A DISPLAYING of the wilfull deuises of wicked and vaine worldlings.

THE Prophet Esay (beloued in the Lord)Esay. 37.9. hauing a little before describ­ed the great mise­ry of the Iewes who togither w^t their King Achas were compelled by their enimies to seeke [Page] help of a deadly foe, to wit, of Tiglah Pil­leser King of the Assyrians, and that in such base manner that their King besids the humble sending of presents was en­forced to bende and crouch with these ser­uile speaches, seruus tuus & filius tuus sim, 2 Reg. 16.7 let mee bee thy seruant and thy son, onely saue me this time from the hands of Retzin king of Syria: which abiect abasing y^e Prophet doth notably name to be euen a throwing downe into hell. Hee doth afterward expresse the causes of that and all other their calamities,Esay. 57.9. which were indeede their wickednesse in their liues and their damnable hypocrisie in their fastings and seruice of GOD. Which their iniquities although he haue in the chapter last going be­fore very liuelily deciphered them and very effectually condemned them,Esay. 58. yet in this chapter hee houldeth on still y^e same argument declaring vnto them, that God is of as great power to assist them as euer he was to deliuer their fore­fathers, Esay. 56.1. his hand is not shortned, but that hee can saue, neither is his eare made hea­uie but that hee can heare. Onely their [Page] iniquities made a seperation betwixt God and them, as afterwards was like­wise saide vnto them by the Prophet E­zechiel, Eze. 8.9. that by their [...]prophaning of di­uine sacrifices and by their wicked abho­minations they had set vp posts and pil­lers against God and made a wall betwixt God and them. The enormities which at this time did make a diuision betwixt God and this people and cause the Lord euen to hide his face from them, are expressed heere in the verses last going before to be of thre seuerall sorts. First the bloudy oppressions of their handes & outward dealings, your hands (saith E­say) are full of bloud, Ver. 3. and your fingers de­filed with wrong. Secondly the abuses of their tongues, your lips spake falshood, your tongue vttereth vngodlinesse. No man cryeth out for iustice, no man con­tendeth for faithfull dealing,ver. 4. euery one doth trust vnto vanitie and vtter forth deceipt. Thirdly the malicious coun­sailes & cogitations of the heart, which hee noteth by the word Conceiuing, eue­ry one conceiueth mischiefe and bringeth forth iniquity: which speach though it [Page] seme heare to be vttered only to y^e Iewes, yet the Apostle Paul in the thirde to the Romains doth apply it generally to all that are destitute of the grace of God,Rom. 3.15. and it doth paint out indeede all such malici­ous purposes of heart, out of which as out of a bad roote do spring all rotten and vn­sauory fruits aswell in Iew as in Gen­tile. This conceiueing of mischiefe is by the Prophet Esay in this first verse more at large laide open vnto vs by a threefolde Allegory pointing out three especiall things vnto vs, first the malice of the minde, compared to the hatching of the egges of the serpent Haemorho­us. Secondly the vanitie and vnprofi­tablenesse of all such wicked conceiptes resembled here by the weauing of the Spiders webbe: And thirdly, the daun­gers that do thereby issue out as well to o­thers as to themselues, If but a droppe thereof bee sprinkled it is euen as if a Viper shoulde breake out vpon them. The malicious counsels of the hearte which hee hath called in the verse go­ing before the conceiuings of mischiefe, Psal. 7.15. according to the phraise of the Psalmist, [Page] he trauaileth with vanitie and conceiueth sorrow and bringeth forth vngodlinesse are likened here first to the hatching of the drop bloude his egge, whereby the Prophet signifieth that they are no so­daine motions, but premeditate pur­poses, not resisted and withstoode, but cherished and brooded not such as are easilie cured, but such as are vene­mous, poysonfull and altogither dead­ly and desperate.

Saint Hierom doth follow the septua­ginta in translating this place, oua aspi­dum ruperunt, they haue broken the eggs of Aspes, which interpreting though it do not altogither rightly answere the Hebrew text, yet doth it import the ve­ry same meaning, to wit that the deui­ses of the wicked are most dangerous and incurable. As in Deuteronomy there is as it were a reason rendered when it is saide,Deut. 32.33. venenum aspidū saeuum & imme­dicabile (speaking of y^e diseignements of y^e malicious) they are as the poyson of Asps euill & such as can no way be cured.

They which are strong with an Aspe are said to fall by and by into a deade [Page] sleepe, and in that sleepe to bee presently depriued of the life and light of this worlde. And therefore Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt when her husband Antonius was dead because she woulde not bee led in triumph by Augustus the Empe­rour, chose especially to shorten her owne daies by the stinging of an Aspe, hoping thereby to depart with some ease, and to die without feeling any pangs or tor­ments of death, as witnesseth the Po­et Propertius.

Such a deade sleepe is in the wicked when being past feeling they do giue thē ­selues ouer to wantonnesse, to worke all vncleannesse euen with greedinesse, Eph. 4.19. Such is in those who are vtterly destitute of all godly remorse of conscience of, whom S. Bernard. Quis magis mortuus eo qui portat ignem in sinu, peccatum in conscientia nec sentit, Ber [...] lib. 1. de cōsider. nec excutit, nec expauescit? who is more deade than hee which carieth fier in his bosome or sinne in his conscience, & doth neither feele it, nor shake it out, nor once stande in any feare of it? Such a [Page] deade sleepe is in all them which lye still securely in sinne and doe neuer rise vp to amendment of life,Eph. 5.14. to whom the Apostle Paul cryeth out, awake thou that sleepest & stand vp from the dead, and Christ shal giue the light. And such is in those obsti­nate and wilfull hearts which will in no wise hearken to y^e voice of wholsome ad­monition, of whome the Prophet Dauid speaketh, that they are like the deafe Aspe which stoppeth her eares, and wil not heare the voice of the charmer, Psal. 58.5. charme he neuer so wisely: for so doe the best late writers expound there the worde Pe­then to signifie an Aspe, as likewise doe the auncient fathers, Augustine, Hierom, and Cassiodor: who doe yelde also the rea­son, because the Aspe alteram aurem terrae pressius infigit, alteram cauda obtu­rat: she fasteneth one eare close to the ground and with her taile doth stoppe the other. Such wilfull obstinacie doth Iob affirme to be in those wicked which say vnto God, depart from vs, Iob. 21.14. we desire not the knowledge of thy waies: who is the Almightie that we should serue him, or what profit haue wee if we pray vnto him? [Page] And such was in those malicious Iewes whom Stephen calleth stifnecked and of vncircumcised hearts and eares, Act. 7.51. alwaies readie to resist the holie Prophets of God. As that man in whome an euill tongue is (as Saint Iames saith) [...] full of deadly poyson may be said by a phrase of scripture, to haue the poyson of Aspes vnder his lips, because therby his whole body & soule is empoysoned and putrified,Rom. 3.13 as y^e Apostle calleth euil speaches [...] rotten talke such as doth cōsume & weare awaie all good gifts and graces in man: so wilful and malicious purposes of heart, may well be resembled to the poyson of Aspes, Eph. 4 29. who haue not onely the stingings and bitings, but euen the whole fleshe and substance,Gal. de the­ [...]i ac. cap. 8 full of most deadly venom, as Galen moouing the question, why the fleshe of Aspes may not goe into the Theriaca as well as the flesh of Vipers, yel­deth this for the reason, because the one may by are be rectified, but the other can receiue no alteration or correction.

Sundry late and learned interpreters because the Prophet Esay doth not vse in this the Hebrue worde Pethen which [Page] doth properly signifie, the Aspe, but an other worde tsiphgnoni. haue therefore departed from the translation of Saint Hierom, and in steede of Aspe haue set the worde Cockatrice. These also though they haue not (in the iudgement of some) duely expressed y^e Hebrew word, yet haue they caried a sense nothing dissonant frō the meaning of the Prophet. The Coc­katrice called Basiliscus and Regulus is named as it were the prince of Serpents not onely because of his exceeding force in that hee is reported to haue power to kill euen with the sight of the eye, but also in respect of that marke and badge or rather Diadem which nature hath gi­uen vnto him hauing a little crownet growing vpon his heade. To this Ser­pent may very well bee compared that enuious and malicious hearte which here the Prophet Esay doth principally condemne,Math 20.15. for that both the venome thereof is by the eye often disclosed as our Sauiour saith, is thy eye e­uill because I am good? Pro. 22.6. and Salo­mon doth pronounce that hee which hath a good eye shall bee blessed of [Page] God Saint Hierom doth interpret y^t place, qui pronus est admisericordiā benedi­cetur ei: but the Hebrew which is, a good eye, and Saint Hieroms worde which is, a prone disposition of heart, are so perpecually vnited togither that the one may very well be signified by the other) As also because all such malice of heart doth proceede from Satan whom Saint Hierom vpon Esay doth call regu­l [...]m volantem the flying basiliske & princi­pem serpentum and prince of Serpents, Hiero. in Esa. 30 &c. in 59. and who is named by our Sauiour Christ to be [...] the enuious or malicious man, because as first by enuy of the Di­uell death came into the world, so he is still the father and author of al deadly ma­lice in the hearts of the wicked. Math. 13.28. How­soeuer the malicious may thinke some­times that their enuious affections are but the ordinary course of flesh & blood,Sap. 2. v. vlt. & so be like the fond dogge which when a stone is flung, will bite the stone and not regard the hand that threw it,Eph. 4.26. yet the Apostle doth teach vs plainly that he which doth lodge and harbour malice in his heart hath yelded a roome and giuen [Page] place to the Diuell. In the breaking of the Serpents egge, Saint Hierom doth note further the deceiptfulnesse as well of sinne as of Sathan: oua putaverit gallinarū, Hiero. in Esa. 59. aut volucrum; sed si fregerit, antequam come­dat statim teterrimum foetorem agnoscit, & principem serpentum Diabolum: A man would thinke the egges of Serpents to bee the egges of some hennes or birdes, but if he once breake them, y^t is if he do sound the bottome of malicious (though glo­rious) pretenses, then shall hee straight­waies perceiue a most odious sent & dead­ly sauour, then shall he plainly acknow­ledge the Deuill the prince of Serpents. 2. Cor. 11.1 Apoc. 12.9 Sathan is called in the Scriptures the Serpent, and the olde Serpent, first because hee appeared to Eue in the shape of a serpent, and chose it to be the instrument of his voice vnto hir. Where by the waie I cannot but mar­uaile at and abhorre the forwardnes of y^e captious Atheists which thinke that they haue gotten some aduantage against the Scriptures when they can alledge the impossibilitie of the speach of a Serpent, not considering that the speach through [Page] an instrumēt y^t hath breath may farre bet­ter be granted then their oracles through sencelesse instruments which were giuen either by Iupiter Ammon out of a nauell of Brasse, or by Apollo at Delphos out of an oake, or by any other Idoll in their heathenish writers, the strange impossi­bilities wherof they can readily swallow and easily digest. Secondly because of his subtiltie (for the Serpent was the sub­tilest beast in all the fielde) which appea­red most euidently when in the assaulte vpon our first parent he could vse all the sleights and aduantages which possibly could be deuised.Gen. 3.1. He could first deale w^t y^e weaker vessell, he could first plucke from hir the weapon of hir defence, to wit the word of God: Hath God saide thus? it shall not be so. 2. Cor. 4.4. As y^e Ra [...]en setting vpon her spoyle, doth first pluck out the eyes, so stil y^e God of this worlde doth first blinde the eyes of men that the glorious light of the Gospell of Christ should not shine vpon them. He could choose a fit time when Eue was giuen to curious beholding of the fruites, and when Adam hir counsellor was awaie: As likewise hee could tempt [Page] Dauid with Bethsaba in a fit time when hee was so slothfull that hee would lye v­pon his bedde at noone daies:2. Sa. 11.2.and when the goodman of the house is asleepe, then in a fit time hee is saide to sow tares: Math. 13.25. hee could also come with faire pretenses as though hee would teach our first parents how they should become Gods, when his purpose is nothing but to throwe them headlong into hell. His entisments are like the Serpents egges whereof A­ristotle reporteth, [...] the egge is of one colour and soft skinned, as simply pretending good,Lib, 1. de hist. ani­mal. Ca. 6 but the whole substance is venemous and ful of deadly poyson. The intemperat man is perswaded by his delicacies to lengthen his daies. The couerous man hath an I­magination that by his wealth hee shall make his house cōtinue for euer: but their conceipts doe then prooue like the de­ceiptfull egges of Serpents, Psal 49.1. when not on­ly the one doth by surfetting hasten his owne ende, Eccle. 37.30. Zach. 5.4. and the other procure a curse toroote out his house euen with the stones and tymber, Gal. 5.21. but also both togither by following and cherishing their carnall [Page] desires do depriue themselues of the im­mortall ioyes of heauen. The eating of a fruite might seame a small thing in the eyes of Eue, but the intemperan­cie, disobedience, & vnthankfulnesse of the heart, did driue our first parents out of Paradise, Lib. 2 [...] de hist. animal. cap. 33. and bring the poyson of death vpon their posteritie. Aristotle writeth that the Crocodile doth grow out some times into such a huge bignesse that hee attaineth to the length of thirtene cubits, yet is hee nothing so venemous nor dan­gerous as is the Cockatrice, who is repor­ted to grow not past the length of three spans. Dauid his spilling of bloode, may seame a greater offence than Saul his sparing of bloode: 2. Sam. 11. 1. Sam. 15. Peters denying may seame a greater trespasse, than Magus his desire of buying.

But it is the poysoned malice of the heart which especially maketh the sinne to be most deadly, & then is it a venom in­curable whē it offendeth neither of igno­rance nor of infirmitie, but of set purpose & euen in despite of y^e spirit of grace, as did y^e malice of the Libertines & Cyreni­ans, Act. 6.10. who withstoode Stephen though they [Page] could not resist the wisdome which spake in Stephen, 1. Ioh. 3.12 And as did the enuie of Cain who hated not his brother, but the vertue of his brother, and woulde haue no peace with him, because he would not be as vngodly a man as himselfe.

The best approoued interpreters do in this place by the worde tsiphgnoni vn­derstand neither the Cockatrice nor the Aspe, but another serpent named Haemor­rhous: the french men expressing the mea­ning of the Greeke worde doe terme it Coule sang, and we may by a like com­pounded word fitly name it drop-bloud. Auicen, (who very well knewe the na­ture of the originall word) doth describe it to be a serpent of about a cubit long, gray and glistering breeding much by the riuer Nilus, whose venome hath such a strange and bloody operation, that who­soeuer is stong therewith doth presently fall on bleeding at y^e corners of the eyes, at the nailes endes, and almost at euery ioynt and part of the body. Which Ser­pent as it doth most directly answere the Hebrew word, so doth it most liuelilie expresse the drift and meaning of the [Page] Prophet in this place: for both before and after this text he beginneth w^t their bloodie cruelty as their chiefest offence now raigning amongst them, your hands (saith hee) are defiled with blood: Ver. 3. and a­gaine a little after he telleth them that their feete did runne to euil and make hast to shed innocent bloode, and euen their thoughts were altogither wicked and ma­licious. ver. 7. All crueltie hath the name of y^e latin word cruor which signifieth blood, because cruel harts are murdering harts,1. Iohn. 3.15. he that hateth his brother is such a manslayer as hath no eternal life abiding in him. Esau when with a bloodie intent he ga­ped for Isaacks death & said the daies will come that I shall morne for my father, Gen. 27.41 & then will I surely kill my brother Iacob, was in the sight of God guiltie of parri­cide. The Iewes which with cruell harts cryed crucifie him, Act. 7.52. & 5.30. cucifie him, are na­med murderers of Christ, as well as the Romaines which put him to death. The Iewes were commaunded of God in sundry Lawes by types and figures to abhorre and detest all beastly crueltye. For as by abstaining from swines fleshe [Page] they were taught to flie all filthie plea­sures, So by not eating the kite, vulture, Deut. 14, 13. gripe, hawke, and such rauening spoylers, they were admonished to reiect all cruell affections.Deut. 22.6 Leuit. 19.14. When thou takest any birdes thou shalt not (saith God) kill the young with the damme: thou shalt not reuile the deafe, nor lay a stumbling blocke before the blinde. Seldome doe we reade of a­ny crueltie, but that the Lord by his iust iudgement, as it were lege talionis, doth heape the like measure vpon it againe. A­donibezeg had taken Seauenty Kinges,Iud. 1. and being prisoners, he cruelly cut off their thumbs and great toes, and made them as dogges to gather breade vnder his table, but at the last hee was taken by Iude, and hauing his owne thumbs & toes cut off,Iud. 9.5. was compelled in the same manner to receiue his foode as hee himselfe before had prescribed to o­thers.

