THAT peerlesse mirrour of wisdom King Solomon, as he was the richest and wisest King, that ever reigned in Jerusalem, or in any part of the world beside; and in this, a true type and figure of Christ our blessed Sa­viour, who is the uncreated and eternal wis­dom of the Father, in whom, even as he is man, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know­ledge, [Page 1]saith the Apostle ( Col. 2.3.) The ho­ly Ghost also giving this rare testimony; and singular commendation of his excellent know­ledge and incomparable wisdom in the Scrip­ture, namely, that it was such, and so excel­lent and transcendent and unparalleld, as it ex­ceeded and excelled the wisdom, of all the chil­dren of the East, and all the wisdom of Ae­gypt; for he was Sans peer, wiser than any man, &c. 1 Kings 4.29. He was famous for his wisdom indeed, throughout all Nations round about him, and he spake three thousand Proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five; and he spake of trees from the Cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the Hysop that spring­eth out of the wall (which manuscripts or writings of Solomon for the most part are thought to have perished, and to have been lost in the captivity of Babylon, and great pitty it was that such wise and worthy Sayings, had not been preserved from the injury of times, for the benefit and comfort of succeeding ages, and for the generations of men that were to come after him) now as he was thus copious, judi­cious and sententious both in his sayings and writings, which are both extant and continue current among other Canonical Scripture; So amongst the rest of his writings and proverbial sayings, he did not forget to set down some grave and prudent Rules and Precepts wise and worthy documents, observations and [Page 2]Instructions, touching the high and eminent place, office and calling of Kings and Princes, witnesse this 25th. Chapter of his Book of Pro­verbs, wherein he first affirmeth, Honor Dei est abscondere rem, honor autem Regum est pervesti­gare; It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it is the honour of Kings to search out a matter.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; and why? The Apostle renders a reason of it: Quia inscrutabilia sunt ejus judicia, & viae ejus imper­vestigabiles incognita mens & consilium ejus, his judgements are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out: for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his Counsel­lour? Rom. 11.33.34. verses, Moses that man of God, that was so familiar with God, was permitted only to see his back-parts, he was licensed to see him, But how? not â priori, but a posteriori, ex postico tergo licèt non ex anticâ fa­cie, My face thou shalt not see, saith God, Exod. 33. This is the right stamp and chara­cter of his Deity, of his individual and incom­municable propertie, and by this he will be differenced and distinguished from men, and made known to be God; thus it is the glo­ry of God to conceal some things from man. As first he doth the decree of Election and Prede­stination, so saith Paul 2 Tim. 2.19. the foun­dation of God standeth sure, having his Seal, (Dominus novit qui sunt sui) the Lord know­eth [Page 4]them that are his: For as it is reported by Herodotus, Diodorus, Sicolus, and divers other Historiographers, that the head of the River Nilus could never yet be found, so the depth of that secret decree could never yet be fad­dom'd or found out, which made the Apostle cry out with more than ordinary admiration and astonishment, [...], O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Second­ly he conceals the date and times of the execu­tion and expiration of his judgements, as our Saviour told his Disciples ( Acts 1.7.) It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. Thirdly he conceals the hour of our death, to make us every hour to prepare and make ready for that last hour. It was then good counsel which a learned Jew gave to his Scho­lar, be sure that ye repent one day before death, when answer was made that the day of death was uncertain, he replyed, then repent this day, yea, repent every day.

Fourthly and lastly, he conceals from us, the day of that last, and great, and general Assizes; for of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the Angels of Heaven, but my Father on­ly saith Christ, Math. 24.30. Nam (que) ideò [Page 4]latet ultimus dies, ut observetur omnes dies, saith an ancient Father; God would have us ig­norant of the last day, to the end we might be circumspect and vigilant every day, and still to be provided (like the five wise Virgins) with Oyl in our Lamps, [i. e.] with faith and grace, and true repentance in our hearts, with joy in the Holy Ghost, and the sincerity of a good Conscience, as Carthusian glosseth that place in the Gospel. Thus you see, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing; Honor autem Regum; But it is the honour of a King to search out a matter; namely to search out the causes, and examine the controversies and differences be­twixt man and man, and also to administer true justice and judgement to the people.

This is the proper Office and Duty (as I may so term it) that belongs unto the Regal Scep­ter or Diadem; yea this is the right honour and glory of Kings; and I prove it thus. First out of Humane Story. Secondly by Divine Testimony. First out of humane Story; It is repotted. That when Phillip the King of Mace­donia, did reject and cast off the earnest suit of a poor Widdow, with this slender answer, Goe thy way, for I have no leasure to hear thee now: She replyed thus, and why then hast thou leasure to be a King? as if she had said; Hast thou leasure to be a King: and hast thou not leasure to doe Justice, and to hear the Complaint of a poor Widdow, that comes be­fore [Page 5]thee for Justice? God hath given thee time to Raign, and power to Rule and Go­vern, that thou mightest Apply them, and Im­ploy them both unto that, Prov. 20.28. and wherefore they are given thee; For Mercy and Truth pre­serveth a King: and with loving kindness his Seat is upholden, or his Throne is upholden by mercy, as our last translation hath it. Even as Solomons stately Throne of Ivory, was support­ed with two Lyons, on cach side one: so the Throne of every good and pious Prince, 2 Chron. 9. is sup­ported and stayed up with those two Magnani­mous and Lyon-like vertues, Justice and Mer­cy. Therefore God made thee King (said the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon) to doe Just­ice and Judgment, 1 Kings 10. And there­fore Augustine said well to this purpose, Ab­latâ Justitiâ quid sunt regna nisi magna latro­cinia? Now for divine Testimony; We read in the (1 Kings 3.) when Solomon prayed to God for an understanding heart, that he might do Justice among Gods people, it is said that his prayer pleased God passing well, because Solomon asked wisdome, rather than wealth: and knowledge, rather than honour; for thereby he gave evidence, that his heart was set upon righteousness; For Ex abundantiâ cordis os lo­quitur, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh; Math. 12.34. and did not his mouth speak righteous things? did he not truly discern be­tween good and bad, when he judged the two [Page 6]Harlots that came before him? when he wise­ly decided and determined the matter betwixt them, and happily discovered and found out, through his mature wisdome, and judgment, the right Mother of the Child; which as soon as his wisedome was thus proved and perceived: it was presently approved and applauded; for when all Israel heard the Judgment which the King judged, they feared the King, for that they saw that the wisdome of God was in him, to do Justice and Judgment, 1 Kings 3.28. Lo here was his Honour, and here was his Crown and Glory, to pervestigate, and search out the matter. As it is reported of King James, to his tare, and singular, and perpetual Commend­ation, that he rightly interpreted those miscar­ried letters, which discovered the Powder-Treason, in a sense, and construction, differing and dissenting from the Capacity and Under­standing of all his Nobles; For as it is the ho­nour and glory of Kings, diligently to search out the truth of matters that come before them, and uprightly and sincerely to administer Justice and Judgment to the people commit­ted to their Charge and Government: so may we be assured, and perswaded likewise of this; that no less shall it make for their Praise and Commendation, to have hearts like the Hea­ven for height, and the Earth for depth (as it is in the next verse) Hearts like the Heaven for height, and the Earth, &c. (i. e.) Infinite. [Page 7]boundless, bottomless, & unsearchable; namely in regard of their profound learning and know­ledge, their extraordinary wisdome and under­standing; It behoveth them to have a large heart like Solomons; Even as the Sand that is on the Sea-shore, &c. For Solomon in saying here that no man can shew the Kings heart, shew­eth, that it is too hard for man to attain to the reason of all the secret doings of the King, even when he is upright, and doth his duty; God putteth many things into his heart which are unsearchable, and past finding out by ordi­nary men; which made David to admonish Kings and Judges, thus saying, Psal. 2.10. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings, be learned ye that are Judges of the Earth; For (as one saith wittily) If the Judge, or Magistrate be not Wise, Judicious, and Perspicacious, to dive into the Matter, and discern the Cause thoroughly that comes before him, words may soon carry the matter away, through the glozing tongue of some eloquent Tully or Ter­tullus, some Colluding, and praevaricating Law­yer, who may be a Sophister in word, and an Ambadexter in deed.

