persecute the beloved Spouse of Christ the Church But the Lord hath reserved a peculiar people to himselfe that hâ—ve not bowed the knee unto Baal God hath selected a faithfull and obedient flock that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth These the Lord our God the God of Israel who keepeth covenant for ever hath blessed and they are blessed and no adversary power is able to curse them When Jesus Christ was upon earth he prayed thus for his Elect Holy Father keepe through thine owne name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are John 17. But he is entred into Heaven it selfe now to appear in the presence of God for us And this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end Let us not be slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises For God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love which his servants have shewed towards his Name The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose and is to be burned Let us labour therefore faithfully in Gods Vineyard the Church Militant least we fall in unbeliefe for an ensample of a rebellious and stiff-necked people My hearty desire and continuall prayer to Almighty God is that every one of us in our severall places and callings do shew all diligence in the Worke of our great Lord and Master the God of our Fathers whom we serve and that we labour to advance the truth and purity of doctrine taught and delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and to resist convince and silence the gain-sayers and enemies of the Gospell Let us be strong and very couragious that we may observe to do according to all the Law that God hath commanded us let us not turn from 〈◊〉 to the right hand or to the left for then the Lord shall make our wayes our indeavours and works prosperous and then we shall have good successe Let us take good heed therefore unto our selves that we love the Lord our God Else if we do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of Idolatry that remaineth among us Know for a certainty that the Lord our God will no more be mercifull unto us will no more be among us and deliver us But those Idol-worshippers false bloudy-hearted Papists shall be snares and traps unto us and scourges in our sides and thornes in our eyes untill we are restrained from all the good things which the Lord our God hath given us Would God that we had the courage and resolution of Joshua and that this charge of his from the Lord unto the people of Israel were written in our hearts Now therefore feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Floud and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord choose ye this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. See the 24th of Joshua and the 2d of Judges both remarkable Chapters for this purpose O Eternall and most Gracious God inflame thy Messengers the Ministers of thy Word with a holy Zeal and arme thy servants the Civill Magistrates with a godly courage that they may demolish beat down and root out Popery Superstition Heresie and Prophanesse out of these Isles and Dominions of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles The toleration of Massing Religion is against the grounds of true Christian Religion against reason and against the policy of the Common-wealth as I finde at large in an Answer to the Masse-Priests presumptuous Supplication directed to our late King James of renowned memory and published 1604. Our Adversaries themselves declare that indifferency of Religion or toleration of two contrary Religions in one Kingdome is intolerable Possevin Biblioth Select lib. 1. c. 26. saith 1 It is a divelish invention 2 that it is contrary to Gods Ordinance 3 that it repugneth against the Lawes of Moses of nature and the Gospell it selfe 4 That it is contrary to the substance and proprieties of Christian faith 5 That it taketh away the truth and certainty of Christian faith 6 That it taketh away the certainty of Gods divine Worship and of the Church 7 That it taketh away Christian Discipline 8 That it cutteth asunder the unity of the Church 9 That it is contrary to the Word of God 10 That it is repugnant to the practise of the Primitive Church the authority of Fathers and Decrees of Emperours And finally that it provokrth the wrath of God against the Authours of it If then the Adversaries themselves see Liberty of divers Religions to be so pernicious where they have winde in pupp I hope they will pardon others that will not admit their lewd pernicious and phantasticall opinions We read in our Histories when Ladislaus son of Albert King of Bohemia about the year 1440. went to Bohemia there to be crowned where Pogtebracius had the Governance that during all the time of his being there though being much requested yet would the young King neither enter into the Churches nor hear the service of them which did draw after the Doctrine of Hus. Also before he departed thence he thought first to visit the noble City of Uratislavia in Schlesia In the which City the aforesaid King Ladislaus being there in the high Church at Service many great Princes were about him among whom was also George Pogiebracius who then stood neerest to the King unto whom one Chilianus playing the Parasite about the King as the fashion is of such as feign themselves fooles to make other men as very fooles as they spake in this wise as followeth With what countenance you do behold this our Service I see right well but your heart I do not see Say then doth not the Order of this our Religion seem unto you decent and comely Do you not see how many and how great Princes yea the King himself do follow one Order and Uniformity And why do you rather follow your Preacher Rochezana than these Do you think a few Bohemians to be more wise then all the Church of Christ besides
