A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD ON ACT SVNDAY LAST IN THE afternoon 1622.  
BY RICHARD gardener Student of Christ-Church.  
AT OXFORD, Printed by John LICHFIELD and james SHORT for William Davis Book-seller. 1622.   

TO THE TRVLIE NOBLE, AND RIGHT honourable, RICHARD, earl of Dorset, my Singular good Patron.  
Right Honourable:  
THERE is ever a certain presumption had of the favour of good men, so there be a reason added to accompany their iustice. Mine, which gives boldness to call vpon your succour is, that I am falling vpon the torture of public Censure more through the severity of command, then the liberty of my own will. I know the curiosity of the Eye is not so quickly pleased, as the flexibilitie of the ear. And therefore the Fate of acceptation among critical Readers may perhaps prove different from that favourable approbation of my Hearers. howsoever, seeing it is thought fit by the judicious that this weak discourse should not expire with that short hour wherein it was delivered, with neglect of all malignant Censures I pass through the press under the safeguard of your Honor's protection. Why I should dedicate this first living Issue of my brain to your Name, cannot seem strange to Any, which knows You my Patron, and me your Eleemosynarie. For who hath more interest in the Grape, then he that planted the Vine? I am unwilling to entangle myself in Obligations to other men, when I am to give you security, and to pass myself over to your Honor.  
As was my Auditory, so is my Sermon, scholastical, and Popular: political, and moral; endeavouring according to my slender faculty to work vpon Man first as he is Man, by his understanding part: then as he is a Christian, by his will, and affections. The first part is somewhat difficult, and intricate, but yet so languag'd, as it is made obvious, and familiar to the meanest capacity. The later part is more liuelie, and more easy, wherein a good heart may find some sweet relish, if it be rightly chewed. The iniquity of the times required me to beseech all such, who are endued with the right of Presenting to spiritual Promotions, that they would call to mind what a fearful account such shall one day make, which cease not to prefer their private gain before the public good. The Archers shot at joseph,& they were his brethren. The Archers shoot at our Church, and some of them are her Children, whom shee selected to bee her Stewards, and faithful Disposers. For alas it is notoriously known( as a religious defender of our Church Rites complaineth) that many Church-liuings haue been so pa. 
T. M.  read to the quick, that now they are hardly able to yield vital nourishment; so sharply haue they been lanced, and lost their best blood. For distinction sake I haue vnmask'd the turbulent Puritans in our Church, that they may no more abuse the world under that Impropriated title of Godly, and zealous Professors. If any ridiculously affecting that Scar-Crowe title of Martin Mar-Prelate shall through a giddy conceit of a distempered brain account it a crime to be Philo-Piscopall in an absolute kingdom, or monarchical State, he must likewise implicitly affirm it is a crime to bee {αβγδ}. The sequel is grounded vpon that sovereign maxim, They which would haue No Bishop, would likewise haue No King. And so by violating episcopal jurisdiction, obliquely they undermine regal Authority. I will bee sparing at this time in rubbing these sores, neither will I now infer how the sentence of the law should bee pronounced against such State-wormes, because there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. Thus praying for the increase of all true honours vpon your Noble Family, My conclusion shall bee a Protestation, that if your occasions should stoop so low, as to command so poor an Instrument as myself in your service, your Honor shall find, I would not easily grow weary of your commandments, nor soon forget your favours.  
Your L. humbly devoted RICHARD gardener. ex Aede Christi.   
GEN. CAP. 45. VER. 8. 
So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father unto Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.  
THE success of things, and event of counsels is in the hand of God: for the way of man( saith the Prophet jeremy) 〈◇〉 is not in his own power, 
Ierem. 10.  neither lies it in man to direct his own steps. The evidence of which positive, and measured truth is in none descried more fully, then in this Standard of examples, blessed joseph, the Prolocutor in my text. Not to wander in a Labyrinth, or maze of circumlocution, but a short tale to make, and that undoubtedly true; jacob, as ye all know, had twelve sons, of whom it befell, that as in his flock there were some black, some white, so among his children some good, some bad. joseph was the yong'st save one, and the onely respected of his father, either for the love he bare to his mother rachel, or rather because jacob begot him in his old age. For children then begotten, are commonly best beloved of their Parents, in that they make them seem young again. Whether for these, or other reasons, certain it is, the superlative love of the father procured an unparalleled envy in the brethren. For they stripped him of his coat, cast him into a pit, and sold him into Egypt for a slave. So soon as he was brought into Egypt, he was brought as it were sub hastâ, and sold the second time to Potiphar. Here the witty malice of his mistress cast him into the dungeon, and laid him in the stocks, until the iron entered into his soul. But in process of time( as God would haue it) the Prince of the people freed him from his bonds, and raised him to such a height of honour, as that without joseph no man could lift up his hand, or so much as wag his foot throughout all Egypt. Being in this state, and authority, the almighty calls every where a dearth vpon the land, so that jacob is constrained to sand his sons into Egypt to be their fathers Purveyors. At the first they find rigour in his face, but the more he seeks to hid his affection, the less it will be hide, every one might red it in his eyes. At length he pulls of the vizard, and reveals himself to be joseph, their brother, whom they sold into Egypt. But perceiving that the sound of these words tormented their consciences with a remembrance of their ill-deserving guiltiness, out of the native gentleness of his disposition makes it his glory to pass by their offences, and labours to persuade them they did him a good turn in selling him; that he had never been so great, had not they so sinned, sweetly insinuating in these comfortable, and gracious terms. Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did sand me before you to preserve life, and again repeating the very words, God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth: at last he takes up my text as a granted conclusion. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.  
