Government and account our Liturgy to be meat Popery for never was any poor book so vilified and reviled as the book of Common-prayer hath been of late years and yet those milites emeriti that noble Army of Martyrs that composed it suffered death in Queen Maries dayes they dyed with it in their Arms and both loved and honored it and highly esteemed it some of them commending it as the best token of their loves to their dearest Wives and that late Reverend and Renowned Prideaux Bishop of this Diocess Dr. Boys in his Epistle Dedicatory to K. James before his exposition of the proper Psalms cum multis aliis commended it as a Legacy to his two Daughters and all antient Orthodoxal Ministers have ever priz'd it and prais'd it as a second Bible Sixthly all cruel treacherous and bloody-minded Papists and Anabaptists who speak evil of Dignities and do obstinately refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance who if they cannot prevail to bring their purpose to pass by secret Plots and Conspiracies they will not stick like the other to attempt it by open Hostility and Rebellion for these two the Catholick and the Scismatick are much alike in their faction howsoever they be different and disparent in their Faith they hold as the Jesuites do that fides hereticis non est servanda which is a strange Thesis and a dangerous opinion the hatcher and harbourer of Treason the fosterer and fomentor of Rebellion for as one saith ingeniously every Pope is an open Scismatick and every Scismatick a secret Pope these Foxes as Luther tells us in his Preface to his Comentary upon The Epistle to the Galathians are tyed together by the tayl though by their heads they seem to be contrary and what have they else in their tayls but fire-brands like Sampsons Foxes Judg. 15. ready to set the shocks of Corn yea the whole fields of Corn on fire and without some prudent and timely prevention to bring the whole Christian World into a most facal and final Combustion and Confusion Seventhly all politick subtle-headed Projectors insatiable greedy-minded Monopolists unreasonable and unconscionable Patentees for these have been proved sufficiently by woful experience to be meer Harpyes to the State
Monarch was offended and displeased with him Hest. 7.8 Yea let them not have so much priveledge or favour to behold the Kings face for they are no true Friends of his no good Subjects to his Majesty or well-willers to the State For as King Priamus believing Sinons smooth Tale Virgil Lâ—b 1. aenead let in the Trojan Horse which was a means of burning and destroying that antient and famous and flourishing City of Troy which was Columen pollentis Asiae as Seneca calls it in his Tragedyes yea as the Syrens song is sometimes the Saylors shipwrack and as the Poet saith Fiscula dulcè canil volucrem dum decipit anceps As the sweet melodious pipe or whistle of the cunning Fowler entrappeth and ensnareth the silly Bird So these kind of men do eate like mothes into liberal mens Coats They are the very bane and consumption of Grearnesse they rob many a Great man of his Goodnesse and make him rob and deprive the Common-wealth of her happinesse Therefore howsoever these Sinons and Syrens may tempt us and alure us let us not hearken to them nor regard them but rather remember the good and wholesome words of wise Cascandra who said Timeo Danaos vel dona ferentes And calling to mind what David saith concerning such dangerous Charmers and Inchanters Psal 141.4 5 6. Psal 141. O let not my heart be inclined to any evil thing let me not be occupied in ungodly works with the men that work wickedness lest I eat of their dainties or of such things as please them Let the Righteous rather smite me friendly and reprove me but let not their precious balms break mine head yea I will pray yet against their wickednesse And therefore let us banish and abandon them and both desire and endeavour to put away such drosse from the King Take away the drosse from the silver c. IIII. wicked Counsellors are dross In the next place wicked and seducing Councellors may well be compared to drosse likewise What is worse or more despicable than drosse So what can be worse than evil Counsel or more to be loathed and abhorred Such a Counsellor and wicked Prompter and Suggester was Sathan when he seduced our first Parents and tempted them to eat of the forbidden fruit God said In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye Eve being poysoned and corrupted by that Old Serpent said Lest ye dye Sathan himself said Ye shall not dye at all for God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil A shrewd temptation and a subtile one but he lyed every word he spake Iob. 8. being a Liar from the beginning and the Father thereof Thus as Bernard descants upon that place and passage in Genesis wittily and accutely Deus affirmat Mulier dubitet Diabolus negat God affirms it the Woman doubts it the Devil denies it and which of these will ye hearken unto Such a Counsellor was Achitophel to Absalom when he advised him to rise up against his Father David e and to thrust him out of his Throne and Kingdome 2 Sam. 17. But