WHAT care the Lord charged his Prophet to take for preserving that fiue-worded name of Christ, Esa. 8.1. Velociter spolia detrahe, festina prae­dari: Make speed to the spoile, haste to the prey; The like, let me beseech you (right Honorable, right wor­shipfull, right deare and Christian brethren) to take of this fiue-worded text of mine: (for the words, though in English the articles make them swell to a greater num­ber, yet in Latine they are but only fiue; Novit iustus iu­mentorum suorum animas: and in Greeke iust as many, [...]) namely, to take vnto you not two or three loose papers, but Volumen, a booke; and not a little petty book, but Grande volumen, a great book; and to write in it, not with lead, which will soone bee obliterated and blotted out, but Stylo, with a pen; & not with the pen of a curious scribe, whose writing few or none but the learned can read, but stylo vulgari, or stylo hominis plebeij (as M ^r. Calvin hath it) with the penne of a vulgar Scribe, whose writing may bee familiar to the meanest reader. And what is my desire herein, but that b Calvin. in Esa. 8. [Page 2]which is also the meaning of the holy Ghost in that place (as Ad. Sasbout ibid. Adam Sasbout hath well observed) to giue you to vnderstand, that the wordes though but fiue in number, yet are they of very great weight and conse­quence; and that vnder them is veiled such varietie of mysteries, that if any should take vpon him to reveale them, he should never be able to doe it, no not in the largest volume; That therefore they are not lightly to be reguarded, but carefully to be registred & kept vpon record.

A righteous man is mercifull to the life of his beast. The sacred fire of this sweete affection of mercy is so kindled within the bowels of a righteous man, that smothered it cannot, it will not be; it must & will break forth. And therefore it is not only [...], miseretur, in the Septuagint; which noteth his inward affection: but (as the vulgar Latine hath it) Novit, he knoweth, or re­guardeth: (as Tremelius) Curat, he careth for the life of his beast; which argueth the manifestation of it in outward action.

First, Novit, he knoweth, or reguardeth. The phrase may seeme somewhat strange to the ignorant; yet (strange as it is) yee haue it in many other passages of holy writ. I will name but onely two, which haue best correspondence with my text. The one is Psal. 1.6. Psal. 1. Nouit Dominus viam iustorum: The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; as here, Novit iustus vitam iumentorum: A righteous man knoweth the life of his beast. The other is Esa. 1.3. Esa, 1. Novit bos possessorem suum: The oxe knoweth his owner; as here, Novit possessor bovem suum: The owner knoweth or reguardeth his oxe, or his beast.

[Page 3] 2. Yea, hee so reguardeth it, that his Novit is al­so a Curat. He makes it some part of his care and labor, to intend the preservation and welfare of his beast.

There is first Intensio, the Intension of a righteous mans mercy.

Then secondly Extensio, the Extension of it appeareth in the obiect, in that it stretcheth it selfe so far, as to his beast. For a beast is not (as we say in schooles) Obiectum adaequatū, the adaequate obiect, but Partiale, one particular obiect of a righteous mans mercy. The meaning is; that he reguardeth not only the life of men, which is ever in the first place to be reguarded, as being a thing so preti­ous, that of all other things it best deserues reguard (for it's a truth though it were spoken by the father of vn­truths, the Divel; Iob. 2. [...]. Skin for skin, and all that ever a man hath will he giue for his life) but his bowels are so enlar­ged with pitty, that hee will not wrong, no not a brute beast; nay more, he will be sure to doe it right, and the more right, the lesse able it is to right it selfe: and that he may doe it right indeed (as he must, if he wil be righ­teous) he is ever ready to afford it such necessary helps, as may any way conduce to the mainteinance of life.

Neither stands he thus affected to some one beast on­ly, because peradventure he hath in all but one; which was the case of 2. Sam. 12.3. the poore man in the parable which Nathan propounded to David, who having but onely one little sheepe, hee so cherisht it, that it ate of his owne morsels, and dranke of his cup, & slept in his bosome, & was vnto him as his daughter: but, bee hee never so rich in beasts, to all of them doth hee stand so humanely affec­ted, that he will not suffer any one of them to perish [Page 4]for want of tending. And therefore the Septuagint read it not [...], the life, but [...], the liues; not [...], of his beast, but [...], of his beasts in the plurall. A righ­teous man is mercifull to the liues of his beasts.

Having briefely illightened the letter of my text, I come now to the parts; which are principally two:

• 1 The one; a generall Thesis. A iust mans is mercifull.
• 2 The other; a particular Hypothesis. He is mercifull to the life of his beast.

In the Thesis, there is

• 1 The Subiect; Iustus, a righteous man.
• 2 And then, the Affection of that subiect: Misere­tur: is mercifull.

In the Hypothesis, there is

• 1 The Obiect of that affection: The life of his beast.
• 2 And thē, in the Obiect (couertly implied) a three-fold reason of his affection therevnto.

So that, first we are to cōsider (How) then (Why) a righ­teous man is mercifull to the life of his beast. The (How) is sixe fold: the (Why) three-fold, as yee shall heare anon.

First then to begin with the Thesis. 1 THESIS. A righteous man is mercifull: and therein, first with the Subiect; Iustus, a righteous man.

This one word Iustus, 1 Iustus. a righteous man, yeildes three things worthy your observation.

1. Scarsity of righ­teous men.1 The first, that there is a very greate scarsity of righ­teous men. I deny not, but that Iustus, a righteous man, may here stand for Iusti, righteous men, by an [...], or [...], which is the surrogation of the singular num­ber for the plural, (a figure very frequent thorowout the whole booke of God) yet, considering that in the [Page 5]clause next ensuing, (viz. Viscera impiorum crudelia; the bowels of the wicked are cruell) the opposite word to Iustus, a righteous man, is not Impius, a wicked man, but Impij, wicked men; I doubt not, but I may hence no lesse fitly, than truely obserue, that there is a very great penury & paucity of righteous men: as on the other side there is Messis multa; a great provent & harvest of wicked men.

For good men (saith Iuven. Sa­tyr. 13. the Satyrist) are very scarse; equall in number to the gates of Thebes, or to the mouths of Nilus, which were but seaven. So scarse; that 1. Cor. 9.24. the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. comprehends them all vnder one; Vnus accipit branium: One receiueth the price. One; yet not simply one & no more; but One (saith Lyran. ibid. Lyranus) by a Synecdoche, for a very few. In token whereof, in all the olde world (which yet (I feare) was somwhat better thā this new) there was but one righteous Noah, & seavē more of his family, that were saved frō perishing in the waters; yet of those 7 one a cursed Cham. And of all the 10 le­pers that were clensed by our Saviour Christ, Luc. 17 15. Luc. 17. there was but onely one that returned to giue thankes. As for the other nine, they might very well be summ'd vp, and figured with a cypher.

Yea, such a dearth is there of iust men, that in Scrip­turephrase the iust are lesse than one, even iust none: Pe­rijt iustus de terrâ, & rectus in homine non est: Mich. 72. Mich. 7. The iust man is perished from the earth, and there is none righteous among men. And the Prophet David hath told vs foure times (for failing) that, Psal 13 24. there is none that doth good, no not one. Twice, Psal. 13. and Psal. 52.2.4. twice more, Ps. 53.

[Page 6] 2 A second thing to be observed in the Subiect, 2. Religion the roote of righte­ousnesse. is this; that the roote of righteousnesse, is religion, as irreligion is the roote of vnrighteousnesse and iniustice. This I ga­ther ex vi vocis, out of the signification of the word [...], irreligious, which in the next clause is opposed to [...], righteous. For if the wicked be therefore [...], vn­righteous, because they are [...], irreligious, then sure­ly à contrario, by an argument from the contrary, the godly is therefore [...], righteous, because he is [...], religious, hauing ever the feare of God before his eyes.

No true iustice thē without true religion. For though some of the heathen men were morally iust in an emi­nent manner, as was Aristides, who was therevpon surnamed Iustus, the Iust: yet could none of them pro­perly be tearmed iust. For both their iustice and what­soever other virtues they had (because not seasoned with religion) were (by Austin. St Austins verdict) at the best but splendida peccata goodly and glorious sinnes.

Learne wee therefore (as in Zacharies song wee are taught Luc. 1.75. Luc. 1. to serue God in holines and righteousnesse all the daies of our life. Not in righteousnesse without ho­linesse (for no better can that be than a painted righte­ousnesse) but in holinesse and righteousnesse both toge­ther, else can we serue him in neither: because (as Theoph. ib. The­ophylact noteth vpon that place) Sanctitas est iustitia er­ga Deum: iustitia verò sanctitas erga homines. Holinesse is righteousnesse towards God: and righteousnesse is holinesse towards men.

3. What kinde of righteousnesse here denomina­teth a righteous man.3 A third thing to be observed in the Subiect, is this; what kinde of righteousnesse it is, that here denomina­teth a righteous man! Not to recount those many se­verall [Page 7]sorts of righteousnesse which both Divines and Philosophers teach; I take it, that the obligation or bond of righteousnes wherein a righteous mā stands bound to his beast, is (if we properly speake) a bond of Oecono­micall or houshold-righteousnesse, Occonomicall righteousnesse. which bindeth him to an honest care and reguard not only Familiae, of his family, but Rei familiaris, of his cattell, and of all things else, that apperteine to the good and welfare of his family.

Howbeit, because wee are now in the booke of Para­bles, and my text is not so much literally spoken, as in a parable; [...] (as Heb. 11.19. the Apostle speaketh of A­brahams oblation of Isaak) I say, in a parable or similitude of that reguard, which a righteous man hath, as of his beast, so much more of men, though among men of those especially, that more especially belong to his care and custodie; not vnfitly may we reduce it to that vni­versall Morall righteousnesse, which duly distributeth to every one his owne. To every one his owne; that is, Morall righte­ousnesse. (faith Anselm. Anselmus) Maiori reverentiam, pari concordiam, minori disciplinam &c: Reverence to our Superiour, con­cord to our equall, discipline to our inferiour, obedience to God, sanctimonie to our selues, patience to our enemie, works of mercy to the poore; I may adde out of my text; even to our poore beast. For so general must be the extent & ema­nation of righteousnes, dispēsing to every one his due, that it must not exclude, no not beastes themselues, and therefore much lesse men: yea, by so much the lesse, by how much a man is more worth, thā a world of beasts; though it's rufully true, that many men, (so deboshed and depraved is their condition of life) might better be [Page 8]spared than some one beast.