Thus much is implied in the very bark, and rind of my text; but this is no time to angle about the shore,& therefore by your leave I will let down my net, and launch into the deep, where you may find a strange Action, and as strange an event. The Action is in the Mission, or sending of joseph into Egypt; the Consequence, in that he was made a father to Pharaoh, a Lord of all his house, and a Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. In the Action consider the principal, overruling cause, or if you will the Orderer, and Disposer of this Action, and that is put down first negatively, Not you; Then positively, But God. The main point is in the Modification of the Action, or in the manner how God sent him, and not they; and how they, and not God. These circumstances are so involu'd, that I must handle them jointly. In the terminus, or Consequence of the Action, you haue Iosephs aduancement, or exaltation, and therein his Piety in ascribing all to God, as to the primary efficient cause of his exaltation, He made me. Secondly, the Dignities, and titles conferred vpon him. The first in a borrowed sense is styled paternal, and here is expressed the correlative in that Paternity, Pharaoh, who made me a father to Pharaoh. The second title is political, or civil, and that's two fold, Lord, and Ruler; the signiory, or Place of this Dominion, and regiment, is of Pharaohs house, and throughout the land of Egypt, and here is designed the Extent, and amplitude of this Dominion, and regiment, of all his house, throughout all the land of Egypt.  
If any critical sceptic shall perhaps discover the former part of this text to be somewhat thorny, while the matter is in handling, let him know that I hold an argument, which is too vulgar, and too popular, not altogether proper for a Comitiall assembly; and yet if you can haue so much patience, as to attend unto the event, or Consequence, which is the later part proposed, I do not doubt, but through God's gracious assistance wee may gather some grapes even from these thorns, and a few Roses from these Thistles. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. Such hath been the stupidity,& sottishnes of some Philosophers, that as if the sense of their bodies were sealed up, and the faculties of their understandings quiter exiled, I know not with what folly shall I say, or madness, they linked all occurrences to a poetical chain of fatal necessity. Others no less desperately wilful, framed an imaginative Goddesse of their own frail capacity,& attributed the sovereignty to Chance, and Fortune. But divines tell us, Quòd Deus neque laborat in maximis, 
S. Ambrose.  neque fastidit in minimis, said membra culicis, 
S. August.  & pulicis disponit, that the almighty which dwells on high, humbleth himself to behold the thing's below, and besides his general providence, which is seen in the government of the whole universe, particularly moderats, and sweetly determines each singular action,& accident from the greatest to the smallest. 
Math. 5.  No sparrow lights vpon the ground, which is the smallest accident any man can think, without the knowledge, and foresight of God. 
Jer. 14.  No drop of water falleth from the clouds without his ordinance; and which is more, the very tears which trickle down our cheeks be numbered in his bottle: what seemeth farther in the sight of man from any certain course or line of providence, then by the glancing of an arrow from the common mark to kill a quarreler passing by the way, and yet God himself is said tradidisse hominem to haue delivered the man into the hands of the shooter. Exod. 21. The Whale which came to devour the Prophet jonas, may seem to haue arrived in that place by chance, but the scripture testifies, 
jo●. 2.  Dominum praeparâsse piscem, that God prepared this great Fish to receive the Prophet for the greater setting forth of his own glory. By the diversity of opinions among these Brethren we may gather, that the selling of joseph into Egypt for any thing they knew, was accidental, and yet this very joseph confesseth that he was not sold away by their counsel, and advice, but by the providence of God, that afterwards he might bee better able to refresh, and relieve his aged Father in a common dearth, and misery. To come then to the Orderer, and Disposer of this, and whatsoever purpose, first you see that every thing, which cometh about, is in some sort God's effectual working. Of him, by him,& from him are all things: 
Rom. 11.  Things are of two sorts, good, or evil; In good things there is no question, for the Lord's efficacy is stil working both in making, and in sustaining them in the being received from him. The difficulty is in things evil. evil is either of punishment, or sin; of the first God himself is the Author, for out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth evil: Lam. 3. evil of sin is wholly from Satan's suggestion, and man's corruption. But yet here lies a Gordian knot, the unloosing whereof hath exercised the wits of most ages. The Manichees not knowing how any evil could be derived from Him, which is the fountain of all goodness, most blasphemously framed two beginnings, which is one, two Gods, a good, and an evil God. The Libertines being not able to distinguish an Accident from a subject; the malignity, or depravation of the Action, from the Action itself, assigned the fault, as well as the fact, the obliquity of the work, as well as the work itself, to the only good, and righteous Creator both of things in heaven,& of things in earth. These men would haue God, and his doings subject to their iudgement seat, and whatsoever they cannot comprehend within the narrow reach of their own wits, they can find no reason, nor goodness in it. They will not make their iudgments agree to God's doings, but they will haue God to make his doings agree to their iudgments. Not to strike vpon these rocks of error, and heresy, but safely to keep the main, my first position is, that the treason, and cruelty in selling joseph proceeded from the brethren, and not from God; The execution thereof,( that is) the selling itself, was likewise done by them, yet not without God's especial permission,& powerful gubernation. treachery, and cruelty is a breach of God's reueal'd will, and therefore cannot possibly pass under his approbation; for all irregularity hath such a disproportion with the divine Nature, that though Gods infinite power can do all things, yet he cannot sin, though Gods essence being incomprehensible be in all things, and all things in it, yet can neither sin be in it, nor it in sin; though his goodness, and love in some kind, and measure be extended to all his creatures, for he causeth his sun to shine, and rain to fall vpon evil, and vpon the good, yet do they not in any respect extend unto sin, but he persueth it with mortal, and implacable hatred. Indeed the naked action considered by itself must of necessity haue God for the Author, but the murderous intention, which is the formal part, and the deformity of that action hath no more correspondency with Him, then extreme heat hath with any mixture of could, or the clearest light with any shadow of darkness. Hence some curiously distinguish between durities, and obduratio, making durities, hardness of hart, man's sin, but obduratio, bardning, Gods iudgement. For seeing the wicked are so in Gods power that they cannot sin without his sufferance his permission is necessary to this, that they should actually commit, what they are inclined to commit, and this is most just in God; for though evil( saith St Augustine) is not good, yet it is good, that there should be evil, in as much as God, who bringeth light out of darkness, is able to do good of evil; and it is just in him to permit, where he is not bound to hinder. If his knowledge bee not in every thing he is not omniscient; if his presence were not in every thing, he were not omnipresent, so if his power work not in every thing, he is not omnipotent.  
