Monarchiae Encomium EST Sceptrum sive Solium Justitiâ Stabilitum; OR A Congratulation of the King's Coronation, Showing withal, the right way of Settling and Establishing the King's Throne, and causing his Crown to Flourish upon his Head.  
By way of Explication of the five first verses of the 25 Chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon,  
With an Application of them to the Occurrences of these times, Published  
By Tho. Malpas Preacher of the Gospel at Pedmore in Worcester-Shire.  
LONDON, Printed by T. Leach, and are to be sold by William Palmer at the Palmtree in Fleetstreet, and by Joan Malpas in Sturbridg in Worcester-Shire, 1661.   
OMnis Anima potestatibus Supereminentibus Subjecta esto; Rom. 13.1. Super Imperatorem non est nisi Solus Deus, qui fecit Imperatorem; Optat. Milev. Sic enim omnibus hominibus major est dùm Solo verò Deo minor est; Tertul. ad Stap. 
Psal. 45.  
1.  My heart is inditing of a good matter, I speak of the things, which I have made unto the King. 
2.  My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 
3.  Thou art fairer than the Children of men: 
Tremelii nota.  Infusa est gratia labiis tuis; propterea benedixit tibi Deus in Saeculum, ni mirum ut omnes Elegantiâ gratiâque Superares, ac potius in omnibus auctor esses Elegantiae & gratiae. 
v. 4.  Accinge gladium tuum super femur, o Robustissime, gladium gloriae tuae & decoris tui. 
v. 5.  Et decore tuo prosperè Equita cum verbo veritatis & proloquere Justitiam, etc. Ut sis Carolo magno major juxta praedictionem Grebneri de Carolo Secundo Magno Magnae Britanniae Rege.  

To the most High and mighty Prince, Charles the Second, By the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. The most unworthy Author of this ensuing Treatise, wisheth Grace, Mercy, and Peace, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.  
MOst Dear and Dread Sovereign, In most humble wise, I prostrate, and present myself with this slender ensuing Treatise before the Footstool of Your Sacred Majesty; First craving pardon for this my bold and rash attempt: For although I must ingenuously here confess, Non est meae humilitatis vestrae Celsitudini dictare, It doth not become nor beseem the meanness and obscurity of my place and calling, to dictate or prescribe any thing to Your Highness; Yet as Philip the King of Macedon, permitted and appointed a little Boy to come every morning to his Chamber-door and to say these words, o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, O Philip remember thou art a Man: So give leave (I humbly beseech You) to Your poor Servant, and faithful Subject, thus far to be your Remembrancer, as to say as David doth, or rather as God himself saith by the mouth of David, Psal. 82.6. Dixi Dii estis. I have said ye are Gods, but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the Princes.  Pallida mors aequo pulsar pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres. 
Horace.  
There's no Estate or Calling of men, so high, eminent, or puissant, but as they are called Stewards, so they must give an account of their Stewardship as well as others. I pray then (most Gracious Sovereign) vouchsafe to hold out the golden Sceptre of your favour that I may touch the top of it; or at least have the grace and privilege, 
Hest. 5.2.  to kiss your hand, and let Your Princely hand take this Enchiridion, as an humble Advertisement and wholesome Admonition, which I here prefix and propose unto you; Non quòd de te dubitem, sed ut tibi Currenti Calcar addam cum fraeno; Nôsti deum imprimis Colendum, Colere sine fide non potes, & fides vera ubi est, nisi ex dei verbo? Hoc scrutêris Cavens de papismo ac schismate: It is the duty even of Kings to be Conversant in the Scriptures, and to meditate and delight in the Law of God: they are admonished so to do when they sit upon the Throne of their Kingdom. Thus did Hezekiah, 
Deut. 17.18.  Thus did Josiah, and thus did King David, he made the word of God his Counsellor, 
Psal. 119.  and in the 56 Psal. ver 10. he saith, In God's word will I rejoice, In the Lord's word will I Comfort me, and in another Psalm he saith, In the multitude of the Sorrows that I had in my heart, thy Comforts O Lord have refreshed my Soul: 
Psal. 94.19.  he means the cordial and vital Comforts that he found in God's word; if then you can freely and thankfully acknowledge with holy David, and say it out of your own particular and personal experience; 
Psal. 119.21.  It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes. Then you may also sweetly and joyfully recount and record with yourself as the same David doth; 
Psal. 18.35.  Thou hast given me the defence of thy Salvation: thy right hand also shall hold me up, and thy loving correction shall make me great. Yet here to shun and avoid the prejudicated opinion of censoriousness, which I ever abhorred both in myself and others, let me borrow that pleasing Compliment, or plausible Acclamation and Insinuation of the Poet, Qui movet ut facias, quod tam facis ipse monendo; Laudat, & hortatu comprobatacta suo. If then you do, that which is an admirable thing, or a rare and singular thing for Kings and Princes to do, viz; in Alto altum non Sapere, to be of an humble and lowly mind in a high and lofty State; — Regis Clementia virtus, A King is God's Vicegerent and Lieutenant on Earth; he must therefore be merciful, as our Father in Heaven is merciful. 
