THE MAN OF HONOUR, DESCRIBED In a SERMON, Preached before the Lords of Parliament, In the Abbey Church at Westminster, March 26. 1645. The Solemn day of the public monthly-fast.  
By FRANCIS CHEYNELL, Minister of God's Word.  
Die Jovis, 27. Martii, 1645.  
IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament, That this House doth hereby give thanks to Master Cheynell for his great pains, taken in the Sermon, he Preached on the 26. of this instant March, in the Abbey Church Westminster, before the Lords of Parliament, it being the day of the public Fast.  
John Brown, Cler. Parliament.  PROV. 27. 5, 6. 
Open rebuke is better than secret love: faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.  PROV. 28. 23. 
He that rebukes a man, shall find more favour afterwards, than he that flatters with his tongue.  
London, Printed by J. R. for Samuel Gellibrand, dwelling in S. Paul's churchyard, at the sign of the Brasen-Serpent, 1645.   

To the Right Honourable, the House of PEERS.  
Right Honourable,  
GOd hath given us four Books to study: The Book of Scriptures; The Book of Conscience: In which, there are so many erratas, that all Books were Written to mend that one Book of Conscience. The Book of Creation, and therein the Treatise of Beasts, deserves our sad consideration: We may read such excellent things in Beasts, and see such abominable things in men: That I may safely say, All they who quarrel at the Language of the Holy Ghost, in my Text, think too highly of themselves, and too cheaply of the Beasts. Wise men may go to School to Ants, Bees, Elephants, Serpents, &c. And most men to the Ox, and ass, Isai. 1. 3, 4. What strange things have Beasts done by fantasy, and memory helped with experience? Believe it, The providence, wit, do●ilitie, sagacity, meekness, temperance, chastity, diligence of Beasts, set forth to the life by Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aristotle, Pliny, Atheneus, Elian, Gesner, and the rest, may put too many Nobles to the blush. The last Book, is the Book of Providence, and we are compelled to study this Book so often in these sad times, that some 〈◊〉 feared our Divines will turn Statesmen: But you know, my Lords, That he ●ho is to Preach a solemn Sermon, doth not Preach conscionably, unless he Preach seasonably: We must study how to apply spiritual Remedies to our sick State; and it is our duty to stir up you, to apply some civil Remedies: But for my part, I had rather be Preaching of Faith and Love, Christ and Heaven, for I am not cut out for Court-work; yet s●re I should have more Courtship than Conscience, if I should crave your pardon, or make any sneaking apology, for pressing Scripture-notions, and phra●… or any necessary truths, home upon your conscience. You did command me to Preach before you, and I was bold for to Preach to you: Some passages of my Sermon were sharp, and others bitter; but if Pills be well acuted, they will purge the better: My roughness is like that of a file, to smooth and polish my auditors; and if by that means, you become more bright, and pure, I shall not repent that I was no smother. Ministers, especially in times of war, are instead of Drums and Trumpets, we must not let you sleep in quiet; but some expressions of mine, may seem too blunt, why, a Whotstone's blunt, yet serves to sharpen what was dull before, though made of excellent mettle. We are enjoined by the Directory, to give every one his own portion, without neglecting the meanest, or sparing the greatest in their sins. 〈◊〉 moved your Honour's almost in down right terms, to pass that Self-denying Ordinance, which binds not only Lords, but Commons also, to deny all private interests, that you and they, may unanimously promote the public Service: Your Honour doth not depend on Wax and Parchment; and it is clear, that rebus sic stantibus. You will gain more Honour by laying down your Commissions, then by keeping them. Your Lordships are pleased to approve, what was delivered, by a double Order; the first of Thanks, the second for Printing.  
My Lords, I understand and obey, only give me leave, to present some humble requests to you, which being granted, will increase your Honour.  
Be pleased to consult how to relieve distressed Ireland, and besieged Taunton: How to purge the Committtee's (in the Counties near London) in Essex, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire: It is proper to give them physic now at Spring; you will thereby do yourselves, those Counties, and the city right. Consider, how you may unstop the mouth of the other Fountain: We fight for Learning, as well as piety; How to prefer able Divines that have spent their spirits, and lost their voice, and are by that means disabled for any Preaching Service, but admirably qualified for Writing, if they had leisure and encouragement to put Pen to Paper: How to rebuke presumptuous Incendiaries, who occasion the bloodshed of many hundreds, plunder thousands, and yet hope when they have done all the mischief they can, to make their peace for 500 l. and get a Warrant from some Justice of Peace, to receive the Sacrament: Finally, How to relieve the Orphans and Widows, of them who have lost their lives; and maintain such as have lost their limbs, in this present Service.  
Keep a precise watch, my Lords, over your own souls; They who have the greatest temptations, must allow themselves the least liberty. Prepare, and wait for the coming of our Saviour, Christ will wait upon▪ them, that wait for him: These are Honourable Services, and you cannot desire a more Honourable reward, then to be Honoured, nay, served, by the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Luk. 12. 37. That you may never be weary of doing him service, who will never be weary of doing you good; is the Prayer of your Honours, most humble Servant  
Francis Cheynell.   

A Sermon preached to the Right Honourable the House of Lords, At the monthly-fast, March 26. 1645.  PSAL. 49. 20. 
Man that is in Honour, and understandeth not, is like the Beasts that perish.  
Tam nati pl●bei● b●…, tu●…●ati pr●stant● vi●●. Junius. Etiam ●il●i Adam, etia●…●il●i Magn●…. Musculu●. T●m 〈…〉 fil●● 〈…〉. Munster. See the Septuag●… Dute●and Fre●…Translations, in the second part of the learned S●ld●…Title of H●nour p. 8●3, 854.  
A Sad Text, fit to be considered by men of honour in these sad Times: Hear ye this, ye sons of Adam, and sons of Ish; ye sons of the earth, and sons of Nobles: the holy Ghost bespeaks your attention, in the first and second verses of this Psalm.  
My Lords, this is David's Metamorphosis; it is not the Dream of a Poet, but the Rapture of a Prophet, the rhetoric of a Psalm: Most men in Honour, are, to their everlasting Dishonour, turnedinto Beasts that perish.  
It i● an hard Saying, as well as a dark Saying; and therefore 
I will open my dark saying, 〈◊〉. 4. ●●rteg●… 〈◊〉 s●pi●…ia Parab●l●…, multipli●… pr●…a a●….  the Psalmist multiplies expressions, in the foregoing verses, for the mollifying of this hard Saying, and the opening of this dark Saying: Give me leave to glance over the Psalm by a smart Paraphrase.  
Wherefore should I fear (saith David) when, &c. But though he might not, others may have just cause to fear what will become of them, when the iniquity o● their heels shall compass them about, vers. 5. And surely none have more cause to fear, than the great ones of the world, vers. 6. They that are so rich, that they trust in their riches, and boast of their riches (which the wisest of men are forced to leave to others, v 10.) have a deep, though vain conceit, that their houses shall continue for ever; and therefore call their lands by their own names, v. 11. But alas, not withstanding this their atheistical Dream, they abide not in their Honour; for they are like the Beasts that perish. And yet though this their way is their folly (undeniable folly) their Posterity are such fools as to imitate their Practices, and approve their Sayings. Selah, vers. 13.  
Oh look not upon this Censure as a Jerk of Wit, for it is indeed A sad Preface to a black Sentence full of horror: For mark what follows: When a man is made rich, and the glory of his house is increased, he is usually so taken up with his wealth and glory, that he forgets the mortality of his frail body, and the eternity of his precious soul: He doth not consider how he may be ransomed from the strength of sin, the sting of death, 
1 Cor. 15. 55, 56. Sicut pecudes morticin● qu● proji●…, vel pe●…es ad 〈◊〉 destin●. 〈◊〉 qu● sive pasca●… sieve 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 destina●a s●nt. Vi●●Iunium & Muscul: Pa●… mor●…. H● 〈◊〉 ●…all go: ●o in the original, vers. 19  the hand of the grave, the power of hell; and therefore his body falls like the carcase of a Beast; the Grave hath victory over him, and Death feeds upon him. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed upon them, vers. 14. And though whilst he lived he was applauded by others, and he blessed hi● own soul, vers. 18. yet his soul shall go to the Generation of his fathers, he shall never see light. Tell me, tell me, is not this 〈◊〉 black Sentence, full of horror? Menglory in their Pedigre●, and are as it were damned ex traduce: They take a pride in imitating the errors and vanity of their forefathers, who lived in darker times; and they shall go to the Generation of their fathers, where they shall never see light; for to such is reserved the blackness● of darkness for ever. And then, to close 
Iu●e vers. 13.  up all, the Prophet warbles over the dark saying of the Text upon his dol●full Harp: it is the Burden of the Psalm, and the Burden of many a guilty cons●ience, which will one day swea●, and groan, and sink under the weight of it: Man that is in Honour, and understandeth not, falls like the Beasts that perish.  
In the words, be pleased to observe,  
1. The Honourable estate, or (in your own Language) the precious Peerage of great men: A nobleman is homo in pretio, as Junius hath it, a man to be prized and honoured.  
2▪ The wilful and dishonourable inconsiderateness of men in Honour: Man that is in Honour, and understands not.  
3. The lamentable Downfall and beastlike ruin of such as fall from their Order, from their God, and from their Honour: They are like the Beasts that perish.  
First, for your Honourable Estate, without any Courtship or compliment, I must observe, That a nobleman is Homo in pretio, one that is prized and honoured in a civil account. Be pleased, Brethren, to suspend your Censure, till I come to speak of the Christian account.  
They that are truly-noble, are the 
a Eccles. 10. 7. Blessed, &c.  bl●ssing and 
b Isa. 5. 13. Heb. Their glory. Vide Ar. Mont. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  glory of a Kingdom: Their honourable men, or their glory, are men of famine, Isa. 5. 13. And dignities are called glories, in the eighth verse of the Epistle of Jude. When men are not honoured according to the weight, worth, dignity of their Places and Persons, they are as it were 
c {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Jude v. 8.  blasphemed and cursed, in the Scripture-phrase.  
But, that I may top the rising errors of the time, give me leave to distinguish of a threefold Honour: civil, philosophical, 
(d) See Master Caryl his learned Observations on Job 3. 1. compared with Gen. 16. 4. 1 Sam. 2. 30.  and Christian.  
First, for civil Honour, we must consider that it was purchased of old by the worth of renowned ancestors, who were the glory of their times: and is it not fit that Posterity should enjoy the Purchase of their Forefathers? Those Titles of Honour which help to set forth a son of mean parts, and but ordinary abilities, might cost the Father or Grandfather very dear: he might forsake his meat, break his sleep, exercise his strong parts, and put forth his eminent gifts, for the Service of the commonwealth of England, and Church of God. It is probable that he did lay out vast sums for the pu●like good, adventured his life for his country: and shall a Title of Honour, purchased by gold laid out in an honourable way, nay, purchased by sweat and blood, be taken away from the son of this Noble progenitor? The public Faith of the Kingdom is virtually engaged for the Ennoblishment of his Posterity: by Justice and Equity, in all Nations throughout the world, the child of such noble ancestors ought to enjoy with honour what his progenitors have purchased for him at so dear a Rate.  
True it is, that God hath made all Nations of men of one blood, Acts 17. 26. and therefore, as we are descended from Adam, 
Omnis sanguis est concolor: ●…ti● comm●… ha●… non vestem.  our blood is of the selfsame complexion; but the strength, wisdom, valour, wealth, virtue of ancestors in succeeding Generations,, did purchase transcendent degrees of Honour for themselves and their Posterity. The Titles of Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, and Barons, were anciently bestowed on them to whose virtue, prowess, wisdom, the Kingdom was beholding, both for Counsel and Assistance, in times of War and Peace, The first Dukes or 
a Vide Camden's Britan. p. 164  deuces undertook a great Charge; their Office was full of Care, and Trust, and Danger. Duke was a Title of Duty, rather than Dignity, as Master Cambden observes. The Title of Lord 
b Cambden, vide supra, p. 165. Some derive Baron from the Chaldce; some from Bar in the German Language: others say Baron or Baron comes from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Cabed in Kal●ig●●●icat grav● esse fro●ingra●…, in P●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Honorar●, via 〈◊〉 habe●… v●les 〈◊〉 leves quos ho●…, sed authoritate coru●… pondus susp●…. Whether Cheva●…or Baron be the true 〈…〉 Title of Dien●ty●… the eye of the Law, I leave it to the Lawyers to dispute. See the Writ, D. Ch●val●er sal●…Cock Com. ●n L●…leton, Lib. 1 c 1. of Fee●…le, Sect 9 Qui ab 〈…〉 splendore degenerar●●t N●bs 〈…〉 port●●t● 〈◊〉.  Marcher was accounted more honourable than that of marquess, because it was more ancient, and did import some honourable Service. Barons were men of Valour, Robora Belli, and therefore are engaged to show their Valour by their very Title. Why were the ensigns of Distinction first born upon Shields, but because they who purchased them at first, did use their own Bodies as a Shield, to bear off those fatal blows which would otherwise have lighted upon the Body of the commonwealth. This may suffice to show, that noblemen of old did pay a valuable Consideration for those Titles of Honour which their Posterity enjoy.  
But put the case that the son of noble progenitors prove degenerate, and hath nothing to ennoble him, but an empty Title.  
