¶ AN ARMOVRE of Proufe: Very profitable, as well for Princes, noble men; and gentlemen, as all other in authoritie, shewing the firme fortresse of defence, and hauen of rest in these troublesome times and perilous dayes.
Made by Iohn VVoolton Minister of the Gospell.
¶ IMPRINTED AT LONDON by Iohn Shepperde. Anno. 1576.
COR. VNVM VIA. VNA
¶ To the right honorable, Sir VVilliam Cicil Knight, Lord Burleigh, and Lord high Treasurer of England, Iohn VVoolton wisheth the fauor of God; continual health, and prosperous selicitie.
THere is engraffed, and deeply rooted in mans minde, an Man iudgeth corruptly according to the eu [...] of worldly matters. error and false opinion, whiche euen immediately after his dounefall, did spring and shew it selfe out of originall sinne, to iudge of Gods Prouidence according to wordly euents: and if sometime hee see the better side, and iuster cause oppressed fraudulently and tirarmously, then he eyther denyeth altogither Gods care ouer mortal men, or else doubteth of the equitie of the cause, and giueth iudgemēt, that those which are ouercome, haue the weaker title, and are cast away from God, and that the conquerours and victors doe defende the sincere parte and better title, and and are accepted of God And this thing commeth to passe especially in matters of religion, where men according to the estate of kingdomes, and [Page] inclination of the people, do weigh and esteme [...] frutes of a [...]ubting minde matters of eligion. the truth of the same. I his greeuous error, if it continue any space in mans brest, it breedeth in some an Apostasle, and vtter departing from God: In othersome troublous motions, and flitting mindes, whiche in time do quenche in man all sense of godlynesse, and at last carieth him headlong into a godlesse contempt of Religion, or driueth him downeright into dreadfull desperation. For mans minde, which was gonies of the inde and conience intolleble. created to searche out the truth and to [...]ol [...]w [...] the same, is not able to indure those conflictes, and assaultes of a vexed mind: and sorely I am of this opinion, that the gnowings and frettings of the conscience which arise by meanes thereof, are more dolorous than any torments whiche mans body may sustayne. Pompeius Magnus ompeyus Aagnus. ariuing at Mitelenen, after that famous foughtē fielde of Pharsalie, discourseth with Cratippus his whose race of life, and maketh large mentiō of his aduerse fortune, and lastly drowned in the gulfe of despaire, viterly denyeth Goddes prouidence, by cause in a iust and good quarrelf (as himselfe thought) God suffered him to fall. [...]emades. And Demades that eloquente orator and graue Senator of Greece, giuing as holesome counsaile in matters touching the commō wealth, as eyther [Page] Themistoclēs, Miltiades or Pericles, was wōt to alledge for himselfe, that frowarde fortune and vnhappie desteny, did frustrate his deuises.
VVhiche voyce albeit euen then it escaped not iust reprehēsion of the wise, yet it paynteth liuely vnto vs the ruine of the Attyke commō wealth, the greate perilles and daungers in all cinill regiment, and the declining of Empires and kingdomes. VVe liue no doubt in the last times, and old age of the world, which is feeble and doing, for by common eourse of nature; after vigor and strength, foloweth inclination and fayntnesse, and tho end of things is always weake: VVherein we see the rage of Sathan to spurre mens myndes to ward furie; to stirre vp troubles, cruell warres, and all kind of calamities euery where, and for that he knoweth the restitution of mankinde to approch, and hys time short, he omitteth nothing vnattempted, to drawe great swarmes and companies of the worlde, to forsake nuereligion, and to runne into ignorance and blasphemy.
And that I may let passe those, that vpon the Occasions that moue wordling to relinquishe Religion. coastes of Hungary depart frō vs to the Turke persuaded with wealth and prosperous successe of his wares: VVhat Tragedies dothe the Diuell moue on each side of vs to terrifie men [Page] from folowing Christ his ensigne, and from a free and liberall profession of his most sacred and c [...]ernall Gospell In Scoplande we haue heard of dayly slaughters and butchery of Christes children, where it is now a common sleight to minister an Italian dramme vnto their Princes, and trayt crously to murder the peeres and nobles of their land. The dealings of the Duke of Alu [...] and his successor in the lowe countries, are more lamentable, where no lawes, no faith, no promises are kepte, no antiquitie of noble families regarded, no faithfull seruice to theyr Prince and countrie remembred, no silence nor abiuring of [...]rue religion accepted, but Spanishe crueltie executed uppon all ages, degrees and fexes, without any consideration: besides these, no spoyle nor robberie of mens substaunes, no extreame punishments nor torments, no rasing of townes and Cities, no adulterie nor filthy Sodomy can cōtent their monstrous and most vile natures and appetites. All good natures tremble and quake at the reports of the French eruelty, exceeding Phar [...] and Nero in all rage and tirannie, whose proceedings are such, that we may gather that their determinate mindes and purposes are no [...]t [...]eeasse, vntill they haue the hart bloud of all those in whom any sparke [Page] or breath of Christian Religion at any tyme heretofore hath hath appeared, and so driuing away the shining brightnesse of the Gospell, to reduce the Romish Idoll, and to exalt him in all Europe, as the chiefe Monarche agayne. For now they cloke not their malice with pretence of suppressing rebellious subiects: but lynking vnto them the Spanish natiō, do most euidētly professe them selues the sworne enimies of Christe his espouse, and the chiefe defenders and Champions of Babylonish Idolatrie. The puissance and greate mighte of that side, theyr terrible executions, and the froward euents of lawful and godly enterprises, languisheth and wholly discourageth many men that heretofore haue giuen some countenance vnto the Gospell: And no mortall wight were able to continue in so sharp and endlesse a battel firme and constant, without an vndoubted assurance of Gods prouidence and fatherly care ouer them. VVherefore godly men comfort themselues with a grounded faith, being tossed too and fro, in vehemente stormes and tempestes, and do knowe that the sonne of God guideth the sterne of his shippe, and as hee promised, so hath he in deede exhibited his holy spirite, by whome hee giueth vnto his children courage [Page] and strength, to giue testimonie of the trueth, without dred in the middle of all punishments and [...]rmēts. Touching the fornamed Tirants, [...] me God hath giuen stout stomackes, [...]till [...], greete victories, whereby they are grow [...]h into a licetious boldnesse, bending [...] [...]ght against Christ his Church: wee [...] our selues, that God wil withdrawe [...] his generall graces, that he will depri [...] them of all their of n [...]ments in body and mind, that he wil leaue them vnto themselues; as he forsooke P [...]mpey, [...]lcibiades, Alexander and VVhat end abydeth the enimies of the Gospell. Valerianus. such like. VVe haue an especiall example hereof in Valerianus. the Emperour, who in the beginning for his vpright iustice and valiant hart, was deerely beloued of the Senate and common people, but afterward, setting himselfe against Gods Church, became captiue vnto Sapores. Sapores. king of the Persians, who vsed his head as a [...]ootostoole, mounting vpon his horse, and in his olde age, vnskinned him from the toppe of the head vnto the plant of the foote, so that at last he found an ouermatch stirred vp by God, Chaldaeus Paraphr. cui contradicit tamen Caluinus. that taught him how tender in the sight of the Lord are the woundes of his saints. Their places are prepared no doubt: albeit somewhat deferred the stacknesse thereof, wil be recompenced [Page] with the weight of the same. Cayne his fra [...]recide was punished in the seuenth generation. Bias his opinion is noted of the wise, who when he sawe a wicked monster prosper say de, Asshredly that felow must needes be punished, albeit I liue not to see it. The historie of Bessus serueth herevnto, who murthered his owne father, Plutarchus. and liued long after in greate prosperitie, vntill at the last, passing by a nost of chittering birdes as he went to a solemne banquet wel accompanyed in great madnesse threw down the nest with his speare saying, These birdes doe righte and daye with their noise lay vnto my charge the murther of my father whervpon he was apprehended, condemned, and executed. Let no man therfore fret bycause of the greene Psal. 37. bay tree in Libanus: stay but a little, and the leaues will fail, the tree will rotte away, and the plague thereof will no where be founde.
And touching our selues, I see no cause why we should in the quarrel of our God conceyue VVhat Christians ought to do in these perilous dayes. such trernoling and feare at the great strength and tyra [...]nie of our enimies, as many carnall men nowe do. VVhen Hierusalem was in greate distresse and daunger of mighty [...]nimies, Esay the Prophete is sente from the Lorde with thys iniunction, In silence Esay. 30. [Page] and in confidence shall bee your strength. VVhat is this silence? and what is this confidence? First it is our duetie to suffer afflictions patiently. Secondly, not to busie our selues out of our vocation. Thirdly, not to mistrust Gods helpe, and so carnally to enter into vngodly leagues and vnlawfull friendships, as the kings of Iuda No leagues are to be made with Gods enimies. leaned sometime vppon the Egyptians, nowe vppon the Sy [...]ans, and in the ende were made slaues vnto them, and cast out of Gods fauour, for so speaketh the prophete Iehu vnto Iehosaphat▪ 2. Para. 19. VVouldest thou helpe the wicked, and loue them that hate the Lorde? for this thing the wrath of the Lord is vpon thee. Agaynste, such difference and vnlawful defenses are these wordes spoken: In silence and confidence shall be youre strength: that is to saye, awaite vppon Ieza. 30. 31. 48 Psal. 32. Gods hād, runne not to the Egyptians, Turks, Papists, and to haue help of them. Your cause is good and iust, the almightie regardeth you, and if you bee put to the worse, yet is it better to suffer calamities, than with vnhonest deuises to hurt a good matter. Let no man faint therfore, bycause now adayes, many worthy men endewed with the giftes of Gods spirite, are Tirannously The estate of Christes Church in this worlde. murthered, by most [...]ile and dishonest persons. Such troubles the Church neuer wanted, [Page] but hath passed them all, and shall continue vntill Christes comming to iudgement.
The face and countenance of Gods Church is not alwayes after one maner. It is sometime ample, faire, and glorious: sometime smal, halfe darke and contemptuous in the world. Muche like the Moone, who according to hir place, receyueth from the Sunne sundry beames, so The lighte of Christes church neuer wholly quenched. that the Diuell shall neuer be able vtterly to extinguish hir light: for euen in hir wane shee spreadeth hir out at large, and waxeth rounde and full againe. And albeit, some braunches of the Church be cut off and perish, yet the roote and stocke of the same abideth alwayes sound and vncorrupte. In the conseruation whereof, the pleasure of almighty. God is to excercise our faith, hope, and inuocation, and to giue vs to vnderstand, that he will not permitte mans deliberations to take place in the regiment of our liues, but to acknowledge our protection to come from aboue, least we might proudely boast Our [...]wne handes haue done these things. Iudi. 7. If the Church be not cōserued by those meanes whiche carnall reason deuiseth, or at what time VVhy God helpeth not according to mans policie and deuises. our harts do earnestly wishe it, or by such men who according to our iudgement, are of sufficient wisedome and strength to archieue it, wee [Page] are euen then by vse & experience taught, that the regimēt of Christes congregatiō much varieth frō ciuill policie. For vnto promises of tē poral blessings, a condition of calamitie and affliction is most comonly annexed, wherin the beautie of Christs espouse shineth most clerely, in that she beareth constantly and patiently for Gods cause, pelne, and miserie, and at the last, is deliuered miraculously and gloriously.
VVe haue a mirror hereof, in that notable promise Ismael. Iacob. Kedar. Nabayoth. Gene. 25. made to Abraham and to his posteritie by Isaac. In thy seede shall the nations of the earth be blessed, frō which blessing Ismael is not only excluded, but also cast out and banished. Yet surely out of Ismael by his son. Kedar, that mighty nation of the Arabians often mentioned in the Scripture, did issue and spring, and from his eldest sonne Nabaioth descended the Nahatheans, Ismael and his generation with their estates. a people in Arabia faelici, of whome the Poets speake much in their monumentes, attributing vnto them the same name. Mahomet the first author of the Turkish blasphemie, and the erector of the Saracens kingdome, deriueth his progeny by a long contract from the said Ismael, whose posteritie do rule wide and broade throughout Asia, Atricke and parte of Europ eue at this day, & do not cesse to make continual warre with Abrahā his children, that [Page] is to say with the true Church of Christ.
But Iacob the heire of the blessing, and hys children are ledde by and by into exile out of the Iacobs condi [...]i [...]. [...]and of promise, & becōmeth subiect to a strange king in Egypt, where his posteritie endured hard seruitude and detestable slauery many yeeres. E [...]au Esau prospereth. Gene. 36. in the mean season, enioyeth at home pleasant [...]est & pcace, and in plenty and wealth multiplyeth and encreaseth that nation called Edumites. Now albeit the Israelites seeme to be abiect from god, yet they are preserued wonderfully, & most The Israelites miraculously deliuered. worthy & euident tokens of Gods fauor toward them, are shewed in the land of Egypt, and lastly with Gods mighty hand and stretched out arme, they are deliuered from Pharao his cruelty, and are reduced into their naturall countrey. God do the not therfore giue euents and successe by such meanes and wayes, nor at such times as humane reason craueth and desireth: but with his long tarying, sharpneth our faith, and kindleth an [...]ardent inuocation in vs, and so eyther mitigateth or wholly taketh away miseries and calamities. Albeit, the ayd & cōfort of the holy Ghost doth The power of the holy Ghost principally in torments. neuer shew it selfe more manifestly than in assisting & comforting the godly againste the fierce and outragious torments of the wicked, whereby they are kept from despaire, stayed from denying their God, and preserued from murmuring & repining against his maiestie.
VVherefore let all men that haue a place in The Captayne and delyueres of the Churche. Christes Church, rest and stay them selues vpon God in these days of ours, wherin the world runneth vpon wheeles: let them set before their eies, that Dani. 12. which is written in Daniel, At that tyme shal Michael stande vp the greate Prince, which standeth for the children of thy people. And agayne, There is Dani. 10. none that boldeth with mee, but Michael youre Prince. These sweete & heauēly cōsolations, are the only refuge & chiefe pillers of the godly, and their whole cōfidence is reposed vpon the Lord of hosts, the son of the liuing God, who nameth himself the Emperour and Captaine of his Army [...] and is indeed that great prince Michael, who warcheth and wardeth his owne people, preserueth his espouse in stormes and tempestes, giueth hir Halcions dayes to hatch hir yong ones, represseth and bride leth the furor and rage of Tyrants.
The remembrāce of these things as they are meete for all the members of Christes Churche, so are they most necessary for princes and Magistrates, beeing the nourcing fathers thereof, the keepers of the two Tables, and the defenders of [...] his holy word the Gospel, agaynst whom Sathan & his limmes do rage and rore with a wōderfull furie, enuying their prosperitie, vndermining their estate, and thirsting after their bloud & destruction. VVher by I haue bin moued to drawe [Page] thys little treatise, being indeed nothing else but a Consolation for Princes and noble men against the subtile practises & bloudy purposes of cruel tirants. This argument surely was most meet for a wise and profounde learned man to labour in. And I hartily wish, that some excellent wit, vpon the viewe of this my rude (but strōg foundation) might be moued to make some more beautifull building. In the meane season, vntil some better artificer take this worke in hand, I thought good to publish this commonefaction or instruction, which I most humbly offer & present vnto your right honorable Lordship, not as a matter needful to put you in remembrance of any thing that should be wanting in your honor apperteyning to the dutie of a wise counseller and iust magistrate, but rather to be as glasse for you to see and behold, to youre great comfort, howe God hath by his mighty hand always kepte and defended all such Princes, Coūsellers and Magistrates, as haue aduāced his glory in setting forth true religion, and executed iustice in their vocations and callings, wherin with what great study & care of minde you honor hath labored nowe many yeeres, God & good men can tell & are euident witnesse, & your self recording the diuelish deuises of your enimies to thwart and frustrate your proceedings, to preiudice your prudent [Page] policies, and to bring youre honor to vtter ruine and destruction and on the other side, how God of his greate goodnesse hath giuen good euents to all your enterprises, and preserued youre honor from tyme to time, euen miraculously in great perilles and dangers, must needes acknowledge Gods gracious fauor (and that I may so speake) his approued and vnperceable armor, wherwith he succoureth and saueth [...] iudges and magistrates that are learned in his lawe, kisse his son Christ and become fosters and nourcing fathers of hys Spouse the Church.