Cominaeus lib. 6. c. ●.  It is the part of a Tyrant, in Imperio nil nisi Imperium cogitate; to glory with Lewis the 11th. King of France, that he passed his time in making and undoing of men, 
Country faustum, lib. 12. c. 56.  as if he were placed in his Throne not ut prosit, sed tantum ut praesit, as Augustine speaks; let them remember the saying of another learned man,  Magna Servitus, magna fortuna; 
Petrarcha  
We read in History that wise men invented the game of Chess to mitigate the Cruelness of Governors, in which it is insinuated, that the King hath need of his Bishops, of his Knights, yea of the meanest peasant that tilleth or toileth in his Land. And therefore considering that He differs only from his Subjects in use, not in stuff (as Your prudent Grandfather King James of blessed memory was used to say: 
Basilicon Doron. lib. 2. ) He must become a Common Father unto the people, never unadvisedly provoking them unto just Indignation and Anger. Which that You may prevent; hear once again what Your pious and peaceable Grandfather saith; speaking like another Solomon in his Basilicon doron; every not Yourself by Exactions, or grievous Impositions upon Your Subjects, but account the Riches of Your Subjects Your greatest or Your chiefest Treasure-Nullâ aliâ re propius ad Deum accidere possumus, quàm Salutem hominibus dando. 
Tully pro Ligar.  But I need not urge this, much less insist upon it, for the general voice, and unanimous report of the Country is, that You are rather too merciful; Let me give a word concerning this, Facilitas multa docet mala, & licentia sumus omnes deteriores; You must therefore show Yourself to be a just King; I hope I need not to advertise You; for so the wisest of Kings telleth You; a wise King scattereth the wicked, 
Pro. 20.26.  and bringeth the wheel over them (i. e.) the wheel of Judgement and Vengeance for their evil deeds; for it seems it was a kind of punishment, which was then used to be inflicted on Malefactors; for even as Solomon's stately Throne of Ivory, was supported with two Lions, 
2 Chro. 9  on each side one: So the Throne of every good and pious Prince, is supported and stayed up with these two Magnanimous and Lion-like Virtues, Justice, and Mercy. Therefore God made Thee King (said the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon) to do justice and judgement; 
1 Kin. 10.  and therefore Augustine said well to this purpose, Ablatâ Justitiâ, quid sunt Regna nisi magna Latrocinia? And this Your discreet and mature Wisdom hath also done (for in this respect I may say to you as the Widow of Tekoah did to King David, 
2 Sam. 14.  my Lord the King is even as an Angel of God to discern right from wrong) This You have done, by leaving it to those sage, and grave, and honourable Heroes of this Nation, to make inquisition for blood, and to bring Just and Condign punishment upon the heads of those Insolent and Rebellious Traitors, who spilt the Innocent Blood of Your dear Father, and put Him to death wrongfully: Even as David left a Charge with his Son Solomon concerning Joab and 〈◊〉. Do Thou according to Thy Wisdom, 
1 King. 2.  & let not their hoary head go down to the grave in peace; for why? blood requires blood; That great Judge of Heaven and Earth, 
Gen. 9.6.  made it a Statute-Law, which was never yet repealed. 
— Neque enim Lex Justior ulla est,  
Quam necis Artifices arte perire suâ;  If You do but serionsly consider (as I confidently presume, and both hope and trust that You do) how graciously the Lord hath dealt with You, taking a care of You, even ab Incunabilis & à primâ lanugine, causing a Star to usher and attend Your Birth, and to shine all the day long, on the day of Your Nativity (as a certain Chronologer related it in his Anniversary Ephemeris, if I do not mistake, or forget myself, it was so;) and this I hope did not presage or prognosticate any ill Omen at all to Your Sacred Majesty.  