I answer, that such a man hath nothing that should tempt a wise man to envy him. What, is an empty Title so great a Provocation? Do not envy him that, for his Forefathers sake, who purchased it of the commonwealth: Ye ought to stand to that Bargain by which the commonwealth is so 
Prov●● al●… spes cohibers cert●… est, si success●r non 〈…〉 to. Tacitus Annal. 3.  great a gainer. The Jews took their Kings and their Priests for better for worse, as they arose by lineal descent. God doth not only show mercy to the fourth Generation, but to some hundreds of men, for the forefather's sake. Again, consider whether this Heir be desperate; may he not be recovered? If not, yet the Breed may mend: It may be the weakness came by the mother's side: And what though true Nobility should hide its head as it were in a Generation or two? it may, like that River which falls under ground, rise up again. Ishmael was none of the best, only he was Abraham's son; and God blessed him so far, as to make him fruitful; he begat twelve Princes, and of them came a famous Nation, Gen. 17. 20. There are certain generous Ignicles and sparks of Nobility which lay raked up in ashes, and seem to be extinct in an Heir or two; and yet these Ignicles do revive and sparkle again, in succeeding Generations. There is an heroical 
Nobilitas Gener●● non inter b●na exter●● rec●ns●nd● venit quo●… H●. roici quida● igniculs poster●● trans●… 〈…〉. Pet. Martyr, l●●. C●m. & Plut. d● tard. D. vindict.  Impetus in men of high-born spirits; and yet this Impetus may be silent, and scarce work notably in men of Noble Families, by reason of some great Obstructions: yet good Education, and good company, may, by God's blessing, remove those Obstructions in their successors, and evidence to the world, that the old strain is not decayed. A young Heir may start up, that hath as public a spirit as his grandfather's 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Arist. Polit. Lib. 4. cap. 8.  great-Grandfather: and then the ancient virtue and wealth, so far forth as it hath been an Instrument of virtue in his Noble Family, adds much to the dignity of such an Heir.  
But you will tell me, that the Heir of a nobleman of England is a Peer of the Realm, and therefore by his Peerage hath a Right to sit in Parliament: And shall every degenerate Heir, that is but an Inch of a man, and hath not one dram of reason or true nobleness in him, sit and vote away his own Liberty and our Safety?  
To this I answer, That therefore the Parliament of England, and every nobleman in England, should take the greater care for the Education of their children, especially of their Heirs, that they might be well principled and rightly qualified for that Service for which they were born: for our Nobles are Parliament-men born.  
2. The Parliament of England can best judge who are fit to sit in Parliament: and you know how to suspend a person from the exercise of a Power which he is not fit to manage, without depriving the Noble House or Race of that Native and Hereditary Power which is settled upon the lineal Heirs of that renowned Family. I read that in some 
Sed arm● sumere non ante cuiquam mor●s▪ q●… civi●●s suffecturum pr●baver●t. T●… in ipso Concilio vel principum aliqu●… vel Pater— Scuto framea●ue ju●enem oruant hic primus, juvent● honos ant● h●c ●…us pars viaent●…ox Re●p Tacitus de Moribus Germancrum, Vide Cambd. Brit. pag. 169. Gentilis Honos ●cc legibus confirmatus nec mo●…bus spreto natalium jure ●vanescit. Read the approved Commenter on that place: Consult Master Perkins his Cases of conscience.  States, young men were reckoned members of a Family, but never parts of the commonwealth, till they had that honour as to be avouched fit for Service, by some approbation from the State. And Master Cambden relates, that in the Reign of Edward the first, the wise men of ancient Families were called to sit in Parliament; but some of their Heirs were passed by, because they were unlike their fathers. I leave it to your Honours, to dispute whether this were an Act of the King's Prerogative; for I am not wise enough to determine in what cases, or how far such severe examples are to be imitated, as long as the Blood of Nobles remains untainted.  
We are commanded to render to all their Dues; custom to whom custom, Fear to whom Fear, Honour to whom Honour, Rom. 13. 7. He who hath Honour due unto him by the dignity of his Office, place, employment, Authority, in the commonwealth, by the nobleness of his Ancestors, by the Laws and customs of the Realm, he is to be honoured in all these respects with a Civil Honour, though he hath but little personal worth in him, yet we must acknowledge his outward eminency; for we cannot in reason deny him Civil Honour, until it be denied him by Civil Authority. This is the common and ordinary Rule; only it is fit to inquire, how far some Civilities may be prejudicial to Religion, 
Tamet●● vero iniqu●ssimu● sit hoc hom num genus ad tantam digni t●tem ascendere ib●tamen col●o 〈…〉 hon●● habe●du●e●● tan▪ quam iis, qui non 〈…〉 H●… 〈…〉 a● Dei saptentia & j●ststi●, de hominum peccatis supplicium sumentis ad illud honoris fastigium evecti sunt— qu●… salva p●… & offi●… in D●… fieri possit. Cartur, in Prov. 26. 1.  l gall liberty, and the kingdom's safety, the highest of Laws: And if any demand what is to be done in such an extraordinary case, as that which fell out between Haman and Mordecai? I answer, That these things are of higher consideration, the points have been sufficiently discussed by ingenious and pious men; and I must not forget the work of the day: Take it therefore thus in brief. Extraordinary examples must not be urged as general rules, nor can ordinary rules give you sufficient direction what to do in extraordinary Cases. Certain it is, That vile persons are contemned in the eyes, that is, in the judgement of the godly, Psal. 15. 4. especially, if they be so vile as to rise up against the God of Heaven, the King of Kings; for than they are to be hated with a perfect hatred, as David doth farther explain himself, Psal. 132. 21, 22. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies; and for this reason as I conceive, Antiochus (whom his flatterers called the mighty God, and they that write of him, do usually call Antiochus Epiphanes, that is, Antiochus the famous) is called by the Holy Ghost, Antiochus the vile. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the Kingdom, Dan. 11. 21. But enough of that.  
God is the God of Order, he hates Confusion; and therefore 
Resp. ●●ne certo tum in jubendo tum in parendo ord ne nil nis● onus & praed● futura est. Vide Tacit. Liv●●m & Politic●s passim. Opus naturae est opus authoris naturae. Si p●ssent homines sibi sortem facere ●ascendi nemo esset humil●●, nemo ege●● unusquisque faelicem domum invade●et— Natura nos regit. Senec. Rhet. Controv. 6.  doth approve, and make great use of those different Dignities, Degrees, and Orders, which are established by human policy: According to the light of nature in several Nations throughout the world, men are not born of Noble Ancestors, either by chance, or fortune; nor is an act of will or reason left to the choice of the sons of men. Besides, different degrees of Civil Honour, are usually conferred upon men in some proportion, at least answerable to the different bounds of their Habitation. Now God doth determine the several bounds of men's Habitation, Act. 17. 26. Divine providence divides all by an unerring lot, and appoints who shall be Heir to the Wealth, and Civil Honour of every Noble Man: If the Heir forfeit his Estate and Honour, yet let him be Homo in Pretio, a man civilly honoured, till God or his Deputies take the forfeiture: Private men must know their place, and keep their bounds; for if malcontents may be connived at, they will quickly make as bold with the temporal Estate, as Civil Honour of the greatest men.  
Finally, the sons of Nobles may have many Honourable and Lordly qualities in them, though they have not one dram 
See Davenant's Determinations. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Inter c●aros magis qua n inter bonos recen●endus, Tacit. Hist. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Ar●st. Po●it. lib. 2. c. 6.  of saving grace; and Protestant Divines do constantly maintain against Jesuitical seducers, that undeniable maxim, Dominium Temporale non fundatur in gratiâ: Take one of an ennobled blood endued with the Spirit of Government, but a mere stranger to the Spirit of holiness, and this man is Homo in Pretio, a man highly to be prized and honoured; and yet let me deal plainly, as well as civilly with your Honours, he may fall from all his Civil Honour, and will, if he repent not, become like the Beasts that perish.  
I have done with our Civil Account, and therefore I pass from Civil Honour, to 2 Ph●losophicall Honour, of which, I shall give you, if not a more rational, yet a more punctual account. The Philosophers show a necessity of supporting that Civil Honour which is settled upon Noble Families by the Laws and customs of commonwealths: Aristotle laughs at them, as ignorant Politicians, who divided a commonwealth into soldiers, Husbandmen, and Artificers, because those Dignities which are necessary for the support of a commonwealth, could not be all conferred upon men of that quality, unless you made all the rest slaves to those soldiers, whom they themselves maintain, and then it would be no commonwealth. I find a great deal 

Vide sis Senecae Rhetoris Controvers●am 6. Orat. Marii apud Sal. Cicero Novus homo Nobilitatem contemplet. Pompeium si Hereditariae extulissent imagines nemo Magnum dixisset. Sene●a the Philosopher acknowledges that the soul comes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, and the Poet could say, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Act 17. 28 Non possum fidei caus● imagines neque triumphos aut consula●us majorum meorum ostentare: At si res postulet hastas, vexillum, Phaleras, alia dona militaria praeterea cicatrices adverso corpore. Hae sunt meae imagines haec Nobilitas— Sallust. vide Aristot. l. 2. Rhet. c. 15. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, &c. Jul●ani Imperatoris dictum familiar fuit. Turpe esse sapienti cum animum hab●at captare laudes ex corpore, Ammian. Marcell lib. 25.  
Paulus vel Cossus vel D●usus Moribus esto. Nae ●u Eruci accusator esses ridiculus si illis temporibus natus esses, cum ab aratro arcessebantur qui consules fierent. Cicero pro Ros●io. Sordidus Hetruscis abductus consul aratus Lucan. unde Remo sulcoque terens dentalia Quincti. Cum trepida ante boves Dicta●orem induit uxor. Et tua aratra domum lictor tulit. Quid tibi videntur illi ab ara●ro citati qui paupertate sua beatam fecere Rempub. Quemcunque volueris revolve Nobilem ad humilitatem pervenies.— Inter haec tam effusa maenia nihil est humili casa Nobilius Se●●ca. Juv. Sat. 8. in Cal●●.   of good philosophy in Historians, Poets, and orators, as well as in professed Philosophers; they all agree, my Lords, that Nobility took its first rise 
a Ex virtute Nobilitas caepit. Marius apud Sallust. Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus vide Juvenal. Sat. 8.  from virtue, and some of them are so strict, as to maintain that sour principle, virtue is the only true Nobility; and therefore they take their novus homo, who can only show a broken spear, a torn Ensign, some Military Donatives, and famous scars to be truly noble: Marius and Pompey were such noblemen. The soul of every man is, in their judgement, as nobly descended a● the soul of any man; and they do not attribute much to the body, nor will they give any man leave to arrogate the virtue of his ancestors to himself: They tell him sadly, that unless he hath virtue of his own, he doth dishonour his ancestors, discredit himself, and shame his Posterity, all at once: Though he may be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, yet he is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}: and Philosophers will not count him truly noble who is welldescended, unless he be well-affected.  
It is confidently affirmed, that if noblemen look far enough back upon their progenitors, they will find some of them ignoble: and if the ignoble look back upon their progenitors, they will find some of them noble.  
The Philosophers conceive it more noble, for a man to give Honour to that House from which he received none, then to eclipse that Honour which he received; for this is to make the Sun go down at noon; to make all the glory of 

Scilicet quia imagines non habeo, & quia mihi nova nobilitas est, quam certe peperisse melius est quam acceptam corrupisse. Marius apud Sallust.  
Quidam avitas paternasque flagitiis obruerunt imagines, quidam ignobiles nati fecere pest●ris genus, in illis non servasse quod acceperant maximum dedecus, in his quodnemod derat fecisse, laudabile. Seneca. Vide sis Val. Maxim. Lib. 3. c. 4, 5. Lib. 5. c. 9, 10. & ●ib 4. c. 4.  
In ●o●umento quodam apud Lugdunenses, teste Andr. Schotto in Senec. Videre est Servius Tullius, si nostros sequimur Captiva natus Ocresia: & vide Plin. Lib. 18. cap. 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Suidas in verbo {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 

Sopocles in Aiace.    
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.    his House fall into the Socket, and die in a loathsome Snuff. The Conclusion of all therefore doth amount to this: He that is born well, must either live well, or die well; that is, It is far better to die honourably, then live basely, in sin and slavery, by unworthy Compliances, corrupt Arts, and ignoble Flattery.  
So much shall suffice to be said of philosophical Nobility; I must go higher, and open the rich treasure of Christian Nobility, which, to your Coronets of Nobility, superaddes a Crown of glory.  
3. Christian Nobility is Nobility in the highest; for never was the human nature so highly honoured, as when it was assumed, and hypostatically united with the Divine nature, in one person, the Person of the Lord Jesus, the second Person in the holy Trinity: and therefore they are ennobled in the highest degree (according to the Christian account) who are united unto Jesus Christ by a lively faith, and made one Spirit with him.  
I have done with the Civil account, and speak now of spiritual Honour and Christian Nobility.  
Be pleased to consider, that we are all Gentiles by nature; and the more we have of the Gentile in us, the less we have of the nobleman. We are not Jews by nature, but poor miserable sinners of the Gentiles, Gal. 2. 15. and, as Gentiles, we can never be justified: we must therefore turn Christians, and believe in Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ; as the Apostle goes on, vers. 16. No man can be truly and justly reputed to be in an Honourable estate, unless he be in a Justified estate; for all those privileges and Immunities whereby a Christian is ennobled, are peculiar to a justified estate. Noblemen are distinguished from other men, by their long Robes: and he is no nobleman as yet, in the true Christian account, who hath not the long white Robe of Christ's righteousness girt about him by a lively faith.  