The liuing God preserue your right honorable Lordship from all euill, conserue and keepe you vnto the ende in the knowen truth, defende you with his mighty hande againste Sathans rage and furie: and finally, suffer you not to be discouraged with these greeuous temptations and daungers, whiche must needes without his ayde, not onely trouble, but also vtterly discomfort you in your calling in these Tragical times, wherein the Diuel bendeth and brandesheth his frie dartes with greatrage, & terror against the magistrates brests. But comfort you, make your yoke pleasant and your burthē light through the word of truth and grace of his holy Spirit, Amen From Exceter, the last of Febru. Anno Domini. 1576.
AT what tyme Aurelianus the Flauius Vopiscus in Aureliano. Sabellie. ennead. 7. li. 8. Emperour, that obstinate enemy to right Religion, and the only author of ye ninth rufull persecution agaynst the Christians, was much molested with conspiracies and rebellions in sundry his Prouinces: hee appointed one Saturninus his Liefetenant in the Easte Saturninus partes: Whom the inhabitantes of Alexandria for his approoued prowes in warre, his wisedome and politique regiment in peace, saluted and proclaimed Emperour after Aurelianus death. Which title and dignitie Saturninus so long and earnestly refused, that the rude people (whom the auntient Prouerbe truly termeth a monster of many heades) altered in a moment their louing affection into fury, and of faithful frends became almost mortal foes. For they seeing their good willes vnconsidered, and all prouident care ouer them vtterly neglected, with an vniuersall and mutinous noyse, cryed kyll him, kyll him, and shaking [Page] their weapons threatened presente death. Saturninus thus pressed, or rather oppressed, yeeldeth vnto them: hee assumeth the Scepter and Dyademe, but speaketh vnto them in thys wyse. You knowe not (my deare The carefully lyfe of princes & noble men. and louyng companions) the comberous and daungerous conditions of Princes and noble men, swoordes and pykes hanging ouer their heades, lauelins and dartes euerywhere, their heades vntrustie, their counsellers faythlesse, theyr meales carefull, their sleepes vnquiet, their iourneys troublesome, their expeditions vnlucky, their warres bloudie, their lyfe and yeares discommended. In youth they are thought selfewill: in age men say they dote. You now cary mee into moste perilous and raging seas, but this is my only solace and comforte, that I shal not make shipwracke alone.
Hee sawe right well by daily experience, that menne guyding the sterne of common wealthes, doe taste in that course and trade of lyfe more Aloes than sugre: and do suppe vp rather the bitternesse of gaules, than the sweetenesse of honey. For albeit in delicate and riotous fare, in sumptuous and gorgeous apparell they abounde and exceede, yet [Page 2] they haue in the middle of a thousand rockes and quickesandes, as snares, poysonynges, Seneca controuersiariū lib. 7. conspiracyes, Rebellions, sodayne murders and such lyke. And that I maye omittethe open wayes and most playne passages, which all men generallye treade towarde death, and the manifolde casualties and mischaunces Mans lyfe fyckle and bariable. wherein this seelye lyfe of ours is intrapped at noonedaye, whilest wee all are borne but after one maner, and dye after a thousand: yet especially, the great men of this world do for the moste parte saile in the thicke mist, and darke night, and sodenlye are striken vnder water themselues in a sounde and heauye sleepe. The storme and tempest shewetlrsome tokens before it aryseth to the vigilant husbandman, and Shipman. The houses tracke before they fall. The smoke signifieth the flame folowing. Onlye without Seneca episto. 17 epist. 104. any watchworde man destroyeth man. And especially the great and mightie man is subiecte to the malicious and enuyous stroke of man: and the nerer the stroke the more closely is it kepte. Princes and noble men are most of all other deceyued by such as looke cheerfully The noble mans lyfe most variable. vppon them, that come humbly to kisse their hands & feete wt Al hail, shewing ye coūtenāce [Page] of louing men, but hauing the inwarde appetites Flatterers no smal de cay to noble men. and desires of tauening beastes. Caesar whom neither the stoute Germayne, the bolde Britayne, the hautie Spaniarde, the politike Frenchman, neither subtile Egyptian, with warlike weapons were euer able to vanquish in the plaine field, could not auoyd in the Senate at Rome, in tyme of peace, the short daggers of such faithlesse friendes.
And that I may omit those common speeches, that true faith and constant promises can not settle themselues about high estates: The deuil himselfe, when hee spyeth the weapons and wittes of wicked men blunt and dull in such eases as hee hath bin an insatiable murderer from the beginning, so then doth bee practise all his olde policies, and attempteth all meanes to cast downe the Magistrates, and with them to ouerthrowe the whole multitude. And that those things are moste true, many woorthye wightes haue approued and confessed, who studying to apply all their endeuours Manye woorthy men heereof purpose refused publique Regument with commendation and good conscience to execute their callinges, haue seene good meanings and deuises for the most part turned vpside downe. These things caused Tiberius the Emperour often to call Regiment [Page 3] a monstrous beast. Whē Pompeius Magnus was aduertised by letters sent vnto him from Pompeius magnus. the Senate, that all power and authoritie was conferred from Scylla vnto him by the generall consent of the people, hee sorowfully smit him selfe vppon the breast, saying thus: Ah troubles and sorowes without end.
Had it not bi [...]better for mee to haue discended of obscure parentes, than thus to bee wasted with publyke cares, to bee vndermined with malice and Enuie, and euer to bee a straunger not only in my owne house, but to my deare and louing wife and children? Of Pompey his iudgement haue byn many excellent men: who being delited with the prinate and quiet life, and wearied with weighty offices in the common wealth, haue most willingly resigned and giuen vp their authoritie. It is written of Diocletianus Augustus, that Diocletian. of his own electiō he left his dignitie, & refused his Crowne, willing to passe his latter dayes rather in some solitarie place in ye coūtrey, thā in a Palace in the eye (as it were) of a mightie Empire. I am not ignoraunt what some Authors reporte of that facte of Diocletianus: but howsoeuer it was, it swarueth not from this purpose. Dyon in the lyfe of Adrian maketh [Page] mention of one Similis, who often vsed Similis. to saye that hee accompted that priuate condition of his which he lead in Campania to be his lyfe: but these other dayes spent in Court be called death and not lyfe. For so soundeth that Epitaphe which hee willed to bee ingraued vpon his Tombe. Here lyeth Similis whose name was auntient, but in deede he liued only seuen yeares. The noble man made so small accompt of that his tyme spente in prease of mightie men, himselfe the chiefe in all honour and dignitie. Xenophon in that dialogue intituled Tyrannus, seemeth of purpose to induce Hiero disputing with Socrates, often Hiero. repeting and confirming by his owne experience the priuate and meane estate of lyfe: farre to excell the publique callyng of officers, and the high condition of noble menne: not only in tranquillitie of mynde and ease of bodie: but oftentymes in competent and laudable wealth and riches.
All these wise men did well perceiue that to exploite weightie affayres, and to guyde the common wealth, is a matter of much moment, enwrapped aboue all other kyndes of lyfe in infinite perilles and most desperate and daungerous troubles. The Emperours of [Page 4] Rome haue well confirmed these things, for of fourtie of them nexte succeeding Iulius Caesar, scarce ten dyed naturally in their beddes. And so much did men shunne that calling, the end whereof by experience they often did see to be eyther the piersing swoorde, or priuie poyson, that by coaction or constraint they supplyed the office. And in these our tymes, beyng no doubte the laste and yron age of the worlde, wherein all liuing thinges in strength and might doe decaye, the firmament and earth growne olde, and in force and power spent, and (as it were) worne out, what other thinges see wee than iniquitie (according to the worde of Christ) to abounde, and especially disobedience in all degrees almoste to superabounde? The late Vide Serapiouem & Enceliū de vi & natura Adamantis conspiracies, tumultes and vprores in thys our natyue countrey: and the harde harte of Adamante not possible to be mollifyed without bloude, hath openly displayde a I cocenesse in discipline, an obliuion of loyaltie, & a monstruous contempt of a moste mylde mothers meekenesse and mercy. Sathan hath spitte out his poyson agaynst the prince and magistrates, he hath discharged his great ordinance against the Castle of peace and concord. The [Page] sedulitie and great care of the magistrate hath not wanted in watching and warding the same: but vnlesse the lord of heauen and earth had kept this forte, all the keepers had watched in vayne. If he had not bin on our syde, then Psa. 127. 124 Psa. 143. (as the Prophet sayth) had we bin swallowed vp quicke: Then had the swelling waters gone ouer-our soule, and we lyke to them that goe-downe into the Pitte.
These things deepely weighed, and oftentimes considered of the noble (for they ought neuer to be forgotten) admonisheth them not only to bee thankefull to God for so miraculous Psal. 124. a deliuerance, who hath not giuen them as a pray vnto their enimies teeth: but moreouer teacheth them what protection & defence they ought principally to prouide hereafter in sembable tumults and troubles. The Heathen Magistrate would accompt his chiefe suertie and best defence, to consist in store of money, in great horses, in valiant Souldiers, in great and mightie armies. The Christian Magistrate wil not refuse these externall helpes, but principallye will acknowledge his defents to come from God, & therefore will not feare Psal. 27. & 117. what man may doe vnto him. The Heathen Magistrate would make flish his right hande [Page 5] and comforte. The Christian Magistrate wil lift vp his eyes vnto the mountaynes, & make Iere. 7. Psal. 121. Psal. 119. the Lorde his ayde and helpe, and will seeke his consolation out of Gods worde. The infallible and present consolation, and the firme The diuision of this booke. fortresse of christian Princes and Magistrates consisteth vpon foute principall pyllers. First of his vocation and callyng. Secondlye, of the worthie and moste notable promises of God in the scripture, that hee wil bee their helper and defendour. Thirdly, of the honour and obedience, which God seuerely commaundeth to be giuen vnto magistrates. Fourthlye, of innumerable examples in holye write: whereby wee see the good Magistrates alwayes to haue bin mayntayned and preserued, and the rebellious and disobediente to haue bin suppressed and punished.
¶ The first Consolation of the Magistrate in respecte of his calling, and of the dignitie thereof.
The Magistrate is a person ordeyned and The definition of a Magistrat instituted of God himselfe, both to bee a maynteyner and defendour of the firste Table, wherein those thynges are especially comprehended, whiche appertaine to the worshipping of God: and also to be a keeper and preseruer of the second Table, conteyning externall disciplyne, and obedience in humane societie: and to be gods Liefetenant, sounding the voyce of the lawe Morall, guyding his subiectes according to the same. And as this ordinance is of God: so hath it byn of The calling of a magistrate most auncient. Gene. 9. most auntient tyme. For in Noha his dayes immediatly after the floud when God gaue leaue to mortall men to kill liuing creatures for their foode and sustentation, he forbad them to eate beastes being yet aliue in their bloud, as Wolues deuour lambes, and as the Griphon renteth doues, least men abusing such livertie, Pitie and mercy toward vnreasonable creatures. might in tyme being fleshed (as it wer) in crueltie, kill one another, and shead mannes bloud. The liuing Lorde requireth a kinde of pittie and mercy towards creatures, albeit vnreasonable: not to deale with them as with insensible things: wherein Cato Censorius is iustly Plutarchus in vita Catonis. reprehended of Plutarch, who without all humanitie solde his bondmen, now olde [Page 6] and altogither wasted in his seruice. God therefore thundereth a seuere intermination or threatning, saying, whoso sheadeth mannes bloud, by man shall his bloud be shead. For in the Image of God hath he made man. In which wordes of the Lord we see the institution of a Magistrate, to the end he should succour and defend the poore and innocent from iniurie and vyolence, and correct and punish the transgressours for their faults and offences. In tymes paste, Kings and rulers therefore The worthie stile of princes. cōsidering not only the antiquitie, but also the dignitie of their calling to be of God, haue in their stiles vsed this Phrase.
N. By the grace of God King.
Acknowledging that all preeminencye of Psa. 82. Maiestie, aucthoritie, and power of Emperours, Kings, Princes, and of all other Magistrates and officers whatsoeuer are giuen and conferred by God himselfe. Which cogitation is verye profitable, not onlie to represse Meanes whereby mightie my are stayed, from arrogancie. the insolencie and hautinesse of mynde, which commonly accompanieth dignitie and authoritie, being very pernitious in all regiment: but also much furthereth to the better administration and discharge of their calling in the feare of God. For as they see and vnderstand [Page] themselues appointed in their places and degrees by God: euen so are they seriously put in mynd that they must yelde an accompte of all their doings to him: and therefore they will endeuour with all their power & strength to obey and serue him with all feare and reuerence, according to the saying of the King and Prophet: Be wise now therefore yee Kings, be learned ye iudges of the earth. Serue the Lord in feare, and reioyce in trembling.
Now as we learne the worthinesse of this The great estimation of magistrates amongst the Heathen. calling by the light of Gods worde: so may we see the same in the Gentiles, folowing the light of most woorthie titles and names: as the Persians who both called their Kings Gods, and lying prostrate before them, signified an opynion of their royall myndes and maiestie. Afterward the Grecians excelling in all science and learning, called their Princes Pastors or feeders of the people: with which name excellent Homere hath celebrated woorthie Agamemnon. Mynander aptly and briefly calleth a King The liuely Image of God. Albeit that saying seemeth to bee drawen out of Hesiodus an auntient Poet, who numbred noble & vertouns Princes amongst the Gods, attributing vnto them after this life a kinde of [Page 7] diuine power ouer men. Which opinion was afterward receiued both of the Grecians and Romaines: as it is most euident to them that obscrue their languages. For as amongst the Romaines all such as were translated for their noble actes, amongst the number of the Gods, were called Indigetes, as if you woulde saye: dwellyng with the Gods. So the Atheniensians named suche worthie wightes Iupiters, sonnes of God, enioying [...]. heauen as it were by right of inheritance. But in proces of tyme, the Romaynes most honorably termed their Emperours and nobles, Fathers of their countrey, and added the names of Royaltie and Maiestie. And finally, accompting such speeches not answerable to their great enterprises and exploits, they erected vnto them Images, Altars, Chappels, Churches, Holidayes, and Sacrifices. Which doings if you trie by the touchstone of true religion, I confesse they will appeare drosse, and be founde blame woorthy. Yet I say, by some sparke or glimse of nature, or by some celestial inspiration, they reuerenced nexte and immediatly vnder God the creator of things, and somdeale adored the Magistrates. These examples must needes please all sache as doe [Page] not barbarously reiecte the light of naturr, and the Ladie of man, Reason (I meane) and vnderstanding.