Abimelech to vsurpe,Iud. 9. v. 53 a kingdome did vpon a stone cruelly put to death Seauentie of his brethren: but after­warde by a stone being throwne v­pon him by a woman, his braine-panne [Page] was crusht in peeces. As by the crueltie of Achab, dogges did licke the bloode of Naboth, so dogges did licke his bloode, 1. Reg. 21.19. and the bloode of her that gaue the counsell, insomuch that when Iehu saide of Iezabell being deade, seeke out that cursed woman and burie her because shee is a kings daughter, shee was founde in a manner all deuoured by dogges,2. Reg. 9. no­thing was to be had but the skull and the feete and some part of her handes. Haman with an enuious heart most cru­elly sought to hang Mardocheus: but on the gybbet which he had caused to be e­rected for others, Hest. 9.14. hee and his owne tenne sonnes did first take hansell and possession.

The manifolde curses which Dauid doth rehearse in the sixtie and ninth Psalme, Psal. 69.27 as to haue the table to be made a snarre, the eyes to be darkned, the howses to be left desolate, and to be wiped out of the booke of life, are all denounced a­gainst such as with cruell hearts adde af­fliction vpon affliction: they persecute (saith Dauid) thē whom thou hast stricken & vex them whom thou hast wounded.

This crueltie of heart may very well [Page] be compared to the poyson of the Haemor­rhous or Dropbloode mentioned in this place. For no sooner hath any recei­ued the venome thereof, but presently the hands, the tongue, the deuises of y^e heade, and the whole actions of the life doe yelde forth bloodie fruites in sundry deadly kindes of murder.Chrisost. in Mat. 15. Basilia ps. 14. The hands do breake out in bloode either by cut throat vsurie, which by Chrysostom is compa­red to the stinging of an Aspe, and by Basill to the biting of a Viper, because as the one doth cast asleepe, and the other cause to swell, so doth vsury cast y^e poore borrower for a time into a pleasant slepe but such a sleepe as bringeth death; it maketh him for a time to swell with a­bundance, but it causeth a bursting and vtter ruine to him and his whole fa­milie: Or els they become murdering by witholding sustenance from the nee­die:Eccle. 34.22. Ambr. vt si Gratian dist, 86. the breade of the poore (saith the sonne of Syrach) is the life of the poore & he that defraudeth him is a murderer. Pasce fame morientem (saith Ambose) si non pascis occidisti feede him that is rea­dy to die with famine, if thou feede him [Page] not, thou hast murdered him: or els, if they doe bring forth their foode, they doe sucke out the bloode of the poore, Amos, 8, 5 and (as Amos speaketh) swallow vp the poore by making the Epha small, and the shekell great. The Epha is an Hebrue measure, the shekell their coyne and price. Many thinke that if they make iust measure, they may aduance y^e price of their wairs to what extremity they can. But the Pro­phet doth place a kinde of murder as well in excesse of price as in the de­ceiptfulnesse of measure. The Apostle forbideth as well the oppression of the one as the fraude and subtiltie of the other. Let no man oppresse nor de­fraud his brother, 1. Thes. 4, 6 for the Lord is the a­uenger of all such things. Iehoiakim his hands were an otherway defiled with blood, when as y^e Prophet Ieremie saith hee vsed his neighbours in his worke without wages and gaue them no recom­pence for their toyle. Ier. 12, 13. & 17. The sweate of the laboring man is as it were the wearing and wasting and consuming of his strength and life: to vse that toyle without recompence is to bee guiltie [Page] of a kinde of murder. As the bloode of Abel did cry out of the earth for ven­geance,Gen. 4.10. so Iob doth make the grounde to be as it were an olde mother crying out,Iob, 31, 38, and the forrowes thereof complaining togither against those which by detain­ing the rewarde do vexe and grieue the soules of the labourers and tillers ther­of, Effundit sanguinem qui fraudat mer­cede, hee that defraudeth men of their hyre is a blood sucker. Further,Ecc. 34, 26 the ve­nome of this Serpent, to wit, the malice of the hearte, doth cause as the handes, so the tongue also to commit many deadly sorts of bloodshedde. In some, by slaunderings and railings, whereby as the Psalmist sheweth their tongues are become sharpe raisors, and their smooth wordes nothinge but very swordes. In others,Psal. 52, 2. & 55, 22. by flatte­ries, whereby as Antisthenes saide, men doe often become worse than Rauens: Laer lib, 6 Cap. 1. for thee Rauens feede vpon carkases beeing deade, but the flat­terers doe eate vppe and deuoure their neighbours beeing aliue. La­ertius [Page] who ascribeth that speach to An­tisthenes, doth likewise record that Bion, when one asked the question of him, of all beastes what was most noysome, made this answere: Si de feris percontaris, ty­rannus; si de mitibus, adulator. If your de­maund be of wilde beasts, a tyrant; if of tame beasts, Greg. super Ezech. a flatterer. Saint Gregory, saith very wel, tot occidimus quot ad mortē ire trepidi & tacentes videmus, we murder so many men as we see to runne headlong vnto death, and by a fearefull silence doe refuse to admonish them of the truth: as likewise Saint Augustine: Aug. super Ioh. tract, 42. homicida di­citur Diabolus non gladio armatus, non fer­ro accinctus, verbū seminauit & occidit. No­li ergo putare te non homicidam cùm fratri tuo mala persuades. The Diuel is called a murderer from the beginning, not as one armed with sworde and weapon, but he sowed ill counsell and so did kill. Doe not therefore imagine that thou art free from murder, if thou doest perswade or entise thy brother to any kinde of wickednesse.

The poysoned malice which lucketh in the hearts of the Romish Catholicks doth another dangerous way breake out [Page] into murder, to wit, by treasons and re­bellions, which are called of Dauid blood­shedde, in the fiftie and fift Psalme,Psal. 55. ver. vlt, made (as Beza and Tremellius do iudge) in the time of the conspiracie of Absolon and Achitophell. The bloodthirstie and deceiptfull men, saith hee, shall not liue out halfe their daies. For although law­full warres bee called the warres,2. Chr. 20.15. not of men but, of God himselfe, (prouided al­waies that they bee taken in hande with­an aduised care, not to thrust men into wilful dangers, and so to make as it were a pastime of the bloode of man: Dauid because his men were so fewe which brought him water through the greate armie of the Philistines, woulde not drinke of it,2. Sam. 23.16. because it was (as hee said) the bloode of them which did fetch it with so desperately endangering their liues): Yet traitorous rebellions do most euidently proceede of a very poysonfull and diuelish malice of heart, and are so detestable in the sight of God, that what­soeuer is done by them against the anoin­ted Soueraigne, the Lord doth reuenge and punish it euen as done against his [Page] owne person.2, Sam, 16, As may manifestly appeare in the before named conspiracie, where though Absolon were most noble in birth as being the kings owne sonne, though hee were most comely and beautifull in personne,2, Sam. 16, though he were highly in fa­uour with the people (whose hearts hee had stollen away) and though hee were most dearely and entirely beloued of his father Dauid, insomuch as the King gaue most earnest commaundemēt to his Generals and captaines that notwith­standing his traiterous sedition, yet they should for his sake intreat Absolon kindly, and no man to be so hardy as to lay hands vpon Absolon: Yet the Lord of hea­uen (who in treasons and rebellions doth account his owne maiestie most of all contemned, and his owne authoritie im­pugned, did as it were take the matter in­to his owne hands, when hee caused an oake stretching out her bough to trusse vp Absolon by the locks of his gallant heire, to testifie vnto all posteritie, that no nobilitie of bloode, no comelinesse or gifts of body, no loue nor fauour eyther of prince or people shall saue a rebell from [Page] due punishment, but that howsoeuer the iudgements of man be sometimes want­ing, yet GOD himselfe, who is there­by chiefly dishonoured, will vndoubted­ly follow by some extraordinary meanes with a heauie and sharpe reuenge. How­soeuer GOD did for a time suffer that rebellion to growe to head and waxe strong: Yet at the last the words which Dauid did pronounce of them, that the bloodthirstie men should not liue forth halfe their daies, Psa 55. ver. vlt. 2. Sam. 18, 7. were verified to the full when as the heade of that conspi­racie was plucked vp by the heade, so the baiser sort receiued a fit rewarde for a rascall crewe, beeing slaine in one day twentie thousand, besides that the Counsellour Achitophell, who gaue the aduice to the rebellion,Sam. 17, 23 had his wise­dome so confounded, that for want of a hangman hee became a hangman to himselfe. That the treasons and re­bellions, which for these many yeares haue beene and are stirred vp in Chri­stendome, doe especially proceede from the Romishe Catholickes, there nee­deth no other proofe, but their owne [Page] confession. For the writer of the Po­pish Chronicle called Gallo-Belgicus, in that part of his third Come which he cal­leth supplementum, Tom 3. lib 15, pag. 439. calleth the commoti­ous in Ireland, Comitis Tyronij & Hiber­norum rebellionem, the rebellion of the Earle of Tyronne and of the Irish men, but the same man in other places of the same booke doth say Catholicos plurimos ad comitē Tyronium vndique confluxisse, that many Catholiks out of all quarters did ioyne themselues to the Earle of Tyronne, Pag. 421. whom hee also calleth Catholicorum ante­signanum & ducem the captaine & Gene­ral of the Catholiks. Whereby it appea­reth that hee accounteth rebellion and his owne profession of the Catholike faith to haue such neare affinitie amongst thē ­selues, that very easily they doe knit and ioyne the one to the other. So heretofore by the dealings of pope Innocentius the third against Iohn king of England, and by Pope Adrian the fourth his absol­uing the subiects of the King of Sicily from all loyaltie and alleageance, as also by dailie experience in these daies (for we heare of no insurrection, but there [Page] is a popish Priest at the one ende of it, nay the Popes priuie Factors are the chie­fest Authors, and their Fryers handes the very instruments to murder Princes) wee see it plainly confirmed vnto vs that Rome is the fountaine and spring, out of which, poysons, bloodshedde, witch­crafts, treasons and rebellions do ouerflow the whole earth. Of all the egges of the drop-bloode, that is, the malicious pur­poses of the heart, here condemned by the Prophet Esay, these of y^e Catholike rebels are most diuelish & dangerous. Hee y^t na­meth other sins, nameth most commonly simple and single transgressions, but he y^e nameth rebellion nameth in a manner a heape of all sinnes that can bee named, murders, rapes, thefts, blasphemies, op­pressions, whordomes and (in a manner) all sinnes whatsoeuer, they are all toge­ther vnited in this crime of rebellion. It is as it were a hell in this worlde, the feendes and furies whereof are the trai­terous cutthroats, the Generall and Cap­taine is Lucifer the prince of rebels, the torments & punishments are greefes, wa­lings and woes of children fatherlesse, of [Page] fathers childlesse, of women husband­lesse, of poore friendles, of all comfortlesse.

They may cloake and couer their pre­tences and purposes with a shew of the Catholicke faith, but they must needes bee counted diuelish intents, which seeke to drawe any such mischeefes and cala­mities vpon their natiue soyle and coun­trie:Mart. fox. Tom. 2. for infinite are the miseries which then needes must follow, when (as one hath written) treason is aboue reason, and might ouerrunneth right, and it is had for lawfull whatsoeuer is lustfull, and com­mon woe is accounted common wealth. The very heathen Poet by the light of naturall reason coulde perceiue the fil­thinesse of such seditious affections.Homer.

The kingly Prophet when he had the electiō of three plagues offered vnto him of which one must of necessitie be taken he made choyce of pestilence rather tha [...] warre: Lord (saide he) let vs fall into thy hands, [...]. Sa. 24.14 for with thee there is mercie [...] [Page] let vs neuer fall into the hands of men.