If a nobleman be condemned to a shameful death, for some ignoble and capital Offence, What privilege or comfort hath he by all his Titles of Honour? none of his Titles can purchase his Pardon, or procure his Release.  
My Lords, we are all in a damnable estate, till we are translated into a justified estate: and the greatest nobleman 
Servilibus vit●is nobiles polluuntur— malos esse servos ac detestabiles satis certum est, sed hoc utique ingenui ac nobiles magis exectandi, si in statu honestiore prjores sunt. Salvian de Gubern. Dei. Lib. 3.  in the world must fall down upon his knees, and cry out, Lord, I am guilty of base servile sins, most ignoble practices; and I am justly condemned, by thy Law and my Conscience, to a base and ignoble death, to an accursed and tormenting death, to an hellish and eternal death: I have forfeited all to thee; I have forf●ited my temporal estate, my civil honour, my precious life, my more-precious soul: Give m● Christ; Lord, whatever thou deniest me, give me Christ; give me Christ, or I perish, and that eternally. This is ingenious, this is noble.  
The greatest Honour that we can attain to, is, To be of the offspring of God.— 
— {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman},  Acts 17. 28.  
All men indeed are of the offspring of God by Creation; 
A●at. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  but the special peculiar Honour, and therefore the highest Honour, is to be his offspring by Regeneration, to be his sons by Adoption, for than we are truly noble, highly descended indeed, more noble than the proudest of them, that were termed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; for every regenerate man, is born of God, and bred of God, and therefore it must be granted that he is well bred and born.  
My Lords, you may be more ennobled by a new-birth, by a second-birth, than you were by your first birth; for in your second birth ye are born to an heavenly Kingdom; and ye are born not of blood (mark that) nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of the will of God, Joh. 1. 13.  
Be pleased to consider, that you may be noble after the flesh, and the flesh show its frailty: You may fall from all your Honour, and become like the Beasts that perish.  
The most noble Plants amongst us Gentiles, are but Plants of the wild Olive; we must be engrafted into Jesus Christ the true Olive, by a lively faith, that we may partake of the sap and the fatness, the nobleness of Christ, who was not only the offspring, but the Root of David, Revel. 22. 16. We are but the degenerate Plants of a strange Vine; we are 
Jerem. 2. 21.  not a Noble Vine, wholly a right seed, till we are engrafted into the True and Noble Vine, Joh. 15. 1. Faith is a noble 
Psal. 47. ult.  grace; for it teaches a man to deny himself, to crucify his lusts, to sacrifice his Estate, Honour, Life, and All, in the Service of Jesus Christ. Faith doth exceedingly raise the Spirit, and ennoble the Soul of man: A Believer looks upon all the wealth and glory of the world, as dross and dung, in comparison of Jesus Christ. A Believer is strong in Christ, rich in faith: because rich in Christ, he is wise in Christ, and noble in Christ: he is nothing in himself, and all things in Christ; for Christ is all in all unto him. Believers are the Members of Christ; and the Apostle shows, that the Head and Members make but one Christ, 1 Cor. 12. 12. and therefore all Believers must needs be Noble, by their intimate relation 
Caput & Corpus unus certe Christus. Aug.  to Christ; this glorious Title of Christ being imposed upon them, as united in one Body to their Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. This one Title of Honour doth outshine and eclipse all the admired Titles of Honour in the most flourishing commonwealths. Once more: Faith i▪ a noblegrace, if it be faith of the right strain, the faith of God's elect; a faith that is not built upon Quicksands, upon hear-says and Fancies, upon the Authority of man, much less upon the Authority of the Man of sin, the Pope, or Church of Rome: nay, the true Church, the Church of Christ, is not the foundation of our Noble faith; for an implicit faith, though grounded upon the Authority of the true Church, is but an Ignoble faith, because it leads men hood winked to a blind obedience. The Disciples of Berea were noble Christians, because they were endued with a faith that was truly Noble, a searching faith, a busy faith, an examining faith; they were ready to receive any Scripture-truth; but they loved to be sure, and therefore compared even the Apostles Doctrine with the written word. You may read the story, Acts 17. 11. These were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} (better born) more Noble than those in Thessal●nica: But wherein did their nobleness consist? Why, in that they received the Word with all rea lin●…ss● of mind, and searched the Scriptures d●…ly, whether those things were so. They were not slow to believe what the Apostles taught; for they received the Word with all readiness of mind: but they made no more haste then good sp●ed; they searched the Scriptures, and search●d them daily: there's work for noblemen that know not how to pass away their time, Search the Scriptures; that's a Noble employment, On that noblemen would make it both their business, and their recreation also; that they might be fitted with the Noble Science of Christ and Heaven 
* Patience is a Noble grace. Romanus a Noble man that suffered Martyrdom, desired his tormentors not to spare him, because he was a Nobleman, for he did not count himself Noble by the blood of his Progenitors, but the blood of his martyrdom; not by his birth, but by his death. .  
I desire to close up this point in a word, All real Christians are spiritual Kings; the Prince of the Kings of the earth loved us so well, as to wash us in his own precious blood, that he might make us Kings unto God, Revel. 1. 5, 6. We are kings by birth, born to a Kingdom by a new and miraculous birth: We are kings by purchase, the Kingdom cost Christ dear, but it cost us nothing; and therefore the Kingdom comes to us by deed of gift also: We are kings by conquest, our Lord and Master hath conquered principalities and powers for us, he hath conquered the World, and t●● Devil for us, nay, he hath conquered even our own selves for us by mortifying our lusts within us; and therefore, we are more than conquerors thorough him that loved us, and overcame our spiritual enemies for us. Finally, We are kings by marriage, the soul of every believer is married to the King of Kings, and is attended with a guard of Angels. This is not only a Noble, but a royal marriage: If a woman 
Vide Cook's Comment on Littleton, p. 16. Hence that rule, si mulier nobilis nupserit ignobili definit essu nobilis.  that was Noble by marriage, marry a second husband that is no Nobleman, she loses her nobility and becomes ignoble? If our souls fall into a league with Sin, and Satan, Death, and Hell, our souls are made ignoble; we are servants of sin, slaves of Satan, the undoubted heirs of Hell and damnation: But if when Christ makes love to our souls, we do with all humility and thankfulness, embrace the offer, and take him for our Lord, and our Love, our King, and our Husband: We have Heaven made over to our souls for ever, not as a jointure, but an Inheritance: We are Kings to God, and Heirs, Coheirs with Christ. Such Honour have all the Saints; for they are the men whom the King of Kings doth delight to honour, and they shall continue in their honour, because they understand their dependence, and will continue▪ in their adherence, to the fountain of honour: They shall not be like the Beasts of the field, but like the Angels of Heaven, satisfied with honour, and crowned with glory: And so I pass to my second observation; which is briefly this.  
Doctrine. Men that are in Honour do too often behave themselves more like Beasts than Men: They are Beasts for want of understanding, and Beasts in regard of perishing, as it is in my Text, Man that is in Honour, and understandeth not, is like the Beasts that perish.  
1. They are Beasts for want of understanding, or for want of consideration; for they will not understand, so Arias Montanus renders it: They are so wilfully inconsiderate, that they become like bruit Beasts that have no understanding.  
Men in Honour are very brutish, if they understand nothing concerning the eternal welfare of their precious soul, nothing concerning religion, and happiness, Heaven and holiness: Surely, saith that ingenuous man, Prov. 30. 2, 3. I am more brutish than any man, I have not the understanding of a man: I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy: Though a man hath a deep reach, and be endued with strong and happy parts; though he be an able Statesman, a profound Politician; yet if he hath not the knowledge of the holy, a spiritual, practical, experimental, saving knowledge; the knowledge of a Christian, the knowledge of a Saint; he is but a brutish man, he hath no knowledge of that grace and glory of which, the precious soul of a man is capable; and therefore, if he be a man, he is but a brutish man, nay he hath not the understanding of a man, and therefore may well be compared to the Beasts that perish. He that knows nothing after the right manner, nothing as he ought to know it; Is not he a Beast? And doth not the Apostle point at such Beasts, 1 Corinth. 8. 2. How little is it that great men understand of those great Things of eternity? And yet, how many great men of the world who understand Religion no more than Beasts, being steeled with ignorance, impudence, and Atheism, do take the boldness to censure what they understand not: These men should learn the wisdom and modesty of Socrates, who when he met with an obscure Book, passed his judgement thus, The things in this Book, saith be, as far as I understand, are generous, and truly noble; and for the rest, I have no reason to censure it, because I do not understand it.  
Saint Jude gives two Characters of men that are transformed into Beasts. The first is this, They speak evil of those 
1. 2.  things they know not; the second is this, What they know naturally as bruit Beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.  
I have touched upon the former Character, give me leave to point at the latter.  
Men in Honour do extremely debase, and dishonour themselves, by sensuality, by corrupting themselves in those things which they know naturally; that is, in those things which are discerned by their outward and inward sense: They are more corrupt than bruit Beasts, by indulging to their Appetite, by pleasing their Senses, and gratifying their Lusts. What is the reason, that men in honour are so fantastical, but because they live like Beasts▪ by fantasy, rather than like men by reason? They that feed high, and make it their business to please their senses, and pamper their lusts, must needs be brutish at last; for their very reason is incarnate, it grows fat and fleshly, and therefore, they embrace principles of sensuality, instead of principles of morality, or divinity: They have gross souls, though wanton wits, and all their wit is but like a flash of lightning, which doth not direct, but pucelle, and dazzle the eye of reason, or else their wit is but a vapouring wit, and vapours eclipse, and overcloud the rising beauty of the light of nature.  
I may well be brief in this Argument, for it will not quit cost to instruct an Epicure: The Philosopher tells me, That 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  every sensual man is an impenitent man, and all our Preaching is like that quick thunder they write of, which strikes thorough these spongy souls without any sensible impression. I could heartily wish, that every man that hath any thing of a Christian in him, would consider these two sad Texts, None that go to the strange woman return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life, Prov. 2. 19 and Eccles. 7. 26, 27, 28. And I find more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands; who so pleaseth God, shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, (and the Preacher had good skill) counting one by one, to find out the account, which yet my soul seeks, but I find not; one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found. In all Solomon's observation, he never knew above one man of a thousand (and many conceive that was himself) that ever repented of this beastly sin of sensuality; but for a woman to repent of that base sin, was a thing unknown in all Solomon's sad experience. Fancy is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, as Aristo●le, a kind of weak sense; and therefore, men that live like Beasts by fancy, are unable to judge of the weight of those spiritual Arguments, which we urge out of Scripture, against this beastly sin of Sensuality. You know when Arguments are but weakly apprehended, men are but weakly moved. Now the sensual fancy and carnal reason of corrupt men, doth not discern the strength, or see the beauty of such truths, as are divinely sober, and spiritually chaste; and hence it is, That they who are Beasts for want of understanding, are likewise,  
2. Beasts in regard of perishing. My Lords, it is no wonder at all, if men that affect beastly pleasures, and dote upon perishing honours, become like the Beasts that perish. It is no miracle, if he that lives like a Beast, dies like a Beast: Take a man that hath lived like the fool in the Gospel, and tell me what hath this man done for his immortal soul, more than a Beast doth for its perishing soul. Soul, soul, cease from care, eat drink, and take thine ease; this is the constant ditty of most men in honour: They have studied Clothes and Victuals, Titles and Offices, ways of gain and pleasure; Am I not yet at highest? They have it may be studied the Black Art of Flattery and Treachery; they understand the humour of the times, the compliances and dependences of this, and the other Statesman, the projects of divers Princes abroad, and the main design here at home: Is this all? Why then be it known unto you, That the men of this strain, have made no better provision for their precious souls, then if they had the soul, the vanishing soul of a Beast within them; and certainly, if we were to judge of the substance of men's souls by their unworthy, and sensual conversation, we might easily fall into that heresy, that dangerous dream of some who conceive, that their souls are mortal.  
Surely, the Wiseman speaks their opinion to the full, who like sensual disputants argue from none but sensible effects, Eccles. 3. 19 20. For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth Beasts; even one thing befalleth them, as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a Beast; For all is vanity: True it is, the soul of a man is different from the Soul of a Beast, but wicked men are not acquainted with the worth of their immortal souls, Vers. 21. Who knows the spirit of man that goeth upward.  
Secondly, This preeminence tends to a greater downfall; If wicked men had not immortal souls, they could not be eternally tormented after death, in the angry flames of hellish Brimstone?  
Thirdly, This their eternal torment is called an eternal death, and therefore these wicked men, or as the Apostle calls them, these natural bruit Beasts do perish utterly, because they perish eternally; They shall utterly perish in their own corruption, 2 Pet. 2. 12. This is to perish worse than a Beast; this is to perish like the devil and his Angels.  
Fourthly, The bodies of wicked men are in worse condition, than the bodies of Beasts, because their bodies shall be raised at the last day, and made immortal, that their bodies may be eternally tormented, as well as their immortal souls: This is to perish positively, to be always perishing, always feeling themselves to perish, and yet ever repining 
Application. Let no man think me a fool: if otherwise, yet 〈◊〉 a fool receive me (or suffer me) that I may, &c. verse. 16. For ye suffer fools gladly, 2 Cor. 11. 19  and grieving, that they cannot perish: I have studied plainness, nay laboured to be rather practical than Argumentative in the proof of the point; yet give me leave to set the point home by a closer Application.  
