THe parts are two. 1. the danger, distresse; 2. the deliverance. Jn the danger; 1. the [...], preamble, introduction, quoniam ecce, and some turne quoniā into certè; then haue you asseveration, certè, and demonstration, ecce: 2. the prosequution, explication, narration it selfe. The wicked bend, &c. The preamble noteth two things: 1. that the wickednes of the wicked is inseparable to him Certè, Certè, eccè verily. His iniquity is bound vp in his hart, he cannot part from it. Psal. The vngodly can set himselfe in no good way. Es. 26. Let mercy be shewed to the wicked, Senec. hee cannot learne goodnes. And then, quid eo infoelicius, cui iam esse malum necesse est? Iuv.— monstrū nullâ virtute redemptū. 2. that his wickednes is not only inseparable, but sensible [Page 2] and notorious, it may bee admirable and prodigious, such and so great as deserueth an ecce, behold. So that the very dore-posts of my text haue a sprinkling and blessing vpon them: Certè telleth you that the wicked wilbe wicked, Ier. Can a Morian chandge his skin? And ecce, that hee wilbe wicked with note, —vt declamatio fiat, that he may be talked of for it.
But I must with Abraham, not sit still in my tent dore, I must go in to make provision. Jf you walke further with me, you shall see persons & matter worth your seeing. Peccatores intendunt, &c. A ternary of persons. 1. the wicked. 2. the vpright in heart, or iust. 3. Iehovah. the things, 1. on the part of the wicked, their bow bent, & arrowes prepared on the string, to shoote, and that secretly, & that at the vpright in heart, and till the verie foundations be cast downe. 2. In the iust, I finde nothing but suffering, bearing, for iustus quid fecit? what hath the righteous done? 3. In the Lord, his being in heauen, beholding, examining, and finally rewarding. But thereof anon. Meanewhile the hand of my text, leadeth you to these remarkable particulars. 1. the actors, wicked. 2. the patients, or spectators, vpright in heart. 3. the indoles, disposition, provisiō, furniture of the wicked, their bow is bent, and their arrowes prepared vpon the string. 4. their execution, to shoote. 5. the adiunctum, in secret. 6. the extent, till the foundations be cast down. 7. the reason. I see none, but the wickednes of the wicked, & in the vpright of heart, righteousnes it self.
The holy ghost in that dore of my text, frō which we are already past, standeth at the dore of your hearts, & knocketh for attentiō to all these. They are neither [Page 3] fables, for certè, nor trifles, for ecce; they are both true, and great, & important. For what is there in the whole body of my text that deserueth not this character ecce to be stamped vpon it?
1 Behold, that there should be men vpon the face of the earth, styled by the name of men, endewed with reasonable soules, effigiated to Gods image, the deliberated workmanship of his owne divine hands, his generation, [...], yet such as are hight in my text impij, improbi, without piety, without probity, godlesse, gracelesse, worthlesse men, peccatores, (saith the vulgar) [...], sinners exceedingly sinful, sinners with seared consciences, habituated, inured sinners, from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foote, inwardly, outwardly, nothing but sinfulnes.
2 Beholde, that their bow is ever bent, that they are strong & studious, to worke mischiefe, their braines exercised, their labours emploied, no contention of minde, no trauaile of body denied to the accomplishment of sin: not sins of ignorance, sinnes of infirmity, which wee all cōmit, but sins of industry, purpose, delight; not sins of precipitation, passion (as Gregorie calleth thē) but sins of deliberatiō, resolutiō, [...]. 1. Rom. they doe them, and take pleasure, liking in so doing: And their arrowes are ever prepared vpō the string, there wanteth but opportunity to loosen, and discharge them; alwaies full of the strength, and spirit of wickednes, as a vessel of new wine, labouring as the clowde of a burthen of vapor, so they of maliciousnes, and swelling as the Spider with poyson, only awaiting the time when to disgordge thēselues, & [Page 4] burst with most aduantage.
Behold, in the third place, that their sinnes are not sinnes of pleasure but horror, not sinnes of delight, but cruelty, bloudshed, none of those easie, & gentle, and fauourable sinnes, that touch not life, and hurte but their owners themselues, as pride, prodigality, & the like, this is an armed, enraged, military sinne, it shooteth forth arrowes, and darts, to pearce, to wound to slay, to bring to destruction.
4 Behold, that not contēt with it selfe, cruelty I meane with hir owne effects, which perturbation of minde often bringeth foorth, and leasure dearly repenteth; for the better prospering, and speeding of her bloudy hand, she maketh subtilty hir assistant: sagittant in obscuro, Val. Max. [...], in obscurilunio, it is skilfull, artificiall cruelty. Crudelitatis horridus habitus, truculenta facies, violentus spiritus, vox terribilis. Let cruelty looke and speake like it selfe, and men wil bee warned to avoide it. Tamberlaine his bloudy tents made opē profession what his meaning was. Here are Cruelty & craft coupled togither, a smoothed, dissembled, disguised cruelty. Venite, sapienter opprimamus eum .1. Exod. They will be cruell in oppressing, yet they wil do it wisely.
Or if all these doe not moue,
5 Behold, it is a wonder, they can finde no marke but the vpright in heart:
6 Behold, it is a wonder, they can make no ende till the foundations be cast downe.
7 Behold, it is a wonder, they can giue no cause of their malice, the righteous neuer offended them.
[Page 5] Eccè, behold all to gether; wicked, the actors; bending the bow &c. their diligence, eagernes; to shoote, their cruelty; secretly, their subtilty; The vpright in hart, their mistaken marke; til the foundations bee cast downe, their vnmeasurable extent; and what hath the righteous done? their vnreasonable reason.
The Actors, and Archers in my text are impij, improbi, peccatores, you knowe them already, they neither feare God, nor reverence man. They drinke wickednes like water, and adde thirst vnto drunkennes, that is, when they are drunken with sin, they thirst after it againe. This world of people, since it first had being, hath bin diuided into two disparate species and sorts of men, wicked, and righteous: betweene which two as betweene Abraham & the rich man, there hath euer bin [...] a great distance & gulfe, not in nature (figmentum vnum, one bloud, one breath, one image,) but in condition, conversation. This division first began when God set vp that wall of partition, Gen. 3. betwixt the seed of the serpent, and the seede of the woman. The serpent hath had his seed ever since, [...], his viperous generatiō, dedicated in Cain his first borne, and thence forth the line continued along in Nimrod, and Cham, & Ismael, & Esau, and many persons and people of the earth, vncircumcised, vnholy, vncleane, the seed of the adulteresse and witch, people of the curse, sonnes of Belial, children of disobedience, darkned in their vnderstandings, dishonored in their affections, defiled in their consciences, abominable, incredulous, and to everie good worke reprobate. The counter divided members of this diuision [Page 6] thus sundred the meanetime, God shall evidently and conspicuously diuide at the ende of the world in the open sight of men and Angells, and shall cut betweene thē as by an euen thread, with the two-edged sword of his mouth, whē he shall turne the wicked to his left hand, and set the righteous at his right.