To preuent all these seuerall kindes of bloodshed, our way is to labour (espe­cially) for the reforming of the affections of our hearts: Pro. 4.23. keepe thy heart (saith Salo­mon) with all diligence, for frō thence do proceede the actions of this life. If sinne do once make a breach into the heart, it is planely of the nature of the Serpent which if once into any place it can get in the head, it will soone into the same place winde in y^e body.1. Reg. 21. When Achab did in heart couet the vineyard of Naboth, how soone was he brought to yelde his consent to shede innocent bloode?Gen. 4.5.When Cain suf­fered wrath to cast down his coūtenance, how sone did his hands follow to y^e achie­uing of his villany and parricide? When Herod in hart had cōceiued wrath against y^e wisemen,Mat. 2.16. how sone did y^e venome burst out into a lamentable bloodshed, when he caused so many young infants to be slaine & so cruelly butchered? The wrath of man saith S. Iames, worketh not that which is righteous before God. Salomon aduiseth thee not to keepe company with an an­gry man, ne assumas tibi tendiculam, Pro, 22.24 [Page] least thou procure a snarre vnto thy selfe. For as hee which is slow to wrath doth abound in vnderstanding, Pro, 14.29. so the hastie and furious do stirre vp folly. And not onely wrath, but somtimes a sinister fauour may cause bloody effects whē either by bribery or partialitie, iustice is peruerted, as the Prophet Esay here cryeth out in the verse last going before, no man calleth for iust­ice, no man cōtendeth for the truth: & in y^e first chapter when he hath shewed them y^t their hands were full of bloode, to re­dresse that fault hee biddeth them, seeke iudgement, Isa. 1.17. releeue the oppressed, iudge the fatherlesse, and defende the widow. Saint Hierom discoursing vpon these wordes heere they weaue the spiders web, doth make an application of them to condemne corruption in iudgements: Hier. in Is. 59. te­las arancae texunt quibus muscas & culices & paru [...] capiunt animalia, ad quas cùm for­te quid ve nerit quasiper aerem vanum transuolat. Lawes are made like vnto the webbes which spiders do weaue, they take flies and gnats and such other little creatures, but if any strong thing do come, it breaketh through euen as through the [Page] thinne ayre. But I take the spiders web in this place to signifie rather, the vani­tie and vnprofitablenesse of the malicious purposes of the heart, because as great labour and curious art is vsed of the spi­der in framing the web, but when it is made a small puffe of winde doth blow it away, euen so much cūning is practi­sed of wicked worldlings to intrap their neighbours, and to inrich their owne how­ses with the spoyle of others: but when they haue brought it to the hight of their desires, then do they sodainly consume, Psal. 73.19 perish, and come to a fearefull ende, e­uen as a dreame when a man awaketh▪ Iob. 8.13. So doth Iob apply the like phraise of speach, when hee sayeth, The hope of the hypocrite shall perish, his confidence is as the howse of the spider, which lea­neth vpon that dwelling that hath no foun­dation. The Psalmist doth as it were weigh the delights and vanities of men, hee putteth man in the one end of the ballance, and vanitie in the other, & ma­keth his conclusion that man is more light than vanitie. Psal. 62.9. And as men with all their worldly deuises are light, so [Page] are they soone blowne away: Psal. 103, 14. & 15. Ecc. 14.18. 2. Sam, 14.14. Psal. 39.5.6. in which respect they are compared sometimes, to dust, somtimes to a blossome, somtime to greene leaues and thicke trees, sometime to water sincking into the groūd, somtime to a spanne long, as of a small and shorte continuance, somtimes to a shadow, as soone vanishing.2. Cor. 5, 4. The Apostle Paul com­pareth our estate here to tents or pauilli­ons which are sone pitched and soone re­mooued. Gregorie Nazianzene in that Sermon which hee made vpon the death of his brother,Greg in Epitaph. super frat, saith very well: [...]. We are here as a dreame that maketh no tariance, as a ghost or phantasie which cānot be taken holde on, as the flying of a birde in the ayre, or of a ship vpon y^e seas which passe & leaue no steppe behinde them, as dust, as a vapour, as a morning dewe or as a flower which in a shorte time is sprong and in a short time doth fade away. What a curious webbe had Sa­lomon wouen when hee could not one­ly in wisedome discourse of the nature of all trees, plants, beasts, fowles, and [Page] creeping things, but also for his plea­sure in dwelling heere, had built him­selfe gorgeous howses, 1 Reg, 4, 33 planted vine­yeards, framed goodly gardens and orchardes abroade, and within his pal­lace erected a goodly throne of estate made of Iuory, and ouerlayed with pure golde, Eccle. 2.4. mounted to such height that it had sixe steppes going vp into it, on ech side of which steppes were set sixe Lions, and Lyons also vpon the knoppes and pummells of the throne, the very footestoole whereof was made of golde: 2. Chron. 9 18. yet hee saith that when he had duely considered all the workes which his handes had wrought, and all the toyle and trauaile which heere hee had taken, hee founde all to be but vanitie and vexation of spirit, Eccl, 2, 11 and nothing (as hee saith) to bee of any profit vnder the sun. Vanitie he calleth them, because like spiders webbes, they were soone puft away, the vse of them was very shorte and transitory: vexa­tion of spirit, because they were wrought with those busie troubles and cares, which like the flies of Aegypt [Page] did depriue him of quiet rest. Nothing he founde to bee of any sound profit, be­cause in the infirmities and greefes ey­ther of bodie or minde he found no perfect comfort in them. The onely sound com­fort is in the testimonie of a good con­science. Dauid saith,Psal. 112.4. that vnto the righ­teous there ariseth vp light in darkenesse. In the middest of all the miseries and ca­lamities of this life, the light, that is, the sweete feeling of the mercie of God, doth neuer depart from them. Blessed (saith he) is the man that considereth the poore & needie, psa. 42, 1, 3 the Lord wil deliuer him in the time of troble, the Lord will streng­then him vpon the bed of sorrow, pro. 28.27. the Lord will turne his bedde in all his sicknesse. It is a most cōfortable promise of y^e wis­dome of God, qu [...] dat pauperi non indigebit, he that is bountifull to the needie shall ne­uer himselfe stand in necessitie. As vertue & mercie do bring two most singular bles­sings in this life, to wit, the testimonie of a good conscience, bringing a continu­all comfort (according to that of the wise man,prou. 15.15 A good conscience is a continuall feast) and the prouidence of God so gra­tiously [Page] protecting them, that euen the generation of the righteous shall be bles­sed, and they themselues, Psal. 112.6 as the Psalmist speaketh, shall bee had in an euerlasting remembrance, So on the other side, ma­licious practises and subtill deceipts, vsed as nettes one to insnare another, do draw vpon the wicked two fearefull curses; the one is, the stinge of a corrupt conscience, when they are here depriued of hope and confidence, Iob. 8.13. as Iob affirmeth like the howse of the spider that hath no founda­tion, Pro. 20, 17 The breade of deceipt (saith the wiseman) may for a time bee sweet in the mouth, but in the ende the mouth is filled with grauell: The other is that those things which they take in hand shal neither prosper in themselues, Psal. 1.4. Zach. 5, 4. but they shall bee as the chaffe which the winde doth scatter away, neither shall they be­nefit their posteritie, but as Zachary shew­eth the curse of God shall enter in and destroy euen the stones and timber of their cruell habitations. Hag. 1.4 The Prophet Haggei telleth vs that in the bags of the wick­ed there is a hole or breach,, by which hole hee meaneth the curse of GOD, [Page] when that which is euill gotten is euill also wasted and consumed, that as it ne­uer came from God, so doth it runne all to the Diuell.Hesiod. The very heathen Poet could giue this warninge,

The third Allegory here vsed by the Prophet, is drawne from the viper called here Ephgue, of whose nature Aristotle writeth,Lib. 1. de hist. ani­mal. cap. 6. [...], among serpents the viper bringeth forth (not egs as the rest do but) liuing creatures (though bad) and her egs are first bred & hatched within herself. And therefore the viper may very fitly signifie & point out them which do cherish & nou­rish bad purposes in their hearts and with a premeditate hatching of their deuises do worke mischiefe against their neighbours

The Prophet Esay in this place would haue vs to mortifie these first beginnings of sinne, wherwith if y^e heart be but once sprinckled, it will bee as if a viper did presently burst out. The beginnings of [Page] sinne, do seame at the first small, but they are dangerous and harmefull, they are like those lesser wedges which open the entrance to y^e greater, like little theeues entering in at some hole or windowe to open y^e doores to the greater, like a small droppe of poyson or a slender venomous stinge, whereof the one doth infect a whole vessell, and the other destroy the whole bodie. If we would be free from iniurious dealings, we must first not let the sunne goe downe vpon wrath, if wee would abstaine from bloody oppressions,Eph. 4.26 Heb. 13.11 we must first let our cōuersation be with­out couetousnesse. If we would be (as we ought to be) obedient and deutifull sub­iects, we must first cast away all malcon­tented affections and all enuying y^e bles­sings of God bestowed vpon our brethren.

The viper who by the bearing of his owne fruites is burst a sunder, doth very well represent all sin: for y^e sting of death is sin, and y^e reward of sinne is death:1 Cor. 15.56. Ro. 6.23. but especially it doth most liuely paint out y^e malicious enuie of y^e heart, as Augustine doth shewe,Augu. ser. 83. de tēp. ficut aerugoferrum ita inuidia illam ipsam animam in qua est interimit [Page] & consumit, sicut aiunt viperas dilacerato & dirupto illo ipso materno vtero in quo con­ceptae erāt nasci, ita & inuidiae natura illam ipsam animam a qua concepta est & consu­mit & perdit. As the rust (which doth grow of the Iron) doth consume the I­ron, so enuie which breadeth in the heart doth consume the heart: and as they say that Vipers do come out, breaking the bellies of their dammes in which they were conceiued, so the nature of enuie is to destroy that soule, in which it is foste­red.Chrys. ad pop. Anti­och. Hom. 45. In which respect Chrisostome doth compaire enuie to the wood worm which though it doe breede in the tymber, yet it doth consume & waste the tymber, as enuie springing of the heart doth putri­fie and vtterly eat vp the heart. As Sa­lomon saith well, A sound heart is the life of the bodie, Pro. 14.30, but enuie is a rotten­nesse to the bones. The prophaine Poet could say.Hor.

The biting of this viperous Enuie, as [Page] they are dangerous, Gen. 26.15. vnto others (which Isaac felt when the Philistians enuying his riches did stop vp all his wels which his fathers seruants had digged in his father Abrahams time: and Dauid when Saul en­uying the songs of the women, 1. Sam. 18.8 that Saul had killed one thousand, and Dauid ten thousand, did therefore seeke the death of him, who by all meanes sought his good: And Daniel when by the enuie of the malicious Iudges,Dan. 6.4. he was throwne into the denne of Lions: and all the saints of God haue and doe still from time to time to their sundrie losses verie often feele & suffer) So especially the wounds therof are most deadly to the enuious per­sons themselues, when their hearts are therby made altogether carnall and al­together vnfit for any spirituall exercise.1. Cor. 3.3 If there be enuying amongst you (saith Paul) are ye not carnall? and Saint Iames saith, where there is in men bitter enuying their wisedom is not from aboue, Iam. 3.14. but is earthly diuelish and sensuall. Gregorie. They cannot withstand and subdue the enemies in the field, that is, the outward temp­tations of sinne and wickednes, when [Page] they harbour within the wals the mali­cious traitour of an enuious heart.Beda. They cannot receiue any helpe or comfort by the plaster or medicine of prayer, so long as the arrow head remaineth within the wound, so long as the cankered Iron of enuie doth fester and empoyson their af­fections. They cannot be true and liue­ly members of the misticall bodie of Christ when they doe not with thankfull hearts reioyce at the weldoing and bene­fit of others,1. Cor. 12.26.26. as he Apostle doth teach vs, that If one member be had in honour all the rest should reioyce with it. Reioyce with them that reioyce and weep with them that weepe. Rom. 12.15 Finally they can neuer in this life feele any perfect solace and comfort, when as the heathen Poet could see & say:

Neither can they receiue any hope to be deliuered from the eternall tyranny of Sathan,Wisd. 2. [...]4 when they find in themselues that sinne which is equal or rather worse [...]

WHen Nachash the King of the Ammonites (Right Worshipfull and beloued in Christ) had now brought the inhabitantes of Iabesh Gilead into so greate di­stresse, that onely vpon seauen dayes res­pite they were to yeelde vp their Citie into the enemies handes vpon a very hard con­dition (which was, that euery one of the Citizens should haue his right eye plucked out.) The people of Israel, partly because they saw Samuel their Iudge to be olde and feeble, and partly, because they percei­ [...]ed the sonnes of Samuel, Ioel and Abiah, though ruling in the place and stead of their Father; yet not walking in the wayes and [...]teps of their Father, as dispayring to haue [Page] any ayde or deliuerance by their Iudges (in which state of gouernment, God had fo [...] many yeeres so happily preserued them [...] They come (with one consent) to the [...] Iudge, and desire that they may haue King. 1. Sam. 11.12 Samuel when he had vsed ma [...] meanes, and many forcible argumentes [...] disswade them from this their malcontent [...] and dispayring minde, and seeing euident­ly that no perswasions could take any pla [...]n their wilfull hartes, doth now at the la [...] call vpon the Lord in the time of Wheat haruest, for a sodaine and miraculous thu [...] der and storme of raine, that thereby, as were by an other voyce of God, the peo [...] might be further certified, both how greuously they had offended, and how for th [...] offence the Lorde was highly, displeas [...] with them. When the Israelites saw [...] parantly that Samuel had no sooner call vnto the Lord for that thunder and rain [...] but that presently his request was hea [...] and that in terrible manner, in the sight a [...] hearing of the whole people, they were a [...] nished: and being wonderfully striken w [...] sodaine feare, They desire Samuel to p [...] to the Lord for them, that they die n [...] [Page] adding these wordes (which now I haue read) as a reason of their petition, and a confession of their desart: For (say they) we haue sinned, besides all our other sinnes, in asking vs a King. What this offence was which the Prophet doth seeke so many wayes to lay open vnto them, it shall the better appeare if we consider these two es­peciall obseruations.

First, the mightie prouidence, and infi­nite goodnesse of God extended towardes that people, so many yeeres together, du­ring the tyme of the gouernment of the Iudges. And secondly how small & weake the occasions were for the which they desire to shake off that blessed gouernment: as also on the other side, what great and waighty causes they had to haue bin contented with that estate wherein God had so long and so miraculously protected them.

How long the people had liued, deliue­red, defended, and gouerned by Iudges, S. Augustine doth record it in his. 18. booke de Ciuitate Dei, where he affirmeth,Aug. de Ci­uitate dei, lib 18. Cap. 22: that at that time wherein Rome was buylt (which was by Romulus, in the time of Iosias king of Iuda) the Hebrewes had bin seauen hun­dred [Page] and eighteene yeeres in the land of Canaan; whereof (sayth he) seauen & twen­tie appertaine to Iosua, three hundred twen­tie and nine to the Iudges, and three hun­dred sixtie and two to the Kinges: where he maketh three seuerall estates of Gouern­ment, vnder which it pleased God that his people Israel should liue. The first was vnder Dukes, as in the dayes of Moses and Iosua. The second was by Iudges, which differed from Iosua, for he was ap­poynted a gouernour in the time of prospe­ritie, when Sehon the King of the Amorits and Ogge the King of Basan were ouer­throwne and vanquished: but the Iudges were first inaugurated and inuested into their callinges in some great distresses, by the affecting of some notable deliuerance. Neither were they like the Dictators, ad­uaunced amongst the Heathen; for they were chosen by the voyces of men, but these by the voyce of God him selfe. They were chosen out of men of greatest accompt, and best furnished for the vndergoing of such a charge: but these were raysed vp miracu­lously out of the inferiour sort, and lowest degrees of people, and inabled extraordina­rily [Page] by the gyftes and presence of the Al­mightie, as it is sayd in the second Chapter of the Iudges: The Lord raysed vp Iudges, Iudg. 2.16.18. which deliuered them out of the handes of their oppressours: And when the Lord did raise vp any Iudges, the Lord (as it is sayd there) was with that Iudge, and did deliuer the people out of the handes of the enemies all the dayes of that Iudges life.

There were also many differences be­twixt them and the Kinges which folowed. In the Kinges, succession of blood tooke [...]lace: in the Iudges it tooke no place. The Kings, had a greater authoritie in ru­ [...]ing and commaunding then the Iudges would chalenge. The affayres hauing good successe against the Madianites, Iudg. 8.22. the people offered to Gedeon, that he should Reigne [...]s king ouer them: But Gedeon answe­ [...]ed, Neither will I reigne ouer you, ney­ [...]her shall my childe reigne ouer you; but [...]he Lord shall still raigne ouer you. The Kinges were some of them holy, and some picked:Heb. 11.32. Iudg. 2.18. the Iudges were all the faythfull [...]eruantes of God, though some times er­ [...]ng, yet alwayes rysing againe by repen­ [...]nce. The Kinges did some of them saue [Page] the people from inuasions, and some no [...] but the Iudges did euer deliuer them fro [...] the hands of their oppressours: And the [...] fore they haue the Hebrewe name Mos [...] grim, Sauiours, giuen vnto them, as in [...] thirde Chapter of the Iudges it is sayd Othoniel, Iud 3.9. that the Lord did stirre vp [...] Sauiour vnto the children of Israel. A [...] in the ninth of Nehemias, Nehe 9.27. where there mention made of the former mercies [...] God during the time of the Iudges: i [...] added, that God of his mercie gaue [...] people Sauiours, who saued them out the handes of their aduersaries. Some adde hereunto, that the Iudges more t [...] any other, were the most euident types [...] figures of that deliuerance which we h [...] by Christ, from the tyranie of sinne, de [...] and Sathan.