far be it from my attempt presumptuously to remove those ancient bounds& limits of God's permission, dereliction, substraction of grace, exhibiting occasions of falling to the ill deserving: but hence to conclude that in the works of the wicked, he hath no forwarder degree of disposition then bare toleration, so that his will should no way concur with the selling of joseph argueth rather a preposterous, superstitious fear, then any orthodox truth. For what is this but to ascribe weakness to the almighty, if things may be done whether God will, or no? What is this but to pull God out of his throne, to spoil him of his power, and violently to wrest out of his hands the office of judging, and governing the world? And therefore though the Schoolemens proposition be, God wills not sin properly, in consideration of itself, as it is a mere privation of that which is good; yet they deny not but God wils sin impropriè, accidentally, propter coniunctum bonum, for some good conjoined with it. Deum velle mala fieri,& Deum velle mala non fieri, non opponuntur contradictoriè, saith Aquinas, cum vtrumque sit affirmatiuum, to say that God doth will that evil should be done, and that God doth will that evil should not be done, is no contradiction, seeing both the propositions are affirmative. For sin, though it hath an outward disagreement, such as may be in a creature from the Creator, yet( as it is well noted) it hath not naturally, or intrinsically, any inward, positive contrariety, in as much as God can make sin as sin, turn to an occasion of his glory. If it were absolutely evil to him, then should the divine Nature bee the worse for it's being, which cannot stand with the impassibilitie of the Deity. I must needs confess that some of our later writers haue not been cautelous enough in enterlining their speeches in this point with sufficient wariness, and circumspection; witness those harsh terms of Gods exciting, stirring up, inclining, and by a secret, ineffable instinct moving mens hearts to do evil. I know we may observe the same words subject to the like exception in S. Augustines 20, and 21 Chapters, de gratiâ,& libero arbitrio; in his 5 book Contra justorum; In Aquinas vpon the 9 to the Romans, and Bellarmine, though he gawleth Caluin herein, in his second book de a missione gratiae,& statu peccati denieth not that God moveth, provoketh, yea and in a sort commandeth some men to do evil. To vindicate, and redeem the simplicity of truth almost strangled through defect of a discreet, and sober handling, if the words be taken in a castigated, and well qualified sense, as they were taken by S. Augustine, and the first Imposers, the seeming harshness will easily be mitigated,& this stumbling block of offence quiter removed. It is one thing( as I have learned out of an old writer) to stir up, to bring forth, to dispose, and order mens evils, and it's another thing to work, and cause evil in men. It is one thing to make an instrument evil, and it's another thing to use an evil instrument, being already so made by another. To make an instrument evil is evil, to use an evil instrument, is not evil simply, yea to use an evil instrument to good ends, is good. Satan, and our own will hath made us all evil Instruments, God though we be now made evil, useth us well. Satan, and our own will hath wrought, and caused wickedness in us all; God moderateth, stirreth up, and bringeth forth the evil, which Satan, and we haue caused in ourselves, so that we utter no part of that evil that is in us, but where, and when it pleaseth the governor of the universal world. Hence is that of Hugo de S. Victore, Deus malis voluntatibus non dat corruptionem, said ordinem. He moveth, and stirreth up the corruption of the heart, not by instiling, or infusing the least obliquity into a man, whose mind was pure, and innocent before, but finding the mind corrupt, and defiled, pulls as it were the Adder out of his hole, and bringeth forth the poison which lurked in the breast. If as S. Austin seems to imply, he inclines their wills to evil for then just deserts, it is not done compulsiuely, but according to their own, proper, natural bent.  
This even the Philosophers could discover through their glimmering light, namely that God being a simplo, and pure act, ordinarily moveth all things according to the condition of the nature, which every thing hath. He makes the heauens move circklewise, because that motion is fittest for them. After the same maner he moveth man according to his will, and reason, so that his choice, or will is not compelled, but whatsoever he doth, he doth it willingly, whether the same bee good, or whether it be evil. 