This diuision I finde in my Text, wicked and righteous, these, as commendable in their order & ranke, as the other damned & deplored in theirs. Those are impij [...], wicked in the highest degree, wickednesse giueth them nomen & esse; Eccles. 12. hoc enim est totū hominis, this is all they are. The other, in the aime and purpose of the holy ghost, seeme to haue the absolute and full composition of righteous men. For first they are called recti corde, vpright in heart, and afterwards iusti, iust men. The former, rectitudo cordis, is the Canon and rule, The later, iustitia is the application & vse of it. Rectus corde without iustus is not sufficient, but iustus without rectus corde is stark naught. Rectus corde, 1. Cor. 4. is good, Nihil mihi conscius sum, but not complete, 2. Cor. 1. non in hoc iustificatus sum; rectus corde, may say gloria mea testimonium &c. my reioicing is the testimony of a good cōscience; but except he be iustus also, he hath not learned the rule of his master, 5. Math. sic luceat lux tua, 8. Act. thy light must shine for the good of others. Simō Magus apparantly to the eie of the world was as iust as any man, yet the Apostle told him, Non est rectum cor tuum, thy heart is not right. Here are both, & both must be: heart, & hand, habit & action, radix & germen, roote & propagation, vprightnes of heart is bonum tuum, thine own good, but iustice is [...] [Page 7] the good of others: the one keepeth thee streight & vpright in thy selfe, the other distributeth suum cut (que) that vnto every calling and every person that rightly belongeth to them.
The wicked haue bent their bow and made ready their arrowes vpō the stringe. 2. Haue bent &c. I need not acquaint you how eager & sollicitous the wicked are to perpetrate wickednes, as a woman with child hath sorrow til she bring forth. Their artillerie is not far to seeke. Their bow hangeth not vp by the wals, Esay 48. their arrowes sleepe not in the quiuer, the one is bent, the other are prepared vpon the stringe; in this sense Non est pax impijs. As the sea is euer working, and boyling like a pott of ointment, so they alwaies hammering, and fordging, some mischieuous act. Mich. 3. Noctes ducunt iusomnes; operantur malum in cubilibus, they deuise mischeefe in their beds, and when it is light, they put it in practise. Act. 9. it is said of Saul (as yet a persequutor) that he went [...], breathing threatnings & slaughter —& si non aliqua nocuisset, mortuus esset, vnlesse he had murthred the Saints, hee had wanted breath. The Psalme saith, Alienati sunt peccatores à vulua, Ps. 58 errauernnt ab vtero. They become strange euen from the wombe. This spurious, degenerous brood beginneth to be wicked betimes. Diuines wel obserue, that originall sinne and hereditary corruption, hath a quicker, stronger vegetation, and sooner displaieth it selfe, Sueton. in them, then in other men. Tiberius would often say of his sonne Caligula that he liued for the ouerthrow of him, and his people, & senatricem populo Romano, Phaëtontem orbi terrarum educare, and that [Page 8] he bred a serpēt to the people of Rome, an incendiary & firebrand to the whole world. There you haue one of that serpents seed, whereof I spake before. Alexander Aegaus called Nero his scholler [...] clay not mingled with water as other mens, but, macerated in bloud. He saw a sanguinary disposition in him: To his freinds that congratulated the birth of him, Domitius his father answered, scitote ex me & Agrippina nihil nisi in faustum, et horrendum, et publicè nociturū potuisse procrear [...]. Such egge, such bird; there is alienatus à vuluâ, one estranged and corrupted frō the wombe. Examples are infinite. Saul had euer his bowes and arrowes ready against Dauid Hee sought him as a fly, 1. Sam. 26. and hunted him is a partrich vpō the moū taines, as Dauid spake. A right archer, and fowler indeed. So were the Scribes & Pharises against our Sauiour. They watched him vpon all occasion [...], how they might catch him. So the Arrians against the Orthodox, Athansius by name, the great Atlas, for diuerse yeares, of the christian world. It is a world to read, how with their bowes, and arrowes, of implacable hatred, and indefatigable deuilish policies neuer vnbent, neuer intermitted, they persequuted that Saint.
From their inclination, 3, 4. To Shoote priuily. propension, promptnesse to mischiefe, Come we to their practise. They beare not their bowes & arrowes as skar-crowes in a garden of cucumbers, to fray, but to shoote, not at stakes, but men, their arrowes are iacula mortifera, 7. Psal. deadlie arrowes, & least they should faile to hit, they take advantage of the darke, of privacie and secresie. [Page 9] They shoot privilie. Now this is the couenant of hel it selfe. For what created power in the earth is able to dissolue that worke which cruelty & subtiltie, like Simeon and Levi, sisters in euill are combined, and confederate to bring to passe? Where subtilty is ingenious, insidious to inuent, cruelty barbarous to execute. Subtilty giueth counsaile, cruelty giueth the stroke. Subtilty ordereth the time, the place, the meanes, accōmodateth, cōcinnateth circumstances, cruelty vndertaketh the act; subtilty hideth the knife, cruelty cutteth the throate; subtilty with a cunning head laieth the ambush, plotteth the traine, the stratageme, and cruelty with as sauage an heart, sticketh not at the dreadfullest, direfullest obiects, ready to wade vp to the anckles, the necke in a whole red sea of humane, yea country bloud; how fearefull is their plight that are thus assaulted? It was the case of our first parents. The Serpent commeth vnto them with faire words and fierie darts, subtilty, and cruelty. Proponit quod delectabile, supponit, quod Exitiale-Vngit, pungit. His, eritis tanquādij you shalbe as Gods, made them like deuils. Thus righteous Abell was betraied, and butchered by his vnnaturall brother. Egrediamur for as, come brother, Let vs go walke and talke togither. Meane time whilest the tōgue anointeth him with oile, the hand murthereth him. Ioab killeth not Amasa like an open foe. Estne pax mifrater, brother is all well? was the vnsuspected traine to make way for his fatall weapon. All these shot in obscuro, privilie, and by stealth, it is the safest & surest shooting. Else what doth Iudas with a kisse, and all haile in his [Page 10] mouth, in the very forefront of his treason? What so many wolues in sheepes clothing? or Deuills frō the blacknes of darknes, in the formes of Angels of light? Or locusts from the bottomlesse pit with womēs faces? Or Hyaena with the call of a man? Or the Syren with notes of melody? Or the Crocodile with teares of mourning? Or the whore of Babylon with her cup of fornications golden without, and sugred within, that the kings of the earth may be drunke, and die as it were senseles, and sleeping? Or finally whie doe the rankest impostors and seducers of the earth, write pharmaca, medicines vpon the outside of the boxe, whē they deliuer venena, poisons? You see what mettals the wicked are tempred of [...]edged with cruelty, & backt with subtiltie. They carry both the Lion & the Foxe in their brests, as Carbo spake of Sylla (the Scylla indeed and wrecke of the Roman people) In imitatiō of whom rather then of S t Peter, they write of Alexander the 6. that intrauit vt vulpes. There is subtelty, regnauit vt leo, there is cruelty, (for he was tearmed spongia sanguinis, a spunge of bloud) and to make vpp the full period of all his acts and monuments, mortuus vt canis, he died like a dogge.