Let no man then of what estate or qualitie soever thinke to shift off this duty of distributiue righteousnes, as if it concern'd him not; For no lesse doth it concerne every man, than doth the very nature of man: so that to shift off righteousnesse, is to shift off humanitie and all. Vir à virtute: a man (saith Cicer. the Orator) hath his name of virtue: but vir à iustitia: a mā (say J) hath his nature, that is, the perfection of his nature, from this virtue of iu­stice. For (to say nothing of that outward rectitude and vprightnesse of mans body, which yet ought to teach vs an inward rectitude and vprightnesse of minde; Bernard. Nihil e­nim indecentius, quàm in recto corpore curvum animum gerere: For there is nothing more vndecent, than to carry a crooked minde in a streight body) what else, I pray you, is that purer part of conscience, which the Schoolemen call [...], seated in the vpper portion of the reasonable soule of man, but Inflexibilis mentis rectitudo, an inflexi­ble rectitude, or vprightnesse of minds, which cannot pos­sibly be swaied to anie kinde of iniustice, Aquia. Quia instigat ad bonum, & murmurat de malo: because it prickes a man forward to good, and checkes him for evill? So that, as Austin. S ^t Austin saith of sinne, that Omne peccatum est volun­tarium, at (que) it a voluntarium, vt si non sit voluntarium, nō sit peccatum: Every sin is voluntary, yea so voluntary, that sinne is no sinne, vnlesse it be voluntary: so may I also tru­ly saie of man; that Every man is naturally iust, yea so iust, that man is no man, vnlesse he bee iust. The truth hereof hath Eccles. 12.13 Salomon sealed and delivered vnto vs, Eccles. 12. Let vs heare the end of all: feare God, and keep his comman­dements: (there is vniuersall righteousnesse) for this (saith [Page 9]he) is the whole duty of man. So our English translations haue it: but, the vulgar Latine; Hoc est omnis homo: this is whole man, or, pefit man. Out of which place Hugo de Sāct. Victore. Hugo de Sancto Victore reasoneth thus: Siomnis homoest, qui De­um timet, & mandata cius obseruat, constat quod ille homo nonest, qui hoc non facit, if he be whole man, or perfit man that feareth God and keepeth his commandements, why then it's cleare and out of controversie, that whoso feareth not God, nor keepeth his commandements, is no man. For it hee know God & his commandements, & yet neither feare the one, nor obserue the other, hee is a contemner of both, and is magis Diabolus, quàm homo; rather a Diuell, than a man: but if he knowe not God, not his comman­dements, hee is blind, and is magis bestia, quàm homo; ra­ther a beast, then a man: but if he knowe, and feare God, and keepe his commandements, verè homoest, why then he is a man indeed (saith Hugo) that is, a whole, a perfit man.

Yee shall see this note made good out of the very letter of my text For it is not here said, [...], in the Greek; or vir iustus, in the Latin; though the English phrase enforce the additament of (man) to iust: but [...], iustus; iust, without the addition of man: as if it were all one to say, [...], or, [...]; Iustus, or vir iustus; iust, or, a iust man; because either a man must bee iust, or else no man; that is, no whole, no perfit man.

And so from the former part of the Thesis, which is the Subiect; iustus, a iust man, which must be (as yee haue heard) euery man that will be a man indeed; I come now to the later, which is the affection, 2. Miseretur. or attribute of that subiect: Miseretur, is mercifull. As the roote of his righ­teousnes [Page 10]is piety, so the fruite of it is pitty: which is Pro­prium quarto modo: a proper passion so inseparably atten­ding the righteous man, that it agreeth Omni, soli, & semper: to every righteous man, to a righteous man only, & alway to the righteous. And therefore it is not here said, [...]; Ille iustus; that iust man, per excellentiam; a man in the superlatiue degree of iustice iust, as if it were possi­ble for a man to be iust in some inferiour degree, & yet not mercifull: but [...], indefinitely; a iust man, a man that hath but any iot of iustice in him, it cannot be but that such a man will be mercifull. So that, as before I noted, that every man (truly and properly so called) is iust, yea so iust, that if hee bee not iust, he is no man: so may I also truly averre, that every iust man is mercifull, yea so mercifull, that if he bee not mercifull hee cannot be iust. For so inviolably are all virtues ioin'd together, that all of them make but as it were one chaine, like that [...], or golden chaine in Homer. Ili­ad. θ. sub init. Homer, reaching from earth to heaven: so that if yee breake but any one link, that is, if yee lacke but anie one virtue, the whole chain will presently be dissolued and fall in sunder. Vnaquae (que) enim virtus tanto minor est, quanto desunt caeterae: For e­very virtue (saith Greg. Moral l. 22. c. 1. S ^t Gregory) is so much the lesse, the lesse it is accompanied with other virtues: and if any virtue bee single or solitarie from other, it is either none at all, or at the best but vnperfit. Now if such bee the affinity and con­iunction of all virtues, that no one of them may be di­vorced or sequestred from other: much lesse may two so neare friends, two such Alter Ego's as are mercy and iustice be dissociated or disunited one from the other.

I know it to be the erroneous conceit of the vulgar [Page 11]sort, that of all other virtues these two are most incom­patible, and are opposed, as it were at crosse-angles, Mercy and iu­stice are not cō ­trary. one to the other.

But see, I pray you, the inconsequence and absurdi­ty of that conceit. For, first, 1. One virtue is not contrary to another. If wee graunt them to bee contraries; then shall wee bee enforced to deny at the least one, if not both of them, to bee virtues; because though one vice may be contrary to another vice, yet one virtue is never contrary to another virtue, but on­ly to vice. Againe; If wee admit them to bee contraries, 2. God is not ca­pable of contra­riety. then may wee not in any case suppose them to bee in God, because God being ever vnchangeably one, and the same, is not capable of any contrariety what­soever. And if we suppose them not to be in God, then where shall bee that bountifulnesse, and severity of God, spoken of by Rom. 11.22 S ^t Paul, Rom. 11? Or how shall it bee true that Psal. 25.10. David saith, Psal. 25? All the waies of the Lord are mercy, and truth: Where veritas, is put for severitas: truth, for iustice.

Mercy and iu­stice are the ve­ry essence of God.Diue but yet a little deeper into this point, and yee shall finde, that the mercy, and iustice of God, are so farre from crossing, or contradicting one the other, that they are the very essence of God: according to that ancient rule of the Schooles: Quic quid est in Deo, De­us est: whatsoever is in God, is God himsefe: and therefore both of them as great as himselfe: both infinite, as hee is infinite. Whence it is, that God, in that his gratious proclamation of mercy; Esa 43.25. I, even I am he, that putteth a­way thine iniquities; addeth; Propter me for mine own sake. Zanch de attrib. l. 1. c. 1. His meaning was for his mercies sake, not for any merit of ours; yet hee saith not Propter misericordiam; [Page 12]meam; for my mercies sake; but, Propter me; for mine owne sake; to shew, that his mercy is not in him, as ours is in vs, a thing different from his essence, but that himselfe, in the simplicitie of his owne essence, is mercy it selfe. Now, Mart. Bucer in Rom. 9. the same which wee call the mercy of God, is also his iustice, because it is his nature (as is his iustice) whereof wee haue no knowledge, or apprehension, saue only by his workes. And of all his works, whither of mercy, or iustice, he hath none other reason saue on­ly his will.

As therefore it is true, that Cuius vult, miseretur: He hath mercy, on whom hee will haue mercy; neither hath hee any other cause of extending his mercy to any, saue only his will: so it is as true, that Deus nihil potest facere iniqui, dum facit pro suâ voluntate: God can doe no iniu­stice, because he ever workes according to his owne will; and iniustice he cannot will, his will being iustice it selfe, & that generall rule of iustice, which only of all other can suffer no exception.

Seeing then, both the mercy & iustice of God is God himselfe; far be it from any Christian heart, to seeke to set God at ods with himselfe, by opposing his mercy a­gainst his iustice, as if they were [...], and could not stand togither: or, to denie that to our Iehovah, which the heathen attributed to their Ioue; to wit, that hee is Optimus Maximus; the Best and the Greatest: the Best, for his mercy; and the Greatest, for his iustice.

But are these two virtues ( mercy and iustice) thus re­conciled in the Divine nature only, as being essentiall vnto it? No; Psal. 85.18. the Psalmist tels vs, Psal. 85. that in the per­son of Christ, consisting of two natures, Divine, and Hu­mane: [Page 13]Mercy and truth are met togither; Mercy and iu­stice in Christ. righteousnesse and peace haue kissed each other. For, Austin. l. de Spir. & liter. c. 9. Legem & misericordi­am in linguâ portat Christus: legem, quâ reos faciat super­bos: misericordiam, quâ iustificet himiliatos. Christ carries in his tongue, both a Law of iustice, and a Gospell of mercy: a Law of iustice, wherewith to convince the proud, of sin: and a Gospell of mercy, whereby to iustifie those that are humbled. And Bernard. de adven. serm. 2 S ^t Bernard compares our Saviour Christ to a Bee, which flying into the city Nazareth (which by in­terpretation signifieth a flowre) there allighted vpon the sweetest flowre of virginitie, that ever the earth yeilded. The Psalmist (saith Psal. 101.1. hee) knewe well, that this Bee had Mel & Aculeum; hony and sting both, when hee said Psal. 101. My song shall bee of mercy and iudgement; vnto thee, o Lord, will I sing. And Psalm. 25.8. againe, Psal. 25. Dulcis, & rectus Dominus. The Lord is sweet, and righteous. Bernard. in tract. de 12. grad. humil. Dul­cis, quia perire non patitur: rectus, quia punire non oblivis­citur. Sweet, because he doth not suffer vs to perish & righ­teous, because he doth not forget to punish. Sweet in his first comming; righteous in his second: sweet in his promises; righteous in his iudgements: sweet in his mercy; righte­ous in his iustice. And whosoever hee is that will not taste of the hony of his mercy, shall be sure to feele the sting of his iustice. So Cant. 5.10. Cant. 5. he is said to be Candidus, & rubicundus; white, and red. White in his right hand, Ra­tione influxuum gratiae & misericordiae; in reguard of the sweet influences of his grace and mercy: and Red in his left, Respectu defluxuum iustitiae & punitionis: in respect of the bloudy fluxes of iustice & vengeance descending from him. And it is Cant. 8.3. the Spouses wish, Cant. 8. that hee would put his left hand of iustice vnder her head; that so, re­membring [Page 14]his iudgements, shee may the rather apply herselfe to divine things; and that hee would embrace her with his right hand of mercy, of which it is written, Psalm 16. v. vlt. Psal. 16. At thy right hand there is pleasure for euermore. Thus are mercie & iustice wel agreed, both in God, & his Christ. But yet withal it would be observed, that Oleum supernatat vino: Gods mercy exceeds his iustice. the oyle of Gods mercy doth swimme a­bone the wine of his iustice. A man would haue thought, that if ever the iustice of God shoulde haue gotten the victory over his mercy, it should haue bin in triumph over those cruel persecutors, that so grievously tormented Christ at his passion, yet Christ not only prayed for them, but (as Austin. de vtilit poenit. S. Augustin sweetly speaks) his mercy left them not, Quous (que) eius iam sanguinem nôssent bibere cre­dentes, quem fuderant saeuientes: till they knew how to drink that bloud of his as belieuers, which they had spilt as bloudy persecutours.