But most pithie perswasions & comfortable Christ allureth the office of a magistrate consolations are drawen out of the welles of liuing water, not only quencting mens drye and thirstie affections in this lyte, but springing to life euerlasting. Almightie God therfore in the regiment and policie of his owne people the Israelites, after their entrance into the lande of Promise, first appoynted Iudges, and then Kinges, vnto whome hee made the common people subiecte, which authoritie and secular power of Magistrates Christ him selfe and the Apostles haue allowed and confirmed. The answere of Christ touching paying of Tribute, euen to a Heathen Magistrate is most euidēt. Giue (saith he) to Caesar those Math. 23. things that belong to Caesar: and vnto God those things that belong to God. Which precepte Christ himselfe fulfilled in paying Tribute. The blessed mother of Christ Marie the Math. 17. virgine accompanied with Ioseph, wente to Bethleem to bee taxed among other Citizens and subiectes. The speeche of Christ to one of Luk. 2. his company caryeth weight with it: Put vppe thy swoorde in his place, for all that [Page 8] take the swoord, shall perith with the swoord. Math. 26. In which sentence wee see the power of the Secular swoorde allowed, hauyng annexed vnto it ordinarye and lawfull correction and punishment, whereby priuate murders and other offences may be stayde and letted. It followeth then of the premisses, that thys condition of lyfe, is bolye and acceptable to God, whereby the disobedient are brideled, and the innocent maynteyned and conserued. Sainte Paul the chosen vessell, enlargeth and expoundeth the Rom. 13. wordes of hys maister: Let euery soule be subiecte vnto the highe powers: for there is no power but of God: and the powers that bee, are ordeyned of God. Whosoeuer therefore resisteth the power, resistech the ordinaunce of God: and they that resist shall receyue to them selues iudgement: for Princes are not to bee feared for good workes but for euill. Wilt thou then bee without feare of the power? doe will, and so shalte thou haue prayse of the same, for hee is the minister of God for thy wealth, but if thou doe euill, feare, for he beareth not the swoord for naught: for he is the minister of god to take vengeance on him that doeth euill. Wherefore you must [Page] be subiect not bicause of wrath onlye, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause ye pay also Tribute, for they are Gods ministers, applying themselues for the same thing. In this place the holie ghost calleth three tymes the Magistrate by the name of Gods minister. And is not this a true, a stedfast, and an excellent comforte? Is not the great and heauie burden of Magistrates made lighte? Is not their pensiue myndes and carefull care eased and relieued?
In tymes of darknesse none were thought A magistrate executing his calling doth God good seruice. to serue God, but such as went into the church to heare mattins and masse. But S. Paul the organe and instrument of God, tracheth that a Magistrate sitting in iudgement, hearing pleas, examining causes, succoring the widdow and orphane, and pronouncing sentence according to iustice and equitie, doeth God true and faithfull seruice. Wherefore albeit many griefes, cares, sorrowes, calamities, and incommodities doe accomber this lyfe, doe waste and consume them, yet haue they this consolation: I execute this my condition and estate by Gods ordinance and calling, whither therefore God prolong or shorten my dayes, it forceth not. I lyue and dye in that [Page 9] function whiche is acceptable vnto God. And God directeth the Princes hart. God surely doth not onely gouerne their externall doings, but boweth & inclineth theyr harts and denises after his will and pleasure, according to the saying of the most prudente Salomon, The Kings hart is in the hande of Prou. 21. the Lord, as the riuers of water, he turneth it whether soeuer it pleaseth him. Thus you see with what waightie words the spirit of God extolleth their callings, and that not withoute brgent [...]. For if we take away the Magistrate, or wilfully violate their sacred authoritie, we take the sunne out of the world, we abandon truth and peace, we make the whole earth a denne of theeues.
CHAP. 2. The seconde consolation, drawen from Gods manifolde promises, to help and defende the Magistrate.
IF Princes or Magistrates dyd turmoyle and tumble in their Gods especiall prouidēce ouer the Prince and Magistrate. regiment without Gods speciall help and prouidence, no maruell it were, if the thought and care [Page] of one day, did vtterly ouerwhelme and oppresse them. But therefore haue they an vnspeakeable solace, that God both conferreth dominion and rule at his owne pleasure, and also directeth and guideth them accordingly, vsing them only as externall instrumēts. And his exceeding greate loue is most euident toward them, in that to euery Magistrate and God by hys holy Angels, defendeth the magistrates. Dan. 10. &. 12. Prince in their dominions, be appointeth speciall Angels to defende, strengthen, and conserue them. Wherof we haue an example in y• Prophet Daniel, where mention is made, that the Angell Michaell sloode on the Israelites side against their enimies. It were impertinent to this matter, to alledge mens opinions of Angels, wherin there is some diuersitie. But this is truely gathered, that as the wicked fiende Beelzebub, sendeth legions of Diuels into Princes palaces to stirre vp seditions, and to bring in al kind of calamities: so Gods Angel pitcheth his camp round about them, and if they feare God, they haue always more nū ber with them than against them, to shield thē from the darts of Sathans Souldiers, and to bridle their malice and furie.
The Philosophers, into whom nature poured viuacitie and sharpnesse of wit, did see that [Page 10] monarchies and kingdoms could not cōtinue The manner of the olde world, in electing magistrates. by humane policie, & were constreyned to cofeffe, that by Gods prouidence kings & kingdomes [...] maintained & defended. The Fathers of the first age amongst ye Gentiles, vsed first before they wente to the Eloction of their prince, to offer sacrifice to their gods, & crownd him King, who by Oracle was pronounced most meete to ye office, wherein they haue opened their minds in this matter: verily y• without gods help, they are able to accomplish nothing agayn ye through his help, they are able to [...] W [...] Somnius yt Philo [...]pher [...] Egypt bet [...] how Great: Alexander went to off [...] vnto Iupiter of Ammo in Egipt, ( [...] many [...] naturlled) he answered wel, That al men were vndor Gods hand and Speciall examples of Gods prouidence. poyce but to [...] he) and to be a prince, is the highest and greanst benefite. He added moreouer: that God was a parent ginerally vnto al me, but that he especially a dopted vnto himself as his most louing childrē, y• princes & mag [...]rats: And certen it is, yt many, who haue him cast out by the it parentes or kinssblke, as it were an vntimely fruite, haue vin by Gods singular prouidence preserued, yea being obiected to Beastes, haue bin of buite [Page] beastes nourished, and at last became greate Princes, and Lords of the world. We reade in histories, that Romulus was nourished of a Woolfe: Cyrus of a Bitche: Abidus of a Doe: Hiero of Bees, that broughte hony into hys [...]ppes. And finally, that I may not omit king Dauid, who in his yong yeeres was a refuse among his brethren in his fathers house: how wōderfully was he preferued from the mouth of the Lion and Beare: howe miraenlously was the yong Babe Moses taken out of the deepe waters, and appointed to leade the children of Israell through the redde Sea. Such ensamples bothe prophane and diuine, (if they are to be called prophane, that minister so good matter,) do playnely declare, that such as are ordeyned to be Princes and Rulers, are euen from the houre of their virth, receyned into Gods Iutele and protection.
The summe and effect thereof consifleth in this, that the Magistrate haue onely and alwayes before his eyes, Gods prouidence and mercy in his sonne Christ: so shall he and all his businesse, be farre from perill and daunger, and safely stand without all compasse of gunshot. Let him remember Gods earnest promise to the Israelites, obeying his commaundements. [Page 11] If thou hearken vnto my Exod. 23. voyce, and do all that I speake, then I will bee an enimie vnto thy enimies, and will afflicte them that afflict thee. If hee feare God in The Magistrate that setteth God before hys eyes, cannot perish. deede, this notable promise will more encourage him, than all Castles, Towres, munitions and Armies. For if God will be an enimie vnto their enimies, let their aduersaries deuise, imagine, conspire, and bend all force against the Magistrate, they cannot preuayle, they cannot vndermine or supplant them, so long as God defendeth the Magistrate, and fighteth against their enimies. How is it possible, that the one shoulde preuayle, and the other perish? Dauid hauing approoued the trueth of Gods promise in him selfe, farre aboue hys expectation, vttereth this sentence: I wil loue Psal. 18. thee deerely O Lord my strength: The Lord is my rocke and my fortresse, and he that delyuereth me, my God and my strength, in him will I trust, my shielde, the horne also of my saluation, and my refuge. And agayne: Thou diddest cause thy Iudgemente to bee Psal. 76. heard from Heauen, therefore the Earthe feared, and was still. When thou O God arose to iudgement to all the meeke of the worlde. The worthy Captayne Iosua called to ruls [Page] and conduct Israel into the lande of Promis, receyueth most heauenly encouragements at Iosu. 1. Gods mouth, speaking vnto him in this wise: There shall not be a man able to withstande thee all the dayes of thy lyfe. Is I was with The Prince and Magistrate ought to [...]ead Gods booke. Moses so wil I he with thee, I wil not leaue nor forsake thee. Let not this Booke of yt law departe out of thy mouth, but meditate therein day and night. Haue not I commounded thee to be strong and of a good courage? feare not, for I the Lord thy God will be wit [...] thee whethersoeuer thou goest. These wordes are mightie and ardent, which all Princes & magistrates ought to apprebende and bolde fast. They were withoute doubt written to thys ende, that all such as continue in Gods feare, might knowe wherevnto to trust. For whatsoeuer things are written afore time, are written for our learning, that wee through pacience and comforte of the Scriptures myghte haue hope. Whensoeuer then, any Prince or Magistrate will make Gods word his chiefe solace and treasure, will loue and feare God, and trust in his grace and mercie: he shall haue God his righte arnre, his buckler and shield, his patrone and defender, that: bee may quietly and safely lay him downe to sleepe [Page 12] and take his rest, for that the Lorde of heauen Psal. 4. and earth susteyneth him. And therein obserue and diligently recorde the often repetition of these wordes, Be strong, and of good courage. Courage and boldnesse cō mendable in Princes. If he had bin a milkesoppe and faint harted in his office, he coulde not haue serued God, nor executed his calling, nor prouided for hys army. This example, if ye mightie would folow, they shuld not be so easily cōfoūded, they shoulde not hazarde and make shipwracke of their fame, honor, and dignitie.
We see worldly Princes onely or principally to depende vpō their wisedome, strēgth, The chiefe comfort of carnal Princes. and riches (ignorant as it should appeare, that all Potentates are by Gods Prouidence ad [...]aunced and set vp, and by his hand displaced and pulled downe) For preferment is neyther from the East nor from the West, nor from the South: but God is the Iudge, he maketh Psal. 75. lowe, and be maketh high. Such men therefore leaning to suche brittle and weake posts, are wounded vppon the splinters and shiuers, their fall and ruine is greate, their shame and ignomie is greater, ye triūph of their enimies is greatest of all.
That noble and Godly Prince Dauid, Dauid. may be liuely example and spectacle vnto [Page] all Christian Magistrates. For being rich and mightie, yet hee accoumpted the promises of the Lorde, and confidence in the liuing God to be his principall Armory. The saluation of Psal. 37. the righteous men shal be of the Lord: he shal be their help in time of trouble, for the Lorde shall help them and deliuer them: he shall deliuer them from the wicked, and shall saue them, bycause they trust in him. And agayne, at such time as he was to be annoynted King, and to assume that great office and charge, he comforteth him selfe in the holy Ghost after this manner. The Lord is my light and my Psal. 27. saluation, whome shall I feare? the Lorde is the strength of my life, of whome shall I bee afrayde? When the wicked, euen my enimies and my foes came vpon me to eate my fleshe, they stumbled and fell. Though an host pitched agaynst me, mine hart shoulde not be afrayd Though warre be raised agaynst mee, I will trust in this. One thing haue I desired of the Lord, that I will require, euen that I may dwell in the house of the Lorde all the dayes of my life, to beholde the beauti [...] of the Lord, and to visite his temple. For in the time of trouble he shal hide me in his Tabernacle, in the secret place of his Pauilion shall he hide [Page 13] me, and set me vpon a Rocke. What neede many authorities in so cleare a case? You see euidently, that God withstandeth and resisteth the most puissant and fierce enimies of hys Magistrates, that he promiseth to coole theyr courage, to mitigate their madnesse, and to represse their rage. Agayn, that what commoditie and ornament soeuer may beautifie their calling: God giueth and graunteth farre aboue their expectation.
Which wondeful loue and mercie of God, The miserable ende of such as haue not acknowledged theyr power from God. for that some Nemroth, and mightie men of this worlde, being as it were drunken with their so prosperous successes, haue not aknowledged, they haue at the last bin made seruile slaues, too obiect, and cruel rascalles: and being a little before baughty as Lions, haue bin for their vnthankfulnesse throwne downe, theyr honor layd in the dust: and them selues haue layne in the way like dead Dogges. Wherefore these considerations ought alwayes to be in the eyes and mindes of Princes and magistrates, that they may feare and reuerence God, and repose their confidence rather in his maiestie, thā in outward power & strēgth. For to what purpose are expert Captaynes and Souldiers, Irmies well ordered, store of [Page] all munition, plentie of victuall. Are not all these lost in a momente? and euen as wee doe cut downe greene grasse, so the God of heauē confoundeth all the glorie of warre & of battell. What a huge power had Holofernes at We ought not to trustin mās strēgth. Iudeth. [...]. & 7 Leagues and truces with wicked and godlesse princes haue euill euentes. the seege of Bethulia, what policie and counsayle was vsed to stoppe the water from them, so to inforce them to yeelde theyr Citie? yet how easily did God destroy and scatter suche a Captayne, suche an Armie, so many engins of warre by the hand of a woman? What shall we say of so many kings as were linked togither agaynste Iosua, and so many nations againste the onely Israelites in the time of Gideon and others? Who woulde not haue perswaded him selfe of his good successe? And who woulde not haue exhorted the Israelites to yeelde them selues, especially if they had compared armour to armour, ancients to ancients, men to men, countrey to countrey. But how foolish and fondly did they triumph Iudi. 7. & 8. before the victorie? Let Princes and Magistrates ceasse, let them ceasse (I saye) to fire theyr hartes in Castels, Fortes, Captaynes, Armies, monie, or any lyke thing, whiche worldlings haue in price and only esteeme. Let them rather consider the terrible threats [Page 14] of God, left in this worlde, whereby men are drawen from fragile to firme things, from flesh to spirit, from mā to God. God speaketh by the mouth of Esay: Wo vnto them that Esa. 50. & 31. goe downe into Egipt for help and stay vpon horses, and trust in charets, bycause they are many, and in horsemen bycause they are very strong: but they looke not to the holy one of Israell, nor seeke vnto the Lorde: for when the Lorde shall stretche out hys hande, the helper shall fall, and they shall altogyther fayle. Dauid speaketh in lyke manner. The Kyng Psal. 33. is not saued by the multitude of an host, neyther is the mighty man deliuered by greate strength.
A horse is a vayne help and shall not delyner any by hys great strength. Beholde, the eye of the Lorde is vppon them that feare him and trust in his mercie, to deliuer theyr soules from death, and to preserue them in famine. In these wordes, the spirite of GOD comprehendeth all suche t [...]ings, as menne make accompt of to atchieue waightie affayres: yet they so paynte them out with significante tearmes, that if all worldly might were knitte togither, you maye not ascribe victory vnto them for that [Page] they shall vanish away like smoke, and bee scartered like chaffe before the face of the wind in the day of battell.