blindnesse of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousnesse to worke all uncleannesse with greedinesse But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of your minde and that ye put on that new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse And the same Apostle saith 1 Cor. 6. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind c. shall inherit the Kingdome of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Now if these and such like places of Scripture will not worke upon prophane worldlings and excite them to repentance and amendment of life I mean such riotous persons as have beene lately posted in our Streets being styled the Sucklington Faction or Sucklings Roating boyes I leave them to that dreadful doom pronounced by the Preacher Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heartche are thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement Eccles 11. Because sentence against an evill works is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to do evill Though a sinner â—o evill an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that feare God which feare before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God There is a vanity which is done upon the earth that there be just men to whom it happeneth according to the worke of the wicked againe there be wicked men to whom is happeneth according to the work of the righteous I said that this also is vanity Eccles 8. But yet for the comfort of the godly which suffer for the Name of Christ and for righteousnesse sake we read in the 2 Pet. 2. When the Cities of Sodome and Gomorrah were destroyed being made an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly that God delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished But chiefly them that walke after the flesh in the lust of uncleannesse and despise Government Presumptuous are they self-willed they are not affraid to speak evill of dignities whereas Angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusations against them before the Lord. I am perswaded that if godly understanding Preachers were sent abroad into the severall parts and corners of his Majesties Realms to tell the people of their sinnes and if good laws were put in execution for the punishing of offenders wickednesse and prophanesse would not be so much in fashion as it is I have often wondered that albeit the Parliaments of England which like learned and wise Physicians have alwayes been very diligent to provide choise Antidotes against the distempers of the Common-wealth by making good Laws and Statutes yet they never truly tooke into consideration and seriously weighed the miserable and deplored state of the Church so as to apply apt remedies for the redresse of those grievances before mentioned Surely I am even ashamed to thinke what horrible contempt and disgrace is cast upon the meaner sort of the Clergy those Reverend Pastors that have the charge of our souls and whose Callings are sacred How vilely are they accounted of in the Countrey by ignorant scoffing irreligious vaine persons who can afford them no better titles then these viz. poore journey-men schollers ragged priests sillyratts and the like But I am so far from casting the least blemish or aspersion of infamy upon the noble Professors of the liberall Arts and Sciences and especially I am so far from dishonouring of the Tribe of Levi the lot of Gods own inheritance that the Elders which rule well I account worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine For the labourer is worthy of his reward 1 Tim. 5.17 18. I could wish that the large possessions and the superabundant extravegant revenues of Bishops Deanes and Chapters or at least that part of them were bestowed towards the erecting of Churches and Chappels of ease in the severall parts and places of our Kingdomes where they are wanting And towards the maintaining of learned and godly Preachers for the better growth and increase of Religion And I could wish that those lay Parsons that hold Impropriations that the Lords and Tenants of Abbey Lands who pay no tythes and that That Ignavum pecui the Fraternity of sluggish Drones in our Universities I mean those Masters and Fellows of Colledges who mis-imploy their wealth which their Founders endowed them with all for the advancement of Learning and Religion And they themselves are no better than Sots whose filthy and ungodly lives I compare and paralell with the wickedness of the