Iustly then may it be questioned, what the Psalmist might meane, Psal. 150. when he saith Psal. 150.2. Laudate domi­num, secundùm multitudinem magnitudinis eius: Praise ye the Lord; according to the multitude of his greatnes. The multitude of his greatnes? what's that? Surely, the mul­titude of God, if we consider him according to his Di­vine essence, is the number of persons in the Godhead, which is finite, because but three: But the magnitude of the divine essence is not finite, but infinite. Wherefore David willeth vs to praise God, not according to the greatnes of his multitude, that is, somuch as his greatnes is to be praised (for that's impossible:) but according to the multitude of his greatnes, even the multitude of three persons in the divine greatnes, which is but one: for that c 1. & tractar. 31. in Ioan. [Page 15]we both may, and must do. But if we consider the mul­titude, & magnitude of God, according to his attributes of goodnes; sweetnes, and mercy, then impossible it is that we should praise him according to the multitude of his greatnes. For both his Psal. 147.5. multitude is without number, Psal. 147. and Psal. 145.3. there is no end of his greatnes, Psal. 145. The multitude of his mercies such, that no Arithmetike can number thē: the magnitude such, that no Geometry can measure them: both of them such, that Psal. 31.21. David can­not but admire them, Ps. 31. Quàm magna multitudo dul­cedinis tuae, domine! Ohox great is the multitude of thy goodnes, O Lord, which thou hast laid vp for them that feare thee! And this admiration he afterwards turnes into Psal. 51.1. a petition, Psal. 51. Haue mercy vpon me, ô God, secundùm magnam misericordiam tuam: after thy great mercy; Et secundùm multitudinem miserationum tuarum: and accor­ding to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offenses.

Wherefore, ô thou drooping and soule sicke sinner, perplexed and affrighted with the dread and horrour of thy sins (thy many, Application. and great sinnes) still threatening thee a present precipitation into that dangerous down fal of despaire; O taste and see, how gratious the Lord is! If thou haue the multitude of thy sinnes to amate thee, behold here the multitude of Gods mercies to recom­fort thee: or, if thou haue the magnitude of thy sinnes to apal thee, behold here, the magnitude of Gods mercies to refresh thee: so that, now thou may'st safely resolue with Hilar. in Ps. 129. S. Hilary: Ad spem omne tempus est liberum, & mercedem non operis, sedmisericordiae, vndecimae horae ope­rarij consequentur. All time is free for hope, and the laborers even of the eleuenth houre shall receiue a reward not of their [Page 16]owne merit, but of Gods mercy.

Thus, though mercy and iustice go hand in hand both in God, & his Christ, yet hath mercy the right hand, that is, the vpper hand of their iustice: and though mer­cy overtop, yet it never overturnes their iustice.

Mercy and iu­stice in Gods liefetenents.As it is in God the King and Iudge of all the earth: so should it also be with Gods Liefe-tenents, the Kings and Iudges of the earth: who though they be called Dij terrae; Gods of the earth; yet must they remember, that they are but Dij terrei; Gods made of earth: Vice-Gods, & pety-Gods, and vnder-Gods, and men-Gods. And as they are Reguli; li­tle kings here on earth vnder that Great King of heaven; so must they also be Regulae; liuing Rules of iustice; Not Cael. Rho­dogin. lect. antiq. l. 7. c. 22 Regulae Lesbiae; Lesbian, leaden rules, flexible with the clamours, or importunities of whomsoever: but Regulae rectae; Rules no lesse streight, than inflexible, infallible; mi­nistring to every one a true and a right measure of iu­stice. For the old rule is, Regula per quam alia regulantur, debet necessariò esse recta: A rule by which other things are to be ruled, had need be right and streight it selfe.

There must therefore be in them, as in God there is, a blessed medley and mixture of iustice & mercy. Mercy to mollifie iustice, and iustice to qualifie mercy, that nei­ther the one, nor the other grow too-ranke. For iustice without mercy is not iustice, but tyranny; & mercy with­out iustice is not mercy, but fatuity. And what else (saith Gregor. S. Gregory) was meant, by annointing the Kings of old with oyle out of a horne, but that there must be a due tem­per of rigor and clemencie? Vt sicut cornu fodiantur, it a oleo foveantur: that, as some are to be goared with the horne of iustice, so others are to be annointed and cherished with the Chrysost. in Matt. [Page 17] oyle of mercy. But most notable is Pet. Blesen­sis. ser. 16. Blesensis his illustra­tion of this point. He tels vs, there are two kinds of let­ting bloud: The one, by diminution of the quality, when the bloud is corrupt: the other, by diminution of the quantity, when the bloud is too-abundant. Nec minùs periculosa est superfluitas, quàm corruptela: and no lesse dangerous to the state of the body is the superfluity, than the corruption of it. Yet what more sweete and pleasing to the nature of man, than bloud? Wherefore, as it is sometimes expe­dient, that there should be a diminution of bloud in the body: so is it sometimes meete, that there should be a diminution of virtue it selfe in the soule. It was Eccl 7.16.17. a skilful Physition that said in the time of the law, Noli nimis iu­stus esse: Be not too iust: there is a iust man that perisheth in his iustice. And there was another, of better skill than he, in the time of grace, that would haue Rom 12 3. no man pre­sume to be wise aboue that which is meete to be wise; but that every man be wise according to sobriety. Rom. 12. And if iustice and wisdome (two such capital virtues) had neede of diminution, Cui putas venae virtutum parcendum est? What one veine of virtues is there (trow yee) that would not be let bloud?

If the Iudge be too-iust, though it be in a case against a rich man; what's that, but to turne Amos, 6.12. Fructum iustitiae in absynthium? the fruit of righteousnes into wormewood? Amos. 6. And if he bee too mercifull, though it be in a case for a poore man; what's that, but to turne Mel in toxicum? hony into deadly poyson? For Prov. 25 27. Nimium mel non est bonum: Too-much hony is not good. Prov. 25. And there­fore God, though otherwise a father to the poore, yet because men naturally (if nature be not corrupted by [Page 19]the are of bribing) are more enclined to pity the poore, than the rich, hath given an expresse charge concer­ning the poore, Exod. 23.3. Exod 23. Pauperis non miscreberis in iudicio: Thou shalt not pity, no not a poore man, to the preiu­dice of iustice. So that, Iustice is a pure intemerate Virgin, that must not be corrupted by either of those two vn­chast, or vniust Suitors, Nimium, or Parum; too-much, or too-little: because too-much iustice is too little iustice: and too-little iustice is too much iniustice. And for a Iudge either way to commit iniustice, by being either too-long or too-short handed in the administration of iustice, is an argument of very great impotencie of affection. There­fore well hath Sirac. 20.3. the son of Sirac, c. 20. compared such a Iusticer to an impotent Eunuch; Concupiscentia spado­nis deuirginavit iuuenculam &c. As when a guelded man through lust would defile a Virgin, so is hee that vseth vto­lence in iudgement. And both are abhomination to the Lord (saith Prov. 17.15 the wise man Prov. 17.) Et qui iustificat im­pium, & qui condemnat iustum: aswell hee that iustifieth the wicked, through too-much favour and clemencie, as hee that condemneth the iust through too-much rigor and extremity.

Let a Iudge then (saith one) carry in his right hand, [...], a bloud-stone, wherewith to staunch innocent bloud, and in his left hand, Gladium, a sword, wherewith (if need be) to smite malefactors to death. And surely, great reason haue Iudges being themselues (as Greg. Naz Gre­gory Nazianzen tearmes them) [...], living lawes, and many of them also living by the law, to sup­port mercy and iustice, because mercy and iustice sup­port the law, as did Exod. 17 12 Aaron and Hur support the hands [Page 19]of Moses. Exod. 17. Whence I take it to bee, that Prov. 3.16. the wiseman, Prov. 3. v. 16. (for so the 70 haue it, though the words be not at all set downe in the English) hath placed [...], the Law, betweene [...], and [...]: righ­teousnesse, and mercy. [...]. Out of her mouth (viz. out of the mouth of wisdome) goeth forth righteousnesse, and shee carrieth law, and mercy in her tongue. There is [...], the Law, betweene [...], & [...], righteousnes, and mercy. And no lesse reason haue Kings to preserue mercy and truth; because (as the wise King Prov. 20.28 Salomon tels vs, Pro. 20.) Mercy & truth preserue the King. With­out these two, what are all those good and wholsome Lawes; which by sincere and righteous lawgivers haue beene spun out of the bowels of their compassionate care of the weale publike, as is the siders web out of her bowels, but (as Laert. l. 1. Solon once complain'd) even as spiders webs indeed, which every great Droane, or Hum­ble bee, will breake thorow at his pleasure; when the poore seely fly, shall be caught and entangled in them to his overthrow? Nay, without these two, what will Iudges themselues be, but as Greater thieues, sending lesse thieues to execution? Nay, without these (saith Austin. de civit l. 4. c. 4. Austin) Quid sunt regna, nisi magna latrocinia? quia latro [...]inia quid sunt nisi parva regna? What are kingdoms themselues, but as great robberies? For what else are robberies, but lit­tle kingdomes?

Mercy must bee aboue iustice in the Magistrato.Howbeit, as before I noted, that though God be both mercy, and iustice it selfe; yet mercy hath the predominā ­cie, and preeminence over his iustice: So I hold it a good caveat, to all Magistrates; that Margarita decreti. Rationem praelati [Page 20]tutiùs reddent de miscricordiâ, quàm de crudelitate. When the righteous Iudge of all the world, shall call Iudges themselues to the bar of his iudgement, more easily will he dispense with their overmuch lenity, than with their overmuch crueltie. For God, who loveth mer­cy so well, that he hath made her as it were a Queene; gi­ving her the supremacy, and soveraigntie Psal. 145.9. over all his workes, Psal. 145. and hath so inserted, and ingraffed her within the very bowels of man, that when hee would speak to mans capacitie, [...], after the maner of men, and would insinuate his owne mercifull affection to man, he is wont to expresse it, by calling himselfe [...], a man; as in that parable, Luc. 14. Theophil. in Luc. 14.where it is said; A certeine man made a great supper, &c. no doubt, but as himselfe is abundant in mercy; so will his mercy a­bound to those that abound in mercy: but there shall bee iudgement mercilesse, to him that sheweth no mercy; and mercy reioiceth against iudgement. as it is, Iames. 2.13. Iames, 2.