But against whom is this double engine prepared? If they will needes shoote, 5. At the vpright. let them take their marke aright. Let them shoote at him that shooteth at thē, the great Nimrod and hunter before the Lord, the devill 6. Ephes, he shooteth the arrowes of temptation & death, let them shoote the arrowes of praiers, and orisons. Or let them shoote at the wicked the limms of the deuil- Diluculo interficiam, Psal. 101. I will make hast (saith Dauid) to destroy the wicked from the earth. Not so▪ [Page 11] Seldome shall you see the wicked against the wicked. Squama squamae coniungitur, they stick too close together, they symbolize to nearly in wickednesse (vnlesse by an overruling hand of God, and some extraordinarie iudgment, somtimes they turne their swordes each into others bosome, Iud. 7. and are drunke with their owne bloud, as with new wine) But for the most part, even for that league, & kindred of wickednes, which they all hold, be their sects and professions of wickednes neuer no different, their rites, and religions neuer so opposite one to the other, Prov. 1. yet Marsupium (they say) sit vnum omniū nostrûm, Let vs all haue one purse, there is concors discordia, an agreement in their disagreements, an vnanimous cōsent in them al to bande against the innocent: Cōiunctis caudis, though adversis vultibus: Foxes will make shift to carry firebrands in their tailes to burne the cornefields. Thus Herode, and Pilate notwithstanding their priuate iarres, could quickly put themselues in tune to Crucifie Christ. And Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Roman souldiours, Iewes and Gentiles, though nō Coutuntur, they conuerse not in many things, yet [deponamus hic inimicitias] leaue their quarrels & grudges at home, Niceph. if the cause be against the righteous. Meletians, and Arrians at the first were at variance betweene themselues. At length in the common pursuit of the church, they became [...] and [...], so knit togither in amity, that they exchāged names, and Arrians were called Meletians, Meletians Arrians. Ten seueral nations, 83. Psal. faciunt vnitatem contra vnitatem (to vse S. Austins word) make an venitie, [Page 12] or rather a cōspiracy against one people of the Lorde. The reason is, the wicked with the wicked agree in multis tertijs, in many thirds; but the wicked with the righteous (except in the nature, and shape of man,) communicateth in nothing. Quoniam invtilis est nobis, & contrarius operibus nostris, &c. The righteous is wholy vnprofitable to vs, and contrarie to our workes. His life is of an other fashion, wee cannot abide to looke vpon him. 2. Sap.
Let al this haue his passage. 6. Til the foū dations. They shoote, and shoot Priuily, and that at the vpright of heart. But filij hominum quovs (que)? How long, O yee sons of men! Is your malice vnexorable as the graue? Deepe and bottomles as hell? O sworde of the Lord (cry they in the Prophet Ieremy) how long will it be ere thou cease? returne into thy skabberd rest, and be still. O yee arrowes of the wicked, how lōg? Returne into your quiuers. Not, till the foundations be cast downe, and not a stone stā ding vpō a stōe, nor a soule breathing vpō the earth, that beareth the name of a righteous mā. Truth must first be banished frō the earth & righteousnesse troddē down as mire in the streets, & Christ driuē out of his kingdome amōgst vs, or els no peace. In this case the wicked is like the beast, nō numerat, cānot endure a seed, a remnant, a berry here and there in the vtmost boughes, not one that professeth to know God, no not one. Vtinam Pop. Rom. Vnam haberet cervicē, was the wish of Caligula, that the people of Rome had but one necke, that at one blow he might cut it of: so these of the righteous. Venite, disperdamus eos de gente 83. Ps. Come, let vs cut them of from being a nation, and let [Page 13] the name of Israell be no more in remembrance. 137. Ps. The voice of Edom was like vnto it, in the day of Ierusalem, Exinanite, exinanite vs (que) ad fundamenta in eâ, Downe with it, downe with it even vnto the groūd. It was Pharao his pollicy for the rooting out of Israell, Exod. 1 quicquid masculini sexus, all that is borne male cast it into the river. And Hamans pollicy in procuring those letters of the King for the killing of the Jewes in al the prouinces of his kingdome. The foundations must be cast downe.
The last is the cause of all this bitternes, VVhat hath the iust dōe? which in the righteous I finde none. For what hath the righteous done? The subiection or answere implied must needs be, nihil, iust nothing But Aristides must be banished out of Athens, iustus quia iustus, for no other cause but for iustice, and Christians must be thrown to the Lyons, 1. Sa. 26. Christianus quia Christianus. Davids apology to Saul is, wherefore doth my Lorde thus persecute his servant? what haue I done? Or what evill is in mine hand? O Lord my God (Psa. 7.) if I haue done this thing, &c. nay, if I haue not done the contrary, then let mine enimie persecute my soule, &c. but when they were sicke I put on sackcloth, and mourned for them as for mine owne mothers sonne; this was all the hurt I euer did them. 1. Sam. 12. Behold (saith Samuell) here am I beare recorde. VVhose Oxe haue I taken? Or whose Asse haue I taken? Or to whom haue I euer done wrong? They answere, Thou hast neuer done vs wrong. Wherfore then do yee call for a king? VVhat iniquity haue your fathers found in me? saith God. 2. Ier. VVherein hane I grieved thee? Testifie against me. 6. Mich. Many [Page 14] good deeds haue I done amongst you, for which of my good deedes? Ioh 10. saith our Sauiour in his Gospell.
The conclusion of all is, Psal. 35. Oderunt me gratis. The righteous Lord, and his righteous Christ, and their righteous seruants suffer these wrongs from the wicked without cause.
You see what aggrauateth. Men as innocent as innocēcy it selfe, yet persequuted with mortal, immortall hatred, both by force and fraud, and that to their vtter extinguishment and eradication from the face of the earth. So much of the distresse: the deliuerance which was my latter part, I referre to conclude with.
The wicked bend their bowe &c, Application. Haue I spoken all this while as to men that slept? Or doth any man aske me in fine narrationis, at the ende of my tale, quis est hic what meaneth the man? Eccles. 22. As when the high Preist adiured our blessed Sauiour, Art thou the Christ, the sonne of The liuing God? & Pilate the like, about his kingdome, Art thou the King of the Iewes? His answere was, Thou saiest it, what need more words? So the very words of my text only read and recited in your eares doe sufficiently declare what my meaning is. J say againe (which were enough for application) The wicked had bent his bow, and made ready his arrowes vpon the string, to shoote privily at the vpright in heart, and our foundations must haue bin cast downe and what had the righteous done? Certè; Certè. it was as sure as that we haue breath and being, to praise the name of our God, who are heare mett together. It is no fictiō, Pag. 34. as that (they wil tell you) of Squire out of Spaine, you know the author. It is no questiō betweene them [Page 15] and vs: Pag. 6. for Catholikes (they say) no lesse then Protestāts admit the due detestation, Ergo the true concession & conviction of it. It was not done in a corner; It was a spectacle to God and Angells and men. It is not so auncient & superannate as the story of Pope Iore, which hath gained by the age of it, now skarsly to be beleeued. This was recenti memoriâ factum, a matter of yesterday, this very day three yeares, the fift of Nouē ber (blessed be Gods holy name) did this popish prodigious brat suffer abortion. I must adde the Eccè Eccè. to, Behold. But an eccè of an higher straine thē any other in the booke of God; not an eccè as at a pyramis, or Pharos, 'or Colossus solis, or any the like wonderfull but with all delectable and pleasing obiect, rather an eccè, as at some portentuous comet, or fearfull firie meteor in the aire which men behold, both with wō der & horror, Eccè. I may be bold with the tongue of Moyses Deut. 4. to saie, Aske of the daies of olde that haue beene before you, since the daie that God created man vpon the earth, and from the one ende of heauen to the other, sifacta est aliquandò huiuscemodi res, if euer the like thing were done: and it may bee answered by that of the 12. tribes of Jsraell concerning the dismembred Levites wise 19. Iud. Nunquam res talis facta est in Israel ex quo, &c. The like was neuer done nor heard of in Israel nor throughout the world since the first day that mā was created. When Sixtus quintus began his encomiasticall oration of the Jacobine that killed the French King, 1 Habb. he taketh the words of the Prophet Habbacuk for his entrance. Behold, a worke wrought in your daies, you will [Page 16] not beleeue it when it shall be tolde you, a poore Friar hath slaine a king, not a king in paper, a painted king, but the great king of France, &c. Antisixtus returneth them vpon him againe, Behold a worke wrought in our daies: you will not beleeue it when it shall be tolde you. Our holy father the Pope hath defended a most nefarious parricide, regicide. I haue more right to the words then they both togither with the preface vnto them. Aspicite ingentibus, & videte, & admiramint, & obstupescite, see and behold and wonder and bee astoed, let me adioine from the 13. of the Acts where the place is alleadged, [...], vanish, cease to haue power in your selues to see or thinke any more, quia opus factum in diebus nostris, shal I saie, a worke done? No, it was the worke of the Lord in die illâ, that it was not done: but an attēpt & parturitiō of a worke brought to the very instant of birth, such as let strangers heare the report of, they cannot beleeue it. Behold, that which so many millions of eies, since those windowes were first opened in the head of man, to behold the light of heauen, I say so many millions of eies in their seueral generatiōn, now sunke down into their holes, and consumed within their tabernacles neuer saw: neuer those glorious and constant lights of the firmament, those cleare and christalline eies of nature, which walke through the whole world, and giue no rest to their temples, the sunne that wardeth by daie, and the moone that waketh by night, they neuer saw the like, I say not for the indiuiduum, but not for the species, though let them not deceaue themselues nor you, this was not species but monstrū. They wil bring [Page 17] you precedents to this from Antwerpe, & the Hage and I know not whence. Gallob. to. 8 A succedent I graunt, nearest vnto it of all others, I thinke from hence it tooke light, in the yeare 1606, whē Boris the vsurping Duke of Moscua foreseeing his death, placed in a subterra neous vault of the pallace, a statue with a burning lampe in the hand of it, the burning to continue till it should take a traine of powder, purposly hid there to haue blowen vp the Pallace, & destroied Demetrius his rightfull successor. But it commeth far short of this.