May it please you, my Lords, to give me leave to use the rhetoric of the Apostle: The great men of the upper-end of the world, suffer Fools gladly; suffer me a little, since you yourselves are wise. In those commonwealths which are governed by a kind of Aristocracy, it hath been the custom to lead the people by the conscience, rather than by the ears, because it is known by experience, that the people had rather lose their ears, then lose their liberty, and wound their conscience. Now, the only way for to work upon the conscience of others, is, for the Nobles themselves to pretend to conscience: And hence it is, that men in Honour do so often promise upon their Honour, that they will do the people Right: But when their Honour hath been worn even threadbare, and all their Noble Protestations have lost their credit, they usually go a strain higher in this dissembling age, and take Religious Protestations, but most Irreligious Oaths; for when 
Plebs enim juramento hoc contenta, & veluti secura, de reliquis non admodum erit sollicita etiamsi postea magnis injuriis afficiatur, vide Clapmar. de Arcanis imperii. lib. 2. cap. 9  they have once engaged their honour, and given their oaths, they hope they may abuse the commonwealth without suspicion; for the poor silly people dare not so much a● suspect that they are abused, no not when they are most grossly abused, because it is accounted a most absurd, unmannerly, and uncharitable conceit, that the Lords will forfeit their honour; or break their oaths.  
My Lords, this Sophism passes currant at Oxford for a Demonstration, as it did of old at Athens, where the oath was conceived sub hac specie. Jure populum nullis injuriis affectum iri; and therefore Aristotle saith, it is better policy 
Aristot. Polit. lib. 5. cap, 9  to flatter, in plain English, to cheat the people, then to threaten them; and thereupon advises the great ones to dissemble and swear, that they will not wrong the people: Surely, my Lords, by all their proceedings at Oxford, it appears, that all men in Honour, are not men of Honour; for they have studied Aristotle's politics; more than Solomon's Proverbs, the purest politics. But truly, wh● ever he be that sails by this compas●e, it is impossible he should steer aright, especially in a tempest; for though policy sets the compass, yet pride and vainglory fill the sails, and folly, I mean Atheism, sits at stern. My Lords, I say, Atheism, a sin which will stain all the pride and glory of that man who is guilty of it in the sight of the Searcher of hearts: It was the speech of a good Statesman, and a good Christian; Men saith he, talk of the sins of the Court; but truly, for my part I think the Court is guilty but of one sin, of Atheism, the fruitful mother of every sin; and my Text is of so large a compass, that it doth certainly comprehend (nay as some expositors conceive, directly point at Atheism: Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, that there is a God above him, whom he is bound to serve and honour, he it is that is compared to the beasts that perish: For an Atheist is of all others, the grossest fool, and the foulest Beast: Give me leave to throw my first dart at this Beast in an U●e of  
Reproof. What need we, my Lords, look out for a stronger 
Reproof. The atheistical Beast. Exsecrantur publice quod occulte agunt ac per hoc dum damnare se c●teros putant ipsos se magis propriâ animadversione condemnant. Salvian. lib. 3. de Gubern●.  Argument to prove, That some men in honour do not unstand that there is a God above them, than this; That they do usually make little or no conscience of cursing their own practices, and damning their own souls by false Protestations, Oaths, and Covenants. They who do not understand God to be omnipotent and omniscient, just and true, they do not understand him to be a God. But men that make no scruple of violating their Oaths and Covenants, for the compassing of their designs, do neither judiciously, practically, understand, or truly believe, God to be omnipotent, and omniscient, just and true: Therefore they are Atheists and arrant Beasts, who make no conscience of Oaths and Covenants. In a Promissory Oath or Covenant, be pleased to consider, that you call God to be your witness, your Suretic, your Judge.  
1. Your witness, to testify the truth of your intentions and purposes: You know none can bear witness that the intentions of your heart are sincere and true, but the Searcher of hearts; and yet how few are there, that look up to God as a witness when they take a solemn Oath? And therefore 
Rupere saedus impius lucri furor & ira praeceps.  men do too often hold correspondence with those Covenant-breaking sins of malice and ambition, even after they have taken the solemn Covenant. Oh it is a sad thing, for which the Land mourns, that God is not discerned in an Oath, nor Christ in the Sacrament, by some that take themselves to be men of discerning spirits.  
2. You call upon God to be your surety for the performance of those things which you swear and covenant to perform: If you never intend any real performance, year● downright Atheists, or else you would never put such asolemn jeer upon the God of Heaven.  
3. You call God to be your Judge, in case you be deceitful in promising, or unfaithful in performing. I admire how men can profess, that they believe God to be true, when they do (what, I even tremble to speak) call God to do the 
Quanto minori peccato illi per daemonia Pejerant quàm nos per Christum●… Nam cùm Deus non sit per quem juratur, non est perjurium cum Pejeratur. Salvian.  devil's office, to bear witness to a lie. It were more proper, because more suitable to their purposes and principles, for such men to swear by the Devil, rather than by God; for it is the Devils proper office to bear witness to a lie, he being a liar from the beginning, and the Father of Lies. Certainly, these men must conceive, that either God doth not love truth, or else, that he doth not know it; and what is this, but to deny him to be God.  
Moreover, these bold Atheists cannot believe God to be just and omnipotent, able, and willing to revenge himself, and his people, upon such Honourable enemies as they are; for if they did, they would never go about to deceive God, and the Kingdom, by the pretended religion of an Oath: They would not thus outbrave God, and dare him to his face, to take vengeance on them, if they did believe, that there is a God or a Devil, Heaven, or Hell; Certainly, these religious blasphemers 
Ad ho res cecidit ut cum per Christi nomen juraverint purent, se scelera religi●se facturos, &c. Salvian. 〈◊〉 Gub. Dei, lib. 4.  will be religiously, I mean, assuredly damned, if they repent not; for their very pretended Religion will sink them into the bottomlesle pit of fire and brimstone, nay, into some lower and more tormenting Hell: Hypocrites shall have their portion with the Devil and his Angels, Matth. 25. 41. Now great men are very apt to dissemble, else David (who was well acquainted with kingcraft, as they call it) would never have acknowledged that great men are a lie: Observe it, they are more prone to cog and lie, than meaner men. Surely (●aith he, Psal. 62. 9) men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degr●e are a Lie; and if laid in the balance, they are alike, or altogether lighter than vanity. I need say no more.  
2. Moreover, they who understand and believe, that there 〈◊〉 a God, cannot, dare not, live in a constant contempt of godliness: And yet how many are there, who in a Civil account are men of Honour, yet in a Religious account are so dishonourable, as to contemn Religion, and permit their great and much-observed families to live in a constant Contempt of pure Religion. I appeal in this Point, my Lords, to your honour's consciences, whether the Power of godliness, I say, the Power of godliness, be not usually contemned and scoffed at in the Families of noblemen.  
3. Consider, That Heathens will rise up in judgement against 
Vide Ciceronem de Legibus, de natura deorum. Ut Solum in aquis, sic Deus in operibus intuemur. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Plato in Phaedone. As if he had said, I am that I am.  these Right Honourable Atheists; for an Atheist is a Nabal, the carcase of a man, or a man of withered principles; one that hath no more reason in him, than there is sap or juice in a withered leaf; for so the word. Nabal imports. Nabal, or as very a fool as Nabal, is that man, who doth but say in his heart, that there is no God, Psal. 14. 1. though he doth but say it in his heart; though Atheism be rather his wish then his opinion: for I doubt not but the stoutest Atheist hath some characters of a Deity indelibly stamped upon his Adamant heart; and every time he turns his eyes inward, he cannot but read them: Besides, the flashes of hellfire in his guilty Conscience, when he is cast into some trembling fit, doth give him light enough to see that there is a God, and that Scripture is the Word of God, that impartial Word by which he must be judged at the Terrible day of God. Now grant me but these two Principles; That there is a God, and, That Scripture is the Word of God, and my work is at an end.  
I have evidently proved what will be the end of those men who live in Secular Honour, and atheistical Security, because they understand not, or believe not that there is a God above them, whom they ought to serve and honour.  
Master Greenham, a Reverend and practical Divine, conceived, that Atheism was the most domineering sin in England: And certainly it is a sin of the highest strain, and deepest tincture: it is the Disease of Courtiers, of Nobles; and it is a catching Disease.  
The second Beast is a compounded Beast, a Chim●ra, a kind of Monster, because it doth borrow the ill qualities of more Beasts than one: for such is the beastliness of a wicked man, especially if he have Honour to countenance his wickedness, that he is more Beastly than any one beast whatsoever, as Chrysostom observes. And you may see, by sad experience, how the selfsame man is disfigured and deformed with the basest qualities of several Beasts, as if he were a kind of universal Beast, or had the Quintessence of Bestiality within him, like the fourth Beast in the seventh of Daniel; or that Antichristian Beast, Revel. 13. 2. a Leopard, with the feet of a Bear, the mouth of a Lion, having power from the Dragon; to note unto us, that the cruelty of all the persecutors that ever were in the world, is compounded together and revived in Antichrist, and the Antichristian faction.  
One man in honour, may have divers unworthy and beastly qualities: he may have▪  
First, the cruelty of Wolves, Bears, and tigers; he may be, as S. Dominicks mother dreamed he should be, A Wolf with a firebrand in his mouth, to burn up all that he is not able to devour. Cruelty is a part of their Pride, their State, their Recreation; they are even fantastical in their bloody Butcheries, witty Tragedies; for mark it, and you shall see, that they who appear {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, think it part of their pomp and state, to be ushered in, like Comets, with a stream of fire.  
Diodorus Siculus (as I remember) reports, that the Irish of old, sailed in Vessels made of wreathed boughs, covered with the Hides of Beasts; a proper covering for such savage Beasts: Certainly, the Irish Rebels who rage at this very day, are of the old strain, too like their bloody and inhuman progenitors; who fed upon the paps of women, feasted themselves upon young children, and offered man's flesh (as the Rebels do now offer Protestants flesh) to the devil himself, to whom it is, no doubt, an acceptable Service, to sacrifice the blood of so many thousand Protestants, though he cannot touch their souls. Certainly these Irish Papists, these pure Roman Catholics, have (as they say the first Founders of Rome, Romus and Romulus, did) sucked Wolves milk, they are of such a Wolvish disposition.  
All the great persecutors of the world, though mighty Monarchs, are called Beasts in Scripture: though their flatterers would have made them more than men, yet their names declared them to be worse than Beasts. As the savage Beasts do first hunt after a Prey, then overtake it, catch it, gripe, tear, devour it; so did these mighty Hunters, and savage Beasts, deal with the Church of God: they did catch whole Kingdoms, as beasts do their Prey, by Rapine; and when they gained a Land by Rapine, they enslaved the people by tyranny. Diogenes being asked, what Beast was most noisome, returned this sharp answer: The most noisome of savage Beasts, is the Tyrant; and of tame Beasts, the Flatterer.  
But I leave these cruel Beasts, to the Grace and Mercy, or else to the wisdom and justice of the God of Heaven: The dear servants of God have made their Appeals to God upon many such days as these: and surely, if God regard, as he hath done the Appeal of a blaspheming 
* The Appeal of Amurath the sixth, against the King of Hungary, Novemb. 10. 1444. Foxes. Serpents.  Turk, he will much more regard the Appeal of his righteous servants.  
Secondly. A man in Honour may be transformed into a Fox, not by prudence, but craft; and into a Serpent, not by wisdom, but subtlety; for subtlety is not the wisdom, but the poison of the Serpent: the brazen Serpent which was the Type of our Saviour, who is wisdom itself) had neither sting nor poison. Herod is called a Fox for his subtlety, Luk. 13. 32. because he did subject Religion to carnal policy; it concerns great men to beware of the 
a Fraude●… profectò in re esse & Sempronium Comitiis plus Artis habuisse quàm fidei. Liv. lib. 4.  Art of Sempronius, and the 
b Mar▪ 8. 15.  leaven of Herod: For that leaven of carnal policy will sour the whole lump. The enemy doth watch for an advantage; and if men in Honour will comply upon reasons of State, and prostitute their consciences, they shall not want either a temptation or an opportunity; it may be whilst the bargain is driving, they may think it good policy to go thorough with the bargain; but when the heat of the temptation is over, they may repent too late, as some have done within our memory. It will be your wisdom, my Lords, to beware of their subtlety, to beware of such Foxes as destroy the cornfields and Vineyards; for these Foxes have plots in their heads, and firebrands at their tails; the Philisti●… Foxes are more mischievous than Samson's Foxes. I have read of a City called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, I hope this city will never deserve that Title; the Lord keep it from being a city of Foxes, and make it a city of Saints, that it may for ever be a city of Honour.  
