THe most wise and ho­ly Lord & Law-giuer of Israell (Right Wor­shipfull and right Chri­stian Audience) orday­ned that the sonnes of Aaron with their siluer Trumpets, should soūd out, as well the sommons vnto the ciuill assem­blies Numb. 10. 2. 3. of peace, and religious exercises: as the A­larum to battayle, and warlike enterprises. The same Lord beeing our God still, requireth the substance of those ceremonious shadowes in our solemnities. For yee are his people; we are the Leuites: his two Testaments are the two siluer Trumpets▪ the distinction of sounds is pricked downe before vs in his booke of truth, whose direct wee are to sing after, soūding out sometime doctrine of instruction, sometime of reproofe, sometime of comfort, setting it sometimes to the heads and rulers, sometimes to the meaner sort, sometimes to peace, sometimes to warr, as the Lord sheweth occasion, and the spirit giueth vtterance. Now because I am at this present, though of my [Page 2] selfe an earthen pitcher, yet called to vtter some certaine voyce out of these siluer trum­pets, that all sorts of Auditors heere assembled may reuerently, and in the feare of God, pre­pare themselues to be Actors in this entended seruice: I haue made choyse of this Text to be the keye whereunto I may set my tune: wherein the holie Ghost by saint Paul soun­deth a retreate vnto all quarrellers, and plain­tiffes, intending priuate reuenge, or hamme­ring mischiefe in their hearts. For as in the former part of this Chapter, hee vsed all sweet inducements vnto loue, and peace, and all good arguments to disswade from haugh­tinesse of minde, ambition, selfe-conceipt, being the only sparkes that fire mens affecti­ons, and hinder that peace which wee should keepe with all men, if it be possible, and lye in vs: so now as though hee perceaued mens heartes burning, theyr desires swelling, theyr mouthes raging, theyr handes threat­ning, theyr daggers drawne, and the peace in daunger to be broken, he steppeth foorth in the middest, as a blessed peace-maker, and draweth out the sword of the spirit to take vp all quarrels, & preuent all mischiefes, after this manner: Auenge not your selues (dearely beloued) but giue place to wrath: for it is written &c.

This seemes to be a Writ from aboue: and it is to be serued by vs the Messengers of the Lord, vpon you his people, that by meanes of your Christian profession doe owe especi­all obedience to the high court of heauen. If wee breake open this writ, wee shall perceiue the contentes thereof to be first A Prohibition 1. Prohibition of Reuenge: Auenge not your selues (dearely beloued) but giue place to wrath: secondly a Confirmaciō by the Authoritie of scripture. For 2. Confirmati [...] it is written: vengeaunce is mine, I will repay, sayth the Lord.

Reuenge is the punishment of iniuries, and The Prohibition. the redresse of wrongs; the questiō is to whom this punishment and vengeaunce belongeth: it is mine saith the Lord, I will repay, by my selfe or my substitutes; therefore Auenge not yourselues, intrude not into my throne, forestall not my right; but rather giue place to myne ordi­nance, let mans anger yeeld to Gods wrath; mans impotencie to gods power: mans par­tialitie to Gods Iustice; mans secret conspi­racie to the publike Iudgement established by God himselfe.

The Reuenge therefore that is by this Prohibi­tion remoued, is priuate: such as receiuing in­iuries offered without right, repayeth them againe without Law. The reuenge, & redresse of wrongs warranted vnto vs, is the wrath & vengeance of the Lord: either mediatly to be [Page 4] executed by his Ministers ordayned to take vengeaunce of euill doers: or else immediatly by the Lord himselfe, where the sword of the Magistrate is too short, or the hand too slack, to smite the malefactor.

The chiefest doubt remayneth in this word Wrath, to the which wee are to giue place: for some haue interpreted it of mans Wrath, not Gods: some of our owne wrath wherein wee Imbros. de [...]. lib. 1. C. 12 are agents and feele our anger boyling, and be­ginning to kindle in the bosome: these coun­sayle vs to resist anger at the first, or at the least, to retyre our selues and giue backe frō the extremitie, and continuaunce of it: to let Aretius. slippe all occasions of quarrell, and so to for­get and forgiue, that wee eschew all pro­uocations, all motions or speaches, that may renew the memorie of wrongs, or nourish the conceipt of iniuries and indignities: some againe expound it of mans wrath as it is in another, & wherin he is the Patient: as though this were a Caueat to stay vs from laying sticks vpon another mans fire: that wee blow not the coales, of another mans choler: that wee answere not a foole according to his foolishnesse, nor an hastie man according to his hastinesse: Lactant. lib. 6. Instit. Cap. 18. by that meanes adding oyle to his flame, or oyning our impatiencie with his iniustice.

But wee follow those interpreters which with best warrant do vnderstand this wrath [Page 5] of Gods wrath, and the reuenge of iniquitie, Alhanas. irae diuinae. August in Ps [...] 78. vindictai [...] quitatis. Thom. Iudicio diuino. or his diuine Iudgement, and not of the anger either of the wrong dooer, or sufferer? For notwithstanding the sense of the former be godly and somewhat to our purpose: yet this phrase of giuing place, is not vsed in that sig­nification affirmatiuely, but rather negatiuely: as ( Saint Paul sayth to the Ephesians) Giue no place to the diuell: and so in that sense would hee haue saide heere, giue no place to wrath, if hee had vnderstood it of the vnlaw­full and wicked wrath of man, and not of the most lawfull and holie wrath of God. But I neede not make many wordes, let the Holie Ghost interpret it selfe, which by the Con­firmation brought from the Authoritie of Mo­ses, and the mouth of the Lord himselfe, doth manifestly declare, that such wrath is heere to be yeelded vnto, as the Lord claimeth to him­selfe by the termes of vengeaunce and recom­pence: the later whereof, Saint Paul for the Deut. 31. 35, more certaintie, and clearer application ex­poundeth in the person of God, and action of his vengeaunce, I will repay.

Now wee haue notice of the Authoritie wherewith this writ is confirmed, let vs serch the contents and meaning of the Prohibition, being directed from so great a Lord, vnder perill of our soules if wee obey not his com­maunde.

In this behold first the title wherewith S. Paul The title. The re­ [...]aint. Reasons [...]orcinge­ery one of [...]em. greeteth vs: which is most kinde and louing; Dearely beloued: secondly the restraint, Auenge not your selues: thirdly a direction; giue place to wrath. Fourthly: note how euery wotd of the prohibition is backed & secōded with some rea­son implied, to disswade from priuate reuenge, and to draw to a patient abiding of the Lords leisure, and an expectation of his iudgements to be executed.

Let vs first examine this amiable title, which The title. serueth as a sweet ingredience to qualifie a bit­ter medicine: Dearely beloued saith hee, as though he would protest before hand, that al­though he resisted their affections, and crossed their stubborne willes, by with-holding frō re­uenge, yet he did it for loue to their soules, and cure to the soares of their mindes. If we consider the estate of Gods beloued people in this life, we shal finde that they haue neede of many ad­monitions and precepts of patience, and for­bearance, first because of their infirmities, se­condly because of the continual reproches and wrongs which shall be offered vnto them. Gods best beloued are not so perfect and exact, but they are subiect to passions, and often resoluti­ons 1, Sam. 25. 2 [...]. of Reuenge against their enimies: as, Dauid was marching to the destruction of Naball, for his churlish answere, till Abigail meereth him, and with gracious words asswageth his displea­sure. [Page 7] And who seeth not; but the life of the best Christians is a marke for all wicked men, and the diuell himselfe to be continually darting at, and therefore euen to them, being Gods beloued is it necessarie to giue this Item: Dearely be­loued auenge not your selues. Beloued they were to whom Paul vttered this, as those are that he are this first beloued of the Lord: secondly for the Lords sake beloued of the ministers of God. Will you then see what reasons may bee drawne from this title, to keepe all Christians Reasons from the title against re­uenge. frō reuenge? Say you are disquieted, repro­ched, oppressed: Let this be your cōfort, you are beloued of God, whosoeuer hateth you: you are his dearlings, he tendreth your case, hee numbreth your haires, hee putteth your teares in his bottell.

Wee are content to endure great daungers, for those that wee know loue vs: to put vp many iniuries at the intreatie of our friendes: and who is a louer like the Lord, or a friend like him, which entreateth vs, and chargeth vs, not to Auenge our selues, not to resist euill, but to commit our causes, and soules in well doing to 1. Pet. 4. 19. the Lord our faythfull Creator, and Reuenger.

Againe: those whom wee loue wee imitate, and expresse in manners and behauiour: As God is our Father in Creation & Adoption: so must we proue our selues to be his children in Imitation: but in nothing may wee better [Page 8] declare who is our father, then as wee were beloued when wee were enemies: so to loue againe, and pray for our enimies when they haue wronged vs. Dyd our Sauiour Christ reuenge when hee was hurt? No: sayth the Apostle, beeing reuiled hee reuiled not againe, Pet. 2. 23. beeing iniuried hee sought no reuenge, when he suffered, hee threatned not, but committed it to him that iudgeth righteously. Thus doing hee left an example, that we should follow his foote­steppes.

The diuell when hee getteth audience, tel­leth a man how much hee is hated, and in­iuried: but the spirit of God being pure is also peaceable and telleth him how much hee is Iam. 3. 17. beloued, endeuoring to drowne all conceipt of mens spight and malice, in the depth of Gods loue set as a seale to his conscience. And from this ground of Gods fauour and loue, he rayseth an argument of charitie and kinde­nesse to other: wherefore Coloss. 3. saith Saint Coloss. 3. 12. Paul; As the elect of God, holie and beloued put on the bowels of mercie, kindenesse, humble­nesse of minde, meekenesse, long suffering, for­bearing one another, and forgiuing one another: as Christ forgaue you, euen so doe yee. For it is an Article of Couenant beetweene God and our selues, rehearsed in our prayers, and parle with the Lord, that as wee are forgiuen our offe [...]ses, so should wee forgiue.

If wee breake couenant, and forgiue not others: how can wee demaund performance at his hands, and not rather looke for such measure as wee mete to others? When our Master remitteth ten thousand talents, if wee bee straight laced, and will not forgiue a trifle Math. 18. of some hundred pence, it is a token that our finall quietus est, is not signed by the Lord, but that hee will call vs backe to an after re­coning, to pay the vtmost farthing, or indeede lye by it for euer.

Dearely beloued, sayth Paul, as of God, so beloued for his sake of my selfe: I loue you and yet may not flatter you. What will many of our paynted Christians say to this? Surely, hee is not my friend, hee loues mee not, that would aduise mee to suffer this disgrace, or put vp this iniurie: It is against my honour, my worship, say the greatest, against my profit & credit, say the meaner sort: nay it is against my conscience, (say many) to endure these wrongs: when alas it is lust and concupiscence, Iam▪ 4. 1 not conscience that fighteth in their members, and breedeth this disquiet.

Are wee then beloued of the Lord, and of those that are his deare children, though wee be maligned and hated, and oppressed of o­thers? O let vs keepe this hauen of refuge, and succour open, that when the world is a sea of troubles raging against vs, wee may shoot our [Page 10] selues into the same: and giue backe into the comfortable armes of his loue. Let vs rather loose our longing desire of reuenge, then the fauour of that Lord, by whom we are so deare­ly beloued.

Thus doth the Apostle sweeten his Prou. 27. 6. sharpe message, like a louer, giuing a faythfull wound for health, and not for hurt: in a tender regarde to preserue his clients (like a good counsaylour) in the euerlasting possession of their soules by patience. As Paul, so I would all Ambassadours of heauenly peace would keepe this note of loue, that one string soūding right, might serue to set all the other in tune. And thus much for this sweet title: Dearely beloued: which I desire of the Lord may make such melody in your hearts, at this present time, that all desire of reuenge, and bitter passions of the minde asswaged, you may be transformed in­to such sincere keepers, counsaylours, and see­kers of peace, that this title may remaine for e­uer verified in your soules, Dearely beloued▪

Now foloweth the restraint, Auenge not your [...]. The re­straint. selues. Reuenge is a rash proceeding to the punishment of iniuries receaued, without law, without order, without authoritie. In euery pri­uate Of reuenge by heart, tongue, and hand. man there be three instruments readie to further this reuenge, the heart, the tongue, the hand.

First is the heart prohibited from all pur­pose, [Page 11] and deuise, or desire of vengeaunce. 1. The heart. For in the heart is the bottome and coare of this disease. There lurkes a roote of bitter­nesse, which if it be not stocked vp, will spring vp, and defile both mouth, and man­ners. Concupiscence is the mother of ma­ny wicked impes, fathered by the diuell, and conceiued in the wombe of the heart, which must be strangled in the byrth: or else like the vipers broode, they destroy the wombe, and mischiefe many others. From the heart come Math. 15. 19. euill thoughts, murthers, false testimonies, slaun­ders, said he that knew the heart. But me thinkes I heare some whisper; that thought is free: It is free indeede, but how? free from the de­tection or punishment of man: but the Lord which made the frame of the heart and searcheth the thoughts, is a Iudge standing before the doore therof, to condemne those that doe but Iam. 5. 9. grudge against their bretheren, saith saint Iames. Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how Prou. 15. 11. much more the hearts of the sonnes of men.

The sinne of the diuell was but an exaltation of the heart. A wicked heart is an abhomination to the Lord: although it want meanes, either of strength to giue correspondencie to the will, or audacitie to vtter the poyson and spight in tearmes: for intention is action, and hating is 1. Iohn. 3. 15. killing, before almightie God, the Iudge of all secrets▪

The situation of Iericho was pleasaunt, but the water was naught, and the ground vene­mous and barren, till Elisha the Prophet, by an [...] King. 2. 19. infusion of Salt cast into the spring of the wa­ters, cured those infectious qualities: and so be­loued, is the estate of a professed Christian, pleasaunt to behold with many seeming com­modities, which (if the waters of the heart be bitter and infectious with the inueterate leauen of malice) are all dashed, and made matters of daunger and death, rather then meanes of comfort and life.

The word of God is the salt which must be cast into the Fountaine head of the hart, which beeing healed redresseth all daungers and in­conueniences, and this is that word, and that salt wherewith wee desire to season and sucke out all corrupt humors from the bottome of your hearts.

Auenge not your selues dearely beloued Diuerse be the reasons that backe this prohibi­tion, Reasons a­gainst a Re­uenging hart. and may make it of force to withdraw vs frō this priuate & priuie rancour of the minde, though commonly the affections incensed haue no eares. But see, (beloued) before the Cocatrice egges bee hatched, and they breake Isai. 59. 5. out into a serpent, what trauaile, and payne, there is in the conception, & breeding of mis­chiefe, & nourishing of a reuenging thought. What disease can so disfigure the bodie and [Page 13] consume it? what losse can so take away the Reuenge o [...] hart cōsumes body, goods, and soule. benefit of Riches or honour? or what canker can so infect and poyson the soule, as an en­uious thirst of vengeaunce, and a desire to cry quittance with our enimies? Hee that carri­eth 1. The bodie. the fire of malice in his bosom, first burnes himselfe, pyneth and scorcheth his braynes, dryeth the marrow of his boanes, drinketh vp his owne bloud, bewrayeth his worme-eaten conscience with the malicious sparkles of an euil eye. For as Wisdome maketh the face to shine, Prou. 15. 13. Prou. 14. 30. and a ioyful hart maketh a cheerfull countenance, as a sound minde is the life of the flesh and resto­ratiue to the boanes: so doth malice put the face Genes. 4. 5. out of fauour, maketh Caine walke with hanging lookes, consumeth the eyes in the holes, haste­neth Zechar. 14. death to the body, & filles the boanes with corruption.

The spirit of a man (sayth Salomon) sustayneth Prou. 18. 14. his infirmitie: but a wounded spirit, who can bear [...] it? Anger resteth in the bosome of fooles, and yet Eccles. 7. 11▪ lyke a restlesse beast it teareth the soule of him that keepeth it. It swelleth like poyson, & ma­keth Iob. 18▪ 4. grin, and gnash the teeth like a dogge, for so it is said of Stephens enemies, Their hearts burst for spight, and they gnashed at him with Acts 7. 54. their teeth, they shew the tricks of hell, and the propertie of the diuell in this life, for Diaboli propria est inuidia, saith Basil: Enuie of all o­ther Basil▪ de Inui▪ sinnes is the diuels peculiar brand, where­with [Page 14] he is marked. Doe but take a view of the enuious creature, marke his ioy and laughter, it is but to see others weepe and wring: by this, hastening vengeance vpon himselfe, from the Lord which causeth malicious men to bee caught in their owne snares. Therefore (sayth Salomon) be not glad, when thine enimie falleth, Prou. 24. let not thine heart reioyce when he stumbleth, least the Lord see it, and hee be displeased, and turne his wrath from him to thee. So great an enimie is the enuious man to himselfe, that he deriues the plagues of others vpon his owne body and soule. Whereof Iob desireth to cleare him­selfe, Iob. 31. 29. protesting that hee reioyced not at the de­struction of him that hated him, nor was moo­ued to ioy, when euill came vpon him. As for the sorrow and deadly vexation of the minde, which this desire of reuenge, and hatred effe­cteth, 2. The vse of goods & ho­nor abridged by reuenge of heart. Esth [...]r. 5. 11. as it tormenteth the bodie, so it depri­ueth the rich of his ease, and the most honora­ble of his contentment: his owne abundance cannot pleasure him, nor his purple garments heale him. When Haman hath reconed vp all the glorie of his riches, the multitude of his children, all his promotions, wherwith the king had honored him, the fauour and banquet, wherewith the Queene had graced him, what is all this to cheere him vp that hath a clog in his heart, which driues him to confesse, that all this is nothing, so long as hee sees Mordechat the [Page 15] Iew sitting at the Kinges gate: so that Haman cannot goe ioyfully to the banquet, except he be the hangman of his enimie, for default of a little curtesie towards him. But if this venime were but only daungerous to the body, or on­ly such as wrought a discontentment toward 3. Reuenge i [...] heart an e­nimie to th [...] soule. riches, honor, and things externall, it might seeme tolerable: but it poisoneth also the soule, infecteth religion, intercepteth prayers, depri­ueth vs of the sight and presence of the Lord. 1. Pet, 2. 11.

All fleshly lustes (sayth Peter) first fight a­gainst the soule of our selues, and that before they harme the body of others; for hee that beareth fire in his bosome first burnes him­selfe, before hee endaunger his neighbours. Admit thou knowest the truth, canst teach o­thers, frequent sermons, professe well, speake fauourably, and Godly, yet if thou concealest a spightfull heart vnder this maske of religion, thou art but as a potsheard ouerlaide with sil­uer Prou. 26. 23. drosse, a guilded scpulchre, and all thy pro­fessiō is but a lye, not able to affourd any com­fort of conscience to thyne owne soule: and therefore frō such hipocrites S. Iames pulleth of the vizard, and sheweth them their owne estate.