Hugo de S. vict.  Peccatum necessariò sequitur ex gratiae substractione, sin necessary follows vpon the withholding of grace, yet not as the effect doth follow the efficient, for God caused not their cruelty, but only denied them his grace, which should make thē tender hearted, and loving. Neither doth it at all disparaged, or detract from Gods iustice, that the wickedness of these sinful brethren is intermixed with his just designs, for what can more magnify his wisdom, and goodness, then that he should bee able to perfect the faire, and strait lines of his righteous decrees by such crooked and crabbed instruments? That like a good physician of the flesh of Vipers he can make sovereign Mithridate, and change their malignant poison into wholesome preservatives. If wee are not afraid( as anselm notes) to confess that infant is made of God, which yet is brought forth by the adulterous will of man, why also shall we deny that he is the author of that action, which is produced through an evil will. By one, and the self same heat of the sun day is hardened,& wax mollified: it is one, and the self same shower which bringeth fertility, but according to the diversity of the earth, the success is far different, for one earth produceth good fruits, and another sends forth thorns, and briars. fix your meditations vpon the foulest thing that ever was committed, look on Gods work in it, it is most pure. For as it is in those double, two faced pictures, behold them on the one side, you see monsters, on the other side, the comeliest lineaments of the most perfect feature. So is it in those wicked actions, the same that man worketh sinfully, God works most holily. Take a similitude from the heauens: the first, and highest heaven draws by it's motion the rest of the Planets, and that not by a crooked, but by a right motion; but yet the orbs of the planets so moved, move of themselves obliquely. If you inquire whence is this obliquity of motion in the Planets, certainly not from the first mover, but from the nature of the Planets. In one, and the same action man aims at one end, and God aims at another end, and therefore they work idem, but not ad idem. Though these brethren did the act, which God would, and determined in his secret, eternal counsel, yet they did it not vpon those grounds, and for those respects, which God did purpose. When the father delivered up his son, and Christ his body, and ludas his master, wherefore is God in the delivery just, and man guilty, but because in one thing, which they did the cause is not one for the which they did, as S. Augstine resolves the question. Here you may consider the blindness,& dulness of human policy, when it is banding, and conspiring against the divine providence. For when man seems most to oppose it, he doth but effect that, which it willeth, and decreeth to be done. give me leave to resume my former allusion, but in a different application. As the Planets haue every one their motion in their proper orb differing from all the rest, and most of all from that, which is first moved; but yet contrary to their own motion, wee see them daily wheeled about with the Primum Mobile: so when the motion of our wills do exceedingly vary one from the other, and all seem to drive to a contrary end then at that, which God aimeth, yet are they so overruled by his power, that at last we meet together, and bend that way where he intendeth. For the divine wisdom( saith Gregory the great) knows long before how to lay the foundation of weighty, and great successses to follow, and to dispose, and bring to pass things by means seeming clean contrary. So this joseph therefore sold of his brethren that he might not be reverenced, or honoured by them, but therefore is he honoured, because sold. Thus Gods counsels, and decrees whiles they are avoided, are fulfilled,& mans wisdom when it resisteth, is entangled. The consideration hereof makes S. Austine break into admiration, and cry out, these bee the great, the wonderful, and exquisite works of God, that when man, and Angels nature had sinned, that is, had done not that, what he would, but what they would, even by the same will of the creature whereby that was done which the creature would not, he fulfilled that he would. And therefore when in the last day Christ shall come to judge the world, then in the most clear light of wisdom it shall appear, how certain, and inevitable, and most effectual God's will is how many things he can do, and will not, but willeth nothing he cannot do, so true is that of the Psalmist, Our God is in heaven, he hath done whatsoever he would. But least J should seem illicitè curiosus, over-curious, and too inquisitive about hidden mysteries, J will here stint the prosecution of this point, making for better speed but a light footing in so deep a sand. Sufficient it is for my purpose, and your information, that God did not barely permit, but also ordain that joseph should be sent into Egypt, yet not in the favour of the sin committed by Iacobs sons, but for illustration of his power,& preservation of his Church. They sold him only to disgorge their malice, and to hasten his ruin, but God made this their sending into Egypt, not a bondage, but an ambassage, not a sending unto misery, but unto glory; and so J come from the perplexed circumstances of the action, to the happy event, or consequence of the Action.  And he made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 
And he made me. It is the saying of Tully in his second de natura deorum, Quia sibi quisque virtutem acquirit, neminem à sapientibus unquam de eā Gratias Deo egisse. Because every man himself getteth virtue to himself, therefore never any of the wise men did thank God for it, as if the reason of man's understanding was sufficient for a right governance. But the time of this ignorance is past, and the daies are come whereof it was prophesied that the earth should be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 
Esay. 11.  So that we religiously profess the ability of our nature is so wounded, that it needs a true confession, and not a false defence. For what is the very flower, and quintessence of mans wisdom, not guided by the spirit of God, to speak the best of it, but docta ignorantia, a learned kind of folly, and profound simplicity. And this some of the Heathen themselves in that small knowledge of God, which sin left them, did aclowledge him to bee the Author, and worker of the benefits they enjoyed. In the greek Poets the style runs {αβγδ}; the Gods are the glovers of good things. The roman Captaines having conquered their enemies, took part of the laurel, which they did bear in sign of the victory, 
Plin. nat. bistor. lib. 15.  and laid it in the lap of jupiter. But they did not glorify God as they ought, for they robbed him of his honour, and gave it unto Idols. Yea, part of the laurel they kept unto themselves, sacrificing to their nets, and burning incense to their yarn. Which ouer-daring presumption in sharing with sovereignty, and royal prerogative, is not only odious to the supreme majesty of the King of Kings, but to his Vicegerents, and Deputies here on earth. The Aetolians proved ridiculous, when being but auxiliary to the Romans in the war against the Macedonians, 
Plutarch.  they gave out themselves the true conquerors. But it is blasphemy in man to attribute either the strength, or glory of successses unto himself. Saint Paul's Omnia possum, had been over presumptuous, had he not added, in Him that strengtheneth me. 