Thirdly, Men in honour are too often, to their great dishonour, Beasts of burden: I shall make bold to call them Slaves, and they will (when they see it) call themselves something else, illud quod dieere nolo; for they that have studied how to be Foxes, will, when they are overreached, and enslaved, confess that they are Beasts of burden. A Neuter is like Issachar, a strong ass coaching down between two burdens, Gen. 49. 14. But the Royalist is a strong ass, he takes 
Bruta potius quàm jumenta utinam Reip. Jumenta sic & Adjumenta, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  up the heaviest burden, enough to load his conscience, break his brains and his baek, it is well if it break his heart: They are undeniably brutish, and intolerably base, who betray their country, and enslave their posterity, that they may for a while advance themselves; for it will come to their turn to be enslaved at last; only our fetters may be of Iron, and theirs of Gold; but the Gold may enter as deep into their souls, as the Iron will into our flesh; what though, they may be 
Per magna discrimina ascendun● Aulici ad majora, per ista ad summa ●t longius audiatur ruinae sonitus; non est meum ita negare, non est prudentis inficiari quae experientiâ probantur. Contz. ●ul● spec. Ful●ers Holy State.  Favourites, yet they must be slaves, they do not know how long they shall be Favourites, but they may easily guess how long they shall be slaves; surely, all their life long, without a miracle, only I confess, their life may be shortened; for I remember what Cardinal Pool said, Their heads are nearest danger who are highest in the King's favour: But the greatest wonder to me is, That men should be so stupid, as to mistake Egypt for Ca●●an, slavery for liberty, and complain that the Parliament goes about to put out their eyes, when they are blind already, and to take away their liberty, when they have sold it, or thrown it away already; yet such a wonder I have read of, and you may read it, Numb. 16. 13. 14. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a Land, that floweth with milk and honey. O gross mistake, they were brought up out of Egypt, and were journeying thorough the wilderness indeed, but yet towards Canaan, a Land flowing with milk and honey. Why do ye use us thus say they, except thou make thyself altogether a Prince ever us? O Beasts of burden, will ye go make brick again, that ye may be free and noble? Will ye make yourselves slaves, for fear Moses should make himself a Prince. And in the 14. verse▪ Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? No sure, might Moses have said, I need not put out your eyes, ye are blind already: Give me leave to say as Zophar said, Vain man would be wise, though he be no wiser than when he was born; and man is born like a wild ass's Colt, Job 11. 12. He is as silly, and yet as wild and coltish, as the Colt of a wild ass, even than when he takes himself to be grave and wise. harken to the words of Elihu, and consider them, Job 32. 9 Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgement.  
I might enlarge myself, by giving several instances in other unworthy, and beastlike qualities, which do debase and degrade men in honour: But I intend not to run over Aristotle, or Elians History of Animals; nor will I open Gesner's Library, or tell you any strange stories out of Dresserus, Camerarius, or Goulartius, of men turned into the shape of Beasts; I might as well turn Ovid his: Metamorphosis into Prose; nor will I stand to dispute, whether Nabuchadnezzar was turned into a beastlike shape in respect of his body, as well as distempered in his mind, by the rage of his passions, and fury of his lusts; nor will I trouble you with a comment upon the Beasts at Ephesus, only be pleased to consider these two particulars.  
First, That Nabuchadnezzar had but a twelvemonths time given him to repent in; Daniel gave him very good counsel, but it was not acceptable to him, he neglected the breaking off of his sins, by true repentance; and at the twelve months' end, saith the Text, Dan. 4. 28, 29. He was turned to grass amongst the beasts that perish.  
Secondly, Consider how dishonourable a thing it is, for men in Honour, to be transformed into Swine, Goats, dogs, Vipers; I cannot stand to name the several Beasts, only remember that Dutch drunkenness, Spanish pride, Irish cruelty, French wantonness, Italian, I had almost said English Atheism, will transform men into Beasts; and I shall pass from this use of Reproof to an  
Use of Examination, to discover every man to himself, 
Examination.  that he may know whether he be a man indeed, as well as in shape. My Lords, every scandalous sin is scandalum magnatum, it will cause your Honour, nay, your very manhood to be called in question; but that we may quit ourselves like men, let us all, noble and ignoble, high and low, rich and poor, put ourselves upon the trial.  
1. sensual men are Beasts; Homo Animalis vix homo est, i●…ò merum Animal est. The soul of a Beast depends wholly upon the temper of the body; and therefore, that is the Beasts only care to provide for its body, to preserve that in a good temper; they than that distemper their bodies, to please their sensual appetite, are more sensual than Beasts; and they who make it their business to preserve their body in good temper, and neglect their precious souls, are unreasonable creatures, mere Animals, very Beasts.  
2. A Beast cannot reflect upon its own self, or its own acts: He then that knows not how to reflect upon himself, his own purposes, desires, designs, and inward acts; he that understands not how to examine his own heart, what pre-eminence hath he above a Beast? {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; Vel ut nonnulli {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  if he be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Creature that looks upward; if he be a man indeed, let him examine himself, 1 Cor. 11. 28. It is a shame for Christians, not to be able to put a difference between themselves and bruit Beasts, by those two grand duties of Self-examination, and Heavenly-meditation. He that cannot examine himself, knows himself no more than a Beast doth, he doth not so much as understand his own ignorance; his reason is besotted, his judgement blinded, he is led even hood-winked to the very brink of Hell, and knows it not. Sure, such ignorant persons as are not able to examine themselves, aught to be examined by others, lest they become guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which they are not able to discern; for they are scandalously ignorant, who can neither discern themselves, ●r the Lord's Body; If such Brutes be admitted to climb the sanctified Mount, to receive the pledges of Christian Communion in the highest, we may even admit natural fools, and mere children; for a child of four or five years old, can repeat some brief form of words, though it be ignorant of the sense, and knows not how to examine itself: O● let bounds be set to that Mount where Christ doth visibly communicate himself to them, who do spiritually discern him and themselves.  
3. We are best distinguished from Beasts by Conscience, If we can only plead, that we are distinguished from Beasts by reason; and it appear, that some teachable Beasts and Birds, have strictures of reason, and that we are more unteachable, because we have corrupted our reason, and indulged to our fantasy, and to our lust, for want of Conscience; then certainly the trial will go against us. Now what conscience hath that man, who makes little or no conscience, either of sin or duty?  
4. They are Beasts who cannot foresee, nay, are not moved with future evils, when they are foretold, and forewarned: Beasts are not affected with any evil, but what is present; it is in vain you know, either to threaten a Beast with (or forewarn him of) future evils. Men in Honour are extremely degraded and debased, when they are made slaves, Jere. 2. 14. Is Israel a servant▪ is he a Hom●-born slave, than he hath lost all his glory: But consider I beseech you, That a man of a slavish disposition, is in a far more Honourable condition, than a man of a brutish disposition; for a slave may be staved off from sin, for fear of future evils, but a Beast is not affected with things future. Oh how many such Beasts do we meet with every day: God threatens a man with Hell and damnation, if they go on in any sinful course; and yet how common is it for men to practise these sins in the face of Heaven, if they besins in request and fashion, which God doth sentence and damn to the Pit of Hell. Surely, God will deal with these men according to their brutish disposition, he will pour some drops of his wrath, scalding hot, into their conscience, or sting them to the quick with some present evil, that they may be restrained by the smart and anguish of present evils, since they will not be warned by the threatening of future evils. Observe what a threatning message is sent to the house of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 14. 14. Moreover, the Lord shall raise him up a King over Israel, who shall cut of the house of Jeroboam that day; But what? Even now, very now; As if he had said, ye are not moved with the threats of future vengeance; therefore, I will spare you no longer, but will cut you of presently, even now, very now. It is a sad Text, be pleased to think sadly of it in your cool blood, and morning thoughts.  
5. As Beasts are not sensible of future evils, so neither are they sensible of those traps and snares, which are for the present, laid to entrap and take them. Men of Honour had need walk circumspectly, there are traps and snares laid for them at their Tables, in every tempting Dish, nay, in their Bedchambers, in their very Closet; every counsellor, Companion, Friend, Servant, is made use of to ensnare them; and how few are there that discover the snare, before they are caught; how many great men are surprised in this evil time, and are as unexpectedly caught, as fish in a net, or birds in a snare, Eccles. 9 12. Nay, as fish do catch at the bait, and birds haste to the snare, not knowing, not suspecting, that it is for their life; so do men in Honour, catch at those temptations, whereby they are ensnared; it is the comparison of the Wiseman, the master of Similitudes, Prov. 7. 22, 23. Tell me, are not these men as natural bruit Beasts, made to be taken and destroyed? As the Apostle presses it home, 2 Pet. 2. 12.  
6. He is a Beast who hath the mind of a Beast, though he hath the shape of a man: It would be a foul disgrace for a man to be transformed into the shape of a Beast, though he retained the mind and reason of a man, Quanto miserius est in hominis figurâ animo esse efferato, saith Lactantius, Lib. 5. cap. ●. It is far more dishonourable to have the shape of a man, and the mind of a beast, than the shape of a be'st, and the mind of a man: Every carnal man minds the things of the flesh, Rom. 8. 5. Minds earthly things, as if he had no other God than his belly, Phil. 3. 19 And therefore he hath the mind of a Beast, nay, I do the beasts wrong, men that are carnally minded, are enemies to God. Rom. 8. 7. and enemies to the cross of Christ, Phil. 3. 18. A sad truth, not to be spoken without tears. I tell you even weeping, saith the Apostle, they are so far from being Christians, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. They live as if they had been born, ventri & corruptioni inservire, to serve their paunch and their lusts. I believe you'll easily grant, that drunkards, and unclean persons, are very Beasts, they have not the mind or heart of a man in them; Whoredom and Wine take away the ●eart, Hos. 4. 11. Oh ye sons of Nobles, give not your strength to women, nor your heart to that which destroys Kings; that is, to wine and strong drink, Prov. 30. 3, 4. lest ye lose your reason, forget the Law, and pervert the judgement of the afflicted, verse 5.  
7. They who adhere to the Antichristian faction, in mind and heart, though they do yet keep company with men, are to be ranked among the Beasts; for their heart goes after the Beast, and they have a mind to follow him, only they want a more powerful temptation, and fairer opportunity; upon every considerable defeat that is given us, these men wonder after the Beast, nay, are even ready to worship him, and to cry out, Who is like unto the Beast? Who is able to make war with him, Revel. 13 3, 4. I doubt not, but all of this temper, will in good time, be discovered and driven from among men, by the power of them that are truly Noble; For it is not fit, that Beasts should be suffered amongst men, let them follow the Heard: It is not for Noble Lords and counsellors, to seek unto them, or comply with them, till they have the heart of a man, and their reason be returned unto them. My Lords, we live under the glorious ministry of the Gospel, and therefore, I dare not put a veil over the beautiful face of Truth▪ The face of truth must shine, that it may appear lovely, and remain glorious; and therefore I use great freedom, plainness, boldness of speech, as it becometh a Minister of the Gospel of Christ: The Holy Ghost commands me to be thus faithful by irresistible Arguments, in the third Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, especially in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteen Verses, you may read the whole Chapter at your leisure. My Text is a kind of Paradox, an harsh truth, and therefore I have laboured to clear this truth unto you. I learned to Preach of the Apostle, who assures me, that they Preach deceitfully, wh● do not manifest the truth of God, to the consciences of men, 2 Cor. 4. 2. I● my Sermon seem too precise, give me leave to say, that your conscience is as precise as my Sermon: I have a friend in your bosom that joins with me; I speak to your conscience, your conscience will clear, both God and me; for all that I have spoken, tends to this end, That the saying of God in my Text, may be justified. My design is the same with the wisest of Kings, Eccles. 3. 18. That the sons of men, might clear God and see, that they themselves are Beasts: You may see the translation corrected to that effect, in the margin of your Bibles. Your conscience bids me proceed, and so I pass to that which it is high time for us all to come to, and that is a Use of  
Humiliation. When an ambassador of Rhodes asked a Lacedaemonian, Why Lycurgus was so strict as to prohibit stageplays, which made the people laugh; the Lacedaemonian did not give him the reason of the State, That they were afraid their youth would be corrupted, and their Laws derided by stageplays, but returned this answer: Sir, I presume, That we Greeks are better when we are weeping with our sages, than the Romans when they are laughing at their fo●ls. My Lords, It is my humble desire to be humbled before God, and to weep with the Sages of England, upon this happy day of solemn Humiliation. Do ye love God, do ye hate sin, do ye believe my Text; come then let us mingle tears; my Text, will supply you with store of weeping matter; and penitent tears, which flow from the hatred of sin, from the love of God, and faith in him, are NOBLE TEARS. Nobles use to be proud of their Birth, they are too often puffed up with the glory of their progenitors: But ye have not so learned Christ, if ye have been taught by Christ, as the truth is in Christ. My Lords, we were all conceived in sin, and born in sin: Nobles are by nature the children of wrath, even as other common men, and can you be proud of your foul conception, and foul birth; My father Adam, was he not your father. Oh my father Adam, your father Adam, was once a man in honour, because a man in innocency, but his blood was tainted by sin, nay, your blood and mine were tainted by that first sin in the Garden; it was my sin and yours, for in him we all sinned; it was the sin of his person, but it was the sin of our nature; do ye not feel the poison of that sin, burning and boiling in your nature still? do ye not feel the weight of that sin upon your conscience? Oh it was a sinning sin, the cause of all the sin and mischief that ever was, or ever will be? do ye not feel the dregs of that sin, oppressing your nature, and even choking all those generous and noble Principles, which are written in your Hearts by Nature? And are you still proud of your birth, and blood, when you are thus polluted in your own blood with your birth sin? Can you still be proud of your original, when your original, your blood, your very nature, is stained and tainted with original corruption, and all corruption is ignoble. Oh base ignoble birth, we are born slaves of sin, born like the heirs apparent of Hell, with the seeds of damnation in us. Can you still be proud of your progenitors, when they derived a sin upon your high-born soul, which will sink it as low as Hell, unless ye are born again by the Spirit of Jesus. Come, turn a side, for I must weep: Come, if you will we●p I will weep with you; if you will not weep, I'll weep for you: I could even find in my heart to sit down and weep out the rest—. But your attention doth encourage me to go on, and therefore I hope you will be humbled to day, if not, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride. But you cannot be proud, if you consider and believe my Text, my Text is Versus amaebaeus, and answers to the twelfth verse of this 49 Psalm, and there it is, Man being in Honour, abideth not; Arias Montanus renders it, non Pernoctabie, shall not lodge one night in Honour; some conclude from hence, that Adam fell the very first day that he was created, he did not stay all night in his Honour; and the word indeed, doth properly signify, to tarry all night, as is clear, Gen. 28. 11. And ●ertain it is, our first father stayed not long in his Honour, but was turned forth of the Garden like a Beast; Oh the fall of our first father, from his honour, from his innocency, is to be bewailed even with tears of blood. My Lords, ye are men in Honour, but Civil Honour is not long-lived, and therefore, usually entailed: Are ye sure that any one of you in your own persons, shall lodge this night in your Civil Honour; ye may be taken into another world ere morning; and if ye have made no better preparation for another world, and a better life, then if your souls were to perish after death, as the soul of a Beast perishes; Be pleased to understand my Text, and your danger: Sigh out my Text, and weep it over; Weep for your gross neglect, and carnal security; and let every soul that is guilty, cry out, Oh what a wretch, what a Beast am I, to suffer my mind and heart to be taken up with the perishing delights, and fading honour of this vain world: And now I am summoned to appear in another world, to answer for all the evil I have done, and all the good I have neglected in this world: My body sinks under natural distempers, my soul sweats under moral distempers: the sin of my birth, and the sins of my life torment my wounded conscience. Oh I faint, I fall, I die, I perish, like a Beast in this world; and the Lord knows what will become of me in the next, it is a wo●ld, that I am no better acquainted with, than the very Beasts that perish.  