If you haue bitter enuying and strife in your Iam. 3. 14. harts reioyce not, neither bee lyers against the truth. How can that minde which is stuffed with superfluitie of malice, heare with profit [Page 8] [...] [Page 9] [...] [Page 10] [...] [Page 11] [...] [Page 12] [...] [Page 13] [...] [Page 14] [...] [Page 15] [...] [Page 16] that word, which is sincere milke to bee re­ceiued with meekenesse as of new borne babes?

Againe, what prayers can issue from a bitter fountaine? What desire or delyght can the malicious heart haue to present it selfe before the Maiestie of him that esteemeth of hatred as manslaughter? How darest thou offer those sighes and groanes to the Lord that breake frō a forge of reuenge? With what confidence canst thou lift vp those hands to God for mer­cie, that are readie to be lifted vp against thy brother in cruelty? seeing the Lord will haue pure hands lifted vp without wrath or doubting? Timoth. 2. 8. Math. 5.

Blessed are the pure in hart, for they shall see God: saith our sauiour: their soule is a glasse of Gods cheerefull face: but hee that hateth his 1. Iohn. 2. 11. brother is in darknesse. A turbulent spirit, and a spightfull heart is like a troubled water, wher there appeares no reflection of any comforta­ble countenance, but dregges, terrour, dark­nesse, the shadow of death and crueltie, being the Image of the diuell himselfe. For ther is no such harbour for him to lurke and fortifie him­selfe in, as that heart which is swept with anger, Luke. 11. 21. 25. and garnished with wrath: vpon whose rage the sunne hath often set: therefore sayth S. Paul to the Ephes: Let not the sunne goe downe vpon Ephse. 4. [...]6. your wrath, giue no place to the dwell: Who if he get in league with the corrupted will, he [Page 17] imployeth not onely the heart, but the tongue, not onely the tongue, but the eyes also in witch­craft, Basil. and vilanie, being his worke commonly vpon a profound malice, and an inueterate de­sire of reuenge. Seeing then the very thoughts of reuenge, are iudged and condemned of the Lord, seing they are the roote of all mischiefes, the tormenters of the body, the disfigurers of the face, the depriuers of rest in the middest of riches & honour; the slaughterers of the soule; the empeachment of religion; preiudiciall to the hearing, and hinderers of prayers, the eclipse of the eye of our soule, that it cannot see God, nor be seene in peace of him; and the very har­bengers of the diuell, let vs that haue thought wickedly, (as who can say his heart is cleane?) Prou. 20. 9. lay our hands vpon our hearts, and yeeld our selues to the vertue of this prohibition, Auenge not your selues.

As vpon the heart, so the holie ghost com­maundeth vs to lay our hands vpon the mouth, to stay the tongue, and surcease all practise of 2. The tong [...] stayed from reuenge reuenge, by any outward meanes: that if wee cannot rule our affections for loue of him that seeketh to bridle them, yet wee may tame our our tongue, and represse our actions for feare of the magistrate, that is the minister of God to take Rom. 13. vengeaunce of all cursed speakers, and wicked dooers. Two sorts of people are concluded, and shut vp, within this restraint. One sort are like [Page 18] Lions, either roaring in high thundring words, or ramping in cruel maner vpon their pray. The other, like Foxes, close, and subtill, but greedie notwithstanding. One trusteth to his force: the other to his fraude: one taketh his lust and libertie, scorning Gods ordinance, as a refuge for cowardes, and not a fitte redresse for them that haue nimble tongues of their owne, and hands swift to shed bloud. The other giues backe for aduauntage, and will crouch and bowe, till hee see his occasion, and then hee is merci­lesse.

First, wee are by vertue of this warrant to charme those great barkers, which vsing that womanish kinde of reuenge, doe bend their tongues like bowes, and shoote their words like ar­rowes. If to call our brother Racha, as much to say, as paltrie felow, deserueth the punishment Matth. 5. of a councell, if the nicke-name of foole in vn­aduised anger be worthie of hell fire; then what shall be giuen vnto thee thou false tongue, which Psal. 52. 4. louest and vsest to speake all wordes, that may de­stroy? which cuttest like a rasor, not onely those that are present, but woundest, like a venemous Psal. 120. Barnard. de tripli [...]i custod. arrow, the absent and vnseene? Leuiter volat grauiter vulnerat, sayth Bernard, of the speach of a wicked tongue: it flies lightly, but pear­ceth deepely: it entreth easily, but goes out hardly: and that more is, Vnoictu multos inter­ficit, with one blowe it spoyles a multitude [Page 19] How great is the wounde, that so small a wea­pon maketh? Saint Iames tearmeth it to bee Iames 3. a worlde of mischiefe, a fire that enflameth the whole course of Nature, an vnrulie euill, full of deadly poyson, a beast that no man can tame. And yet the Lordes bel [...]ued are not to suffer this member runne riot in themselues: for if Iames 1. 26. any man seeme religious, and refraineth not his tongue, but deceyueth his owne heart, this mans Religion is vaine. The beloned of the Lord that striue to bee perfect, and to bridle the whole bodie, must not let the tongue loose. Blessing and cursing, bitter water and sweete, must not issue out of the fountaine of a sanctified mouth. Nay, if a man respect but the benefites of a temporall estate, hee is to set a watch before his mouth. For if anie man long after life, and 1. Pet. 3. 10. Psal. 34. to see good dayes, he must refraine his tongue from euill, and his lippes from guile, sayth the holie Ghost.

In the ranke of those, that practice this kind of Reuenge, there are some that would seeme to surcease from their bitter and vnlawfull course, but it is when they haue rather tired then tamed their tongues, & spurged out their deadly poyson to the ful, then they crie out, in the bitternesse of their heart, vpon God and the Magistrate for further vengeance against him, whom they haue most cruellie torne and de­praued alreadie.

But they aske and receaue not, for the spirit of [...]m. 3. them lusteth after enuie: and their curse being causelesse, flieth like a byrd, and settleth no where, [...]rou. 26. [...]. vnlesse it returne to their owne bosome. S. Ierome, likeneth it vnto an arrow shot against a stone, which sticketh not in the marke, but often­times, [...]eronym: de [...]ta cleric. Resiliens percutit dirigentem: flying back­ward, it striketh the Archer. As hee loued cur­sing (saith Dauid) so shall it come vnto him, it shall [...]sal. 109. 17. come into his bowels like water, and like oyle into his bosome, it shall be as a garment to couer him, and a gyrdell to his loynes.

Are all words of rebuke, and curses the fruits of hatred, and actions of priuate reuenge, & therfore vnlawfull? will some say: To which I answere, that there be reproofes of the righte­ous▪ proceeding from loue, and curses of the vn­godly, issuing from zeale: and warranted by the spirit of God, and therefore are consequent sentences of his appointed wrath and vengeance vpon sinners. Let the righteous reproue me saith Psal. 141. 5. Dauid, for that shall be as precious balme vpon my head. O fooles and slowe of heart, sayd our Sauiour Luk. 24. 25. to his disciples: and, goe behinde mee Sathan, to Math. 16. 23. Peter, that a little before made a blessed confes­sion of the truth. O foolish Galathians, who hath Galat. 3. 1. bewitched you? writeth Paul to those for whom he trauayled twyce, that Christ might be formed in Gal. 4. 19. thē. In these reprehensions, and taunting words was no malice but a zeale to gods truth, hatred [Page 21] to ignorance, & loue to the soules of the parties rebuked, and thence brake out these sharp and charitable termes of reproofe. Habet vera Ami­citia Barnard. 24 [...] Epis. obiurgationem interdum, adulationem nun­quā. Trew friendship chideth sometimes, flattereth neuer. But the case seemeth harder in flat cur­ses, and prayers of execration, and vengeaunce, which notwithstanding by warrant from the spirit of God, haue proceeded lawfully from the mouthes of holie men, in especiall commis­sion for the same. What woes, and iudgements Math. 11. doth the Lord thunder out against Chorazim, and Bethsaida, against Pharises, Scribes, and Math. 24. Ierem. 17. 18. Ierom. 18. 22 hypocrits? Ieremie, and Dauid praye most fer­uently against certaine enimies to God and them selues. Saint Paule in particular against Alexan­der 2. Timoth. 4. 14▪ the Coppersmith, prayeth the Lord, to re­ward him according to his deedes, which were euill and cruell. Noah chaunged his fatherly Genes. 9. 25. words of blessing into a heauie curse vpon his sonne Cham, and his posteritie.

What shall we say of all these, but that they were warranted by the spirit of God, and their place assigned to reprooue, and pronounce the sharp sentence of the Lord against his d [...]sperate enimies reuealed vnto them. For the prayers A [...]gust. in Psa. 108. and imprecations of those that were in [...]wed with a spirit of prophecie, came not from a­ny desire or delight they had to see Gods ven­geaunce vpon others for any priuate respect: [Page 22] no not that calling of fire from heauen, by Eli­as, King▪ 1. 2. nor that deadlie curse of Elisha vpon the ill nurtured children: but Elias was fired with a peculiar spirit, against the enemies of God, which being doubled on his seruant, procured him in the Lordes name to curse those male­part boyes, that reproched the ministerie of God, in the wanton mockerie of Elishaes de­fect. So that those curses, whereupon present execution followed, were but modus praedicendi August. in Psal. 108. futura, saith Austin, the maner of foretelling things to come: wherein the spirit giuing notice of Gods pleasure, the Prophet pronounced the iust vengeance of God to ensue. If any one now vndertake to curse, or call fire from hea­uen vpon any particular persons, as the Pope banneth and curseth the Lords annointed ma­nie times: his praiers are turned into sinne, hee Luke. 9. 55. knoweth not what spirit he is of, and therefore where he curseth, the Lord blesseth.

But I heare (me thinkes) some one that hath caught a lewde custome of swearing, cursing, and wishing vengeance at euerie worde, yet maketh this foolish excuse for his filthie lan­guage: Although I speake all maner of mis­chiefe, curse damnablie, sweare horriblie, yet I protest (with a mōstrous oath) that I meane no harme, it is not for reuenge, or anger, but cu­stom: I am friends with God, and all the world; And thus hee would iustifie the tree when the [Page 23] fruits be wicked. He sweares his yea and his nay backward and forward, hee salutes his friends, and seasons his ieasts with cursing & banning: and shall we beleeue that he feares God, when he teares God on this maner? Shall wee thinke him so good a fellow, as he makes himselfe? Sa­lomon saith, the fauours of the wicked be crueltie, Prou. 12. 10▪ 14. 9. his courtesies be cursings, his salutations ven­geance, and mischiefe. Are not these such fooles as make but a sport of sinne? Are not these such deceitfull men, as feigne themselues mad, and cast firebrands at their friends▪ and then say: Am Prou. 26. 18▪ I not in sport? It is the propertie of some dogs to barke not so much for curstnesse, as for cu­stome, Petrarch. saith one: and yet it is but a currish qua­litie at the best: and surely hee that hath such a continual issue, and canker in his mouth of rot­ten words, and bitter streames, must needs haue a sinke of corruption in the heart: and what­soeuer small reconing hee maketh of cursing and blasphemie, yet hee that sweareth often, must needes bee like a seruant often beaten and Ecclus. 23. 10. 11. bunched, which can not be without some scarre, saith the wise man: and if he knowledge not his sinne, he maketh a double offense: for the righte­ous Lord, that wil demaund an account of euery Matth. 12. 36. idle worde, will not hold him guiltlesse vndoub­tedly, that with monstrous oathes taketh his name in vaine, howsoeuer the iudgements of the Lord are not regarded by the wicked.

It is a question moued, and answered by that learned father Basil, whether he that vseth au­dacious speech, and rash termes, and yet vpon admonitiō for the same, maketh answere, Nihil habeo mali in corde, I haue no euil in my heart, Quest. 28. [...]iffus. expl. be to be credited in this case or no; His an­swere is that it fareth with a sicke soule, as with a sicke body. The diseases of the body appeare not to euery one; no not to the Patient him­selfe, when he is in his sharpest fittes: yet when he rageth & speaketh absurdly and idly, though he saith hee is not sicke, no man of meane ex­perience will beleeue him, but rather pittie his case, being the more neere daunger, by how much hee seemes the farther from feeling and sense of his griefe.

In which case an expert physicion acquain­ted with the rules and signes of his art, is able to discerne the secret disease, and the daunger thereof, and better enforme the Patient of his estate, thē the standers by, or the patiēt afflicted himselfe. So is it with a soule-sicke wretch, that nether feels his corruptiō, nor knows the depth of his deadly woūd. For if he rage and belch out vnsauorie & rotten words, cursings & blasphe­mies, though he say his hart is sound and cleane, shall wee beleeue him? Nay rather let vs giue credit to the Lord, which as a most approued Phy­sicion hath set downe this Aphorisme as an in­fallible rule: Malus homo &c. An euill man out [Page 25] of the euill treasure of his hart bringeth forth euill. Luke. 6. 45. For of the aboundance of the heart the mouth spea­keth. And howsoeuer mans conscience think it selfe cleare, or his mouth protesteth of his in­nocencie; yet God is greater then his conscience, and will waken his sleepie soule at the last, by the scourge of the same conscience: but in the meane while wee are to know the tree by the fruict, and the fountaine by the water, assuring our selues, that where smoke and vapoures are there is some fire, and where maleuolent spea­ches breake forth, there is a malignant humour that sets them a float.

The offense of an euill tongue increaseth by circumstances of the person, that is assaulted by the ryot of the same. The highest degree is to set the mouth against heauen, as Rabsache, Isa. 36. and Iulian the Apostate did: the next is to curse Eccles. 10. 20. Exod. 22. 28. the King, or speake euill of the ruler of the people, to rayle at Authoritie: and then follow such as vnnaturally curse father or mother, or curse Leuit. 20. 9. their children as Michahs mother cursed hir son; Iudges. 17. 2. Leuit. 19. 14. and such as vncharitably curse the deafe, which cannot heare, or foolishly curse themselues, and sweare as Peter did, to get credit amongst a Mark. 14. 71. cursed company that vsed belike that fashion in their affirmations.

As in all these the impatiencie or corruption of a wicked hart is discouered, so also doth it shew it selfe in the rage and crueltie of a man [Page 26] against the verie dumbe cattell, the power of whose life and death is in his handes. Balaam [...]um. 22. 29. may discouer his wicked heart, when he exceedeth in wrath against his asse, and smiteth him with a staffe, and wisheth a sword in his hand like a ruf­fian to kill him: for a good man is mercifull to his Prou. 12. 10. cattell, saith Salomon: and the beast that hee may kill vpon an occasion, hee will not curse in his anger, for polluting his mouth, or inuring his tongue to a wicked custome, for euill speach corrupteth good maners. Nay Michael giueth vs an example, that we are not to blame no not the diuell himselfe with cursed speach, but to Iude. 1. 9. giue place to the Lord that shall rebuke him. And therefore they that defie him, and curse him with outragious tearmes, rather serue him and please him, then offend him: for saith the wise man, When the vngodly man curseth Satan, Ecclus. 21. 27. be curseth his owne soule.

But of all other, no cursed speakers are so daungerous in our estate, and neede so much to be curbed, as those monsters which Saint Pe­ter 2. Pet. 2. shadoweth out in their colours, that walke after the flesh, in the lust of vncleannesse, despising gouernment, being presumptuous, and standing in their owne conceipt, and not fearing to speake euill of those that are in dignitie. Be there not many of that vipers brood, cockered vnder the Popes wings, that hisse like serpēts, at their dea­rest mother, and curse like Shimei, casting out [Page 27] rayling bookes, like stones to hitte the An­oyncted of the Lord? But they fall, like stones tossed into the ayre, vpon their owne heades. Amongst our selues at home: who is hee al­most that dares not reuile those that are of greatest vertue, best desert, highest autho­ritie? if they perceyue not such to fauour their dissolute behauiour. But when the Di­uell and drinke meete togither, as they doe in many of our licentious people now a dayes, then is euerie sober man a noted enemie, eue­rie Magistrate that keepeth peace or good order, a professed foe. The Drunkardes will Psal. 69. 12. not sticke to make songes of Dauid, nor speake euill of the Gouernours; and it is like that if the wine fayled not, that is, their liuings melted not, and beggerie came not vppon them like an armed man, they woulde Prou. 6. 11. not blush to braue Authoritie in open place, and disturbe the whole course of iustice. As for our selues that speake of peace, wee are sure to bee assayled with warre: when wee play vpon Dauids Harpe to ease their griefe, they cast their speares to wound vs: and charm wee neuer so sweetlie, yet this Serpent of re­uenge and malice, either is deafe and will not heare: or fierce and readie to sting vs: but it is our portion: wee must beare it, you redresse it. And thus haue we discouered not only the humour, but the vapors and smoke of [Page 28] Reuenge kindled in the heart, and venting out at the mouth, that you the Lords beloued may see the deformitie, & reforme the fault, accor­ding to this prohibition of saint Pauls, Auenge not your selues: which hee expoundeth to the Ephes. after this sort: Let all buternesse, crying, Ephes. 4. 31. euill speaking, be put away with all maliciousnesse.

Next after the tongue we arrest by this Pro­hibition 3. Reuenging hāds arrested the wilfull hands, and violent procee­dings of those that wil be their owne caruers, & therfore without deliberation with themselues, without expectation of Gods vengeaunce, a­gainst right, reason, and al good order, reuenge their iniuries receiued in deede, or imagined in conceipt.

The Apostle heere speaketh in tearmes of loue to all: but how shall wee speake? or what stile shall we vse to the rufflers, & hacksters of our age? Shall wee call them beloued? That were out of fashion with such affectate male­contents, that take a pride to be partakers of the curse of Ismael: that had his hand vp against e­uery Genes. 16. 12. man, and euery mans hand against him. Shall wee call them christians, & so teach them their dutie? That name fitteth not the tragicall hu­mor, and stage-like behauiour of our dayes: wherein euery Nouice, like a fury, learnes to cry Reuenge, to offer the stabbe, to threaten the pis­toll, and in their aduantage not to spare: no not a brother, but to strike him, as Primus diabo. li discipulus. Bas. Genes. 4. Caine, the first [Page 29] disciple of the diuell, did Abel: not a reconciled friend, but to wound him traiterously as Ioab did 2. Sam. 3. 27. Abner. Alas how is that pretious accompt forgotten which the Lord maketh and deman­deth of man and beast, for shedding of mans bloud, Gen. 9. 5. with an vnpriuiledged sword, and a priuate an­ger! What small reconing is made to deface the Image of God, or teare the flesh of our selues, as though men were become wolues & dragons, to their owne kinde! Is that valour & fortitude so to feare another mans life, that thou canst not liue in quiet, till thou hast seene his death? Is it manhood, to be monstrous, and cruell, like the ould Gyants; or sauage, like beasts of the pray?

If you prouoke beasts, they lay about them pre­sently Lactant. lib. 6 Instit. Cap. 18. with horne and hoofe, saith a father: and so doe fooles receiuing hurt, being led with a rea­sonlesse furie, to reuenge; they cannot respite theyr rage, nor mitigate theyr passions. A foole rageth and is carelesse, and in the hast of his anger hee committeth follie, sayth that wise king: but Prou. 14. 16. shall the heate of his bloud excuse his assaults of violence & murder before the Lord? Shall his anger, being a short madnesse acquire him? Or shall the wounds that are giuen without Prou. 23. 29. cause, by such as tarry long at the wine, till they are enraged with heate, and dispossessed of wit, pleade a pardon for him, that killeth his com­panion in drinke? Aske but the Philosopher, [Page 30] and he will tell vs, that drunken offenses deserue double punishment, for such madnesse is volun­tarie, Arist. eth. 3. and such ignorance is wilfull: therefore our common speach sufficiently concludeth this poynt, which awardeth him that killeth a man when he is drunke, to bee hanged when hee is sober.