I Woulde not haue any to gather hereof, How farre policie and humane power is to be folowed. that I reiect the foresight and prudent policie of the Magistrates: for no man (but he that is starke madde) wold haue them so witlesse, that as the superstitious Iewes woulde not take armour vpon them for their necessarie defence on the Sabboth day, so that Princes shoulde cast away lawfull meanes to defend them selues. But I vrge this to my port habilitie, that they first seeke help at Gods had, and then mans lawfull ayde, which whē they haue on euery side well furnished themselues withall, euen then I exhorte them also to depend totally vppon God. And I woulde not [Page 15] haue them dull or slouthfull: for albeit God do without intermission care and labour for Preparation for warre necessarie. them: yet they ought to be workers withall (if I may so speake) and folow him shewing them the way: and if any want by humane imperfection, I woulde haue them to solace them selues in the perfection of God. For as in maladies and sicknesse of our bodies, we go vnto the Phisition to recouer health: Euen so it is fitte and conuenient in some times and seasons to haue in readinesse munimentes of warre to withstand our enimies. God is not pleased with carrlesnesse: he is tempted and displeased with negligence in all conditions and callings. The conflict of Christ with the Math. 4. Deuill in the wildernesse teacheth vs not to be idle. And the wise man Syrach sayeth, He Syrach. that loueth daunger shall perish therin. They must therefore bend all their force to saue and preserue their charge. They ought to approoue all good meanes and vse all honest consultations, to ordeyne profitable and commodious things for the common wealth. But this caution ought alwayes to be obserued: that they doe not make the Lady the handmayde, and the handmayde the Lady, but that they make the Lorde their shootanker: that they so [Page] procide artillarie and engins of warre, that the Lorde may be the moderatour and director of the same, otherwise without God, weapons will wooke their owne woundes, and strength will be their confusion. Proude Pharao Exod. 14. Pharao. folowed the Israelites with so mighty an Army, that the hearts of the Israelites melted with feare, but God was againste him, who stroke his shoulders with a suddayne terrour; and vnpinned the Charret wheeles, and tooke them away with so mighty and miraculous a bande, that the Egiptians cried, we will flie, we will flie, for the Lord fighteth for Israell. Eugenius. Arbogastus. When the two Tyrauntes Eugenius and Arbogastus endeauoured after the example of Iulianus the Apostata, to reduce the superstition Munition without Religion, destruction. of the Gentiles into Europe, and were furnished with many thousandes of bloudy Panims, that Theodosius the Emperiour hymselfe was strikē with fear and herror at their vie [...]e, be himself spent al the night in prayer, and receyued comforte in a vision of good euent. The day folowing, the battayle was Theodosius. ioyned, in the first charge, many of Theodosius souldiers were put to flight, the Emperour being in a great agonie of mind, falleth A miracle. flat vpon the ground, he sigheth and groneth [Page 16] in his soule, he perceth the heauens with prayer, he is heard of God, who raising a mighty strong wind, blowing toward the face of the So [...]rates lib. 5. cap. 24. Tirants, which violently turned backe againe the arrowes and dartes sent from the infidels host into their owne harts and bowels. And finally, God with his elementes fighting against them, put them to most horrible sham [...] and confusion. For Eugenius falling vppon his knees before the Emperoure to obtayne mercie, had his head cut off by Theodosius Souldiours, beyng in some rage, and Arbogastus the author of that calamirie and bloudshed, after he had fledde two dayes and sawe no hope of life, he fell (lyke vnto Saul) vppon his sword, and powred out his bloud. Of this miraculous victory writeth the Poet Claudianus.
Whosoeuer therefore can say truly of them selues, Some trust in Chariols, and some in Hories, but wee will remember the name of the Lord: may be bold to say that whiche foloweth in ye Psalm: They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stād vpright.
But that the difference betwene dinine and A difference betweene humane and diuine help. humane help may be more lueulent, I thought it conuenient to adioyne the speeche of Dauid vttered at what time he marched against mō strous Goliath the Philistine. For out of the wordes of that most renoumed captaine and champion, this diuersitie will appeare. Thou Psal. 17. (sayth Dauid) cōmest vnto me with a sword, and with a speare, and with a shielde: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the hoste of Israell, whome thou raylest vpon. This day shall the Lorde close thee in my hande, and I shall smite thee, and take thy head from thee, and I will giue the carkases of the host of the Philistines this day vnto the foules of the heauens, and to the beastes of the earth, that all the world may know that Israell had a God: and that all this assemblie may know, that the Lorde saueth not with sword nor with speare, for the battayle is the Lordes, and he will giue you into oure handes. Suche was the voyce and hearte of Dauid, wherin his inuincible faith is euident to haue done more wōderful things thā either his enimies or his own coū [...]reymen wer able to doe wyth policie or armoure. Surely this notable courage in ye name of ye liuing Lord [Page 17] might happely seeme in the eyes of carnall men, to be rashnesse and not boldnesse, foolishnesse and not wisdome, that a dwarffe would fight with a Gyant, a boye with a man of florishing age, vnarmed against one wel armed, ignorant of war against an old beaten souldier, a sherphook & a sling, against a spear, sword and shield. Ind yet the victorie fell to this vnlikely side: suche an approued cote armour is Gods name, which all men ought to accompt their chiefe poste and piller, their hauen & sure anker. Achior Captayne of the sonnes of Aminon, in that his notable oration before Holofernes Iudeth. 5. and. 6. confirmeth, that the Iewes whilest they sinned not before their God, prospered against their puisant enimyes euery where, not with bowe, swoord or shielde: for it was the Lord that with his miracles and wonders fought for them, and gaue them victorie in the day of battayle. Therefore to conclude this place, you playnly see that Princes & Magistrates ought not only to be busied in prouyding humayne helpe, but their principall care ought to bee in seruing the Lord, in obeying his worde, and fearing his holy name: so may they safely settle and grounde themselues vppon gods most comfortable promises, which he can and will [Page] performe, bothe bicause hee is able, and moste Psal. 145. of all power and might: and also is louing and mercifull, and will fulfill the desires of them that feare him and call vppon him faithfully.
The thirde Consolation is in the great loue and fauour of God toward the Magistrate, commaunding his people most seuerely to reuerence and obey them.
As by a secrete inspiration and inwarde motion of nature we are taught to loue and reuerence our parentes: euen so by the same wee are induced to obey and honour the Magistrates. And as God doth reuenge with most sharpe punishementes the wilfull stubbornenesse of the one, so doth he neuer holde giltlesse the disobedience of the other: end therfore hee giueth a serious and seuere precept, by Rom. 13. his electe and chosen vessell Saint Paul, that men should giue to the higher powers, tribute, feare, and honour, calling them by the name of his officers or ministers: by whose hande as he doeth punishe the wicked, so doth he cherish and defende the good and innocent. [Page 18] Which title giuen by God, maketh them Magistrats called Gods in the scripture. more noble and renouned than their robes and ornaments of silkes, purple, siluer, gold or pretious stones: yea if you put together all dignitie of the earth, all these will not so auaunce a Magistrate, as one shorte title giuen him Psal. 8 [...] by God. Dauid vseth a lyke still, saying: God standeth in the assembly of Gods, bee iudgeth amongest Gods. Heere the heauenly Prophet calleth them Gods, which name so high and full of maitstie they haue, by reason of their office and ministerye which they execute in Gods roome heere in earth, in doing of iudgement and iustice, in punishing sinne and iniquitie, in comforting the widdowes and fatherlesse, in desending the vertuous and innocent. Exo. 20. And in another place: Thou shalt not rayle vppon the Goddes, neyther speake euill of the rulers of the people.
Heere Sainte Hierome translateth Elohim Dijs, in englishe Gods, bicause of the workes annexed (as is aforesayde) exeeuteth to their office and callyng. Nowe to omitte in Gods lighte howe pretious and deare the magistrats The necessitie and commoditie of the magistrat. are: let vs weigh the ineuitable necessitie, and vnspeakable commoditie yt the higher powers bring to mortal mē, which we may [Page] gather from gods mouth, who threatning vnto the Iewes subuersion and destruction of themselues and their Citie, speaketh in thys wise. The Lord of hostes will take away from Esai. cap. 3. Ierusalem & from Iuda the stay & strength, euen all the stay of bread, and all the stay of water. The strong man and the man of war, the Iudge and the Prophete, the prudent and the aged: The Captayne of fiftie and the honorable, and the counseller, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent man. And I will appoynt children to be their Princes, & babes shall rule ouer them. You see that when good The miserable estate of countres in the defect of magistrates. rulers and counsellers doe wante in common wealthes, in steede of ioye there ariseth sorow, in steede of charitie discorde, in stead of peace warre, in steade of prosperitie, all miserie and calamitie. For, to take away the Magistrate, is euen as you would take the expert shipmaster out of the ship, or as you would set wylde horses to drawe a Charet without a guyde. Whereof the one runneth headelong vppon rockes and quicksandes: the other ouerturneth all, not without extreme perill and daunger to themselues. For in such seasons and tempest the wordes of the same Prophet are alwayes Esai. 3. verified. The people shalbe oppressed one of an [Page 19] other, and euery one by his neighbour: the children shal presume against the auntient, and the vyle against the honorable: when euery one shal take hold of his brother of the house of his father &c. And for that without Magistrates, no societie and felowship can stand amongest men, seeing by the infection of the deuill, all are readie and inclined to offer iniuries and wronges, and to commit detestable and abhominable actes, the will of almightie God is, that we should not only honour them, but also most earnestly pray for their long & happie cōtinuance, by whose meane we are shielded from woe and misery: Who (as Plutarch writeth) doe partly distribute gods gifts, and partly conserue them amongest men standing alwayes as King Alfonsus was wont to say Alfonsus. in defence of the lawe and people, watching alwaye for the peace and safetie of the same. Hereof wee haue president in the worthie letters of Hieremie the Prophet, sēt to the Iewes Hiere. 29. who were led captiues for their sinnes and iniquities from Ierusalem into Babilon by the hand of Nabuchodonozer. Seeke (saith God) the prosperitie of the Citie, whether I haue caused you to be caryed away captyues, and pray vnto the Lord for it, for in the p [...]ace therof [Page] you shall haue peace. Sainte Paul in effect Prayer for the magistrate. 1. Tim. 2. giueth lyke precept to his people and congregation, saying: I exhort therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giuing of thankes bee made for all men: for Kings and for all that bee in aucthoritie, that wee maye leade a quyet and a peaceable way of life, in all godlinesse and honestie: For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our sauiour. These and such lyke places may woorthely and in deede comfort and staye the mynde of Princes: for they doe argue and giue a firme and an infallible document, the liuing Lorde to haue a singular prouidence ouer rulers and gouernours. Tertullian declareth Tertulianus apolo. cap. 30. how earnestly the Primatiue Church prayed for their Princes in these words: Wee Christians cast vp our eyes to heauē, our hāds spred abroad, bicause they are cleane: our heads vncouered, bicause we are not ashamed: without any monitor, bicause wee praye from the bottom of our beartes, and doe make intercession vnto God for all Emperours, ye it would please his maiestie to giue vnto them long life, sure palace, trustie honest subiectes, quiet regiment, and in fine, all good things that maye come to man. There is extante a paterne and example of perfite prayer for Princes, indyted [Page 20] by the holy ghost, and penned by his principall secretarie Dauid throughout the twentie Psal. 20. Psalme, with an assured promise that God will heare such praiers: which Psalme I wish all noble men to make familiar vnto them.
Now albeit in these words of God alreadie produced, sufficient might seeme to bee vttered Euill thoughtes against the magistrats forbidden. for the ancthoritie and consolation of Princes: yet the almightie Lorde not satisfied therewithall, proceedeth in restreyning subiects in slaūderous speeches & cursed thoughtes against their Magistrates.
Thou shalte not rayle vppon the Iudges, neither Exo 22. speake euill of the ruler of the people. Which precept Salomon the wysest that euer was or shal bee, expoundeth at large in thys wyse. Curse not the King, no not in thy 1. Reg. 5. Ecclesi. 10. thought, neither curse the rich in thy bedchamber: for the birds of heauen shal carie thy voice, & y• which hath wings shall declare ye matter. Men for ye most part think their loyaltie well discharged if they shew not disobediēce externally: neither doe they accompt it any offence if their hartes boyle with rancor and malice. But Salomon saith, ye matter is far otherwise, shewing true and faithful obedience to consist not only in the hand, but also in the harte: wee haue a cōmon saying (thought is free) but that [Page] hath force before men only. For as mens sēses are so dull that they can not smell such things inclosed so deepely in the moste hid places of man: yet the breath and vnsautrye smell of them perecth the cloudes and ascendeth vp before the maiestie of God, for so muche are imported in Salomons words, That which hath wings shall declare the matter. The sentence of Ibicus. Ibycus approueth this sentence. When Ibycus fell into the handes of theeues, and perceiued that they would eruelly murder him, and saw no man present to reskewe him: he happened to see a company of Cranes flying ouer their heads, who casting vp his eyes and hāds most lamentably and earnestly, prayed them not to suffer his death vnreuenged. The the eues secretly laughed at that his playnte, thinking it vmpossible that euer the Crames should bring to light that haynous facte and offence. But not long after, it happened two of these murderers to sitte on a benche in the Citie, when Cranes flying with a noyse that way, one of them sayde to his felowe skoffingly, Beholde the reuengers of Ibycus: which wordes one or two sitting by (who hartely loued the man for his singular learning & vertue) ouerharde, and conceyuing some suspition, caused these [Page 21] two felowes to be apprehended and imprisoned, and lastly with tormentes to be examined: whereby the cruell murder was disclosed, and they according to good Ibycus prayer condemned and executed. Heere Salomons wordes had their working. That which hath wings shall declare the matter. The wise king did well vnderstand, and wee doe feele by our selues, that Nature being our parent, or rather our stepdame, hath poured into mankynd such filthy froth and drousie dregges, that wee doe not only iudge sinisterlie of others: but are tediously & malitiously bent to our superiours: and out of those the sinckes and puddelles, the raging floudes of murmuring and blaspheeming, of sedition and rebellion, doe gushe and breake. Salomon therefore sheweth the duties of honest and faithfull subiectes, namely, that as often as they see any seditious Absolon, or skornefull Caine, or rayling Semei, that then they should be as it were deaffe, dumbe and blinde, that they should brydle their carnal inclinations, that they should giue no credite to rumours and tales, that they should not conceiue any euill of Princes and rulers: but if they happely heare or see any spottes in them, to couer them with the cloke of ignorance and [Page] patience.