A. fourth kinde of gouernement, v [...] which the people afterwarde liued, is me [...] tioned by Iosephus in the .xx. chapter of Antiquities, Ioseph An­tiq. lib. 20. Cap. penult [...] After the death of these (to wit) Herod Archelaus their gouernment was Ar [...] ­cratie, wherin the chiefe authority of the [Page] [...]on was committed to the High-priestes.Ioseph An­tiq. lib. 14. cap. 10. Of that gouernment he maketh mention [...]efore, when he declareth how Gabinius [...]ad diuided the Kingdome into fiue parts; [...]d ordeyned fiue Counsayles, called [...]ynedri [...]: he sheweth what ensued of it, [...] They altering the gouernment, lyued in Aristocratie. They had then, and long be­ [...]ore, three seuerall orders of their coun­ [...]yles: one was an authoritie geuen to [...]ree chosen Men, who should decide all [...]auses in money matters. The second was [...] councell of twentie three Iudges: they [...]ere to heare the causes of lyfe and death. The thirde was a councell of seauentie [...]e: their office was to determine of most [...]aightie matters, of the high Priesthood, [...]r of a whole Tribe, or of a false Prophet. Concerning the excellencie of euery one of [...]ese foure gouernmentes, and which of [...]em ought to haue the preheminence to be most to be desired amongst Christians, I [...]olde with Caluin, Ʋaldè otiosum est, Caluin institut. lib. 4 cap. 20. sect. 8. quis [...]tissimus sit politiae status a priuatis hominibus [...]isputari, quibus de constituenda aliqua re­ [...]ublica deliberare non licet. It is a very idle [Page] thing, that about the best estate of gouern­ment, a disputation should be had among priuate men, who haue no authority to co [...] sult of y^e ordering of any Common-weal [...] It is a most singular token of the migh [...] power and prouidence of God, that so [...] nie seuerall Nations ouer the face of [...] whole worlde, are vpholden and maynt [...] ned by so many seuerall sortes of gouernmentes, That Quemadmodum non nisi [...] aequali temperatura elementa inter se cohaere ita hae regiones sua quadam inaequalitate [...] timè continentur: As in bodily essences, t [...] foure elementes do cleaue togither by v [...] equall temperaturs, so as it were by ac [...] taine inequalitie, all these seuerall co [...] tries are holden togither: But for eu [...] particuler Nation, he very well require [...] that Ʋoluntas Domini satisfaciat: The w [...] of God ought to suffice euery man. Si [...] Ʋisum est reges, regnis praeficere, liberis ciui [...] tibus senatus aut decuriones, quoscunque lo [...] praefecerit in quibus degimus, nostrū est ijs [...] morigeros ac obedientes praestare: Wheth [...] it please God to place Kinges ouer kin [...] domes; or to set Senatours, Counsailou [...] and Aldermen, ouer free Cities, whom [...] [Page] euer the Lord shall establish in those pla­ces wherein we liue, we ought to yeelde submission and obedience to them.

Some do highly aduaunce the gouern­ment of many, because many are not so [...]oone corrupted as one may be; euen as a great quantitie of water will not so soone [...]utrifie, as will a small portion: But these must on the other side consider, that it is a great deale more hard to finde many good, [...]hen one: and it is most likely, that such a [...]ne will prooue best, whom the Nobilitie [...]f Royall blood, and Princely ensamples of [...]redecessours, do inuite vnto vertue. They [...]est much vpon the libertie which ought to [...]e in man, and whereunto (they say) man is [...]orne: But we see, that (by nature) as some­ [...]re framed fit to commaund, so others are made fit to obey. It is an excellent kinde [...]f libertie, when men being set free from [...]he thraldome of their owne lustes, do vn­ [...]er the rule of superiours, obey godly and [...]olsome lawes.Tul. parad. penult. As the Oratour doth well [...]escribe a Free-man, Qui legibus non prop­ [...]r metum paret, sed eas sequitur at (que) colit quia [...]d salutare maxime esse iudicat, Which doth [...]ot obey the Lawes for feare, but doth [Page] follow them and imbrace them, because he doth iudge it a thing holsome and ne­cessarie for the safegarde of man. For bet­ter it is to dwell where nothing is lawfull, then to dwell where all thinges are lawful.Iudg. 2.16. The Iudges which were approoued in a kinde of Aristocratie, Psal. 21.3. are sayd to be raysed vp of God. So also the same is sayd in other places of Kinges.Prou. 8.15. The wisedome of God doth pronounce it: By mee Kinges doe reigne: Dan. 2 21. and Princes decree iustice Daniel sayth, that the Lord doth change times & seasons: Iere. 27.6. he taketh away Kings and setteth vp Kinges. Nabuchadnezzar in respect of his kingdome, is called The Seruant of God: and a iudgement i [...] threatned against all people which will no [...] submit their necke vnder his yoke.Rom. 13.1. The [...] is no power, but of God: and whosoeuer doth resist power, doth resist the ord [...] nance of God. Of all powers, the autho­ritie of the King (who is named by th [...] Apostle Peter such a chiefe or supream power as for the Lordes sake, 1. Pet. 2.13. is to [...] obeyed) doth seeme first to be most agreea­ble to nature,Hieron. epist. 4. ad Rusticum. as S. Ierome doth witnesse [...] his .4. Epistle: In apibus principes sunt, gru [...] [Page] vnam sequuntur ordine literato, Imperator vnus, Iudex vnus prouinciae, in naui vnus gu­bernator, in domo vnus dominus, in quamuis grandi exercitu vnius signum expectatur. Bees haue their chiefe gouernor. The Cranes do follow one in exquisite order. There is one chiefe commaunder, one chiefe Iudge of a Prouince, one gouernour of all in the Shippe, one Maister in a house: In an armie be it neuer so great, the en­signe of one is especially regarded and at­tended on. In the body of man, though the limmes and partes be many, yet they all obey one head.

Secondly, most fit for the cutting off of seditions and rebellions: and therefore the Romains in all their extreamest dangers had recourse vnto this Tanquam ad ancho­ram sacram, as to their shoote anchor, as to their last & best refuge, as Liuy witnesseth,Liu. lib. 6. Trepidi patres ad summum auxilium decur­runt, dictatorem dici placet, The fearefull Senators did flie to their chiefest succour, (which was, to choose out one to haue su­preame aucthoritie) whom it pleased them to cal a Dictator. Liu. lib. 22. And when Hannibal pres­sed the Romains Ad dictatorem dicendum [Page] remedium iamdiu desideratū ciuitas confugit, The Citie went to the choosing and pro­nouncing of the Dictator, Liu. lib. 6. which was the remedie they long expected: Because, as in an other place he writeth, Dictatoris edictum pro numine semper obseruatum est, The commaundement and proclamation of the Dictator, was esteemed to be as the voyce of God: there was no appealing from him.Liu lib. 2. Agedum dictatorem à quo prou [...] ­catio non est creemus: Come (sayd the Con­sull Appius) let vs make a Dictator, Liu. lib. 6. from whom it shall not be lawfull for any man to appeale. Tantus erat Dictatoris terror apud hostes vt eo creato statim à moenibus dis­cesserint. So great was the terrour of the Dictator, euen amongst the enemies, that as sone as he was created, they raised their siege and departed. Wherby appeareth playnely, that the ancient Romains as wel in warre as in peace, founde this as a sure anchor holde against all seditions and dan­gers, to enioy one, such a Magistrate, as from whom there should be no appeale, and whose authoritie should possesse, as it were, the roome of God vpon the earth. The Carians were once a wealthy and flouri­shing [Page] people: but by seditions, which came by the hauing of many heads & gouernours, they were brought to ruine and vtter deso­lation: wherevpon there arose a prouerbe,

When many Souldiers were muti­nous, prudent Vlysses did represse them with these wordes,

Which verse (as Aemilius Probus doth te­stifie) Dion did also vse when Heraclides be­gan his faction.

Thirdly, the gouernement of one Mo­narch doth seeme to resemble most liuely the image of Gods power & maiestie: For as in the firmament, the Sunne, Moone, and Starres, do as it were represent some image of the glory of the Eternall: So the rule of Monarches, in their seuerall king­domes vpon earth, doth call to our conside­rations the gouernment and high maiestie [Page] of the omnipotent God. And most certain­ly ac this time of the alteration of the estate of the Iewish common-wealth, the wil and purpose of God is in his seruant king Da­uid, Psal. 22, 3. Psal. 2, 6. to erect an Image & type of the king­dome of Christ. But here (may some say) If the will of God were now in Dauid and his posteritie, to set foorth a figure of the kingdom of Christ, how can the Israelites be said to sinne so great a sinne, in asking a king, when they asked onely that, which was determined in the purpose of God: Why doeth the Lorde so punish their re­quest, in sending them so wicked a king as was Saul, 1. Sam. 13 11 1. Sam. 15, 9. who besides his often and wil­full disobedience against the cōmandement of God, did most cruelly murder the priests of God,1 Sam. 22, 18. causing to bee slaine at one time fourescore and fiue, which ware the linnen Ephod, if in desiring a king, their will did concurre with the will of God? Yee are heere to obserue, that the Israelites had no respect to the purpose of God, but onely they shewed foorth the fruites of despairing and malcontented affections. In the spoile of the goods of Iob, Iob. 1 15, 17, 21. the Caldeans and Sa­beans had no regarde to the will and pur­pose [Page] of God, which was most iust and holy to examine sharply one of his seruants, and to make him a schoolemaster of patience to all posteritie: their desire was onely iniuri­ously to enrich themselues with the spoyle of Iob. In the death of our sauiour Christ, the high Priestes, Scribes, & Pharises had no respect to the will of God,Act. 2.23. which was most mercifull and iust, by that all sufficient raunsome for sinne, to saue all beleeuers: their intent was onely to bee reuenged of him, whom they hated with deadly malice. Euen so, these Israelites haue no desire here to obey the secret decree of God, in the kingdome of Dauid and of his ofspring, to set out a resemblance of the kingdome of Christ, but onely their purpose is, with a desperat discontentment to shake off the go­uernment of their good iudge Samuel, con­trary to the reuealed wil of God, which had before decreed,Iud. 2.18. that Whosoeuer was ap­proued to be raised vp of God for their deliuerer, he should afterward iudge Isra­el all the dayes of his life. And therefore they worthily receiue a punishment of their obstinate disobedience against the expresse commandement of God. And yet notwith­standing [Page] this historie doeth shew vs that the appointment of God was performed in Sa­muel, [...] 7.14. who is said, To haue iudged Israel all the dayes of his life. Seuen and twen­tie yeeres and seuen moneths hee had iud­ged, [...] 2. when Saul beganne to reigne. Two yeeres was Saul king: for although he li­ued aboue twelue yeeres after that hee was elected king, yet forasmuch as in the second yeere hee was denounced to bee reiected of God, [...] 1, 7. his kingdome is named to be but of two yeres in continuance. And during that time also, y^e authoritie of Samuel is not abo­lished, for euen in these affaires against Na­chash the Ammonite, a punishment was in a publique Proclamation threatened a­gainst euery one which would not followe Saul and Samuel, Act. 13.21. although in the Actes of the Apostles, because the kingdome is the more excellent state of gouernment, the whole fourtie yeeres be attributed to Saul, as the greater power and maiestie, swal­lowing vp the lesse. As concerning the mi­raculous prouidence of God extended to­wardes the Israelites during the time that Samuel was their Iudge, there neede no further testimonies, but that onely place in [Page] the seuenth chapter of this booke,1. Sam. 7, 13. wher it is sayd, That the hand of the Lord was a­gainst the Philistines all the dayes of Sa­muel. The Philistines were the deadliest and fiercest enemies that euer molested the Israelits. Seeing then that God ouerthrew their cruellest & mightiest enemies, & that not once or twice, but euen al the dayes of Samuel: what a wretched ingratitude was this, that because a few aduersaries had gotten aduantage against one of their Ci­ties, they should therfor vnthankfully shake off that happie gouernment, vnder which God had graunted them so many trium­phant victories? But what were the causes of this their vnkind & froward desire of al­teration? First they would be like to other nations rounde about them, as they say:1. Sam. 8, 5.20. Make vs a King to gouerne vs, like all other nations. And afterward againe: We will be like all other Countries, a King shall iudge vs, and goe out before vs, and fight our battayles. Forraine gouerne­mentes, although they be in them selues most excellent (as no doubt those were which were established vnder kings) are not to be drawen as ensamples to other nations [Page] wherein another estate of gouernment hath alreadie taken place. Wee cannot affirme that because this or that is nowe done in the common wealth of Geneua, Ioh. 12, 42. or because this or that was once done in the Elderships and Councels of the Iewes, therefore the same ought to bee done in other seniories and assemblies where there is not that Ius gladij, that ciuill authoritie & power, which we see plainly was in them. Their Syna­gogues had the ordering of ciuill punish­ments,Math. 10, 17. to condemne to bee scourged, those whom they iudged to offend:Math. 26, 47, 57. they could send out officers with swords and staues to ap­prehend Christ, they could examine witnes­ses against him, and binde him and deliuer him to Pilate. And whereas when Pilate bade them take him and iudge him after their owne lawe:Ioh. 18, 31. they answered, That it was not lawfull for them to put any man to death. Chrysostome doeth one way ex­pound it, that it may well bee meant of that kinde of death, which (to aggrauate the shame) they sought especially to haue exe­cuted on Christ. For otherwise they had au­thoritie to stone to death, as it may seeme that Steuen was condemned by them, be­cause [Page] as the lawe was, that the witnesses should cast the first stone, Deut. 17, 7. so the witnes­ses in the stoning of Stephen, Act. 7, 58. doe orderly lay downe their clothes at the feete of Saul. In the Chapter following, their po­wer doth extend to draw out men, Act. 8, 3. women and children, and to thrust them into pri­son: which authoritie Saul could put in exe­cution at Damascus, Act. 9, 1. much more at the ci­tie Hierusalem.

Tertullus their Oratour doeth acknow­ledge this before the gouernor Faelix when he sayth of Paul, We tooke him, Act. 24.6. & would haue iudged him according to our law, but that the chiefe captaine Lysias came vpon vs, and with great violence tooke him out of our handes.

The ensamples of those which are chiefe gouernors in Aristocratie, ought not to be drawen vnto them which are subiects vnder a Monarchie. There is in euery dominion a supreame power, which the Greeks do cal call [...] and [...] the Latines Maiestatem, the Italians Signoria, and we in England do name it by the French word Soueraintie. Wheresoeuer that chiefe au­thoritie doth remayne, whether it be in one [Page] or in many, from thence must be deriued the ordering of all thinges, both in Church and Common-wealth.