But of all other, that same violence and mur­ther which is effected by presumption, and pre­meditated circumstances, is prohibited by the Lord, and to bee resisted by the sworde of his vengeance. O that this sinne might not bee found in the house of Iacob; But what age is this? Or what people doe wee liue amongst? Bluntly to kill, and simplie to murther, is but for plaine fellowes: our gallants that studie to bee madde with reason, haue an art of kil­ling, rules, traditions, and precepts to teach them murther by the booke: in which they growe more expert then captaine Ioab, which 2. Sam. 3. 27. 2. Sam. 20. 10. could take the first ribbe in his stabbes, where he was sure to speede. Such cunning there was in Ierusalem, not long before the ruine and de­solation thereof: for common stabbers, with Ioseph. bell. Iud. lib. 2. cap. 12. their cloaked poyniards, and short daggers, in the middest of assemblies dispatched those a­gaynst whome they made any quarrell, with [...]icarii. great arte and secrecie. And it can bee no good presagement in anie Countrie, when bloudthirstie men growe expert, and boast like [Page 31] tyrants, men of power and strength to doe mis­chiefe, and take away life: when alas it is more August. in Psal. 52. grace and prowesse to giue life, or preserue it: for euerie vermine, and base viper can wounde and kill: and is this a propertie for strong men to glo­rie in?

But wee heare dayly the replie of some in their impatient mood: What? shal we suffer all? be made fooles? accounted cowards? and be so dis­armed, and bound to the peace, that euery one shal ouer-crow vs and oppresse vs? He that put­teth vp an old iniurie, prepares a new for him­self. These are to vnderstād, that the same God which forbiddeth priuate reuēge, hath ordained a publike redresse for all iniuries, either by them that carry the weapons of his wrath, or by him­self, if iudgemēt slumber with them. And ther­fore as we haue a restraint to keepe vs from re­uenging 3. Direction. our selues: so we haue a direction whi­ther to go, & speed of a remedie in all our grie­uances: Giue place vnto wrath. He that wil right his owne cause, & be his own stickler & cham­pion, takes the place of Gods wrath, & intrudes himself; but the beloued of the Lord must giue place: if thou canst not forbeare iniuries, yet forbeare, & expect a day of hearing of the righ­teous Iudge, or his lawful delegats. Neither whē priuate men see notorious sinnes vnpunished, is it lawfull for them vpon an ouershot zeale, to take vp the sworde, and play the Reformers.

Such a one (wilt thou alledge) is a forsworne wretch, Gods enimie: and therefore I may doe the Lord good seruice to kill him.

Who art thou that so iudgest, and presumest to haue powre of life and death, without a com­mission? Keepe thou thy bounds, wait vpon the Lord, tarrie his leasure. Priuate mē haue no further plea, but complaints to their superiours, or teares and prayers to the Lord, in such a case. Peter must put vp his sword, or else Peter must pe­rish Math. 26. 52. with the sword. Although Symeon and Leui, seeme to haue a iust cause of their violent course, against Shechem, and aske if hee should Genes. 34. 31. abuse their sister, as an whore; yet theyr father layeth a brand of Gods wrath vpon them, for be­ing Genes. 49. 5. brethren in euill, and slaying the man (though an offender) in their cruell rage.

Iudas and Theudas started vp in a time of tyran­nie and oppression, when the people were mighti­ly racked with the Romane exactions, and pre­tended Actes. 5. a deliuerance: but their enterprise, be­ing not of God, came to naught, with all the parta­kers. The like successe had the Anabaptists in Munster, who made a religious shew, of re­pressing Sleidan. lib. 5. the tyrannie, and vngodlynesse of the gouernours of their times. And what other end had our Ket of Northfolke, or such like vpstarts? who swelling to a head by the confluence of many poore wretches, crying out reformation, at length burst themselues like a botch, and [Page 33] declared their corruptiō. But we are otherwise Prou. 24. 21. taught, to feare God and the king, and not to meddle with thē that are seditious: to remoue our matters from our owne affection, to the Lords iudgement, not to auenge our selues, but giue place vnto his wrath: not that wee should make the lawe (being his ordinance) an en­gayne to serue our lusts, as the foxes & trouble­some suitors doe, of whom wee shall speake heare after▪ but that it may be a refuge to keepe vs in peace, to defend our innocencie, which if it doth not performe: yet patiently we are to expect the wrath of our God, that can still the enemie and the Auenger in his good time. Now as many reasons were raised from the louing title to keepe vs from reuenge, so is this re­straint Foure reasons against selfe­reuenge. 1. Reason frō the action of auēging. full of matter to disswade from that sini­ster course.

If we consider first this action of auenging, what is it but to repay euill with euill, to punish vice with sinne, and to imitate the wicked in his workes and waies of mischiefe? Qui malum Lactant. Improbitati opposita impatia en [...]ia magna [...] concitat tem­pestates. imitatur bonus esse non potest: he that imitateth the bad, cannot be good himselfe. He shall haue as good as he brings, sayest thou: he brings the fruite of iniustice, and thou payest him with the thornes of impatiencie. Because thine enemie is vniust, wilt thou be vngodly? be­cause he is an oppressor, or a slaunderer, wilt thou be froward, and a murtherer? Ne vtaris [Page 34] inimico praeceptore, saith Basil: let not thine ene­my be thy scholemaster, to tech thee that which thou detestest in him. Shuldest thou be a glasse to resemble the fury & madnes of the wicked in his angry moode? or should thy voice be the Echo of his vngracious speach? or thy hand the iustrument to bandy backe againe his balles of fire and mischiefe? No, rather ouercome thee­uill with good: fire quencheth not fire, but ra­ther settes all on a flame: neither can euill re­presse euill, but increase it rather: and one in­iury linked to another (as Samsons foxes, fastned with firebrands at their tailes) disturbe the qui­et, and destroy the fruit of whole societies. But he that rendreth good for bad, heapeth hote coales vpon his enemies head, not to consume him by his will, but to kindle and stir him to charitie a­gaine, or at the least to a cōfession against him­selfe, such as Saul made to Dauid; Thou art more righteous than I. This is the victory that [...], Sam. 24. 18. Christians, which are the heires of blessing, should content themselues withall. Contrary­wise, Barnard admi­ [...]lites templi. Infelix victoriaest, in qua hominem superās, vitio succūbis: It is an vnglorious victory, when conquering a man, thou art foiled by a beastly vice.

Secondly if we note the person here discharged 2. Reasons frō the person re­uenging. from reuenge: it is our selues. How absurd it is that one man should be plaintiffe, witnesse, Iudge, and executioner, al himselfe in his owne [Page 35] cause, the lawes of God, of men, of nature, and cōmon sense can teach vs. He that is first in his Prouerb. 18. 17. owne cause is iust: that is: telleth a sound tale for himselfe, till his neighbour come and controll it. If the plaintiffe goe no further then the court of his owne affections, he shall haue all the fa­uour that may be, for he is Amicus curiae, and the defendant shall haue neither audience, nor aduocate there, but all extremitie: for what o­ther thing can be expected, whē a man is plain­tiffe, witnesse, Iudge, and executioner all him­selfe; but that the action should be rashly cō ­menced, the witnesse corrupt, the iudgement partiall, and the execution both sodaine and violent.

In regard whereof our priuate matters are dis­missed from our owne partiall hearing, & wee are inhibited as Iudges in competent to deale for our selues. And although Christians should cary a court of conscience about them, where­in there is no corruption, nor partiality, no hard measure intended to others, but such as they desire to be returned to themselues, yet to a­uoide the slander & suspition of iniustice, they are to abide the publike triall, & to submit thē ­selues, to the cēsure of the Lords appointed mi­nisters, & in no case to defile their hands with the base execution of their owne reuenge. 3. From the direction, a▪ reasō against reuenge. A third reasō is drawen frō the direction made, to send vs where we should seeke, & may finde [Page 36] remedie of al enormities: Giue place vnto wrath. Wherin is thus much implyed, that although, thou haddest the sword & the law in thine own hand, and mightest be thine owne caruer, [...]and Chāpion, yet thy hands might faile thy heart; though thy priuate anger be curst, yet hath it but short hornes: the strongest reuenger mee­teth with his match. Therefore that auncient tryall by combat, is growne out of practise with Christians, because therein the innocent partie is as farre endaungered as the offender, the weake truth is made a prey to strong false­hood, rather then a punishment: And the Lord hath ordained diligent inquisition to sift out offences, and an oath to be the end of contro­uersies, and girded his magistrates with power and maiesty to suppresse the mightie, & hath not left the defence of the innocent, or the re­uenge of the wicked, to one mans valour, or to the hazard of a thing vncertaine, or the ex­ercise of a priuate mans wrath, which hath no warrant from the Lord, but is rather a temp­ting of God, then a due course of tryall in mat­ters punishable by the sword. It is not for the weakenes of mans anger to preuent the pow­er of gods ordinance. Fret not thy selfe against sinners to doe euill, but trust in the Lord and hee will care for thee: be silent, and he will speake for thee: stand thou still, and he will fight in thy cause. If thou drawest out thy wodden & [Page 37] hasty dagger, he putteth his sword into his scab­berd, and leaues thee to thy selfe. A childe that is hurt, doth not turne againe, but runnes and complaines to his father: Christians must as children, declare their wrongs to God their father, & let him alone, giue place to his wrath: we are but vnderlings, he is our Champion: it is policie for the weake to giue ouer his de­fence to the strong: it is duety to giue place to our betters, and danger to preoccupate & take the Lords vengeance out of his strong hand. Therefore let our hearts be still, our tongues quiet, our hands peaceable, least in priuate re­uenge we imitate the wicked, shew our selues corrupt Iudges, base executioners, preuent the Lords assistance, and perish in our owne weake and froward waies.

But I neede not stand longer to presse the wordes of the prohibition, for arguments a­gainst this priuate reuenge: seeing we may shew a transcript and copie, out of gods sacred char­ter and holy Oracles to take down the hearts, silence the mouthes, and restraine the handes 2. Confirma­tion. of all slesh, from their sinister proceedings. What art thou that darest intrude into gods right and title? Vengeance is mine; what art thou that threatnest, and sayest thou wilt do to thy foe, as he hath done to thee? I will repay, saith the Lord. As in the prohibition the sword of vengeance is wrested out of euery priuate [Page 38] mans hand, and they brought to attend the Lords power and pleasure for the righting of their wrongs: so in this confirmation, the Lord as it were cloathed in his royall apparel, his crowne of maiesty vpon his head, the earth trembling at Psal. 93. 1▪ his lookes, deuouring fire going from his throne, maketh knowne his title by this claime, venge­ance is mine: and taking his sword, seemeth to shake and brandish it in threatning manner, against all vsurpers, & euill doers: with this pro­hibition: vēgeance is mine, I will repay: saith the Lord. Behold (Right worshipful) the Patent & charter frō whence your authority is deriued, & whereby the reuerence and submission that e­uery soule must yeelde, is procured and en­forced. All creatures and ordinances be the Lords, but this ordinance of iudgement he en­titleth himselfe vnto, by precise, and speciall tearmes, as being a thing wherin he will migh­tily declare his power and maiesty, and there­fore 1 The cha­lenge bp the exe [...]ution. 3. The sub­s [...]ption. first is recorded his challenge: vengeance is mine: secondly his execution of the same, I will repay it: thirdly the subscription of his great name is affixed, as thus: saith the Lord. That this is the Lords true act and deede, and a faithfull copie out of the Originall, Saint Paul the Register of Gods holy spirit giueth witnesse, with scriptum est: it is written. The diuell beganne with the like florish of scrip­tum est, twise when hee tempted Christ, to [Page 39] make stones of bread, and to cast himselfe from a pinnacle: yet hee brought but a shadowe no substance, he vrged the letter but not the trew meaning: but when he came to the king­domes of the world and the glory thereof, he Luke. 4. 6. fled from his scripture, and hath not so much as one letter or tittle to plead, but onely his bare worde, All these are mine; If you aske how he came by them, he answeres as the theefe at the barre, they were deliuered vnto him, by whom he cannot tell, the time he remembers not, the place he hath forgot: which is as much to say, they are none of his indeede, hee holdes them by vsurpation, not by any right, hee forgeth a donation, but can make no deliuery nor good warran­tize of his gifts. But the Lord, which is witnes­sed to be the same which raigned of olde, which made all nations, and therefore correcteth all, did Psal. 55. 19. 94. 10. Deut. 32. 35. thunder out his glorious chalenge by Mo­ses, and confirmed by wonders and miracles, that vengeance and recompense was his; in­somuch that Dauid giues testimonie, of the Lords title againe and againe repeated in Psal. 62. 11. his hearing: GOD spake once and twice, I haue heard it, that power belongeth vnto GOD. And the Apostle in this place, sheweth the Lords former title, and plea­deth the continuance of possession without interruption: For it is wtitten, saith hee, [Page 40] and the scripture is not in vaine which spea­keth after this maner, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

This vengeance so claimed by the Lord, is Vengeance spiritual [...]. eyther spirituall, or ciuill and corporall. The spirituall vengeance is not assigned to the mi­nisters of God, in pompe, & externall violence; For the weapons of our warrefare be not carnall 2. Cor. 10 4. (saith S. Paul) but mighty through God; the beautie is not outward, but within: the power is not to tyrannize vpon the bodie by a secular arme, nor yet to sley the soule, as the man of sinne would seeme with his brutish thunder­bolts, but to threaten from God, to declare & pronoūce the vengeance of the Lord, but leaue the execution to himselfe, because we know he will repay, and to this effect, the Author to the Heb. 10 30. Hebrewes produceth this same charter, as one that speaketh by knowledge: we know him that hath saide: vengeance is mine I will recom­pense, saith the Lord. Vengeance temporall.

That vengeance which is corporall & reach­eth but the bodie, is partly reserued to the lords owne hand, immediatly to inflict particularly in this life, and generally, at the last great day of his vengeance: partly it is cōmitted to sub­stitutes, and his ministers of wrath to cherishe the well doers, and cut downe the euill. So that though it please him to call his Iudgemēts vengeance, and to claime it; by this most ter­rible [Page 41] denomination to strike feare and reue­rence into all mens hearts: yet by the same speach he vnderstandeth also that mercy and fauour belongeth to him: as it doth indeed more properly & naturally. For saith Barnard, Inserm. de [...]at. Domi. he is called not only the God of vengeāce, but pater m [...]s [...]ricordiarum, the father of mercies: because out of himselfe, and the bowels of his owne natiue goodnesse, he takes matter of compassion, and mercy: sed quòd Iudicat & condemnit, nos e­um quodammodo cogimus: but in that he iudgeth In vengeance there must be mercy. and condemneth, the matter and occasion is in our selues, and we after a sort compell him vnto it. We haue therefore the example & pre­cept of the Lord himselfe, to keepe vs that are priuate, from intrusion, disobedience, or a hard conceipt of the magistrate, such as the Ana­baptists are possessed with, affirming the poli­tique gouern our to be a necessarie euill, and Danaeus. de hō. lib. 4. cap. 24. rather a plague, then a benefit to Christians, because he doth punish. And the same example from the Lord we may shewe as a president, a­gainst those rulers that be all for vengeance, and extremitie; nothing for mercy nor com­passion. For the Lord hath appointed the ru­lers to be shepheards and watchmen, to feed and preserue: not roaring lyons and hungry beares Pro 28. 15. Micha. 3. to prey vpon the people, to trample vpon them as mire, and grinde them in peeces with extortion & polling. Our Sauiour Christ therefore calleth [Page 42] gouernors [...], benefactors and gracious, not malefactors and mischieuous, because by their title hee would teach them their duety. And if the Lord had ordained his magis­trates onely to kill, to racke, and to poll his people, hee might haue put in the diuell for a sole Commissioner, for hee can practise nothing else, but mischiefe and vengeance: but because the magistrate must vse mercie and a fauourable defence of the good, a cor­rection of euill, and not a confusion of all to­gether: therefore hath the Lord committed his sword vnto men, and gaue them this title, I haue saide you are Gods, intending they should Psal. 82. 6. be iust as God, holy as God, mercifull vpon oc­casion as God, without partiality as God, with­out iniquity as God, & so doing, they may be fearelesse of the faces of men, as God himselfe. Thus may all men in authoritie behold their faces & dueties in the glasse which sheweth the Lords properties, and telleth them how neere they come to his perfection. The Lord doth not onely exercise punishment, but pitie, and compassion. How farre be those Iudges and officers from the Lords example, that pinch all in the purse, let none goe free, what per­son soeuer in what cause soeuer, if hee light in their clawes, whose courts resemble the Popes Purgatory; if he say the word, or any of his proctors, that the soules of men are in, [Page 43] though they be out, yet pay they must by thē ­selues or their friendes, before they be at rest, though they were at quiet before. And how like are such to the ignorant physitions, that prescribe to all persons, in all causes, phlebo­tomie and letting of bloud, as though euery disease were of excesse and superfluitie, none of defect and penurie: for they drawe bloud of all, and lighten the purse of euery Patient, and this maketh the world to decrease in wealth, but increase in sinnes. What warrant such offi­cers haue for their dealings, I knowe not, ex­cept it be this vulgar proued trewe: hee that buyes deare, must seldeare, & he that farmes at a hard rent, must take vp all with the angle, & drag all with the net.