It consequently foloweth of the premises, that whether it be Nabuchodonozer, Zedechias, or Ezechias, that doe rule and gouerne, and to what exigent so euer the people are brought in ciuill causes, they maye not by anyt meanes practise sleights, deceites, seditiō or rebelliō against their prince: al wayes are rather to be attempted, thā those venemous ointmēts & plaisters, which yt vulgare sort haue in redinesse, & wherwith they are delited. And surely The deuil is the author of disobedience to magistrates. such rashe & raging counsel, such firebrands of sedition and rebellion, proceede not of any heroical spirit & courage, but are kindled & set on fyre by ye furor of ye deuil, vtterly to burne and consume townes, Cities & kingdomes, as Sozomenus doth by a very strange historie not ably Sozomenus. lib. 7. cap. 23. declare. When the Citizens of Anteoche were moued to rebell against Theodosius for a greeuous tribute or subsidie laid vppō them, and were yet doubtful in mynd what to doe, the night before the vprore, a wicked fende or spirite appeared vnto them in the ayre in shape of a woman, of a houge and monstrous stature, running hither and thither with merueylous celeritie, styring the ayre, and raysing the wynd with a great fanne, and making such a [Page 22] noyse as the keepers of wilde beasts doe, when they practise them to fiercenesse and crueltie against their time of bayting: with this strange apparition, the deuill no doubt added furious holdnesse or rather madnesse to their myndes to goe forwarde in that their detestable enterprise, wherhy they had drawen vtter distruction vppon their own heades, if Elauianus their bishop had not with his most humble intercession mitigated the wrathful mynd of the Emperour. If you peruse the histories & Cronicles of all tymes, it will playnly appeare, that The prophane historians haue obserned the vuhappie end of rebelles. The end of those that murdered Iulius Caesar. Appianus. whosoeuer resisted the supreme magistrat, purchased vnto themselues gods wrath and whot anger, and came to vtter shame and cōfusion. Prophane writers haue obserued, that of those xx: ii. Senators, which gaue vnto Iulrus Caesar in the Senate house xxiij. woundes, & dipped his handes in bloud, not one of them liued aboue three yeeres after Caesars death, not one of them dyed naturally in his bed, & which is most notable, yt many of them murdered them selues with ye same weapons that perced Caesars sides. Cassius the first author of this murder, Cassius. being by professiō an epicure & a skoffer of all talks touching heauen, hel, & the immortalitie of the soule: as he was fighting obstinatly in ye battail at Philippos against Octauianus [Page] and Anthonius, sawe a souldier exceding the common stature of man, comming agaynst him with maine vppon a [...]olie courser, hauing a terrible looke, armed with purple or binddie harnesse, and fiercely charging his staffe vppon him, wherewithall Cassius being amazed, turneth his backe and runneth away: But the spirit folowing, cryeth aloude vnto him: VVhat Valer. max. lib. 1. cap. 8. more remayneth for thee to doe, if thou think this murder nothing? Thou haste not slayne Caesar O Cassius: for no heauenly power can be murdered: but in that thou hast vsed violēce agaynst his earthly bodie, thou haste deserued Gods wrath against thee. So Cassius falling vppon his owne weapon through dispayre, at the last learned the rewarde of rebellion, and that there is a God in heauen, a soule in man, [...] a deuill in hell. M. Brutus also, the chiefest in credite with the people of all that companye, and one who had receiued greate benefites of Caesar, whom he loued so dearely, that euen at his last gasps he called vnto him and said my sonne Brutus sawe at the battayle aforesayde a mightie big blacke Iudian fighting agaynst him, and wounding his soldiers on euery sidr, which (as Valerius writeth) was euen god him Valerius Max. ca. 5. selfe that cast dartes at him, and fought against [Page 23] him. Brutus being a Stoicke and an imitator of his vncle Cato, seeing both God and man fight against him, conueighed him selfe out of the battayle, and when Strato the Retoritian being often and earnestly desired to thrust his sword in him, would not in so heauie a case gratifie him, he himself persed his hart with his own dagger. The poets in their fables of the slaughter of Gyantes by Iupiter and of the Phlegians in Thessalia, being suche The Phlegians. as were seditious, and forced neither for God nor man, and therefore were caryed quick into hell with a flud raised by Neptune, doe admonish men of the vnhappy end of rebelles and Traytours, of whom Virgill writeth.
Of the laste verse there is a very memorable Sabellicus. narration, which bicause it is not onlye pleasant but profitable, I thought it not vnmeete for this place. There goeth a greth a great talk in Italie, of a woman who being brought vp in spinning and carding, or otherwise berye simply, was as soone as shee came to womans [Page] state, rapte (as it were) and inspired not onlye with a spirit of prophesie, but indued with lerning, in such sorte that shee was had in greate admiration of all men. Lazarus Bonami an Italian, a man of greate name for his knowledge, was moued with the great fame to visit hir, and to approue the trueth of the same: for it was giuen out of hir, yt she wold (as she was caryed with inward motiōs) intreat and discourse of, humayne and deuyne learnyng profoundly, and absolue and answere vnto the most difficulte and barde questions. At bys The most excellent berse in Vergil. comming he demmaūdeth hir which was the best verse in all Vergil his work: she answered,
Discite iustitiā moniti, & non temnere diu [...]s.
And further added with some behemencie, Thou arte answered, Bonami, Departe & trouble me no more. And assuredly shee was not deceyued, for if you turne all Prophane Poets in Greeke or Latine, no one verse may be in any respect hereunto compared.
But to my purpose, I am of thys opinyon, that in moste lamentable cases of subiectes, euen in meere seruitude men ought to vse all modestie and humilitie toward their princes, least by malaparte and obstinate dealing, they rather exasperate and incense them, than [Page 24] pacifye and coole them. Fierce Lyons beyng dalyed withall, cherished and gentlye stroked, In what sorte it is most conuenient for subiects to deale with scuere magistrats. doe laye asyde after a sorte their sauage crueltie, and beyng pleasantly wrastled with, will shewe themselues weake: but if a man shew roughnesse and sharpenesse, and vse vyolence and force, he shall wishe himselfe without the compasse of their claspes. So is it with princes and Magistrates, who in some respectes are of lyke nature and inclination with Lyons: whose heades (as I sayd) may be stroked but softly & smothlye, but if a man wring and pricke them, or otherwise offend them, he is but cast away. And if ther happē or arise some intollerable Tyrant, or if a good and vertuous Prince doe degenerate into wickednesse and doe oppresse his people, yet suche burdens art seldome eased with suche leuers. But it happeneth for the most parte, that the grudgyng people whom Salomon chastized with roddes, 1. Reg. 12. and loded with light burdens: Reboam corrected with scourges, and ouercharged with heauy lodes. As the Poets deuise of the monster Hidra, whose head when Hercules cut off, he saw two arise out of band in ye same place: the Prince therefore and Magistrate, howe socuer hee bee inclyned, hee is Gods gyfte: [Page] but he is a most heauenly treasure if be execute his calling with equitie & iustice: vnto whom such men as shewe disobedience, are termed in scripture the sonnes of Beliall. And this is vndoubtedly 1. Reg. 20. true, that if at any tyme the prince appeare ouer weake for rebelles, if he bee contemned and at last vanquished, then the Lord himself descendeth into the field, to reuenge the contumelie and iniurie done to his officer, as in the Chapiter folowing shall more aboundantly appeare. Wherefore it apperteyneth to subiectes, not only for conscience sake, and to auoyd damnation, but also for worldly peace and quietnesse, euen in the seuere and sharpe regyment of their Princes, to referre them and their cause to almightie God, who onlie is able by his inestimable power eyther to alter their myndes and actions for the subiects comforte, or vtterly to take them awaye for their quietnesse.
Hereof wee haue many examples seruyng Gods wō derful coū saile in deliuering his people from Tyrans. for the instruction and admonition of suche as be placed in high dignitie, but especially for the solare and comfort of seelie subiectes, being weried with the burthenous yoke of mercilesse Magistrates, where in the wonderfull iudgement and counsayle of God doth in nothing [Page 25] more manifestly shewe themselues. We reade of such as were euen now aduaunced to the highest dignitie, and adorned with all glory and honor: by and by to be throwen downe suddenly by incredible meanes, and al their power and strength to haue bin layde in the dust. Who can denit, but that Gods dealing with Nabuchodonozer the Lorde of the whole earthe, farre exceedeth mans capacitie? who for his intollerable pride, susteined a new punishment, lying out amongst brute beasts, and wandring with them vntill seauen yeeres were come and gone. Moreouer we reade The strange and variable estate of Empires. partly in Scripture, partly in other credible monumentes, that by Gods dispensations, proude Tyre to haue bin prostrate and ouerthrowen by the Egyptians, the Egyptians to haue bin ouerthrowen by the Assyrians, the Assyrians to haue bin spoyled by the Chalde is and Babilonians, the Babilonians to haue bin vanquished by the Medes and Persians, the Persians by the Greekes, the power of the Greekes agayne to haue bin conquered by the Romanes: and we see lastly the maiestie of the Romane Empire dayly weakened, by that cruell enimie of Christendome the Turke, who in taking our Castles and Cities, accompteth [Page] it but a sporte to wade in the bloud of his owne Souldiers, so that hee may attayne hys desire. It were a long processe, exactly to prosecute all causes of suche mutations and chaunges in Empires and Kingdomes: but this shall be sufficient for my purpose, to notifie out of the holy Scripture, by the example of the Kings of Iuda and Israell, who The cause why kingdomes are punished. albeit they were by Gods election appointed to rule his chosen people, & had receyued more excellent benefites at Gods hand, than ye Princes of the Gentiles: yet if at any time they shewed themselues vnthankfull, if they became stubborne and declined from Godlinesse, they felt by & by the sword, either of ye Babilonians, or of ye Assyrians, or of some other enimie, and sometime were led into most lamentable captiuitie and bondage. Therefore it is the Lord, that at his owne pleasure, without any occasions of mortall men, doth alter and transpose kings & kingdoms. It is God that exalteth & Dauid. bringeth lowe, yt blesseth and beateth Princes & Magistrates, in suche times and places as it seemeth best to his maiestie, so that the subiects neede not to deuise and busie themselues with violence, to reforme or depose their gonernors. Syrach. 10. And seeing that (as the wise man sayth) The [Page 26] gouernour of the earthe, is in the hande of the Lord, & whē time is, he shall set vp a prositable ruler ouer it: It is the part of subiectes, thankfully and dutifully to reuerence suche, whome God hath appoynted to supply his own place in Earth. And surely, our owne quietnes may perswade vs, y• conseruatiō of all estates may requite vs, and Christian religion will straitly cōmaund vs so to do, namely, to restrayne out thoughts, tongs, & hands, frō doing any thing against those yt be placed in authority ouer vs.
But here riseth question of the boundes Of the limits of obedience. of obedience, whether subiects ought to obey their magistrates, if they commaunde things contrary to the law of God and the lawe of nature. Vnto the whiche question, we shall answere both soundly and safely, if we examine what honor is, and gather a definition what obedience is. or declaration hereof out o [...] Gods word. Honor hath sundry slgnifications in the scripture, but as it serueth to this cause, To honor, is to feare, to loue, to reuerence, to obey, To obey (I say) as it were vnto God, who exacteth the same at our hands, and vnto whom we know out obedience acceptable: so yt if ye magistrate shal eyther do or cōmaund any wicked thing, wee may not obey, eyther by imitation [...]or [Page] by action: For the latter commaundementes haue relation vnto ye first. But we are taught in the second commaundement, the sinnes and iniquities of the fathers to be punished in the children vnto thr third and fourth generation: Therefore they are not to be obeyed in thyngs against God and nature. Ionathas hearkened not vnto his father Saule, when he sought the life of Dauid: and is therefore greatly commended in the word of God. The three companions of Daniell obeyed Nabuchodonozer in politicall things, they loued him, and they reuerenced him as a mightie Monarch and most bountifull prince: but when he exected Idolatrie, they neglected his power and might. Saint Peter the commaunder of obedience 1. Pet. 2. due to fathers and Magistrates, when the seniors of the people woulde haue stopped hys mouth from preaching of the Lorde Iesus, he aunswered earnesily, VVe ought rather to Act. 4. & 5. obey God than men. But what neede I to seeke many proofes, seeing the Lorde him selfe hath comprehended all such authorities in one sentence? If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life Math. 10. li. 14 life also, he cannot be my disciple. It is out of [Page 27] all doubt, that the magistrates ought not to commaund any thing againste God and the lawe of nature, and they should bend all theyr studie so to gouerne, that their subiects may feele and tast, that they haue their authoritie from God, and that they vse the same in God. But if they enterprise any thing without that compasse, the subiect shoulde preposterously prefer the seruant before the master.
It may be demaunded, what if the Prince A question. What subiects may do whē they are oppressed. seeing his will and commaundement neglected, vse extreame executions against such as will not obey him, may the subiect resist with violence? I say no, no violence by no meanes. Let him disobey, not in rebelling, but in suffering all iniuries and oppressions. Let hym Subiectes may not infer but sustayne iniuries. not by any calamitie be stirred to lift vp hys hand against a Ruler, and so offend the maiestie of God. And if he cannot by way of petition and supplication mitigate the Princes anger: neyther yet by flight and departure auoyde the same: it remayneth that he commit him selfe and his cause to that iust iudge, who hath reserued vengeance to him selfe, and hath promised to powre it vpon wicked and impenitēt Deu. 32. Rom. 12. persons, at such a time as al their limmes and stayes shall slide from them. The violence [Page] and extreame crueltie whiche wicked rulers do vnto Christian subiects, are of two sortes: For some touch temporall things only as our bodies, our lands, our liuings: others do concerne heauēly things as ye truth of gods word, faith in Christ Iesus, & the true worshipping of God, & such like. Now as for our Temporal things, a Christian may sustayne damage & vtter losse of al his goodes, yea, and of his life also, & yet may keepe his faith and hope of eternall life, firme & stable. But he may not suffer those diuine & heauenly things to be taken frō him. For there is no creature, bee he neuer so mighty, that is able to spoile mē of those treasures. Besides that, ye taking away of heauēly Rom. 8. things lie not in the power of the magistrate, but remayne by Gods grace, in the will and consent of the beleener. And ye heauenly Lord onely, is of power to exercise iudgemente in semblable cases, eyther to reiect men and cast them away according to his iustice, or to preserue them according to his mercie to eternall life. So that albeit the Prince woulde with a thousande torments driue vs to imbrace superstition and idolatrie, we are neyther bound to obey him, neyther yet is he able (if God bee on our side) to vanquish and conquere vs.
Moreouer, there is no small difference betweene A great difference betweene doing, and suffering iniuries. those men that doe patiently tolerate vniust violence, & those that do offer iniurious violēce to others. A Christian may suffer with a good and quiet conscience iniustice, but hee cannot in like sort practise and execute vnlawful things. In all actions therefore, the perfit line of Gods law is to be considered: and that our desire & wil is to do good things, and to omit y• cōtrary. And if being deteined in bonds or imprisonmēts or otherwise, we cānot serue y• Lord our God, & yet do earnestly wish and desire to do it: In suche case our willes and intentes are accepted before God for acts and deede. Againe, if the prince do command vs to do y• which is to be auoided, no man may excuse him selfe before God, by reason of that cō mandement: neyther wil it be a sufficient discharge vnto him to aunswere, I was commanded, I was compelled, I did it vnwillingly. S. Iohn saith, this is the victorie whiche 1. Iohn. 5. ouercommeth the world, euen your faithe. And howe shall we resist Sathan the greate prince of this world, if we be such weakelings that we cannot resist no not the worlde? And how shal we resist ye whole world, if through the threats & torments of one worldly prince, [Page] we turne our backes from the truth. He that is regenerate by Gods spirite, may truly say, I do not now liue, but Christ liueth in me: I Gala. 2. Rom. 8. am perswaded, that neyther death nor life, nor Angels nor Principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, &c. shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God, whiche is in Christ Iesus our Lorde. There is a mirror or glasse of such innocent and vprighte dealing in that worthy man Papinianus, in Papinianus the sincere lawyer. A [...]lius Spartianus in Antonino. profession a ciuill lawyer, in religion an Ethnike, which is as hereafter foloweth: When the Emperour Autoninus Caracalla whome some do cal Bassinianus, had murthered cruelly and vniustly his brother Getha in his mothers lappe, who was so deare vnto the army, for his father Seuerus his sake, that the Souldiers Herod. lib. 4. were almost bent to runne vpon Bassinianus with their weapons for that fact: the Emperour dealt with Papinianus his counseller, whom all the Souldiers reuerenced for his deepe wisedome and vprighte Iustice, to defende his vnnaturall offence: vnto whome Papinianus aunswered: Wilfull patricide (ô Emperour) is more easily commited than defe [...]d. O worthy sentence, and well beseeming a counseller and a lawyer. That good [Page 29] man was more willing and readie to suffer like smart with Getha, which he knew would proceede from the Tirant for his refusall, than to defend, or by any colour to smooth or cloke wilfull murder.