If You do often ruminate and revolve, or call to mind the very great Mercies, the manifold Gracious deliverances, and miraculous preservations, wherewith the Lord hath blessed You, and compassed You about with his loving kindness, as it were with a shield, preserving and protecting You both in Bello & in Exilo, in Persecutione, & in proscriptione tuâ; Defending You in the fight at Worcester, from the peril of the Sword, yea both from the Lion and the Bear, 
1 Sam. 17.  as David was delivered; from the hands of that violent Man, and from the snare of the Hunter, from the traps and plot of that perfidious Traitor, who intended to have betrayed You; But the Lord being gracious unto You, You escaped out of their hands, as Lot out of the fire of Sodom, or as David did out of the hands of the Philistines: likewise in the pursuit, when those bloodthirsty men, the men of Belial followed hard after You, even as one followeth after a Partridge upon the mountains, the Lord stretched forth his holy hand over You, he kept You as the apple of his eye; As an Eagle stireth up her nest, fluttereth over her birds, 
Deut. 32.11, 12.  stretcheth out her wings, and beareth them on her wings; So the Lord alone led You, and guarded You, and guided You, and put it into Tour royal heart to fly to an hollow tree, to make it Your Castle, or rather Your Cave, to hid and shroud Yourself in, till the storm of their wrath, and indignation was overpast; and this was nothing else but Digitus Dei, et Virgula Divina; nothing else but the immediate hand of God, to deliver You. Afterwards when a convenient means and time for Your safe convoy, and departing hence out of the Land, by his providential disposition, and dispensation, was thought upon, contrived and concluded through the help of Your Handmaid, that virtuous and fortunate Gentlewoman, though You were then in the condition of a poor exile, 
Esay 63.9.  and banished man; yet than the Lord made bare his holy arm again, and sent the Angel of his presence before You, 
Sicut ●e●unt di●unt ai●nt, etc.  to conduct You safe away, and transport You beyond Sea; and when You could not stay in France, by reason of the Implacable fierceness, and threatening of Your deadly and damnable Persecutors; You were (it seems) forced to go into Spain, where You kept Your heart perfect and entire to our sincere Protestant Religion, and Your Conscience pure and untainted with any popish leaven, notwithstanding the many strong persuasions, and the many great proffers and promises of those rich, magnificent Spanish promotions, and advancements; belike You were of wise Cassandra's mind; Timeo Danaos vel dona ferentes. 
Virgil aenead. 10.  For behold Your heart was still firm, and entire, and upright with Your God: constant and unmovable in that ancient Catholic faith, and sincere Protestant Religion, wherein You were born and baptised; much like the heart of Reverend and Renowned Cranmer.  
Ecce Jnvicta Fides cor inviolabile Servat,  
Nec mediis flammis corda perire sinit.  
Cranmer, amid the fiery flames,  
Thy heart unscorcht was found:  
For why? behold undaunted Faith  
Preserved it safe and sound.  
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for Your undaunted Constancy, and Perseverance in the faith; And both my heart, and the hearts of all Your true, loving, and loyal Subjects, have great and just cause to rejoice in that behalf, and to bless God unfeignedly for You; As also we are likewise even all of us bound to bless, and praise, and magnify his holy name, for Your happy return unto Your Crown, viz. That it hath pleased Almighty God, of his singular goodness, and especial providence, to reduce, and restore Your sacred Majesty, to be now Inaugurated, and Invested with the Crown, and Sceptre of Your ancient famous Progenitors, and Predecessors; And this hath been effected, and brought to pass, by the Sweet, Celestial, and Sanctified policy, of an ancient, eminent, and renowned Worthy of our Nation, without the effusion of blood, or without the help of a strong and potent Army (happy shall that man be called, that our deliverance hath wrought) O sing unto the Lord a new song; 
Psal. 137.8.  for he hath done marvellous things, with his own right hand, and with his holy arm hath he gotten himself the victory; The Lord hath declared his salvation; His righteousness hath he openly shown in the sight of the Heathen; 
Psal. 98.1, 2, 3, 4.  He hath remembered his mercy, and his truth, towards his poor distressed, and distracted Church of England; And all the ends of the World have seen the salvation of our God. Account I beseech You my poor service, and this small present, which I tender unto Your Majesty, 
1 Sam. 17.27.  even as Old Barzillai did his Barley, and his Beans, and his parched Corn to King David, when he was at Mahanaim. Pliny writes, that the people did offer to their God's Milk, when they had no Frankincense; and Salt, that had no Milk, and were well accepted. 
Namque erit ille mihi Semper Deus.  Great men give great gifts; Sinetas' a handful of Water; the Scholar, Books; I, such as I have. The Lord hear You in the day of trouble: The Name of the mighty God of Jacob defend You; send you help from his Sanctuary, and strengthen You out of Zion: make Your days long upon the Earth, and Eternal in the Heavens, grant You according to Your heart, and fulfil all Your mind.  
Sic vovet, Serenissimae Majestatis tuae humillimus Servus, et Subditus. Tho. Malpas. Ex musaeo meo Primo Die Martij, 1660.   
TEXT Prov. 25.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
1. These are also Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah King of Judah copied out.  
2. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honour of Kings is to search out a matter.  
3. The Heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of Kings is unsearchable.  
4. Take away the dross from the Silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.  
5. Take away the wicked from before the King, and his Throne shall be established in righteousness.  
SERMON.  