Neuerthelesse it is a more desperate case, when in a Commonwealth a man may do any thing without punishment, then when hee can doe nothing, but he smarts for it. A licentious liberty is more dāgerous then seruitude it selfe: & therfore better haue a sharpe gouernour, thē In execution mercy, but not remisse­nesse. an Idole & a blocke, that suffereth the people to be deuoured one of another, & cōsumed of thē ­selues. Wherfore as the Lord conueyeth ouer his authority to men, & confirmeth thē in their place, with these titles, that Iudgemēt is his; pow­er is his; the throne his; the sword his; & vengeāce is his: so he teacheth them the diligent vse, & carefull execution, adding this clause, I will re­pay. [Page 44] When Iehos hap hat had ordained Iudges vnder him, he giueth them the same charge, that he had receiued from God & the same en­couragement. Take beede what yee do: for ye ex­ecute not the Iudgements of man, but of the Lord, 2. Chron. 19. 6 and hee will be with you in the cause of iudgement [...] wherefore now let the feare of the Lord be vpon you: take heede, and doe it: for there is no ini­quitie with the Lord our God, neither respect of person, nor receiuing of rewarde. So that the place of a Iudge is not a place of priuate re­uenge, nor a dumbe shewe of honour and pompe: nor a pillowe of ease and securitie whereon men are to sleepe, or tell the clocke: but there must be circumspection, diligence and wisdome: they must take heede, and doe it, hoc agite, attend vpon this office: doe this, and yet take heede what ye doe. When the Lord hath saide to rulers, yee are gods, hee meaneth not that they shoulde be like the E­picures idle god, which sate in his throne, and Psal. 82. let all inferior matters alone, as to base for his eyes: nay rather the Lord woulde haue them like himselfe, which doth not onely Isai. 40. 12. weigh mountaines and hilles in his ballance, but the very dust of the earth, and sandes of the sea. And therefore he setteth downe iudgement Exod. 18. 22. for small matters: and as he saith vengeance is mine, so by Salomon he descendeth lower, and Prou. 16. 11. layeth claime to the ballance, and telleth vs [Page 45] that all the weightes in the bagge, be the worke of the Lord. And who are weaker or lower, then the fatherlesse, the widowe, the poore? and yet al Iudges haue the Lords Letter commendatory, or mandatory rather, in their behalfe: the tenor whereof is this; doe right to the poore and fa­therlesse, Psal. 82. doe Iustice to the poore and needy: and how they should do this right, he telleth them: deliuer the poore and needy: saue them from the hand of the wicked. And further to keepe the Iudges themselues in awe, hee standeth ouer them, and telleth them of his presence, in the very entrance of the Psalme, saying: God stand­eth in the assembly of gods, hee Iudgeth amongst gods: he maketh one, in all courts, all assises, & Psal. 82. 1. sessions, and that which men passe ouer, he finds out: that which they winke at, hee punisheth. The Iudges ignorance will not excuse him, if for carelesnes, he suffer the calamitie of the innocent: for if thou say, Behold we knew not of it; the holy Ghost will reply as in the Prouerbes, hee that pōdereth the heart, doth not he vnderstand it? Prou. 24. 12. and hee that keepeth thy soule, knoweth hee it not? and will not hee also recompense euery man according to his worke? And the righteous man Iob will teach thee in dignitie, what thou oughtest to haue done, in his Apology, tou­ching Iob. 29. 16. intricate matters, for when he knewe not the cause, hee sought it out diligently, as hee saith of himselfe. At leastwise the Lord him­selfe [Page 46] that vpon the clamorous outcry of Sodomes sinnes in his eares, commeth downe G [...]. 18. 21. on the earth, to examine if their sinnes were so grieuous or no: doth rather intend an instruction to those whom he honoureth with the title of Gods: then further intelligence to his owne wisdome, from the which nothing was hidde.

According to the power assigned from God, must be the purpose, & practise of euery gouer­nour. For what is a sword, if it be alwaies like a childes dagger, riuetted in the sheath, and put to no vse? what are good lawes without execu­tion, but as belles without clappers? And what are magistrates, that hauing neither the life nor soule of iustice in themselues, & therefore cannot quicken the dead letter of the lawes, nor make them effectuall in sound or motion? Are not they rather Idoles thā Gods? rather I­mages that must be kept by a sexten & keeper Lodouic. Viues in. 1. lib. cap. 3. de ciuit. Dei. (for so Plato speaketh of voluptuous and do­ting gouernours) then guardians and keepers of cuntryes, cityes and people themselues?

It is a trewe saying experimented daily, that Magistratus indicat virum: the honour and au­thoritie Aristot. lib. 5. of an office, maketh triall what is in the man that beares it. A priuate man like an emp­ty vessell may haue many flawes and crackes, many faults and defectes that appeare not: but as when vesselles are filled, the chinkes are [Page 47] descryed, by the leakeage of the wine: so when men are graced with authoritie, their vn­soundnesse is discouered through some chinke of folly, or feare, or carelesnesse, or else they proue staunche, and shewe their sufficiency, for wisdome and conscience.

The best course in those that haue a prehemi­nence to ordaine officers, is to try them by de­grees, first if they wil be faithfull in little things, that so they may be credited at last with the great: or as men proue their vesselles, with wa­ter, before they trust them with wine. Absolon 2. Sam. 15. will be lowly & popular to al suiters, & promise faire to doe Iustice, till he get aloft, and then he sheweth himselfe neither to feare God nor the king, neither to care for Iustice nor hones­tie. Men can spreade the nets of humilitie, and weaue them with the knots of subtiltie, till they haue caught their desire, and then they shewe their hypocrisie. It seemeth that Pope Boniface followed this course in his clym­ing: of whome it is spoken▪ Intrauit vt vul­pes, Fascic▪ temp. Boniface. 8. regnauit vt leo, mortuus vt canis▪ hee entered like a foxe, hee ruled like a lyon, hee dyed like a dogge. And so commonly it comes to passe, a badde beginning hath a wicked proceeding, and a miserable ende. Wherefore it is expedient for men of ho­nour, worshippe, and authoritie to car­rie this title of the Lorde, and this pro­misse [Page 48] of execution in their memorie, that by it they may be comforted in their good procee­dings, repressed from cruelty, & the exercise of priuate reuenge in their publike actions; & yet stirred vp to be diligent & carefull, because the Lord himselfe is not only a looker on, but a chiefe Actor. For vengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord.

Now shall it be requisite againe to returne to priuate men, and the people of God for whose sake the Lord hath vouchsafed his power and maiesty, his iustice and equitie, to be establish­ed▪ and executed by worthy men ordained for that end. They are inhibited frō that reuenge, which they could not execute without sinne: & sent vnto the courts of gods Iudgement, where they may haue a defence of innocencie with­out repulse. If any shall obiect the faults, de­layes, and circumuentions of courts and lawes, thereby colouring their disobedience to supe­rior powers, they must vnderstād that gods ho­ly ordināce must not be resisted for the personal crimes & defects of those that supply the pla­ces, but rather be obeyed, because the sparkes of gods maiesty & iustice remaine in some measure in euery magistrate. The image & super­scription of a Prince, stamped in basemetall, is currant amongst his subiects, as well as that which is made in the finest siluer, though in deed it be not so pretious. S. Peter admonisheth [Page 49] seruants, and vnder that title, subiects, to be o­bedient in all feare, not onely to the good and 1. P [...]t. 2. 18. courteous, but also to the froward. There be two sorts of people that abuse themselues to­ward the sacred ordināce of lawes, magistrates, and gouernours; appointed notwithstanding for the punishment of euill, and the decision of controuersies, that Gods people might liue in honestie and peace.

The one sort are flat Recusants, as Libertines, 1. Recusants▪ ciuill ordi­nances, and Anabaptists: and such tumultuous fellowes as would haue al subiect to their lusts, but they will be subiect to no lawes.

The other are Foxes that make accompt of 2. Foxes and▪ abusers of the lawes. the Iudges and lawes, and vse them to the sa­tisfaction of their priuate reuenge, and malici­ous humours.

Somewhat are we to speake, God willing, of both: and first, of those former Recusants? not because any such are in this place: but be­cause vnquiet, and troublesome s [...]ters, that follow the lawe to serue their lusts: when they faile of their hope, for the most part turne from one extreame to another, and set themselues cleane at defiance, with Iustice & Authoritie.

Touching Libertines, which promise others li­bertie, Recusants Libertimes▪ 2. Pe [...] ▪ 2. 19. themselues being the seruants of corrup­tion, which walke after their lusts, and despise go­uernment, it is no maruell if they scorne and contemne order and magistracie, seeing they [Page 50] dare open their mouthes against heauen, and say, There is no God. But as they blush not to be called the Damned crew: thereby sentencing themselues, to confusion; So Saint Peter ac­compteth [...]. Pet. 2. 12. them as bruit beastes, led with sensua­litie, and made to be taken and destroyed. If you aske howe they shall perish? Saint Peter answereth, through their owne corruption, the cordes of their owne sinne shall stoppe their breath: and though they escape long, and shift often; yet the Lord knoweth how to reserue [...]. Pet. 2. 9. them to the day of vengeance.

The Anabaptists, and such as leane to their Recusant Anabaptists. stubborne conceipt, are also within the com­passe of such Recusants. They would haue all things cōmon to their owne lusts, and nothing reserued or kept for any mans need. Because some rulers are wicked, therfore they will haue no rule nor gouernment at al to be ouer them: a gratefull principle to them that desire to be lawlesse. I know the good father Tertullian may be produced as a patrone for theese: for hee Dan [...] ▪ in Au­gust. de heres. cap. 86. was ouertaken by this errour, that he thought the vse of the sworde in battell, or punishments coulde not bee lawfull, and therefore degra­ded all capitall and criminall Iudges from their places.

But fathers as men might be deceiued, and so was Tertullian: the Lord himselfe can nei­ther deceiue, nor bee deceiued, and hee hath [Page 51] said, Vengeaunce is mine. He hath said, Giue Matth. 22. 21. vnto Caesar, that which is Caesars. Hee by his worde hath created the Magistrate, called him his Minister, put the sword in his hand, charged Rom. 13. him to strike: and commaunded euerie soule to be subiect, not so much for feare, as the wicked are, but euen for conscience, as the godly. He com­manded the captiues by Ieremie, to seeke the pro­speritie Ierem. 29. 7▪ of Babylon, and pray vnto the Lord for it: He exhorted by Paule, that intecessions and 1. Tim. 2▪ [...]. supplications should be made for Kings and prin­ces, and all that were in authoritie: the King of Babylon knew not God, the rulers in Saint Pauls time were no Christians, but heathens and ty­rants: yet such gouernours are to bee obeyed, and prayed for: that vnder them Christians may liue in peace, godlines, and honesty: how much more the faithful gouernors, that seeke them­selues the peace of Ierusalē, & the righteousnes of Gods kingdome? though many blemishes may be noted, and imperfections of men, in the administration of iudgement vnder them.

Here may we not forget the Papistical Clear­gie, Recusant Papists. that acknowledge the power of the Magi­strate, whē they would haue their pestilen tha­tred executed against the saints of God, which they call heretikes: but when iustice shoulde worthilye bee turned vpon themselues, then they pleade exemptions, and priuiledges, they are spirituall & may not be touched; forgetting [Page 52] that which the Lord hath set downe for a per­petual Canon: Let euery soule be subiect. Which Chrysostome expoundeth of Church-men, as well as of lay people: Siue Apostolus, siue Euan­gelista, siue Propheta fueris, Magistratui subesse debes. Be thou Apostle, Euangelist, or Prophet, or whatsoeuer, thou must yeeld subiection to the temporall Magistrate.

As these would exempt themselues from their due obedience to Rulers; and yet shrowd themselues vnder their wings, for reuenge, or defence: so Iulian the Apostate, did exact obe­dience and tribute, belonging to gouernours: but perswaded all Christians, that his tyrannie and crueltie, was good for them, they might not resist but suffer: If hee stroke them vpon one cheeke, they should turne the other: thus, in an ir­religious ieast, sending in deede his subiects to heauen, and himselfe merrily into hell. It see­meth, the common translation, which the Ro­manists follow, speaketh contrarie to their own practise and meaning: Non defendentes, hath the translation in this place; not defending your selues: but their practise is contrarie: for they trouble heauen and earth, for the auenging of their quarrelles: and doubt not by any violent proceedings to supplant Kings and Princes, and depose them from their thrones, being ani­mated and warranted by that hellish resolution of Gregorie the seauenth, & his successors: that [Page 53] treason against vnbeleeuing Princes is lawfull.

But touching the wordes of our Sauiour Christ, where he prepareth Christians to beare iniuries without resistance: they take not away publike and lawfull defence, such as is sought by a due course of complaint, or reply, at the hand of the Magistrate, without rancour and heart-burning. For when he teacheth Christi­ans, that being smitten vpon one cheeke, they Math. 5. should turne, to him that smiteth, the other: he in­tendeth they should bee so farre from rende­ring one blowe for another, that rather they should suffer two, then reuenge one: and yet not to faile in the lawfull defence of themselues. For in the same Chapter immediately, our Sa­uiour saith: Agree with thine aduersarie quick­ly, least he deliuer thee to the Iudge, and the Iudge to the Sergeant; without doubt ratifying the course of ciuill proceedings in iudgement. Moreouer, he giueth example of this himselfe, who being smitten, did not strike againe, but yet he expostulateth de facto, touching the deed, whether it were lawfull or no, in him that strook him. If I haue euill spoken, beare witnesse of the euill: but if I haue well spoken, why smitest Iohn. 18. 23. August. ad Marcellin. thou me? Vbi ostendit (saith Austen) praepara­tionem maxillae faciendam esse in corde: where he sheweth that the preparation of the other cheeke must be made in the heart. For so Christ Isai. 56. Iesus gaue his cheekes to the nippers, and was not [Page 54] onely content to suffer blowes, but death for his enimies. The like example giueth Paule before the high priest, reprouing the iniustice of the Acts. 23. 3. Acts. 21. 13. [...]om. 9. 3. Acts. 23. 17. Iudge, and yet prepared to suffer bondes and death, and to bee separate from Christ for his countrimen. Moreouer, did not the same Paul obtaine a safe conduct for his safegard, against certaine wretched fellowes that had sworne his death? Did he not appeale to Caesar, and Acts. 25. 12. take the honest aduauntages of the lawe to helpe himselfe? If this were the practise of the best men, who doubteth but our Sauiours precept respecteth the heart, and priuate court of mans conscience, prouiding against all im­patiencie, and immoderate desire of reuenge, but leauing open the lawe for a lawfull de­fence, and open preseruation of life, goods, bo­die, and name. So then the law is good, if it be not abused, as it is saide in another sense: for it serueth to redresse all wrongs, to re­presse all tumults, and therefore was it a wise speach of the towne Clerke of Ephesus, to the raging Idolaters: If Demetrius, or the crafts mē haue a matter against any man, the law is open, and Acts. 19. 38. there are deputies, let them accuse one another.

And here come in the foxes and followers of Such as ab­use the law by ouerusing the same. the law, such as will not reuenge in words, nor blowes, but rather desire to bee slaundered, and to take blowes, yet not for any meeknesse, but to get an aduauntage in lawe, wherein [Page 55] they may shew all extremitie of lingering re­uenge. And here they spend their witte, their wealth, their friends, their time, their soules, & all: as the Spider that woorketh out her owne bowels, to compasse hir prey. Wil you examine what be their actions and suits cōmonly? Sure­ly words of vnkindnesse, actions of some de­serued slaunder, some trespasse pedibus ambu­lando: de lanacaprina, & asini vmbra. Of goates wooll, and the shadow of an asse. How do these Sycophants abuse the ordinance of God, with their contention for trifles? They are not vn­like those nice people, that continually lie in the handes of physitions and surgeons for pimples and warts, when both the physition and the lawyer was appointed for necessity, and not for wantonnesse. Am I deceiued? or do I not see these suters pestered with boxes and papers (the bookes of their profession) to course about from place to place, more busie to cast away their money then then the lawyer to catch it: They haue a running sore of self­will, and malice, but their worde is onely Currat lex, Let the lawe haue his course: a course they meane without ende, except they can saciate their wilfull mindes with a full triumph ouer their impouerished aduersarie. Their courage is inuincible: for neither the admonition of friendes, threates of authori­tie, no nor badde successe in theyr suytes, [Page 56] can make them giue ouer, and sit downe by it: for it fares with them as with the drunkard in the Prouerbes, that boasteth after this maner: They haue stricken me, but I was not sicke: they Prou. 23. 35. haue beaten me, but I knewe not of it, when I a­woke: therefore will I seeke it yet still. As such seeke the wine when it hath bitten them, so these being drunken in the pursuite of their malice, though they smarted a while, and caught an ouerthrowe, yet will rouze them­selues and to it againe: for hote gamsters will take no checke, nor repulse: losing is no war­ning; but the more they lose, the more they seeke to venture.

I know what this generation will replie, if they heare me: We haue stoode before the best in good presence, in the highest Courtes of greatest honour, and iustice. Surely I graunt it, for the Spi­der worketh hir webbes, and taketh holde with Prou. 30. 28. hir handes, often in Kings palaces; and Satan, the father of all false accusers, liers, and busie bodies, Iob. 1. Zachar. 3. standeth before the Lord amongst his seruants; but it is to accuse, slaunder, and picke aduauntages against Gods people.

I perswade my selfe that the wisedome of you (graue fathers) can marke out such, better then I describe them. And ye the learned coū ­sellors that are interpreters of the lawe, of cre­dite and conscience, will be loath to open their mouthes in the gates, for such turbulēt suiters. [Page 57] Yet (giue me leaue) no cause is so desperate, no client so peruerse, that findeth not a solicitor, at the least, to helpe enuie forwarde, and pull iu­stice backward, if there be wilfulnesse, and abi­liltie in the follower. Notwithstanding I am assured, that the best for counsaile, and consci­ence, amongst you, detest both the contenci­ous quarrellers, and all those brokers of ill cau­ses that by shifts and quillets disturbe the ho­nourable Courts of Iustice, and turne whole­some Iudgement into bitter wormewood. And in­deed as the lawe is a comfortable baulme, to plaister vp the woundes and sores of euery pri­uate disquiet, with conuenient expedition: so (with all due reuerence to Gods ordinance be it spoken) are the delayes, quirkes, and de­murres, like the corrosiue plaisters of an vn­conscionable leach, which turne a small greene wound into an incurable Fistula, by poisoning and exulcerating the same, for their further practise and lucre. But I speake in vaine, if I di­rect my speach to these kinde of people, who are not present in this place now, for the church is as the shadow of death vnto them, and they haue earnest businesse, which they loue aboue their soules. To you therefore prudent Coun­sellers, and all that feare God, be it spoken. Re­member Psal. 5. 8. that as vengeance is Gods, so the lawes are Gods, Iudgement is Gods, Counsell is Gods, verdict and sentence are Gods. He that hath said, [Page 58] Iudge righteouslie, hath sayde also; Speake the thinges that are right. The tongue of the iust is [...]rou. 10. 20. as refined siluer sayeth Salomon. There is no vn­truth, no shift, no drosse in it. The presence of Gods Maiesty in iudgement, ingrauen in the browes of his Commissioners, calleth for reue­rent speach: it admitteth no railing nor gir­ding to obscure the truth: nor those answeres ad hominem, non ad rem: that are to the per­son, somewhat: but nothing to the purpose; though such pleading in disgrace of parties get a popular applause for the time. A cap­taine Plut. apotheg. of Darius hearing a mercenarie souldier to rayle against Alexander, in high wordes, strooke him with his speare, saying, Ego te vt pugnes &c. I prest thee to fight with Alexan­der, and not to raile against him. And so do wise and honest clients retain aduocates, & see them to plead their cause, not to reuile their aduersa­rie. O how sweet are those riches that are got­ten with a good conscience, and a tongue of sound counsell, and pure wisdome: But the ga­thering Prou. 21. 6. of treasure by a deceiptfull tongue, is as vanitie tossed to and fro, of them that seeke death. He that coueteth that euill couetousnesse to build his house, consulteth shame to his house, sayeth Abacuk, for the stone shall crie out of the wall, and the beame out of the timber shall answere it with a woe, ringing aloude in the conscience Haba [...]. 2 [...]. of the founder himselfe, laying the foundation [Page 59] in bloud and iniquitie.