But some man will say, if we mayntayne Obiection. our causes so precisely, and withstand the magistrates so stubbornely, we shall exasperate them, and pull the house vpon our owne heds. But if we yeeld vnto the time, God may alter the Princes heart, and we may eate our bread in rest and quietnesse. Vnto suche obiections Answere Demades. I will otherwise aunswere, than Demades answered the Athenians in times past. Cassander the Macedonian practised with the Athenians, that they shoulde worship Greate Alexander as a God: who staggered somewhat at the matter: Wherefore Cassander denounceth open warre againste them, if they woulde not doe it. Demades made then an Oration vnto the people, and amongst other things vsed this speech: That it stoode them vpon so to consider of heauen that they might not lose the earthe. But I thinke it best to transpose the sentence, That it standeth men vpon to take heede, so to consider of the earth, that they lose not heauen. Therefore, albeit [Page] all potentats of the earth grinde their teeth against vs, yet it is our parts to shew our boldnesse in God. And as in worldly matters some vse to say, Let iustice go forwarde, albeit all the world perishe. So let Christians saye, Let vs do Gods will and pleasure, albeit heauen and earth do perish. Augustine hath a golden saying. Men may not commit sinne in shewing obedience. Daniel disobeying the Dani. 6. King, forbidding him to serue his God, excuseth him selfe, saying, Vnto thee O King, haue I done no hurt, that is to say, I haue not trespassed against thee, for I haue obeyed the lyning God.
This admonition of the limittes of law [...]ull Naturall reason teacheth to obey our superiors only, in things lawfull. obedience, is taught by perfit reason, and confirmed by prophane examples, acquitting s [...]ayes men from the spot of disobedience, that bend their endeuours to obey the supreme power and maiestie. Antigona grauely excuseth [...] selfe to King Creon, saying, that she may not for his commandement or feare violate the law of nature being diuine. And whē Telemon ye kings son with vehement speech defended his esponsed wife Antigona, the Apud Sophoclem. King said, How darest thou contend with thy [...]? He answered, bycause thou wouldst do [Page 30] monstrous things. Creon. Do I mōstrously to honor my estate, & to vse my prerogatiue? Hemon. Thou canst not O King honor thy estate by any meanes, when thou dishonorest God. Ex Stobaeo. Stobaeus reporteth a worthy answer giuen to a yong man by one. Musonius in thys sort. Ther was a yong man giuen altogyther to the studie of Philosophie and other liberal sciences, but was hindred by his father, who most earnestly forbad him those studies, & willed him to frame his life another way. Thys yong man repaireth to Musonius, & vseth these words: Musoni, are children bound to obey their parēts generally, or are ther some priuate causes excepted? vnto [...] he answered: In my opiniō it is a thing very commendable for children to reuerence their parents, but it were necessary to know, what dutie and obedience is, and if wee consider the contrary, namely what the vice, stubbornesse and disobediēce is; we shall more easily know the vertue. Wel then, let vs by questiōs sift this matter. What if a father, hauing no skil in Phisick, nor knowing y• qualities and temperature of simples & compounds, would command his son being sick, to receiue some medicine, which the father thinketh profitable, but is indeed vnholesome & [Page] mortall: will any man accompte the sonne disobedient bicause in suche causes he bath not folowed his fathers [...]antasie? verily I suppose not. Moreouer if y• father himself being sicke, doe call vnto his son to giue him some meate or drinke whiche will satisfie his appetite, but augment his sicknesse: If the sonne giue not [...]ate vnto his father therein, will ye pronounce him obstinate? surely no man of perfect mynd will so iudge of him. Muche lesse is he to bee called disobedient, that being commanded of his father to deceyut, to steale, to murder, or to attempt or doe any thing vnlawfull, will not fulfil his precept and commandement. Therfore when men refuse to folow the willes and mindes of suche as do commaunde any thing vnhonest and vnlawful, whether they be magistrātes, fathers, or masters, they cānot rightly be fermed disobedient, neither negligent in their dutie. [...] Musonius. Touching other guestions, hamely, what if the Magistrate degenerate into Tirannie? what if he woulde bring into the countrey aliantes and straung its? What if he would seeke [...]o aban [...]on the trūe worshipping of God and receiue [...] or [...] Religion? These [...] are withoute the conipasse of thy [...] [Page 31] my treatie (beeing a consolation for magistrates only) and cannot be discoursed with any edification: neyther doe I finde any thyng written absolutely thereof by the learned. And in deede, sith that suche cases depend vppon Gods especiall dispensation, without the whiche, nothing can bee well enterprised, nor more happily atchieued: it were not only perilous, but very hard to prescribe any generall rule in such cases. Whereof that worthy Iewell late Bishop of Sarum, hauing very good occasion to write largely by the prouocation of his aduersarie master Harding, tempereth his stile in such sort, that albeit he stoppeth the Papists mouthes touching ye nobles of Scotland: yet may the prudent reader very well In the defence of the Apologie Fol. 20. &. 21 perceyue his vnwilling minde to wade farre in that question. It is our parts that be Englishmen, with all gratefulnesse of voyce and hart, to praise God for exempting vs out of such miserable cases, and to pray for the continuance of the same, vnder out tender and pitifull Lady and mistresse the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, who by hir milde regimēt taketh away all occasion of suche questions. And surely, so long as she guideth the sterne of the shippe, I haue good hope that we shall [Page] sayle in the calme and peaceable sea. But it for our sinnes to almightie God, & srowardnesse towarde his maiestie, shee faint or fayle, then what will be out English tune, but wo worth, and wayle away. For I see folowing hir dayes, the lamentable times, not of Henry the sixt Edward the fourth, and Richarde the third, sor xij. or [...]. yeeres, when the worlde was such, as the Colyer that denied his seruice The daungerous estate of this realm of England. to eyther part, and professed himselfe the Diuels man scaped best: but the bloudy times of Ferrex and Porrex, in whome the line and of spring of Brute ended, after whose dayes this lande was rent into foure factions, and for the space of 51. yeeres, there was no lawe, no iustice no peace, but tumults, vprorrs, ciuill warres, effusiō of bloud. &c. The remembraunce of these things, must needes beate a wonderfull feare and horror into our bones and bowels, and driue vs to pros [...]rate oure selues before his throne of Grace, with deepe sighing and groning, to craue that he woulde auert and turne away those sorowfull and ruthfull dayes, or against those times prouide for our comforts some Gedeon or lepthe, vnder whose couerts we may hide our selurs frō those terrible s [...]ormes and tempests.
The fourth Consolation, of many examples out of diuine and prophane writers, wherby we see, that good princes & magistrates haue bin preserued from the furious hands of their enimies abroade and at home.
IT is a great cōfort for godly and Christian Magistrates, to haue before theyr eyes the worthy examples of Kings & Princes in the old Testament, and to obserue their famous and renoumed or rather miraculous actes, which they did not by their own power and policie, but by the ayde and prouidence of God. Whereby they may both confirme and settle their confidence and faith in him, and also haue presente admonition in all their distresse, by the example of others, what wayes and meanes they may vse to auoyde perilles and dangers. Abraham the father of the faithfull, Abraham. being driuen into many greeuous miseries and calamities, and tost too and fro with great carke and care: yet for that he perseuered firme in faith and hope, he was neuer forsaken of God, but always deliuerd out of distresse. Ind moreouer, God gaue him glory in y• day of batel. For whē Lot his brothers son was led Gen. 14. away captiue frō Sodome, he broght out of thē [Page] that were borne and bredde in his house, three hundreth and eighteene persons, and pursued diuers Kings, sinit them, destroyed them, and recouered Lot his family and his substance, and placed him in his house agayne.
Ioseph the Patriarche, breyng solde into Egipt, Ioseph. where he liued an alient and straunger, and afterward was cast into Prison: yet trusting in the liuing God, he was not only set at libertie, but also called to suche honor and dignitie, that vnder Pharao he was chiefe ruler of the land of Egipt. Carnal reason would Gen. 41. & 42 thinke it vnpossible, that a seelie poore Israelite, being sold to straungers, and loden with bolts of iron in prison, shoulde aspire to suche authoritie. But these are y• wonderfull works Psal. 145. of God, who is nigh vnto all those that call vpon him faithfully. And againe, The Lorde Psal. 23. restoreth my soule, and leadeth me in the paths of righteousnesse for his names sake. Yea, though I should walke through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feare no euill, for thou art with me, thy rod, and thy staffe, they comfort me. Moses that notable Prophet, was Moses. almost drowned in many greeuous calamities, wherein mans reason coulde deuise no helpe, nor fynde comforte, especially, when bee [Page 33] went before the children of Israel, being preserued with a mightie armye, hanyng before him the read Sea, and the mountaynes on euery fyde: but he both knew what God could doe, and beleued also that God would cause the Sea to soake into the earth, or to stand like a wall on both sydes, whereby the Israelites might marche through on drye lande, and that the same shoulde returne agayne to bys course, and drowne all the Egiptians: than in any one [...]ote fayle in his promises, or relinquish his elect and chosen people. Gods word can not be false, and therfore the Prophet saith, Iere. 17. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lorde, and whose helpe the Lord is: and in an other, place, In an acceptable time haue I heard thee, Esa. 49. and in a day of saluation haue I helped thee, and I wil preserue thee Iosua succeding Moses Iosua. casted many bitter cuppes before hee was able to subdue and caste those seuen wicked nations but of the lād promised vnto the Iewes būt resting vppon that ioyful and sweete promise of God, (As I was with Moses so will I be with thee, I will not leaue thee nor forsake Iosu. 1. thee) be vanquished his enimyes, and placed Gods people in the lande of Chanaan. Gideon iudge of the Israelites; accompanyed with Gideon. [Page] three hundreth souldiers only went agaynst y• mightie army of the Madianites, Amelechites Iudie. 7. and other easterne people, who came into the land of Israel with their Tentes as thicke as Greshoppers in multitude, so that they and their Cammelles were without number: hee vanquished them and put them to flight, for the spirite of the Lorde came vpon him, and he beleued the word of the Lord promising him victorye. Daniel by the malice and [...]ny of the Daniel. Courtiers was cast into the Lyons denne, yet through gods protection he was preserued safe and sound, the reason is expressed in the Text, Bicause he trusted in his God: whereat the Kyng wonderyng and reioysing, commaunded Daniell hys accusers, their wyues and Daniel. 6. children to bee put in his place, and the Lions had the maistery ouer them, and brake all their bones in peeces or euer they came at the ground of their denne.
Dauid entyrely beloued of God, elected accordyng 1. Samu. 16 2. Sa. 2. &. 5. to Gods owne hearte, and thryce anoynted Kyng of Israell, ledde yet a lyfe full of many miseries and calamities, contemned Dauid. of his wife Micholl, for that hee seemed oue [...] precyse in the obseruyng of Ceremonies. Saul conceyued deadly feude agaynst him, and [Page 34] often sought to kill him. Absolon his owne sonne defyleth his bedde, and rebelleth against him. Besides this, what assaultes susteyned he the Phylistines, the Moabites, the Syrians, the Idumites, great and mightie nations: yet hee is patiente in hys house, constante in hys Kyngdome, and victorious agaynst straūngers. For the almightie was his refuge, hys hope, and hys Protectour: and therfore it was vnpossible for hym to bee confounded and destroyed. Which for that hee approued passyng all humayne expectation, bee singeth after this manner: In thee O Lorde haue I put my truste, lette mee Psal. 31. neuer bee confounded, delyuer mee in thy righteousnesse: I will bee gladde and reioyce in thy mercye, for thou haste seene my trouble, and thou baste knowne my soule in aduersityes: And thou haste not shutte met vppe in the hande of the enimye, but haste set my feete at large. Asa Kyng of Iuda, abrogated Asa. horrible Idolatrie and superstition, and commaunded Iudah to seeke the Lord God of 2. Para. 14. their fathers, & to do according to do according to his cōmaundemēt, and be tooke away out of at the Cittes of Iuda the high places & the images: therefore the kingdome was quiet before him, hee built [Page] stronge Cities in Iuda, and hee had no warre many yeares, bicause the Lord gaue him rest. Afterward there came agaynst him Zerach of Ethiopia, with an hoste of ten hundreth thousand men, and three hundreth Chariots. Then Asa went out before him and set the battayle in aray, and cryed vnto the Lord his God, saying: Lorde it is nothing with thee to helpe with many, or with no power: helpe vs O lord our God, for wee reste on thee, and in thy name we come against this multitude: O lord thou arte our God, let not many preuayle agaynst thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Iudah and they fled, and the men of Iudah, caryed away a mightie great spoyle, and returned to Ierusalem. Iosaphat folowed Iosophat. his father Asa in clensing the temple, and reforming true religion: he set Leuites in Ierusalem 2. Para. 17. and 19. for the iudgement of the cause of ye lord: and he appointed Iudges in the land through out the strong Cities, & sayd vnto them, Take heed what ye do, for ye execute not the iudgementes of man but of the Lorde: and there is no iniquitie with the Lorde our God, neither respecte of persons, nor receyuing of reward. Wherefore the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hande, and the feare of the Lord fel vpon [Page 35] all the kingdomes of the lands that were rounde about Iudah, and they durst not fighte agaynst him, and straungers brought Iehosaphat presentes and giftes, and the Arabians brought him flocks of sheepe and Goates, and hee prospered and grewe vp an high, and his kingdome florished exceedingly. Amasias the Amasias. xij. King of Iuda hauing warre with the children of Seer, hyred one hūdreth thousād men of Israel to help him in battaile, but a man of god 2. Para. 25. came vnto him, saying, O King let not the army of Israel go with thee, for God hath power to helpe thee, and to cast downe. Wherefore the King returned those men accordyng to the saying of the Prophet, & with his owne people couragiously went to the Salt valey, and encountered with his enimyes and slewe ten thousandes, and other ten thousande dyd the children of Iuda take alyue, and caryed them to the toppe of a rock, and tumbled them downe headlong, and they all burst to peeces. Ezechias. 2. Reg. 19. Iesa. 37. Ezechias the xvj. King of Iuda, wt an earnest zeale embrased true religion: and so perfitlye serued the Lorde, that after him was none like vnto him among all the Kings of Iuda, neyther were there any suche before him, who being meruellously tempted and [...] [Page] the huge & mightie army of the Assyrians, and terrified wt the blasphemous speech of Rabsaces, turned vnto y• Lord, went into ye temple, & lay prostrate & sayd, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, saue thou vs out of their hands, yt all the kingdoms of ye earth may know yt thou ô lord art only god: which prayer ye lorde harkeneth vnto, & answereth thus: Bicause thou hast praied vnto me cōcerning Synachereb king of Ashur, I will put my hooke into his nostrels, & my bridle into his lips, & wil bring him back again ye same way he came: he shal not enter this citie, nor shoote an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it. And ye same night ye Angel of ye lord went out, & smote in ye campe of Ashur an hundred foure score & fiue thousand: & when they roase early in ye morning, behold they were all dead Synachereb corpses. So Synachereb King of Ashur departed, & returned to Niniuie. And as he was in ye temple worshipping of Nisroh his god, Adramelech & Sharezer his sonnes slew him wt the sword, & they escaped into y• lande of Ararat, and Esarhaddon raigned in his steed.