thâ— Lord did defeat his Counsel and turn it into Folly and so the saying was verified Consilium malum consultori pessimum for it brought them both to shame and confusion the one hang'd himself and the other was hanged in a Tree Even in an Oak between Heaven and Earth and they took him and cast him into a great pit and laid a mighty great heap of stones upon him without all question that it might be an ensign and spectacle of terror to all Paricides and Traytors that should either rebel against their Prince or rise up against their Parents 2 Sam. 18.17 Such mischeivous misadvised and rash-headed Counsellors were those Young-men who Counselled Rehoboam to play the Tyrant over his people and to chastise them with Scorpions The old and Grave and Sage and Beaten Counsellors advised him otherwise saying Shew thy self kind and loving to the people this day and they will be thy Servants for ever But he forsooke the good and wholesome Counsel which the Old men gave him and followed the Counsel of the Young men which was his own destruction 2 Chron. 10. Even Kings going â—â—ight are sometimes misled by naughty Counsellors as is said of Joash one of the Kings of Judah he did uprightly all the dayes of Jehojada the Priest but when he was dead the Princes of Judah came and did reverence to him and he hearkened to them and so left the house of the Lord 2 Chron. 14. and served Groves and Idols O well is it with Kings when they have such Chaplains and such Preists as Jehojada Such Prophets as Samuel was to Saul and Daniel to Belshazzar O well is it with the Church When Kings are nursing Fathers and Queens are nursing Mothers unto it Esay 29.13 And well is it likewise with the State if godly Ministers and religious prudent Counsellors hang as a precious Jewel or Ear-ring at the Princes ear If Joseph a man that feareth God be a Counsellor to King Pharoah he will advise him to lay up Corn in the years of plenty Gen. 41.6 enough to supply his Land and sustain the people in the time of dearth and scarcity If Nehemiah be gratious in the Court of the King Artaxerxes the afflictions and distresses of his poor brethren in Captivity shall be laid to heart Nebem 18.10 and the walles of Jerusalem to the utmost of his power shall be rebuilt Worthily hath Erasmus observed in an Epistle to John Alasto that if we had more Bishops like Ambrose we should have more Emperors like Theodosius If Brentius the Divine be Counsellor to the Duke of Wittenberge Religion thereby shall be better established and advanced If Occam the Schoolman fly to Lewis the Emperour he may well say as he did Defende me gladio et ego te defendam Calamo protect thou me with thy Sword and I will defend thee with my Pen as Tritenhemius hath observed In a word if the Kingdome be ruled and governed and swayed by Gods Scepter it will continue and it will prosper for that is a right Scepter indeed as it is called Psal 45. If the King himself make the word of God his Counsellor as David did Psal 119. and as he is admonished to do Deut. 17.18 Then shall he prolong his dayes in his Kingdome and God shall lengthen his life and make his dayes as the dayes of Heaven Then shall a Crown of pure gold be set upon his head and upon his head shall his Crown flourish maugre the head and hatred of all his enemies if he shall purge and put away this and the like drosse that I have specified from the silver then I say his Crown shall be setled upon his head and his Throne shall be established in righteousnesse The Gospel is the best Pearl or precious Stone in his Diadem the fairest Flower in his
allure me nor intice me to be wicked as they are yea I will pray yet against their wickednesse or as some translations have it within a while I shall even pray in their miseries So that he could abides and take in good part all corrections redarguitions and represensions that came from a loving and tender and friendly heart and sheweth withall that by a patient waiting upon God he shall see the wicked so sharply and severely handled that he shall even at the last for pity be fain to pray for them howsoever in the mean time he prayes for him self saying ver 10 11. Keep me from the Snare that they have laid for me and from the Traps and Gins of these evil doers let the ungodly fall into their own nets together and let me ever escape them Syracides also or the Son of Syrach speaks to the same purpose advising us to take heed of flattering dissembling and deceitful Companions Eccl. 28.18 Where he saith Many have fallen by the edge of the Sword but not so many as have fallen by the Tongue He means a false flattering and back-biting Tongue and he saith further well is he that is defended from it and hath not passed through the venom thereof for it is said of the wicked the poyson of Aspes is under their Lips Psal 14. and in Psal 5.9.10 There is no faithfulness in his mouth their inward parts are very wickedness their throat is an open Sepulchre they flatter with their tongue and according to this St. Gregory saith plus nocet lingua Adulatoris quam gladius persecutoris the tongue of the flatteter doth more hurt than the sword of the persecutor