The wicked: and what God hath ioigned, Impij. let not me put a sunder eccè, impij, behold the wicked, wicked with an eccè, demonstrable, rather indemonstrable wicked, we demonstrate not principia, these were principles and first heads of impiety. They may be articled as the deuill in the gospell [...] the wicked, the most abominably, desolately, deperditely wicked of all others, in whome was the roote of wickednesse, and the deepnes of Sathan had possest their hearts. Mē of wicked witts, wicked wills, wicked hands, wicked labours (it was labor improbus indeed) wicked dispositions, wicked designes, wicked names (some of them) wicked vowes, wicked othes, wicked sacraments, wicked praiers, wicked religion, wicked all things. Psal. 16. Their offrings of bloud wil I not offer, saith the Psalme. Apud Barbaros (saith Lactantius) sacrificatum cum humano cruore. Barbarians sacrificed with mans bloud. He goeth a step farther: Lib. 1. de fal. rel. 21. Latini non expertes. The Latines are not free from it: and addeth Latialis Iupiter etiam nunc sanguine colitur humano. Etiam nunc, even at [Page 18] this day (but howlong, Lord, righteous and true, before thou avenge it?) the Latine, Laterane Iupiter, or rather Saturne, the deuourer of his children, or rather Moloch, must be sacrificed vnto with humane bloud. O dementiam in sanabilem (the same father) incurable madnes, Cap. 18. when sacrifices are so sacred and execrable, sacraments for assasinates, masses for massacres. Quid illis isti dij amplius facere possent si essent iratissimi, quàm faciunt propitij, cum suos cultores parricidijs inquināt? Is this religion? Nonne satius est pecudum more viuere, quàm deos tam impios, tam prophanos, tam sā guinarios colere? were it not better to be without religion? I say no more of them: Populus Romanus est. Nec breuiùs potui, Ber. 4. de Consid. nec apertiùs. Bernard spake of the citizens, I of the members and disciples of the Church of Rome. They belong to Rome, that Laerna malorum, where Hydra, the beast with many heads dwelleth, the Colluuies and common sewer of all infande wickednes, where no lawe of God nor man, nature nor nation escapeth breaking: where Dominus Deus noster papa, with a plate of blasphemy nailed on his browe, the greate Archimandrites of the worlde, and his stables and stalles of vnhallowed breasts, fax sacrificulorum, grex monachorum, armentum Cardinalium, with their decrees and decretals, canons and glosses, bulles, breues, & indulgences haue concluded & caused to be done, & after the doing dogmatized, defended more outragious, exorbitant wickednesse then euer hath beene red or heard of vnder the cope of heauen. The woman iniquity Zach. 5. which was carried into the land of Sennaar, vt aedisicetur ei domus, [Page 19] hath bin long since transported into the cittie & church of Rome, vt ibi ponatur super basin suam; there is hir surest dwelling.
The wicked bend their bowe, Intēderunt arcum &c. when they wrest & pervert scripture; & make ready their arrowes, when they end forth sharpe and sophistical arguments, witty & wily pamphlets, and shoot priuilie at the vpright in heart, when with their subdolous & sly insinuations of reconciling them to the mother church, and converting their soules they overreach the simple & credulous. This they do daily. But these are not the archers I now meane. They are of an other band, pyrobolarij, they shoot wild-fire, hell-fire. Their arrowes haue spiritum in alis, Zach. 5. winde in their fethers, (they should haue flowen and blowne with a witnes) & miserable destruction in their heads. Such archers, such artillery neuer was. No meruaile; they were Roman archers, and their artillery was shaped in the shop of Iesuits and Priests (I seuer them not, Ambros Iannes & Iambres are fellowes in sorcery; and the Libbard & Lyonesse, though of diuers kinds, will company togither to make a Leopard, Jesuits and Priestes, to doe a mischiefe) I say of Iesuits and Priests, the cunning Pyracmons and Cyclopes, fireworkers in the world, and maisters of all villanies. These shoot not at clowtes, but Crownes, Sceptres, Monarchies, Empires; not at crowes, but men, Kings, Queenes, Princes, peoples, states; not for wagers & pastime, but to make havock and wast vpon the earth, and to bring al that withstā deth or offendeth, to vtter destruction.