Out of these histories I gather three obseruatiōs, Three notes or oh sernations. first yt God cōmonly tempteth his chosen [...]ighty aduersaries, yt their faith may [Page 36] be more perfit thā gold tried wt ye fire: Secōdly, 1. Pet. [...]. that if they stedfastly trust in him he blesseth their coūtrey wt treasure & riches, & replenisheth their land with great plenty of valiant soldiers: Thirdly, yt God wil not suffer the heathenish people and irreligious nations to treade his children vnder their feete, but with small powers confoundeth their ten hundred thousandes in the day of battayle. My first note 1 God tempteth his chosē with many enimyes. King Edward the six, and queene Elizabeth. appereth plainly in ye raign of y• late Iosias, and presētly in our Hester, who laboring in ye new building of Gods tiple, good lord what a nū ber of subtile and bloudy enimyes haue whet their teeth against this little Ilande on euery side? but let vs not be dismaid, for al ye papists in Europe adioyning to thē the Turk, are not able to come once to ye field with ten hundred thousād mē, as Zerach of Ethiopia did against Asa: & if they were able to passe that number, haue we not legions of Angels vnder Christ his standerd against them? Secondly, Asa and 2 God furnisheth realms wher he is serued with many valiant warriers. Amazia Kings of Iuda, fearing the liuing god, had vnder them a florishing cōmon wealth, & wer able to make thre hūdred thousād fighting mē. This our coūtrey of englād hath wāted no tēporal blessings, since god blessed vs with his word & gospel: neither do any monumēts and [Page] chronicles of England make record of so many England populous and p [...]entifull of good souldiers. able men at one tyme, as are now to bee founde in this little Eland. I haue hard it reported of credible men, (who by commission had authoritie to make a bewe of such things) that in the Countie of Deuon only, there hath bin sounde fourtie thousand comely and likely men for the sield: so that if euery county in Englande doe matche the same according to their proportions, there is no doubt but out powers will eyther surmount or answere that lande whereof I spake afore, in number of warlyke men. Lastly, bowsoeuer this little region 3 God gineth victory not by many souldiers. hath bin stored with men of warre heretofore, yet a small handfull hath ouermatched a huge hoste, and most commonly (if I terme it aright) a thinne Garryson hath suppressed and surprised many & mightie armies of their enimyes, as in Eoward the third his dayes at The victory of the Englishe men at Cressie. The battel of Poyters. Cressy, where xix. thousand English men put to flight one hundred thousande frenchmen, and slew xxx. thousande: at Poyters wher the blacke Prince lauing but a wing of men in respect of their enimyis, tooke prisoners, Iohn the French King, Phillippe his sonne, seuen Earles, besides Barons and Knightes. That blacke Prince, as historyes declary, had [Page 37] the courage and harte of a Lyon, they mighte The constant faith of the black Prince. aswell haue commended in him the constante fayth and assured hope of a godly and religious Captayne. For seeing his power so farre vnequall to his aduersaryes, and his meyny halfe sorowfull, hee vttered suche voyces, as all godly englishe Capitaynes in lyke case ought to expresse. Well syrs (sayth hee) albeit we be but sewe in regarde to the multitude of our enimyes: let vs not bee abashed therefore, for the victory lyeth not in the multitude of the people, but where it pleaseth almightie God to giue it. Therefore trust in him, and take English mens hartes vnto you this day: for if God wil, this dayes victory shalbe ours: and if we dye, wee haue a good quarell. With which wordes he anymated and encouraged his souldyers. Henry the fifth hauing in all but xv. thousand, discomfited the flower of France The denotion & zeale of Henry the fyft. at the battayle Agincourte, where sixe French men men were in the fielde agaynst one Englishe man: and at the ende of the battayle the nobl [...] Henry caused a retraite to be blown, & brought all his armye togither, willing them to gyue thankes to God, by whose almightie power they bad receyued that victory: and euery one kneeling down swng, Not vnto vs Lord, not Psal. 115. [Page] vnto vs, but vnto thy name giue the glorye &c. So that it euidently appeareth, that thys noble Prince had a perfit fayth and truste in Flodden field. the ayde of the lord, which heard his prayer and regarded his fayth, and miraculously in mercy gaue him victory. In the dayes of the King of famous memory Henry the eight, Kyng Iames of Scotlande the fourth, came into England with one hundred thousande at the least, as all histories agree, & Paulus Iouius noteth P. Iouius. the malaparte confidence of Iames in his hoste, that he thought himself able with spearmen to holde vp heauen, if it had bin slydying: but behold xxvj. thousand Englishe men encountereth him, vanquisheth his strength, and slew the king with the most part of the nobilitie of Scotlād at Braūston in Cheuiot. Finally, Mouseleborough fielde. ye field foughtē at Mouscleborough is fresh in most mens memory, where God punished the periury of ye Scots, wt the losse of xv. thousand soldiers, & miraculously, wtout any great effusion of english bloud (for there perished not aboue one hundred on our side) gaue vnto our countreymen a tryumphant victory. Such examples are plentie, but I haue chosen a fewe, giuing occasiō vnto noble men therby to fixe their hartes vppon Gods fatherly prouidence [Page 38] in all their distresses, and to sing with diuine Psa. 33. Dauid, The King is not saued by the multitude of an hoste, neither is the Gyant deliuered by great strength. A horse is a vayn thing and shall not deliuer any by hys strength: beholde the eye of the Lorde is vppon them that feare him, and vppon them that trust in his mercy, to deliuer their soules, and to preserue them in famyne.
And as God Defendeth good Princes agaynst God neuer suffreth rebels and traytonts vnpunished Chore. soren enimyes, so doth he most seuerely shew his wrath, and powre his borrible and sharpe punishmentes vppon Rebelles and Traytors at home. Chore, Dathan, and Abiron rebelling agaynst Moses, were swalowed into the earth quicke, and perished with a new and horrible kynde of death. Absolon rebellyng 2. Sa. 18. Absolon. agaynst his father was put to flight by Dauid vis army, and seking to escape through the woods. as his mule ranne vnder a thicke oke, his heare was intangled in the boughes, and he taken vp betweene the heauen and the earth, and the mule that was vnder him wēt away, so Ioab the Captayne came and ranne him through wyth dartes. Sybas the sonne Sybas. 2. Psa. 20. of Bochrus conspiryng agaynst Kyng Dauid had a wretched ende, his head [...] of by the [Page] counsayle of a prudent woman in Abela, and the same was caste ouer the walles to Ioab. The acte of Gaall the sonne of Ebed is notable, Gaall. who with a seditious oration styrred the men of Sichem to disobey Abimelech, beyng Ind. 9. in deede but a Tyrant, for hee monstrouflye murdered about seuentie of his bretherne, yet God fauoured not that cause, but suffered Abimelech to vanquish those Rebelles, and vtterly to subuert then Citie. The enterprise of the children of Ephraim against good Iephthe, Ephraim. Iud. 12. had lyke euent, for there fell of them by the handes of Gylead two and fourtie thousand. Theudas Gaulonites. Act. 5. Theudas Gaulonites made a shewe of earnest [...]eale and loue to deliuer his countreye from seruitude: and therefore by his pleasaunt perswasions allured many to arme themselues agaynst Ioseph. lib. 18. cap. 1. the Romaynes, but he was slayne, and his folowers (as Gamaliel declared) were dispercled and brought to nought. And in our owne countrey we may beholde the seditious dealings of VVatte Tyler, Iacke Strawe, Iohn Watte Tyler, Iacke Strawe. Anno. 4. Richard. 2. VVall and others, who albeit they were fanored of the moste parte, and had an army of 60. thousand men, yet being in their chiefe ruffe, Watte was slayne, and they lyke sheepe scattered a [...]road. Thomas Flamocke and Mighell [Page 24] Iosephe the blackesmith, procured the Cornish Michael Ioseph the blacksmith Anno. 12. Henry. 7. men to rebel agaynst their Prince, and assembled such a company, that they astonied al good and faithfull subiectes: but their power was discomfited at Blackeheath, their chiefe Captayne the Lorde Audeley beheaded, Thomas Flamocke and Mychaell Iosephe were drawen, hanged, and quartered, and their quarters pitched on stakes, after the manner of Traytors, to warne others to beware of like crimes and offences.
Fynally, the vnhappy insurrectiōs in the dayes Rebellion in Englās in our time. of King Henry the eight, of King Edward the [...]xt, and of our soueraigne Lady the Dueenes maiestie, made vnder pretence of defending the faith and holye church, and of deliueryng the common wealth from oppression, do with ruful ruine of noble families, with sauage spoil of goodly countreys, with dreadfull executions of couragious personages, paynt before all mennes eyes the hatefull hatred of almightie God agaynst Rebelles and Traytors, and there withall doe shewe Gods fatherly prouidēce in assisting good Princes and noble men, being enuironed on euery syde with enimyes, and oppressed with extreme miseries and calamities.
Notwithstanding I graunt some speciall Why God permitteth godly printes & magistrates sometyme to bee oppressed by Tyrants. examples may bee founde repugnaunt to the premisses, and it commeth to passe now & then that wicked and seditious persons prosper and preuail, & that good & lawful magistrats decay & perish: which things haue wonderfully astonied ye myndes of mortal men, & moued them to think that eyther there is no God, or at the least that there is no diuine prouidence at all ouer earthly things: for if ther were any effectual care, thē surely ye world shuld go happely wt the godly, & vnhappely with the vngodly. Such firy darts wound euen Christiās reasoning thus wt themselues: if almightie God do care for earthly creatures, and especially for the church, why did godlesse Cain kil godly. Abel? & why did y• lecherous & filthy strūpet oppresse clean & chast Iosephe? why was the holy prophet Esay giuen into y• hands of cruel Manasses? whi did not y• pietie of religious Dauid touer him from so many stormes & tempestes? why did God suffer y• slinking Gote Herodias to behead him than whō ther was no greater amongst ye sonnes of women? why was y• monstrous Tyrant & very froth of mischiefe Nero suffred to murder those two notable disciples of Christ & trūpets of true religiō Peter and Paul? Marcus Cato whē tidings came vnto him in [...] Cicil, yt great Pompei through fear [Page 40] of Caesar had forsakē Italy, he cryed out saying, O immortal Gods, how obscure and variable are your cōsolations in humayne affaires? For vnto this daye haue you fauored Pompei, notPompelus magnus doubtes of gods prouidence.so exactly ministring equitie and iustice, but now in defēding cōmon libertie and in a most iust cause of his coūtrey you haue forsakē him. Pompei himselfe scaping y• sword in the fielde foughtē at Pharsalia, sailed to Mytelene where Cornelia his wife made hir abode, & repairing to y• Philosopher Cratippus, lamēted much his aduersitie, & questioned whither ther were any prouidēce at all. And now in France who seeth not poyseners, trucebreakers, Tyrants & blouditFrenche Tyranny.Papists to ttiumph again, obediēt and ouer c [...]edulous subieus oppreste, professours of true religiō murdered, honorable gray whyte heads are cleft asūder, y• great bellies & wombs of Ladies & gentlewomē are ripped, infantes and sucking babes are wt pykes perced, and fynally, no kinde of crueltie vnpractised. Albeit, such lamētable calamities of good mē, and sauage libertie of wicked mē, both in churches & cōmon welaths seeme to take away gods prouidēce: yet god to remoue such doubts, hath set before mēs eyes, his workes ordinarie & extraordinary, & hath added thereunto his expresse & manifest word, thereby shewing the properity [Page] and aduersitie come not to men by chance, but to be disposed and distributed as it were with Gods hand. And touching ye prosperitie of the wicked, whom it pleaseth God to aduance euenWhy God permitteth the wicked to prosper. Exo. 9.vnto the highest steppe of honour and dignitie, we haue the cause alleged by God himself, of Pharao, after this maner: For this cause haue I appoynted thee, to shewe my power in thee, and to declare my name throughout all the world. In this text God expresseth plainly, that of his owne purpose & will he anaunted and obdured Pharao: which his will hee proueth good and iust, by two reasons: Fyrst to shewe his iustice and power, secondarily, that his name might be renoumed throughout the whole worlde: which two things had bin hidden hidden tyme, if Pharao his strength and power had not bin famous among the nations round about: and therefore that new and straunge punishement in drownyng so mightie an armye of the Egyptians in the red Sea, and in sauing his own simple and vnarmed people the Israelits, did note the same. The wicked then clyme alofte by Gods appoyntment, that their great and beauye ruyne may bee more apparant: and their worldlye honour and glory is notable, that their shame [Page 41] and dishonor may be more notable. WhereofThe fall of Tirantes.bessdes Pharao of Egypt, Nabuchodonozer of Babylon, Chusan of Mesopotamia, Eglon of Moab, Synacherib of Assyria, Edward the second and Richarde the thirde of Englande do yeld vnto vs firme proofe and playne declaration, so that the most mighty Empires of the world haue their exaltation and declination: and Tyrants haue their fall, and are punished for their riottousnesse, pride, oppression, and esfusion of innocent bloud, euen by the hands of bloudy men: and one wicked succeedyng another in a long tract and course of time, doe murther one another: vntill at last, the Empire come vnto one vertuous Prince, who with much a doe dieth naturally in his bedde. The Chroniles of England, make large mē tion of such punishmēts in this land, betweene the Kings of the Saxons and Danes, from the raigne of Brithricus, vnto ye time of Swainus, by the tearme of 255. yeeres. And who can be ignorant (that hathe but a little turned ouer our countrey histories) of a heape of such Tragicall examples from Edward the third vnto Henry the seuenth by the space of one hundred Tirants dye seldome a naturall death. and fiue yeeres. And if one Tyrante oppresse not another, which most commonly commeth [Page] to passe, according to the Poet,
Then God sendeth eyther his destroying Angell, which happened to Senacherib, Herod and Iulian, or sharpneth their owne daggers, whiche came to passe in Saul, Zamry and Herod. Wherfore let good Princes put their affiance in God, who alone is able to turne Tragedies into Comedies, sorowe into ioy, and take away the stormes of calamitie, and shine vpon vs with the beames of prosperitie. God knoweth best what is expediente for vs, and how long it is profitable for his people to cōtinue in miserie and thraldome, in Egypt and Babilon. He alone hath in his hand the hartes of Kings, and he it is that hardneth Pharao, The cōtinuall welfare of wicked mē in this world a signe of more greeuous damnation. Luk. 16. Senacherib, Holofernes, and againe, that molifieth Cyrus, Nabuchodonozer and Assuerus. And if God suffer wicked Tyrants with quietnesse and peace to descend vnto their graue, as he suffered the rich glutton, of whome wee reade in the Gospell. It is an euident argument, that such one is reserued vnto the paines of the world to come, whiche neuer shall haue Math. 13. end, wher weeping and gnashing of teeth shal be, as we see it chanced to the foresaid glutton, [Page 42] vnto whom God said, Sonne, remember tha [...] than in thy life time receyuedst thy pleasure; & contrariwise Lazarus receiued payne, but now Hebr. 12. be is comforted and thou art punished. The holy Apostle saith, What son is he whome the father chastiseth not? If ye be not vnder correction (whereof all are partakers) then are yee bastards and not sonnes. A terrible end therefore abideth them, which in this world licentiausly & without punishmēt do sinne, for al such be bastrads & not sonnes, therfore haue they no Sapi. 2. part of ye hauēly inherit [...]ce: And those vol voluptuous Epirures, whiche in this worlde saye. Come & let vs enioy the pleasures yt are, & le [...] vs some vse the creature, like as in youth. Let vs fil our selues with good wine & pyntment, & let there no flour of time goe by vs. Let vs crown our selues wt roses, before they be withered. Let there be no faire medow but our lust go through it. Let euery one of you be partakers of our voluptuousnes. Let vs leaue some tokē of pleasur in euery place, for yt is our portion, else get we nothing. &c. But such in time to come shal crie out in this maner & say, We Sapi. 6. haue erted from the way of trueth, the lyghte of ryghteousnesse hathe not shined vppon vs, Wee [...]aue wearied our selues in the way of [Page] wickednesse and distruction. Tedious wayes haue we gone, but as for the way of the Lord we haue not knowen it &c. Such words shall they that haue sinned, speake in the Hell. For the hope of the vngodly is like a dri [...] Thistill flower, that is blowen away with the winde. The felicitie of the vngodly therefore in thys life, is extreame miserie, and a signe of theyr A worthy historie of polycrates. Strabo. lib. 14. heauie gretuous punishment in hell torments. The C [...]huikes also donbted the ende of suche men ad continued long in greate prosperitie, and affirmed some vnhappie end to ensue, as Amasis writ to Polycrates. This Polycrates Sabell. Eneid. lib. [...]. was chiefe gouernour of Samus, who was so happie in all his life, that hee seemed to be the very sonne and heire of good fortune. For hee [...]asting of purpose into the Sea a ring most excellently wrought, wherein was set (as He [...]dotus writeth) a Smargde, but Plinie calleth it a Sardonichem, precious stones of no Plinius naturalis histo. li. 23. cap. 1. shall price, minding as some coniecture, with that greate losse to preuente and anoyde misfortune: It chaunced within fiue dayes after, a fisher to take a goodly great fishe, which being Amasis King of Egypt. bought for the King, and brought to the C [...] to be br [...]ssed, behold in the drawing, the [...]ng was founde in the bellie of the fishe, and [Page 43] was broughte out of hande to Poly [...]. Whereof when Amasis. king of Egypt had [...] inte [...] by the said king his letters, he answered againe to Polycrates largely, and [...] mayling mans slipp [...] of that, among [...] things, [...] this deuine [...]ence, [...] as leade their life in thes world [...] all felicitie [...]do end their life in great miserie. Whiche [...] in deede in Polycrates. For [...] app [...]nded by the policie of a King of the Persons, and being [...] abused, was in the end most shamefully hanged. Herevnto agreeth that historie of S. Ambrose, who S. Ambrose his iudgemēt of continuall prosperitie. trau [...] Rome, by the way wente [...] rich mans housE to lodge, and in his inter [...]ment, there fell out communication of the rich mans [...]ate, who ioyfully, & [...] lesse [...]ostingly answrred: The worlde [...] fid wned vppon me, but all things haue come to me euen according to my hartes desire. Which wordes, whē that woithy Bishop heard, he spake vnto his company and say [...]. Away hence sins with all speade, God loueth not this house, he hath no mansion here. And see the sequele: They were not gone farre frō that [...], hifore the earth suddainely opened, and [...] vp the man with all that eue [...] [Page 43] he had, so that nothing was saued, both [...] do [...] are, that God is not preseut, where the [...] was absent, and [...] cannot [...] in firme [...], where God [...]. For Saint [...] the Apostle sayth: Ye haue [...] on the [...] and in wantonuesse, you haue [...] you [...] [...] in a day of [...] yt haue [...] [...] killed the iusti, [...] Iames. 5. [...]ere. 12. [...] you. The [...] O Lord if I [...] with [...], [...] with thee of thy. [...] the may of ye [...] they in wealth, that [...] hast [...]ted the [...] & they haue taken [...] [...] in their mo [...], & far [...] their mints, but [...] Lord pull them, out like [...] for the [...] and [...] them for the day of [...]