and worthy Bishop Babington compares lying flattering dawbing and smoothing and the like cunning equivocating and sophisticating tricks to theft and calls it furtum linguae the theft of the tongue So we read that Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel 2 Sam. 15.16 and so false Ziba stole the goods of his Master Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 16. so these Sycophants these Parasites and Flatterers are great Theives both in Court and Country they are not only dominorum suorum arcisores sed etiam arcosores not only private smilers upon but open and manifest Cheators and Couzeners and beguilers of their Lords and Masters and therefore as one saith wittilly let a Flatterer be in your Pater Noster but not in your Creed pray for him but trust him no more than a Thief albeit neither City nor Country be free from such Cut-throats and Cut-purses yet the Courts of Kings and Princes are especially pestered with such kind of Thieves indeed the saying is true Exeat Aulâ qui volet esse pius i.e. the Court is no place for the Practice of Piety but rather for the Exercise of Policy And Barnard was wont to complain that the Court is wont to receive such as are good but to make them bad bonos facilius recipere quà m̄ facers nam plures in aula defecisse bonos quam profecisse malos probavimus and Budaeus saith all Courtiers must be like Chamelions accommodating themselves unto all Companies ut assentioni assentationi scitè asserviatur hilling and clipping cringing and couching and bowing to all they meet resembling the fish called Polypus who applyes himself to the colour of the Rock against which it Swims or whereon it lyes or much like the Herb called Tripolium which as Antigonus reporteth of it every day changeth his colour thrice being sometime white sometime Violet and sometime Carnation or if you will have it they are like the flower called Heliotropium or the Marigold which openeth upon the Sun-rising and shutteth with the Sun-setting so these time-serving Gnathoes these flattering Claw-backs will follow you and fawn upon you whilst you are thriving but when you are declining and decaying they will suddenly leave you and forsake you grosse and apparant Sycophants and Parasites they are uno ore calcidum frigidum pro suis commodis efflare periti creeping up to honour per mille indignitates through a thousand dishonours and disgraces saith Seneca which made Hippolitus to cry and say In aulâ Regis non est multum legis Si qui sunt boni coguntur esse ovoi Si qui sunt mali sunt in gratiâ regali And another to the same purpose speaks quò quis Corruptior moribus Corrumpentior munoribus eò beatire The Court is all for mony making Oxen to labour and Asses to feed It is a mint of Fashions Iob. 4.14 and exchange of Complements a shame to Shamefastnesse an animator and encourager of all Impudency and Impiety omnis sceleris mater nutrixque nefandi the very Mother and Nurse of all pride and ungodlinesse what was it that made Haman so Haughty and Imperious Proud and insolent so full of malice and mischief and so desirous of revenge but the Court of King Ahashuerus and the great honour and promotion therein which by his insinuating subtilty and cunning flattery he had aspir'd and attained unto for he perswaded the King and sollicited him against the Jews telling him that their Lawes were divers and contrary to all other Neither keep they the Kings Laws said he therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them Hester 3.8 Thus his flattering and false suggestions his envious and malicious Informations to the King had like to have proved the bane and ruine and utter extirpation and destruction of the people and nation of the Jews So likewise those Presidents and Princes of Darius flattered and soothed the King exceedingly when they procured him to make that unreasonable and ungodly Decree that whosoever should make or aske a petition of any God or man for thirty dayes save of him the King should presently be cast into the Den of Lions and this they did to that very end that they might find occasion against Daniel concerning the Law of his God and so accuse him for neglecting and despising the Kings Decree Dan. 6.5 But afterwards namely in the 14th verse it is said that the King was sore displeased with himself and why because he was so seduced and over-ruled by his flattering Courtiers to make such a strict and straight Law which could not be altered nor reversed for though he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and laboured Usque ad occasum Solis till the going down of the Sun to effect it yet he could not prevail because the Law of the Medes and Persians was such that no Decree nor Statute which the King establish'd might be changed Therefore let Kings especially take heed of Flatterers let them take heed of rash Oaths and of being led by their Favourites and Minions to take off the Head of John the Baptist as Herod did Math. 14. And to avoid this let all Flattering false-hearted Courtiers be taken away from before the King for they are but drosse Let their Faces rather be covered as Hamans was when that great