The bow that the wicked in my chase bent, was neither [Page 20] of yron, nor steele. A man may flee from the iron weapons Iob. 20. & a bow of steele hath beene broken by the arme, Psal. 18. This was a bow of a stronger, tougher making, & more vnresistable stuffe, I meane a Cellar of strong sides, & impenetrably thicke wals, darke and deepe, closely compact, that is as much as to say, hard-bent, where little or no vent, and passage was left for the breath and furie to issue out, like the amphora or pitcher in Zacharie, wedged with a talēt of leade at the mouth of it to keepe in the strength. Jt was as wel and as strongly strung with 36. barrels of gun-powder great and small, for the more violenteiaculation, vibration, and speed of the arrowes. Their arrowes were fagots, billets, peeces of timber, barres of iron, massy stones, togither with all the timber in the beames and iuices, al the tubble and stones in the wals of that great and glorious pile, rather pallace of building, where they framed their engine. The Campus Martius they were to shoot in, the soile, the seat, the very centre of the parliament-house. Their marke the fairest in the field, the tallest poppies in the gardē. Fight neither with great nor small, saue onlie with the king of Israel, was the chardge, 1. Reg. 22. here otherwise; shoot not only at the king of Israell, but at reginam à dextris, the Queene at his right hand, and principem haeredem at his knees, at the counsaile both of secresie and state, at Moses and Aaron, prelate and potentate, angulos populi, & angelos domini, at all the worthies of David, the first, second, and third rancke, the great Sanedrim, the strēgth & flower of the land, the whole land it selfe in collection and representation, [Page 21] the 3. estats, 3. essential parts, like the head, heart, and liuer, without either of which no life of pollicy is. This was their archery, and this had surely come to passe, (the arrow was euen then vpon the string, their doome (day was come, the candle and match were in the hand) to the vtter extirpation of the King and his race, the alienation of the sceptre of Iudah, the extinction of Preist and sacrifice, eversion of Nobles, and their families, extermination of Christ and his Gospell out of the kingdome, profligation of iustice and religion, if our gracious Lord God (by the reuolution & returne of yeares, now publikely and solēnly thrice blessed, and to the latest generation of the world to be blessed for euer) had not giuen warning to those that feared his name, vt fugerent à facie arcus, to fly from the rage of this bow, by letters more then hieroglyphicall, aenigmaticall, interpreted by a wisedome more then humane, Aug. not lesse then angelicall. But ne glorietur, let not the wiseman glory in his wisdome. Da veniam imperator, pardon me gracious Soueraigne, it was not flesh and bloud that revealed these mysteries and riddles vnto you, sed Pater qui in coelis & angelus magni consilij, your father & Sauiour that is in heauen. You haue seen their bow & arrowes artillery, weapons, engines, ordinance for battery, more then double, centuple Canon. Iouius writeth of Alfonsus D. of Ferrara, that hee made with his owne hands 2 peeces of ordinance invsitatae magnitudinis & violentiae, the one of which had to name terraemotus, earthquake, the other Cacodaemon, the devill himselfe, so was this of theirs.
[Page 22] They had bent their bow & made ready their arrows vpon the string: and bee not deceiued in them. Crie not peace, peace, all is well. Their bow standeth euer bent, and their arrowes are euer prepared. Pharetra eorum sepulchrum patens Ier. 5. their quiver is an opē sepulchre. Bern. 4. de Consider. Gens immitis at (que) intractabilis, & adhuc snbdinescia, nisicum non valet resistere. The Aspelyeth in her hole & waiteth for the warmth of the sunne. The Lyon lurketh in his den, and watcheth for his fit test season. Their quiet and forbearance is rebus sic stantibus, whilest it is, as it is; but rebus cadentibus, let some declination of the state be, let the vigor of iustice and rigor of execution cease a while longer, and they multiply & swarme as they haue done, you shall see them betake themselues to their bowes and arrowes againe. Echidna Excetram, is the prouerbe, & de radice colubri egreditur regulus 30. Es. Of a Serpent cōmeth a serpēt, & of a viperous & traiterous brood, looke for vipers and traitours. One complained to Phillip of Macedon whose treason the king had made vse of, that his people called him traitour. The King answered, Rudes sunt Macedones, & scapham vocant Scapham. The people of Macedō are a rude & plaine people, and call a traitor a traitor. Liberaui animam meā. When such are the Masters, such will the schollers & disciples be. When such their principles, such wil be their practises. Though one vault be discouered & couered againe, yet so long as that other more deepe and dangerous vault remaineth prauum & inscrutabile cor, Ier: 17. a wicked and vnsearchable heart, an endlesse and liuing veine of powder & salt-peeter, an [Page 23] everlasting burning Aetna, of rooted, engraffed, settled maliciousnes against Christ and his members, Looke for no better from them.
‘—Si fas caedendo caelestia scandere &c.’ will every Iesuite and Preist, Iesuited and reconciled apostata, transfuga, mal content say, if this bee the way to the kingdome of heauen, thus I may meritt, & shine as a staire in the firmament, by embruing and bathing my handes in the bloud of a king, I will bee a starre. The end of their preparation was, to shoote, & shoote closely. Vt. Sagittēt in obscuro. Cruelty executeth for them, suttelty directeth. These were cruell enough, when they shott at all. And they were subtile enough when they said to a vault in the ground, couer vs; and vvent downe into a mine of the earth, as it vvere quick into their graues, out of the land of the liuing into the regiōs of death, the territories of Sathan, the Limbus & border of hell to hide their vvickednesse. VVhether the one or the other both were transcendents not to be placed in the classes or rankes of hitherto experienced or practised wickednesse.
Cruelty is the ensigne and badge of that church. the habit of the harlot is according to her heart, 1. Sagittant. skarlet and purple, hir diet, the diet of the Cannibals. I saw hir drunken (saith the Apostle) with the bloud of Saints- [...], Apoc. 17. I wondred to see hir so wonderfully drunke. The Citty was first founded in bloud; the bloud of a naturall, germā brother. And the papacy also foūded in bloud, the bloud of a naturall leidge Lord and Emperor at what time, it was truely written, [Page 24] ‘—Suffocas Phoca imperium, stabilis (que) papatum.’
Emperour and Empire must downe to aduance the popedome. Gul. Stamphurdius. The issue of bloud hath runne ever since, & cannot be stopped to the worlds end. It was wel obserued, that at one & the same time were these three Bonifacius 3. Vniversalis Episcopus, Phocas Caesaricida, & Mahumetes Arabs. Mahometisme, and the Popedome, & the murthering of christiā Emperors and Princes began at once. So that as the Pope hath gottē to name, domesticus Turca, a homeborne Turke, so the Turke may as iustly bee called exterus Papa, a forraine Pope, they cōmunicate so nearly in cruelty. Now the greatest [...], festiual cruelty, solēnity & feast day of sacrificing & slaughtering the seruāts of Christ, that Rome ever kept, had beene that, without Gods mercifull preuention, which was now intended. It greiueth them to heare it stiled singular from all example. Pag. 6. But so it was. Neither shall all the indices expurgatorij in the worlde, blot out the memorie of the fact, or ease them of this attribute. Detestable I confesse was the mind, & not lesse the memory of Nero, who caused the citty of Rome to bee fired in twelue places at once, that he might see an image of the burning of Troy. Himselfe sate singing the meane time. Jt was the losse but of houses & goods. Sabellic. Heliogabalus vpon one of their feast daies, when the people had taken vp their places in the theatre before day, to behold the sports, caused a nūber of serpents & venemous wormes to be turned in amongst them, to sting them to death, the acting whereof was much to his comfort; it was the wracke [Page 25] but of common people. Maximinus for the immanity of his mind & doings, was vsually tearmed Cyclops, Busiris, Phalaris, Typhon. Al these were Abaddons, Apollyons, destroiers of nature and mankind. The storie saith of Annibal, that his vertue for the most part saevitiâ constabat, Val. Max. consisted of cruelty. When it cōmeth to report of L. Sylla, Vix mihi verisimilia narrare videor, I scarsly seeme (saith the story) to speake likelyhoods. Hee stroue to be sirnamed Foelix for cruelty. En quibus actis, saith the authour. He kept a Register and Kalendar of al his bloudy actes. Id. Cuius tamen crudelitatis C. Marius invidiam levat. Yet doth C Marius iustifie Sylla. You haue heard before of the cruelties of Caligula. But of Nero (Suetonius telleth you) debebatur hic partus moribus Ro. qui Caligulae nomen ac titulos obscuraret. Nero must be borne to iustifie Caligula. Nihil extra humanam figuram Tartarus nisifera bellua. Dubravius affirmeth it. The Tartarian is a savage beast in a mans skin. Adde vnto al these as famous in their times and generations (if bookes bee true) the Spaniards amongst the poore Indians. But frō the 5. of Nouember was three years henceforth, til time shalbe no more; Let the name of Nero with the rest, rest in peace, and bee buried in silence, and in steed of Syllan, Marian, Scythian, Tartarian, Barbarian Turkish, Spanish, Let Romish, Popish, Antichristian, Catholique, Catacatholique cruelty be a proverbe, astonishment, hissing for all nations and ages to come.