I would those busie bodies, that abuse the law, and your patience (right worshipfull) with tri­fles, and slanderous actions, as also those cruell tyrants, that crouch before authoritie to make the poore fall into their snares, and to rack thē of Psal. 10. 10. spight, by extremities of law, were as well ac­quainted with their dutie, as I know the better sort here present is. But it is your partes (graue fathers) to quiet these stirring heads, & quench these fierie spirits. All lawes both of God and men, haue prouided against the slanderous ca­ueller, and cruell oppressor. Thou shalt not walke about with tales among the people: Thou shalt not stand against the bloud of thy neighbour, I am the Leuit. 19. Lord: that is the diuine law. Mens lawes were di­uerse, but the Athenians and Romans, prouided against them, some by banishment: some by penalties, some by an oath taken of the plain­tiffe, Wolsius in Deut. 22. that he did follow no suit, animo calumni­andi, with a purpose of cauill and slaunder.

And for those cruell tygres, that are all ar­med with prickles like the Hedgehogge, that Totus Ec [...]inus asper. seeme to giue place to Gods holy wrath, and yet haue seauen abhominations in their hearts, and a thirst to torment and impouerish their aduersarie; these, I say, it becommeth your wis­doms to discerne and discomfit. They are such indeed as tarry the leisure of the law, and seeke the face of the Court: but they wring the nose [Page 60] to force out bloud, they houer after extremi­ties, forfeytures, and aduauntages,: which be­ing obtained; they themselues catch their deb­tour Matth. 18. 28. by the throat, helpe to serue their owne executions, enter into the gates of him that is Obadiah. 1. 13. fallen, delighting in his aduersitie, and taking pleasure in his miserie, or else feeding them­selues with a wicked triumph ouer the bones of a poore captiue starued in prison. Is this a­greeable to Gods holy will? who charged his people, that they should not rule cruelly ouer Leuit. 25. 43. their brethren solde vnto them: who in the 24. of Deuteronomium, commaunded them, when Deut. 24. 10. they asked againe of their neighbor the thing that was lent, that they should not go into his house to fetch a pledge, nor keepe the pledge till the Sunne went downe, of the partie that was poore; who al­so in the 58. of Isaie, mocketh at the fastes and prayers of such, as would seeme to bee deisout, Isai. 58. 3. and serue God, and aske after the ordinaunces of the Lord, and yet they would seeke their owne will, and require all their debts, and smite with the fist of wickednesse; when the Lord required a fast from strife, debate, & extremitie; a loosing of the bands of wickednesse, a taking away of heauie burdens, a manumission of the oppressed, and a breach of the yoke of bondage.

As the vsurer, may be called a legall theefe, Barnard. de cura rei fa. because hee couereth his cruell extortion by lawe: so may these vnmercifull creditors bee [Page 61] tearmed legall murtherers, such as the lawe in some things doth assist: so that by law they may both go to the diuell togither, for their vncha­ritable mindes, as well as other theeues, & mur­therers without law, for their vnlawful actions.

Amongst other faults that the Corinthians are reproued for, by saint Paule, this was no small one; that there were many quarrelles, suites, and complaints, commenced amongst them, for small matters, and that before hea­thenish Iudges, where they made themselues ridiculous, and the Christian profession scan­dalous, to them that were without. He tenteth their wound, and sheweth what roote those corruptions did spring from. For there wanted first wisdome amongst them, to compound and decide controuersies. Is there not a wise man a­mongst 1. Cor. 6. 5. you? saith he; none that can find where the fault is, and set downe the right of the cause of so small a moment? Secondly, there wanted loue; for brother with brother went to law, and 1. Cor. 6. 6. that vnder Infidels. Thirdly, they wanted pati­ence: Why rather suffer ye not wrong, and for­beare 1. Cor. 6. 7. one another, forgiue one another? let ma­nie faults passe, forget many iniuries, and com­mit them to God? Fourthly, there wanted Iu­stice: Nay, ye your selues (saith he) will do wrong, and harme, & that to your brethren. These foure wants must needes be amongst vs (beloued) who are so litigious, and readie to go to the [Page 62] law. For want of iustice in foro conscientiae, in the Court of our conscience, wee doe iniuries: for lacke of patience, we will suffer none: for want of loue, we spare neither father, nor brother: for lacke of wisedome we come to no speedie a­greement our selues, but the law must trie all. Out of Saint Paules reproofe, may it not well be thus spoken to you that are such sookers in law suits? Though ye haue not a conscience to do right, nor patience to suffer wrong: nor loue to forbeare your brethren; yet if you were wise your selues, or had wise neighbours about you, your matters might bee determined at home. And doubtlesse, if mē would do as they would be done to: or if the offender would agree with his aduersarie quickly, in the way: and the partie Math. 5. offended accept of reconciliation, and debate the matter with his neighbour himselfe: what quiet of heart, and safegarde of monye, and godlye loue might bee procured? whereas now men dwell in suites, tossing themselues as in a sea of troubles, enriching the lawyers, abusing the lawe, and empouerishing them­selues. It is a token of an vnholsome ayre, Si valeans ho [...] mines, ars tua (Phoebe) iaces. where the countrie is full of thriuing Physiti­ons. And Plato that diuine heathen sayth, Sig­num est profligatae, turpisque educationis in ci­uitate, Danoeus ex Platone. cum multis Iudicibus, iurisconsultis, & foris egeat. Respub. It is a signe of badde and wicked education, and ill maners in any [Page 63] countrie, when the Common-wealth hath neede of manie Iudges, manie Lawyers, ma­nie Courtes. The multitude of these Physiti­ons of our estate, so encreasing, and flouri­shing, telleth vs with shame that wee are a sight of wrangling Christians, for the most part, without iustice, without patience, with­out loue, and wisedome: and therefore it is more then high time, that this were amen­ded in those that feare God, and respect the peace of a good conscience. One great meanes of Reformation herein, resteth in you (Right worshipfull) if you carefullye put in practise that prudent example of Gallio depu­tie in Achaia, who beeing importuned by the clamourous outcryes of Paules aduersa­ryes; draue them all from the Iudgement Acts. 18. 16. seate, as men hauing more malice then mat­ter. A commendable action in him that was but a heathen, but better will it become the place and profession of a Christian Ma­gistrate.

And thus, dearelie beloued, haue we o­pened, and serued this writte of prohibition agaynst priuate reuenge, wee haue conside­red the louing title, vsed by Saint Paule, to al­lure our heartes to a like proportion of loue a­againe. Wee haue heard how daungerous to our bodies, and soules, how preiudicial to reli­giō, in both the exercise of hearing & praying, [Page 64] and what an enimie to God, and a friend and follower of the diuell, is a heart full of malice. And yet when iniquitie hath conceiued, and brought forth reuēge, either in words or deeds, then is it more daungerous: for as it hurteth it selfe first, so it mischieueth others, being come to that passe. We haue gaged the poyson of a wicked tongue, and found it vnmeasurable; we haue applied meanes of cure if the patients will endure it: we haue arrested all those, and bound them to the peace, that dare vndertake their priuate reuenge, or proceede to the ray­sing of a publike mutinie. If they will not obey our writ from heauen, we leaue them to you (right worshipfull) the ministers of Gods ven­geance, to be bent or broken. We haue direc­ted all plaintiffes from their weake anger, to the mightie wrath of God: for the confirma­tion royall of our prohibition from heauen, we haue brought a true copie, warranted by Saint Paule a faithfull Register, of that sacred Patent and Charter, wherin the Lord maketh knowne his chalenge, and threatneth not onely reuenge to all vsurpers, and euill doers, but promiseth also a recompence to those that abide his ley­sure, and commit their cause to him; or his ministers ordained for reuenge & recompense. Wee haue shewed what Magistrates are, and should be: Gods they are for God, and there­fore should not be rigorous, nor flouthfull, but [Page 65] iust, mercifull and diligent. We haue declared that subiectes cannot be well gouerned with oppression of the greater: nor magistrates a­mended by rebellion of the lesse. We haue ex­amined the absurd opinions of thē that would haue no superiours, but all equalles; nothing priuate, but all things common; no lawes, but all lust and libertie. We haue merte with those foxes that vse the publike ordinance of God, to racke their priuate spight, & worke their ex­tremities. To conclude, we haue vsed motiues to disswade men both from priuate courses of re­uenge; and also from the abuse of that pub­like vengeance, those lawes, and that ordi­nāce which the Lord hath planted to preserue the good, to maintaine peace, trueth & right amongst men. Now therefore (Graue fathers) remember your publike callings, that your sword, and your sentence, your iudgement & vengeance is the Lords: Remember that by title you are Gods: but forget not your priuate condition; you shall dye like men: remem­ber that you are maisters and Iudges here, but forget not that you haue a maister and a Iudge in heauen Looke vpon the people, and thinke, though they be many as the blades of the field, yet are they but grasse: all flesh is grasse, surely Isaie. 40. 7. the people are grasse: but yet looke againe, and beholde that as the grasse is, so is the flower also: as the people are, so are the Rulers: there [Page 66] is some difference in beautie and dignitie, as there is in the flower and the grasse: but the grasse withereth, & the flower fadeth: men dye, and mortall Gods, like men perish, but the word of God endureth for euer.

To be short, let all that feare God, obey this precept of his; renounce the pursuite of their owne malice, purge their hearts, and cleanse their hands, giue place to his ordinance, reue­rence his Ministers, seeke lawfull remedies v­pon necessitie: but seeke not so reuenge in this world, as though thou wouldest leaue nothing to be reuenged of God, in another. Despise not Gods vengeance here on earth: neither faint, nor be astonied though thy cause can not bee heard, though thy right cannot be cleared: ap­peale in prayers to the witnesse and Iudge of heauen: he is higher than the highest, euen that king of kings, that God of Gods, that Lord of lords, whose great name is heere sub­scribed to the claime and promise of trueth: vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord: to whome being one in substance, three in person, the onely wise, inuisible, and eternall God, be all honor, power and dominion for euer and euer,

Amen.

INeede not vse many circumstā ­ces (Right worshipfull Fathers and brethren beloued in the Lord) to moue this graue assem­bly to attention, whose religious mindes are readily prepared (I trust) to receiue with meekenes the worde of God: and there­fore cannot but affourd mee beneuolent audi­ence in the handling of the matter of this text, being so consonant to your godly dispositions, pertinent to the present occasion, and set downe in compendious precepts, so fit for your sharpe vnderstanding & short allowance of time.

For what else is my text, but a briefe issue of a long Processe betweene the Lord of hostes & his people? Who like a plaintiffe much a­grieued, Amos. 3. had often protested against the rebel­lions of Israell, and made many proclamati­ons (as with sound of trumpet) against their iniuries offered: reproued their corruptions of Amos. 4. [Page 4] religion, and their defaults of Iustice, cut downe their mightie sinnes with mightie iudgements & executions of famine, sword & pestilence, thereby hauing wasted their mul­titude from thousands to hundreds, from hun­dreds Am. 5. to tennes: and yet now as a kinde fa­ther intending the correction and not the cō ­fusion of his children, hee offereth a capitu­lation of peace, with these conditions. If you will seeke the Lord, and liue, if you will seeke good and not euill, chuse life and not death: hate his enemies, loue his friends, es­tablish his approued ordinance of iudgement: abandon all places of idolatry, surcease those loftie sinnes of oppression and iniustice, so commonly practised in the gate, then goe to, the Lord will reason with you, and come to a friendly parle for further reconciliation. But before any peace can be concluded, mercie expected, punishment released, or executi­on stayed: you must condiscend to these Ar­ticles: Hate the euill and loue the good, and esta­blish iudgement in the gate.

In these wordes we may generally note these 1 two pointes: First what conditions the Lord 2 requireth: Secondly what truce hee offereth. The conditions concerne the affections and actions: the affections are hatred and loue, each of them being directed vnto his seue­rall obiect: hatred is let loose at euill: loue [Page 5] is drawne and confined wholly to the good. The action is mixt, including many vertues, excluding many vi [...]es, being an accomplish­ment of iustice and mercy, and the establish­ment of iudgement, whose fountaine is in the heart, and priuate affections of men re­formed: but the streames do flowe, & runne downe in publike to the comfort of the good, and terrour of the badde. These are the Ar­ticles which the Lord doth propounde to the Israelites by his Prophet Amos, and daily by vs his Ambassadors doth offer vnto you his peo­ple, 2. Cor. 5 with desire that you would be recon­ciled vnto him, and subscribe with heart and hand to the contents thereof. Which be­ing promised, and performed, beholde a gra­tious truce and couenant on Gods behalfe: It may be the Lord of hostes will be mercifull to the remnant of Ioseph. Let no man be dis­couraged at this phrase of speach, as though Gods promises were like the doubtful Oracles of heathenish Idoles, yea and nay: it may be, and it may not be: for with the Lord there is assurance of mercie, his wordes be yea, and Amen. Hath hee saide it, and shall hee not doe it? hath hee spoken, and shall hee not accomplishe it? The possibili­ties Numb. 23. of men are full of hazard, but the Lord is not a man that hee should lye or double, or be preuented of his purpose. Is there no [Page 6] doubt then in this speach? None, touching the absolute performance of the Lord: but much difficultie in respect of flesh and bloud, if men looke vpon their owne vnworthinesse, vncon­stant perseuerance, and the lowe ebbe that the house of Ioseph, and Gods people are some­times driuen vnto. Yet againe, all is courage, when we cast our eyes vpon the Lord of hosts who is strong to saue, inclyning to mercy, whose readinesse to helpe in extremitie appea­red to Ioseph; and was often shewed to his seed, when they were but a remnant and reuersion: and therefore may assuredly comfort all faithfull hearts that without all doubt, hee will be mercifull vnto them, if they keepe this coue­nant with the Lord, and consent to hate the e­uill, and loue the good, and establish iudge­ment in the gate.

Thus much haue I spoken to declare vppon what ground our doctrine & exhortations (by Gods assistance) shall be planted: in what tearmes the estate of the Israelites [...]hen stoode: and what Articles were propounded for the re­dresse of their calamities: in the vrging & vn­folding whereof, our greatest time shall be spent; because we desire to apply the same ap­proued remedy to our owne decayes, & wāts, assuring our selues the Lord will not faile to be mercifull, if we keepe touch and promise with him, in such conditions as he requireth.

In one word therefore to winde vp the sūme of all these conditions: it is that which wee Knowledge. 1 call sometimes conscience, sometimes zeale; not the common conscience of the world: but that same which is first cūscientia, ioyned with knowledge, that it may haue an eye to discerne Courag [...]. 2. good from euill. Secondly that which is roo­ted and planted in the will and affections, that it may haue an edge of hatred to threaten the euill: and a backe of loue to defend the good. Practise. 3. Thirdly such a conscience here is required, as hath not onely skill to discerne or will to desire, but also a readie hand to practise: not resting in contemplation, but proceeding to such action as the place and vocation of euery man exhorteth him vnto for the maintenance of iudgement in the gate. These three proper­ties of a good conscience, called by the Lord, in this text, and aspired vnto by all that feare God, or loue the good estate of their country, amongst this graue assembly, occasion mee to speake somewhat of eyther, and first of knowledge.

Knowledge is the guide and light of a good 1. Knowledg [...] conscience. A fit Intelligencer for the will and affections, for it aduiseth what is euill and to be eschewed, what is good and to be embra­ced. Without this direction, hatred like a blinde archer shootes beside the marke▪ and may kill a man in steade of a beast: And loue cherisheth [Page 8] often a snake in the bosome, in steade of a friende. As the eye discernes betweene light and darkenesse, so the vnderstanding tryeth out the difference betweene good and euill. Therefore seeke good, and not euill sayd the Prophet in the former verse. No man can seeke well without light, nor finde the good except hee can distinguish it from the badde, and trying all hold that which is the best.

Many are the difficulties that hinder vs from the discouery of euill, and the recouery of the good: and yet great is the daunger, if wee mistake the one for the other.

The difficulties appeare if wee consider first Difficult. the blindnesse of our owne heart, except it 1 be renewed and supplyed with a light from 2 heauen. Secondly if wee beholde the readi­nesse of euill, being present with vs at euery turne, compassing vs about, pressing vs downe, Satan as a prince in the ayre tempting vs, a worlde of sinne about vs, a bodie of sinne within vs. Besides this, the custome of sinne hath 3 made vertue so vnpleasant and straunge; the euil so sweete & familiar, that it seemeth death to be rowzed out of the myre, wherein wee haue long wallowed in ease and securitie. And 4 further: iniquitie is very strong, being in this world, as in her owne country, and proper e­lement, where vertue is but a straunger, al­waies [Page 9] flying vpward, and therefore not fol­lowed with halfe so many schollers as ini­quitie, that pulles downe the hill to the broad gates of hell and destruction. Lastly euill 5 is mingled with the good, as drosse with the siluer, that it asketh much tryall, and a cun­ning spirit to extract the one from the o­ther. In regarde of which difficulties hinde­ring our choyce in the good, and presenting to the lust of our eyes varietie and chaunge of euill, in goodly shapes of apparant good, it behoueth vs to haue a sounde vnderstand­ing for our guide: but especially because the error of our choyce is the danger both of soule Daunger. and bodie.

The fruite of the forbidden tree was pleasaunt to beholde, and good to eate, but it was bitternesse and death at the last. For euill is of two sortes, the seede and the fruit; the seede is sinne, and the fruite is punish­ment: the one is a sweete baite, the other a deadely hooke: it goes downe pleasantly like wine, but it stingeth in the end like a Scorpion. Prou. 23. 31. And yet there is a league betwene iniqui­tie and our affections, as there was betweene Iezabel and her chamberlaines: As Iesabel pearching aloft, painted her face, and cōmaū ­ded 2 King. 9. 30. her Eunuches attending vpon her, til Iehu, sent with reuenge frō God, began to cry, who is [Page 10] on my side? who? So doth iniquitie possesse the highest chamber of our heart, and paints her­selfe in fresh coloures, raigning ouer our af­fections as slaues, till vengeance hunt after her steppes, and the messengers of God giue war­ning to the affections, to cast downe their cur­sed mistresse, and renounce that sinne, which they haue serued, least the fall of her, dr [...]we all her Eunuches and partakers to confusion.