Monks and Epicures of old And I hold them fitter subjects to serve such a Master as that beast and monster of men Heliogabolus was than to lead such Frier-like and Monastick lives as they do making a vain profession of piety and learning under the most religious Christian Prince in Europe To say no more These men are guilty of one very soule fault which I will not mention for shame But they may guesse at my meaning in these old Verses as I finde them in Chaucer in the Monks Prologue which each of them may apply to himself as the case stands with him in particular And it is thus Thou wouldst be a trede foule a right Hadst thou as great leave as thou hast might To perform all thy lust in ingendrure Thou hadst begotten many a creature In truth I could wish that all those above-mentioned especially and that every one of us besides according to our severall abilities c. would contribute cheerfully and freely to this pious work of providing things honest for our spirituall Pastors and give them due honour and necessary allowance who do labour in the word doctrine And last of all I could wish that the honourable Court of Parliament by the direction of almighty God would consult about the promoting establishing and maintaining a faithful learned painful preaching Ministry
suffice to be sâ—id at this time of the faculty and Science of Physick a profession I confesse that is altogether out of the Sphear of my Theory and out of the Verge of my activity and practise SECT IV. Of the Science of THEOLOGY BUt finding my soule in greater need of Physick than my body I shall passe by the other Schools and read my last Lecture in Divinity Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth while the evill dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccles 12.1 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it Vanity of vanities all is vanity And moreover because the Preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth The words of the wise are as the goades and as nailes fastned by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepherd And further by these my son be admonished of making many bookes there is no end and much study is a wearinesse to the flesh Let us heare the conclusion of the whole matter Feare God and keep his Comandements for this the whole duty of mâ—n For God shall bring every work into iudgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12. 8 9 10. c. True Christians endeavour to go forward toward the marke of Christian perfection But if we should returne back into Egypt or desire to live in Babylon we should declare our selves neither studious of perfection nor of Christian Religion nor carefull to maintaine the reputation of our Nation How long shall we waver betwixt two Religions If God be God and his written Word be Truth then we are to follow him and to found our faith upon his Word If the Pope be the supreme God of this world and his determinations true then we are to follow the Pope and his Decretals No man Certes can allow Popery but he must condemne the Apostolicall Religion of Jesus Christ professed in this Church of England What communion saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 6. hath light with darknesse what concord hath Christ with Beliâ—l what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols As many therefore as believe that the Papists walke in darknesse and follow Antichrist living in idolatry â—nd infidelity wound their consciences if they grant any toleration or consent to it The test trust needs runne into the same danger unlesse they can answer the reasons brought to prove the Pope Antichrist and Papists to be false worshippers of God or else plaine Idolaters See 2 Thes 2. and 1 Tim. 4. And the 13.14.17 and 18 Chap. of the Revel we are to pronounce them Anathema which preach beside that which the Apostle preached as himselfe teacheth us Galat. 1. But the Papists preach the Pope and his decretaline doctrine which is both besides and contrary to the Gospell preached by Paul Christian Religion never called the Pope the foundation the head or the spouse of the Church as Bellarmine in his books de Pontif. Roman and other Papists do It is not therefore safest to retaine Christian Religion built on Christ Jesus and to reject Popery built on the Pope No religion is to be tolerated that leaveth the rule of faith that is the holy Scriptures which of all are called Canonicall and seeketh defence and succour out of other rules as Traditions popish Determinations School-mens Distinctions and such like leaden and Lesbian rules But Papists deny Scriptures to be the onely rule of faith as Bellarmine l. 4. de verbo Dei Cap. 4. and others commonly teach Thus we see how miserably the Papists are deluded and led into vanity by their blinde guides But touching faith and assurance of our salvation we Protestants with a joynt consent hold this Doctrine that True faith is a knowledge firme and certaine of the good will of God towards us which being founded upon the truth of his free promise in Christ is both revealed to our mindes and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost This is Eternall