As for their subtilty, In obscuro. doubt not of it. Whose very profession is to be false-prophets, seducers, Antichrists, [Page 26] their religion a mystery of iniquity, and their working vneffectual without strong illusions, & lying wonders. Especially where the great Mercurialists of the world for wit & deuises, those [...] (as they called Archimedes) [...], centimani that haue a finger in the menaging of al Christian states, are at one end of the busines. J meane the Iesuits, [...] Iesuitae, falsly-named Iesuits; Iesuits by antiphrasis, (some say) as those Emperors were called Africani, Asiatici & the like, because they were most opposite and maligne to those countries, so these most contrary and fatal to the name of Iesus. With others Iesuitae by Aphaeresis, Suitae, as regulares vvere named gulares, epicuri de grege porci, for their swinish & impure liues. vvith others Iesuitae by diaeresis, asmuch as to saie, Iesum vita, who in their whole order, institutes, practise, say in effect to Christ as the deuills did, Quid nobis & tibi Iesu? What haue we to doe with thee o Iesu? Lastly. Iesuites by [...] agnomination Iebusites: and then whilst the Iebusite (or his proselite) is in the land looke for no good to Israel. Their names are diuerse according to their natures and manners. Ignatiani in Spaine, Theatini in Italy, Iesuini in Cā pania, Scofiotti in Ferraria, Presbyteri S. Luciae in Bononia, Reformati sacerdotes in Mutina, alia (que) passim nomina habent, together with sundry other appellations as Pap. Massonus reporteth, In Paulo. 4 o but commonly best knowne by the name of Iesuites, And what are those? The Iesuits catechisme telleth you, 2. Lib. 17. not such men as we are. They haue 2 seules in their bodies (he might as wel haue said, ten soules) a Roman soule in Rome, and [Page 27] a french soule in France, 3. Lib. 26. so an english soule in Englande. They vse to make a iest at perfidiousnes & trechery, for aske them amongst their freinds what a Iesuite is, they answere, everyman.
‘—Quoteneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo?’ what meanes shal we find to encounter these chādglings, Camaeleons, these Mathaeos tortos, crooked apostles, Tortuous Leuiathans, as ambiguous in their answeres as [...] in his oracles, this serpent surrepent generation, with their Maeandrian turnings & windings, their mentall reseruations, their amphibolous, amphibious prepositions, which liue, as those creatures part in the land, part in the water, so these halfe in the lipps, halfe in the heart and conscience. Of which I may saie, as S Ierome of the letters of Iouinian, has praeter Sybillam leget nemo.
‘—Non lectore tuis opus est sed Apolline scriptis,’ Martial. they are not to be vnderstood by any mortall man. what hope of truth and simplicity from these or their impes, when they haue not only practised through infirmity of flesh & pusillanimitie, but with the faces of Sodome and Gomorrhe haue patronaged, published, perswaded to the whole world the lawfullnesse of their heterogeneous, mungrell propositions? Frō henceforth therfore let them ease the inhabitants of Crete from that deserued infamy which the Apostle laieth vpon them [...]; & adde vnto these the Cilices & Cappadoces, nations renowned for false hood, Cretes Cilices Cappad. whereof the prouerbe was [...], And let those [...] Kings of lies, as Andromache called the Spartans, and trilingues Siculi, as [Page 28] Apuleius called the Sicilians, togither with all their companions, craftesmasters for fraud and forgerie, resigne to the Jesuits.
Now if euer the word of the Psalme were verified of any, Psal. 83. malignaverunt consilium, they deuised a pestilent, Prov▪ 1. devilish counsaile, and that of the Prouerbes, Come let vs lie in waite for bloud, ponamus tendiculas, let vs set snares, the margent saith, voraginem, a very gulfe, Deglutiamus eos, Let vs swallow them vp quick as hell, it was true of this machination. For marke the excesse and height of their fury.
They shoot not at fanes and wethercocks, Fundamenta diruta. Senec. at pinnacles and peeces of temples. The very foundations must be cast downe. Nolunt solita peccare quibus peccandi praemium infamia est. Ordinary factes cannot make them famous. In tā occupato saeculo fabulas vulgaris nequitia non invenit, Erostratus must burne the temple of Diana, to get him a name, these must not rest, til they see the foundations downe. The variety of interpretations frameth my iust application to my hands.
1 Fundamenta literally. Materiall foundations indeed had beene cast downe by these sonnes of the earth, which the hands of ancient Kings had laid, Pallaces of incomparable honour and state had beene shaken into stones of emptines and consumed into cinders and dust, if their day had sped. [...] (say the 70) buildings of absolute, consummate perfection. Positiones (with Genebrard) settled and pitched in their places, not likely to haue stirred, without violence, till the pillers of heauen and earth had beene [Page 29] dissolued. These foundations had beene cast downe.
2 Some saie, these foundations were Preists. & indeed in the story of Saul (of whom it is thought this psalme treateth) 85 Preists of the Lord which ware a linnen Ephod, were slaine by the hands of Doëg in one daie. 1 Sam. 22. Preists are foundations. They are fulcra reip▪ proppes of the common-wealth. They beare the arke of the Lord, and their lippes are arkes and coffers to preserue knoweledge. These foundations had bin cast downe▪
3 Some say, these foūdations were [...], doctrines; the knowledge of God and his lawes. These are also foundations; fundamentum aliud nemo, No man can lay any other foundation then that of the Prophets and Apostles &c. It was the law of the euer liuing God that brought Dauid into so much hatred; and it is the Gospel of Christ that bringeth vs. These foundations had also beene cast downe, It was the cheefe marke they aimed at.
4 Fundamenta with others are foedera, covenants, leagues of amity, often made and often broken by Saul. Now what couenant, what bond, either of nature and humanity, or of natiue country, of consanguinity with some, with others of alliāce, with others of religion (for on some of either sort had the Lot fallen) had withheld this false and fedifragous nation of men from this barbarous action? These foundations had also been cast downe.
5 Fundameuta with Symmachus and Ierome are [...]. Lawes. These are foundations to, and were then vpon the anuile, the assembly was for lawes. Lawes [Page 30] and law-makers, with the reuerend Judges and Iusticers, Mutae and Loquentes, al must haue gone; these foundations had beene cast downe.
6 Kimhi & Aben Ezra say that foundations in this place, are Consilia, Counsailes. Counsailes are foūdations. Prou. 15. For where the multitude of counsailours is, there is health. Consilia Solonis were held as behoueful to Athens as trophae a Themistoclis. The ones counsailes, as the others triumphs. And Agamemnon wished that he had had ten such about him as Nestor was. They are not the eies of a king, but perspicilla regis (one calleth them) his spectacles through which he looketh▪ The thrice honored & renowned order of these, were likewise appointed to the slaughter; these foundations had beene cast downe.