My Lords, This is the sad condition of many a great man, and I am resolved to deal faithfully with you; for your honour is dear unto me, and your souls are precious: Consider, oh consider it every hour, that you have more reason to fast, than feast upon your birthdays, that ye may bewail your birth-sin, and mortify your beastly lust; For some worthy Divines have observed. That none (for aught we find in Scripture) ever celebrated their birthdays, but Pharaoh, Jeroboam, and Herod.  
2. Consider, That great men are mortal. Abner who was Captain of the Guard, a kind of general to three Princes, Saul, Is bosheth, and David, fell suddenly, unexpectedly: Some die in the strength of their perfection, with their breasts full of milk, and bones full of marrow, Job 21. 23, 24. Death doth not flatter Nobles, it will not stay their leisure, it will strike home, even than when they are in their cups, or at their plots, in the midst of their wanton embraces, and beastly compliances: Remember the two Zimri's, Prince Zimri 
Num. 25. 8. 1 King. 16. 9, 10.  struck dead in the wanton Arms of the Lady Co●bi, and Zimri who smote King Elah, whilst he was drinking himself drunk.  
3. Consider, That beastly men are unnatural Beasts: It is no fault for a beast to be a beast, for it is naturally a beast, and it can be no fault to obey the Law of nature; but for a creature to degrade itself below that Form and Species, in which nature hath placed it, is unnatural: This is a most unnatural and accursed self-denial, for a man to depose himself below the dignity of the human nature: This is, as if a beast should lose its sense, take root in the earth, and sprout out into a Plant animal, a Plant that hath the shape, but not the sense of an animal; or as if a Tree should cease to live, and harden itself into a stone: unnatural sins are punished with unheard of plagues, with miraculous judgements: Those Heathens, Rom. 1. 27. who left the natural use of the woman, and did burn with unnatural lusts, were given over to reprobate minds, and seared consciences. Nay, to speak higher yet, These unnatural Beasts, are as perfect in their beastliness, and brutishness, as if they were natural brute Beasts, 2 Pet. 2. 10, 12. And they who are thus perfect in sin, will be perfectly, thoroughly tormented, for these unnatural perfections.  
4. Consider, That beastly men are wilful beasts: They are not Beasts by nature, but Beasts by choice, and therefore they have as it were fallen from reason to fantasy, by a kind of fantastical choice; their rational will is changed into a sensual appetite: And it is all the reason in the world, That they who have renounced their reason, and chosen to be beasts rather than men, should be deposed from their honour, and made like the Beasts that perish.  
5. Consider, That great men have great advantages and opportunities, to serve God and his Church: They are even lifted up to Heaven by privileges. Oh what a misery were it, for such men to be cast down to Hell, for the abuse of their privileges: Consider, how hard it is for a rich man to be saved; how few noble men are effectually savingly called: Consider, That the best estate of a wicked nobleman, is worse than the worst estate of a poor godly man; because, the poor godly man in his worst estate, is travelling towards Heaven: But the best estate of a wicked nobleman, leads him to his worst estate, it ripens his sin, and hastens his damnation. Sure I am, great men cannot plead any exemption at the day of judgement; if Christ give them leave to be tried by their Peers; those nobles which sit crowned in glorious Robes, will condemn all impenitent and unbelieving Peers. My Lords, I had rather turn your hearts, then overturn your brains; I had rather drive you out of your sins, than out of your wits: Yet these terrible considerations are enough to terrify any man out of his little wits who doth ponder them enough to be convinced, if God do not give him the grace to be converted? My Lords, you are not told often enough of Hell and damnation; and therefore, I do so often thunder out damnation, that I might keep you from being damned: Tell me, ye sons of Nobles, Whether your delicate senses can endure the touch of fire, or smell of brimstone; can your souls dwell with everlasting burnings; can you wade thorough a River of brimstone, kindled with the wrath of God? Oh the diversity and eternity of Hellish torments, is unutterable, unconceivable. In Hell death ever lives, the damned cannot die, but do eternally suffer a kind of living death; and the consideration of the eternity of their torment is to them, the greatest torment, and therefore they are ready to complain, that there is a thousand hells, and ten thousand Devils in this word, eternity. In Hell there are no degrees of honour, but there are degrees of torment; there's a black Prince of flames, and Nobles of darkness; there's weeping and howling, and gnashing of teeth, out of desperate indignation: The tongue is parched in the mouth, the marrow fried in the bones, the darkness of the fire affright, them the heat of the fire torments them; and yet they are more tormented with the curse and wrath of God, than the fire of Hell; Hell were no Hell, if it were not for the wrath of God: But oh the loss of Honour, the loss of Heaven, the loss of Glory, the loss of the Favour of an infinite God, to a soul capable of Grace and Glory, that's an unspeakable loss, because an infinite loss, an infinite dishonour, to be thus dishonoured to all eternity. Who can sound the depth of this bottomless Pit? Sure the worst hell is in the conscience, and the scorching of the fire is more tolerable, than the gnawing of the worm; And yet I have not done: Hell is not only the centre of torment, but the Sink of sin; and this consideration is most terrible to a religious soul: To say I would not be in Hell, because I would not be tormented, that is, the voice of self-love; but to say, I would not be in Hell, because I would not hear my God blasphemed, nor blaspheme him myself, that is, the voice of Noble love: Let that consideration sweeten all the rest, and work upon your Noble spirits, to hate sin more than Hell and damnation. Come then, and take an holy revenge upon yourselves to day, be grieved in your hearts, and pierced in your reins, for all your ignoble practices against the God of Heaven, repent with a kind of indignation, as David did, and cry out: Oh what a fool was I, what a beast was I to dishonour him, who is the fountain of Honour; Look upon your pattern, Psal. 73 21, 22. Thus my hairs was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant, I was a beast before thee. My greatest task by far, is yet behind, and therefore I pass on to an Use of  
Direction. My Lords, Honour is a tender fickle thing, it is hard to get it, and harder to keep it. It may break a man's brains to get it, his back to bear it, and his heart to lose it: We live in an age full of uncertainties, and sick of jealousies; I shall therefore adventure (and I may well call it an adventure) in this jealous age, to give you faithful counsel in some ticklish points. If your Honour be any whit impaired, I'll show you how to recover it; if you enjoy your Honour, I'll show you how to preserve, nay, increase it; but if by an overruling providence, you must part with your worldly honour (and there is no resisting of providence) I'll show you how you may gain a better honour, an immortal glorious Honour in the highest Heavens. Truly, My Lords, I am of no faction at all, and therefore I may speak more freely and impartially in these weighty points.  
First. If your Honour be impaired, I'll do my best to show you how to recover your Honour. I know I touch upon a jarring string; but consider, that wise men, and valiant men, men that have done great service to their country, may quickly empair their honour in a jealous age. Scipio Africanus had done very great service for his country, and yet he was called into 
* Eamus nunc protinus Jovi opt. M. gratulatum, &c.— aegre passus quod cui salus Imperii ac Reip. accepta ferri deberet, &c. A. Gell. Noct. Att. lib. 4. cap. 18.  question, more than once. Moreover, in times of civil war 
* Nihil tam capax malignitatis sermonumque quam bellum Quintil. , there are so many perplexed cases propounded on the sudden, that even the wariest man may over-shoot himself; he may be sometimes circumvented, and sometimes surprised, and by either means dishonoured: And in times of civil war, most men are too censorious; some out of a sober providence and cautelous circumspection, not looking upon miscarriages, as matters of course and casualty, but as a train laid to some farther design, which may take fire another time; for men of forecasting heads, cannot but make some sad conjectures, if not solicitous presages of future evils, by a probable inference from the by-past miscarriages. But others that are men of working fantasies, and timorous spirits, are usually suspicious for want of courage or judgement; and then they cannot but preoccupate evils, never plotted anywhere, but in their own brain, because they are commonly led into some finister interpretation of all miscarriages, by some prejudicate opinion, or ungrounded fancies: The wisest course therefore for men in honour, is to keep close to their Rule, and in doubtful cases, to admit none but prudent, faithful, and well-approved counsellors; that if their prudence or fidel it i● come to be disputed, they may have men of Honour to justify them against the most subtle disputant or bitter enemy: But in case any have failed in this last point, and being weighed in the balance, have been found too light; if they be true Gold, they need not be ashamed to desire what in equity cannot be denied, The ordinary grains of favourable allowance for human frailty; for such Apologies pass currant in all well-governed States thorough out the World.  
Secondly. Let them be sure to keep themselves pure from justifying their Delinquent friends or acquaintance; that so they may never be partakers of other men's sins: It is good counsel, grounded upon that of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 5. 22. Neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure. The best men alive have faults enough of their own, why should any man that thinks himself innocent, make himself guilty by undertaking to answer for the sins of other men. Beasts in a tempest, do usually run under great Trees for shelter; it will be the wisdom of men in honour, to drive away those Beasts who desire to shelter themselves by their protection; because such foul Beasts cannot but dishonour all that protect them. Oh what a sad thing would it be, if our Nobles should be like Cupping-Glasses, which draw none but the malignant humours of the body to them. It was objected against Socrates, that he was too familiar with factious Alcibiades, and it was laid to the charge of Themistocles, that he held correspondence and intelligence with Pausanias a traitor: Secrets of State must not be communicated to neuters or doubtful men. When Alexander imparted a Letter of high concernment to Hephestion, ●e clapped his ring to his mouth, as if he meant to seal up his lips: If it be so dangerous 
Apollonius Tyaneus à Diis poscebat ut honos cognosceret malos vitaret. Alex. ab Alex. lib 4. cap 17. Pectora felle virent lingua est suffusa veneno. Vide Caelin. Rhod. Ant. lect. lib. 6. c. 35. Anima sicca anima prudens. Vide Aristot. Probl. Sect. 30. & Plut. de Orac. defect.  to trust a friend, take heed of trusting or excusing an enemy; if you have been so far overseen, as to trust him, be not so far engaged, as to excuse them whom ye trusted, after they have deceived so great a trust: Some men indeed are like the Land of Egypt, which though it bring forth multa salubria; yet it brings forth, multa venena: If you have like the Bee, sucked what is wholesome from them, take heed you do not suck so much poison from them, as to excuse such practices of theirs, as are full of poison: Our commonwealth is not of their temper, who were nourished by poison.  
Thirdly. They must look to their Passions, when they come to plead their own cause, and vindicate themselves. The melancholy man is the wisest man, as the temper of his body is driest; so his soul is said to be a dry soul, because his mind is less steeped in carnal humours, or fluid passions. My Lords, It is for your Honour to suppress all mutinous perturbations of spirit, whilst you are pleading for your Honour, and making demands for Reparation: You know Passions in Beasts follow the tumultuous motions of fantasy; but Passions in men, should be in some sort reasonable affections, because by the Ordinance of Heaven, they are subjected to the government of the will and understanding; and by their dependence upon reason, and an overruling influence from reason, they are, though not intrinsically in themselves, yet by way of participation, reasonable affections, and vigorous instruments, for the improvement of virtue: Oh then take heed of all unkindly heats, all disorderly motions, and fantastical impulsions, because they are unreasonable perturbations; which will be so far yielding you any assistance in your Vindication, that they will plunge you the deeper, and dishonour you the more; For unruly passions, do but kindle a fire, which will warm and cheer your adversaries, and torment yourselves: Let reason, nay, conscience, dart its bright shining beams upon your burning passions, and they will be ashamed, discouraged, and quenched, Even d● the fire is ashamed to burn, when the Sun looks upon it.  
Fourthly. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. I speak this, especially to you my Lords; it is faithful counsel given by the holy Spirit, 1 Pet. 5. 6. Saint Peter was well seen in Christian politics, you may write Probatum est under this remedy: Look upon the place, Do you not see a kind of majesty in this Direction: Down great spirits, down; let not your hearts rise and swell against Jehovah, the God of glory: Oh, but I am wronged, and I cannot bear it! Hath the God of Heaven done you any wrong; come down upon your knees then, and accept of your punishment, kiss the rod, or you are like to have the other lash, and God sees where you lay bare, Job 34. 31, 32. Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not, teach thou me, if I have done iniquity, I will do no more: This, this is meet to be said to God; though you think yourselves innocent, yet God sees more than you see, entreat him to open your eyes, and show you your iniquity, and then you will see and know, that God hath not done without cause all that he hath done, as you have it, Ezek. 14. 23. Strive not with him who will certainly be too strong for you, for that's not the way to recover what you have lost, but the ready way to lose more; for God will be sure to get himself Honour upon you, you will be worsted at last, and so more dishonoured.  