That Christian Poet Prudentius, spake pru­dently against Symmachus in his first book. Publica res (inquit) tunc fortunata satis, si

Vel Reges Saperent, vel regnarent Sapientes. That Common-wealth (saith he) cannot chuse but flourish, when either Philosophers are [Page 8]Kings, or Kings are Philosophers; an admirable & remarkable saying indeed, and worthy to be written in letters of Gold, and engraven with the pen, or point of a Diamond, upon the Thrones of Princes; And the wisest of Kings speaketh to the same purpose, Prov. 20.26. A wise King scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheele over them. (i. e.) the wheele of Judg­ment, and Vengeance for their evil deeds. Here note, that this saying hath been partly fullfilled of late, by finding out, and bringing some Egre­gious and Notorious Malefactors to just, and condigne punishment, who lifted up their hands against the Lords Anointed K. C. the first, and embrued them in his blood; Ut paena ad unum sit terror ad omnes, neque enim lex justi­or ulla est, quam necis artifices, &c. And how necessary learning and understanding is for Kings and Princes, may be easily gathered out of those words, Eccles. 10.10. Woe to thee O Land, when thy King is a Child. (i. e.) Ignor­ant, unlearned, and unskilful in the affairs of State. Woe to thee O Land when thy King is a Child, and thy Princes eat in the morning. (i. e.) when they rise up early to Ryot, and to Revel it. But (as it followeth,) Blessed art thou O Land, when thy King is the Son of No­bles, and thy Princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness; Where by the Son of Nobles, he meaneth one not only, prae­clara prosapiâ sive progenie oriundus, that is, one [Page 9]descended, and born of antient, and famous Progenitors, and Predecessors; but one ver­tuously educated, and brought up. Bene institu­tus et inforniatus in Administratione regni (as Tremelius well notes on the place) (i. e.) one well instituted, and instructed, and inform­ed, in the Administration, and Government of a Kingdome. When a Prince is thus qualified, thus furnished, and accomplished with this Ba­silicon doron, as learned King James entituled his book, which he commended to his Son the Prince; when a Prince, I say, is thus adorned, and accomplish't with this royal Gift, and Ac­coutrement, this heroical ornament, and en­dowment of the mind; when he hath compe­tent knowledge, and wisdome sufficient, well to mannage, and govern his Kingdome; and is also studious, and solicitous, careful, and in­dustrious, to have matters carried with that Equity, Indifferency, and Sincerity, that Just­ice, and Judgment may not be perverted, but that the poor should be sheltered, and defend­ed, and the people judged according unto right, as it is, Psal. 72.2. Then as our Saviour saith in the Gospel, Mat. 18.7. [...]. Woe unto the World be­cause of Offences; for it must needs be that Of­fences come, but woe to that man by whom the Of­fence cometh. And if our Saviour esteemed the offence so grievous, that was offered to those little ones, how hainous then shall we [Page 10]think those offences to be, that are plotted, per­petrated, & committed against those great ones, who are the immediate Lieutenants, & undoubt­ed Vice-royes of Almighty God; (This is pro­perly termed by the learned, Scandalum Mag­natum) then I say, pitty it is, yea, a thousand pitties it is (as, we say) nay more, a woful, and lamentable, and most abominable thing it is, and a thing much to be deplored, that either the good mind and meaning, the vertuous, noble, and heroick spirit of such a pious Prince should be poysoned, and infected with evil Counsellors; or that his wayes and courses, should be hindred and diverted with wicked, corrupt, and careless Officers, that should be Impartial Executioners of his wholesome Laws and decrees; But they (as it hath been lately proved, and happily found out by suffi­cient experience, in the late Kings time) for the most part have been led by favour and affection, by money, and bribery, and partiality, and the like sinester means, to aim at their own ends, and their own Advance­ment, to set their nests on high, and to load themselves with thick clay, as the Prophet speaks, Hab. 2.6. Yea, more to subvert the Fun­damental Laws of the Kingdom, to connive at sin and wickedness, to oppress the poor and needy, to condemn the Just and Innocent, and to wrong the Fatherless and Widdow, and keep them from their right; So that, that [Page 11]which Micah prophesied of, Micah 7 2, 3. is now actually fullfill'd; They all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net; That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the Prince asketh, and the Judge asketh for a re­ward, and the great man he uttereth his mis­chievous desire, and so they wrap it up. But concerning such as these, howsoever they may sooth and flatter themselves in their own sight, and in their own sinful ways; yet the Wise-man saith, they commit a double sin, or a two­fold abomination; For he that justifieth the wicked, and he thât condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord, Pro. 17.15. And against such as these, there is a woe denounced by the Prophet; Esay 7.20. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. This is a woful and shameful thing indeed, and woe is to that Land or Nation who are pestered and vexed with such a perverse and praeposterous kind of people, who condemn the innocent for bribes, and justifie the wicked for rewards; These are the Achans, and the Achabs of our time; these are those that are the only molesters and troublers of Israel and Judah: the many di­sturbers both of Church and State; Et utinam abscindantur; and I would to God they were even cut off that trouble us (if I may so wish with the Apostle, Gal. 5.12.) for they are [Page 12](as one truly termeth, B. And­rews. the equivocating false-hearted Jesuites) Flagella Republicae, stabella Seditionis; the Bellows of dissention, the Firebrands and Incendiaries of faction and se­dition amongst us; the very plague and scourge of the Republick Pyoners of our peace, and Underminers of all our happiness: And it may appositely be spoken of such pestilent Fellows, as Tully that Heathen Orator said of Catiline the Traytor, Vivunt, et vivunt non ad deponen­dam, sed ad Confirmandam audaciam; They live indeed, and are suffered to live, not to leave off, or to lay aside, but to augment, and increase, and confirm their lewd baseness, and Impudent boldness; questionless they are evil, and unprofitable members to the Coun­try, or Common-wealth wherein they live; They are to the godly as the filthy unnatural Sodomites were to Lot, which vexed righte­ous Soul with their worse than brutish beha­viour, and their most unmanly and unlawful deeds; 2 Pet. 2.8. or as the Jebusites were to the Israe­lites, thorns in our eyes, and whips or pricks in our sides, Jos. 23.13. They are like to that disease in a mans body, which is called the Cancer or Gangrena, which being in some parts thereof, those parts of the body wherein it is, must of necessity be cut off, — Ne pars sincera trahitur, least they pu­trifie and corrupt the whole; these are evil humours in a body politick, which keep it [Page 13]from prospering; these are Tares in the field of Gods Church, which hinder the good wheat from growing; these are the clouds, and foggy mists, or vapours in the air, which obscure and darken it, and intercept the Sun from shining; these are the drosse, which hold the silver from being purified; therefore as my Text saith well by way of a sweet and ele­gant allusion and comparison; ut auferendo scorias ab argento, &c. Take away the drosse from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer; So take away the wicked from before the King, and his Throne shall be established in righteousnesse: here we have three things to be considered of; First, we must try and examine, who they are, and what manner of persons they are which are here compared to drosse, and these are the wicked and ungodly; take away the drosse, so take a­way the wicked. Secondly, we must shew you who they are that are here likened to sil­ver, and why they are so assimilated and re­sembled; and these are Kings and Princes, take away the drosse from the filver; so take away the wicked a conspectu Regis, from be­fore the King; Thirdly, the blessed issue or sequel which followeth upon this exploration, the thrice-happy fruit and effect which this seasonable and timely division, and separation of the drosse from the silver produceth and bringeth forth, and this is, Solium Justitiâ [Page 14]stabilitum (i. e.) a Throne. established in­righteousnesse, and this is also likened to a fit vessel for the Finer; Take away the drosse from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer; So take away the wicked, &c. First, by drosse is here signified and represent­ed unto us, the wicked in general (i. e.) all ungracious, unregenerate, and ungodly men whatsoever; all the Sons of Belial, as they are stiled in the old Testament; all the Chil­dren of Disobedience, as they are so called in the new; especially all perfidious Servants to their Master, all treacherous and rebellious Subjects to their Prince, that either secretly revolt, and subtilly withdraw their hearts from, or openly lift up their hands against the Lord Anointed, against their Liege and lawful King and Soveraign; And touching this crimen capitale, this crimen laesae Majestatis, this hainous and capital sin of Treason; the Wise man both warily and worthily admo­nisheth, saying Eccles. 10.20. Curse not the King, no not in thy thought, neither curse the rich in thy Bed-chamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall declare the matter; these then with all o­ther Mutherers, Malefactors, all Mischievous and Blood-thirsty persons, must be abolished, abandoned, and taken away from before the King, for they are but drosse: so likewise David compareth them, Psal. 119.119. Thou [Page 15]puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse, therefore I love thy testimonies.