The heathens themselues alwaies taught o­bedience of the will to the wit, of the affecti­ons to reason: which had beene well, if the light of reason had not beene extinguished in heauenly things: and so fowly blemished in naturall. But the naturall mans reason perceiuing not the things of God (his wisdome being folish­nesse, 1. Cor. 3. his light darkenesse) made the conscience corrupt and vaine in the trewe and particular discourse of good and euill. Many say: who will shewe vs any good? saide Dauid of the com­mon Psal. 4. 6. sort: but he must haue a new spirit and a perfect vnderstanding, that with Dauid can lift his eyes to heauen, and cry: Lord lift thou vp the light of thy coūtenance; acknowledging al our felicity to depēd vpō the fauour of the Lord. In matters of cōmon honesty, humanitie, ciuilitie of manners, the heathens were a lawe to themselues, and shall be a shame and con­demnation Rom. 2. to vs: in that with so small a glimse of naturall light, they practised many thinges [Page 11] commendable, made many wholsome lawes, excelled in many outward censures, and acti­ons of indgement. But wee hauing the word Psal. 19. of the Lord, conuerting the soule, giuing wisdome to the simple, and light to the eyes: hauing the lawe of God (I say) to examine what is good, and what euill, being the onely touchstone of trueth and falsehoode, the rule that sheweth as wel the crooked as the straight: If wee loue darkenesse rather than light, if wee faile in see­king and setting vp the kingdome of God, or the righteousnesse thereof in our life and prac­tise: there remaineth vnto vs no colour of ex­cuse, nor cloke of defence. For vnto euery one of vs in our seuerall charge, may that protesta­tion of Micah be vrged: Hee hath shewed thee (O man) what is good, and what the Lord requi­reth Micah. 6. 8. of thee: surely to doe iustly, and to loue mer­cy, and to humble thy selfe, and to walke with thy God. And this is that knowledge of good & euill, deriued out of Gods holy and accep­table will and word, which like a cunning ri­der turneth, and directeth our affections be­ing of themselues like horse and mule that haue no vnderstanding. But as the Lord instructeth Psal. 2. all Rulers to be wise and learned, so in another place he will haue them in the feare of God, to Exod. 18. 21. be men of courage also. For courage is the fer­uencie Courage. and concitation of the minde placed here in these two affections, hatred and loue: [Page 12] which are profitable to the furtherance of ver­tue, and taking downe of vice, so as they stand in awe of reason, as a souldier of his captaine, by whose commaunde hee takes vp and layes downe both his courage and Basi, cō [...]. Jrasc. weapons. Wherefore these affections are not onely to be allayed and cooled in man (as some Philosophers affirme) but sometimes Peripatet. also to bee kindled and stirred vp: that as the iron is steeled and hardned with the fire, Bas. so mans heart with concitation of the spi­rites against the right obiect may haue a tincture of greater courage and fortitude a­gainst GODS enemies. Neither is this agreeable to the opinion of the Stoickes, Lactant. Iust. lib. 6. cap. 14. who vtterly extinguished all sparkes of af­fection, in their vertuous and perfect man, pulling out both gall and bowels as though there coulde bee no good vse of them, for the exercise of vertue. For indeede it is an extremitie of sinne, to haue a sea­red conscience, that feeles no prickes of humanitie: and a token of a reprobate sense to be senselesse, and without naturall affecti­on. Rom. 1. 30. Neither againe hath our first creation planted any malignant nature in the minde of man (as the Manicheis dreamed:) nor yet by August. confess. lib. 8. cap. 10. Illyricus. the fall of Adam is there a diuelish substance of mischiefe possessing the soule of man: but [Page 13] the same principles that were created pure and good, and corrupted in qualitie only, by that afterclappe of our forefather: being refi­ned and altered by the spirit of GOD, are to be employed in Gods holy seruice: hatred in the pursuite of euill, loue in the defence of vertue and goodnesse. By these therefore, as by the two supporters. Iustice is aduan­ced, the scepter of Princes gouerned, the sworde of magistrates kept vpright, king­domes established, Gods Church and com­mon-wealth preserued.

Seeing the Lord reacheth the affections, and setteth the inward parts first on worke, in the detestation of euill, and fauour of the good: it appeares, that hee condemnes all hypocrisie, that glistereth in some eye-ser­uice, but acteth nothing heartily: and that hee excludeth all those dissembling Politici­ans, which Machiauel painteth out in some outwarde coloures and shadowes of Iustice, but inwardly full of all diuelish subtiltie. Nei­ther are those qualified according to this rule, that separate the Serpents wisdome from the doues innocencye. Achitophels counsell, though it be like the Oracles of 1. Sam. 16. 23. GOD for worldly witte, and the great re­quest it was in: yet being like mysteries of the diuel for dishonesty, & mischieuous cōsequēce [Page 14] is rather cursed then blessed by the Lord: for his condition is to haue wisdome matched with holinesse, a iust conuersation with a good conscience: an vpright heart, fearing God, es­chewing euill, approuing the thing that is good, with a constant purpose in himselfe & others to destroy the power of Satan braunch and roote, and aduance the kingdome of God with the righteousnesse thereof.

It is straunge to beholde what a spirit of gid­dinesse, confusion and slumber sometimes pos­sesseth the minde & consciences of many that haue had some knowledge discerning betwene good and euill, but haue wanted this sanctified hatred of the one, and feruent loue to the o­ther. What made that neutralitie of religion in Israell, and Samaria, that men feared God, and 2. King. 1 [...]. 1. King. 18. Zephan. 1. yet worshipped their idoles? halted between God & Baall? vsed to sweare by the Lord and Mal­cham? It was not simple ignorance of the true religion, but want of zealous and heartie de­testation of Idolatry, selfe-wil-worshippe, & hypocrisie. And how is it come to passe, that amongst vs, after so much preaching, & so great light, so many stand at a gaze in religion; waue­ring betweene Aegypt and Canaan, betweene Christ and Antichrist, light and darkenesse? Or what is the cause that in the wombe of our mother the Church of England, there are bredde such corrupt children, as account all [Page 15] religion either a publike policie; or terme all hatred of sinne, loue of trueth; reformation of the life, studie of pietie, and practise of modestie but an humour? and a fancie follow­ing the complexion? Doubtlesse these men haue had knowledge of the good and bad: but some of them haue made no carefull se­paration of the poyson from the wholsome 2. King. 4. 40. fruite, and therefore death is in the pot: some perceiuing iniquitie to abound, and the loue of Math. 24. 12. Reuel. 2. 4. many waxing cold, became luke-warme and lost their first loue for companie. Others hauing had neuer any loue indeede to the truth, or hatred of vngodlinesse, are giuen ouer to 2. Thes. 2. 11. beleeue lyes in the blindenesse and lustes of their owne sense, and peruerse imagination. Who although they haue bene shuffled with Christians, as Saul amongst the Prophets, by reason of lawes and orders, for a sea­son, 1. Sam. 19. 24. yet are they such as neuer haue made any couenant in heart with the Lord, to hate Psal. 50. 5. the euill, and loue the good.

As in matters of religion, so in ciuill be­hauiour and outwarde iustice, behold (Right worshipfull) the like effectes of the like Ierem. 9. 3. negligence; when men haue no courage for the trueth, they proceede from euill to worse; as though they had no knowledge, neither of right or wrong, good or euill.

Such was the sottishnesse of Nabal in the 1. Sam. 25. 10. [Page 16] middest of his plentie, that hee knewe not his friende from his foe, made no difference betweene Dauid, that had beene as a well to his seruantes, and some common fugi­tiue, 1. Sam▪ 25. 17. that had runne away from his master▪ Hee growes so wicked at last that a man may 37. not speake to him, and as hee liued like a blocke, so hee dyes like a stone in the ende. Many, in the Preachers time, were come to that passe, that they made no distinction betweene the conditions of the Iust and the Eccles. 9. 12. wicked, the pure and polluted, the swea­rer and him that feared an oath. And what say the obstinate and wilfull people in Ma­lachie? Wee count the proude blessed, and them Malach. 3. 15. that worke wickednesse. Nay, in our age what difference doe many make of the trueth and a lye, of deceipte and vpright dealing, of whordome, and vndefiled marriage, of v­surie and honest trade, of stolne breade and the breade of labour? the taste is the same, all gaine is godlinesse; all money sauoureth a­like. O fearefull shipwracke of faith and a good conscience; GOD and Mammon, hell and heauen, light and darknesse are e­quall matches in their lumpishe vnderstan­ding.

In all estates and degrees where there is a defect of courage and zeale, such fruites [Page 17] spring vp by little and little; as indeede Ne­mo repente fuit turpissimus: no man at the Iuuenal. first steppe came to the height of iniquitie▪ Barnard [...] ser­vidi dom. Ecclus. 27. 11. The minister that shines without heate, as he giues no great light, so he is not of any great certaintie, but is changed like the Moone: And Luke. 14. 35. hee that hath no salt to powder his wordes, waxeth altogither vnsauourie at the last, and scarse good for the dunghill.

The Magistrate whose conscience affecteth not the due administration of iustice, groweth by degrees to be a sleepie watchman, whose drowzie lethargie depriueth him of all sense, & distinction of good and euill, right or wrong: the extremitie of which incurable disease, is noted in two properties by our Sauiour Christ, of a Iudge that feared not God, nor reuerenced Luke. 18. 2 [...] men. Experience teacheth vs, that a Bee which hath lost his sting becommeth an vnprofitable drone, neither fit to keepe, or gather honie▪ and a gouernour that hath neither courage nor zeale agaynst sinne, is vnmeete to preserue vertue in her right, or maintaine iudgements A [...]de is more fit for him then a rodde; and a ab [...]t foyle to play withall, then a sworde of Iustice to punish with.

The want of this zeale made that the faithfull Isai 1. 21. 22. citie of the Lord became a harlot, their siluer became drosse, & the in wine was mixed with wa­ter, their Princes were rebellious, & companions of [Page 18] theeues. A lamentable estate is it when the af­fections are misplaced, and iudgement so tur­ned vp side downe, that men will speake good of euill, and put darknesse for light, light for darknes, [...]. 5. 20. bitter for sweete, and sweete for sowre. A woe is pronoūced to those preposterous dealers, that shuffle vp matters with such cōfusion of iudge­ment. And I take it a part of the woe, that they grow from euil to worse, til they be so infatuated [...]erem. 93. that as they, like Idols regarded in conscience neither right nor wrong: so like Epicures at last they measure the righteous Lord, and his iust iudgements, by the leaden rule of their corrup­ted senses. Such will the Lord search for, with a candle being frozen in their dregs, and saying in Zephan. 1. 1 [...]. Ezech. 9. 9. their hearts; The Lord will do neither good nor euill. They sleep, and dreame also that the Lord slumbreth: who notwithstanding euery mor­ning bringeth his iudgement to light, and fayleth Zephan. 3. 5. not: but the wicked will not learne to be ashamed, saith the Prophet Zephanie.

It is no maruell therefore, that the Lord will haue the obseruation of these conditions to be grounded in the affections; and from thence to breake out into publike action, and the execu­tion of iudgement in the gate: seeing that if the fountain head be intoxicate, the streams wil be [...]. infectious; or if the conscience be seared vp, all other absurdities & confusions of religion, cō ­mon humanity, & iustice break in amongst mē.

Behold therefore how these affections must worke to the establishment of iudgement in our gates, or else what inconueniences follow: First by negligence, where no gaine appeares; se­condly, by partialitie, when lucre is expected. Some that heare this precept vrged, hate the euill, loue the good, will approue of the loue, but repeale his hatred. It is pittie (say some) that faire weather should do any harme; and yet for all this pitty, there must be foule as wel as faire. Loue, and faire meanes, gentle dealing (which they call onely loue) are good, but to whom? Meliores sunt, quos dirigit amor (sayth Austen) they are the better sort which will be directed by loue: sed plures sunt quos corrigit timor, but the greater part are not to be amended but by feare.

An olde festered sore must not haue a le [...]i­tiue plaister. And it is true that an vnruly Pati­ent maketh a cruel Physition. As the wine that is too hard is vnpleasant: so that which is too flat is vnholsome. The Lord teacheth vs by his example, how to vse these affections, although he be subiect to no passion himselfe. Anger is not in me (sayth he) when hee speaketh to Isai. 27. 4. his people. But if the briars and thornes were set agaynst me in battaile, I would burne them, sayth the same Lord, speaking of his enimies. With the pure he is pure, with the froward he will shew Psal. 18. frowardnes, saith Dauid, attributing to the Lord [Page 20] mercie and iudgement seeming contrarie by reason of the obiect he worketh vpon, yet issu­ing from the father of lights, in whom is no sha­dow [...]mes. [...] [...]7. of chaunge of contrarietie.

The same Dauid being a kinde sheepheard to Israel himselfe, yet taketh witnesse of the Psal. 139. Lorde, that his thoughts hate euill: Do not I hate them that hate thee (O Lord) doe not I con­tend with them that rise vp against thee? Moses was a verie meeke man; and yet with the Ido­latrie of his people he is so incensed, that hee breakes the tables of the Couenant, and then he crieth to execution. Euery man slay his bro­ther, his companion, his neighbour: the fact per­formed Exod. 32. (sayeth he) You haue consecrated your handes this day to the Lord. So acceptable a sa­crifice is the punishment of Gods enemies, and euill doers.

Iob was an eye to the blinde, and a foote to the Iob. 29. 15. lame: and yet the same Iob maketh this try­umph of his earnest pursuit of the wicked: I brake the chawes of the vngodly, and pluckt the prey out of their teeth.

The Lordes champion Dauid intended a rough c [...]re of intractable malefactors: when he threatned them, and armed himself after this maner: The wicked shall be euerie one as thornes 2. Sam. 23. 6. 7. thrust away, because they cannot be taken with handes: but the man that shall touch them, must be defens [...]d with iron. Though the wicked bee vn­rulie, [Page 21] sharpe, and daungerous to deale withall; yet the Lord hath armed your hands (graue fa­thers) with iron gantlets, with authoritie from heauen, Commission from the Prince, to gripe the proudest offender, to strike the Lion and the Beare, the oppressor, extortioner, the rob­ber and bloud-shedder, that the sheepe and and harmlesse people may bee rescued from the vngodly, that are mightier then they. It was 1. Sam. 15. vnseasonable pitie that Saul shewed in sparing Agag the enemie of God, and Israel. And A­chab did not wisely, in yeelding such fauour to Benhadad, appoynted by the Lord to die: al­though his seruants presented themselues with great humilitie in sackcloth and halters, glosing vpon the rehearsall of his wordes; thy brother Benhadad. Saul had a sharpe rebuke for his vn­timely pittie, and Achab threatned that be­cause he had let him go that was appoynted to die, therefore thy life for his life, thy people for his people, said the Lord. Is it not needfull to shewe a deepe displeasure against all notorious offen­ders, if the Magistrate becomes not onely an­swerable in his owne person, for the wilfull escape of Gods knowne enemie; but also the innocent people stand indicted, and are to bee punished before the Lord, and to pay their liues a raunsome for the wicked escaped with impunity? and that but by one mans default. S. Augustin shewing why the good and bad, were [Page 22] both enwrapped togither within the compasse of the selfe same scourge by the furious Gothes, yeeldeth this reason: Iure amaram vitam sen­tiunt; [...] ciuitat. Dei. [...]. 1. cap. 9. worthily they feele the bitternesse of this life with the wicked, quia peccantibus amari esse noluerunt; because they were not bitter to them in their sinnes, but ouer gentle, hauing ra­ther fellowship with the workes of darknesse, then reprouing them. And this was the cause that father Eli was plagued as well as his Sam. 2. sonnes, for his indulgence, and remisse cor­rection of that whoredome and sacriledge, which to the dishonour of God, and scandall of the people they committed. For when sinne groweth stoute and loftie, and punishmentes weake, when the rodde of Scorpions is turned into feathers, when priuate men reprooue not the vngodly, ministers rebuke not, Iudges and rulers (hauing them offered) punish not, at the last all become guiltie, all actors and consenters in sinne, and all be punished with a grand exe­cution of some famine, pestilence, sworde, or such like calamitie.

I would to God in our peaceable estate, there were no want of this holie indignation, and religious fortitude, in the pursuit of those manifolde sinnes which are the spottes of our peace, and shadowes in the sunne-shine of the Gospel. But set before your eyes (religious au­dience) our whole estate: and cōsider (as I doubt [Page 23] not but you do oftē) the sores of our body poli­tike, and the breaches of our land, from the top of the head, to the soale of the foote, and you shall behold many wounds, and many soue­raigne plaisters, and yet very slow healing, be­cause there wanteth courage in the heart of the Phisitions, to apply the one to the other. Looke downe to the legges of our Common­wealth, and remember that lately they were ready to rot with idlenes & misery. Those idle vagarants (I meane) who swarming like Ca­terpillers not long since, and treading downe Prou. 13. 23. the fielde of the poore (wherein is much fruit if it bee well ordered) walking without checke or shame, in theft, drunkennesse, and whoredome, in prophanenesse of life, and all vngodlinesse, swearing and cursing, lying and murthering, begetting a monstrous of­spring, (the parents without wedlocke, the children without baptisme) are they not mightilye repressed by an easie medicine, wiselie prouided by the superiour powers? and yet but coldly applyed by the inferiour of­ficers? Who amongest vs, remembring the grosse inconueniences of those idle backes and slowe bellyes so tolerated to wnader and increase, but will detest that course of lyfe? And yet there must bee a respectiue looke of loue to Gods c [...]eatures, and a com­miseration of them: for though they be lazie [Page 24] legges, and yet are they our limmes, and mem­bers: and therefore to be supplied with worke, and reliefe, with direction and correction, by those parts that carry the eyes, and wisdome to gouerne and teach, As hatred of their sinne is readie to whippe them: so loue and compas­sion must be readie to helpe feede them. They must eate (so nature teacheth vs) not the bread of idlenesse, but their owne bread, pur­chased by their labour, so the Scripture infor­meth 2. Thes. 3. 12. vs.

A wife and auncient Counseller sometime of this Realme, wittily rebuked the maners and orders of a straunge Countrie, not much diffe­ring Sir Th. More Vtop. from his owne but in the title; for that they first made theeues, and taught them to steale, and after hanged them vp. They made theeues (saith he) in that they suffered such a multitude of seruingmen, to bee trained vp in idlenesse and pride: which after being thrust out of seruice, must needes be driuen to theeuerie, for beg­ging they scorned, and to labour they had not learned in any honest vocation. I will not say but men made seruice able are verie necessarie, and stand before great men in good place: But idlenesse, permitted to a multitude, must needs be the nurserie of beggers, and where manie lustie open beggers remaine, there, sayth Plato, be many priuie theeues, and pickers. As all o­ther Plato de. rep. dial. 8. Zepper. countryes are noted for some peculiar [Page 25] vice, which the people thereof are most addic­ted vnto: so English men though they be in­geniosi, yet are they desidiosi, though ingenious, Ascham. yet idle; it is our fault, and therefore asketh great industrie of the gouernours, before it can be throughly expulsed. Neither is it to be for­gotten, that a renowmed King of this nation Edward, the third of that name, procured stran­gers from beyond the seas, with great rewards Camden in Kent. and priuiledges, to come into this countrie; and teach our people that trade of clothing, which to the great benefite of this lande, and employment of the poorer sort, is yet in prac­tise: whence al our womē are presupposed spin­sters: as the men of meane degree are intended laborers. And sure a kingly practise is it to pro­uide worke for the lustie and strong, as reliefe and hospitalitie for the sicke, and the lame. From the head there descende sinewes to the hands, and inferiour members: and from the highest in place, must issue such good directi­ons, as may gouerne the whole bodie, & keepe it in frame. The legges must not be cut off, or Heb, 12. 12, turned cleane out of the way, but rather streight steppes are to be made to our feete, and the halting legges to be healed, and the feeble knees to be lif­ted vp.