Be it then, that our English lawes be not alwaies writ­ten in bloud, but somtimes in oyle; providing for some malefactors of better hope, some easier penaltie than death; as the Pylorie, rather than the Galowes; or, perhaps a note of invstion in the eare, or in the hand, or whip­ping, or slitting of the nose, or the like: shall they there­fore be condemned as partiall, because they would in iustice punish sinne, and yet in mercy spare the Sinner? No, no: there must bee that which the Morall Phi­losophers call [...], an aequity, that must allay and lenify [...], the severity of iustice. Re­verend [Page 21] Ioh. Gerson Gerson, sometimes Chancelour of Paris, cals it Iustitiam interpretativam, a iustice that will make a favourable, yet a conscionable construction of law; respecting that intent and meaning, which the Law­giver had, or of likelyhood would haue had, in this or that particular case, each circumstance thereof being duly and rightly pondered. Wel and wisely therefore hath it been provided, that there should be a consciona­ble Court of Chancery to mitigate the rigid austerity of o­ther Courts, because (as Cicer. the heathen man saith, Summū ius, summa iniuria: Extremity of right, is no better than extremity of wrong. And truely, The occasion of this text. I should do my text but right, if I should terme it a Chancery-text. For (to confesse a truth) that which caused me to fasten my me ditations vpon it, was this; that I haue often heard it fal from the lips of my most honourable Lord, the Lord Chancelor; as great, as graue, as wise, as noble, as iudicious, as mercifull a Iusticer, as ever this kingdome had; & that, with such sweete complacency of affection, that he hath sometimes professed, that, were he a Preacher, this should be His Text;

A righteous man is mercifull to the life of his beast. As is the song of the Civill Magistrate; Mercy and iu­stice in the Mi­nister. such must also be the song of the Spiritual magistrate, which is the Minister. It must be a song bipartite: of mercy and iudge­ment. Mercy, in applying the sweet promises of the Go­spel: & iudgement, in delivering the feareful threats of the Law. A thing, not obscurely signified vnto vs Act. 2.3. in those Linguae dispertitae, or cloven tongues, wherein the holy Ghost appeared to the Apostles, Act. 2. Cloven tongues, to teach them, that their song must be both of mercy & [Page 22] iudgement. Not alwaies of mercy, for feare of presumpti­on; nor yet alwaies of iudgement, for feare of desperation: but of mercy and iudgement both; for thats good discreti­on: because either of them without the other, is like a good medicine ill applyed, which rather hurts, than helps the wound.

Mercy aboue iustice in the Minister.But ô let the smoaking flaxe never be quenched! so long as the paenitent sinner can but send forth smoaky sighes and sobs for his sinnes, and so long as there is any light or sparke of grace in him, let him never want che­rishing. But when with the sharpe share of the law, we haue made as it were deepe furrowes of sorrow in the hearts of our hearers, then let vs sow the comfortable seed of the gospell; following the example of God him selfe, who first said to Adam, Gen. 2.17. Morte moriêris; thou shalt dy the death; there is the furrow of the law: & then comes with Gen. 3.15. Semen mulieris; the seed of the woman shall break the head of the serpent; there is the seed of the gospell.

But, must iustice and mercy rest only vpon the heads of Moses, & Aaron; the magistrate, and the minister? No (beloved) they must be like that pretious ointment, Mercy and iustice in all sorts of men. which being powred vpon Aarons head, ran downe to his beard, and so to the very skirts of his garments: they must descend to the very lowest & meanest of the people. And so deare must they be to all sorts of men, that Prov. 3.3. Sa­lomon, Prov. 3. not content to haue said, Let not mercy & truth forsake thee; addeth further; Bind them on thy necke, or, weare them, vt torquem aureum, as a chaine of golde a­bout thy necke, and write them in the tables of thy heart. He afterward giues the reason, Prov. 21.21. Prov. 21. He that followeth after righteousnes and mercy shall finde life and glory.

[Page 23] 2. HYPOTHESIS.And so from my first generall part, which is the The­sis; A iust man is mercifull; I now descend to the second, which is the Hypothesis; that, in particular, he is mercifull to the life of his beast. Wherin (I told you) we are to note first (How) then (Why) he is to reguard it. In the handling whereof, because I am not to teach you husbandry, but divinity; I will briefly make particular application of each several point, that shal occur; according as each of them shal minister occasion. Which (I hope) I may the more boldly and safely do, having the warrant, not only of 1. Cor. 9.9. S. Paul. 1. Cor 9. Numquid de bobus cura Deo? Doth God (saith he) take care for Oxen? Either is it not alto­gither for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, it is written: but of Mat. 6.26. Christ himselfe, Mat. 6. where to induce his dis­ciples to cast away all anxiety of care for meate, drinke, and cloath; and, wholy to rely vpon Gods providence, after hee had first willed them to consider the foules of the aër, and the lilies of the field, how God provides for them, his inference is this; V. 30. shall he not do much more vn­to you, ô yee of little faith?

Vpon these, and the like warrants of holy scripture, why may not I also, by like consequence, inferre; If the righteous man do thus and thus, or, for these & these rea­sons reguard the life of his beast, ought hee not much more to reguard the life of his brethren? For how much more worth are they, than many beasts?

I. HOW a iust man is merciful to his beast.First then let vs examine How a righteous man is merciful to the life of his beast. The How stands vpon sixe braunches.

The first braunch of his mercy, is In Pascendo: in feeding his beasts. For as men, 1. In Pascendo. so beasts [Page 24]also droope and faint, if they want their foode. There­fore is it, that both cattell are called [...], of [...]; & [...], of [...], both signifying to feed, or nourish: and those that feede them likewise haue their names of fee­ding. For a shepheard is call'd in Greeke, [...], of [...]: and [...], of [...]: and in Latin, Pastor, of Pasco: all sig­nifying to feede; to remember him, that his office is to feede.

A shepheard must haue a care to feede fat his sheepe. He must not Pascigrege, but gregem pascere: not be a passiue, but an actiue feeder: not feede vpon his flocke, but feede his flocke. For, Ezech. 34.2. Vae pasto­ribus, qui pascunt semetipsos, saith God, Ezech. 34. Wo be vnto the shepeards of Israell that feede themselues: shoulde not the shepheards feede the flockes? Ye eate the fat, and ye cloath you with the wooll: ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the sheepe. Such shepheards are those retchlesse and carelesse ministers, who when they are charged with a cure of soules, will neither preach themselues, nor pro­vide a sufficient preacher.

Now, if ye aske me, as one asked the Persian in Arist Oe­conom. l. 1. c. 6. Ari­stotle; [...]; what it is that will most fatten the horse, the sheepe, or any other cattell? I must answere, as he did; [...]: It is the eie, or care of the Maister. For, if they be wholy left to the care of servants, they can tell how to be slacke and negligent enough.

And, as the Maisters care must be to feede them, not to feede vpon them: so must it also bee his care, so to feede them, as that they feed not vpon his neighbours: that is to say, that hee feed them with his owne, not with other mens pastures. But it's now growne to a pra­ctise [Page 25]no lesse common, than lamentable; (if I speak not a truth, let Enclosers confute me) sunt qui pascunt oves & boves, & occidunt homines: There are that thinke their sheepe and oxen are never fed fat enough, till they haue ea­ten vp all their neighbours round about them; and that they never thriue, and prosper sufficiently, so long as they graze but within their owne tedder. These men haue forgotten Prov. 5.15. the wisemans rule, Prov. 5. Drinke the water of thine owne cisterne, and of the rivers out of the midst of thine owne well.

2. In Parcendo.2 A second braunch, of a righteous mans mercy to his beast, must be In Parcendo, in sparing his beast. Hee will not exact more of his beast, than the strength of it is well able to beare. Hee will not take too much of a free-horse; — Horat. ne ‘Peccet ad extremum ridendus, & ilia ducat:’ lest he haue his skin in steed of his service: and lest it fare with him, as Gen. 33.13. Iacob said it would with his cattell, which with one daies over-driving, would dy. Gen. 33. For, so necessarie is rest, for labouring, or travailing beasts, that Exod. 20.10 one clause of the commandement for the due observance of the Sabbath, provideth for their rest, as if the Sabbath had beene made for beasts also, aswell as men. Exod, 20. Much lesse then will a righteous man make good the Italian proverb; Bonus servus, bonus asi­nus: A good servant shall be a good asse: that is, make his servant fare the worse, because his service is good.

2. As beasts must not be over-travailed, so neither must they be over-burdened. For a strong asse, if he haue two burdens at once laid vpon him; that is, more than hee can weld; may hap to faint and sinke vnder them, as ap­peareth [Page 26]in Gen 49 14. Issakars blessing, Gen. 49.

3 As beasts must not be over-burden'd; no more are those that haue milk, to be over-milkt. For, as Prov. 30.33 when one churneth milk, he bringeth forth butyre; and hee that wrin­geth his nose, causeth bloud to come out, Prov. 30. so hee that brings his beast too oft to the milk pale; shall in the end, in sted of milke, haue nothing but bloud. And Pomponius Laetus. Qui totum lac ex vberibus ouium emulserit, agnos frau­dans cibo, praedo est, non pastor; saith Pomponius Laetus: Hee that will haue all the milke out of the teats of the sheepe, and so deceiue the poore lambs of their food, hee is a thiefe, not a sheepheard.

4 As those that haue milke, are not to bee over-milkt, so neither is milke to bee sought, where it is not to bee had: according to that, of Greg. Naz. Gregory Nazianzen;

A goat heard (saith hee) if hee will, may take vpon him to milke his hee goats: but if he doe insted of milke, hee shall haue nothing but streames of blood.