And [...] Mala. 4. is greate diffedence in the days of [...] ye iust [...] the [...]iust, speaking after this manner: For beholde the day conu [...]th that shall burne as [...], and all the [...], [...] and all that do [...], shall he [...], and the day that [...], [Page 44] sayth the Lorde of hosts, and shall leaue then [...] neyther oote, neither braunche, but vnto you that feare my name, shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise, and healthe shall be vnder hys wings, and yee shall goe foorthe and growt vp as fat Calues. Let no good man thereforestumble at the prosperitie of the vngodly, let them not seeke to haue any part of the vnhappie portion of the wicked. Sith that as Dauid writeth. In the hande of the Lord there is a c [...] and the wine is red, it is full mixt, and he powreth out of the same, surely all the wicked Psal. 75. of the earthe shall wring out and drinke the dr [...]gges thereof.
Nowe as some wicked and bloudy Tirants Examples of godly Princes murthered and [...]ppressed. 2. reg. 12. prosper and come vnto a quiet ende, so some good Princes and magistrates are afflicted and cruelly murthered. Good Ionathas is slaine of the Philistines. Iehoas King of Iuda walking in the wayes of the Lord, is trayterously inurthered by his owne seruants. Iosias vnto whome no king of Iuda eyther before him or after him, mighte be compared in 2. Reg. 23. sincerenesse of hart and holinesse of life, was slayne by wicked Pharao Necho king of Egypt at Megiddo. And if we consider our own stories, wee shall reade of King Alu [...]d who Alured. [Page] was indued with great knowledge in al learning, as well prophane as deuine of feruente zeale, and of a vertuous and godly life, yet hee beeing oppressed with more number of enimies than any other did leade an vncertayne, troublesome and vnquiet life, and forsaken of his friends, wandered in the wood countrey of Sommerset shire, and had skant to liue withall. King Iohn studying to represse the Popish King Iohn. Tyrannie in England, and to reduce the true knowledge of God, was poysoned by Simon a Monke of Swinsteed. King Henry King Henry. the sixt, surnamed the Saint, for that ther was in him all vertues, and a speciall studie for the health of his soule, the sauing wherof be esteemed to be the greatest wisedome, and the losse thereof the extremest follie, yet was he trayterously murthered in the Towre by Richard Duke of Glocester. And euen nowe the most trayterous, lamentable and cruell murder of French Tyrannie. many thousand of Christes mēbers in France, aswell high and lowe, men, women and children, doth preache vnto vs Gods wonderfull dispensation in punishing his Church. Albeit the causes of these calamities are many, yet I will not throughly prosecute them, being not so pettinent to my purpose, but will contente [Page 45] my selfe with that whiche seemeth to mee amongst the rest to bee moste comfortable: namely, that they are signes and tokens of immortalitie and of eternall felicitie. For seeing God hathe promised to his children all good things, and permitteth the vngodly to oppresse them: notwithstanding he confirmeth by expert and euidente witnesse, that hee alloweth and approueth Iohn Baptist, Paule and suche like. It consequently followeth, another time and place to remayne, when Iohn and Paule shall be comforted: Herode and Nero punished, according to the saying of Peter, The 1. Pet. 4. tyme is come, that iudgemente must begin at the house of God. If it first begin at vs, what shall the ende be of them whiche obey not the Gospel of God? Gods chosen and electe children therefore are afflicted in this life, by gods peculiar counsayle. And againe, the wicked seeme to be blessed in this world, but the electe haue no portion in this worlde, nor the reprobate in the world to come. Yet doth not God alwayes suffer his children to grone vnder the yoke of affliction, but comforteth and refresheth them (as Bernard sayth) God is angry indeede, when he seemeth not to be angry: and The godly most perfit in sorowe. Chrisostome, As golde reteyneth still his coulour [Page] and brightnesse both in water and fire: but Hay and Strawe runne abroade in the water, and are consumed with the fire. Euen so fareth it with the godly and the vngodly, for when the godly are in prosperitie, they are as golde in the water, in aduersitie, they are more brighte and beautifull, as golde in the fire. And againe, the wicked being in prosperitie, are scattered abroade like water: & in aduersitie they perish as Hay in ye fornace. Now if God do any long space trie vs in ye stormes of miserie & calamitie, whereas he is able euery moment to releeue vs, yet doth it not before he perceiueth vs purified and prepared to repē tance. For as ye goldsmith taketh not his golde out of ye fornace, before it be exactly tried & clē sed frō the drosse, so doth not god take his sernāts out of ye fornace of afflictiōs, before he seth thē clensed frō grose affectiōs and carnal appetites, & wholly bent to newnes & holines of life.
If then Princes & noble men do tast at any Princes ought to call vpon God in their distresse and not to despaire of his [...] help. time of miseries and calamities, they oughte patiently to suffer the same, seeing that they are Gods chastisement and correction, seruing to their better perfectiō. And moreouer, in the middle of their troubles, they are taught by ye examples of good and godly princes to flee vnto [Page 46] the liuing God, by ardente inuocation & prayer: both for y• there is no danger so greate out of the whiche God is not able to deliuer them. And again, no accombrance, be it neuer so light & smal, out of ye which they are able to wind themselues, vnlesse God with a speciall care & prouidence put too his helping hand. It then ye prince or magistrate his owne person, be in danger of death through some greeuous [...]hesse: let him call to his remembrance the example of Ezechias, let him settle his hope in Examples of Gods deliuerance, touching princes and noble men principally. God, let him bewayle his sinnes with bitter teares, & God will sende some Esaias who shal administer vnto him comfort, and salue for his greeuous sore. If a plage and Pestilēce of his people astone him; let him folow king Dauid, & offer for his people ye sacrifices of an humble & lowly hart, & ther is no doubt, but the consuming pestilence shal ceasse. If famine and penurie may which thee can almost be no greater miserie do affect his land, let him endeuor to get some prouident Ioseph, to releeue the deere yeeres of Egypt in his countrey. If the earth [...] and become barraine, let him call vpō God, & some Elias by his prayers wil open ye heauens to send downe their moisture, or some Elizeus, who wil shew vnto I [...]am & [Page] Iehosaphat whole riuers of water to releeue them. If sworde and fire in wars doe make him tremble, or if in the day of battell be despaire of victorie, let him recorde with hymselfe, that it, lieth in Gods hande, to reskew him and his men, and to rescue him with good Ezechias, who with prayer preuayled more than Sennacherib with his hundred thousands. If it please God to throwe him into [...]riles, or into captiuitie, he may not for al this despaire, but with Manasses turning vnto the Lord, let him hope to be deliuered out of the dungeon in Babylon, and to see his Citie Hierusalem againe. If his people rebell on euery side, Dauid teacheth him to say, The Lords wil be done. Yet in yt meane time he ought to desire God to infatuate the deuises of his aduarsaries, and God will appoint some faythful Chusu to bring to nought, the counsayls of tr [...]iterous Achitophell, and will [...]asse by some [...] A [...]salon. I [...] his [...] with the [...] [...] which tribulation being [...] other most greeuous) as David [...] when he saw [...] murther: yet if he re [...], God will [...] Nathan to ereste and [Page 47] comfort him. And finally, what tribulation soeuer the magistrate tast of, whether it be spitituall or corporall, publike or priuate: let him make ye liuing God his shooteanker, and looke for consolation and comfort at his hand.
Nowe if they thus cleaue vnto almightie Why God doth not alwayes deliuer his seruants from painful deths God, let them not doubt, but he will succoure and deliuer, if not the fleshe, yet the spirite: if not their bodies yet, certainely, he will not permit their Soule to perish: for that GOD whiche deliuered the three children out of the fierie fornace, and Daniel out of the Lions denne, suffered the Machabees, Vincentius, and infinite Martires, to die in sharp tormentes, and yet he is the God of the one and of the other. He therefore saueth some miraculously, to confound Idolatrie: he permitteth othersome to perish in their bodies, that the strong pacience of Martirs may be seene, and that the tormentes of the vngodly may be the heauier in August. psa. 33. Hell fire. When Vincentius was rent and al to torne vppon the racke, and after cast vppon Vincentius. the hote coales, he spake to the Tirant Dacianus, Shew all furor and crueltie vpon me that Bergomensis in supplemento. thou art able, by Gods power, I shall bee more firme and patient in suffering, than thou in afflicting. Whence came such courage and [Page] boldnesse? Surely all the cogitations of the godly men, are settled vppon the rocke, the sonne of God. Without him ye godlye would shrinke euen into the quagmire of desperatiō, but knowing their cause, they lift vp theyr heads and march after their Captayne Iesus Christ. And being armed with the shielde of faith, whereby they haue an assured estate in the life to come, they force not much what may Examples of good men, not dying naturally in theyr beddes. come to their mortall bodies, neither doe they thinke it a miserable ende, if they die with [...] sword, in the fire, vpon the gallowes, or by any other wayes, so it be for the name of the Lord Iesus. And if wee consider examples, it will euidently appeare, that many of Gods elect died not in their beds a naturall death. Abel was murthered of his owne brother. The Prophet beeing sente to Hieroboam, was destroyed by a Lyon. Esay was sawen asunder through ye mids. Ieremy, like as Stephen also, was stoned to death. Iames being throwen downe from the Pinacle of the temple, was Heb. 11. slayn of a fuller. Peter was fastried to yt crosse Paul was executed with ye sword. Many such examples are extant. Besides these, ye famous men amongst ye Heathen died miserably touching ye world. The good Socrates was poysoned, Euripides was forne with [...] Sophocles [Page 48] was choked with a berrie of a grape. Very sorowfull cumbrance & greefe of minde killed Homer. But Socrates accompted it cō fort Socrates. inough for good men to die innocently, & for good deserts to receyue vndeserued punishments. Christs Apostles accord with ye same, who reioyced y• they were found meete to sustayne Actes. 5. contumelies for ye name of ye Lord Iesus: the reason is thus: If we be spoyled of our goodes in this world, we haue other treasures in heauen: if we be here exiled, we are ther receyued into gods family: if we be murthered, a dore is opened vnto vs to euerlasting lyfe. To remember the day of iudgemente, easeth the sorowes of the vngodly. Icza. 25. Reuela. 7. wherfore let princes & noble mē cōtemne such perils, & tolerate such crosses, if it please god to lay thē vpō their shoulders. Which thing they shalbe able to do, if they set before their eyes y• day whē the Lord will giue vnto his chosen a quiet kingdom, will wipe away al teares frō their eys, & wil voutsafe to make thē partakers of his euerlasting kingdom. But as for ye vngodly which haue florished in ye earth, he will throw thē into vtter destructiō, wher their plesures shalbe recōpenced wt payns, their laughing wt weping & grinding of teeth, their peace shalbe vnquieted wt the worme of ye consciēce, & they shal behold ye godly whome they haue persecuted & killed raigning ouer them in all [Page] blessednesse. For this is that iustice, whereof 2. Thess. 1. the Apostle speaketh, to ease those that be vniustly afflicted, and to punish the oppressors of the godly, at that day when the Lorde Iesus shall be reueled from heauen. This surely, ought to comfort, not only noble, but all christian men: and this is their triumph ouer the world, the flesh, the Diuell, and all his members, to fixe their hartes and mindes vpon the resurrection: when the Lorde will poure vppon his enimies fire and brimstone, storme, and tempest for their portion, and will crowne his owne children with glorie, honor and immortalitie.