If we ascend from the legges to the handes: shall we not see a multitude of them defiled with bloodshed, beside the manifold iniquities [Page 26] wherewith they are exercised? Compt the woundes, the murthers, and the bloud that is shedde in euerye part of our lande: note how it is couered vnder the wings of men that haue countenaunce: how it is pleaded for, with this allegation, that life is to be fauoured (euen in fauour of him that had no mercy in his rage) and we may with good cause be afrayde least the Lord arraigne the whole land for bloud vnreuenged, crying in his eares. The life and bloud of the murtherer is owing to the Lord, who putteth the sworde into the Gene. 9. 6. Magistrates hand to make payment and sa­tisfaction for bloud wrongfully shedde: there is no way to purge the land from bloud, but to strike the offender, that the righteous may re­ioyce: Psal. 58. 10. and wash his foote in the bloud of the wic­ked: and make it a Caueat to keepe him from the like.

Looke vp towarde the heades, and greater men of our Common-wealth: If the want of discipline, suffred the Grashoppers to catch a head which skip vpon the ground: what will not the Caterpillers dare that sit aloft in the highest trees, amongst much fruit, clothed in gay colours, despising the Magistrate, and scorning the Minister? There is indeed a com­mon disease very dangerous in many of them, that carrie something high sayles, and thinke themselues to be mightie: which is called, Noli [Page 27] me tangere, Touch me if thou dare. As in phy­sicke, so in diuinitie, it is thought to be incu­rable: because the more it is handled & dealt withall, the more it swelleth and rageth with anger and fretfulnesse.

This disease raigneth amongst the vsurers and extortioners of our time, that hate the good, Micha. 3. 23 and loue the euill, and plucke off the skinnes from the people, and the flesh from their bones: that ioyne house to house, and field to field, till there Isai. 5. 8. be no place, but for themselues: that depopu­late whole townes, and swallow vp the poore that Amos. 8. 4. the needie of the land may faile: and yet breake through the statutes and lawes as through cobwebbes, which hamper the Flies, but yeeld place of euasion to the Bees.

And are not many of the greater sort farre gone with this disease, that will be blasphe­mers in their speach as with authoritie? Their tongues be their owne, and who shall controll? Are Psal. 12. not Lawes, and Church, and seruice of God, holinesse and obseruation of the Sabbaoth, ac­compted exercises for meane men? Great men may doe what they lust. Hard is the fire to be quenched that hath taken the top of the house: and how hard a thing is it, for wealthie men to reforme a vice? Who dare rebuke or reproue Herode, though he liue in incest and horrible Marke. 6. adultery? If Iohn Baptist shal discharge his duty, by one meanes or other, at one time or another [Page 28] it will hazard his life, Iudgements of the Ma­gistrate, and reproofes of the Prophet, are not to come neere Bethel, and the Courtes of the Amos. 7. 13. mightie, as many suppose: yet must not wee cease to warne and exhort, and threaten some­times: but you (right worshipfull) who repre­sent the Maiestie of almightie God, and carry the authoritie of a godlie Prince: must espe­cially declare by the couragious execution of good lawes, how little you regarde the high lookes of the proud, and how much you hate iniquitie, and loue iudgement, mercie and fi­delitie.

You haue a Sworde of maintenance put into your handes, long enough to reach the most offences, both of high & low: although in those sinnes of blasphemie and adulterie, it seemes to be too short. But though the swearer and ad­ulterer stand not in your Kalender condemned to die: yet the Lord sayth of the one, He will not holde him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine: the other hee seemes to reserue to his sharper iudgement, because he is here ouer­slipt: for whoremongers and adulterers God will Heb. 13. 4. iudge, sayth the Apostle. And yet as a prince sitting in iudgement chaseth away all euil with his eyes: so with your lookes, and wordes of detestation comptroll, checke these faultes at least, that your zeale and hatred against al such euils may appeare.

Thus haue we sharpned this holy hatred, and brought it to the establishment of iustice in the gate: which notwithstanding is not contrarie to loue, but rather a braunch of that roote. For as the Lordes chasticements are the tokens of his loue: so are mens punishments the fruits of mercie and compassion. The good sheepheard is cruell to the woolfe for the lambes safetie: and a good magistrate rigorous to the wicked for safegard of the meeke. There is Miscricor­dia puniens, and Crudelit as parcens; Pittie puni­shing, and crueltie sparing: say [...]h that pitifull father Austen, that yet ouermuch contendeth August. ad Macedon. with the Magistrates of his time for the pardon of malefactors penitent.

But as the corrupt time and maners, require a concitation of anger, against iniquitie: so al­wayes be it prouided, that hatred and loue, iudgement and mercie, be knit togither in one linke: and sit both togither as Iudges ioyned in one commission. All lawes are not to bee written in bloud: nor euerie offender punished alike, when necessarie circumstances alter the case. They are cruell Surgeons that haue no other meanes of cure, but incision, burning, and launcing, for euerie sore. There shall be iudge­ment mercilesse to him that sheweth no mercie, Iames. 2. 13. sayth Iames, and the wise man giueth this ca­ueat: Eccles. 7. 18. Be not iust ouermuch. Equitie and not extremitie is to be practised, Be angry (saith the Ephe. 4. 26. [Page 30] Apostle) and sinne not: giuing the spurre to the affections: and yet adding a bridle withall, to keepe moderation.

And euen when sinne, detected and disco­uered, doth enforce the Iudge to execution; then must he remember, that as he is a Iudge for God: so is he a man agaynst man. Te habes ante te (sayeth Austen) Thou hast a patterne of thy selfe before thy selfe. I can bring no better example of Iudges charitablie affec­ted in this poynt, then your selues (Right worshipfull) amongest whome wee maye heare the Iudge himselfe giuing sentence of death to the bodye, with such exhorta­tions and comforts that may giue hope of life to the soule: not vnlike the skilfull Phy­sitions Plutarch. herein, which applie gentle and pleasaunt fomentations to the member, that by theyr cutting and launcing is in paine.

There are two names (sayeth Austen) Homo: peccator: The man: and the offender: quòd peccator est, corripe: correct the offender: quòd homo est, miserere: but pittie the man. In this respect the mariners that were appoynted to proceede to the execution of Ionas, found Ionas. 1. guiltie by lotte, were much to be commen­ded, for their obedience to GOD, and compassion to the partie condemned. For when they are about to cast him into the [Page 31] sea, they breake out into this affectionate prayer: O Lorde, lay not vpon vs innocent bloud: for thou hast done as pleased thee: which prayer, so well tempered with iustice, and mercie, may well beseeme all men in au­thoritie, when they sit vpon life and death, and the search or punishment of transgres­sions.

If we shall enter into a more strict exami­nation of these three wordes, Establish iudge­ment in the gate, wee shall finde three things in them. First, that there bee a settled habite in the distributers of iudgement: it must bee established: Secondly, that it bee gene­rallye administred, without respect of per­sons: Iudgement is a common good. Thirdly, that the course of the same be practised in a publike place of free resort, In the gate. It is not onelye some single action which the Lorde vrgeth, but a continuall exercise and practise of iudgement. It is not enough to doe some things iustlie, at some times, and vpon some occasions: but the streames of iu­stice must continuallie flowe, as from the foun­taine heade of a sounde conscience. It is re­ported of Cambyses, a most wicked King, that hee performed one poynt of iustice vpon a corrupt Iudge: but one swallow makes no sommer.

That vngodly Iudge in the Gospel did once [Page 32] right for a widow, that ouercame his accusto­med delayes, with her importunate outcries: Luke. 18. the diuell himselfe (they say) is good to some bodie: although it be against his will and dis­position. And did not Pilate extende some poynts of iustice towards our Sauiour▪ Christ, Matth. 27. 24. arraigned before him? Did he not pronounce him to be a iust man? did he not protest for his innocencie, that he found no fault in him? And John. 19. 4. yet behold against his speach, and conscience, he deliuereth him to be put to death▪ and shew­eth himselfe to haue had some shadowes, but no stabilitie of truth or iustice in him.

A Magistrate that hath neither knowledge, nor conscience (and accordingly, dooth not practise himselfe in the course of iudgement) seemeth to be naked in the gate, although hee be clothed in scarlet: therefore he must suite himselfe, and adorne his place and person with equitie, and diligence: as Iob speaketh of him­selfe. I put on iustice, and it couered me; iudgement Iob. 29. 14. was as a robe, and a crowne. So was he attired in iustice, as in a comely garment, couering all his parts. The cloke that hangeth vpon one shoul­der is quickly blowne away, and some shreds and peeces of iudgement onely, are not suffi­cient to shew the▪ true properties of a iust and vpright gouernour. Righteousnesse is to be put on as a girdle about the loynes, to gird all other ver­tues, to keepe them round and close, and euen [Page 33] on all parts: yet must it not be like the girdle, that saggeth & bēdeth it selfe to that side, where the purse and the money hangeth, not incli­ning to the right hand or to the left, to the rich or to the poore, but equally and indifferently 2▪ bent to all alike. And this is the second note of importance, whereby the nature of that which here is called iudgement, is declared. For iudgement must generally be distributed: it is not to giue the offender punishment only: but to yelde defence to the innocent and help­lesse. And therfore in the holy scriptures when Isai. 1. 17. we reade that the fatherles are to be iudged, and the poore, then we vnderstand they are to be defended & relieued against their aduersa­saries. When the wicked are to be iudged: that Rom. 13. 2. 4. iudgement is vengeance and punishment to be inflicted vpon them according to their deserts. And lastly this refuge for the poore, and re­sistāce of the vngodly must be in the gate pub­likely: 3 that all goodnes and vpright dealing may finde fauour countenance & maintenāce openly: that iudgement be not interrupted but established, and that it flowe plentifully with a setled course, not being bitter like worm­wood Amos. 5. 7. to the meeke and innocent. And further that wholsome lawes being carefully enacted, may be as faithfully executed to the confirma­tion of Gods true seruice, the maintenance of the Princes dignitie vnder God, and the pre­seruation [Page 34] of Gods people in peace, godlynesse and all honestie.

This mention of the gate is not in vaine: for it teacheth vs that the Iudges & Rulers sate o­penly in a common place to heare and deter­mine all matters that were brought. The cau­ses are manifest▪ namely, that iustice might glo­riously shine, and shewe it selfe in publike to the cheating vp of all faithfull hearts, and open shame and ignominie of euil workes. And that not only citizens, but coūtrymen, forreiners, & strangers, might haue free accesse without dā ­ger Pet. Mart▪ co [...]. Jud. 5. or disturbance by any locall priuiledges. Besides, the exercise of iudgement in the gate & open place, might terrifie those that had mis­chiefe in their harts, presēting cōmonly vēgeance to their eyes, & terror to their guiltie cōsciences.

The consideration of this place must needes put vs in minde of the Lords great benefit to vs continued: in that he hath so graciously proui­ded, that our gates, and publike Courts of Ius­tice haue neither bin shut vp for feare of ene­mies, nor pestered with warres & violence; that Zechar. 2. 7. our Country is inhabited as Ierusalem without walles: that our Castels bearing only the aunci­ent titles of warre, are become for the most part ruinous by long peace, & courts where peace­able iudgemēts are executed: that our halberds are rather ensignes of honour and ornament, then weapons of necessitie. [Page 35] Deborah, that mother in Israel, triumphed that Iudg. 5. 1 [...]. in her time the townes were inhabited, the people might goe to the gates for iudgement: and such peace vnder the gouernement of a woman had the Land for fortie yeares. Of the like or greater Vers. 31. benefits of peace, people, & iudgements may our victorious Mother reioyce, & set her hearte (as Deborah did) vpon the gouernours of Israel & Vers. 9. on them that are willing amongst the people; to stir them vp to praise the Lord, for victories, deli­uerance, & continuance of peace, aboue the space of forty yeares already: By thy good pleasure (O Lord) & to thy glory be these yeares doubled; of life to our Deborah, & of peace to our Israel. But let vs returne to the gates of Israel, & the exe­cution of iudgemēt there practised in the time of Amos. All was not in frame belike, because the Lord so earnestly dealeth to haue iustice es­tablished, as though it were decayed, & ruina­ted. Isai. 5 7▪ It was euen so: when the Lord looked for iudgement, behold oppression: for righteousnes, be­hold a crying. Iudgemēt was turned backward, ius­tice stood a farre off▪ truth was fallē in the streets, Isai. 59. 14. [...]quity could not enter, he that refrained from euil, made himselfe a prey. The Lord knew their mani­fold, & mighty sins: they afflicte the iust, they take rewards, & they oppresse the poore in the gate. A [...]. [...].12. Therefore amend your waies (saith the Lord) establish iudgemēt: let not vngodlines sit in the place of iustice, any longer.

Shall we take a viewe of that which most cor­rupted their state, and ouerthroweth iudge­ment in all places whereit taketh foote? There was respect of persons, a gainefull cause was sooner heard, & had more fauour, then trueth in form a pauperis. The righteous were solde for Amos. 2. 6. cap. 4. 1. siluer, the poore for shooes. The great men were as kyne of Bashan, full fedde, oppressing the poore, destroying the needy, and saying to their maisters; Bring and let vs drinke. As though couetous Lawyers, should serue the turnes of vnmerci­full Landlords, in oppressing their poore te­nants: and then call for the price of iniquity, to drinke and make themselues merry with the teares of the widowe, the sweate & the bloud of the poore and oppressed. Then is the estate most desperate, when the lawes are stretched to serue mens lusts, when priuate iniuries ob­taine the countenance of the Court, and priui­ledges of the gate. When (as in Micahs time) To make good for the the euill of their hands: the Micah. 7, 3. Prince asketh, and the Iudge iudgeth for a re­ward: therefore the great man speaketh out the corruption of his soule: and so they wrappe it vp saith Micah: as a filthy thing in a faire clout.

The Lord knowing that no wine was so dā ­gerous to Princes, as the swallowing of giftes to make the magistrate dronke, and forget the equitie of causes: & that no trayne was so dan­gerous [Page 37] to vndermine, and blowe vp the seat of iudgement, as those traines of secret briberies, hath set downe this precept grounded vpon true experience; Thou shalt take no giftes: for gifts doe blinde the wise: and peruert the wordes Exod. 23. 8. of the righteous. Let no man reply, as though a man might purse the rewards of the suiters: and his eyes see neuer the worse, to doe Iustice: for the Lord saith, it is impossible but gifts wil blind the eyes of the wise: how much more of the foo­lish? they will peruert the wordes of the righte­ous: how much more of the couetous? and of him that will doe wronge for a morsell of breade? his conscience being gulled with custome of sinne and iniustice?

It is not enough then to washe our handes from taking rewardes against the innocent: but hee must not sell right, nor make marchandize of equitie. Hee that playeth a marchaunt of iustice, executeth iustice, but vniustly, saith Philo de magi [...] strat, delig. Philo: he selleth that for a reward, that he should afford grati [...] ▪ rem natura pulchram, deformem efficit: he blemisheth a thing that is naturally beautifull: he hurteth the partie, whom hee should helpe: taketh from him that hath the wrong alreadie, and getteth a bad custome, that his hands and heart will linger after giftes more then attend to doe right. For giftes be Augustine. as birdlime, they intangle the winges, & make that the receiuer is not his owne man, but stan­deth [Page 38] in awe of the giuer.

The Lord knoweth what metall a man is made of, and therfore to keepe his conscience sound, and vncrackt, & to keepe the ballance of iustice vpright, without leaning and tilting to the hea­uiest end, he wil haue no such tentatiōs of inius­rice admitted. Salomon knew the force of a re­ward? when he likeneth it to a pleasāt stone, that Prou. 17. 8. prospereth which way soeuer it is turned: as though he ment it to be the Philosophers stone, so much in request, & so strāge in effects, And indeede it makes court for a man in this world, & bringeth Prouerb. 18. 16. Prouerb. 29. 4. him beforegreat mē: but yet, by iudgemēt is a coūtry maintained, & a man receiuing gifts, destroyeth it.

The Thebans were heathens, and yet percei­uing Plutar. in Isid. the inconueniences of receiuing rewards: painted their Iudges without hands; to signifie that they should be no receiuers: an easie mat­ter if Iudges were but images: but the Lord preferres Exod. 18. 21. to his seates of Iudgement, such as hate couetousnesse, because they should neither haue greedy hāds, nor rauenous harts after the prey; though for the pursuite of euil, & cherishing the good, they should be wel prouided of thē both.

But gifts do not only consist in taking with the hāds, of the rich: for he that respecteth per­sons, Prou. 28. 21. will do wrong for a morsell of bread, for hand­fuls of barlie, & sell the righteous for shooes: nay for lesse than this, for some popular praise, for the breath of mens mouths, to get some fauour [Page 39] of the poore, as well as of the rich.

Felix a corrupt Iudge fisheth after money to be giuen him by Paul, for his deliuerance, & ther­fore sendeth for him & cōmuneth with him of­ten: when he sees no money come, though hee perceiueth his innocency, yet he leaueth him Act. 24. 27. bound, to make some aduantage by him, if not by money, yet to get a poore fauour at the Iewes hād at the least. The desire of praise doth much: but the hope of gaine, and a gift in the bosome blindeth the eyes, charmeth the tongue, raui­sheth the affections, seareth vp the conscience, turneth all things vp side downe, altereth the case, & maketh that which is right to day, wrōg to morrow. Many in this assēbly hauered of that famous Orator Demost hones, & of that trip hee was takē in, to his perpetual shame: for the first day he dealt most vehemētly against the Milesian Ambassadors, the second day he appears again but in another likenes; his neck is wrapped and Plutarch. his cheeks muffled, as one that would shewe an excuse before hand of his silence, by reason of his disease, which he would haue supposed to be Angina: the quinzie, or the mumps: the people perceiuing his swelling & silence, to be but the blowes of a secret bribe, termed his griefe to be Argētangina, as a mā should say not the quinzy but the coyn-sec, & siluer mūps. I trust this disease be not amongst our Orators (amōgst the better sort, I know it is detested) yet some we hear sus­pected [Page 40] of some such sodaine crampe in their tongues, by reason that they haue failed their clyent at his greatest need in presēce or speach, vnder some pretence or other: take heede: for there is no greater woūd to publike iustice, pri­uate conscience or credit, then to play vpon both hands, and betray the trust of him that dependeth vpon your patronage.

But is it not lawfull for Lawiers, or learned Counsailors to receiue fees? I come not to marre the market, nor to take away the hire of the labourer: they may receiue their fees, if they giue their counsell, although not on both sides. Saint Austen doth rule this case, & teacheth who should be receiuers in the courts of iustice, and who not. A Iudge must not sell, no not Iustum iudicium: iust iudgement: nor a Ad Mac [...]don. witnesse verum testimonium, no not true wit­nesse: much lesse falshood. For the Iudge is to hold the ballance equally betweene both par­ties, and therefore must not be swayed with gifts: the witnesse must speake the trueth indif­ferently. But for the honorable Iudges, there must be pensions of honor, estate and autho­ritie, assigned by the Prince, or els in common not depending on the suiters. Nehemiah had prepared for him, daily an oxe, and sixe chosen Nehemiah. 5. 18. sheepe, birds and wine in abundance: although in the distresse of the people, he required not the breade of the gouernour: nor such large allow­ance. [Page 41] But for an aduocate it is lawfull (saith Austen) to prise his paines, and for a counsel­lor to take reward for his learned counsell of the suiter which retaineth him: the weight of whose cause he must vrge to the vttermost of his knowledge, as being an eye to his clyent that can not wel discerne his owne right, and a mouth for the dumbe, that cannot open his mouth in the gate. And yet such counsell must he giue, as tendeth not to the stopping of the course of Iustice, with crooked shifts and de­layes: but his counsell and pleading (as you can tell best your selues) must be, rather to giue light out of darknesse, then to cast smoake, & cloude ouer the light, rather to vnfolde then obscure the matter, entering rather a confe­rence thē a conflict; that as two stones strooke together the fire flyes out: so the wise and lear­ned Counsellors arguing the case, the trueth may appeare, the Iurie may vnderstand, the Iudge proceed to sentence; & Iudgement may be exalted in the gate.