Note here that some of these notes were preached in the late Kings time, even in the be­ginning of that fatal and fearful and dis­asterous Insurrecti­on, some wondring at it, how I durst Preach so, when for the divisi­ons of Reuben, there were such great thoughts of heart.But not to insist upon generalities (for the times and the iniquity of the times requires us to instance in some sorts and kinds of wicked men, though not to nominate or name the persons and patties (for that is extra lineam praedicamentalem) that are here compared to drosse, as you know they are elsewhere com­pared to chaffe, Psal. 1.5. for David having spoken before of the blessed and prosperous estate of the godly man, in the 5th. verse he saith, non sic Impijs non sic, as for the ungod­ly it is not so with them; but they are like the chaffe which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth,) more particularly then, false prophets in the first place may fitly be compared to drosse, who are descri­bed in the 13th. of Deut. to have this odious and damnable quality, namely to draw and intice us to Idolatry, and to go after other Gods, or to worship the true ever-living God, in a false, erroneous, idolatrous, and su­perstitious way; By the Law of Moses, such as these were to be stoned to death, and good reason; because (saith he) they have sought to thrust thee away from the Lord the God, which brought thee out of the land of Aegypt, from the house of Bondage, and all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickednesse as this is among you.

[Page 16]Secondly, covetous and unjust Judges, may likewise here be resembled to drosse, with all corrupt bribe-taking Lawyers, and inferiour Officers that are under them, or any way de­pend upon them; for these are like the I­mage which Nebuchadnezar saw in his dream, whose head was of gold, Deut. 2.31. his breasts and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brasse, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay, and so the lower you descend, the more vile, and corrupt, and degenerate are they.

In the third place, we may esteem wicked and seducing Counsellors, no better than drosse, and therefore are to be carefully se­questred, weeded out, removed, and taken a­way from the King, lest they should infect, and poyson, and possess his heart with base Tyrannical principles, and Machiavilian pol­licies.

Fourthly, all fawning Sycophants and Para­sites, I mean all proud, ambitious, flattering, and aspiring Courtiers; therefore as Hamons face was covered, when that great Monarch was offended and displeased with him, Hest. 7.8. so let these, or such as these, not have so much privilege or favour to behold the Kings face; for they are no true friends of his, I dare say it, no good Sub [...]ects to the State; they eat like mothes into liberal mens coats; they are the very bane and consumption of greatnesse, [Page 17]they rob many a great man of his goodness, and make him rob and deprive the Common­wealth of her happiness; therefore let us ba­nish and abandon them, and away with them from before the King.

Fifthly, all male-contented Humorists, all factious and fanatick Sectaries, Seditious Scismaticks, and all hypocritical dissembling Professors whatsoever; I mean those, who dispise all kind of Ecclesiastical Discipline, and Church Government, and account our Liturgy, to be meat Popery, for never was any poor book so vilified, and reviled, as the book of Common-prayer hath been of late years, and yet those milites emeriti, that no­ble Army of Martyrs that composed it, suffe­red death in Queen Maries dayes, they dyed with it in their Arms, and both loved and ho­nored it, and highly esteemed it, some of them commending it as the best token of their loves to their dearest Wives, and that late Reverend and Renowned Prideaux Bishop of this Diocess, Dr. Boys in his Epi­stle Dedi­catory to K. James before his exposition of the pro­per Psalms, cum mul­tis aliis. commended it as a Legacy to his two Daughters, and all antient Ortho­doxal Ministers, have ever priz'd it and prais'd it as a second Bible.

Sixthly, all cruel treacherous and bloody-minded Papists, and Anabaptists, who speak evil of Dignities, and do obstinately refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance; who if they can­not prevail to bring their purpose to pass by [Page 18]secret Plots and Conspiracies, they will not stick (like the other) to attempt it by open Hostility and Rebellion, for these two the Catholick and the Scismatick, are much alike in their faction, howsoever they be different and disparent in their Faith; they hold as the Jesuites do, that (fides hereticis non est servanda) which is a strange Thesis, and a dangerous opinion, the hatcher and harbourer of Treason, the fosterer and fomentor of Re­bellion: for as one saith ingeniously, every Pope is an open Scismatick, and every Scis­matick a secret Pope; these Foxes (as Lu­ther tells us in his Preface to his Comentary upon The Epistle to the Galathians) are tyed together by the tayl, though by their heads they seem to be contrary; and what have they else in their tayls, but fire-brands like Samp­sons Foxes, Judg. 15. ready to set the shocks of Corn, yea the whole fields of Corn on fire, and without some prudent and timely preven­tion, to bring the whole Christian World in­to a most facal and final Combustion and Con­fusion.

Seventhly, all politick subtle-headed Pro­jectors, insatiable greedy-minded Monopo­lists, unreasonable and unconscionable Pa­tentees; for these have been proved sufficient­ly by woful experience to be meer Harpyes to the State, professed Horse-leeches, and Blood­suckers of the Common-wealth; [Page 19] Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo. These are like the Vultures that fed upon Promethe us Liver: so these are Regum Sica­rij, the very cut-throats of Kings, such as make no other use of Princes favours, but by Monopolies, and Impositions to in­rich themselves; these are somewhat like those, of whom mention is made in the life of Aurelian the Emperour; of whom it was said, that by them the good and honest Emperour, who might only know what they pleased to inform him, was e­ven bought and sold.

Eightly, and lastly, all unbelieving and misbelieving Athists, Epicures, Libertines, who have no fear of God before their eys, all impudent, audacious, brasen-fac'd Ly­ars; horrible, prodigious, and blasphe­mous Sweaters, and for-swearers; vicious. and lascivious Adulterers, dissolute, de­boich'd, and irregular Drunkards; irreligi­ous, and incorigible Sabboth-breakers, and the like. — Procul hinc, procul ite pro­fani, let all such rude profane miscreants, such wicked and ungodly people, be a far off removed, and taken away from the presence of the King; the Poet describes such, and calls them, ‘Ambubajarum Collegia, Pharmacopilae men­dici, mimae, balatrones & hoc genus omne.’ [Page 20]Here's a rabblement of rude profane mis­creants indeed; a Catalogue, Induction, and Inditement, (as I may so term it) of wicked and ungodly men, & dies me de­ficeret, the time would sail me to innu­merate and reckon up all the sorts of them; let it suffice only for this time to instance in these, and to speak a little more large­ly and freely of some few of these instead of the rest, and to shew you, that they are but Scoriae, & Quisquiliae hominum, the drosse and refuse of men, like salt that hath lost its savour, and therefore must be cast our, to be trodden under foot of men; for they are but sordes & purga­menta mundi; Math. 5.13. the very dregs and scum, and off-scowring of the world; therefore 'twere good and necessary to have them sifted and searched out, yea to have them seperated and taken away from the silver; so the wiseman here adviseth; Take away the drosse from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer; So take a­way the wicked, &c.

False Pro­phets dross.First them false Prophets are but drosse, as we shall soon find them so to be, if we do but bring them to that Lapis Lidi­us, the touchstone of truth the Scripture; and who are these pseuda Prophetae, these false Prophets? but those, qui ducunt & [Page 21]seducunt, who should lead us, and they do mislead us, like Stellae erraticae, or like that false fire which is called by the Philosophers Ignis fatuus, which befools men, and leads them out of the way: so they cause us to erre, and wander, and go astray out of the way of truth and righte­ousnesse; and such bring a curse upon themselves, and not a blessing; For cursed is he that maketh the blind to go out of his way, and let all the people say Amen. Deut. 27.18. for if the blind lead the blind (according as our Saviour saith in the Gospel) that is, if the wilfully blind lead those that are ignorantly blind; it happe­neth to them according to the Proverb, That both fall into the ditch.