Phil. 4.  To prevent this vain affiance in ourselves, the Prophet denounceth him cursed, which trusteth in man, 
jer. 17.  and setteth flesh to be his arm; 
Ps. 40.  for it is God which giveth strength to him that fainteth, and unto him that hath no strength, he increaseth power. Ad malum prior est voluntas creaturae; ad bonum prior est voluntas creatoris. Mans will in wickedness is the first deficient; God's will in goodness is the first efficient. And therefore joseph having manus ad clavum, had oculos ad coelum; his hands at the stern, and his eyes in heaven. He restend not wholly vpon Pharaoh, knowing that kings are but the fingers of that Hand, which ruleth the world; but elevating himself from the earth, soareth higher and like a true son of jacob, behold's God vpon the top of the ladder of his exaltation. he made me a father] Indeed the majesty of Kings is sacred, we owe unto them the bowing of the knee, the bending of the heart, for as God suffereth them to share with him in his highest title, so hath he given to them some resemblance of his power, for they also haue Potestatem vitae, ac necis, power of life, and death over their subiects. Yet forasmuch as their hearts are ever in Gods hands& he mouldeth, and turneth them, as seemeth best unto him, they can neither raise up, whom God would haue depressed, nor depress any, whom God would haue raised up. Which proveth it to bee a conclusion without exception, which the Prophet jeremy hath in his 9. 
jer. 9.  Chapter, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his power, but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth God. That Martiall King Edward the third outwent his famed, and was accounted to haue done things more commendable then his victory, for having vanquished the person of the French King by force of battle, he put of from himself the whole glory, and gave it most devoutly unto God, causing to be sung, Non nobis Domine, non nobis Domine, not unto us o Lord, but unto thy Name be praise; for thou art worthy o Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power. Thus you see that every good and perfect gift is from above, 
Jam. 1.  descending from the father of lights. A good thought( as the school speaks) is gratia infusa, a good word is gratia effusa, and a good dead is gratia diffusa. Through his grace, which is the God of all grace, men are whatsoever they are. And so I come from the Author, or Primary cause of this aduancement, to the aduancement itself. And he made me a father to Pharaoh, a Lord of all his house, and a Ruler throughout all Egypt.]  
First stripped, then sold, after that imprisoned,& after all, exalted, and made the great commander of Egypt, that a man may truly say, his fortune had as many colours, as his coat. Twice he lost his coat, once in the hands of his brethren,& again by the hands of his mistress, but after all, Pharaoh inuests him with a ring,& a royal coat. I forbear the various rendering of the word [ Father] following onely S. jerome, who tells us that in the original, it signifies a father to the King, 
S. Jerom. in tradit. Heb.  or a principal counsellor. There's no civil name more honourable, and less subject to envy, as Plutarch observes in the life of Romulus, whose chief Citizens did therefore assume to themselves the name of Patricij. In the book of Hester, 
E●●h. 16.  Haman a principal counsellor is styled Pater Artaxerxis, the father of Artaxcrxes; 
● Chron. 13.  And Rehobeam on the contrary being forty yeares old for his folly is termed a child. Let not therefore the rigid censure of any esteem wisdom and policy, altogether incompatible with younger men. For God measureth not his endowments by number of yeares. hoary senses are often couched under green locks, and some are riper in the Spring, then others in the autumn of their age. God chos'd not himself, but young David to conquer Goliab, and to rule his people. Not the most aged person, but daniel the most innocent infant delivered Susanna from the iniquity of the Iudges. A true Elias may conceive that a little cloud may cast a large,& abundant shower, and the scripture teacheth that God revealeth to little ones, what he concealeth from the wisest Sages. His truth is not abased by the minority of the speaker, who out of the mouth of infants, and sucklings can perfect his praises. The Angels which sometimes appeared in youthful semblances give us a pregnant proof that many glorious gifts may be shrouded under tender shapes. Timothy was young, and yet a principal Pastor; St John not old, and yet an Apostle; joseph of a tender age, and yet made a father, and principal counsellor to Pharaoh. I know that they, which writ of common wealths, observe three especial causes, why the aged sort should seem most indifferent to discharge so high a calling. The first, is the proof of experience in things passed; the second, due consideration of the time present; the third, a good understanding of all that may follow. How beit the forwardness of youth is not excluded from advancement, if they prove themselves in manners, wisdom,& discretion old. To many Nature hath given her gifts, some education hath profited, others by learning are made wise, and the unlearned are taught by observing histories, which the wise counsellor Cicero makes equal to that, which is before concluded of age. The proof of which abilities receives it's strength from joseph: he was so wise, as Pharaoh said none like him; so faithful, as being a prisoner himself, yet was made Keeper of the prison, and kept that, which kept him: So chast even in the heat of alluring temptations, as he lost his cloak to keep his honesty, whereas many sell their coat to loose their honesty. How kind& loving he was to his father, look in the 42. Chap: of Genesis: there you shall see by the corn which he sent in the famine to feed him, and Gen: 45. by the chariots which he afterwards sent to fetch him. His providence, and circumspection for the Prince& country, 
S. jerom. i●tradit. Heb. in Gen. 41.  was ratified, when they cried before him a saviour of the world, or as it were a God vpon earth; for the backs and the bellies of the whole land did bless him. So that in joseph we haue the right character of a perfect counsellor. For as government is truly called Alienum bonum, the good of others, so are their mindes too narrow for public places, who think they are advanced only for themselves; that account honours, and offices rather the favour of their Prince, then their duty to the King, and common wealth; that use them as immunities to their greater ease, and not as burdens to their greater cares. But I leave discoursing of this dignity, that I may speak a word of the correlative. Saint Ambrose vpon the 9. to the romans telleth us, that the name of Pharaoh, was not a proper name, but rather a sur-name; for the Kings of Egypt were then called Pharaohs, as the roman Emperors were Caesares, and Augusti. 