life to know thee to be the only very God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ John 17.3 Againe which mysterie hath been hid saith Saint Paul Col. 1.36 since the world began and from all ages but now is made manifest unto his Saints And Col. 2.2 That their hearts might be comforted and they knit together in love and in all riches of the full assurance of understanding to know the mysterie of God even the Father of Christ And 2 John 3.14 And we know that we are translated c. We know All which places you see evidently prove faith to be a knowledge so doth even reason for how can we believe things which we know not Saint Peter knew it could not be and therefore joyneth faith and knowledge saying And we believe and know that thou art That Christ the Son of the living God For he yeildeth a reason why he and other of the Apostles believed in Christ namely because they knew that he was the Son of God Which being so it necessarily followeth that they believe not to whom those things are unknown that he hath revealed in his Word And therefore that tale of Popery concerning implicita fides an ignorant faith is most foolish for faith and knowledge are so knit together that they cannot be separated Trust perfectly in the grace that is brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Perfectly to trust excludeth doubting 1 John 5.13 14. We know we know c. excluding doubting I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8.38 The knowledge which we have by hope grounded upon Gods promises is so sure that it cannot be deceived as it is plaine Rom. 5.5 The perswasion that the Apostle hath in other places is also grounded upon good Arguments but here Rom. 8. upon the immutable Decree of God And it is good reason to prove that every Christian man which is endued with faith and hope may and ought to be infallibly assured that he is justified and shall be saved because the Word of God and his promise to all that believe in him and in faith call upon him cannot faile but be most infallibly true That we shall also persevere in the favour of God and so consequently that we are predestinated to eternall life the Apostle doth most plainly prove in this Chapter wherefore by the Spirit of Adoption and the effects of Gods grace agreeable we may have certaine knowledge that we shall inherit Gods Kingdome which none shall do but they that continue unto the end and were appointed unto it before the
that every Candlestick may have a Candle and that every flock may have a faithfull sheepheard to guide them And I am perswaded that this work done would prove a Catholike remedy for all our evils and the greatest means for the lengthning out our tranquility and the healing of all our distempers O Eternall and most gracious God send forth Labourers into the harvest of our Nation that may boldly and faithfully dispense thy Word and duly administer thy holy Sacraments and grant that in singleness of heart without grudging we may give them their hire O shed abroad thy holy Spirit into our hearts that we may love as brethren and be of one minde in Christ Jesus as thou our heavenly Father art one SECT II. Of the Common Law of ENGLAND NOw to this discourse of Religion I will onely adde a line or two concerning the Common Law of England which I have undertaken for my profession and calling And by Gods assistance I shall propose this as the main end in all my studies and endevours the honour of God the service of my Prince the profit of my Country and the good of the Church England hath been inhabited always with a vertuous and wise people who ever embraced honest and good customes full of reason and conveniency which being confirm'd by common use and practise and continued time out of mind became the Common Law of the Land And though this Law be the peculiar invention of this Nation and delivered over from age to age by Tradition as well as by Books yet may we truly say That no humane Law written or unwritten hath more certainty in the Rules or Maximes more coherence in the parts thereof or more harmony of reason in it nay we confidently aver that it doth excell all other Laws in upholding of a free Monarchie which is the most excellent form of Government exalting the Prerogative Royall and being very tender and watchfull to preserve it and yet maintaining with all the ingenuous liberty of the subject Moreover all men at all times and in all places doe stand in need of Justice and of Law which is the rule of Justice and of the Interpreters and Ministers of the Law which give life and motion unto Justice for Cassaneus well observeth that Justitia periret si deesset qui justitiam allegaret Our Counsellors and Advocates are the language of the Law Our Judges are the eare of the Law For the Law it self is dumbe and speaks not but by the tongue of a learned Lawyer she is blinde and seeth no enormities but by the eye of a watchful and diligent Officers and she is deafe and heareth no complaints but by the eare of a grave and patient Judge Those Honourable persons whose true minde hath advanced them to the most transcendent places of honour that can possibly be attained in our profession