1. Sam. 8.20These Israelites here desire that they might haue a King to goe before them, & to fight their battayles. Their request had not displeased God, had there not been be­fore an other forme of gouernment establi­shed amongst them: for otherwise of a Mo­narchie,Aug. contra Fastum Ma­nichaeum lib. 22 cap. 75. that may well be sayd which S. Augustine doth write against Faustus the Manichee, Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit vt suscipiendi belli auctoritas at (que) consilium sit penes principem, exequondi autem iussa bellica ministerium mi­lites debeant paci saluti (que) communi. The na­turall order most fit for the peace of man­kind, doth require this; that the authoritie and counsell of taking Warre in hand, be in the power of the Prince: and the dutie of executing the commaundementes of Warre, is a thing that the Souldiers doe owe, for the maynteinance of the peace of the Common-wealth. And a litle after, Ʋir iustus si forte sub rege etiam sacrilego mi­litet, rectè possit illo iubente bellare, ciuicae pacis ordinem seruans, oui quod iubetur vel non esse [Page] contra dei praeceptum certum est, vel vtrum sit certum non est, ita vt fortasse reum regem faciat iniquitas imperandi, innocentem autem militem ostendat ordo seruiendi. A iust man, if he be a Souldier vnder his King being wicked, may at his commandement fight, keeping the order of ciuill peace with his fellow subiectes, when that which is com­maunded is not directly against the word of God: or whether it be or no, it is not certainely knowne; so that perhappes a sinne in commaunding may make the king guyltie, and yet the order of obeying may declare the Souldier innocent. Num. 13, 3. Iosu. 11. Iosu. 6, 6. When God ruled his people by Moses and Iosua, they as Dukes and Magistrates, disposed all thinges both in warre and peace, in or­dering both Church & Common-wealth, in causing the people to be circumcised, in buylding Aulters, and euery way gouer­ning the charge committed to them. When afterwarde he raysed vp Iudges, he endued them not onely with warlike vertue, but that they might better also reforme abuses in the Church,Iudg. 4, 4. he gaue sometimes to the Women, as vnto Debora: 1. Sam. 3, 20 sometimes to Men, as vnto Samuel, the spirit of prophe­cying. [Page] When after, he established Kinges, the Scriptures do plentifully declare vnto vs what supremacie was graunted to them ouer all persons,1. Chro. 13. 1. Chro. 23, 4. and in all causes, as well ecclesiasticall as ciuill. Dauid armed his people with the authoritie of the sworde, against all their publike enemies: he cau­sed the Arke to be remooued from a priuate mans house: he placed the orders of the Priestes and Leuites, Psal. 132.5. and had a principall care to finde out a seate for the Lordes ser­uice, an habitation for the mightie God of Iacob. Salomon deposed the wicked Priest Abiathar, and placed Sadoc a bet­ter in his roome.1. Reg. 2.35. 2. Chro. 8, 14. He established the orders of the Leuites and other officers: and (least any man shoulde thinke that Salomon did herein more then he might) it is said by ex­presse wordes that this his charge of the Church was the commaundement of Da­uid the man of God. Asia armed his peo­ple against the enemies of Gods Church,2. Chro 14. 2. Chro 15.13, 16. 2. Chro. 20.3. he made a decree, that they should be slaine which would not seek and worship the Lord God of Israel, hee deposed Maacha from her regencie, because of her idolatrie. Ieho­saphat ordered the warres of the house of [Page] Iuda: he sent foorth Elisham and Iehoram Priests to instruct the people:2. Chro. 17, 8. 2. Chro. 19.8. 2. Chro. 29.1. 2. Chro. 31.4. he placed in authority the Priests and chiefe nobles for the iudgement of the cause of the Lord. E­zechias by lawfull warre withstood Senna­cheribs vnlawfull oppressions. He repay­red the temple, rooted out idolatrie, and ap­pointed the courses of the Priests and Le­uites. Iosias tooke order for the pulling downe of idolatrie,2. Reg. 23.4 and the execution of the priests of Baal. Afterward when the Ro­manes had conquered Iurie, for as much as there is no power but of God, S. Peter doth also to them attribute this supremacie,1. Pet. 2 13. Rom. 13, 4. cal­ling the king a chiefe and supreme gouer­nour: and shewing also what manner of su­premacie he hath: to wit, such a chiefe pow­er as doeth extend it selfe generally to the punishment of euill doers, and to the praise of them that doe well. As largely then as goeth good or euill, that is, through the ob­seruation and breach of euery commaunde­ment of either of the two tables, & through­out all nations that can bee either in the Church or common wealth: so farre goeth the supremacie of Princes in their domini­ons, to shewe foorth their iustice in punish­ing, [Page] their mercie in fauouring, and the [...] loue in rewarding. Saint Paul speake [...] as well of the Romane Emperours of h [...] time,Rom. 3, 4. as also of all other higher power which are to ensue in any other age [...] place, that they beare not the sworde f [...] nought, but are the ministers of God, take vengeance of euill doers.

1. Sam. 8, 3,The second cause why these people desire to shake off the gouernment of Samuel was,1. Sam. 2, 3, 4. because his sonnes ruling in his stee [...] did receiue bribes, and peruert iudgement Samuel doeth in this twelfth Chapter e [...] postulate this matter at large with them & is cleared sufficiently in the conscience, testimonie of them all. The iniquiti [...] which his sonnes committed,1. Sam. 8, 2. were not b [...] cause he did not prescribe good wayes vn [...] them, but because they did not walke in t [...] wayes and steps of their father. If a m [...] haue but a small familie, he shall yet be ab [...] sed by some: What then must wee think of those higher powers, who haue so ma [...] vnder officers in so infinite places, de [...] uing their authoritie from them:1. Reg 2, 22 Salom [...] when hee commaunded Ioab to bee put death for those wilfull murders which h [...] [Page] had before committed, saith, that he did thē Patre suo Dauide inscio, His father Dauid not knowing of it. So herein Samuel his children, and in all ages vnder Christi­an Princes, many thinges are done by in­feriour Magistrates, which come not to the knowledge of superiour powers, and whereof no fault is to be imputed to them, seeing the offences proceede not of want of good and holsome lawes: but, for that there is not due obedience yeelded vnto them.

The thirde cause,1. Sam. 8, 1. why they so greedily gape for alteration, was, because they di­strusted in the power and prouidence of God. They thought that the weakenesse of aged Samuel, was not sufficient to deliuer them from the oppression of Nachash the Ammonite. The punishment which God layde vpon their distrustfull forefathers, might haue been a sufficient warning to them,Num. 13, 3. to haue shewed them the greeuous­nesse and horror of this sinne. When Mo­ses had sent of euery Tribe one, to view the land of Canaan (amongst whom, were Io­sua, of the tribe of Ephraim; and Caleb, of the tribe of Iuda:) at their returne, many [Page] of them gaue great reportes of the power and strength of the Canaanites, Nū. 13, 34. that they were mightie men,Num. 14.2, 9. like Giants, and the sonnes of Enachim: and that the Israelites were but as Grashoppers in respect of them. The people began by and by to mur­mure & dispayre, and to prepare a returne into Aegypt. Iosua and Caleb did what they could to encourage the people, bidding them not to feare,Psal. 78, 18. for (say they) they are but bread for vs: the Shield is departed from them: the Lord is on our side: But the Israelites were so farre from receiuing comfort, that they cried out one to an other, to fling stones agaynst their comforters. This distrusting minde did so highly dis­please God,Num. 26.64. that they were cut off and de­stroyed with many feareful plagues, so that of aboue sixe hundred thousande of them, there came but two into the land of Pro­mise. The Lord had let that people see by sundry ensamples, that there is no power so small, but that hee is able sufficiently to strengthen it against the enemies of his trueth. Abraham hauing but three hun­dred and eighteene men,Gen. 14, 14 ouerthrewe the power of fiue Kings. Samson with a lawe [Page] bone slew a thousand. Sisera the captaine of the hoste of Iabin king of Canaan, Iudg. 15, 15. was of great strength, he had .900. charets of yron,Iudg 4, 13. & 22. yet was he slaine at the last by the hands of a silly woman. And to Samuel, 1. Sam. 7, 13. though he were old, yet y^e Lord gaue him power to his dying day, to subdue and keepe vnder the haughty Philistines. By this cōtinual expe­rience of y^e power of God, they might haue euidently seene, that there is no strength so feeble, but God can plentifully inable it, for the fighting of the Lordes battayles: and thereupon they should haue gathered cou­rage and comfort, & not with such wretch­lesse vnthankfulnesse, started backe from the lyuing God. What a most ingratefull part was this,1. Sam. 3, 20 when Samuel had so long time propounded vnto them the heauenly trueth of God, and for the space of aboue .xxvii. yeeres, as a most carefull Magistrate defen­ded them from all inuasions & oppressions, now in olde age to forsake him, & as weery of his gouernment, to desire a King to be placed ouer them? These Israelites do deale with Samuel, as afterward the subiectes of Dauid did with their king, at the time of the rebellion of Absolom. Dauid had then [Page] reigned .xxx. yeeres, & therefore was about lx. yeeres of age (for he was about .xxx. yeeres olde at the death of Saul. Psal. 3.1.) How his people did cary them selues in Absoloms conspiracie, he declareth him selfe in his .3. Psalme, wherein he complaineth that in that his time of neede, he found many so to be­come his enemies, that in most despitefull maner they obiected vnto him, that there was no helpe for him in his God. But these vnfaythful Subiectes, were like vnto the Swallowes which cary with vs in the Spring and Sommer, but in the colde of Winter doe wholly forsake vs: they were like the Doues, which sit vpon the house in fayre weather: but if once a storme do come, they are presently gone: or rather they were like that currish kind of lazy Dogges, that will fawne vpon their maisters by the fiers side, but if they see him goe abrode in foule weather, they are content to let him goe a sone: or like vnto cursed Vipers, seeing that as much as in them lyed, they sought to rent the bowels of him of whom next vnder God they had their beeing, their strength, & wealth, and whatsoeuer they possessed. The sinne of many in these our dayes, is by ma­nie [Page] degrees more haynous and detestable, then was the offence of the Israelites in the dayes either of Dauid or of Samuel. They desired an exchange of their gouernour: but yet they desired to haue a King erected out of the middest of their brethren, according to the law in Deutronomie. Deut. 17.15. Out of thy brethren shalt thou appoynt thy selfe a King: thou mayst not set ouer thee a stran­ger, which is not thy brother. How gree­uously then do they offende, which desire to haue brought in vpon their Prince a for­raine power, y^e power of a Priest of Rome? How horrible is their sinne (if there be any such monster in nature) that do gape for the inuasion of a forreine Prince, to weaken or abrogate that authoritie, which right, and blood, and the law, hath placed ouer them? What measure we should looke for of Strangers, the dealinges of the Spaniards in the Low-countries may be a sufficient warning vnto vs. Their Nobles haue been murdered, their auncient inhabitants spoy­led, or dryuen to flie their natiue soyle. Their famous and flourishyng Cities so op­pressed and dispeopled, that the grasse doth grow in those streetes, which haue bin here­tofore [Page] by wealthy Citizens and Marchants so notably frequented and replenished. Naples may likewise serue for instruction herein: where, when the Spaniards preuay­led, they were presently most miserably plagued with many new taxes & tributes, whereof before, they neuer had mention. No man could haue a sire, but he must first pay sixe shyllinges for the chimney: none permitted to eate sundry kindes of meates, but first he must fine for them: none to kill a Fowle, but first sticke vp a fether to giue warning for the Impost: so that the farmer of the Butcherie & Poultrie, receiued day­ly the summe of three hundred Duckets. None fared the better because he bare the name of a Catholick. Religion was not the thing which the hungry Souldiers re­spected: Protestant or Papist, if he were rich, and had a sleece, all was one.

1. Sā. 8, 3.11.The Israelites found them selues gree­ued, that Samuels, children receiued some thinges of them: But by Samuels answere it may appeare, that the receiptes of his sonnes, were nothing to those infinite taxes & oppressions which a Tyrant should bring vpon them. It was well sayd of the Poet,

Quintus Aurilius, when he (hauing a faire house in Alba) was drawen to execution in the tyrannie of Sylla, cryed out, O house at Alba, thou wast the cause of my death! In ciuill vprores, and in inuasions of stran­gers, no man can chalenge any priuiledge for his integritie or profession. Be they Catholiques in name (as are now the Ro­manistes) or Catholiques in deede (as are true faythful Christians) be they Ministers, be they Marchants, be they Recusants, be they Reformers, if they be wealthy, & haue any thing to loose, all is one. The most fearefull punishment of all, is that which Samuel doth warne them off, that when the Lord shal lay oppression and bondage vpon them, as a plague for their discontentment, they shall cry vnto the Lord for helpe, and not be heard:1. Sam. 8.18. Ye shall cry out (sayth he) at that day, because of the King which you haue chosen to your selues, and the Lord [Page] at that day will not hearken vnto you. There are three especiall dueties required in all good Subiectes in any established Common-wealth, whereof euery one is wanting in these inconstant Israelites. The first is in hart to be loyall to the supreame Gouernour.Eccl. 10.20. Curse not the King (sayth the Wise man) no not in thy hart, least the birdes of the ayre doe cary the voyce, and the fethered fowles bewray thee. What­soeuer is amisse in superiour powers, seeing that (as Salomon witnesseth) The hart of the King is in the hand of the Lord: Pro. 21.1. it is the part of vs that are inferiors, to pray to God to renew and guyde their hartes with his principal spirit: but in the meane time, in no case, either to take vp or moue against them, or once in hart to wish for the subuer­tion of their estate. When Nero, Caligu­la, or such Heathen tyrantes possessed the Scepter and Empire, yet did the Apostles of Christ Exhort euery soule to be subiect to them: Rom. 3.1. 2. Tim. 2.2. and all prayers and supplications to be made to God for them. Baruch. 1.11 Pray for the life of Nabuchadnezzar king of Babilon, and for Baltasar his sonne, that their dayes vpon earth may be as the dayes of hea­uen, [Page] that ye may long do them seruice, and finde fauour in their sight.

The second duetie of a faythful Subiect, is in the ordering of his life, to abandon sinne and iniquitie: for (as Salomon decla­reth) For the iniquitie of the people, Pro. 28, 2. the Prince is often changed. These Israelites say, That they haue added this, desiring of a King, to all their other wickednesse, as their owne conscience accusing them of many other enormities. Looke how odious the name traytor is to the eares; and so gree­uous in deede should sinne be to the soule and spirite: for whosoeuer doe by heaping sinne vpon sinne, draw downe a vengeance vpon the place where they inhabite, are by the sentence of the Wise man, found guyl­tie of high treason against Prince and Countrey. Hose. 41. There is (sayth the Prophet) no trueth, no mercie, no knowledge of God in the land: but by swearing, lying, mur­dering stealing, & whooring, they breake out; and blood toucheth blood: therefore shall the land mourne, and the inhabitants thereof shall vtterly be destroyed.