Pet. Mar. in 9. ad Rom.  Peter Martyr deriveth it from the Hebrew verb {αβγδ} which in the conjugation Hiphil, signifieth to avenge, as if the wise men of the Egyptians intimated by that furname the power of a king, who as S Paul saith, beareth the sword, 
Rom. 13.  and is an avenger against those that do evil. I stand not on the etymology, but only observe the goodness of Pharaoh, in selecting a man of understanding to be his public Officer,& principal counsellor. And here my heart daunceth with ioy, and my mouth is ready to overflow with praises, when I consider how as Solomon the first, so our royal Solomon the second, the wisest since the first for politic wisdom, hath notwithstanding his sage Counselors for advice, and information. O that the Penny father patrons of these desperately sinful times, to whose trust is committed the care of providing Patres nutritios, Nursing Fathers, to feed the flock of Christ with the sincere milk of the word of God. O, I say, that these Patroni Ecclesiae, or rather Latrones Ecclesiae, for many of them haue turned their patronage into pillage, would at length imitate the example of this heathen in promoting Iosephs for the good of the Church, and the Commonwealth; then should wee not see so many glorious lights of divine truth ready to expire, and power out their souls here in the bosom of their Nurses for want of a free, and comfortable passage to the exercise of their ministry abroad. {αβγδ}, was once the complaint of Nazianzen; and these men go about to make us renew it now, 
Naz. Orat. 20.  the sacred, and honourable order is in danger to become the most scorned order, {αβγδ}, because ecclesiastical preferments are not commonly conferred on those, who are most sufficient to serve the Lord, but on those, who are best able to serve the turns of their greedy patrons, which think them to be men of the best gifts, who are most able to give. This is it, which rents and tears in pieces the very heart-strings of the Church, and sucks out the very inmost blood of Religion. For when Protestants shall undo those many good works which Papists haue done, yea which Heathens haue done, we are at a stand, as josuah was at the siege of Ai, and know not what to speak; only thus much we may affirm, where is want of sufficient living, there will be want of able Preachers, and where such Preachers are wanting, there the people perish. The people indeed shal perish in their sins, but their blood shall bee required at thy hands, which hast been the cause of their spiritual famishment. Phaerach that his people might not be consumed by famine, sets up joseph, a Man of known worth, to gather food for the provision of the land; but many of these are so far from making wise overseers of Christs flock, that they use all the means they can to procure both a spiritual, and corporal famine in the land. For they throw down towns, and Towneships, and which is monstrous, they strip the world of Men too, for they put out men God's own image, to bring in sheep. Nero, and Diocletian destroyed but men, these destroy Humanum Genus, even mankind itself. howsoever they may give losers leave to speak. 
Turno tempus erit, quo magno optauerit emptum  
Intactum Pallanta,& cum spolia ista, 
〈◇〉.  diemque  
Oderit.  The time will come, wherein they will wish they had not so divided Christs seamless coat; they will find the Church goods are but a coal, which they carry from the Altar, as the Eagle did, but it will consume their nest, as that did hers. For it oft comes to pass that great houses are strangely, and suddenly made desolate, by a cause not considered of the world, but secret in God, and that is for some oppression either in the son, in the Father, or in the Grandfather, for Nullum tempus occurrit Dea, it is all one to God, either themselves shall live to see their wealth pulled out of their hands by a higher power, or their Children shall wast it in riot,& prodigality, or some of their posterity shall forfeit it by disloyalty, and ye shall find it true, which is said, that tertius hares non gaudebit, the third in descent shall live to loose it. But J leave these men to the scourges and lashes of an amazed conscience, and to the expectation of a dreadful sentence, unless they repent of their sacrilege, and carelessness in preferring learned Fathers, who should beget children to God through the preaching of the gospel. Pharaoh in bestowing his dignities did more regard the public good of the country, then the private gain of his own purse. The Man he exalted was not a mushroom of a nights growth, but one made for public service. He was able to bee a Father to Pharaoh, and therefore was his honour equal to his virtue. For he was made a Lord of all his house, and a Ruler throughout the land of Egypt. Lord, and Ruler.  
In all well ordered governments there are degrees,& these by God's appointment. For seeing Man is the most excellent of all creatures, it is most requisite he should be fenced of God with the aid of principality, otherwise the state of reasonable men would bee far more miserable then that of beasts; and a general flood of confusion would a second time overflow mankind, did not order, and dominion prevent it. For it is not possible where all are equal, peace should long be kept. When the hearts of men are guided,& steered onely by their own fancies, what licentious disorders do arise? How are they tossed to and fro vpon the tempestuous seas of the world? judicious Master Hooker supposeth the worst times of the world to haue been before the flood. Wee may gather it from the greatness of the plague, a vniuersail deluge. The cause of this by him is ascribed to the want of Rulers, for wee red not of any till the time of Nimrod, the first Monarch, who lived after the flood. Indeed it cannot bee denied there is no impossibility in nature considered by itself, but that men might haue lived without any public regiment, howbeit the corruption of our nature being presupposed, we cannot deny but that the law of nature doth now require of necessity a dominion,& regiment, so that to bring things to the first course they were in, and to take away public government, were utterly to overturn the whole world. It is the opinion of the Arch-Philosopher in the 3 of his politics, that there is a kind of natural right in the noble, wise, and virtuous to govern them, which are of servile disposition; and this truth even Mopsus in the poet doth aclowledge, Tu maior, tibi me est aequum parere Menalca. 