Fifthly. Lay down all your Honour at the feet of Jesus Christ. If you do not prize your honour more than your souls, why do you not trust him with your honour, whom you must trust with your souls? And if you do trust him, cast your care upon him: It is an apostolical direction annexed to that humbling counsel which I gave you but now, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all your care upon him, for God careth for those that are humble, when they cast their care upon him, 1 Pet. 5. 6, 7. because, than Faith and humility join forces, and work with united strength: The omnipotent God is even overcome by such wrestlers; for God knows not how to resist an humble believer. Come then, and cast your care upon God, be not too hasty: He that believeth maketh not haste, Isai. 28. 16. Wait God's leisure, and God will in due time exalt you to such a degree of honour, as will make most for his glory, and yours. God will do it in due time, saith the Apostle; but remember that God is the Judge, and therefore that is the due time which he appoints. Your time is in God's hand, Psal. 31. 15. If the time of your pref●rment were in your enemy's hand, it would be deferred too long; if it were in your own hand, it would be overmuch hastened, and come too soon: Such green fruit would breed worms: It is well your time is in God's hand, leave all to him, believe and pray, w●ite and pray; pray to him that disposes of Honour and Power, Victory and Glory, make your acknowledgements in the words of David, 1 Chro. 29. 11, 12. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in Heaven and Earth, is thine: Thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted a● head above all; both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thy hand is power and might, and in thy hand it is to make great: We humble our souls before thee, we cast our care upon thee; Exalt u● in due time, that we may exalt thee, give us grace to serve thee, with all our power, wealth, and strength, and honour thee with all our honour, that thy power, majesty, and glory, may be made known unto men. This, this is the way to recover all your honour.  
Sixthly. It will make exceedingly for your Honour to do most service, when you have least encouragement, because than it will appear, that you do service upon Noble principles, and do not intend to serve yourselves.  
But it will be objected, That the greatest trial to a man of noble endowments, is to be laid aside; for that doth not 
Object.  only reflect upon his Honour, but deny him opportunity of doing farther service. This is indeed the saddest objection; but I hope to return a satisfying answer.  
First, then consider, That every man is not laid aside who 
Sol. Vide Aristot. Polit. lib. 2. c. 〈◊〉. Vix per singulos annos offensiones vitari quamvis repulsam propinqua spes soletur quantum odii fore ab his qui ultra quinquennium prejiciantur. Tac●us. Quae ubi tumultu majore etiam quàm res erat nuntiantur, Romam Senatus extemplò (quod in repus trepidis ultemum consilium erat) Dictatorem dici jussit, L●●ius. Consul aberat nec Dictatorem populus creare poterat quod nunquam ante ●am diem factum erat Prodictatorem populus creavit Q. Fabium Maximum, & Magistrum Equitum, M. Mi●…ium Rufum. Hisque negotium ab Senatu datum u●Mu●os●uresque urbis firmarent, Liv. lib. 22. Nec ultra sex menses ante Syllam Dictaturae munus quempiam exercuisse praeter Furium Cami●…, cui jam exact● semestri cum consternata Republica laborarent aucipiti metu— Senatus in annum Dictaturam invito prorogavit, Alex. ab Alex. Gen. lib. 1. cap. 6. Quo tempore illud evenit ut duo simul Dictatores quod nunquam antea factum, crearentur Marcus scilicet Junius, qui castris Dictator tunc praeerat, & M. Fabius Buteo qui ordinem Senatorum eo quòd multi bello ceciderant sufficeret legeretque— Dictator illorum contumaciam cohibebat, qui functis honoribus Magistratu abire vel Senatus dicto parere nollent. Idem. Sylla fretus exercitu ac legionibus in urbem admissis Dictatorem si in annos quinque lege Valeria creari jussit, quam tamen legem M. Tullius negat suisse legem.— Et Cosmus Medici's post Alexandri caedem Senatum Florenti●●m coegit ut se perpetuum Ducem crearet. Vide Clapmar. de Arcanis Imp. lib. 2. Dictatores in bellum ituri legibus ad tempus solvebantur. Libertatis magna custodia est si magna Imperia diuturna esse non ●inas, & tempori● modus imponatur quibus Juris non potest, Livius lib. 4. They did but flatter Julius Caesar, when they said, he deserved to be Consul in Decennium, Dictator in perpetuum, though Octavius Caesar, and other Emperors were commonly so called. Triennium & sex menses ultra quam licet Aemilia lege Censuram geram, hoc quidem jam Regno simile est, Livius lib. 9  is not constantly employed in Military affairs: In other commonwealths, it doth not reflect upon any man's Honour, if the date of his employment expire within an year or two: Such was the wisdom of the Roman State, that they seldom gave any long leases of Honour unto men, that were deeply entrusted in eminent places of authority and command. When the State was even surprised by some unexpected danger, the Senate or Consuls did create a Dictator, or in the absence of the Consuls, in after times, the people named some Pro-dictator, and a Magister Equitum; who by the senate's approbation, were to take care of the commonwealth: But the same person continued not Dictator above six months, unless his lease were renewed, and that was rare: But it was more rare, that there should be two Dictators at once. Sylla would ●ain have been Dictator for five years, and pleaded that Lex Valeria would justify his desire; but the orator denied that there was any such Law. It is safer in places of such great trust and command, to limit the time, becansc you cannot so well limit their power.  
Secondly. All that have performed considerable service heretofore, have cause to bless God, who did them the Honour in times past, to make use of them in any Noble, and renowned achievements: All that are Emeriti, have made the 
Qui artem aliquam desinebant ejus Instrumenta Diis suspendebant, Sacrabantque: Turneb. Adversar. lib. 6. cap. 9  State, nay, the enemies of the State sensible of their worth; and therefore they do not lay down their Arms, but hang them up as ensigns of Victory.  
Thirdly. God hath an absolute Power and sovereign Command over the greatest men in the World, and they owe Absolute subjection to the will, pleasure, providence of the God of Heaven: Come, acknowledge your subjection. God is not bound to use the same Instruments still: Instruments are no helps to him, for he helps his Instruments, and works all i● them and for them. God loves to show his Prerogative, and make great ones know, that he is not beholding to them to do his work; he will let them see, that he can do his work without them. My Lords, I dare not flatter you, there are enough can do that, who are only men in black, and no Divines: I speak to you in the name of the mighty God, who breaks in pieces mighty men without number, and sets others in their stead, Job 34. 24. God having variety of Instruments, doth delight to use them by turns; If any are unfaithful, they have been used too long; but all that have faithfully performed their part of the service, will not, or need not, repine, if men of meaner abilities, take their turn, the meaner they are, the more should God be glorified, and you humbled.  
Fourthly. When God hath tried men in the duties of active obedience, he doth usually call them to honour him farther, by passive obedience; and it is no easy matter to come off with honour in the passive part: Great spirits will find it task enough for to be patient; they will have work enough to keep themselves humble in such a case; and therefore they need not complain for want of work. My Lords, It is a Work indeed, to mortify self-love; it is no easy matter, for great men to take themselves off from self-confidence, self-conceitedness, and self-ends, that their hearts may be wrought unto a self-denial; which is the foundation of Christianity, and at this time, the only means in sight of our safety: Can you imitate David in one of the most royal services that ever we read of; it was a self-denying service, a royal and magnanimous, but sweet submission to the Will of God: If I find favour in the eyes of God, he will bring me back again, and employ me farther; that was his meaning: But if he say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do unto me as seems good in his sight, 2 Sam. 15. 25, 26. My Lords, Suffer me to deal freely and honestly with you: It may be, God sees that your hearts are like to be lifted up by too high an opinion, of what God hath done by you in former times, and therefore God would have you breath, and rest a while, that you may be sufficiently humbled, and so fitted for some higher and nobler piece of active obedience; and then you'll show more bright and glorious, after this seeming sad eclipse: At low water you have him to tread the banks, whilst the ship is in the barber, you may dress it, and trim it, and make it able to endure storms and tempests. They that are employed, will show themselves men, they adventure far; and you have a full employment, your votes have an influence into all affairs of high concernment: Be not displeased, but rest assured, That your active spirits, and enlarged hearts, will by the blessing of Heaven, have fairer opportunities, and better satisfaction in future employments; and than you will acknowledge, That though God did in your apprehension, chastise you with Scorpions, nay, Serpents also, yet he hath turned these Serpents into Rods, and wrought wonders with them. I hope I have quitted my first score, I proceed to answer.  
The second Quere, How your Honour may be preserved, increased.  
By your leave my Lords, if you desire to preserve your Honour, you must preserve the Fundamentals of Honour, and then let times alter as they will, you'll be sure to preserve all the reality of your Honour: He who hath learned to preserve a just Order, and true Decorum in all things, which concern God, the commonwealth, and himself, he will by God's blessing preserve, nay, increase his Honour every day more and more. That Honour which is maintained by vulgar breath, is, But like Lightning, it appears, and vanishes in an instant; But he who deserves, doth in the judgement of good and wisemen, preserve his Honour, though the people cease to do him Honour. The strongest Foundation of Honour (which lays a man lowest, and yet raises him highest) is real piety: The Philosophers 
piety.  were acquainted with some kind of piety to order us in those things which belong to God: They could treat of a certain Reverence and Divine Respect, due from rational Creatures, to the creator, Preserver and governor of all things: They perceived, by the light of Nature, that Deprecations, Petitions and Thanks, were to be duly presented by us Mortals, to the God of Heaven: They were convinced, that God was offended with sin; and concluded, That he was to be appeased by Sacrifice, for it could not enter into their reasonable minds, to conceive, That all our prayers, or any of our performances, could give satisfaction to the Justice of God; and yet they were invincibly ignorant, that our Emmanuel, our Jesus, and none but our Jesus alone, could give him all-sufficient satisfaction: And this Piety they laid as the ground and foundation of all other virtues. They did (poor pagan's▪) remember that there was an omnipresent God, which did overlook them, and a Conscience, a Genius, or as some were pleased to speak, a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} within to reprove and check them; and by these sublimenotions, they did restrain men from running into exorbitant and dishonourable courses; For if you have (say they) God and conscience within 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Hermes. Est profecto Deus qui quae nos gerimus, audi●…que & videt. Plau●us. Capt. Frustra sunt qui Religionis specie in ambitionem del●bunt●●, Tacit. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Vide Epi●te●um. Conscientiam 〈◊〉 D●is Immortalibus accepimus quae Divelli a nobis non potest. Cicero pro Cluentio. Tutissimum est in omni vita transversum ungnem a rectâ conscientiâ non discedere. Cic. ad Atticum. Suus cuique animus ex conscientiâ spem praebet. Sallust. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Arl. Eth. ad Nicom. l. 4. cap. 3. Prudence. Temperance.  you, these have no need of a Candle to see what mischief you do in the dark. Next to Piety, the Philosophers conceived that Prudence and moral virtues were the sure Fundamentals of substantial Honour.  
1. Prudence was in their conceit, as a silken string, which runs thorough all the moral virtues, as so many Pearls, knitting them all together, and making a Bracelet, a Chain of Honour, fit to adorn the Necks, the Souls of Nobles; for Prudence is that virtue which doth order even Reason itself, which being carnal, is apt to be irregular: The other virtues which they called moral, were to regulate our will and affections, indeed our whole life and conversation. These, these are the Fundamentals of real Honour: He than that desires to preserve his Honour, must be a prudent and knowing man, because Honour is as unseemly for a fool, as Snow is unseasonable in Summer, or Rain in Harvest, Prov. 26. 1. Honour conferred on such, is not only an Inconvenience, but an ill Omen, a sad presage; for you know this by experience, That unseasonable Weather in Harvest, will certainly cause a Famine, and a Famine will bring a Plague. Honour cannot be secured without knowledge and prudence; for the highest Tower is easily undermined if its foundation be hollow. Human society doth consist in communicating prudent notions to one another, for the preservation of the whole society; and therefore a man cannot be an useful member of a body politic, because he cannot be a sociable man; much less sociable in an high degree, in a way of Honour, without knowledge and prudence.  
2. He must be Temperate, else he cannot long be wise, for Intemperance will exhaust his spirits, weaken his parts, and drown his wisdom. Temperance is by the Greeks called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; it is clear and evident, That he who cannot moderate himself in those pleasures, which are common to us with beasts, will fall from all his honour, and become like the beasts that perish.  