That our care therefore and vigilancy might be great, to resist the mistery of iniquity; Christ and his Apostles do often inculcate this Caveat, and bid us beware of such Seducers; There shall arise false Christs & false Prophets, Math. 2.24 2 Pet. 2. and there shall come false Teachers among you; which shall bring in damnable Heresies, even Lupi rapaces, ravenous Wolves, not sparing the Flock, [...], Even of your own selvos, shall such men arise (saith Paul) speaking perverse things, to draw away Disciples af­ter them, Acts 20.30. Beware of false Pro­phets, [Page 22](saith our Saviour) which come to you cum vestimentis ovium, in sheeps clo­thing, but inwardly they are ravening Wolves; yee shall know them by their fruits, Mat. 7.15, 16. As Teriullian glosseth that Text excellently; quaenam sunt istae pelles ovium, nisi nominis Christiani extrinsecus superfici­es? All these sheeps-clothing, what are they else, but meer precise titles of holi­nesse, and bare out-sides, shews, and sha­dows of Religion and Christianity? falfe Prophets (as another antient Father ob­serveth) have Linsey-wolsey garments; Intus linam subtilitatis, extra lanam Sim­plicitatis demonstrat, the subtle thread of Hypocrisy and Deceit is withinside, but the plain web of Simplicity without side; they may fitly be compared to those wily Gibeonies who deceived Joshua with their clouted shooes, Jos. 9. their old garments, and their dry fusty bread; They are Oves visu, sed vulpes astu, said Bernard elegantly, their inside is of Fox-furre, their outside of Lambs-wool; and so Inimici et prodi­tores Ecclesiae, the Enemies and Betrayers of the Church (as Cyprian said) are in ipsâ Ecclesiâ contrà Ecclesiam, that is, they are in the Church against the Church; they live within the bosome of it, and yet de­sire to exenterate and eat out the very In­trals [Page 23]and Bowels of the same, these are cunning Impostors and jugling Jespited Heretical Doctors indeed (such as Hugh Peters was) taking England for their Country, and yet making Rome the rule & randesvow of their Religion, pretending nothing so much as Reformation, and yet intending nothing else but innovation and alteration of Religion; they are like Ja­nus Bifrons, looking with two faces un­der a hood; or like a Barge-man, that look­eth with his face one way, and rowes with his hands another way; But you shall know them by their fruits, as that true Prophet hath foretold us how we should discern and discover these false Prophets; for as a Wolf may be known from a Sheep, per unguem & ululatum, by his howling; and by his claws; so may we discern the false Prophet from the true, by his words, and by his works; ex malis moribus & ma­lo dogmate saith Melancthon: Some Di­vines refer this only to bad manners, o­thers only to false Doctrine; But the Scripture (which is the best Umpire in points of controversy and the soundest Interpreter of it self) sheweth expresly, that we may know them by both.

As first by their lewd life, for albeit these false Apostles, and deceitful workers, [Page 24]like Sathan, can transform themselves into an Angel of light, yet, their Clo­ven-foot may be espyed; which is a moral, 2 Cor. 1 [...]. to signifie simulatam sanctitatem, their counterfeit holiness, which is duplex iniquites a double unholinesse; therefore as Chrisystome saith well to such dissem­blers; aut esto quod appares, aut appare quod es: albeit they can prevaricate and e­quivocate, albeit they can dissemble cun­ningly for a time, being in sheeps-clothing, yet if you be circumspect and wary, in the end you shall know the Wolves by their Claws: Et si non ab omnibus fructibus, saltèm ab aliquibus cognoscetis eos, saith Anselme; as they be [...], lovers of their own selves, lovers of monyes, lo­vers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, besides this, they are for the most part covetous, proud, boasters, cursed speakers, disobedient to Parents, un­thankful, unholy, 2 Tim. 3.2. the Apostle St. Iude also describeth them, and admo­nisheth us to take heed of such deceivers, telling us that they perish in the contra­diction, and gain-saying of Korah: for as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, rose up and spake against Moses; so do these against them that are in Authority, Numb. 16.1, 2. [Page 25] Hi sunt in Agapis vestris maculae dum ve­biscum convivantur, securè se ipsos pascentes, Epist. of Jude 12. nubes aquâ carentes, & vent is circumactae; these are spots in your feasts of Charity, when they feast with you, without all fear feeding themselves (i. e.) feeding themselves impudenter, & absque ullà vel Dei vel Ecclesiae reverentià, impudently feeding and feasting themselves, without any fear of God, or Reverence to the Orders and Commanders of the Church, for instead of bowing at the Lords Table, or receiving the Holy Encharist kneeling, according to the antient and decent Order of our Church, they allow men either to stand, or sit, or lean, after an irreverent & un­mannerly fashion, which they themselves have devised; and they will not Administ­er or deliver the bread & wine to the Com­municants, but they must take it them­selves, & so drink to one another, as if they were in some common Inne or Alehouse, or the like; wherefore to such as these, I say as Paul did to the Corinthians; do yee make no difference betwixt the house of God, and your own houses? have yee not houses to eat and to drink in? despise yee the Church of God? despise yee the Reverend Order and Injunction of the Church, who ought only to appoint De­cency [Page 26]and Discipline, and ought to bear Rule and Authority in the Church: De­spise yee the Church of God, and shame them that have not? nay rather you shame your selves in abusing the Lords Supper, and your love-feasts, which were laudably ordained by the Apostles at the first to be kept, partly to protest, and increase, and preserve their brotherly love, and partly to relieve the poor and needy, as Tertul­lian observeth in his Apologet. cap. 39. shall I praise you in this saith Paul? I praise you not: And therefore they who contemn Government, and condemn all antient Laudable Customs, and Gestures here­tofore used in the Church, to introduce strange Whimzeys, and new devices of their own, do Ixyon-like embrace a Cloud instead of Juno; St. Jude compares them to Clouds without water carried about of winds, even led by the wind of their own Carnal Lusts, and Sensual Appetites, 2 Pet. 2.17▪18, 19. for there Peter tells us, that they are Wells without water, and Clouds carried about with a Tempest, to whom Caligo tenebrarum, the blacknesse of darknesse is reserved for ever: They are carried about with a Tempest (i. e.) they have some appearance outward, but with­in they are dry and barren, or at most they [Page 27]cause but a tempest; for in speaking, ma­nem grande loquentiam sive vanes et praetu­midus verborum ampulles; In speaking swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, or through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error, while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome he is brought in bondage; In a word the wind of ambition, and the wind of superstition, raised or stirred up by that hellish Hagg, that infernal Acherontick Erynnis, that Ma­chiavillian principle or policy of granting liberty of Conscience to the people, hath so transported them beyond the rule of Reason and Religion, that their deeds are manifestly and apparently known, and that Hydraes head of herisy and erronious Opi­nions is so multiplyed, that to reduce our poor dilacerated and distracted Church of England to that antient uniform Disci­pline, and Ecclesiastial or Episcopal Go­vernment which it once happily enjoyed, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles of blessed me­mory, it will require now a more the Herculian labour to effect it.

But we may know them especially by the fruits of their Doctrine, look Titus 1.11. Where they are said to teach things which they ought not, Turpis lucri gratia, For filthy lucres sake; And to preach fa­bles, 2 Tim. 4. And that which is worst of all to broach Doctrinas Damonium, Doctrines of Devils, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meat, with the like beggerly rudiments, 1 Tim. 4.3. In the 10th. of St. Johns Gospel, and the 12th. verse, The Wol [...] is said to scatter and devour the Sheep. But in the 40th. of Esay at the 11th. verse, the good Shepheard doth gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosome; He doth not shew himself as a Lord, or as a Tyrant over Gods heritage, but rather is a good Ensample to the flock of meekness and humility, 1 Pet. 5.3. Memorable is that saying of an antient Father, Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, et non deglubere; A good shepheard should take the fleece, but not flaw the Skin of his Sheep; The true Prophet bindeth up the broken hearted, and comforteth all that mourn, Esay 61.1. [Page 29] Delivering doctrine to Edification, Exhor­tation, Consolation, 1 Cor. 14.3. Such then as waken the Spouse of Christ when she is at rest, such as cause devision and dissention in the Church or State, and goe about to dishearten and disparage, yea to disperse and scatter the sheep of Christ, that great shepheard of our souls; Such as rather trouble and con­sound, perplex and amaze, than relieve and comfort the distressed Conscience: Such as build not upon the true foundati­on, and right Corner-Stone Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 3.11. but bring Hay or Stuble, instead of Gold and Silver into the Temple of the Lord; Such as are given over to Superstitious de­vises, and fond fancies or surmises, Math 15.9. to An­tiquated obsolete Ceremonies, and Old­wives fables, Teaching for Doctrines the Precepts of men, as the Old Pharises did: and as the New sects of Anabaptists, In­dependants, Presbyterians, and Millen­arians do, some broaching Pelagianisme, some Arminianisme, & some flat Papisme, and the like, I say, such as are thornes in our sides, and thistles in our feet, are not currant silver, but Counterfeit coyn, yea plain dross in the Finers shop; not good plants in the Lords Vineyard, and there­fore must be lopt and cut down, or root­ed [Page 30]up by the hand of supream Authority; For they are as St. Jude speaks; Arbores emarcidae, Infrugiferae, bis emortuae; Cor­rupt trees, unfruitful, twice dead, and therefere must be eradicated, or plucked up by the roots; And so we may easily discern, and know them by their fruits, For a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruits: neither can a bad tree bring forth good fruits.