THAT peerless mirror 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, 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 unparallelled, as it exceeded and excelled the wisdom, of all the children of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt; for he was Sans peer, wiser than any man, etc. 1 Kings 4.29. He was famous for his wisdom indeed, throughout all Nations round about him, and he spoke three thousand Proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five; and he spoke of trees from the Cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the Hyssop 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 pity it was that such wise and worthy Say, 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 say and writings, which are both extant and continue current among other Canonical Scripture; So amongst the rest of his writings and proverbial say, he did not forget to set down some grave and prudent Rules and Precepts wise and worthy documents, observations and Instructions, touching the high and eminent place, office and calling of Kings and Princes, witness this 25th. Chapter of his Book of Proverbs, wherein he first affirmeth, Honour Dei est abscondere rem, honour 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 Counsellor? Rom. 11.33.34. verses, Moses that man of God, that was so familiar with God, was permitted only to see his backparts, he was licenced to see him, But how? not â priori, but a posteriori, ex postico tergo licèt non ex anticâ fancy, 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 property, 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 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 faddomed 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 replied, then repent this day, yea, repent every day.  Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum. 
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. Namque ideò 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 Oil 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; Honour 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 Sceptre 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 Philip the King of Macedonia, did reject and cast off the earnest suit of a poor Widow, with this slender answer, Go thy way, for I have no leisure to hear thee now: She replied thus, and why then hast thou leisure to be a King? as if she had said; Hast thou leisure to be a King: and hast thou not leisure to do Justice, and to hear the Complaint of a poor Widow, that comes before thee for Justice? God hath given thee time to Reign, and power to Rule and Govern, that thou mightest Apply them, and Employ 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 Solomon's stately Throne of Ivory, was supported with two Lions, 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 Lion-like virtues, Justice and Mercy. Therefore God made thee King (said the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon) to do Justice and Judgement, 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 God's people, it is said that his prayer pleased God passing well, because Solomon asked wisdom, 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 Harlots that came before him? when he wisely decided and determined the matter betwixt them, and happily discovered and found out, through his mature wisdom, and judgement, the right Mother of the Child; which as soon as his wisdom was thus proved and perceived: it was presently approved and applauded; for when all Israel heard the Judgement which the King judged, they feared the King, for that they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do Justice and Judgement, 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 tore, 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 Judgement to the people committed to their Charge and Government: so may we be assured, and persuaded 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, etc. (i. e.) Infinite. boundless, bottomless, & unsearchable; namely in regard of their profound learning and knowledge, their extraordinary wisdom and understanding; It behoveth them to have a large heart like solomon's; Even as the Sand that is on the Seashore, etc. For Solomon in saying here that no man can show the King's heart, showeth, that it is too hard for man to attain to the reason of all the secret do 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, spoke prudently against Symmachus in his first book. Publica res (inquit) tunc fortunata satis, si  
Vel Reges Saperent, vel regnarent Sapientes. That Commonwealth (saith he) cannot choose but flourish, when either Philosophers are 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 wheel over them. (i. e.) the wheel of Judgement, and Vengeance for their evil deeds. Here note, that this saying hath been partly fulfiled of late, by finding out, and bringing some Egregious and Notorious Malefactors to just, and condign 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, etc. 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 Riot, 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 descended, and born of ancient, and famous Progenitors, and Predecessors; but one virtuously 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 Kingdom. When a Prince is thus qualified, thus furnished, and accomplished with this Basilicon doron, as learned King James entitled his book, which he commended to his Son the Prince; when a Prince, I say, is thus adorned, and accomplished with this royal Gift, and Accoutrement, this heroical ornament, and endowment of the mind; when he hath competent knowledge, and wisdom sufficient, well to manage, and govern his Kingdom; and is also studious, and solicitous, careful, and industrious, to have matters carried with that Equity, Indifferency, and Sincerity, that Justice, and Judgement 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 heinous then shall we think those offences to be, that are plotted, perpetrated, & committed against those great ones, who are the immediate Lieutenants, & undoubted Viceroys of Almighty God; (This is properly termed by the learned, Scandalum Magnatum) than I say, pity it is, yea, a thousand pities it is (as, we say) nay more, a woeful, and lamentable, and most abominable thing it is, and a thing much to be deplored, that either the good mind and meaning, the virtuous, noble, and heroic spirit of such a pious Prince should be poisoned, and infected with evil Counsellors; or that his ways and courses, should be hindered 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 King's 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 Widow, and keep them from their right; So that, that which Micah prophesied of, 
Micah 7 2, 3.  is now actually fulfilled; 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 soothe and flatter themselves in their own sight, and in their own sinful ways; yet the Wiseman 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 woeful and shameful thing indeed, and woe is to that Land or Nation who are pestered and vexed with such a perverse and preposterous kind of people, who condemn the innocent for bribes, and justify the wicked for rewards; These are the achan's, and the Ahabs 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 (as one truly termeth, 
B. Andrews.  the equivocating falsehearted Jesuits) Flagella Republicae, stabella Seditionis; the Bellows of dissension, the Firebrands and Incendiaries of faction and sedition amongst us; the very plague and scourge of the Republic Pioneers 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 Traitor, 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 Commonwealth 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 man's 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, lest they putrify and corrupt the whole; these are evil humours in a body politic, which keep it from prospering; these are Tares in the field of God's 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 dross, 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, etc. Take away the dross 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 righteousness: 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 dross, and these are the wicked and ungodly; take away the dross, so take away the wicked. Secondly, we must show 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 dross 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 dross from the silver produceth and bringeth forth, and this is, Solium Justitiâ stabilitum (i. e.) a Throne. established inrighteousnesse, and this is also likened to a fit vessel for the Finer; Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer; So take away the wicked, etc. First, by dross 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 styled 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 subtly withdraw their hearts from, or openly lift up their hands against the Lord Anointed, against their Liege and lawful King and Sovereign; And touching this crimen capitale, this crimen laesae Majestatis, this heinous 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 Bedchamber, 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 Bloodthirsty persons, must be abolished, abandoned, and taken away from before the King, for they are but dross: so likewise David compareth them, Psal. 119.119. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross, therefore I love thy testimonies.  