7 Lastly, fundamēta with others are [...], vices, successiones, successions, supplies. Obstupe scite coeli, super hoc. Behold, the King, Queen, & their issue, not adolescens secundus alone, Ecclesast. 4 deliciaegentis Britannicae, but the whole progeny, father and sonne, damme & young, roote and branch, res and spes, present and to come, all must haue drunke of this deadly cup of woful desolation. Now to put al togither, if foundations of buildings must haue beene cast downe, and Priests the foundations, doctrines the foundations, couenāts the foundatiūs, lawes the foundations, counsailes the foundations, and successions the foundations, we had beene, as one summeth it vp, Eversi à fundamentis, quite turned vp by the rootes, & razed from the lowest foundations; our church, our common-wealth, our gouernment, our bodies, our families, our posterity [Page 31] had beene vtterly ouerthrowne. When Elizaeus eied Hazāel 2. Reg. 8. with the teares running downe his cheekes, to thinke of the euill he should doe to Jsrael, in burning their citties with fire, dashing their infants against the stones in the streets, and ripping vp the women with childe; Hazâel answered, Num enim sum servus tuus canis, vt faciam rem istā magnam? Am I thy seruant a dog? can I bee so forsaken of humanity, and loose the bowels of manly compassion? What then doth res ista magna deserue to bee thought of? Pag. 6 not the rash and wofull attempt of vnfortunate gentlemen (as our Italionated Mountebancks seeke to salue it) but the most nefarious, facinorous, flagitious, incogitable fact, of persōs (with their proctors and patrones) neither generous, for what drop of ingenuous bloud was in them? Nor men, for what sparke of humanity? Nor dogges, vnlesse of the brood of Cerberus, nor Tigers, nor Panthers, nor euening Wolues, nor shee-Beares, nor any thing, but by the vnnaturallest, strangest [...] that euer was feigned by Poets, very incarnated, transanimated devils? Who that they were vnfortunate in it, that God that sitteth in heauen, and ruleth not by fortune or chance, but by an architectonicall, soueraigne art of vnfallible prouidence, be praised for euer and ever. Amen, Amen.
I haue yet the cause to demaunde. Iustus quid? VVhat hath the righteous done? Quid commeruit? What hath he deserued? Bucer. Quid enim mali? At leastwise what evill? Arnob▪ what had David done? Or what Davids like, who walketh in the steps of David? I appeale to the [Page 32] conscience of your Maiestie, that inwarde reflexe of your Princely heart, and to the open and broad eie of the world, what harme had you euer done them? Was it bycause you eased them of their fines and impositions? Or sent them with life and limme vntouched beyond seas? Or admitted them to your gracious presence, and let the light of your countenance fal vpon them, Hebrewes and Aegyptians both alike? Or distributed your fauours, honors, aduancements of them and their houses with an equal hande? Cic. ora. pro Ros. Am. For which of your good deedes? Or was it because you receaved not the whole weapon into your bosome, as C. Fimbria complained of Q. Scaevola? That you diuided not the halfe of your kingdome to the Pope, as Herode promised halfe of his to an harlot? That you allowed not copartnership in supremacy with you within your own Dominions & Realmes? Admitted not altare contra altare, a linsey wolsey, miscellan, medlyreligion within the land, here an house for the arke & there a temple, for Dagon? More then this (which as far be from your sacred Maiestie ever to yeeld vnto, as you are neare to Christ and christian simplicity) iustus quid fecit? VVhat hath the righteous done? This, this is the true cause, and euer wilbe the quarrell whilest the couenant of daie and night standeth, that the Gospell of Christ and the faithfull professors thereof are not either wholy expelled the kingdome, or affronted, mated at least with a pellex, I meane an adulterous, idolatrous religion, to haue as firme footing in the land as the other hath. In the daies of your predecessor of memorable glory whilst she liued, & [Page 33] now of as glorious a memory, what was the cause of their multiplied, variated complotments against hir, like the monsters in Africk, everie daie almost a new conspiracy, that then they gaue hir not leaue to liue, now not leaue to be dead, and to sleepe in hir dust, but are angry at hir very manes,
that they haue ript hir vp from hir cradle, runne through hir life to hir graue, and will needs go down into hell to seeke hir immortall & now immaculate, incorruptible soule amongst hobgoblins and infernall spirits (you knowe my author) what is the cause? J say Iusta quid fecit. Rather man sueta quid fecit? Gracious Lady, what had shee euer done? Whose finger did she euer cause to ake, and hir heart aked not with him? Only this, that she nurst vp with the milke of hir breasts, and hazarded to haue done with the dearest bloud in hir veines, that euangelicall truth, which by the blessing of God and your Maiesties zeale, this Church yet retaineth? Sim. metap. in Clem. Ro But our comfort is: Si canes nos allatrauerint & consciderint, auferre nobis nō possunt quin simus homines rationis participes, illi autem sint canes latrantes. Men shall be men notwithstanding the barkings of dogges, & dogges shall be doggs. And therefore avaunt, now not Hazāels dog (whosoeuer thou art) but hellish Curre, [...], (for what was the fire of hell prepared, if not for such tongues?) Go seeke thy Popes, & Cardinalls, & Cortizās, thy Incubos, & Succubos amongst hobgoblins & infernall spirits; surrexit non est hìc, she is in heauen, [Page 34] she is not there, she shalbe a Saint in heauen, when thou shalt be a dog without, and as shee sate vpon a glorious throne in earth to iudge hir people, so shall she sit vpon a far more glorious throne in heauen, to iudge such miscreants as thou art. Nullam habet authoritatem illa sententia, vbi qui damnandus est damnat. Thy tongue cannot hurt hir with God nor good men, though it be as peircing as hot irons, hette like the ouen of Babylon seuentimes red-hot, at the fornace and hearth of hell it selfe.
Most Gracious Soueraigne. You are yet a liuing Lion. And the Lion of the tribe of Iudah graunt you may long and long so be. It may be they feare the Lions paw, and dare not as yet breake forth. But when you shall bee a dead Lion (as that imperiall Lionesse now is, and Lions must die as well as wormes) these dogges will barke at your manes to, these Aegyptiacal dead flies will cause the sweet ointment of your precious and glorious name, to stinke vpon the face of the earth, what in them lieth, with their Leprous, venemous breath, and libellous, infamous pamphlets, as they do hirs. Jt is not this plea, Iustus quid fecit? That can excuse you. I would they had iuster cause to aske, iustus quid facit? That your Maiesty would do them right, and administer iustice vpon them, in the timely execution of your Lawes, and necessary castigation, coercion of their vnrestrainable audaciousnesse. That your faithfull and good subiects did not demand with grones of heart, Misericors quid facit? VVhat meaneth his Maiestie to deale so graciouslie with them: Some iustice with mercy and lenitie [Page 35] woulde doe wel. Some frostes with the fire that warmeth these snakes in the bowels of your lande. Some pluckes at these thornes and prickles in our eies, (the meane time) and wilbee hereafter in our [...]ides and hearts. Least if iustice goe on to sleepe as [...]t were hir dead sleepe, the tares of disloialty, treasons, and seditions be so thicke sowen in the field of your kingdomes, by those envious men, the seedes-mē of Rome, that it wil be difficulty and maistry afterwards to remoue them.