5 In a word; As milke must not be exacted, where it is not to be had; and where it is, it must not too abun­dantly be exhausted: so where a fliece is to bee had, there must not fleying goe for fliecing: much lesse is the flesh it selfe to be taken for the fliece; a whole sheep to bee de­voured, and no boanes to bee made of it; according to that excellent saying of Tiberius the Emperour (in Dion Cass. l. 57. Dion) [...]: I will haue my sheep (saith he) to be shorne, not to bee shaven. Hee said his sheepe; but he meant, his people: like as Homer. Il. [...]; & [...]. Homer calls a good King, [...]: the shepheard of his people. [Page 27]But Suetonius hath it thus: Bont pastoris est, tondere pecus, non deglubere. It is the part of a good shepheard, to sheare, not to eate vp his sheepe. Suetonius.

3. In Pat endo.3 A third braunch of a righteous mans mercy to his beasts, must be, In Patiendo: in patiently suffering and pardoning their infirmities. For if thou pitie not, rather than punish the infirmities of thy beast, which through thine owne sin is become lesse plyant and tractable, than otherwise it was, & would haue beene; what do'st thou else, but teach God, not to pardon, but punish thine offenses, who by thy sin, art now degenerated in­to a beast?, and art become Psal. 32.10. like horse and mule without vnderstanding. Yea, Ier. 10.14. euery man is a beast by his own know­ledge, Ier. 10.

If then thou see thy horse trip or stumble, break not out into Num. 22 29 Balaams phrenetike passion, Num. 22. to say, as he did to his asse, when he would not goe forward; I would there were asword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee: But rather, remember that of Horat. the Poet; which yet he never spake in so good a sense; ‘—Cave ne titubes, mandata (que) frangas.’ Beware lest thou also trip, and break Gods commandements. It's a rare thing in a beast, Suidas. [...] (as Suidas hath it) to stumble twice at the same stone. Yet such beasts for the most part are men; they are wont to make amends for a lapse with a relapse, and to stumble more than a thousand times, at the same stone: even at the same stony tables of Gods law. Yea, Prov. 24.16. Septies in die cadit iustus, Pro. 24. Agust man more than stumbleth; for he falleth, seaven times a day. Septiès, id est, saeptùs: seuen times, that is, many times. If a iust man fall himselfe so [Page 28]oft, then (me thinkes) it is but reason, that hee should pardon his beast, especially when he doth lesse than fall. And, if his beast; then much more his brother. And ther­fore, when Peter asked, how oft hee should forgiue his brother trespassing against him; whither vnto seven times? Christ tels him, Mat. 18.21. Not vnto seven times, but vnto seven­tie times seven times: Matt. 18.

4. In Compati­endo.4 A fourth braunch of a righteous mans mercy to his beast, is In compatiendo; in compassionating the needs and distresses of his beasts.

As first, If they wander, by reducing them to their owne home: yea, though they bee not his owne, but his enemies. For so runnes Exod. 23.4. Moses his charge, Exod. 23. If thou meet thine enemies Ox, or his Asse, going astray, thou shalt bring him to him again. If thine enemies, then much more thine owne. For, how thinke yee? If a man haue a 100 sheep, and one of them be gon astray: doth he not leaue 99, and go into the mountaines, and seeke that which is gon astray? And if so be that he finde it; verily I say vnto you, hee re­ioiceth more of that sheepe, than of the 99 which went not a­stray. It's a parable thus applied by Luc. 15.7. our Saviour Christ, Luc. 15. I say vnto you, that likewise ioy shall bee in heaven for one sinner that converteth; more than for 99 iust men, which need none amendment. If such be the ioy in heauen, such also should be our ioy here on earth; whom Matt. 6.10. our Saviour hath taught to pray, Matt. 6. Thy will bee done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Secondly, If they fall into a ditch, or a pitte; by relie­ving them. For, which of you shall haue an Ox, or an Asse fallen into a pit, and will not streight way pull him out; yea, though it be vpon the Sabbath day? saith Luc. 14.5. our Saviour [Page 29]Christ, Luc. 14. as who should say; No man, if hee bee a man indeed, and haue the bowels of a man, but will. It's there applied by our Saviour, as a reply to a Pharisa­icall quaestion, made by certeine expounders of the Law; whither it were lawfull to heale on the Sabbath day, or no?

Thirdly, If they be sick, or wounded, by seeking to helpe, and heale them. And this indeed (if ought else) is, Curare iumentum, (which, I told you, was one reading of my text) so to reguard thy beast, as to cure it. For in such case, if thy beast be left alone, sine curâ, without care, it will soone bee sine curâ, past cure. I will apply this none otherwise, than I finde it applyed by Ezech. 343. God him­selfe, to the spirituall shepheards of Israel; against whom, he complaineth, Ezech. 34. The weake haue yee not streng­thned, the sicke haue yee not healed; neither haue yee bound vp the broaken; but with rigor, and with crueltie, haue yee ruled them.

5. In Compes­cendo.5 A fift braunch of a righteous mans mercy to his beast, must be, In compescendo: in guiding & ruling them. A thing, as necessary for them, as is their meate & drinke: which the Greekes haue well exprest in this one word [...], which signifieth, both Pascere, & Compescere; to feed, and to guide. For it's true of beasts, which wee are wont to say of fire, water, and money; that they are, Boni servi, mali Domini; Good servants, but bad Maisters. As it is in beasts, right so is it in men. By discipline, wilde beasts are sometimes made tame: Impunè à Magistris le­onum ora tractantur: The mouths of Lions (saith Sen de be­nef. l. 1. Seneca) are safely handled by those that are their keepers. And, for want of discipline, tame beastes many times become [Page 30] wild. Else, why did God commaund Ezech. 19.2. his Prophet, to take vp this lamentation for the Princes of Israell, E­zech. 19. Wherefore lay thy mother as a Lyonesse among the Lyons? Shee nourished her young ones among the Lyons whelps: and shee brought vp one of her whelps, and it be­came a Lyon; and it learned to catch the prey, and it devou­red men.

If then there be any Canes rabidi, mad Dogs, that haue in their tongues, that which Greg. Naz. Gregory Nazianzen cals [...], or [...], the dog-worme, which will make them, if not barke, yet bite at every one they meete with (yea, they care not though it be their owne Maister) it were good that they were wormed, not only for the good of others, but of themselues too, lest hereafter they proue to be of the number of those Apoc. 22.15 Foris Canes, Dogs that shall stand without, even without that heavenly Ie­rusalem, whereinto shall enter none vncleane thing, A­poc. 22.

If there be any vntamed Buls, that are enraged and horne-mad (as they say) at the sight of purple, that is, (as Iud. Ep. v. 8. S. Iude speaks) that despise governement, and speake evill of them that are in authority: Sons of Belial, which is in­terpreted, Sine iugo, without a yoake, it were good that they were brought vnder the yoake of obedience.

If there be any lazy Oxen (which yet are Animalia na ta labori: beasts borne to labour) I meane, lazy and sturdy Roagues, and vagrant persons: such as Theocrit. Theocritus speaks of,— [...]; who keepe holy-day all the yeare long: I say, if there be any such (I might say, if there be swarmes of such) either in your city, or in your suburbs, it were good that there were stimulus, a goade provided for [Page 31]them, to pricke them forward to their labour.

If there be any fierce & fiery Horses, which are Deut. 32.15 In­erassati, impinguati, dilatati, Deut. 32. Made sat, & grosse, and even laden with fatnesse, I meane, Papists, that haue beene over-fed & fild with his Maiesties favors, it were good, that he would in time Equis lasciuientibus pabu­lum subtrahere: hold these fat and high-fed horses to hard­meate, lest they begin to recalcitrate and kicke, and per­haps, in the end throw their Rider: and, that he would also provide both Fraenum, & Calcar; a bridle, & a spurre. A bridle, to refreine their forwardnesse where they should be backward; and a spurre, to incite their backe­wardnes, where they should be forward.

In a word; If thine owne body, which is (as Bernard. S. Bernard cals it) Asina animae, the asse of the soule, the asse that must cary it either to heaven, or to hell, be either so dull in the soules service, or rather, in Gods, as to droope in the waies of Christianity; or so wanton, as to rebell against the spirit, it were good there were provided Flagellum, a whip, both to quicken it, as also to bring it into subiecti­on. For, Sirac. 33.27. Servo maleuolo tortura & compedes: Torture and fetters belong to the evill seruant. Sirac. 33.

6. In Conser­vando.6 The sixt and last braunch of a righteous mans mercy to his beasts must be In Conservando: in protecting & de­fending them. For if a shepheard should leaue his sheep to themselues, what were they else, but a common prey to the teeth of Lyons, Wolues, & the like? Or, what were he, but (as one saith) Pro pastore mercenarius, pro mercena­rio lupus, pro lupo diabolus? In sted of a shepheard a hireling, (who when he seeth the Wolfe comming, he flyes; and perhaps, before too) nay, not a hireling, but a wolfe; nay, [Page 32]not a wolfe, but a divell. As therefore a good shepheard must haue Bernard. de­clamat. Virgam, qua dirigat oves; a rod, wherewith to keepe his sheepe: so he must haue Baculum, quo abigat lupos; a staffe, wherewith to keepe away the wolfe. Both, mentioned by Psal. 23.4. David, Psal. 23. thus speaking to the Lord his shepheard: The Lord (saith he) is my shepheard, therefore shall I lacke nothing. Though I walke thorow the valley of the shadow of death, I will feare none evill: for thou art with me; thy rod, and thy staffe comfort me.

Yea, so farre wil a good shepheard venture himselfe for the rescue of his sheepe, that he will Amos, 3.12 take out of the mouth of the Lyon, if it be but two legs, or a piece of an eare, Amos. 3. Nay, (as our Saviour himselfe witnesseth Ioan. 10.) The good shepheard giues his life for his sheepe. And this did he also make good in his owne person, as vpon Good Friday: when, to redeeme the liues of vs, his poore sheep, from the iawes of death, and hell, he layd downe his owne life; which yet, more than manfully (e­ven by the power of his divinity) he resumed and tooke vp againe, as vpon Easterday. Had he not so done, wee had all of vs beene but Oves occisionis, as sheepe for the slaughter; and Psal. 49.14. Oves in inferno, Psal. 49. as sheepe lying in hell, where both first, and second death had everlasting­ly gnawne vpon vs. Wherefore, 1. Cor. 15.57 thankes be vnto God, who hath given vs the victory, through our Lord and Savi­our Iesus Christ. 1. Cor. 15.

Thus yee haue heard (How) a righteous man is to re­guard the life of his beast. Let me now shew you (Why) he is to reguard it. 2. WHY a righ­teous man is mercifull to the life of his beast.

The (Why) I told you, is three-fold. Every one of these 3 words; Animam, iumenti, sui; The life, of his, beast; cary­ing [...] Ioan. 10, 11 [Page 33]in it a seuerall reason of his mercy to his beast.