that is to be Hearers Judges and Determiners of causes in Courts of Justice let them take heed diligently unto themselves that no favour nor whatsoever respects move them from the right And let them remember that they sit not in judgement for rewarding of friends or servants for crossing of contemners but only for doing of Justice Plato in Pol. Arist 1. Rhetor. I purposely forbeare either to rub upon the sores or to lay open the issues and infectious maladies that have tainted some great Sages of the Law in our times for that the Lord Viscount Falkland in his learned speech of the Judges hath plainly described certain symptomes of their diseases and manifested them to the eye of the Kingdom the high Court of Parliament And I hope that great Counsel of Physicians will either purge them of their noxious and pestilent humours or prescribe them a more certain and present cure It is joy to the just to do judgment but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity Prov. 21.15 29.4 The King by judgment stablisheth the land but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it Memorable is that speech of Moses to the children of Israel Deut. 1.16 17. And I charged your Judges at that time saying Hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him Ye shall not respect persons in judgment but you shall heare the small as well as the great you shaâ—â— not be affraid of the face of man for the judgment is Gods and the cause that is to hard for you bring it unto me and I will heare it See Levit. 19.15 Deut. 16.19 1 Sam. 16.7 Prov. 24.23 The properties noted by Jethro to be in Magistrates and Governours are worthy much observation Provide men saith he of courage fearing God men dealing truly and hating covetousness Ex. 18.21 and read Ex. 23. Observe the great pains of Moses in sitting to judg the controversies of the people even from morning unto even Exod. 18. What a coÌ„mendation it is of him What an example unto al those whom God in mercy hath raised to any like government over their brethren Surely diligence in the charge committed to us is ever sweet unto God and good for our selves He that is diligent in his worke shall stand before Princes Prov. 22.29 Lâ—â—râ— to do well seek iudgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Isai 1.17 Ye shall not do unjustly in judgment Who can be safe in lift or limbe in lands or goods if affection be Judge Booteth it to be honest or just or blamelesse if not truth but sancietry me No no. And therefore blessed be God for Law and Justice and wo to the Land where affection ruleth Honestius est cum judicaveris amare quà m cum amaveris judicare It is far better to love when thou hast judged than to judg when thou lovest The poore cryeth and no man heareth the rich man cryeth and every man praiseth smootheth O heavy Countries case where thus it is Do the thing that is just to the rich and poore and that shall give thee peace at the last If Judges wil be free from respect of persons then needs must they be free from gifts for gifts will lead their affections wil they nill they the old saying being true Beneficium accepisti libertatem amisisti Hast thou received a gift then hast thou lost thy liberty and freedom Thou shalt not take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous Exod. 23 8. And 〈◊〉 all Judges followed this course Hesiodus should not need to fain that Astrea hath left the society of men and is flown up to Heaven But it is to be feared that as Ulysses servant when he was asleep opened a Bottle which Aeolus had given him wherein the Winds were all inclosed and so let the Winds out they thinking there was treasure in the Bottle which as well at Sea as at Land they loved so some Judges opening mens purses whilest they looke for gain let truth escape from
them to their own hurt and the Common-wealths This learned and pithy application c. I finde in Babingtons notes upon Exodus 23. If any do so saith he God make his Word profitable to them and so I leave them to him Now if there should be any faults or blemishes rarely found in some of the Iudges or other Ministers and Professors of the Law let not this cast any sinister imputation or black note upon the Law it self or the Profession For the Common Law is defined to be Sanctio sancta jubens honesta prohibens contraria Again the Law is nothing else but a rule or lesson of justice that is made to measure the actions of men And how needfull is the service of upright sage and learned men in the Law without which justice it self cannot possibly stand Therefore though Jupiter as Protagoras in Plato telleth us did first invent and give the Law yet was Mercury sent with that heavenly gift to deliver it ever unto mankinde So as it is manifest that without the Ministry of these Mercuries of these Interpreters of the Law namely the learned Professors thereof there can be no use or application of the Law and consequently the Law or Iustice it self cannot consist without them What a meritorious work is it to resolve those many troublesome questions which arise in the civill life of man either by laying open the truth of the fact or by cleering the