Note here that some of these notes were preached in the late King's time, even in the beginning of that fatal and fearful and disastrous Insurrection, some wondering 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 dross, as you know they are elsewhere compared to chaff, 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 chaff 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 dross, who are described in the 13th. of Deut. to have this odious and damnable quality, namely to draw and entice us to Idolatry, and to go after other Gods, or to worship the true everliving 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 Egypt, from the house of Bondage, and all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.  
Secondly, covetous and unjust Judges, may likewise here be resembled to dross, with all corrupt bribe-taking Lawyers, and inferior 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 brass, 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 dross, and therefore are to be carefully sequestered, weeded out, removed, and taken away from the King, lest they should infect, and poison, and possess his heart with base Tyrannical principles, and Machiavilian policies.  
Fourthly, all fawning Sycophants and Parasites, I mean all proud, ambitious, flattering, and aspiring Courtiers; therefore as Hamon's 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 King's face; for they are no true friends of his, I dare say it, no good Subjects to the State; they eat like moths into liberal men's coats; they are the very bane and consumption of greatness, 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 fanatic Sectaries, Seditious schismatics, and all hypocritical dissembling Professors whatsoever; I mean those, who despise 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 Mary's days, they died with it in their Arms, and both loved and honoured 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 Diocese, 
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 ancient Orthodoxal Ministers, have ever prized it and praised 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 secret Plots and Conspiracies, they will not stick (like the other) to attempt it by open Hostility and Rebellion, for these two the Catholic and the Schismatic, are much alike in their faction, howsoever they be different and disparent in their Faith; they hold as the Jesuits 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 Schismatic, and every Schismatic a secret Pope; these Foxes (as Luther tells us in his Preface to his Commentary upon The Epistle to the Galathians) are tied together by the tail, though by their heads they seem to be contrary; and what have they else in their tails, but firebrands 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 politic subtle-headed Projectors, insatiable greedy-minded Monopolists, unreasonable and unconscionable Patentees; for these have been proved sufficiently by woeful experience to be mere Harpies to the State, professed Horseleeches, and Bloodsuckers of the Commonwealth; 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 cutthroats of Kings, such as make no other use of Prince's favours, but by Monopolies, and Impositions to enrich themselves; these are somewhat like those, of whom mention is made in the life of Aurelian the Emperor; of whom it was said, that by them the good and honest Emperor, 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 eyes, all impudent, audacious, brasen-faced Liars; horrible, prodigious, and blasphemous Sweaters, and forswearers; vicious. and lascivious Adulterers, dissolute, deboiched, 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. Here's a rabblement of rude profane miscreants indeed; a Catalogue, Induction, and Indictment, (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 show you, that they are but Scoriae, & Quisquiliae hominum, the dross 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 separated and taken away from the silver; so the wiseman here adviseth; Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer; So take away the wicked, etc.  

False Prophet's dross.  First them false Prophets are but dross, 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 & seducunt, who should lead us, and they do misled 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 err, and wander, and go astray out of the way of truth and righteousness; 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 mystery of iniquity; Christ and his Apostles do often inculcate this Caveat, and bid us beware of such Seducers; There shall arise false Christ's & 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 selvoes, shall such men arise (saith Paul) speaking perverse things, to draw away Disciples after them, Acts 20.30. Beware of false Prophets, (saith our Saviour) which come to you cum vestimentis ovium, in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening Wolves; ye 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 sheepsclothing, what are they else, but mere precise titles of holiness, and bare outsides, shows, and shadows of Religion and Christianity? false Prophets (as another ancient Father observeth) have Linsy-wolsie 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 shoes, 
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 bosom of it, and yet desire to exenterate and eat out the very entrails and Bowels of the same, these are cunning Impostors and juggling Jespited Heretical Doctors indeed (such as Hugh Peter's 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 Bargeman, that looketh with his face one way, and rows 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 itself) showeth expressly, that we may know them by both.  