I could here give you some presidents and examples of divers false Prophets, which have been heretofore, as the Pro­phets of Baal, 1 Kings 18. and of the Groves four hun­dred and fifty, which fed at Jezabels table, The lying Prophets which deceived Ahab, 1 Kings 22. The Old Prophet, Act. 5. Act. 8. that se­duced the young Prophet that was slain by a Lyon, 1 Kings 13. Theudas, and Ju­das of Galile; Simon the Sorcerer, and that deceitful worker Mahomet, which taught a Dove to feed at his Ear, wherein he had put grains of Corn. And when he was in his fits of the Falling-sickness, he told his wife and the rest of his followers that he was a Prophet, that the spirit of God fell upon him, and that the Angel Gabriel in the form of a Dove came to his Ear, and revealed to him secrets from God, whose presence he was not able to [Page 31]abide, and therefore it was that he pro­strated himself, and lay in a trance; Such a Prophet was one George David born in Freesland, who boasted himself to be Gods Nephew, and that he was sent from Heaven, to chuse and to appoint who should be saved, and who should be dam­ned, Mr. Smith in his works so reporteth of him; Such a Prophet also was James Nayler, Lang. Chron. that great ring-leader of the Quakers, who gave out these horrible, pro­digious, and blasphemous words, that he was the everlasting Son of God; Such Prophets were Knox and Buchaman in Scotland, who were profest enemies, and open opposers both of Monarchial and Episcopal Government; Such a Prophet was Paraeus, and John Sleidan, or John a Leyden in Germany a Tayler-King, as he is commonly reported an Arch-Anabaptist, & a meer effeminate & licentious Nicolai­tain, for he kept many wives together; Oh what havock & desolation did he and his Disciples bring upon that Church, by har­boring and entertaining such grosse erroni­ous fancies in their brain, that a wicked and godless Magistrate might be deposed and made away, For the ordinary preach­ing of Muncer was this, God hath war­ranted me face to face, he that cannot lye [Page 32]hath commanded me to attempt the change of those means, even by killing the Magistrate; and Phifer his lewd Companion did but dream in the night-time of the kil­ling of many mice and presently interpre­ted, or expounded his dream of murthering the Nobles; But these Prophets even all of them came to naught, as Theudas and Ju­das of Galile did in the dayes of the taxing, of whom Josephus makes mertion, Lib. 20. De Antiqu. Cap. 4. They all pe­rished, and as many as followed them or obeyed them were dispersed; For the Lord both checketh, Act. 5.37. and correcteth, and rejecteth such Prophets as these, saying, Jer. 23.21. I have not sent these Prophets (saith the Lord) yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. And he saith moreover, The Prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word, Ier. 23.28, 29. let him speak my word faith­fully? What is the chaff to the wheat (saith the Lord) So what is the dross to the sil­ver? Is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord? Thus the fire of Gods word doth soon prove and find out those false Pro­phets to be but dross, and therefore you see how needful it is to seperate them, and take them away from the silver; Take a­way the dross from the silver, so take away [Page 33]the wicked from before the King, &c. I fear I have held you overlong in talking of false Prophets, and in taking off the mask and vizard from that dissembling hipocrite, that white-skind Devils-face, as Luther was used to term the Traytor Judas.

2 Cove­tous and Unjust Iudges dross.Wherefore I hasten to the second sort that I named, viz. Covetous and Unjust Judges; And whether they also may not well be compared to dross, judge ye; For as the Prophet Esay, Sophoclaeo Cothurne, in a lofty or in a Courtly stile, Esay 1.21. cryeth out and complaineth on the corrupt and degenerate Judges of Judah, that were in his time; How is the faithful City be­come an Harlot? It was full of Judgment, Righteousness lodged in it, but now Mur­derers. Here was a strange alteration, and a most wonderful Innovation indeed, in respect of their life and manners; When those that should execute Judg­ment and declare righteous things to the people, did practice nothing else but the contrary; Nothing else but mischeif and murder, destruction and unhappiness were in their wayes, and the way of Peace, Truth, and Justice they did not know. Whereupon the Prophet further upbraid­eth and accuseth them thus, by way of similitude and comparison, saying, Ar­gentum [Page 34]tuum abijt in scorias, merum tuum Inspurcatum est aquâ (i. e.) thy Silver is become dross, thy wine mixt with water, thy Princes are rebellious and Companions of Theives. Unusquisque amat munus, et secte­tur retributiones, Every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards; And that you may perceive he speaketh directly of co­verous and unjust Judges, the words fol­lowing do intimate it unto us; They judge not the Fatherless, neither doth the Cause of the Widdow come unto them. No, it seems they were all for money and bribes, no just and honest or upright dealing was a­mongst them, no regard, or pitty, or Commiseration of the poor at all; The weakest went to the wall (as we say) the poor Widdow was despised, the Or­phane and fatherless Children were set at nought; Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, even the mighty God of Isra­el; Eheu, ah, saith he, (shaking his head as it were for grief at their great cruelty and oppression, and deeply considering of it and laying it to heart) Ah saith he, I will ease me of mine Adversaies, and a­venge me of mine enemies; And I will turn my hand upon thee, Et defaecans scorias tuas, Justae puritati restituam te; Whereby the Prophets comparison, the Lord takes up­on [Page 35]him to be an artificial Finer, and puri­fier of silver from dross, as Tremelius tells us directly on the Text; Ut manu meâ tan­quam Artifex eos qui improbi sunt a probis separem, refundendo totam Rempublicam ve­lut Adulterinum nummum; I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin; Where by dross and tin, he meaneth the wicked and ungodly, which are indeed the grosser and the worser mettal, and as it were the excrements of gold and silver; Restituam­que Judices tuos sicut primum; And I will restore thy Judges as at the first, and thy Counsellors as at the beginning; Afterwards, saith the Lord, (i. e.) after all this, when I have seperated the precious from the vile, when I have thus purged thee from thy dross, and taken away all thy tin, then thy silver shall appear, and give shine unto the world; For thou shalt be called, Civi­tas Justa, et urbs Fidelis; The City of Righteousness, or the Faithful City. Jeza­bel shall lay aside her witty crafts and her paintings, Rohab shall believe and receive the Spies with peace, Heb. 11.31. the Harlot shall be metamorphosed or transformed and tur­ned as it were into an honest woman, Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment, (saith Esay) and her Converts with Righte­ousnesse; [Page 36]And the destruction of the Trans­gressors, and of the Sinners shall be together, and they that for sake the Lord shall be even as dross is in the fire. For as the Lord saith by the mouth of his Prophet Jeremy, Behold I will melt them and try them. Ier. 9.7. And Malachy placeth him, being Antiquus die­rum, The Antient of dayes, in the seat of Judgment, Mal. 3.3. saying, He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, he shall purify the Sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousnesse.