As all good ordinances and benefits of the Lord may be abused by the corruption of men: so may our peace, and place of iudge­ment be defaced, either by officers or sui­tors.

By officers from the highest to the lowest, if there be not a hatred of sinne, and loue of vertue fixed in the conscience: when officers [Page 42] will suffer corruption, and suiters offer corrup­tion, what wickednesse is not then bredde be­tweene them? When Dauid began to sing mer­cy and iudgement, he first cleansed his house, [...]sal. 101. vowed to walke vprightly himselfe, and to ca­shire out of his family, the slanderer, the proud, the deceiptfull person, the lyer, and all that ranke: and then he proceedeth and threatneth to destroy all the wicked of the Land. If greate mens houses were so purged, the citie of God would the sooner be cleansed, and the execu­tion the better be furthered. It is daungerous for the head when the eyes be deceiptfull: when the inferiour officers and agents be as false spectacles, to misse informe the conceipt, and make that which is straight, seeme croo­ked. What a disgrace of Iustice, and iudge­ment is it, when attendants and officers bee like the horse-leeches daughters, crying euer Pro [...]. 30. giue, giue, neuer satisfied? or when they shewe themselues light or vncomely, in gesture or ac­tion? The throne of Salomon had lyons carued [...]. King. 7. about it, to declare a kinde of maiesty and gra­uitie in the very steppes: not apes, nor foxes, nor wolues; beastes that were eyther toyish, de­ceiptful, or rauenous after their prey: so should greate mens seruants, and officers of Iustice be lyons in shewe for grauitie, yet harmelesse as those Images about the seate of Salomon: rather terrible to them that stand aloufe, then hurt­full [Page 43] to those that haue occasion to come neere.

That zealous and vpright Ruler Nehemiah, a­mongst other the abuses of his predecessors the gouernours of Ierusalem, taxeth this to haue▪ beene none of the smallest, that they themselues were not onely ouerchargeable, but their seruants bare rule ouer the people al­so. Nehemi. 5. 15. As who doubteth but inferiour creatures wil be most imperious, when they haue but the cloath or coūtenance of men in authoritie: if [...]. Sam. 2. 13. they may be suffered to make their owne game & games. Elies boyes were more saw [...]y with their flesh-hookes, than became the sons or seruantes of a holy man: they smarted for it themselues: 1. Sam▪ 3. 13. but their father also, and his house for euer was iudged beca [...]se his sons ran into a slaunder, and he stayed thē not. Too many not only of the priests boyes, but temporall mens officers, being but hungry flies at the first, bite sore, & pinch neere, making that cōplaint of the Lord in Isay to be true: Children are extortioners of my people. I know that many godly fathers may haue wic­ked sons, & good masters bad seruants. Our sa­uiour Christ had a theefe to his purs-bearer: the Iohn 12. 6. 2▪ King. 5. man of [...]od Eliseus, had Gehezi, a lyer: but he followed him at an inch, till hee found out his priuie brokeage and cast him off for an hypocrite. It is a worthy answer made by the heathenish prince Tiberius, to a polling customer of his▪ that thought to haue highly [Page 42] [...] [Page 43] [...] [Page 44] pleasured his Prince with racking his subiects, & exacting great summes: Meum tonderi pe­cus [...]im in Tib. volo, non deglubi: I will haue my sheepe shorne & not fleyed. It is the propertie of these vnderhand dealers, to pretend great husban­dry for their maisters, and double diligence in their seruice: vnder which colour they practise their iniquitie without checke or controlment. But because it is not for mee to speake against these, except I haue a sound warrant, I referre thē to that threatning of the Lord in the Pro­phet Zephanie (where the Lord saith) I will vi­sit [...]ophan. 1. 8. all such as are cloathed with strange apparrell, & those that daunce vpon the threshold so proudly, which fill their masters houses by cruelty and de­ceipt. Wherein we beholde their apparell to be strange for fashion, their gate more like daun­cing then going, their place to be at the en­trance, and threshold of their masters dore; no man may approch but by their admission: their gesture to be full of pride, their gettings to be great, for they store themselues, & their masters houses: the meanes to be wicked, by deceipt and crueltie: and the redresse of these inconueniences to be referred to the visitation of the Lord himselfe. I will visit.

As officers, so suters doe many times vn­dermine the frame of sacred iudgement in the gate. Suitors are eyther such as seeke for Law or Iustice: or such as owe suite or seruice for [Page 45] tryall of right, as Iurors and witnesses. As for men of our profession, I take them rather to be beholders, then actors, except it be in this place: And (vnder reformation be it spoken) extraordinarie men rather thē fit Ordinaries to holde the booke and the candle to an old tre­want, that all his life time hath liued without booke.

Touching the suitors therefore that seeke for reliefe, and righting of wrongs; euen they by their crooked & sinister dealings, by their ma­licious actions, and bad handling their matters with additions of subtiltie, and priuate corrup­tions may poyson and trouble the wholsome streames of Iustice, which should refresh thē ­selues and others. Of these I haue spoken large­ly not long since out of this place, in the au­dience of the most, here now assembled: for this time let them remember Salomons caueat: Goe not forth hastily to strife, least thou knowe not what to doe in the end thereof, when thy neighbor Prou. 25. 8. 9. hath put thee to shame, debate thy matters with thy neighbour. As though he counselled to fore­see the end before a man beginne: and to com­pound all controuersies at home, if it be possi­ble, and vse the lawe as men vse Phisicke for necessitie, not wantonnesse. Against these bu­sie and rash suiters, that seeke rather for lawe then right: no such approued remedie, as the countenance of a Iudge like a Northern wind Pro. 25. 23. [Page 46] blowing them away from the seat of iudge­ment.

Next vnto these suiters, are such as owe suite and appearance, by reason of some good suf­ficiencie of wealth, aboue the common sort. Our law intendeth these to be as pettie Iudges, and therfore it behooueth them to learne wis­dome, and the knowledge of equitie aboue the vulgar people. It is true that (as the wise man speaketh) such as only hold the plough, or meddle with their cattell, or follow their handi­crafts, Ecclus. 38. 25. are not asked their iudgement in the coūsel of the people: but you are they that can labour, and yet neede not, at all turnes: and therefore your sufficiencie of liuelihoode and employ­ment by the lawes of the Realme doe call for some good education of your children, ability in your selues to vnderstand, and conceiue the order and course of Iustice. If the lawe make you Iudges, the Lord telleth you that a­mongst the rest, you must be wise: that you Psal. 2. may see, not with other mens eyes, but your owne. Now it is pitifull to beholde how vnre­uerently many take their oathes, how slight­ly they regard them: for the most part it is made but a matter of forme and custome. As they take the same oath with their foreman, so commonly they beleeue as he beleeues, thinke as he speakes, without further examining the circumstāces: or els they regard the priuie sug­gestiēs [Page 47] of a forsworne bailif [...] & follow him as a false guide: or in the preiudice, & stubborn par­tiality of their own affectiōs, without reason or cōmon sense, dwell in an opinion: that though they be braied as oatmeale in a morter with a Prouerb. 17. 2 [...] pestell, yet will not their folishnes leaue them. And euen by these meanes, is the course of iudgement hindered in the gate.

After these, follow the witnesses, which speake indeed before them: for witnesse must go before verdict. These of all other must be vpright and indifferent, & speake the trueth sincerely. Ther­fore the Lord, by prohibiting men from bea­ring false witnesse, set down that very phrase in his speach, as being the highest offence that by the tongue might be committed against our neighbour. These must know that they speake before God: for they informe, & assist with their euidence, ne quid Iudex (quia inspector cordis non Augustine. est) Iudicādo erret: least the Iudge (being no ser­cher of the hart) should erre in Iudgemēt. These being guides to others, in the finding out of the trueth, if they shal faile, may misselead Iudges, Iurie, counsel, right & al. Of al that resort to the place of Iustice, none doth so prophane, & cō ­temptuously abuse the ordinance of God, as a false witnes: Salomon saith, he mocketh at iudge­ment, Prou. 1 [...]. [...]8. & swalloweth iniquitie. He laugheth in his sleeue, to see that he can delude so many graue wise and learned men assembled.

I greatly feare that iudgement after this sort, by such kinde of people is made but a moc­kery in our daies. For what say some being de­fendāts amongst vs? If it stand vpon the proofe of mine aduersarie, I am gone: entending that a man of a large conscience may haue proofe and witnesse for any thing. There were a kind of heretikes, called Priscillianistes: which gaue these precepts, Iura, periura, &c. sweare, and forsweare: but it was to auoide persecution, & to couer their owne filthie absurdities. Cer­taine heathens vsed to sweare (as they saide) with their tongue, but not with their heart: but others that knewe not God, yet condem­ned this prophane excuse and cloke of per­iurie.

What shall I call our false swearers, that for a friend, or a master, or a peece of money (pre­uailing more then friend and master, or GOD himselfe with them) will not refuse to iustifie any thing vpon their oath? These Libertines of our age, worse than heretikes, more wicked than the reffuse of the heathens, dare in the presence of God, before the seate of iudgement (hauing their diuelish falsehood cōtradicted by a cōtrarie oath many times, their cōsciēces gal led with euidence of the trueth it selfe, terrified by the warnings of the zealous Iudge) yet set a­broach a false and forged testimonie to the o­uerthrowing of al iust proceeding in the course [Page 49] of iudgement. I know these fellowes are of great antiquitie, though neuer growne so shamelesse as now. Moses prouided legem talio­nis, for them that should beare false witnesse. The Iudges, sayth he, shall make diligent inquisition, Deut. 19. and if a false witnesse be found, it shall be done to him, as he thought to doe to his brother: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. As that decree by Mo­ses, against false witnesses, argueth that in his time, such vngodlinesse was feared. so the plot of Iesabell (that, writing to the Iudges, cōmāded them to set vp two wicked men, sonnes of Belial, or vnthrifts, as some translation hath, suborned witnesses agaynst the life of innocent Naboth) manifestly sheweth, that this abuse was both knowne and practised by the higher powers, who should rather haue sought out and puni­shed such desperate vnthrifts, and children of Belial, then made vse of their falshood. But the like customers were imployed agaynst Christ, agaynst Steuen: and the like trecherie posses­seth our common knights of the Poste, such as being banquerupt of their goods, hauing lost both credite and honestie where they are knowne, now set to sale their conscience to the world, and their soules to the diuell. Iuuenal, a heathenish Satyrist, in his time derided such Sa [...] [...]. loose companions, for betaking themselues to such professed villanie; and wisheth them ra­ther to be brokers of old stuffe: Hoc satius quàm [Page 50] si dicas sub iudice, vidi, quod non vidisti. Any base trade were better then to say before a Iudge, I saw, that which thou neuer sawest. Faciant Equi­tes Asiani Quāquam & Cappadoces fa­ciant equitesque Britanni.: Let the Asian knights, renowned for periurie, and false euidence, exercise that professed trecherie. He thought it a disgrace for Romanes. And wee may thinke such damned practises vnworthie to bee named amongest Christians, except it be with reproofe and de­testation.

If any such vngodly wretches flatter them­selues in their sinne, supposing by their secrete carriage to escape, let them remember that the Lord threatneth to be a swift witnesse against Malach. 1. 5. false swearers: and to send a flying booke, whose contents shall be a curse, to enter into the house of Zacha. 5. [...]. him that sweareth falsly, and there remaine till it consume house, timber, stones and all.

And thus haue we vnfolded those conditions at large, which the prophet frō the Lord doth vrge to the people, in this briefe abridgement; Hate the euill, loue the good, establish iudgement in the g [...]e. You haue heard that the Lord requi­reth holy▪ affections, iust actions; a good con­science led by knowledge, to the hatred of e­uill, & loue of the good: an vpright conuersa­tion exercised in the workes of iustice, & mer­cie, holinesse and iudgement, by euery man from the highest to the lowest, in their de­gree.

Wee haue seene the defectes and decayes of iudgement, and how they are to bee repaired and amended, that Gods people may haue a sure refuge from all iniuries and oppressions. And to this end is euerie man to meditate vpon his vocation and place, first in the Church and state of Christianitie, secondly in the Common wealth; and to studie how his conscience, and actions thereupon grounded, may turne to the maintenance of religion, vertue, and peace, and to the wracke and confusion of sinne and trans­gressions. Singulus quis (que) homo, est vt vna litera De ciuit. Dei lib. 4. cap. 3. in sermone, & quasi elementum in ciuitate, sayth saint Austen: Euery man is as one letter in the speach, and Alphabet; one element and mem­ber of the Citie or Countrie. The highest in dignitie, & deepest in skill, as reuerend Iudges, worthy Gentlemen, learned Counsellers, are as vowels: [...]urors and witnesses, as halfe vowels, to speake when they are spoken to, & to sound somthing with others, nothing with thēselues. Mutes there bee that cannot speake in their owne cause: whose silence is to be assisted by the sound of others, that are charged to open Prou. 31. their mouth for the dumbe. Dipthongs there be too many; double tongues, which breath out hote and cold; these marr [...] the consort of iudgement, and harmonie of truth, and there­fore are to be razed out of the row of a Christ­an Alphabet. To conclude, if all hearts be zea­lous [Page 52] for the aduauncement of Gods kingdom, and all hands strong & couragious to establish the righteousnesse thereof (both in the true ser­uice of the Lord, as also in the preseruation of his people) then doth the Lord of hosts promise for his part a truce, and peace to be extended to vs, as to his intirely beloued subiects.

Hauing thus declared what conditions the Lord expecteth: now remaineth to shew the Content of his promise, and mercie propoun­ded for his part. It may be the Lord will be merci­full to the remnant of Ioseph. Seeing that if there be any default it will be on our part: therefore haue we beate most vpon this poynt, that we first performe these articles required: for (as the Lord saith in Malachie) Bring all your tithes into my store-house, that there may be meate in my house, and proue me now herewith, if I will not powre vpon you a blessing without measure. So, if we would bring the first fruits of our wisdom, zeale and courage, that there might be iudge­ment prouided as meate in due season for the reliefe of Gods people: proue him, if he will not be mercifull vnto vs, aboue all that we are able to aske or thinke.

This phrase of speach, It may be; implieth no vncertaintie, on Gods behalfe: neither doth it teach to doubt in the Lords goodnesse: but ra­ther it referreth all to his owne good pleasure, which neuer faileth them that turne to him vn­fainedly. [Page 53] But as the Israelites, in regard of their manifold transgressions, and many euident to­kens of Gods anger burning towards them: in regard of the small remnant of people left, be­ing but as some two legges, and a peece of an Amos. 3. 1 [...]. ear, rescued by the shepheard, out of the mouth of the Lion: might conceiue some vnlikelihood of their restauration: so we (beloued in the Lord) casting our eyes vpon the infinite num­ber of our sinnes, beholding them as redde as skarlet, and hearing them clamorous in the Isai. 1. eares of God and men: beholding his sworde Ezech. 21. 10. ready furbished to smite: remembring the losse of many sound Church-men, religious Fathers, graue Counsellers, deepe states-men, vpright Iudges, valiant warriours, worthie lusticiaries, which in short time we haue sustained: may perhaps in a sodaine passion breake out, and crie with the Prophet Amos, in a vision: Spare (O Lord God) I beseech thee: who shall raise vp Ia­cob? Amos. 7. 2▪ for it is small. And yet againe, as the Israe­lites beholding an outstretched arme of a mer­cifull father, an almightie power of him that is the Lord of Hosts: remembring his deliuerance to Ioseph their father, contrarie to expectation: and seeing yet a Remnant still reserued, of such as may be instruments of their recouerie, might lift vp their heades in hope of their prosperitie to be restored. So we considering the Lordes mercie, sealed to vs by many fauors: the Gospel [Page 54] yet continued: the barres of our gates made strong: the light of our Israel vnquenched by [...]al. 147. 13. Sam. 21. 17. preseruation of the Lordes annoynted: behol­ding a supply of faithfull Counsellers; a tythe of graue and learned fathers, godly and painfull Ministers: the seates of iudgement furnished with men as renowmed for wisdome and cou­rage, as in any age; the Countrie replenished with many zealous gentlemen, prepared both to keepe the peace, and build the wall of Ierusa­lem, [...]ehemiah. 4. with Nehemiah, and armed also against the sodaine enemies of God, and the realme, at all assayes: perceyuing an holy seede, being as the substance of a tree that hath cast her leaues, a sprinkling of true O liues remaining amongst vs [...]sai. 6. 13. vngathered: a fresh care springing vp in the nurseries of our land, for religion and all good artes; some houses of learning erected; libra­ries of mute masters restored from their ruines; [...] Sam. 19. 22. [...]amen. 4. 7. many good Samuels gouerning Naioth, and the schooles of the Prophets, many pretious Na­zarites, as the polished Saphires shining. If they Amos. [...]. 12. Reuel. 17. 4. may be kept from the wine of that golden cup in the Reuelation: and not forbad by their parents to qroqhecie, and serue God in his ministerie. Seeing, I say, such meanes rescrued, and sparks of comfort shewing themselues in this dark ge­neration, and knowing the Lords mercy in ap­pointing meanes of safetie, to those whom he intendeth to deliuer: knowing his power in ef­fecting [Page 55] his will by feeble meanes: we may yet haue some confidence that the Lord will take some longer truce, & grant a larger time of re­pentance towards vs, suffering vs still to eat the good things of our land, and enioy peace with godlinesse and honestie. But who are we that we should prescribe vnto the Lord any condi­tions? or stand vpon tearmes with him? It is best for vs to imitate those valiant captaines of Dauid, who hauing set their men in aray, and readinesse for battell, breake out into this cou­ragious 2. Sam▪ 10. 12. exhortation. Be strong, and let vs be va­liant for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that, which is good in his eyes. So now hauing placed euery man in his ranke and order, in the Church and Commonwealth, there remaineth onely this, that we (fastening our eies vpon the Lord our strength) be strong and valiant in the hatred of euill, loue of the good, and in the aduauncement of iudgement, and righteousnesse in our gates: that the Lord may subscribe to the continuance of our peace and felicitie, in such particulars as it shall seeme good to his wisdome, and Maiestie▪ to whome being the King euerlasting, immortall, inuisible, and God onely wise, be honour and glorie for euer and euer,

Amen.