As first by their lewd life, for albeit these false Apostles, and deceitful workers, like Satan, can transform themselves into an Angel of light, yet, their Cloven-foot may be espied; which is a moral, 
2 Cor. 1●.  to signify simulatam sanctitatem, their counterfeit holiness, which is duplex iniquities a double unholiness; 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 sheepsclothing, 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 monies, 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. jude also describeth them, and admonisheth us to take heed of such deceivers, telling us that they perish in the contradiction, and gainsaying of Korah: for as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, risen up and spoke against Moses; so do these against them that are in Authority, Numb. 16.1, 2. Hi sunt in Agapis vestris maculae dum vebiscum convivantur, securè se ipsos pascentes, 
Epist. of Judas 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 ancient 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 Inn or Alehouse, or the like; wherefore to such as these, I say as Paul did to the Corinthians; do ye make no difference betwixt the house of God, and your own houses? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? despise ye the Church of God? despise ye the Reverend Order and Injunction of the Church, who ought only to appoint Decency and Discipline, and aught to bear Rule and Authority in the Church: Despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not? nay rather you shame yourselves 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 ancient 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. Judas 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 blackness of darkness 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 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 Hag, that infernal Acherontic 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 Hydra's head of herisy and erroneous Opinions is so multiplied, that to reduce our poor dilacerated and distracted Church of England to that ancient uniform Discipline, and Ecclesiastical 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 Herculean labour to effect it.  
— Fuimus Troes, fuit Iliam et Ingens  
Gloria Dardaniae.—  
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 lucre's 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 beggarly rudiments, 1 Tim. 4.3. In the 10th. of St. John's 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 Shepherd doth gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom; He doth not show himself as a Lord, or as a Tyrant over God's heritage, but rather is a good Ensample to the flock of meekness and humility, 1 Pet. 5.3. Memorable is that saying of an ancient Father, Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, et non deglubere; A good shepherd 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. 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 division and dissension in the Church or State, and go about to dishearten and disparage, yea to disperse and scatter the sheep of Christ, that great shepherd of our souls; Such as rather trouble and confound, perplex and amaze, than relieve and comfort the distressed Conscience: Such as build not upon the true foundation, and right Cornerstone Christ Jesus, 
1 Cor. 3.11.  but bring Hay or Stubble, 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 Old-wives 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 Pelagianism, some Arminianism, & some flat Papism, and the like, I say, such as are thorns in our sides, and thistles in our feet, are not current silver, but Sergeant coin, yea plain dross in the Finers shop; not good plants in the Lord's Vineyard, and therefore must be lopped and cut down, or rooted up by the hand of supreme Authority; For they are as St. Judas speaks; Arbores emarcidae, Infrugiferae, bis emortuae; Corrupt trees, unfruitful, twice dead, and therefore 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 precedents 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 Lion, 1 Kings 13. Theudas, and Judas of Galilee; 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 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 God's Nephew, and that he was sent from Heaven, to choose 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 ringleader 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 professed 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 mere effeminate & licentious Nicolaitain, for he kept many wives together; Oh what havoc & desolation did he and his Disciples bring upon that Church, by harboring and entertaining such gross erroneous 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 lie 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 nighttime of the kill of many mice and presently interpreted, or expounded his dream of murdering the Nobles; But these Prophets even all of them came to naught, as Theudas and Judas of Galilee did in the days 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, 
jer. 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 God's word doth soon prove and find out those false Prophets to be but dross, and therefore you see how needful it is to separate them, and take them away from the silver; Take away the dross from the silver, so take away the wicked from before the King, etc. I fear I have held you overlong in talking of false Prophets, and in taking off the mask and vizard from that dissembling hypocrite, that white-skind Devils-face, as Luther was used to term the Traitor Judas.  

2 Covetous and Unjust judge's 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 Judgement, 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 Judgement and declare righteous things to the people, did practise nothing else but the contrary; Nothing else but mischief and murder, destruction and unhappiness were in their ways, 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 tuum abijt in scorias, merum tuum Inspurcatum est aquâ (i. e.) thy Silver is become dross, thy wine mixed 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 covetous and unjust Judges, the words following do intimate it unto us; They judge not the Fatherless, neither doth the Cause of the Widow 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 pity, or Commiseration of the poor at all; The weakest went to the wall (as we say) the poor Widow was despised, the Orphan 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 Adversays, and avenge me of mine enemies; And I will turn my hand upon thee, Et defaecans scorias tuas, Justae puritati restituam te; Whereby the Prophet's comparison, the Lord takes upon 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 worse metal, 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 separated the precious from the vile, when I have thus purged thee from thy dross, and taken away all thy tin, than 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 Judgement, (saith Esay) and her Converts with Righteousness; And the destruction of the Transgressor's, 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. 
jer. 9.7.  And Malachy placeth him, being Antiquus dierum, The Ancient of days, in the seat of Judgement, 
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 righteousness.  