Now although (Exempla illustrant & non probant) yet to give you a president or two for the cleering and illustrating of this point, and to single you out some egregi­ous and notorious examples of covetous, corrupt, unjust, and unconscionable Judg­es; That one in the Gospel may be the first that shall be arraigned in this Cata­logue, and brought before the Tribunal of divine Justice, because he is best known unto you, his bill of Inditement is drawn out, delivered, and deciphered unto us by the exact pensil of the Evangelist St. Luke thus; Luke 18.2. and therefore is the more re­markable: There was in a City a Judge which feared not God, neither regarded man; It seems by this he was guilty of the breach of both Tables, a transgressor of [Page 37]the whole decalogue, peccant and delin­quent he was, in respect of all the Com­mandements; for he neglected his duty both towards God and man, this was his general Obliquity, but his particular fault and offence was this; There was a certain Widdow in that City, and she came unto him saying, Avenge me of mine Adversary, and he would not for a while; Here was his obstinacy and injustice, joyned with un­charitableness, by delaying her suit, and protracting the time (a common fault of our cunning covetous Lawyers in these dayes, to make a demur of their poor Clients causes, and hold them in suspence Term after Term, till they have emptied their purses, and brought them to want and penury. But according to that saying (Secundae Cogitationes sunt meliores) Af­terward this unjust Judge said within him­self, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this Widdow troubleth me, I will right her, and avenge, her lest by her con­tinual coming she weary me; And the Lord said hear what the unjust Judge saith. As if he had said, do you not mark the end of his speech? observe his aim and his drift, how that not for fear of God, nor respect to man, not for love of justice to the poor Widdow: but meerly for his own end, [Page 38]and his own ease, Ne tandem veniens, ob­tundat me, Lest by her continual coming she weary me; Hear what the unjust Judge saith (saith God) shall he avenge the Widdow by reason of her Importunity? And shall not God who is the Judge of all the Earth do right? Gen. 18.25. shall not he avenge his own Elect, which cry day and night unto him, with a Quo usque domine? How long Lord holy and true, as those souls do that lye under the Altar, Revel. 6. Shall not he judge and avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth, even on them which Causelessly and Injutiously spilt it, though be bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them and that speedily; Never­theless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the Earth? No surely, for great Apostacy, false doctrine and heresie, and a general corruption of manners shall then be praedominant, the love of many shall wax cold, Faith shall scarce be found at Christs coming; There must be a departing and falling away from Faith to­wards God, and love towards man, an infallible note of Antichrist and the last days Et jam recessit lex a Sacerdotibus, et jam Terras Astraea reliquit, The Law is now departed from the Priest, and Justice from the Magistrate, the foundations of the [Page 39]Earth are out of course, as the Psalmiff complaineth; Yea all things are grown so naught, and there is such an universal defection and corruption, both in the Civil State and Ecclesiastical, that it begun of late years, even in the reign of the late King, through a common fame to grow into a Proverb, Note that this was when they left the Law of Magna Charta and set up a Law of their own like the Law of the Jewes to put Christ to death: so they set up the High Court of Iustice to put the King to death. How that the Judges had be­trayed the Law, and the Bishops had al­most destroyed and overthrown the Gospel. Horresto referens atque animus meminisse horet lactuque refugit; O tell it not in Gath, nor publish it in the streets of Aska­lon! I could here tell you of another unjust Judge, besides the former, which is also recorded in the Gospel, and I cannot well passe over his name in silence, although I cannot chuse but name him with a kind of indignation and disdain; 'tis Pontius Pi­late by name, who was Governour of Ju­daea, as St. Luke reports it, chap. 3. v. 1. Deputy and Lieutenant he was to Tiberius Caesar, the Roman Emperour, under whom our Saviour suffered; This was he who to humour, content, and pleasure the people, he was indeed too popular and pleasing in his dealings (For he knew that of envy they had delivered him) who though he found no fault at all in that Immacu­late Lanb of God Christ Jesus our blessed [Page 40]Lord and Saviour, yet contrary to all Law and Justice, contrary to his own Conscience, yea conttary to that special Item, and serious Admonition which his Wife gave him, being warned in a dream so to do, for she sent him this message; Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him, Math. 27.18, 19. Although his Wife (being Divinitas In­spirata as it were) sent thus unto him, when he was set down on the Judgment seat, yet he regarded it not, but pronoun­ced the sentence of Condemnation against that holy, and innocent, and just one; Who also though he sent an Epistle to Ti­berius to excuse the fact, and laid all the fault on the Jews and their malice, (as Sixtus Senensis relates it) yet Stygma In­justitiae, the brand and blemish, the spot and stain of injustice, of partial and wrong­ful dealing, shall stick upon his name, so long as that superscription which he set upon the Crosse, shall remain to be read and recited in Hebrew, Greek, and La­tine, because all nations might understand it and remember it; Ioh. 19.20. Or at least as long as that Gospel of our Saviours death and passion shall be read and preached through­out the world. I could here produce and [Page 41]instance in more such Judges, especially you would but give leave to the Ha [...] ­maid to wait upon her Mistris; For men­tion is made in humane story of one Verle­nius, who was in the days of the Roman Emperour Alexander Severus; He abused the favour of the Emperour, and took much money of divers to prefer their Suces, but deluded them and did them no good: When the Emperour understood it, he caused him to be hanged up in a Chimney (as some have it) or as others, he comman­ded him to be tyed in propatulo, in publick view to a stake, and there to be suffocated, and stifled, or choked to death with smoke, an Herald proclaiming to the people, Fumum vendidit, et fumo punitus est, Smoke he sold and with smoke he is pu­nished; It seems that Justice is too much turned into smoke amongst us; we have many sittings and meetings in the Coun­try, which put us in mind, and both pre­tend and promise some hope of reform­ing of disorders, and suppressing, or at the least diminishing and decreasing that World of Alehouses, that is now adays, but all turn into smoak, and vanish into nothing; the Cath-pole Excise man goes away with all the gains, the poor Coun­try man pays all, or else he must drink [Page 42]sixteens; here's small Justice, and poor reformation of Exorbitancies.

Another fearful example was read in Herodotus, that when a Judge for mony, and for lucre, had pronounced a false sen­tence; the King of the Persians caused him to be excoriated and fleyed alive; and commanded that his skin should be nailed over the Seat of Judgement, there to re­main for ever as a terrour to succeeding Judges, and that the Son of the same Judge, should first supply the Seat, that by his Fathers example, he might take heed of perverting Justice: A just Judge­ment inflicted upon a corrupt Judge; which if it move you not, because a Hea­then was the Author of the story; yet hearken to the Law of God, against which no exception can be taken; Cursed is he that taketh a reward, to put to death inno­cent blood, and all the people shall say Amen, Deut. 27.15.

Such Judges as these, our own Chro­nicles do afford us sufficient Testimony, and Examples of, and they testifie that there were such in the Reign of King Ri­chard the Second, namely Sir Robert Tre­silian Lord Chief Justice, with six more Judges, and divers others of great pla­ces, who did not faithfully Counsel the [Page 43]King; but advise him to do things contra­ry to Law, whereupon they were censu­red in a Parliament holden at that time; some of them were Executed, and some Exiled and Banished the Land for their Fasehood and Treachery; and such Judges as these we have had of late years again, who have run into the same Errour, and faln into the like premunire, as they did, by deluding and perswading the King a­gainst the Subject, and by alienating and exasperating the hearts of the Subject against the King, and the like unlawful and ungodly Stratagems & practices: Nay more than this, their wickednesse and vilenesse did not here cease, but they pro­ceeded yet farther, and set up a High Court of Justice (as they called it) and both Indited and Arraigned the King him­self at their Barr, and made a Law among themselves (as the Jews did) to put that pious Prince to death, and to divide his Head from his Shoulders, and this they did contrary to Magna Charta; and contrary to all Law and Justice; & these were Judge Bradshaw, Hacker, Harrison, Cook, and their Com-plices, who sate in Judgement upon him, as Pilate and his Souldiers did upon Christ, and Condemned him as a Traytor against the State; but these Judges [Page 44]for some part of them, have of late been detected, and found out, and received Se­vere and Condign punishment, for their Cruel, Hainous, and Bloody Offences; and that blood which was thus shed about twelve years since, is not yet expiated, neither is the hand quite purged from it; therefore we may well say of them, as the old Patriarch Jacob did of Simeon and Levi, Gen. 49.6. In arcam eorum ne in­greditor anima mea, in Caetum eorum ne adunator gloria mea; O my Soul come not thou into their secret, unto their Assem­bly mine honour be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man (that was ten thousand times better than them­selves;) and in their selfwill, they digged down a wall; Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, fot it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Thus when he maketh inquisition fot blood he remembreth it, and forgetteth not the complaint of the poor, Psal. 9.12. for although God revengeth not sud­denly the wrong done to his Servants, yet he suffereth not the wicked alwayes to escape unpunished; So we read that God raised up the Holy Spirit of a young Child, whose name was Daniel, to acquit and [Page 45]clear innocent Susanna from that false and unjust accusation, which those two cor­rupt, vicious, and lascivious Elders had brought against her, return again to Iudg­ment said he, for they have born false witnesse against her; and therefore such corrupt Judges as these, or as Felix was, who kept Paul in prison, hoping that mo­ny should be given him to let him loose, Acts 24.27, and such as the Sons of Sa­muel were, who turned aside after Iucre, and took rewards, and perverted Judge­ment, 1 Sam. 8. they must be removed and taken away from the King, for they are but drosse, so saith my Text, Take away the drosse from the silver, and there shall come, &c. We have shewed you that false Prophets, and covertous corrupt Jud­ges are but drosse in comparison of silver. III. Flattering Courtiers are dross.