1 For first, Nouit animam, quia animam. He reguardeth life, because it is life: that is, Propter mysterium; because of the mystery of sauing life. Saue a beasts life, and saue a mans.

2 Nouit animam iumenti, quia iumenti. He reguardeth the life of a beast, because it is commodious and helpfull to him. The very name of it importeth asmuch. For its cald Iumentum, quasi iuvamentum, saith Isidor. Isidor; that is, Propter ministerium; because of the service, vse, and benefit he hath of it.

3 Nouit animam iumenti sui, quia sui. He reguardeth the life of his beast, because it is his: that is, Propter magisteri­um; because of his dominion and Lordship over his beast.

1. Animam, qui [...] animam. First then, he reguardeth life, because it is life. So no­ble and pretious a thing is life, that Eccl. 9.4. better is a liuing dogge, than a dead lyon, Eccl. 9. Yea, a worme, though the basest of all living creatures, yet because it is animated, & hath life in it, is by philosophers said to be a nobler crea­ture, than the heauens. Howbeit, I cannot approue of Pythagoras his too too pitifull philosophy, which would not allow, that the life of any either plant, or beast should be violated. Ovid. Met. l. 15. The Poët brings him in thus exclaiming against those that feede vpon the flesh of beasts;

O what a shame & a sin is it (saith he) that bowels should be buried in bowels; (the bowels of beasts, in the bowels of men) that one body should be crammed fat with another body; and [Page 34]that one liuing creature should liue by the death of another! No. I haue learned of Arist. Polit. l. 1 c. 5. Aristotle, that the earth was made to feed plants, and plants to feed beasts, and beasts to feed men. But what do I speake of Aristotle? Did not God himselfe immediatly after the sloud, because (as it may be probably coniectured) the waters had much impared the natiue iuice and virtue of herbs and fruite, which before were the only food of man, given him as it were a License to eate flesh? Gen 9. saying, Gen 9 3. Everie thing that liueth and moueth shallbe meate for you: as the greene herbe haue I giuen you all things. But yet, behold, I shew vnto you a mystery out of the words following: Flesh with the life thereof, I meane, with the bloud thereof, shall yee not eate. Where, though the vse of flesh be per­mitted, yet the eating of the bloud is interdicted, lest by accustoming themselues to eating the bloud of beasts, they should make light of spilling the bloud of men.

It hath therefore ben a prudent caution of our Law­givers, that Butchers (men acquainted with shedding the bloud of beasts) should not be admitted for Iurors in cases of life, and death: it being a strong and violent presumption, that he that hath no pity vpon the life of beasts, will not haue so much as he ought to haue vpon the life of men.

It is noted by some interpretours vpon Gen. 4.23. Gen. 4. that when Lamech vnadvisedly slew his Great grandfather Cain, he thought he had slaine a beast, not a man: & yet (for all that) he was punisht as an Homicide; either, that it might appeare, how heinous a thing in Gods sight it is, to kill a man: or, that therefore he was punisht, be­cause he did not more advisedly cōsider, whither it were [Page 35]a man, or a beast that he slew. And, so much was he per­plexed with this fact, when he had done it, that his owne mouth not only brings in the evidence, but like­wise passeth the sentence against him: [...]: (as the 70 read it:) I haue slaine a man to the wounding of my selfe. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, to wit, for slaying his brother Abel, truly Lamech 70 times sevenfold, to wit, for slaying Cain.

O consider this, and tremble, yee bloud-thirsting Pa­pists, who yet haue had no lesse than 8 of your Holy Fa­thers, the Popes, that haue named themselues Clements, which signifieth Mercifull. Clements haue beene their names: but yet crueltie hath been with them, as it is with you. (Iudge the while, how glorious a virtue Clemency is; when very Crueltie it selfe desires to mask, & shrowd it self vnder the name of Clemency) I say, consider this, & tremble, yee who like vulturs, are still expecting, and gaping for a carcase, even Cadaverosam ecclesiam, & rem­publicam: the carcase both of our Church, & Commonwealth: while yee thirst after the life-bloud, not of a cursed Cain, but of a blessed King, whose life is the life and soule of them both. And, so yee may bee Hosticidae, killers of your enemies, yee care not to be Homicidae, killers of men: nay, so yee may be Regicidae, killers of the King, yee care not to be, Regnicidae, killers of his kingdome: I had almost said Deicidae, killers of God himselfe; while yee labour to ex­tinguish the true religion, and worship of God, and his Christ. And, as for all true professours, such as cannot either halt downe-right, or, at the least, limp a little in their religion; your desire is to bereaue them not of one life, but of three in one; the life of nature, the life of grace, and the life of glory.

[Page 36] O consider this also, and tremble, yee the noble Ruf­fians; or, ruffianly Nobles of these daies, who as if yee could no way shew the nobilitie of your bloud, but by your manful shedding (as yee deeme it) of the bloud of others, are apt, vpon every light occasion, to challenge a duel, or single-combate. With you, it's no more but a word, and a wound: with you nothing can expiate the ly-giving, but the life-taking.

O consider this also, and tremble, yee wanton strum­pets, who by smothering your poore, and innocent in­fants, are wont to smother your fornication. And so far are yee from Gen. 30.15. Rahels minde, who asked mandrakes of Leah, to make her fruitfull, Genes. 30. that yee rather seeke Savin, or Coloquintida, to make an abortion: Or, if yee suffer them to see light; yee doe the office of Exod. 1.16. the Aegyptian Midwiues, Exod. 1. to make them away with the soonest. I would not haue touched this vlcer, but that it's now growne to such a head, that needs it must be launced.

Thus, the wicked doe Patrizare: they are of their fa­ther, the divell; who was Ioh. 8.44. a Homicide from the beginning, Io. 8. and in Greeke, he is named Apoc. 9.11. [...] a Destroyer, Apoc. 9. And well may hee so bee named: for, hee spares neither man, nor beast. In Matt. 8, the Divels begg'd leaue of Christ, that if he cast them out of the men, who before were possessed with them, they might enter in­to the heard of swine: which, no sooner had they obtei­ned, but they presently entred into the swine, and ran them headlong into the sea, and so destroyed them. Whence yee may learne, whose children and of what spirit Witches are, who when they cannot haue power l Matt. 8.32. [Page 37]over the persons themselues, will bewitch and torment their poore cattell. But on the other side, the godly, they also doe Patrizare: for they are like God, their heavenly father. ‘ Virg.—Pan curat oves, ovium (que) magistros.’ Our Great God Pan, who is 1. Cor. 15. [...]; All in all, 1. Cor. 15: he saueth both man, and beast. Psal. 36.7. Homines & iumenta saluabis Deus: Psal. 36. Thou (o God) savest both man, and beast.

2. Iumenti, quia jumenti.2 A second reason, why a righteous man reguardeth the life of his beast; is, because it is Iumentum, a serviceable and helpfull creature. For, though God did iustly pu­nish mans disobedience to that Primum, & magnum mandatum; that first, and great commandement, which he gaue him in Paradise, by abridging, and lessening the o­bedience of all his creatures towards him (for over all of them had he the rule given him, if hee could haue kept it; Gen. 1.26. Praesit; saith God; Let him beare rule over them all, Gen. 1.) yet did hee not vtterly abolish mans dominion over them: but so tempered the severity of his iustice, with mercy, that some of them he turned Ad Supplici­um, to the punishment of man; and those are call'd Ferae, or Bestiae; wild, and savage Beasts; as Lyons, Beares, and the like, which teare, and devoure men: Others, Ad Remedi­um; to the cure, and remedy of man; and those are call'd Reptilia; creeping things, as are all kind of serpents; which though they bee venemous creatures, yet Physitions knowe howe to make soveraigne medicines of them: Others, Ad Obsequium; to the vse and service of man; & those are properly call'd Iumenta, à iuvando, of helping; as Horses, Oxen, Sheep, and the like; which are [...], living instruments of Oeconomie, or house-keeping. All [Page 38]three sorts mentioned togither in Gen. 1.25. one verse, Gen. 1.25. where it is said, that God made Bestias terrae, the savage beasts of the earth, according to their kind; and Iumen­ta, the Cattell, according to their kinde; and Omne Repti­le, Every creeping thing of the earth, according to their kinde. But Iumenta, the Cattell, or, helpfull beasts, those bee the beasts to which a righteous man is said to bee mer­cifull.

And surely, great reason hath he so to be; seeing they are so many waies helpfull vnto man; Some of them Arist. Polit. l. 4. c. 3. hel­ping him in warre; where besides the other helpe, and service they do him, they did also first help him, to that Honorable, & Worshipful name of Knight. For at first, Knights were called Equites, of Equi, that Knights ser­vice, which they did in warre, by the help of their Hor­ses. But all of them helping him in peace; Some, Ad custo­diendum, to keepe the house, as Dogges: Others, Ad co­lendum, to till the ground, as Oxen. For, of such necessary vse are they for husbandry, that Arist. Oe­con. l. 1. c. 2. Aristotel makes them a maine foundation of house-keeping; and, to that pur­pose, cites the verse of the old Greeke Poët, Hesiod. Hesiod: ‘ [...].’ Let a man (saith hee) that meaneth to keepe a familie, first, get him a house; then, a wife; and then, Oxen for til­lage. Yea, Plus valent iumentorum stercora, quàm quorun­dam hominum corpora: The dung of some beastes, is of more vse, than the whole bodies of some men. For, the dung of some beasts, is good to fatten the ground; but some idle persons are good for nothing. Others, hel­ping him Ad vehendum, to carrie both himselfe, & other burdens. Others, Ad vescendum, in their life time to feed [Page 39]him with milke, butire, and cheese: and at their death, with their flesh it selfe. Others, Ad vestiendum, to cloath him, both with their wool, and with their pell.

So do ye sheepe beare your fleece, so do yee oxen beare the yoake; neither of you for your selues, but for vs.

Adde herevnto, that they do both Compati, and Pati. First, they do Compati, compassionate the case of distres­sed man. For, did not Luc. 16.21. the dogs come, and licke the soares of Lazarus lying at the rich mans gate; Luc. 16. when nei­ther the rich man, nor any of his servants would suc­cour him? Had not the dogges [...], bowels focompassion, when the richman had, (as hath the cru­el man in the words following my text) [...], bowels without mercy? In a word, was not Canis homini homo; the dogge, a man to a man, when the rich­man was but Homo homini canis; a man, a dogge to a man?