Virg.   
I need not enlarge my proof in declaring that difference, and superiority of one above an other is the ordinance of God. For the Scripture is copious in this argument,& Christ himself witnesseth in the 29 of St John, speaking to Pilat, thou couldst haue no power at all, except it were given thee from above. If the powers that be are ordained of God, then also are they constant, and stable, and not to be resisted. For although by sundry successions human things are disturbed, yet this power is perpetually preserved, as in the world, though there oftentimes happen innumerable changes, yet the heaven, the air, the earth, the sea keep still their place, neither at any time leave their limits. Hence therefore that arithmetical proportion, and Rebellious Parity of the Anabaptists, and those truly called Puritans, which virulently oppose the flourishing state of our Church, so long,& so happily established. The malice of that Rabble occasioneth this clause. For you may note that they, which are close Factors for the Geneua discipline do not tremble to bear the people in hand, that the Puritans wee most speak against, are those Christians, which make it their meat, and drink to do the will of their Father which is in heaven, and haue a care to walk {αβγδ}, diligently, perfectly, and strictly in the ways of salvation. But to take away this vail, which they lay before the eyes of the simplo, they which our Church brandeth for Puritans, are those brainsick, vndisciplin'd Disciplinarians, those seditious meddlers in our discipline ecclesiastical, and by consequence civil, who make religion their Stalkinghorse to all impieties, Et per hunc Puritanismum non est via ad regnum coelorum. By this kind of puritanism the way is not to heaven, unless they will haue Hell to bee their heaven, and the depth of villainy the height of piety. These, these alone be they, which I join with the Anabaptists, and that justly; eiusdem enim sunt farraginis, They make the same medley. For They which would seek a parity in our Church, would seek a parity in the policy; They which would turn Churches into Chambers, Priests of the Lord into Bench-presbyterians; the sacred Hierarchy of Bishops instituted by Christ, and his Apostles into a new fangled Office of Superintendents, They would likewise, if their power were as prevalent as their deadly malice, Sceptra ligonibus aequare, turn Kings swords, and sceptres into spades, and mattocks; laws,& ordinances into Commons tumults, and mutinies;& so make a new Metamorphosis of Church, and Common-wealth. The place, which the Anabaptists abuse, is taken out of the 21 of St Math: The Princes of the gentiles exercise dominion, but he that will be chief among you, let him be your seruant. hereupon these men haue dreamed that after Christs coming, we should be without Rulers,& Authority;& from the same words doth some of our refractory, and schismatical novelists at home muster their forces against ecclesiastical jurisdiction. I will answer them in a word. Rule, and Authority, and Power was instituted for the suppressing of sin; so long then as there is sin in the world, which will be so long as the world lasts, government must haue it's force. The sword of the temporal power must correct it with severity; spiritual Rulers are to censure things spiritual, to keep under falsehood, and to kerb the violence of faction. It is high time for sovereign majesty to sand a strict injunction of taking heed, and bewaring that wee poison not our studies with the writings of Puritans,& jesuits, for the one no less then the other, under colour of zeal, and pretence of holy discipline corrupt, and spoil green age before it can discern, and season new vessels with unseasonable liquour. witness that detestable, and traitorous instruction encouraging subiects to resist their supreme Rulers when they are notoriously taxed of injustice, and cruelty. So that Kings according to them shall be no longer Kings, then they serve their turns. Are not these gospelers, where they broach such tenants, mere Popes? Are not they like to Antichrist, that sits in the temple of God, but advanceth himself against all that is called God. Or do they not work like samson, who laid hold vpon the pillars whereon the house did stand, that overthrowing them, the house, and the men might fall in a common ruin. I am sure Gods word saith, 
Psal: 105.  touch not mine anointed, and do my Prophets no harm. And this commandment of obedience is without distinction. ieremy commands the Isralits, even those which were captives under heathen Kings not to resist but to pray for them, and for the peace of Babylon. 