In the third place we may observe, that fawning Parasites, that is to say, flatte­ring and aspiring Courtiers must be re­moved and taken away from the King, for they are but like drosse, in respect of pure silver, and to make us abominate, abhor, and detest such, and to make us out of love with such drosse and refuse of men, David the King saith, Psal. 120.2. Deliver my Soul (O Lord) from lying lips, and from a deceitfull tongue; and in the 12th. Psalm, he also saith, They that do [Page 46]but flatter with their lips, and dissemble with their double hearts. the Lord shall root out all such deceitful persons; He meaneth the flatterers of the Court, which hurt him more with their tongues, than the Philistines, or any open Enemy can do with their weapons; And Solomon saith to the same effect, & purpose Prov. 27.5, 6. Open rebuke is better than secret love▪ fidelia sunt vulnera amici, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are de­ceitful, even as the kisses of Joab and Ju­das were; Let the Righteous rathersmite me friendly (saith David) and reprove me, 2 Sam. 20.9. but let not their precious balms break mine head; That is, Psal. 141.6, 6. let not their prosperities (like the Apples of Hippomane cast before Ata­lenta) let them not allure me, nor intice me to be wicked as they are; yea I will pray yet against their wickednesse; or as some translations have it, within a while, I shall even pray in their miseries: So that he could abides and take in good part, all corrections, redarguitions, and represen­sions that came from a loving, and tender, and friendly heart, and sheweth withall, that by a patient waiting upon God, he shall see the wicked so sharply and severe­ly handled, that he shall even at the last for pity be fain to pray for them; how­soever [Page 47]in the mean time he prayes for him self, saying, ver. 10, 11. Keep me from the Snare that they have laid for me, and from the Traps and Gins of these evil doers, let the ungodly fall into their own nets to­gether, and let me ever escape them. Syracides also, or the Son of Syrach, speaks to the same purpose, advising us to take heed of flattering, dissembling, and deceitful Companions, Eccl. 28.18. Where he saith, Many have fallen by the edge of the Sword; but not so many as have fallen by the Tongue: He means a false flattering, and back-biting Tongue: and he saith further, well is he that is de­fended from it, and hath not passed through the venom thereof, for it is said of the wicked, the poyson of Aspes is under their Lips, Psal. 14. and in Psal. 5.9.10. There is no faithfulness in his mouth, their in­ward parts are very wickedness, their throat is an open Sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue; and according to this St. Gregory saith, plus nocet lingua Adulatoris, quam gladius persecutoris; the tongue of the flatteter doth more hurt, than the sword of the persecutor; and wor­thy Bishop Babington, compares lying, flattering, dawbing, and smoothing, and the like cunning, equivocating, and so­phisticating [Page 48]tricks to theft, and calls it (furtum linguae) the theft of the tongue; So we read that Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel, 2 Sam. 15.16. and so false Ziba stole the goods of his Master Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 16. so these Sycophants, these Para­sites, and Flatterers, are great Theives both in Court and Country; they are not only dominorum suorum arcisores, sed etiam arcosores, not only private smilers upon, but open and manifest Cheators, and Couzeners, and beguilers of their Lords and Masters, and there­fore (as one saith wittilly) let a Flat­terer be in your Pater Noster, but not in your Creed; pray for him, but trust him no more than a Thief; albeit nei­ther City nor Country be free from such Cut-throats and Cut-purses; yet the Courts of Kings and Princes are especially pestered with such kind of Thieves: indeed the saying is true, Ex­eat Aulâ, qui volet esse pius, (i.e.) the Court is no place for the Practice of Piety, but rather for the Exercise of Policy: And Barnard was wont to complain, that the Court is wont to receive such as are good, but to make them bad; bonos facilius recipere quàm̄ [Page 49]facers, nam plures in aula defecisse bo­nos quam profecisse malos probavimus, and Budaeus saith, all Courtiers must be like Chamelions, accommodating themselves unto all Companies; ut as­sentioni & assentationi scitè asserviatur, hilling and clipping, cringing and couch­ing, and bowing to all they meet; re­sembling the fish called Polypus, who applyes himself to the colour of the Rock, against which it Swims, or where­on it lyes; or much like the Herb called Tripolium, which (as Antigonus reporteth of it) every day changeth his colour thrice: being sometime white, sometime Violet, and sometime Car­nation: or if you will have it, they are like the flower called Heliotropium, or the Marigold, which openeth upon the Sun-rising, and shutteth with the Sun-setting: so these time-serving Gna­thoes, these flattering Claw-backs, will follow you, and fawn upon you, whilst you are thriving, but when you are declining and decaying, they will sud­denly leave you, and forsake you, grosse and apparant Sycophants and Parasites, they are uno ore calcidum & frigidum pro suis commodis efflare periti; creeping up to honour per mille indignitates, [Page 50]through a thousand dishonours, and dis­graces saith Seneca, which made Hip­politus to cry and say,

And another to the same purpose speaks, quò quis Corruptior moribus, & Cor­rumpentior munoribus eò beatire. The Court is all for mony, making Oxen to labour, and Asses to feed; It is a mint of Fashions, Iob. 4.14. and exchange of Complements, a shame to Shamefast­nesse, an animator and encourager of all Impudency and Impiety; omnis sce­leris mater nutrixque nefandi, the ve­ry Mother and Nurse of all pride and ungodlinesse; what was it that made Haman so Haughty and Imperious, Proud and insolent, so full of malice and mischief, and so desirous of re­venge, but the Court of King Ahashue­rus, and the great honour and pro­motion therein, which by his insinua­ting subtilty, and cunning flattery, he had aspir'd and attained unto? for he perswaded the King, and sollicited him against the Jews, telling him that their [Page 51]Lawes were divers and contrary to all other, Neither keep they the Kings Laws (said he) therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them, Hester 3.8. Thus his flattering and false sug­gestions, his envious and malicious In­formations to the King, had like to have proved the bane and ruine, and utter extirpation and destruction of the people and nation of the Jews; So likewise those Presidents and Princes of Darius, flattered and soothed the King exceedingly, when they procured him to make that unreasonable and un­godly Decree, that whosoever should make or aske a petition of any God or man for thirty dayes, save of him the King, should presently be cast into the Den of Lions, and this they did to that very end, that they might find occasion a­gainst Daniel concerning the Law of his God, and so accuse him for neg­lecting and despising the Kings Decree, Dan. 6.5. But afterwards, namely in the 14th. verse, it is said, that the King was sore displeased with himself, and why? because he was so seduced, and over-ruled by his flattering Courti­ers, to make such a strict and straight Law, which could not be altered [Page 52]nor reversed: for though he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and laboured Usque ad occasum Solis, till the going down of the Sun, to effect it, yet he could not prevail, because the Law of the Medes and Persians was such, that no Decree nor Statute which the King esta­blish'd might be changed; Therefore let Kings especially take heed of Flatterers, let them take heed of rash Oaths, and of being led by their Favourites and Minions, to take off the Head of John the Baptist, as Herod did, Math. 14. And to avoid this, let all Flattering false-hearted Courtiers be taken away from before the King, for they are but drosse; Let their Faces rather be covered as Hamans was, when that great Monarch was offended and displeased with him, Hest. 7.8. Yea let them not have so much priveledge or favour to behold the Kings face, for they are no true Friends of his, no good Subjects to his Majesty, or well-willers to the State; For as King Priamus believing Sinons smooth Tale, Virgil L [...]b. 1. aenead. let in the Trojan Horse, which was a means of burning, and destroying that antient, and famous, and flourishing City of Troy, which was Columen pollentis Asiae, as Seneca calls it in his Tragedyes, yea, as the Syrens song, [Page 53]is sometimes the Saylors shipwrack, and as the Poet saith, Fiscula dulcè canil, volucrem dum decipit anceps; As the sweet melodious pipe or whistle of the cunning Fowler, entrappeth and ensnareth the silly Bird: So these kind of men do eate like mothes into liberal mens Coats; They are the very bane and consumption of Grearnesse, they rob many a Great man of his Goodnesse, and make him rob and deprive the Common-wealth of her happinesse; Therefore howso­ever these Sinons and Syrens may tempt us and alure us, let us not hearken to them, nor regard them, but rather re­member the good and wholesome words of wise Cascandra, who said, ‘Timeo Danaos vel dona ferentes.’