Againe; they do Pati, suffer for man; Not only loose their liues, to mainteine the life of man: so that, they (could they speake) might say to man, as the holy Mar­tyrs say to God, Psal. 44.22. Psal 44. For thy sake are we killed all the day long, and are counted as sheepe appointed to be slaine: but they many times also smart for the sin of man, & more groane vnder the burden of mans sin, than vnder anie other burden that is laid vpon them. For, besides that they were comprehended vnder that generall curse, which was laid vpon the earth, for the sin of man, Gen. 3.17. Ge. 3. Cursed is the earth for thy sake: they also Gen. 7.21. perished in the waters of the floud with the men of the old world, [Page 40]excepting only a little remnant of them that were sa­ved in the Arke, Gen. 7. And, Exod. 9.3. the fift of those tenne plagues, wherwith the Lord smote Aegypt, Exod. 9. for the hardnes of Pharao's heart in oppressing the Israelits, was a mighty great moraine vpon the horses, the asses, the camels, the cattel, and the sheepe of Aegypt. And ye know, that in the Leviticall law, beasts were killed and offered vp in sacrifice to God, as sin-offerings; as if those beasts were slaine in place of sinners, & for expiation of their sins, who otherwise deserved to be slaine, as were those beasts. And, vpon the Niniuites conversion at the prea­ching of Ionas, Ion. 3.7. the King of Niniueh commanded a proclamation to be made, Ion. 3. that neither man, nor beast, bullock, or sheepe should taste any thing, neither feede, nor drinke water: but that both man, and beast should put on sacke cloath, and cry mightily vnto God. So that, there the very beasts became fellow-mourners with them for their sinnes.

Now, if beasts be so many waies serviceable & help­full to man, ought not man then Legetalionis, or lege debiti, by law of requitall, or due compensation to bee beneficiall and helpfull to them? For, to him that worketh (saith Rom. 4.4. the Apostle) the wages is not counted by favor, but by debt. Rom. 4. And, dignus est operarius mercede suâ: the labourer is worthy of his hire, saith Luc. 10.7. Christ to his disci­ples, Luc. 10.

Balaams Asse, though but an Asse, yet when hee was iniuriously smitten by his Maister, three times togither, for not going forward, when yet his progresse was hindered by the angell of the Lord, standing with a na­ked sword in his way, Num. 22.30. Num. 22. God himselfe put so [Page 41]much language into him, as to plead the right of his cause: to wit, that he had been an old servant of his, and had never before at any time failed in his service, and therefore now deserved better wages at his hands, than vndeserved blowes. Am not I thine Asse (saith he) which thou hast ridden vpon since thy first time vnto this day? haue I vsed at any time to do thus vnto thee?

If then these Iumentairrationalia, vnreasonable hel­pers, even brute beasts, may iustly exact and chalenge at our hands a due reguard of their service; how much more may our houshold servants, being Iumenta rationa­lia, reasonable helpers, such as haue the vse of reason, ex­pect a due reward of their service? that we allow them those Tria necessaria, three things that are necessary for a servant, mentioned by Arist. Oeco. l. 1. c. 5. Aristotel, Oecon. l. 1. c. 5. [...]: worke, correction, and meate. Worke, to main­teine strength; correction, to reteine nurture; and meate, to susteine nature: because (as a learned writer noteth) Cibus sine opere, poreum; opus sine cibo, asinum; castigatio si­ne vtro (que), canem ex servo facit. Meate without worke, will make thy servant a hagge: worke without meate, will make him an asse: and correction without both, will make him a dogge. First therefore thou must allow him a compe­tent portion of meate, & then if he faile in his busines, spare not to chastise him. For, Prov. 26.8. to the horse belongs a whip, to the asse a bridle, & a rod to the fooles back. Pro. 26.

The Divell himselfe is not so vniust, but that hee will truely pay his seruants, that is, sinners, the wages due vn­to them. Now, what's the wages due vnto sin, and sin­ners? Rom. 6.23. The Apostle tels vs, Rom. 6. that the wages of sin is death. And because he will be sure to pay them home, [Page 42]he will double their wages. Their wages shalbe not only a first, but a second death. Why then, he that will defraude the labourer of his hire, whither it be his beast, or his man, or maide-servant, or his day-labourer, or the Minister, who is also 2. Cor. 4.5. his seruant, for Iesus sake, 2. Cor. 4. (and somuch doth the Latin word, Minister, imply) he is worse than the divel himselfe: for he duly payeth his servants their wages. Iac. 5.4. S. Iames tels vs, c. 5. that to de­teine the wages of the hireling is a fearefull and crying sin, and the cry of it enters into the eares of the Lord of hosts. And for the Minister, 1. Cor. 9.9. S. Paul, 1. Cor. 9. citeth Deut. 25, 4. that place out of Deut. 25. Non ligabis os boui trituranti: Thou shalt not mussell the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corne: Boui trituranti: that is, (saith Sedulius Hiberniens­in 1, Cor. 9. Sedulius Hiberni­ensis) Doctori triticum virtutum a paleâ vitiorum separan­ti: the Oxe that treadeth out the corne: that is, (saith hee) the teacher, or, the minister, that severeth the wheate of vir­tues from the chaffe of vices.

2. Iumenti; not Ferae; or, Reptilis.2 Againe; A righteous man is mercifull to the life Iu­menti, quia tumenti: of his beast, because it is a helpfull creature. Not Ferae, or Reptilis; not of wilde, or savage beasts; not of venemous, or noxious beasts. For the fewer of them, the better because, though some of them, after their death, by skilfull Physitions may be made medici­nable; as serpents: others, edible; as wilde beasts: yet, in their life time, they are not helpfull, but hurtfull to man. Herodot. in Thalia. l. 3. He­rodotus (in his Thalia) delivers it as an argument of the providence, and mercy of God to mankinde, that, those beasts which are timorous, and fit to be eaten, hee hath made to be [...], numerous and fruitfull; lest, by mans dayly vse of them, their store should be consumed: but, [Page 43]those which are of savage, and malignant nature, hee hath made to be [...], to haue but few at a birth, lest by their number they should get the maistery of man, and consume him. It is therefore, rather crueltie, than mercy to spare them, because they are so cruell, as not to spare man.

Beloued; Are there not also such wild, and venemous and noxious creatures among men? Man, when hee is at his best, is Psa. 4 [...]. [...]. Comparatus iumentis insipientibus, Psal, 49. compared to the foolish beasts, without vnder standing: foo­lish; but yet Iumentis; helpfull beasts. But, take him at his worst; and then, neither Lyon, nor Tygre, nor Wolfe, nor Beare, nor Fox, nor serpent, nor any other crea­ture, that for malice may bee compared to him. For, Quid bestialius homine rationem habente, & ratione non vtente? (saith Bernard. S. Bernard:) What beast more beastly than a man that hath reason, and yet will play the beast beyond all reason?

Here could I tell you of diverse sorts of beastes, that had neede bee hunted out of this Kingdome, by those that sit in the seat of authority, and should therefore be Nimrods, mighty hunters of such kinde of beasts be­fore the Lord. But I shall now bee faine, only to point at two of them; which (in my opinion) had most neede of hunting.

1 The one, are those drunken beasts, who when they are intoxicated with strong drinkes, tanquam poculo Circeo; as with that inchaunting cup of Circe, which transformed men that dranke of it, into swine; then are they presently like wild boares, foaming, and vomiting out their owne shame: then who is hee, that shall bee [Page 44]free from the danger of their tuskes? Yea, when once they haue drunke all the money out of their purse, all the wit out of their braine, all good thoughts out of their minde, and all religion out of their soule, were it not then better to meete with a wild boare, or with a shee-beare robbed of her whelps, than with one of them?

2 The other, are those Cant. 2.15. foxes, and little foxes, that spoile Gods vineyard, Cant. 2. I meane, Papists; who, if ever for these many yeares togither, they had neede to be hunted, now is the time. For it's too too true, that Mat 8.20. Foveas habent, these foxes haue hoales, as it is Matt. 8. Yea, and Fouentes habent, they haue friends too, both in Court, and Countrey. I had called them Cubbs of Sam­sons foxes, saue that they, though they were Caudis ig­niconiunctis, ioined togither with Iudic. 15.4. firebrands in their tailes, Iudic. 15. yet were they Vultibus disiunctis: their faces lookt contrary waies. But these agree both In Capite, and in Caudâ: in head, and taile too. They all agree in one Head, which is the Pope; and in one taile, one ende, which (I feare) if they be not better lookt to, will bee the combustion, and burning vp of all, both the reekes, and standing corne in the fielde of Gods Church. Yee know, how likely they were, not many yeares since, to haue giuen vs a deadly flap with their fierie tailes. And yet, for all that, we wil not be warned. I know not, whi­ther we receiue them to such nearenes, and familiarity, because we take them to be good Physicke against the palsey, I meane, the commotion, & shaking of the whole State of our Land: but sure I am, that the rankenesse of them, both for sent, and number, is very offensiue to al true Professors. And, it cannot be, but that their Foveae, [Page 45]the deepe hoales of their vndermining subtilty, should be very dangerous both to Prince, and people. What though it be a common practise among them (as the manner of foxes is) Venatores suos vrinâ respergere; to fill their bushie tailes with vrine, wherewith they besprinkle those that hunt them: that is, to fill their followers with stinking slaunderous reports, whereby they defame them that pursue them? Yet, let not, ô let not the Magi­strate, whom it concerneth, either feare, or forbeare to vnearth, and hunt these foxes, lest a worse thing happen both to them, and the whole kingdome. It is noted by Aurel. Vict. Aurelius Victor, that when the Roman souldiers had flaine Maximinus the tyrant, they made inquisition for his Son, and slew him also: saying, E pessimo genere ne catulum quidem relinquendum: that, of a vile litter not somuch as one whelp is to be saved aliue. For, Margarit. Decrec. Crudelis est misericordia parcere vni in discrimen multorum: Cruell is that pity, which spareth one, or few, to the endangering of many. and, Qui parcit Zizaniae, non amat frumentum, saith Glos. in Matt. 5. the Glosse in Mat. 5. He that spareth the stinking weed, is no friend to the good corne. For, while the Iudge is too-too melting, and pitifull to thieues, and malefactours, he is too-too cruell and mercilesse to good and honest men. In a word; to let goe one of these foxes, may hap to proue a greater fault, than to kill a lamb in the flock. These are not Iumenta, but Bestiae; helpfull, but hurtfull beasts: and therefore no pitie to be had of them.