The third duetie is in tongue also to car­rie him selfe loyall and duetifull. The Law [Page] of God is,Exod. 22 28 Thou shalt not rayle vpon the Iudges, neither speake euill of the Ruler of the people. Num. 12.2. Num. 21.6. The olde Israelites were some striken with Leprosies, some destroyed with Pestilence, with fierie Serpents, & many fearefull kindes of death, because they mur­mured against the Lords annoynted. These Israelites here,1. Sam. 12.2 do tread in their steps, when because Iabesh Gilead their citie was in great distresse, do therefore impute the fault to the gouernment vnder Samuel. Such is the wickednesse of many in our age, which because some troubles, dearth, and scarcity, are for a time befallen vnto, doe therefore murmure either against the Worde now preached, or the Gouernment now establi­shed: whereas in deede the occasion ought chiefly to be ascribed to their owne vngodly lyues, and to their wilfull disobedience a­gainst the lawes both of God and Soue­raine.Psal. 81.13. O (saith God by the psalmist) that my people would haue harkened vnto my voyce: For if Israel would haue walked in my wayes, I should soone haue humbled their enemies, & turned my hand against their aduersaries: I should haue fed them with the flower of Wheate, & with Ho­ney, [Page] out of the stony Rocke would I haue satisfied them. Ier. 44.1 When the Iewes (as it is in Ieremie) cryed out that thinges were not so cheape and plentifull amongst them since they gaue ouer baking cakes to the Queene of heauen, as they were before, when they worshypped the hoast of the Skies: where, I pray you, was then y^e fault? Not in the worde taught by Ieremie, but in the want of due obedience in the people to the voyce of God vttered by the Prophet. Euen so in these our dayes, the cause of the dearth and scarcitie which doth remaine a­mongst vs, is not in the worde now prea­ched, or the lawes now confirmed, but in the disobedience of the people both to the one and to the other. As (not to vse many instan­ces) the Worde of God, and the Statutes of our most gracious Soueraigne, do con­demne pride and excesse, as well in appar­rell as diet, with all vnthriftie gaming, and prodigalitie of life. Now where there is no regarde to auoyde these sinnes, but that so many runne wilfully headlong to exceede their calling, and to liue at a greater rate then their maynteinance doth extende vnto, How is it possible, but that thereby many [Page] must needes be brought to great distresse, want, and penurie. A late writer speaking of a dearth in Germanie, did yeelde this as the cause therof,Hulric. Hutten in aula. Omnes ferè per Germaniam principes egent propter luxum et vanitatē, qui­bus dediti plurima inutiliter absumunt. Videsne enim vt multa scurris, ludionibus, mimis, para­sitis ac musicis largiuntur? Videsne vt in aulis noctu diu (que) edatur et bibatur? vt pauimenta vino madeant? vt plus ebrij isti profundant quàm ingurgitent, plus ingurgitent quàm ferre possint? Tum ad aemulationem quoque dantur vestes, at (que) is est principum tumor vt quanto magis egent tanto minus egere videri velint, et idcirco nihil de pompa, nihil de apparatibus re­mittāt. What want we haue, must be impu­ted to our owne abuse of Gods blessinges, when for the prodigall wasting of them, God doth shorten them, & make the heauen as iron,Leuit. 26.19. and the earth as brasse. It must be laide vpon oux haughtie disobedience of the Law, and not vpon such decrees, statutes, and proclamations whereby the said abuses haue bin so often and so iustly prohibited. And yet if we would duely call to minde how wonderfully people are now multiply­ed in euery part of this our realme of Eng­land [Page] (by reason that although by warre we haue somtime lost some men, & by plagues also the Lord hath eftsoones corrected vs gently, and as it were shaken the rod at vs, and beaten vs with a soft hand: yet we haue had no such ciuill warres, and vniuersall plagues of Pestilence, Sweates, or other consuming diseases, which heretofore haue made waste ouer our whole land) if I say, we would duely consider the great increase of people now, in respect of that they haue bin in times past; and how notwithstanding, the Lord of his bountifull goodnesse hath from yeere to yeere, either mercifully pro­uided for vs within the land, graunting vs sufficient not onely to susteine our selues, but also to be helpfull and comfortable vnto others; or els plentifully supplyed our ne­cessities out of other countries, sending vs, though peraduenture not so much as we haue desired, yet infinite times more then we haue deserued: we should rather be en­forced to admire and reuerence the great mercies of God, then with vnthankfull mindes to repine and grudge against him.Gen. 12, 10. Gen. 26.2. Abraham was compelled by famine to flie out of Canaan into Egypt. Isaak dryuen to [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] flie to Abimilec king of the Philistines, and to dwell in Gerar. Gen. 45.2, Iacob forced to sende his Familie and Asses againe and againe to buy Corne of Pharaoes seruants. And although now through want of graine, we haue in many places endured some pu­nishment, yet hath it been nothing so hea­uily layde on, as heretofore it hath been vp­on many of our forefathers. In the yeere of our Lord God a thousand sixtie and nine, men were constrayned to eate Cattes, Dogges; yea, and mens fleshe, in sundry partes of this land. In the yeere one thou­sand three hundred and fifteene, some did eate Horse-flesh, some their owne children: and in diuers places, when Prisoners came to be committed which had any flesh vpon them, they were welcommed with plucking in peeces, and deuoured halfe aliue. Of late time, in the dayes of Queene Marie, many yet can remember how many thou­sandes in this land, for want of their ac­customed corne, were glad that they could feede vpon their bread of Ackornes. But we (although our people be now in a man­ner doubled or trebled aboue the number that were then) yet the Lord of his euerla­sting [Page] mercy, doth still vouchsafe to continue his goodnesse towardes vs: Whose proui­dence in thus susteining vs is as mightie and powerfull, and in a manner the very same that was in the time of the Flood in the Arke of Noah: which though it were but a small vessell,Gen. 6.15. the length but three hun­dred Cubites, the breadth but fiftie, the deapth but thirtie;Gen. 7.11. yet did the Lord in the same for the space of about a whole yeere together (for so long were they tossed vpon the waters) prouide not for Noah onely and his family, but also for all beastes, birdes,Gen. 8.13. and creeping thinges, two and two of euery kinde. How was it possible to any iudge­ment of man, that so small a vessell should conteine roome, reliefe and succour, for so many, and that for the space of so large a time? And how coulde it be that those beastes and birdes which do commonly one liue of the spoyle of an other, should yet be all both wilde and tame togyther, so long a time in the Arke, and not one deuoure an other. Heere the omnipotent power of God did wonderfully shew foorth it selfe. God multiplyed their foode. God helde his holy hand ouer them. God preserued [Page] them one from praying vpon another, and one from hurting an other. And so mira­culous in a maner hath been, and is the prouidence of God to this our Realme of England. It is but a small Arke, but a handfull in respect of other nations: it is with inhabiters mightily replenished: yet the Lord not one yeere (as in the Arke) but from yeere to yeere, and many yeeres hath fauourably preserued vs. And though there be many wylde beastes, amongst which with malcontented mindes doe gape for an alteration, that they may wreake their malice on the Sainctes of God, which haue their willes inwardly prone, and as it were the kniues in their handes ready drawen, to cut the throates of Gods chyldren: yet the Lord doth so with his power put a snaffie in their mouth, and a hooke in their nostrelles, that they haue not their purpose: The Lordes name be blessed therefore, and the Lord so bri­dle them euer hereafter, euen for his mer­cies sake, in his sonne Christ Iesus.

If these brutish natures had eyes to be­holde, and hartes to remember, what sin­gular blessinges the Lord hath bestowed [Page] on this small Ilande, that they could (as Samuel speaketh here to the Israelites) con­sider what great thinges the Lord hath done for them, 1. Sam. 12.24. they could not but be tou­ched with remorse and griefe for this their viperous and haynous vnkindnesse: where­as many other Countries about vs, either haue not the worde of God truely taught,1. Cro. 14.15. or if they haue it, they haue it eyther with warre or bloddshed, or (which is as ill) with ioyning together Christ and Belial. We may in all peace and quietnesse freely resort to the Temple to heare the worde of God and publicke prayer in a knowen language, whereby both hart and tongue may goe together; in which respect euery litle Village in this realme of Englande hath a greater blessing, then all that large and ample region of Spayne. And where­as other Nations about vs haue continuall broyles and troubles within the land, we stand as it were in a gallarie, as the Greeke prouerbe is [...], Extra telorum iactum, Lucian. in votis. where we may beholde them (though to our griefe) bayting and renting one an o­thers bowels: but we are free our selues from those outragious mischiefes. Wee [Page] feele those [...],Aristoph. in auibus. Plin. lib. 10 cap. 32. Plant. in paenulo. Halcyonios dies, as the auncient Writers haue obserued, that when the litle birde Halcyon, other­wyse called Alcedo, doth buylde her nest in the Sea bankes, be the Sea neuer so rigorous and stormie before, yet there fol­loweth then a great calme and quietnesse, which continueth till she haue hatched her young: duering all which time, the Ship­men in the Sicilian Seas, do feare no dan­gers of tempest.

This calme time, this milde, quiet, and peaceable time, the Lord hath graunted to vs, not for a few dayes, but for many happy yeeres togither. We enioy that sweete blessing which was in Iurie and Israel in the time of Salomon, 1. Reg 4.25 To dwell safely euery man vnder his owne Vine, and vnder his owne Figtree, from Dan to Beersheba: from one ende of the land to the other, euen all the dayes of Salomon. O that we were not become so drunkē with this our prosperitie as to forget that good Lord,Deut. 8.14. which hath giuen this good Land vnto vs!Deut. 32.15. O that we were not like Ieshu­run, spoken of in Deutronomie, like the Horse, which being fat and well fedde, [Page] fedde, doth spurne and flinge against his keeper, & nourisher! O that we were not lyke the vntamed Heyfar, Ier. 31.18. by reason of our long running in plentifull pastures, to for­get to cary the sweete yoke of obedience! O that we coulde make true vse of all the benefites and blessinges of our heauenly Father! that the louing kindnesse of God might leade vs to repentance:Rom. 2.4. that we could (as Samuel speaketh heere to the Is­raelites) Feare the Lord, and serue him [...]n trueth with all our hartes, 1. Sam. 12.24. and consider what great thinges he hath done for vs: Psal. 107.8. that we coulde Prayse the Lord for his goodnesse, and declare the woonders which he dayly doth for this realme of Englande:2. Sam. 12.14. Then shoulde the blessing of God still remayne vppon vs, both vpon Prince and people.Pro. 16.7. Then should the Lord continue his mercies in going in and out with our Armies. Psal. 8.13. Then should the Lord eyther make our enemies become our [...]riendes, or throughly turne his hande a­gainst our aduersaries.Rom. 13.1. Then should there [...]e amongst vs euery soule duetifully sub­ [...]ect to the higher powers. Then should we [...] all distresses, with contented mindes, [Page] cast all our care on God, 1. Pet. 5.7. for he careth for vs. Then should we in hart conceiue that assured confidence & trust in the goodnesse of God, that we should faythfully say with Dauid, Psal. 118.6. If the Lord be on our side, we neede not care what man can doe vnto vs. Then should the Lord long prosper,Psam. 21.4. and euen for euer preserue that happie Monar­chie vnder which we are here so peaceably gouerned, and graunt vs a Kingdome of euerlastyng peace in the worlde to come▪ Which giftes & graces, the Lord of Lords, and King of all Kinges, vouchsafe to giue vnto vs, for the merites of our sauiour Christ Iesus. To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost, one true and euer­liuing God, for all his inestimable benefites bestowed vpon vs, be all honour, glory, thankse­geuing, and prayse, now & for euer. Amen.

THE Amalechits (of whom Agag is now King, & whom GOD doth heere in this Chapter commaunde to be vtterly de­stroyed by Saule) were as the Prouerbe is [...], mali corui mala o­ua, of a wicked race a cursed generati­on, as descended of one Amalec, Gen. 36. v. 12. who was a base sonne of Eliphas the sonne of Esau, by a concubine named Timna. Exod. 17.14. They did with such bloudy hearts af­flicte and assault the Israel [...]s in Re­phidim [Page] when they were comming out of Aegypt, Deut. 25. v. 17. especially in following them and beating downe the hinmost of them, killing such as they saw were faint and weary and not able to march with the rest, that God did both assure his seruant Moses that he would de­stroy the remembrance of Amalec from vnder heauen, and also by Moses com­maund the Israelites, that as soone as they had gotten victory of their ene­mies about them, they should put in execution that decree of Gods venge­ance denounced against those Amale­kites. For although the Lord doe suf­fer for a time the wicked to rage and make hauocke of his seruants, yet hee doth also determine & appoint a time when their outrage and crueltie shall be punished and reuenged. He permit­ted for a time Pharaoh to oppresse the Israelits Senacherib to triumph a­gainst, Ezechias with blasphemous speches:Exod. 14, 28. 2. Reg. 18.13. but he appointed also the time when the one should be ouerwhelmed in the sea, and the other murdered by his owne children. He suffered for a [Page] time Herod, Nero, Maxentius, Dio­clesian, Maximinus and others to perse­cute the faithfull Christians in the pri­mitiue Church: but hee determined also a time when Herod should be ea­ten vp with wormes,Act. 12.23. Maxentius fall off a bridge and together with horse & harnes be ouerwhelmed in y^e waters, Dioclesian poyson himselfe, Nero cut his own throat, & Maximinus so be pla­gued w^t vermine y^t no Phisitian could abide to come neare vnto him. A time the Lord gaue to the Amalekites to em­brew their hands in the bloode of the Israelits, Deut. 25.17. and a time also did the Lord prescribe when their crueltie should be remembred to their vtter confusion.Ps. 56. v. 8. For if God (as the Psalmist speaketh) doe put the teares of his Saints in his bottell, much more shall God remem­ber the bloud of his Saints. The A­malekites shewed themselues to haue cruell and very vnmercifull heartes when they murdered such as were faint & wearie and by reason of their weaknesse no waie able to encounter with them: But now lege talionis, by [Page] the law of like recompence God doth commaunde an vtter destruction of them, their wiues, their children, their sucklings their cattell,Iam. 2. v. 13 and whatsoe­uer appertaineth to them, that iudge­ment may be without mercie to them which shewed no mercie. Achab and Iezabell for Naboths vineyard caused Naboths bloud to be shed:1 King. 21.19. but as dogs did licke the bloude of Naboth, so of dogs also was their bloode afterward deuoured.Iudg. 1. Adonibezeg cut off the thumbs and toes of seuentie Kings & made them gather breade vnder his table: the same despightfull reproach which he had measured to others was at the last in like manner measured to himselfe. A most cruell enuie it was in Haman that could no way be satis­fied, but with the hanging of harme­lesse Mardocheus: Hest. 7.9. Hest. 9. v. 14. but by the iust iudg­ment of God Haman and his ten sons were hanged on the same gallowes which he had prepared for Mardoche­us. Seneca writeth that Xerxes the King of Persia when one Pithius came vnto him and desired him, that of his [Page] fiue sonnes which were prest out of all to be souldiers in Xerxes his armie,Seneca li. 3. de ira. cap. 17. it would please him to graunt him one of them to go home with him to be a com­fort to his ould age. The King tooke that sonne whom the father had made choyce of, and causing him to be pluckt in peeces he cast the limmes of the dead carkase on either side the waie, com­maunding his army to passe through them, and saying that he would in this manner purge and purifie his armie. But what did ensue thereupon? Xerx­es himselfe not long after being van­quished by the Grecians was compel­led to runne ouer the dead carkases of his armie to saue his owne life.Deut 15 v 11. God in his law did commaund the Iewes mercifully to make prouision for their poore and needy.Ezech. 16. v. 49. Amos. 8.6. But they (as the Prophets do euery where conuince them) had no care to strengthen the hand of the poore: nay most vnmerci­fully they bought and sould the poore for ould shooes, they vtterly made no account of them. But at the last they themselues were ouerrunne by stran­gers, [Page] and being exiled out of their na­tiue soyle were made a swarme of beg­gers to all posteritie.Iam. 2, 13. Euen so to these mercilesse Amalekites by the same te­nour of Gods iustice, though many hundred yeares after, yet now at the last there is iudgement denounced without mercie against them which shewed no mercie. For as when a man falleth timber, the longer he draweth his blow the deeper the Axe doth enter: and as the Archer the lon­ger he draweth his arrowe the more violently it doth strike and pearce: ea­uen so the longer the Lord doth with­holde his hand from punishing vnre­pentant transgressours, the more se­uerely at the last is the vengeance brought against them. But heere it may seeme strange to some that these Amalekites so long after should receiue the punishment of their predecessors transgression. Doth it stand with the iustice of God, for the fault of the fore­fathers so many hundred yeares after to destroy the posteritie? Heere some doe make answere that God doth lay [Page] temporall punishments vpon the sonne for the fathers offence, because tempo­rall punishments do oftentimes turne to the good and benefit of them which are afflicted.Esai. 39. v. 7. So it is threatned against E­zechias that because of an ambitious minde he shewed the Babilonians his trea­sures, therefore his children should be depriued of their kingdome and caried a­waie captiue.Hebr, 7. v. 10. But further seing that as Leui though he were fower generati­ons after Abraham, is yet saide to be shut vp in the loynes of Abraham, so euery po­steritie ought to be accounted as included in the personne of the predecessour; it may well be reputed iust in humaine lawes when any are found guilty of treason to account the bloode attainted, and it must needes be acknowledged most iust in God to lay the punishment of the trespas of the parents vpon the children con­tinuing in their parents wickednesse. Otherwise if the children, though by na­ture being children of wrath,Rom. 1 [...] 24. being yet by faith graffed into the true vine Christ Iesus, doe see what their fathers haue done, and feare, and not commit the like, [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] then, saith the Prophet, the sonne shall not beare the fathers offence, neither shal the father beare the sonnes offence, but that soule that sinneth that shall die. ver. 3. You shall no more vse that prouerbe, The fa­thers haue eaten sower grapes, & the chil­drens teeth are set on edge, as I liue saith the Lord, ye shal vse this by-word no more in Israell. When Saule was about to put in execution the commaundemente of God concerning the destruction of these Amalekites (who continuing in the steps of their forefathers were still professed enemies of the people of God) the Lord doth so order the matter,1. Sam. 15. v. 6. y^e first the Kenits who dwelled in the mountaines amongst the Amalekites should be called out, and set free from that calamitie and blood­shed.Iudg. 1.16. These Kenits were descended of Iethro, Exod. 18.21. who by comfort and good coun­saile had shewed mercie vpon the Israe­lits as they came from Aegypt, therefore doth the Lord now shewe mercie v­pon thousandes vnto such as fea­red him and regarded his commaun­dements. The best treasure therefore which parents can lay vp in store for [Page] purposes of God do seeme to varie,Rom. 10.29. which notwithstanding do abide stedfast and grounded fast for euer, onely by the vn­stable mutabilitie of man they appeare to become variable. The decrees of Gods iudgements, as that of Ionas against the Niniuits, Ion. 3. v. 4. yet fortie daies and Niniuy shall be destroyed, and that of Esay against E­zechias: put thy house in an order, Esai. 38.1. for thou shalt die and not liue, haue included in them a secret condition, to wit, vnlesse they should truly repent. For so in Ge­nesis God saide to Abimelech for his kee­ping of Abrahams wife, beholde thou art as a deade man, thou shalt surely die: Gen. 20. ver. 3. yet there followeth afterward, restore the wife to hir husband, for he is the Prophet of the Lord, he wil pray for thee and thou shalt liue. As the threatnings of GOD doe conteine in them a hidden condition of repentance, so the promises of aduan­cement in his temporall elections do cō ­prehend in them a secret condition of continuance in such duties as their func­tion requireth. In which because now Saule doth not abide, but falleth to ma­nifest rebellion against the word of God, [Page] he is therefore most iustly cast off and re­iected.