Now although (Exempla illustrant & non probant) yet to give you a precedent or two for the clearing 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 Indictment is drawn out, delivered, and deciphered unto us by the exact pencil 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 the whole decalogue, peccant and delinquent he was, in respect of all the Commandments; 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 Widow 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, joined with uncharitableness, by delaying her suit, and protracting the time (a common fault of our cunning covetous Lawyers in these days, to make a demur of their poor Clients causes, and hold them in suspense 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 Widow troubleth me, I will right her, and avenge, her jest 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 Widow: but merely for his own end, 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 Widow 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 lie 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 Apostasy, false doctrine and heresy, and a general corruption of manners shall then be predominant, the love of many shall wax cold, Faith shall scarce be found at Christ's 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 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 Jews to put Christ to death: so they set up the High Court of justice 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 pass over his name in silence, although I cannot choose but name him with a kind of indignation and disdain; 'tis Pontius Pilate by name, who was Governor of Judaea, as St. Luke reports it, chap. 3. v. 1. Deputy and Lieutenant he was to Tiberius Caesar, the Roman Emperor, 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 deal (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 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 Judgement 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 slain of injustice, of partial and wrongful dealing, shall stick upon his name, so long as that superscription which he set upon the Cross, shall remain to be read and recited in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, because all nations might understand it and remember it; 
joh. 19.20.  Or at least as long as that Gospel of our Saviour's death and passion shall be read and preached throughout the world. I could here produce and instance in more such Judges, especially you would but give leave to the Handmaid to wait upon her Mistress; For mention is made in humane story of one Verlenius, who was in the days of the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus; He abused the favour of the Emperor, and took much money of divers to prefer their Suces, but deluded them and did them no good: When the Emperor understood it, he caused him to be hanged up in a Chimney (as some have it) or as others, he commanded him to be tied in propatulo, in public 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 sit 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 smoke, 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 sixteens; here's small Justice, and poor reformation of Exorbitancies.  
Another fearful example was read in Herodotus, that when a Judge for money, and for lucre, had pronounced a false sentence; the King of the Persians caused him to be excoriated and flayed alive; and commanded that his skin should be nailed over the Seat of Judgement, there to remain for ever as a terror to succeeding Judges, and that the Son of the same Judge, should first supply the Seat, that by his Father's 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 harken 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 testify 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 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 Error, and fallen into the like praemunire, as they did, by deluding and persuading 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 wickedness and vileness did not here cease, but they proceeded yet farther, and set up a High Court of Justice (as they called it) and both Indicted and Arraigned the King himself at their Bar, 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 sat in Judgement upon him, as Pilate and his Soldiers did upon Christ, and Condemned him as a Traitor against the State; but these Judges for some part of them, have of late been detected, and found out, and received Severe and Condign punishment, for their Cruel, Heinous, 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 self-will, they digged down a wall; Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.  
Thus when he maketh inquisition for 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 always to escape unpunished; So we read that God raised up the Holy Spirit of a young Child, whose name was Daniel, to acquit and clear innocent Susanna from that false and unjust accusation, which those two corrupt, vicious, and lascivious Elders had brought against her, return again to judgement said he, for they have born false witness against her; and therefore such corrupt Judges as these, or as Felix was, who kept Paul in prison, hoping that money should be given him to let him lose, Acts 24.27, and such as the Sons of Samuel were, who turned aside after jucre, and took rewards, and perverted Judgement, 1 Sam. 8. they must be removed and taken away from the King, for they are but dross, so saith my Text, Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come, etc. We have showed you that false Prophets, and covertous corrupt Judges are but dross 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 dross, in respect of pure silver, and to make us abominate, abhor, and detest such, and to make us out of love with such dross and refuse of men, David the King saith, Psal. 120.2. Deliver my Soul (O Lord) from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue; and in the 12th. Psalms, he also saith, They that do 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 entice me to be wicked as they are; yea I will pray yet against their wickedness; 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 showeth withal, that by a patiented 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 in the mean time he prays for himself, 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 backbiting 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 poison of Asps 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, daubing, and smoothing, and the like cunning, equivocating, and sophisticating tricks to theft, and calls it (furtum linguae) the theft of the tongue; So we read that Absalon 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 Cutthroats and Cutpurses; yet the Courts of Kings and Princes are especially pestered with such kind of Thiefs: 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 quàm facers, nam plures in aula defecisse bonos quam profecisse malos probavimus, and Budaeus saith, all Courtiers must be like Chameleons, 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 applies himself to the colour of the Rock, against which it Swims, or whereon it lies; 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 Sunrising, and shutteth with the Sunsetting: so these time-serving Gnathoes, these flattering Clawbacks, 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, gross and apparent Sycophants and Parasites, they are uno ore calcidum & frigidum pro suis commodis efflare periti; creeping up to honour per mille indignitates, through a thousand dishonours, and disgraces saith Seneca, which made Hippolytus to cry and say, 
In aulâ Regis, non est multum legis,  
Si qui sunt boni, coguntur esse ovoi,  
Si qui sunt mali, sunt in gratiâ regali.   