The foundations (you haue heard before) were in sundry acceptions. 2. Part. Dominus in tēplo. I omitted one of all the rest, that fundamenta were retia, nets which the wicked spred to entrappe the righteous, their crafty and clandestine coūsailes, whervpon they built the whole frame of their mischiefes. These were cast downe, al their proiects descried, their purposes frustrated. But by whom? For iustus quid fecit? What hath the righteous done, to breake those snares, and to deliver himselfe? That is the path which Basill with some others walke in, so they make the connexion. The answere is, Basil nihil, nothing, lesse then nothing. Ad dominum ceu anchoram sacram confugit, hee fled to the Lord as his anker, altar, sanctuarie, cittie of refuge, tower of defence, mons in vertice montium, mountaine aboue all mountaines, that is to saie, helper aboue all worldelie helpers. The Lorde is in his holy temple. Psalm▪ 124 The Lordes seate is in heaven. Our soule hath also escaped as a birde from the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken, and vvee are delivered. By whome? Benedictus d. Blessed be the Lorde that hath [Page 36] not giuen vs vp a pray to their teeth. That is, Dominus in templo suo sancto. If the Lord had not bin on our side (may England now saie) if the Lord had not beene on our side▪ what then? Our foundations had beene cast downe, and theirs had beene reared vp. But adiutorium nostrum, Our helpe standeth in the name of the Lord which made heauen and earth. Dominus in templo sancto suo. But what will the wicked saie? Dominus in templo sancto suo, Dominus in coelo. &c. What is that to vs? populus in scabello, maie doe what they list. Dominus deseruit terram. The Lorde hath forsaken the earth. Not so. Jt is answered in my text, Oculi eius respiciunt, his eies behold, nay, palpebrae eius interrogant, his very eylidds consider, hee siteth not idly in heauē, as the wicked imagin. There is apertio oculorum, saith S Austin, and opertio. Opē ning and shutting the eie in God, his eie & his eielid. God seeth with his open eie, when hee discouereth a thing at the present, and causeth vs also to see it, But considereth with his eielid, when he maketh as if he slept, winketh at the waies of sinners, taketh leasure and respite before he bring them to light. It is not to be thought but that oculus respexit, if you cō sider himselfe, the bright eie of the Lord was vpon the first thought and imagination of this Salmonean thunder and lighning, and followed thē in the whole course therof, went with them, when they trudged to Doway, and gadded to Spaine, marked the hissing of the bee of Aegypt to the fly of Assur, all the intelligēce, I meane, that past betwixt the Leiger Iesuite in England, with the leigers of Flaunders and Spaine; [Page 37] yet he bewraied not this at the first, but palpebrae eius explorarunt, he sate with his eies shut, & considered vnder his eieliddes, bare himselfe silent and stil, & let them runne on, til they had runne themselues to perdition. You see what palpebrae are. I could giue you strange examples, perhapps not proper to this daie more then others, yet neither impertinent to my duty, nor vnacceptable to a loiall auditorie, nor strangers to my text, where palpebrae are mentioned, nor aliene from the worke we haue in hand, our greate Hallelüiah, and solemne sacrifice of praise & thanksgiuing. For doe we blesse God for preseruing the life of our King, and shal we not blesse him for preseruing the honour of our King? I verilie assure my selfe, that discrimen and narrow exigent of life, which his Maiestie was put vnto, when he was in the fanges of the Lion, & in the very armes & gripes of death, did not so much afflict him, as an vndeserued crime & imputation cast vpō him, of a dishonorable fact done. Qui negligit famā, homicida est. It was 8. years since, vpō the fifth of August last, that the Gowries conspired against the life of the Lordes annointed, and receaued their deserued meed. There haue beene oculi nequam in the world, mistrustfull eies that haue looked awry vpon that fact euer since, & would not beleeue it. But what hath the Lord done the meanetime? Albeit oculus non respexit, his eie did not open out of hand, and giue them present satisfaction, yet palpebrae explorarunt, his eieliddes considered, he thought vpon it in secret, in the counsaile of his owne heart, and by a posthumous, penitent tonfession (after the conspirators [Page 38] were most of them dead, and almost rotten) of one of the complices themselues, laid it as it were in the sunne-beames, and put it past al question. It were strange to giue you a parallele to this, coetaneous I thinke in time, and of the same standing. It was eight yeares since likewise, in the daies of Clement the eighth, that Letters were sent vnto Rome, to the Pope and two Cardinals, Aldobrandine and Bellarmine, wherein the hande of the King was abused, his heart neuer coulde. (I doe but touch by the way: I am vox clamantis, the voice to a famous crier and lowde trumpetter of these thinges) The matter hath long slept, yeares after yeares haue expired, and Pope deceased after Pope. But palpebrae eius explorârunt, though the eie of the Lorde hath not seemed to stirre al this while, his Eie-liddes haue considered, and bethought of the meanes and opportunitie to bring all forth. And now at length, truth the daughter of time, or rather of the euerliving God, though not by that miracle in the Psalme Ex ore infantium, yet by an other not inferiour, Ex ore malignantium, out of the mouthes and hearts of enimies, which intended a scandall to his sacred person, hath as strangely discouered this as that other, to the glorie of his great name, and the honour both of king and kingdome. Both these haue the eie-liddes of the Lorde considered and revealed the one after eight yeares, and the other after eight; the one by an actor or accessarie to the fact, the other by the actour; the one by occasion of papers and skrolles, the other by occasion of papers and [Page 39] pamphlets. And now to the seruice of this happie day, wherein wee sing our Hosanna, and commemorate our great and general iubilee, Let this bee added as not the least part of our Christian ioie, that his religious Maiestie, so farre is it from him, with other kings of the earth to receaue the marke of the beast imprinted in his forehead, that he is iealous, impatient, cannot endure that any scratch of a pen, or type of a Printers Presse should leaue the least note or suspicion vpon him, as if euer he had but a thought in his heart to fal downe and worship that golden calfe. I returne where I left. The Lord is in his holy pallace, &c. There he sitteth, and seeth, and considereth both with eie and eieliddes, Psal. 58. and in the ende shall iudge. Laetabitur iustus cum viderit vindictam. If the righteous shal reioice to beholde, much more to escape vengance. If when he washeth his feet in the bloud of the wicked, much more that the wicked wash not their feete in the bloud of Saints. Factum est istud à domino: this was the Lords doing alone. He shut the mouth of that pestilent quiver that not an arrow was shot against vs to hurt one haire of our heades; and stood as a wall of fire about vs, 2. Zach. to keepe vs from that merciles Tophet of fire, even ready to haue devoured vs. And therefore, non nobis domine, non nobis, not vnto vs, O Lord, not vnto vs, but vnto thine all-onely name, not the names of our king nor princes, our Sages nor Senators (the greatest names amongst vs) but to thy name alone, if we be so wretched to denie it, da gloriam, giue thou the honour and glory of that daies redemption. But let vs giue it to. Afferte domino [Page 40] filij Dei, giue vnto the Lord O yee sons of the mighty; and afferte domino familiae gentium, giue vnto the Lorde O yee families and tribes of the people, giue vnto the Lord that honour that is due vnto him. Princes, and private persons, Prelates and people, Nobles and Commons, high and low, one with an other, old men and maidens, young men and sucklings, praise the name of the Lord, sing praises, sing praises vnto him whilest you haue any being. It is the cause of our meetings and panegyrickes this day, and it shalbee a Law in Israell and an ordinaunce in Iacob amongst our childrens children to the last day. Sit nomen domini benedictum, Let the name of the Lorde bee blessed from this time forth world without end, and let all the people say, Amen.