1. Sam. 15.11. Samuel before hee did denounce this iudgement of God in reiecting Saul, did first as it is saide in the xi. verse of this Chapter cry all night vnto the Lord Where a doubt may arise how Samuel could pray in faith seeing that his pray­er may seeme to be against the decree of GOD.Gen. 18.22 The like may be saide of Abra­ham praying for the Sodomits and of Ie­remie praying against the captiuitie of Ierusalem. Ier. 32.16. Saint Augustine doth verie well answere this question, Quomodo si­de orant sancti vt petant à Deo contra quàm decreuit? Aug, deci­uitate dei. lib. 22, cap. 2. nempe quia secundum voluntatem eius orant, non illā absconditā & incōmutabi lem, sed quā illis inspirat vt eos exaudiat alio modo. How doe the Saints pray in faith when they require a thinge of GOD against that which hee hath decreed? Truely because they pray according to his will, not his secret and vnchangeable purpose, but according to that will which hee doth so inspire into them, that hee heareth them some other way: hee heareth them, if not that way which [Page] they desire, yet vndoubtedly that way which hee knoweth to be most expedi­ent for them. And in the meane time their charitable affection,Anno dom. 558. obeying the generall commaundement of GOD cannot but be agreeable to the grounde of faith. We reade of Narses that noble Captaine of Italy who subdued the Goths, vanquished the Bactrians, and receiued by dedition all the Cities of Tuscia, that he neuer gaue his enemies the battaile, but hee wept in the Temple the night before. Such was the hu­maine and louing affection heere in Sa­muel, who before hee commeth to be a minister of the iudgements of GOD against Saul, doth first mourne and la­ment all the night before and earnest­ly solicite the Lord by humble praier: Afterwarde hee doth faithfully dis­charge that which the Lord had giuen him in commission concerning Saul of his wilfull rebellion against GOD in reseruing the fattest of the Cattle of the Amalekites (whereas GOD had commaunded their whole sub­stance to bee vtterlye destroyed,) [Page] And also of his wretched ingratitude in contemning that good God by whom he was, of in a manner nothing, annointed to be the king and heade of the Tribes of Israell. Saule being reprooued and mani­festly found guiltie, doth (as is the part of notable hypocrits) first giue glorious words to the Prophet and stand vpon iu­stifying of himselfe: Blessed art thou of the Lord, Ver. 13. I haue fulfilled the commande­ment of the Lord. Secondly he posteth off the fault to others,Ver. 15. accusing y^e people that they had spared the best & fattest of the cattell to offer them in sacrifice vnto God. And last of all hee continueth ob­stinate in defending of himselfe, thinking that the accusing of others might be for him a sufficient excuse, and alleaging the feare of the people as a cloake to co­uer his casting awaie of their feare of God. I feared (saide he) the people, and therefore I obeied their voice. Ver. 24. But Sa­muel sheweth him what were indeed the true causes of his sparing of Agag and of his carying away the fattest of y^e sheep & Oxen of the Amalekites, to wit, first his setting his heart vpon the prey, thou [Page] hast (saith he) turned thy selfe to the prey and done wickedly in the sight of God: and secondly a stubberne disobedi­ence against the worde of God, Ver. 19. which he doth at large describe in this verse which now especially is offered to our conside­rations. Wherein we haue two especial things to obserue. First the nature and effects of rebellion, which are here set out by comparing it with witchcraft and I­dolatrie. Secondly the iudgement of God against Saul being found guiltie of this detestable offence: Because thou hast cast awaie the worde of the Lord, therfore the Lord hath cast awaie thee from being King. Rebellion may well be resembled to witchcraft and Idolatrie in fower especiall respects:Eph. 2. v. 2 Gal. 5.20. first in regard of the originall, in that they all proceede of one fountaine, all fruites of infidelitie, all manifest workes of the flesh, all pro­ceede of yeelding to the suggestions of Satan, and renouncing to be gouerned by the spirit of God. Gregory Nazianze­ne saith verie well of witchcraft, [...] there can be no good vse of witcheries & [Page] sorceries, by which the Deuill doth enter and take possession of man. So of Idola­try the Apostle speaketh that those things which the Gentiles sacrificed to Idols, 1. Cor. 10.20. they sacrificed vnto deuils & not to God. The like may be saide of wilfull disobe­dience. For as faith is notably approued and declared by obeying the will of God,Gen. 22.10. so a stubberne rebelling against y^e commaundement of GOD is an euidēt token of an vnfaithfull renouncing of God. If any of vs being sieke shoulde haue two seuerall persons come vnto vs, whereif thone should bring a soueraigne medecine to cure our maladie, and the o­ther should bring a box of most deadly poyson, how shall it appeare in which of these two we place our greatest confi­dence? Surely the embracing of the parties counsaile and the taking of his receipt will manifestly declare, of whe­ther of them we haue conceiued the bet­ter thoughts, and whether we do more rely vpon: though we speake well of the one and neuer so much commend his ex­cellent knowledge, yet if we follow the aduise of the other, he is the man whome [Page] our heart doth most preferre. Euen so it falleth out in matters which do con­cerne our feeble and diseased soules. Whosoeuer they are that do refuse the soueraigne salue of repentance offered vnto them by the heauenly Phisition Ie­sus Christ, and do receiue the deadly poy­son of rebellion ministred vnto them by Sathan, their owne deedes do beare ap­parant witnesse against them, that how­soeuer in word they cal Christ their Lord and Sauiour, yet in the hearte the sug­gestions of Sathan haue found the chie­fest harbour. Secondly rebellion may well be compared to these sins of witch­craft, superstition & Idolatry in regard of y^e nature & qualitie of y^e offence, because they are all most odious & detestable in y^e sight of God. How abominable these trās­gressiōs are, is sufficiently made manifest vnto vs by those punishments which God in his word hath denounced against thē.Exod 22.18, Leuit. 20.27. & 19.31 & 20.6. The law is in Exod. that witches should not be suffered to liue, & in Leuit. that if any haue a spirit of diuinatiō & southsay­ing, they shal dy the death: yea it is de­noūced against such as seeke any helpe of [Page] them, that they shal be cut off frō amongst the people. For Idolaters there needeth no mention of any other law, but only y^t which is contained in the thirteenth of Deuteronomy, Deut. 13. v. 6.8.9. where the Lord doth com­maund vs that, if any do entise vs to go af­ter any strange God, our eye must not pi­tie him, neither must we shew any mercy vpon him, though it be thy brother the sonne of thine owne mother, or she that sleepeth in thine owne bosome, or thy friend that is as deare vnto thee as thine owne soule, yet (saith the law) thou shalt kill him, thy hand shall be first vpon him. Some to prooue that Idolaters are not now to be punished by death,Math. 13. ver. 25. do alledge that parable in S. Mathews gospel, where the seruants are cōmanded not to plucke vp the tares frō amongst y^e wheat,Ver. 41. but to let thē both grow together vntil y^e haruest. But our Sauiour doth there himselfe ex­pound it, that by the seruants are not mēt the Magistrats, but the Angels of God▪ and by the tares are signified not Idola­ters only,Ver. 38. but generally all the children of the wicked. The purpose then of the Parable is, not to abridge the authority [Page] of the Magistrate, but to shew how in this world the Lord with long patience doth permit the hypocrits to be mingled with the faithfull,Ver. 39. vntill in the haruest (which is there interpreted to be the end of the world) he shall by the ministery of his Angels seperate the sheepe from y^e goats and the good wheate from the darnell. For so I do rather translate it thā tares, for that Tares are called Aphacae or viciae syluestres wild firches: but Zizanium the word here used is according to Dioscori­des, Lolium, Darnell or Ray: and S. Hie­rom doth yelde this cause why he doth interpret it by Lolium, because that Dar­nell so long as it is in the blade can hard­ly be descerned from good corne, and so hypocrits in the Church for a long time can hardly be distinguished from true Christians. They say further that to punish Idolatours with death is nothing els but to throw them headlong to vtter condemnation. The like may be saide in deliuering from the punishment of death any other mischiefe whatsoeuer, because that if the malefactours be executed in y^e time of their vnrepentance, they are de­priued [Page] of all hope of saluation. But their execution is no occasion of their vnrepen­tance, yea rather it is an ordinary means to drawe such desperate mindes to some considerations of themselues, when se­ing their end to be most certainely at hand, they begin then or neuer to thinke of their owne estate, to renounde the world, and to call the Lord to remem­brance. They seeke also to strenghthen their opinion by that saying of Salomon, the throne of a King is established by mercie. Prou. 20. v. 28. But mercie and iustice cannot be saide to be things contrary, seing they are both commaunded by one God who is neuer contrary to himselfe.Iam. 1.17. Psal. 101. ver. 1. Da­uid in his meditations doth giue the first and principall place to mercie, my song shall be of mercy and iudgement, ver. vlt. yet hee affirmeth afterward in the same Psalme that betimes he will destroy all the wic­ked of the land that he may cut off all the workes of iniquitie from the Cytie of GOD. Numb. 12. v. 3.

Moses is saide to be the mildest man in all the earth,Exod. 32, ver. 82. yet he proceeded zea­lously against Idolaters when at one [Page] time were slaine about three thousande Samuell was of an humble spirite,1. Sam. 12, 3. as may appeare by his submitting him­selfe to be accountable to the common people (ouer whom he was gouernour) & offering them to recompence whatsoeuer iniury had beene done vnto them,1. Sam. 15.33. yet we see with what courage and zeale hee did afterward hew in peeces Idolatrous Agag.

To spare the Wolues is no mercie to the flocke, but extreame cruelty.Iosua. 23. ver. 13. Iud. 2. v. 3. The Israelites shewing too much fauour to Idolaters, are threatned to receiue then a iust reward, when they should finde those whom they had spared, to be at the last whipps to their sides, and thornes in their eyes. As by the punishment of death the Lord hath declared how greeuous and horrible the sinnes are of witchcraft and Idolatrie, so by the same meanes he hath laide open to vs how odious re­bellion is, and how hainous is the of­fence stubbornly to disobey the com­maundement of GOD. There nee­deth no further proofe of it, but on­ly to call to minde howe not the [Page] death of a few particular men, but death it selfe and the death of all men came first into the worlde by the disobedience of man.Rom. 5.19. Gen. 3.19 If riotous persons which will not harken to the voice of their parentes,Deut 21. v. 20. be condemned by the lawe to be storied to death, then what death doe they de­serue which wilfully resist the cōmande­ment of the eternal God? If they escaped not which despised him y^e speaketh in earth,Heb. 12.25 how shal they escape y^e despise him which speaketh frō heauen? As by tēporal plagues the greeuousnes of these sinnes are equally made manifest, so in eternal punishments Saint Iohn in the Reuela­tion doth signifie that they equally haue their portion.Reue. 21. ver. 8. The fearefull (saith hee, that is, they which feare men more than God) and the vnbeleeuers, and the abho­minable (that is, the stubberne & wilfull contemners of God) and witches, and I­dolaters, and Liars, they shall haue their part in the lake burning with fire & brim­stone, which is the second death.