doubtfull point in Law that speedy and equall justice may be done unto all and every one may have and enjoy his own in peace How often would the truth be concealed and suppressed How oft would fraud lie hid and undiscovered How many times would wrong escape and passe unpunished but for the wisdom and diligence of the Professors of the Law Doth not this Profession every day comfort such as are grieved prevent the ruine of the improvident save the innocent support the impotent take the prey out of the mouth of the oppressor protect the Orphan the Widow and the Stranger Is she not Oculus coeco pes claudo as Job speaketh Doth shee not with all many times stretch forth Brachium Seculare in defence of the Church and true Religion All which are workes of mercy and singular merit Againe doth shee not Register and keepe in memories the best Antiquities of our Nation Doth she not preserve our ancient customes and formes of Government wherein the wisedom of our Ancestors doth shine far above the policy of other Kingdomes Why may we not then affirme confidently and conclude that the profession of the Law is to be preferred before all other humane professions and Sciences as being most necessary for the Common and continuall use thereof For doe not all persons at all times and in all places stand in need of justice When without her rule The Prince himselfe knows not how to rule nor his people how to obey When we can neither travel safely by day nor sleep securely by night without her protection For we cannot without peril make a Voyage by sea unlesse she waft us nor a journey by land unlesse she convoy us We should be opprest by force in the Countrey if she did not defend us And undone by fraud in the City if she did not relieve us She incloseth every mans garden and field and makes every mans Cotage his Castle of defence So as we have not such an universall and continuall use neither of the light of the Sun nor of fire and water as we have of the light and heat and comfort of justice For a man may remaine alive some houres without the use of those common benefits but a Common-wealth wherein each private mans weal consisteth cannot stand and continue one minute of an houre if justice which is her soule be departed from her And again is not the Profession of the Law most meritorious for the good effects it doth produce in the Common-wealth For doth not all out peace plenty civility and morall honesty depend upon the Law Quid sunt regna nisi latrocinia sine justitia Saint Augustine faith Without justice the Land would be full of Thieves the Sea full of Pirats And I may adde The Commons would rise against the Nobility the Nobility against the Crown we should not know what were our own what another mans what we should have from our Ancestors what we should leave to our children Major haereditas venit uni cuique nostrum à jure legibus quà m à parentibus saith Cicero In a word there would be nothing certaine nothing sure no contracts no commerce no conversation among men but all Kingdomes and States would be brought to confusion and all humane society would be dissolved And lastly is not the profession of the law most noble for the matter and subject thereof For what is the matter and subject of our Profession but Justice the Lady and Queen of all morall vertues And what are our Professors of the Law but her Counsellours her Secretaries her Interpreters her Servants Againe What is the King himself but the cleare Fountain of Justice and what are the professors of the law but conduit pipes deriving and covering the streames of his Justice unto all the Subj cts of his severall Kingdomes So as if Justice be rightly resembled to the Sun in the Firmament in that she spreadeth her light and vertue unto all creatures How can she but communicate part of her goodnesse and glory unto that Science that is her handmaid and waits upon her And for as much as Kings be Gods Schollers as Homer writeth and that the rules of justice be their principall lesson and we read in the Psalmes of that Kingly Prophet David that God doth honour Kings and Magistrates with his own Name Dixi quod düestis Psal 82. Specially for that they sit upon Gods own Seat when they minister justice unto the people And Psal 95.3 The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods that is above Angels Princes or false Gods Psalm 8.6 and 82.6 and 96.4 5. And whereas we read that Kings shall be the nursing fathers and Queens shall be the nursing mothers of the Church Isai 40. And we be taught by the holy Scriptures that the hearts of Kings are in the rule and governance of Almighty God Let us pray pray therefore for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 22. And let all loyal Subjects and faithful servants of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles joyne with me in the words of David praying for Solomon Psal 72. Give the King thy judgements O God and thy righteousnesse unto the Kings son He shall judge thy people with righteousnesse and the poore with judgement We know by the Maximes and Rules of the Common Law that Rex est caput salus reipublicae à capite bona valetudo transit in omnes The King