Jer: 29.  And it is acceptable to the Lord, saith St Paul, not that ye resist, 
1 Tim: 2.  but that ye make supplications, and prayers for Kings, and for all that are in authority. The Prophets, the Apostles, and Christ himself subjecteth themselves to the power of magistracy, 
Math: 26.  and therefore when the Disciple did draw his sword in Christs defence, he was commanded to put it up into his sheathe. Patientia enim Domini in Malcho vulnerata est, saith Tertullian. The examples are not to bee numbered of Gods punishments vpon those that haue resisted authority by God ordained, and established. In the old Law it was death, if a man had resisted the higher power. Corah with all his was consumed with fire; Dathan& Abiram were swallowed up of the earth, because they seditiously resisted Moses and Aaron. Wee know what end absalon came unto, when he had expelled his father out of his kingdom. What seemed more goodly to the eye of the world, then that notable act of Brutus and Cassius, which destroyed Caesar, reputed a Tyrant,& yet that those their doings were not allowed of God, the end declared. Wherefore it is not lawful to resist supreme Rulers, though they serve from the line of iustice; for it pleaseth God sometimes to punish his people by a tyrannous hand, and in such a case to resist, what else is it but Tollere Martyrium, to take away the occasion, the glory, and crown of martyrdom. But the vindicating flames haue purged our air from these strange fogs, so that now there's no danger of infection. If any hereafter should dare to vnrake these cinders, and again disperse those treasonable positions, J could wish that Lords, and Rulers, and such as bee in Authority would reward them as Eliah did Baals Priests, 
1 King. 18.  and let none escape that is found; or do unto them as Samuel did, 
1 Sam: 15.  hew these traitorous Agags in pieces before the Lord. And so because Lord, and Ruler are nomina relatiua, Let us consider the signory, or place of Regiment, of all his house, and throughout all Egypt. Before the soft weapons of paternal persuasions became ouer-weake to resist evil, Rule in general was paternal, so that all dominion hath it's original from the family, or household. Which kind of proceeding the grecians so much affencted, that among them the state oeconomicall of every mans private cause should first try him able to govern in the common wealth. And therefore it was objected to Philip king of Macedon, when he would haue pacified the strifes in the City, that his council would little help, which would seem to order others, when he could not govern his own at home. You know it is a natural propriety in God to bring things de infimis ad media,& à medijs ad summum, and so he exalted joseph, for he came to be governor not per saltum,& by way of favour, for he was placed at the oar, before he sate at the stern; but like a scholar in our universities, he took his degrees orderly, and for his sufficiency. First he was made a Father to Pharaoh, thē Lord of all his house, and so a Ruler throughout all Egypt. Here, if I would borrow a little Geography, I might fill up another hour, if not exceed it, by discoursing how famous, fruitful, and populous a Country this Egypt was, when it began first to be called Egypt, whether it were a part diverse from Asia, or Africa, or whether it partak'd of both; but these impertinences are rather fit to stuff Comments, then to be discussed in Sermons. The thing which I admire, is that Egypt a place branded in holy Scripture for cruelty& tyranny, the Iron furnace, the house of servitude, or bondage, should nevertheless receive, and harbour joseph, when the house of jacob lay in wait to destroy him. The vncircumcis'd esteem him not only worthy, but according to his worth advance him to a place of eminency. Brethren of the circumcision, not onely not approve him, but condemn him as guilty.  
It seems joseph was not of that generation which affecteth singularity, whose eyes are haughty, and eyelids lift up, but he was a man of an humble, and precious spirit, whose courtesy, and sweet affability could procure such extraordinary love, and favour in a strange country. And the Egyptians in making a stranger capable of preferment amongst them, haue taught Posterity how in some cases we should regard non Quis, said Qualis, not so much whence, as what they are, which live amongvs. If it be well wai'd, we shall find this was one principal mean whereby the roman state received both continuance, and increase, because the people did so easily impart the liberties of their city almost unto all. But the destruction, and overthrow of the lacedæmonians hence arised, in that they rejected those they conquer'd as strangers. And here, if joseph an Alien by birth, had not been a subordinate Ruler in Egypt, both Egypt and the bordering nations had perished. Among us Christians in Offices either of Credit, or Profit, what ado there is, if this be Scottish, this Welsh, this English,& this I know not what, when we should remember that we serve under the dominion of one gracious Lord,& that those names of division are now abolished, having by a happy union recovered the ancient, common name of all the Inhabitants within this Ile. So that if the coat of many colours be given to joseph before Reuben, to the younger before the elder, wee should not repined at the disposal; for who are we that should dare to bind the hands of jacob, as if he could not bestow his bounties, and favours on whom he pleaseth: Thus having with what speed I might, run my intended race, give me leave à calce ad carceres reuccari, and to end where I began. Iosephi actio nostra esset instructio; this rare equanimity and mildness of joseph towards his Brethren should be a pattern of imitation for intemperate spirits, and contentious dispositions in digesting injuries, and recompensing good for evil. For whereas they stripped him of his party coloured coat, he gave them change of raiment; they sold him for money,& put him in their purse, and in recompense of that he would not sell them corn, but gave it freely, and put money in their sacks. They cast him into a pit to feed him with bread, and water of affliction, in lieu thereof he brought them into his own lodging, and feasted them sumptuously. Thus with meekness, and patience he worked out an exceeding great weight of glory. For he was made a Father to Pharaoh, a Lord of all his house,& a Ruler throughout all Egypt.  
O qui sanctorum labores respicis, cur non& remunerationes? O thou that seest the present sorrows of the Saints, why dost thou not look out to see the future joys of the Saints? ye stumble to behold the innocent joseph in affliction, why behold ye not in Egypt his glory, and exaltation. Indeed the world broacheth her best wine first, but of Christ it is said, 
2 Job:  Tu seruâsti bonum vinum usque nunc. He keeps the best wine till the later end; and, as Solomon saith, in our later daies we shall rejoice. 
Prou: 31.  For it is worthy to bee noted how such was the goodness of God unto joseph that for the several miseries, which he suffered, he received a several reward. For the hatred of his brethren he obtained the favour of the King, and his Nobles. For the contempt, and scorn they heaped vpon him, he was worshipped of them with their faces down to the ground. For the party coloured coat they stripped him of, when they cast him into the pit, he was arrayed by Pharaoh with a princely rob of fine linen. instead of the fetters wherewith he was bound in prison, Pharaoh put his own ring on his hand, and a chain of gold about his neck. instead of the prison, and dungeon where he lay, he was set vpon the Kings best Chariot save one, and carried in great pomp throughout the city. In a word, instead of his fathers house from which he was exiled, he had dominion in all the land of Egypt. So true is that saying of Seneca, Quanto plus tormenti, tanto plus erit gloriae, the greater affliction a man endureth, the greater will be his reward afterwards. But howsoever the Lord doth not always deal thus with his children in this life, yet in the life to come they shall find the truth of that comfortable promise delivered by the Apostle 2. Cor. 4. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, causeth unto us a far more excellent, and an eternal weight of glory. To which glory he that decrely bought us, bring us for his merits, and mercy sake. To whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all power, might, and dominion now, and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.