A third resemblance wherein rebellion may well be compared with witchcraft and Idolatrie is, in that (as it appeareth [Page] heere plainely by the ensample of Saule) it is full of many glorious pretences and excuses. The witches haue a goodly pretence for their charmes and sorceries, when they defend that to heale the sicke, to releeue griefe and paine, to recouer things lost, must needes be a good and charitable deede.Math. 27. Ver. 6. But they consider not that good is to be done by good & lawfull means: we may not cast the price of blood into Corban, we may not robbe the poore to builde a Temple, we may not doe euill that good may come of it.Esay. 8.19. Mich. 3.7. Sor­ceries (as ye haue heard) are in the Law euery where condemned, the Prophets doe threaten sharpe iudgements against them. The very heathen men which knewe not the worde of God, yet by the lawe of nature they saw them to be most wicked and abhominable.Lib 2. de Repub. Plato doth condemne all [...] Iuglars, and Wisards and all those which can [...], bring dammage to their enemies by sacrifices and inchant­ments. If they pleade that they do good and no harme, Galen doth well call [...] [Page] [...] witch­eries and sorceries not only superfluous things, and besides all the groundes of Phisicke, but wholly deceiptfull and ful of illusions. A glorious pretence they haue when they vse deuout prayers and call vpon all the holy and sacred names of GOD: but this is onely a cloake to couer their villanies,2. Cor, 11, ver, 4, when to deceiue the simple the diuell doth transforme himselfe to an Angell of light. They will seame to imitate the Apostles of Christ, who wrought sundry miracles and cured many infirmites by the name of Iesus of Nazareth. But they did it ex mandato, by commaundement and by the vertue & power of Christ, but sorce­rers do it ex pacto, by some secret couenant and agreement with Satan. As Witches haue many goodly pretenses, so likewise Idolaters. The Romanists thinke their excuse sufficient that they worshippe not the Idoll, but GOD in and through the Idoll. Surely the Israelits were not so blockishe as to thinke that the golden Calfe which they had caused to [Page] bee made of their Iewels, was truely GOD, onely they woulde haue a vi­sible representment of God,Exod. 22. ver. 4. & y^t not in memory of any heathen God, but in re­membrance of that God which brought them out of the Land of Aegypt, yet was their deede most wicked Idolatrie. They say that if they put no holi­nes in the Idol, they may lawfully erect Images in memory of Christ and his A­postles with other blessed Saintes of GOD. Wherefore then doe the Spa­niards now take greater paines to vi­site the Idoll of Saint Iames in Com­postella, than they doe to any other Images of Sainte Iames, where­of they haue abundance in many o­ther their Temples? And wherefore did they in time past in England goe grea­ter iourneyes on pilgrimage to the I­mage of the Virgine Marie in Wal­singham, to Saint Anne at Buckstons, to Saint Chad at Lichfield, and to the holie Roode at Chester, than they did to any other the like Images set vp in other Churches, but onely that they did most certainely place some [Page] holines & vertue euen in the Idols thē ­selues? If onely men do seeke a remem­brance of Christ & his Saints, let them heare what auncient Clemens Alexandri­nus hath written,Clemens de imag. lib. 5. ad Iacobū fratre do­mini. Si velitis Dei imaginem colere, homini vtique benefacientes, ve­ram in eo Dei imaginem coletis, If ye haue a desire to worship the Image of God, do good then to man, and so ye shall in him worshippe the true Image of God. Christ tooke the shape of a poore seruant vpon the earth. What neede they to seeke a­ny deade Image,Phil. 2. ver. 7. when they haue so ma­ny liuely Images daily before their eyes, of whome our Sauiour doth so ma­nifestly affirme, that whatsoeuer is done to them, he will accept as done to his owne person? Math. 25. Ver. 40. Let them heare also what Saint Augustine saith honorandi sunt sancti propter imitationem non adorad [...] propter Religionem, Aug. de ver a relig. cap. 6. the Saints are to bee honoured for imitation, and not to be a­dored for Religion. The best Image which wee can erect of the Saints of God, is by following the steps of their godly life, to propound our selues vnto [Page] the worlde an Image of their vertue.Exod. 25, Ver. 18. Numb. 21.9. Another pretence they haue of following the ordinances of God in the olde Testa­ment, in the which were Cherubins and the brasen Serpent, Images allowed of the Lord. But those which were expresly commaunded cannot be drawne as a fit defence & a warrant for these which are not onely not commaunded, but are on the other side expresly forbidden. They were Types and figures of Christ,Heb 10. v. 1. Numb. 21.9. 2. King. 18.4. but the time is now come that such ceremo­niall shadowes are vanished awaie. If the brasen Serpent which was set vp by the cōmaundement of God himselfe, was yet afterward worthily broken in peeces by y^e godly King Ezechias & called Ne­hushtan but a peece of brasse when it was come to giue occasion of Idolatrie, then what ought to be done with the workes and deuises of men, which being erected against the diuine law of God, haue bene so long adored with Idolatrous worship? As these damnable sins aswell of witch­craft as of Idolatry haue many glorious shewes of coloured pretenses, so the like may be heere affirmed of Saul his diso­bedience [Page] and wilfull rebellion. He pre­tendeth first that the people did reserue the best and fattest of the sheepe and Ox­en to offer them in sacrifice. To this Sa­muel answereth,V. 22. hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt offering and sacrifice, as he hath when the voice of the Lord is o­beyed? beholde to obey is better than Sacrifice, Heb. 9.23. and to harken is better than the fatte of Rams. The sacrifices had these two especiall ends and vses: first to bee Types and figures of the death and pas­sion of Christ. Secondly to bee seales vnto the children of GOD of the slaying and mortifying of their owne iusts and affections. Vnto him (saith GOD) will I looke that is poore and of a contrite spirite and that trembleth at my words: Esay. 66. ver. 2. otherwise he that killeth a Bullocke is as he that slayeth a man, and he that sacrificeth a sheepe is as he that cutteth off dogges necks, hee that offe­reth an oblation is as he that offereth swines bloude, and hee that remembreth Incense is as hee that blesseth an Idol: and why? they haue chosen their owne waies and their Soule doth delight in [Page] their owne abhominations. Seing then that Saul hath not the inward grace to bee of a contrite spirite and to tremble at the worde of GOD, seeing that hee hath not his will and affections mortified and made subiect to the will, and commaundement of GOD, but doth chuse and follow his owne way and doth performe what seameth good in his owne fancie, his pretence of sa­crificing howsoeuer it might seame ho­linesse in the iudgement of carnall man, yet was it indeede a damnable hypocrisie most odious in the sight of GOD. Intents of the minde bee they neuer so godly in outwarde ap­pearance, yet are they wicked when they are without some grounde of Gods worde, but most wicked when they are directly against the worde,Deut. 12.8 The Lawe is in Deuteronomie that the people must in no wise performe that which seameth good in their owne eyes.2. Sam Ver. [...] When the Arke of GOD was carried from the house of Ami­nadab, Vzza when hee sawe the [Page] Oxen going awry, and the Arke rea­die to fall, put to his helping hande to saue the Arke from falling.Numb. 4. Ver. 15. This his intent might seame to be good and god­ly, but for as much as it was a breach of the law of God, wherein lay-men were forbiddē once to touch those holy things, he was therefore ouertaken with ven­geance,Pro. 14.12. and stricken with sodaine death, There is a waie (saith Salomon) that sea­meth good to man, Rom. 10.2. but the issues thereof are the issues of death. Paul saith of the Iewes that they had a zeale, but not ac­cording to knowledge:Math. 15.9 & therfore in vain they worshipped God while they taught for Doctrines, mens precepts.

The Apostle saith of himselfe that be­fore he was called, concerning zeale, he had persecuted the congregation of God.Phil. 3. v. 6 1. Tim. 1, 13. Yet hee affirmeth that in that his blind zeale hee was a blasphemer and a perse­cuter vntill he had obtained mercy for that which hee committed ignorantly. If the intent of the heart might serue for a sufficient warrant, then any Turke or heathen should be holden excused: for they thinke they worshippe a true God, [Page] yea the bloodie tormenters of Christians might then chalenge a full discharge and freedome for their tyranny,Iohn. v. 2. because (as our Sauiour doth witnesse) when they kill the Saints of GOD they thinke they do God good seruice. But thoughts & intents can no longer awar­rant vs, than they themselues be awar­ranted by the worde of God.Colos. 2.23. [...] (as the Apostle doth call it) will-wor­shippe be it neuer so deuout and zealous in outwarde shewe, yet if it be against the will and worde of God, it is nothing but a blinde zeale of a diuelish superstiti­on. The second pretence which Saul doth vse to cloake and couer his rebellion is, the feare of man. I feared (saith hee) the people and therefore I obeyed their voice. Ver. 24. This feare of man to permit or to commit wickednesse for feare of dis­pleasing man, is a crime to be condemned euen in the priuate persons of the inferi­our people, because all are commaunded one to exhort another,1. Thes. 5.11. and one to edyfie another, and our Sauiour saith gene­rally to all,Luc. 12, 4. feare not them that can on­ly kill the bodie and haue no more that [Page] that they can doe, but feare him which hath power to kill both bodie and soule and to cast both into hell fire. But it is much more to bee condemned, if it bee found in them which haue any charge of a publicke function. For of Ministers may be saide that which the Apostle Paul speaketh of himselfe,Gal. 1.10. If I should please men I were not the seruant of Christ. And all magistrates ought to approue them­selues to be such as Iethro doth describe them, to wit, men of courage, fearing God, Exod. 18.21. dealing truely and hating coue­tousnesse. But especially this crime of fearing man is most intollerable in them whome it pleaseth GOD to call (as hee did heere Saul) to the dig­nitie and Maiestie of supreeme gouer­nours and to possesse as it were the room of GOD vpon earth. When GOD had placed Iosua chiefe gouernour ouer his people hee gaue him in charge two especiall deuties:Ios. 1. v, 8 First that hee should neuer let the booke of the Lawe de­part out of his mouth, but so medi­tate in the same day and night,Ver. 9. that hee shoulde obserue and doe according [Page] to the thinges contained therein: and secondly that he should bee strong, and of a good courage, not to feare, nei­ther to bee faint hearted, for (saith God) I will bee with thee at hande which way soeuer thou goest. Whatsoeuer Saule doth pretende of the intent of Sacri­fice, and of his fearing the people, yet Samuel sheweth him what was indeed the true cause of his wilfull rebellion in sparing the cattell of the Amale­kites. Ver. 19. Thou hast (saith hee) turned thy selfe to the prey and doone wick­edly in the sight of GOD. To re­ceiue the spoyles of enemies is a thing of it selfe not vnlawfull in those which are authorised and armed with the sworde of Iustice: for sundrye times did Dauid carie away spoyles euen from the Amalekites, 2. Sam. 3.12. 1. Sam. 30.26. and sent part thereof for presents to the elders of Iuda, Ra­math and Bethel. But the pray which Saul doth turne vnto, was commaund­ed by the voice of GOD vtterly to bee destroyed, and no portion there­of to bee saued or reserued. Againe though it be permitted in lawfull warre [Page] to cary away the spoyles of such enemies as the Lord shall deliuer into our hands, yet is it not lawfull to set our heart vpon the spoyle, & to make that as it were the principal drift of our labours and ende­uours, as heere it is said of Saul that hee turned himselfe to the prey, as setting his heart especially vpon it:Eph. 5. v. 5. Phil. 3. v. 19. Which if he did of a couetous affection, then did hee make Mammon his Idoll: If he did it for his owne feeding and refreshing, then did hee make his belly his God and his glory to his shame: If he did it to please man, then was it also spirituall whor­dome and Idolatrie, As Saint Iames saith:Iam. 4. v. 4. O ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not the friendship of the world is enmitie against God? If any man will be a friende of the world, he maketh him­selfe the enemie of God. So that euery way this rebellion of Saul against the commaundement of God may bee fitly compared with the sinne of Idolatrie. The fourth thing wherein rebellion may well be compared with witchcraft and Idolatrie, is in sundry effects which they do equally worke in the hearts & estates [Page] of men: as first they do harden and make obstinate the heart of man. In witches what one amongst a thousand hath in many years bene seene to returne to the Lord by vnfained repentance? Of Ido­latours that may well be spoken which Ieremy saith of the Idolatrous people,Ier. 3.3. thou hast had a whorish face and wouldest not be ashamed, Psa. 135.18 and that which Dauid saith of the Idols themselues, they haue eyes and see not, eares and heare not, they that make them are like vnto them, and so are all such as put their trust in them. The custome of rebellion in Saul (for hee had wilfully broken another com­maundement of God before,1. Sam. 13.8 in refusing to tary for Samuel, for which disobedi­ence he was first denounced to be reiected of God) This custome, I say, of oppo­sing himselfe against the will of GOD,Ier. 3, 3. doth so harden the heart of Saul, that with a whorish countenance (as Ieremy speaketh of Idolatours) he doth now im­pudently defende that he hath done no­thing amisse, but perfectly fulfilled the will of God: and afterward as hauing eyes and not seeing, and eares and not [Page] hearing doth run headelong in the race of wilfulnesse euen vnto the ende of his miserable daies. Samuel when hee ex­horteth the people to auoide all Idola­trie and all setting their owne wils a­gainst the will of GOD, doth vse this reason, because (saith hee) they cannot profite nor deliuer you, 1. Sam. 12.21. for they are but vanitie. So that in this also these sinnes are resembled one to another, for that they are vtterly vnprofitable for the est­ate of mans life. That may well bee spoken of all the contemners of God which Osea saith of Idolaters,Osea. 8.7. they sow in the ayre and reape the winde, their bud bringeth forth no meale, their fruite is like blasted graine. Wee see it most euident in the common course of mans life,1. Tim. 6. ver. 6. that as godlinesse is a great gaine, and vertue is profitable to all things, so the seruice of sinne is vtterly vnprofi­table:Rom. 6.21. what fruite (saith the Apostle) had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? What fruite haue contentious men by their suites and de­baits,Gal. 5. v. 15 but as one doth bite another, so one in the ende to deuour another? [Page] What fruite receiue they which liue a dissolute life in whordome and dron­kennesse,Pro. 23.21 Pro. 29.3. Pro. 23.17. 2. Sa. 12.11. Pro. 6.23. Hos. 4, 11, 1. Cor 6, 10 Apoc. 22.15, but onely the consuming of their substance, the wasting of their health, trouble and vnquietnesse in their owne house, shame and confusion a­broade, the losse of spirituall graces in this life, and the losse of life eternall in the worlde to come? What fruite doth the couetous miser reape by his abundance of welth,Eccl. 4, 8 Pro. 10. ver. 2, when hee doth not possesse his goods, but is possessed of them, when hee hath them and can­not finde in his heart to vse them, when hee hath no hope to haue them blessed to the third generation, and especially what will it profit him if hee shoulde winne all the worlde, Mat. 16.26 and in the meane time loose his owne soule? As liuing in the obedience of Gods worde in goodnesse of life is called by the Apostle [...] a greate gaine and profit:1. Tim, 6, 6 so disobeying the Lord by riotous­nes of life doth heape vpon man all pla­gues and miseries.

The people which here vnder Saul doe against the commaundement of GOD [Page] keepe some cattell to make a wil-wor­ship of their owne, do reserue the best & fattest of the sheepe and Oxen: wherein wee may further obserue how forwarde and zealous men are to set forth & main­taine those things which they haue hat­ched in their owne braine against the di­rect rule of Gods word. For I can ac­count no better of their sacrifices when they will make them as seales of their disobedience against God.

Exod. 32.3The people of Israell to erect a gol­den Calfe would part with their Ear­ings, euen the best Iewels they had: but in the true worshippe of God euery thing went hard with them, they were conti­nually murmuring & grudging against Moses and Aaron. When Elias could finde little succour amongst the Israe­lits their successours, Iezabel to main­taine the Idolatry of Baal kept fower hundred Chaplaines, as it is saide in the Scriptures,1. Reg. 18.19. there were fower hundred Priests of the groues that did eate at Ie­zabels table. Wee see in our daies ma­ny monuments and remnants of super­stition which do sufficiently lay open to [Page] vs, how forward they were in times past to maintaine their wilworshippe, and we see also on the other side (more is the pit­tie,) by too lamentable experience, how colde and backwarde we are to vpholde and resorte vnto the true seruice of God framed according to his worde. Manie now are like vnto childrē, who if they be cōmaunded any thing by their parents, they are eyther by and by hungry & wea­rie, or straight way oppressed with heat or colde: but if they runne headlong vpon any deuise of their owne braine, they continue in their trauell a long time without feeling hunger or colde, a whole day will scarce suffice for their vaine in­uentions. Euen so it is with many men, which though they be growne in stature,1. Col. 14.20. yet are children in vnderstanding and knowledge: what pleaseth their owne hu­mors and affections, y^t they are forwarde with greate charges to sustaine. But if any thing be cōmaunded by godly lawes of Christian Princes, agreeable to the worde of God, of that they make little or small account. So likewise it falleth out in the performance of the duetyes of [Page] the second Table.

If there be any thing that shall disobey the commaundement of GOD, any rio­tousnes of life, any pride, any vncleane lustes, any excesse and surfeting, how for­ward are we, nay how prodigall to com­passe and accomplish such dissolute affe­ctions? But if any thing be to be done in obedience of the word, any poore to be re­leeued, any vertuous acte to bee perfor­med, alas how colde are we then, how sparing? yea rather how froward? how obstinate? Rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft, and stubborne resisting as superstition and Idolatry. Of the second part of this text, to wit, of the iudgement of God denoūced against Saul for this his rebellion, I shall (godwilling) intreat at some other conuenient time. In y^e meane while, as the Lacedemonians by shewing to their children the lothsome sight of dronkards, would therby withdraw their youth from that lewde and beastly vice, So let this viewe and beholding of the horrour of rebellion, effect and worke in our hearts a perfect hatred of all disobe­dience. Let vs earnestly endeuour to be [Page] that flock of Christ which heare his voice and follow him, that so we may be cer­tainly assured,Ioh. 10.27. that he will giue vnto vs eternall life, and that nothing shall bee able to plucke vs out of his hands. Let vs shewe forth the fruite of our faith by humble obedience,Gen. 22, 10 as did faithfull Abra­ham, y^t walking after y^e spirite, we may be fully certified that we liue by the spi­rite.Gal. 5.25. Let vs order our conuersation due­tifully in the feare of God, as becommeth obedient children, in sacrificing & mor­tifying our owne wills and affections y^t so being sonnes and daughters,1. Pet, 1, 14 Col, 3, 5. 1. Cor. 6, 18 Apoc. 1, 6, yea kings and priests to God the father in this life we may raigne with him for euer in his eternall kingdome in the world to come,Apo, 22, 5, whereunto he speedily bring vs all, that mercifully dyed for vs all, our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus, To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost, three per­sons and one true and euerliuing God, bee all honour, glory, thanksgiuing & praise now and for euer. Amen.