And another to the same purpose speaks, quò quis Corruptior moribus, & Corrumpentior munoribus eò beatire. The Court is all for money, making Oxen to labour, and Asses to feed; It is a mint of Fashions, 
job. 4.14.  and exchange of Compliments, a shame to Shamefastness, an animator and encourager of all Impudence and Impiety; omnis sceleris mater nutrixque nefandi, the very Mother and Nurse of all pride and ungodliness; 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 subtlety, and cunning flattery, he had aspired and attained unto? for he persuaded the King, and solicited him against the Jews, telling him that their Laws were divers and contrary to all other, Neither keep they the King's Laws (said he) therefore it is not for the King's 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 ruin, and utter extirpation and destruction of the people and nation of the Jews; So likewise those Precedents 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 ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, 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 King's 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 overruled by his flattering Courtiers, to make such a strict and strait Law, which could not be altered 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 established 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 falsehearted Courtiers be taken away from before the King, for they are but dross; Let their Faces rather be covered as haman's was, when that great Monarch was offended and displeased with him, Hest. 7.8. Yea let them not have so much privilege or favour to behold the King's 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 Sinon's smooth Tale, 
Virgil L●b. 1. aenead.  let in the Trojan Horse, which was a means of burning, and destroying that ancient, and famous, and flourishing City of Troy, which was Columen pollentis Asiae, as Seneca calls it in his Tragedies, yea, as the Sirens song, is sometimes the Sailor's shipwreck, 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 eat like moths into liberal men's Coats; They are the very bane and consumption of Grearnesse, they rob many a Great man of his Goodness, and make him rob and deprive the Commonwealth of her happiness; Therefore howsoever these Sinon's and Sirens may tempt us and allure 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 Enchanters, 
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 mine head, yea I will pray yet against their wickedness; And therefore let us banish and abandon them, and both desire and endeavour to put away such dross from the King. Take away the dross from the silver, etc.  

FOUR wicked Counsellors are dross.  In the next place, wicked and seducing Councillors may well be compared to dross likewise; What is worse or more despicable than dross? So what can be worse than evil Counsel, or more to be loathed and abhorred? Such a Counsellor, and wicked Prompter, and Suggester, was Satan, 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 die; Eve being poisoned and corrupted by that Old Serpent said; Lest ye die; Satan himself said, Ye shall not die 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 subtle one, but he lied every word he spoke; 
job. 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. 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 Absalon, when he advised him to rise up against his Father David e and to thrust him out of his Throne and Kingdom, 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 hanged 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 Parricides and Traitors that should either rebel against their Prince, or rise up against their Parents, 2 Sam. 18.17. Such mischievous, misadvised, and rash-headed 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, saying, Show thyself kind and loving to the people this day, and they will. be thy Servants for ever; But he forsook 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 days of Jehojada the Priest, but when he was dead, the Princes of Judah came, and did reverence to him, and he harkened 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 Priests 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 Prince's ear! If Joseph a man that feareth God be a Counsellor to King Pharaoh, he will advise him to lay up Corn in the years of plenty, 
Gen. 41.6.  enough to supply his Land and sustain the people in the time of dearth and scarcity. If Nehemiah be gracious 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 walls 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 Wittenberg, Religion thereby shall be better established and advanced. If Occam the Schoolman fly to Lewis the Emperor, he may well say as he did Defend 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 Kingdom be ruled, and governed, and swayed by God's Sceptre, it will continue, and it will prosper, for that is a right Sceptre 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. 17.18. Then shall he prolong his days in his Kingdom, and God shall lengthen his life, and make his days as the days 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 dross that I have specified from the silver, than I say his Crown shall be settled upon his head, and his Throne shall be established in righteousness. 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 Kingdom, 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 go to wrack, if the Gospel of Christ have not free passage amongst us, or if the sincere and faithful Preachers therrof, by the devilish and malicious subtlety of some Popish, Politic and Pestiferous Enemies of the Church; be silenced and suppressed. O then consider I beseech you (beloved) how it behoveth us to pray unto God, that he would be pleased to endow, every, 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 steadfast and pious Resolution of King David, which he professeth and protesteth that he would use and observe in the Government of his own House and Kingdom, 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 we had need always 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 to pray, that the Lord would be pleased to bless 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 Sovereign. 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 wisdom 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 fling out as out of the middle of a sting. I will conclude this passage with that prayer of David, Psal. 72.1.  
GIve the King thy judgements O God, etc. Then shall He Judge the people according unto right, and Defend the Poor; the Mountains also shall bring Peace, and the little Hills Righteousness 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 Hearty, Jointly and Devoutly pray for, and crave, and beg at His Hands for His tender Mercy Sake in Christ Jesus Our 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 Rendered and Ascribed (as of due belongeth) all Honour and Glory, Power and Praise, Thanksgiving, and Obedience, both now and for Evermore, Amen.  
FINIS.