And calling to mind what David saith concerning such dangerous Char­mers and Inchanters, Psal. 141.4, 5, 6. Psal. 141. O let not my heart be inclined to any evil thing, let me not be occupied in ungodly works, with the men that work wickedness; lest I eat of their dainties, or of such things as please them; Let the Righteous ra­ther smite me friendly, and reprove me, but let not their precious balms break [Page 44]mine head, yea I will pray yet against their wickednesse; And therefore let us ba­nish and abandon them, and both desire and endeavour to put away such drosse from the King. Take away the drosse from the silver, &c.

IIII. wicked Counsel­lors are dross.In the next place, wicked and se­ducing Councellors may well be compared to drosse likewise; What is worse or more despicable than drosse? So what can be worse than evil Counsel, or more to be loathed and abhorred? Such a Counsellor, and wicked Prompt­er, and Suggester, was Sathan, when he seduced our first Parents, and tempted them to eat of the forbidden fruit; God said, In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye; Eve being poy­soned and corrupted by that Old Ser­pent said; Lest ye dye; Sathan him­self said, Ye shall not dye at all, for God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil; A shrewd temptation and a subtile one, but he lyed every word he spake; Iob. 8. being a Liar from the beginning and the Father thereof. Thus as Bernard descants upon that place and passage in Genesis wittily and ac­cutely; Deus affirmat, Mulier dubitet. [Page 55]Diabolus negat; God affirms it, the Woman doubts it, the Devil denies it, and which of these will ye hearken unto? Such a Counsellor was Achito­phel to Absalom, when he advised him to rise up against his Father David e and to thrust him out of his Throne and Kingdome, 2 Sam. 17. But th [...] Lord did defeat his Counsel and turn it into Folly, and so the saying was verified, Consilium malum consultori pessimum, for it brought them both to shame and confusion, the one hang'd himself, and the other was hanged in a Tree, Even in an Oak between Heaven and Earth, and they took him and cast him into a great pit, and laid a mighty great heap of stones upon him; without all question, that it might be an en­sign and spectacle of terror to all Pari­cides and Traytors that should either rebel against their Prince, or rise up against their Parents, 2 Sam. 18.17. Such mischeivous, misadvised, and rash­headed Counsellors were those Young­men who Counselled Rehoboam to play the Tyrant over his people, and to chastise them with Scorpions; The old, and Grave, and Sage, and Beaten Counsellors advised him otherwise, [Page 56]saying, Shew thy self kind and loving to the people this day, and they will. be thy Servants for ever; But he forsooke the good and wholesome Counsel which the Old men gave him, and followed the Counsel of the Young men, which was his own destruction, 2 Chron. 10. Even Kings going [...]ight are sometimes mis­led by naughty Counsellors, as is said of Joash one of the Kings of Judah, he did uprightly all the dayes of Jehojada the Priest, but when he was dead, the Princes of Judah came, and did rever­ence to him, and he hearkened to them, and so left the house of the Lord, 2 Chron. 14. and served Groves and Idols; O well is it with Kings when they have such Chaplains and such Preists as Je­hojada; Such Prophets as Samuel was to Saul, and Daniel to Belshazzar! O well is it with the Church, When Kings are nursing Fathers, and Queens are nursing Mothers unto it, Esay 29.13. And well is it likewise with the State, if godly Ministers and religious prudent Counsellors, hang as a precious Jewel, or Ear-ring at the Princes ear! If Joseph a man that feareth God be a Counsellor to King Pharoah, he will advise him to lay up Corn in the years [Page 57]of plenty, Gen. 41.6. enough to supply his Land and sustain the people in the time of dearth and scarcity. If Nehemiah be gratious in the Court of the King Ar­taxerxes, the afflictions and distresses of his poor brethren in Captivity, shall be laid to heart, Nebem. 18.10. and the walles of Jerusalem, to the utmost of his power shall be rebuilt. Worthily hath Eras­mus observed in an Epistle to John Alasto, that if we had more Bishops like Ambrose, we should have more Em­perors like Theodosius. If Brentius the Divine be Counsellor to the Duke of Wittenberge, Religion thereby shall be better established and advanced. If Oc­cam the Schoolman fly to Lewis the Emperour, he may well say as he did Defende me gladio, et ego te defendam Calamo, protect thou me with thy Sword, and I will defend thee with my Pen, as Tritenhemius hath obser­ved. In a word, if the Kingdome be ruled, and governed, and swayed by Gods Scepter, it will continue, and it will prosper, for that is a right Scep­ter indeed as it is called, Psal. 45. If the King himself make the word of God his Counsellor, as David did, Psal. 119. and as he is admonished to do, Deut. [Page 58]17.18. Then shall he prolong his dayes in his Kingdome, and God shall lengthen his life, and make his dayes as the dayes of Heaven; Then shall a Crown of pure gold be set upon his head, and upon his head shall his Crown flour­ish, maugre the head and hatred of all his enemies, if he shall purge and put away this and the like drosse that I have specified from the silver, then I say his Crown shall be setled upon his head, and his Throne shall be e­stablished in righteousnesse. The Gos­pel is the best Pearl or precious Stone in his Diadem, the fairest Flower in his Garland, it is the only Ornament, and chiefest glory of a Kingdome, the main and principal preserver and upholder of a State or Nation next under Christ: But on the other side (as Solomon saith) Where there is no Vision, the people decay, Prov. 29. Yea both Prince and People will soon rue it and goe to wrack, if the Gospel of Christ have not free passage amongst us, or if the sincere and faithful Preach­ers therrof, by the divellish and ma­licious subtilty of some Popish, Poli­tick and Pestiferous Enemies of the Church; be silenc'd and suppress'd. [Page 59]O then consider I beseech you (be­loved) how it behoveth us to pray un­to God, that he would be pleased to en­dow, enrich, and adorn the Kings most excellent Majesty, with the un­daunted Courage and Constancy of Ne­hemiah, with the Zeal and Care of the good King Josiah, for the refor­mation of Religion, and with the stedfast and pious Resolution of King David, which he professeth and protesteth that he would use and ob­serve in the Goverment of his own House and Kingdome, Psal. 101.6, 7, 8. Who so leadeth a godly life, he shall be my Servant, there shall no deceitful person dwell in my house, he that tel­leth Lies shall not tarry in my sight, I will soon, destroy all the ungodly that are in the Land, that I may root out all wicked doers from the City of the Lord. To this end also wee had need alwayes to pray for him, not only that the name of the mighty God of Jacob may defend him from all evil, and from all his enemies, O watch over him with the careful eye of thy special providence, O prepare thy loving mercy, and faithfulness that they may preserve him; But also it behoveth us [Page 60]to pray, that the Lord would be plea­sed to blesse and furnish & assist his sacred Majesty with good and wise Counsel­lors, O such as are faithful to God, true to the State, and loyal to their Soveraign. Parva sunt foris arma, nisi est consileum domi, Where no Counsel is, the people fall; but where many Counsel­lors are there is health, Prov, 11.14. The wisdome of such is better than strength, yea than weapons of war, Eccl. 9.16. Here let us pray for our King as Abigail did for King David, 1 Sam. 25.27. Let the Soul of my Lord the King be bound up in the bun­dle of Life with the Lord his God, and as for the Souls of his enemies, let them be flung out as out of the middle of a sting. I will conclude this passage with that prayer of David, Psal. 72.1.

[Page 61] GIve the King thy Iudgements O God, &c. Then shall He Judge the people according unto right, and Defend the Poor; the Mountains also shall bring Peace, and the little Hills Righteousnesse unto the People; He shall keep the sim­ple Folk by their right, and defend the Children of the Poor, and punish the wrong doer; They shall fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endu­reth, from one Generation to another; He shall come down like the Rain in­to a Fleece of Wool, even as the drops that water the Earth; In His time shall the Righteous flourish, yea, and abundance of Peace so long as the Moon endureth.

Which Blessings the Lord grant unto Our King, and to all his Loving, and Loyal Subjects what­soever, and this let us all Hum­bly and Heartily, Joyntly and De­voutly pray for, and crave, and beg at His Hands for His tender Mercy Sake in Christ Jesus Our [Page 62]Lord; to whom with Thee (O Heavenly Father) and Thy Holy and Eternal Spirit, Three in One and One in three, one Immortal, Invisible, Indivisible, Incompre­hensible, and only Ever-wise God, be Rendred and Ascribed (as of due belongeth) all Honour and Glo­ry, Power and Praise, Thanks­giving, and Obedience, both now and for Evermore, Amen.