3. Sui, quia sui.3 A third reason, why a righteous man reguardeth the life of his beast, is, because it is Iumentum suum, his owne beast. For, Suum cui (que) curare innatum est. It's naturally in­cident to every man to reguard that which is his owne: yea, [Page 46]though it be of little, or no vse. Ought not then, a righ­teous man to reguard his owne beast, because it is his owne; especially, it being obsequious, & serviceable vn­to him? It is therefore the counsaile of Sirac. 7.22. Siracides, c. 7, If thou haue cattell, looke well to them, and if they bee for thy profit, keepe them with thee. And, of Prov. 27.23. Salomon, Prov. 27. Diligenter agnosce vultum pecoris tui: Be diligent to know the face, or state of thy flocke, and take heed to the heards. For, of them hath God made vs Dominos vsufructuari­os, as Lords to haue the fruit, and vse of them: but himselfe is Dominus proprietarius; the property, and royaltie of them all, hath he kept in his owne hands. Peradventure, some few there are that may saie with him in Virg. the Poët, ‘Mille mei Siculis errant in montibus agni.’ A thousand cattel vpon the hils are mine: but there is none but God alone, that can saie; as it is Psal. 50.10. Psalm. 50. All the beasts of the forrest are mine, and so are all the cattell vpon a thousand hils. His then they be [...], in right of possessi­on: yet [...], in fruit and vse they are ours. Our fellow-ser­vants; as they, and we both serue one Lord, Psal. 119.91. whome all things scrue, Psal. 119. but our vnder-servants; as they haue relation only to vs. And, being ours, we are to re­guard them, because they are ours; Else, shall wee bee worse to our beasts, than our beasts are to vs. The dogge (saith Herodot. Herodotus) is [...]: a beast that is kinde, and loving to his Maister: And, Ioan. 10.4. our Saviour tels vs, Ioan. 10. that sheepe knowe the voice of their owne shep­heard, but will not follow a stranger. If our beasts reguard vs, because we are their Maisters; ought not we then to reguard our beasts, because they are our servants?

Yet (beloved) God forbid we should so reguard our [Page 47] beasts, because they are our owne, as to preferre them be­fore our Christian brethren, as the manner of some is, who are rather [...], louers of horses, or other beasts, than [...], louers of men. If their horse (forsooth) be but to runne a race, he must haue finer bread than is made of wheat, diet-bread made of (I wot not what) costly ingredients. And to their dogs which they keepe but to hunt with for pastime, they will make that al­lowāce, which, by Mat. 15.26. our saviours testimony, is not meer, Mat. 15. They will take the childrens bread, and cast it to their dogs. Their dogs, which many times consume and eate vp their maisters, as Actaeons dogs did him, shalbe fed with mans-meate, when the poore shal not taste, no not somuch as of that which the Matt. 15.2 [...]. woman of Canaan cals dogs-meat, even the crums, that fal frō their tables.

Yea, if it be but an ill favoured ape, which yet is not Iumentum, a helpfull creature, but Ludibrium & delecta­mentum naturae, the scorne and play-game of nature, they wil many times be at the cost of cloathing him; though that proverbiall speach of Lucian. Lucian be true, [...]: An ape willbee but an ape, though you cloath him in gold, or purple. But, as for their poore naked brethren, whom God hath made to their owne image, nay rather to his owne, they can be con­tent to suffer them to ly and perish with cold for want of clothing. Thus are they Humani in belluas, & belluini in homines: as men to beasts, and as beasts to men. Of such did Ambros. S. Ambrose in his time complaine; Birds (saith hee) associate themselues with birds, fishes with fishes, and beasts with beasts. Solus tu (homo) consortem excludis, & feras in­cludis: Thou onely (ô man) excludest man, & receiuest beasts [Page 48]for thy consorts. Parietem vestis auro, & pauperem nudas vestimento: thou cloathest thy wals with golden hangings, and robbest the poore of his rayment. Pauper panem petit, & non accipit; equus tuus sub dentibus aurum mandit: The poore beggeth bread of thee, and cannot haue a bit, when yet thy horse, if he would eate gold, he should haue it: he hath a golden bit betweene his teeth to bite on.

I feare, I haue already been too-bold with your ho­norable and Christian patience, and my weake body will not giue me leaue to be much bolder. Wherefore, now a word, or two, for application, and so I will leaue you, with all that hath beene spoken, to the blessing of God Almighty. Application.

1 1 If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast, because it is his: yea, if an vnrighteous man also re­guard the superfluous and wanton welfare of his beast, because it is his; ought not a righteous man much more to reguard the necessities of his brethren, because they are his? Remigius, in Matt. 5. Remigius noteth, in Mat. 5, that Misericors dici­tur, quasi miserum cor habens, quia alterius miseriam, quasi suam reputat. A mercifull man is so called, as if you woulde say, a man that hath a miserable heart, because he esteemes a­nothers misery, as if it were his owne, & grieues for anothers griefe, as for his owne. But so farre are most men from grieving for others, that they are never well, but when they are grieving others: so farre from shedding teares for the miseries of others, that they cause others to shed teares for the miseries they bring vpon them: so farre from cloathing the naked, that they spoile the poore of their garments: so farre from lodging the harborlesse, that they dislodge and turne the poore out [Page 49]of their owne homes? In a word; so farre from perfor­ming the will of the deceased, (which yet, thinke world­lings what they will, is a speciall point of mercy) I say, so farre from performing the will of the deceased, which being once confirm'd, Gal 3.15. S. Paul thought no man so impi­ous as to abrogate, Gal. 3. that, though it ayme at never so good & charitable vses, yet if they haue but somuch wit, and so litle conscience as to picke a quarell with it, all is hazarded. It was therefore a wise, and blessed re­solution of him, who intending to haue the poore fare the better by him, said, hee would not stand to the curte­sie of Executors, & Overseers, after his death; but, in his life time, would make his owne hands, his executors; & his owne eyes, his overseers.

O that this were also the common care and resoluti­on of you the worthy Almoners of this honorable city; whom the Lord in the riches of his mercy, hath annointed with the oyle of gladnesse, aboue your fellows, that at least some part of it might run downe, to the chearing and cherishing of the poore distressed members of Ie­sus Christ. Yee are [...] (as Laërt. l 6. the Philoso­pher sometime spake) sheepe cloathed with golden fleeces: & Oues faetosae, sheepe great with yong, even with great store of yong, poore, and fatherlesse Orphans, Qui suxerunt vbera, & senserunt vellera; who haue sucked the paps of your bounty, & felt the warme fleece of your charity. And though many glorious things be spoken of thee, ô thou city of God, yet among them all, nothing so glorious, as that thou so a­boundest with piety and mercy: that thou fillest so ma­ny empty bellies, cloathest so many naked backes, lodgest so many houselesse strangers, relievest so many maimed [Page 50] souldiers, providest for so many impotent creeples, and mainteinest so many fatherlesse Orphans.

Into these and many other the like channels, do the sylver-streames of your mercifull devotion runne. But yet giue me leaue to speake freely, what I may truely speake. The fountaines from which these streames flow, are, for the most part, dying, not liuing fountains. A bles­sed thing (no doubt) it is, thus to do good, though it be but at your death. But, much more blessed should ye be in your work, not only in the sight of men, but of God himselfe, if in your life time ye would deale & distribute with your owne hands, that which ye cannot tell whi­ther ye shall hold till your death, which indeed is to do good, rather as sheepe, than as swine; ‘—vitâ (que) magis, quàm morte iuvare:’ (as Ovid. Met. l. 15. the Poët speaks of sheepe;) to benefite others rather by your life, than by your death. So should ye be well assured, that no posthumous fraude or cunning should be able to disap­point your religious purposes. And I doubt not, but ye would soone fall to a godly vy and aemulation one with another, which of you should haue the precedency in this kinde of mercy (being both the surest, & the truest kinde of mercy) if ye could but perswade your selues, as the Prov. 11.17 wiseman doth, Prov. 11. that, Benefacit animae suae vir misericors: He that is a benefactor to others, is a bene­factor to his owne soule: or (as some of our English tran­slations haue it) He that is mercifull rewardeth his owne soule.

2 2 If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast, because it is his: ought not then every righteous Mini­ster to provide for the good and welfare of his flocke, be [Page 51]cause they are his? And every righteous Magistrate, for the good and welfare of his people, because they are his? Are not these Rom. 13.4. the ministers of God, ordeined by him, for the wealth of those that are vnder them? Rom. 13.

3 3 Againe: If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast, because it is his; ought he not then much more to reguard both Vitam, & victum; the life, and li­ving (the Greeks haue exprest both in this one word, [...]) both Esse, and Benè esse; the being, and well-being, of his wife, because shee is his? of his children, because they are his? of his servants, because they are his? Knowing, that as 1. Tim. 5.8. the Apostle teacheth, 1. Tim. 5. If there be any that provideth not for his owne, and namely, for them of his hou­shold, he denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidell. And, if he ought to provide for their corporall welfare; ought he not then much more to provide for their spirituall welfare? And to say with good Iosu. 24.15. Iosuah, c. 24. Ego, & do­mus mea: I, and my house will serue the Lord?

4 4 Lastly, & in a word; If a righteous man reguard the life of his beast, because it is his; ought he not then much more to reguard the life of his owne naturall bo­dy? Not to be [...], to lay violent hands vpon him­selfe, as some in a desperate fit of male-contentednesse haue done, whom the Apostle deemeth monsters, ra­ther than men. For, Eph. 5.29. no man (saith he) euer yet hated his owne flesh, but nourisheth, and cherisheth it, Eph. 5. And, if the life of his naturall body; how much more then his spi­rituall life, the life of his soule; which is so his owne, as that without it, himselfe were not his owne? What a mad­nesse then is it (saith one) Plorare bestiam amissam, & non plorare animam? To mourne for the losse of thy beast, and not [Page 52]to mourne for the losse of thine owne soule? It is therefore the counsaile of Sirac. 30.23 Siracides, c. 30. Miserere animae tuae, pla­cens Deo: Haue pity vpon thine owne soule, pleasing God. Please him better thou canst not, than if thou haue pity vpon thine own soule. And, it is the rule of the schoole; Charitas ordinata incipit àseipsâ: Regular charity begins with it selfe. And, as it begins with it selfe, so will I end with it; Beseeching God, even the Father of our Lorde and Saviour Iesus Christ, for his sake to giue a blessing to that which hath ben spoken in your outward eares, that it may inwardly fructifie, & bring forth much fruit of mercy in your hearts; in some 30, in some 60, in some an hundreth-fold; that so, when that great day of refre­shing shall come, ye may (every one of you) receiue se­ven-fold into your bosome &c.