3. He must be valiant, else he is no man, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 
Valour. Euripides nihil sunt usquam.  {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, and therefore, cowards are said to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, An army of cowards is but as a Table of ciphers, cast up the total sum, and it will not amount to a single unite. Give me a man of a compact solid heart, that is full of spirits, else he'll not stand upon his guard, nor keep his watch, no nor the faith neither; he'll not quit himself like a man, but turn Apostate in perilous times, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, saith the Apostle, play the men, 1 Cor. 16. 13. Watch ye, stand fast in the Faith, quit yourselves like men: If the beams of an house, then certainly the pillars of a State had need be strong Heart of Oak? We use to say, That Horse is not fit to lead the way who is given to starting. He is a man of Honour, in whom there is an happy union between wisdom and boldness: boldness will carry them on to charge thorough in despite of danger; with convenient courage, and wisdom, will bring them off with sufficient Honour: The boldness of Hannibal, was not void of 
In Hannibale plurimum audaciae ad capessenda pericula plurimum consilii inter ipsa pericula erat, Liv. lib. 21.  counsel; and the boldness of a Christian, must not be void of Religion; For a valiant man fears nothing but what is dishonourable: And nothing is indeed dishonourable, but that which is in some respect dishonest. The Ancients therefore said, That Fortitude was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, the fear of a dishonourable check; and as he said well, They who are most fearful to offend against the Law, are most bold to fight against an enemy. Certainly, that man that is not afraid of death and judgement, sin and Hell, is not valiant, but mad. He, saith Aristotle, who doth not fear what he ought to fear, is not valiant, but impudent: Fools make a mock at sin, Prov. 14. 9 And Atheists make a mock at Hell, as if sin and Hell, were bugbears to affright children, that are neither wise nor bold: But there is a secret witness in the heart of man, which doth dictate severe and terrible truths to obstinate roisters, and curious sceptics, without and above any human Tradition, civil Imposition, or scientifical Demonstration.  
4. He must be liberal, and in some cases magnificent: Remember 
Liberality. Magnificence.  the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said. It is more blessed, and therefore more honourable, to give then to receive, Acts 20. 35.  
5. He must be magnanimous, and then he will be just, not 
Magnanimity and Justice. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Ar. Eth. l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  only in respect of particular, but universal Justice, Magnamity is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the ornament of all other virtues. The Magnanimous man seems slow, but if you mark him, you'll find him sure. He never engages his Honour upon a service which may be performed by meaner men: He doth not trouble himself about many things, but reserves himself for great things, things like himself: When a Kingdom lays at stake, the magnanimous man will be even prodigal of his blood and honour: He loves a set battle, but hates a skirmish; for he hath learned to decline all unnecessary dangers, because he knows he can sell his life dearer, and do the commonwealth some better service another time. A man of this heroical spirit, thinks nothing great but virtue; and if he can espy that, in an inferior, he will lend him his hand to life him higher; and if he find his virtues to transcend his own, he will set him even above himself, and count it an honour 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, c. 3.  to be his servant; For the magnanimous man doth examine his own worth and other men's defects, according to right reason, and therefore doth ever pass a righteous judgement: 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, cap. 〈◊〉. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Ar. Eth. ub● supra. Oportet te nihil facere per injuriam, sed nec omnino facere videri. Na n privatis quidem hominibus s●tis est nihil delinquere; Principibus ne quidem suspectis esse licet. Livia ad Auguslum.  In a word, he counts it the greatest dishonour, to affect honour, and therefore he contemns honour, when he may prejudice the truth by standing upon terms of honour, because he knows, that truth and virtue are more honourable, than honour itself. Hence it is, that he forgives injuries, and goes on with undaunted Resolution in the ways of virtue, and honour, that he may promote the common good: No abuses, no jealousies, can divert him from public service; and he hates the thought of being guilty of any private design; nay, labours to be free from suspicion, as well as guilt.  
My Lords, If Philosophy carry a man thus high, O let Religion, Christian Religion, advance you higher: What though men be peevish, and snappish in these angry times, Will you be sullen, and give up all? Can you forget the public, your own oath, and God's righteous cause: What if you should think yourselves, as it were affronted, must the cause of God for that weak reason, be deserted? Is that the way to preserve your honour? No, no my Lords, the way for you 
U● fortasse vere sic satis utiliter ad praesens certamen consopiendum uti olim nonnemo.  to preserve your honour, is to unite your strength, and join with them whom you find cordially active for the public good; and secondly, To be not only cordial, but active yourselves.  
First, Unite your strength: Look upon Division as an Abomination 
Tanta tum gratiâ tum arte praepara verant, quae non modò plebem, sed ipsum etiam Dictatorem frustrareatur, Livius.  tending to desolation. It is so well known, that I need not whisper it for a secret; the Master-plot of the enemy at this present, is to work a Division between the two Houses of Parliament: Take heed my Lords, Division, nay, I had almost said jealousy, is a kind of Civil-Gun-Powder 〈◊〉 believe it, you are in as much danger, as if they were at work in the Vault again; For this, if you look not to it, may prove the blacker Treason, and a more effectual Powder-Plot, to blow up Lords and Commons, both together. I am too young to 
Quod scis nescis si sapis, Dromo.  give counsel to a Parliament, but I have studied those that are old enough; and if you please to consult the physicians of State, those sage Writers, who have felt the pulse of most commonwealths, throughout the world: They will tell you, That if the breach be never so small, yet the Crisis is sad, for they conclude, with joint consent, Discordia inter Consuasores est maxime perniciosa: And Tacitus, a better Statesman, 
Ta●it. in Agric. Optimum Aulieam pessimum publicum. Hoc uno bono dissentire claros viros gaudet—. ne in seipsum conspi●ent ad unum omnes. Julius Clas●. Suetonio discors bon●m publicum privatis simultatibus impedicbat. Taci●. Annal.  as I conceive, than an Historian, will assure you, Nihil principi adversus subditos utilius quàm si in commune non consulant. I know full well, that I am touching upon a very ticklish point, but my sincere desire of your honour's welfare, emboldens me to tell your Lordships one story before we part.  
Aristides and Themisto●les, being sent to the same city, as Fellow-Ambassadours, fell out by the way: Aristides was stout enough and cross enough; but when he came near the Gates of the city, he condescended so far, as to bespeak Themistocles much after this manner: Sir, you and I are not at leisure to squabble now, it will be time enough for us to renew our quarrel when our work is at an end: The story applies itself. Let there be a firm Union between both Houses of Parliament, that the Rights and privileges of both may be preferred against all crafty and 
* Callidas & Malitiosas Juris interpretationes, Cicero. effic. lib. 1.  malicious Interpretations of well-meant Laws. It will much conduce to the preservation of your Honour, to unite with the Neighbour city, and with the well-affected in every county: Do you not know how the Britons of old were overcome? Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur; it was for want of an Association, 
Jus concinnatis mendaci●s adumbratum. Ammianus Marcell. Civili justoque imperio ad voluntatem converso cruentam idem, lib. 15. L. Tarqvinius Regum primus traditum a principibus morem de omnibus Senatum consulendi solvit; domesticis consiliis Rempub. administravit. Livius lib. 1. Non datâ Senatus copiâ intra●ubiculum auditur, Tacitus. Nam quae alii Scelera hic remedia vocat, supplicia & contumelias vestras Disciplinam appellat, Idem. Tacitus Agric. In omni Repub. diversum semper est plebis & Optimatum ingenium diversaque studia: Et quae leges ad conservandam libertatem condunt●r, eae originem habent ex eorum discordia. Vide Discurs. de Rep. lib. 1. cap. 4. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Aristot. Polit. lib. 4. cap. 8. Pulsis Tarquiniis maxima videbatur esse Senatus & populi concordia ipsique Nobiles absque ullo fastu Mites & Populares esse putabantur sed postquam interiistent Tarquinii, &c.— Hinc ratio invents est creandi Tribunos plebis, ut faeliciae esset Resp. ex omnibus tribus (Monarch. &c.) Politiae fermis rite composita, uti Politici passim. See His majesty's Answer to the 19 Propositions. Sacra Consulum, Senatus populique Romani Majestas. Jam prope erat ut ne Consulum quidem Majestas iras hominum coerceret, Liv. lib. 2. Proditum a Patribus summi Imperii Jus, consulatus autem Tribunitium auxilium nec non plebis Romanae provocatio arces tuenda libertatis fuere. Vide Anold. Clap. de Jure Imperii, lib. 1. cap. 9 & 10. Melius institui posse Remp. sentio ad exemplum Romanorum quam vel Venetorum, vel Spartanorum: Quod vix p●ssit medius quidam modus inter extrema inveniri, aut conservari, Disput. de Repub. lib. 1. pag. 41.  saith Tacitus, between the Cities, or as we use to speak, between the Counties. Where rich and poor, noble and ignoble, are united in one body, with such proportionable privileges and encouragements, that the poor, as well as the rich, and the ignoble, as well as the noble, may with all alacrity and cheerfulness, labour to advance the common good of the whole society there, and there only is a commonwealth; but few Common-weals have been reduced to that happy temper without a quarrel.  
Secondly, Be encouraged to be Active in your own persons for the common good: Every Lord-Lieutenant may have a whole County waiting on him in all those parts, which are yet within your power; you may learn much by the practices of your 
a Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum quod contra singulos utilitate publica rependitur uti Cassius apud Tacitum Annal. 14.  enemies, they are wise in their generations; they are abroad, and at work in their several Counties; and they will be sure to 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Arist. Polit. lib. 2. c. 8. & lib. 3. cap. 5. Romanis tutius visum est defendi in ermes Latino's quàm pati r●tractare arma. Livi●s, l. 2. Armis publicè mulctati, Tacitus, Histor.  arm none, but such as they can trust: But I know, it is commonly said, That in these days of mercy, there are many enemies received into favour, and taken into your protection; but if there be some kind of enemies that must be pardoned and protected, yet there is no reason that they should be armed. My Lords, The Sun is mounted very high already, it is the time of the year for Princes to take the Field, and for Lords to look abroad: Remember that man is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a 
c ●r. stot. Poslit.  Sociable creature; show yourselves men: Men indeed, stand for the good of the whole Society, the 
d Resp. incolumis & provatas res facile salvas praestat: Publica perdendo tua nequicquam serves, Liv. l. 26. Salutis cau●â Rei familiaris commoda negligenda esse, dixit Vercingetori● apud Caesa●em, lib. 7. de bello Gall●co. Bonum publicum est bonum Populicum. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Aristophanes. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Aristot. Polit. lib. 4. cap. 8. Res privatae semper offecêre officientque publicis negotiis, Livius. Monent iidem ne occultis consiliis, Resp. laedatur. Cicero de Arusp. resp. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Polybius, lib. 6.  public good, or else you cannot stand for the good of your own Noble posterity; for the good of every particular, is bound up in the common good. Believe it, there is no reasonable means for the preservation of your Honour, but by showing your valour against your enemies, and uniting with all that are true Friends to the common cause of Jesus Christ: By activity against your enemies, and union with your friends, you may be so happy, that your enemies will envy you, and your friends rejoice with you. But remember, that by an unhappy difference at Rome, between the Nobles and Commons; the Nobles, as well as the Commons lost their liberty: Oh thrice happy England, if by a sweet and constant correspondence, between both Houses of Parliament, Lords and Commons, may avoid contention, and preserve liberty, Honour, Religion, all: And let me once more remember you, That you had need be quick and nimble, in these Active times, Cunctatione non opus est, ubi perniciosior sit quies quàm temeritas; All the danger in Civil Wars is, in not being active enough. Tyrants, saith the Politician, do miscarry, because they are not Tyrants enough; let us make an Antidote of this poison, and conclude, That honest zealots may miscarry, because they are not zealous enough: He was no fool that said, Inter ancipitia deterrimum esse Mediasequi. The strength of our Kingdom would be seen in the Field, if every true hearted man would take the boldness, to declare himself: Every magnanimous person hates n●●tralitie, and is (as Aristotle hath it) {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} open-breasted in his love, and hatred: If he be your friend, you shall know it, and if he be your enemy, he will make you feel it: Brave soldiers love to follow professed Patriots, Qui aperte in causam descendunt tanquam Culpae vel gloriae socii. Come, come, my Lords, Honesty is the choicest policy. Come then, and show your Wisdom, your Justice; show your Zeal, your Valour, your magnanimity, your piety, for God and your country: This, this is the way, to increase your Honour with more ease, and preserve it with less envy.  
But, stay, stay, saith some much Honoured silkworm; If I should lose my life in the quarrel, what becomes of my honour then? Alas, when I am gone, all the world is gone with me: Why then look after another world, and a better life; look after it in the first place, though I handle it in the last, and so I pass to my  
Third Quere. How may one gain an immortal glorious Honour 
Application to all Estates and Degrees of men.  in the highest Heaven?  
This Quere concerns all estates and degrees of men; The poor, and the Noble may be Peers in Heaven. I have in part answered this Quere already; for I have shown you clearly, That we must be justified, regenerated, converted, or else the greatest is not truly noble in our spiritual and Christian account.  
My Lords, If you desire this new honour, you must lead new lives, and you'll never do that, till you have new natures, new-bearts by a new creation. Ye must be new creatures in Jesus Christ; For God in Christ is the Fountain of all Christian Nobility and glorious Honour: And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, 2 Cor. 5. 17. Now Christ puts forth his creating power in his Ordinances, and therefore you must all, high and low, attend upon the quickening Ordinances of God, that ye may be made new creatures in Christ, by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost. Oh that this day, might be that happy working-day, the day of Christ's power, transforming all our deformed souls into the beauty of holiness, that we might become, the willing subjects of Jesus Christ, as it is written, Psal. 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness. Oh that whilst I am directing, what ought to be done, our Lord Jesus would put to his Fiat, and say, Let it be done, it shall be done this very hour.  
My Lords, I am affectionately desirous of you, as the Apostles 
1 Thes. 2. 8.  speaks, and willing to impart unto you, not only the Gospel of God, but that very Character, which the Gospel by the Spirit hath stamped upon my own beloved soul, because your precious souls are dear unto me.  
My Lords, Remember yourselves, You are not now in your Robes, sitting in State, to pass sentence upon that Word, whereby you must be judged; But you, and I, and all here present, are holding up our hands at the bar. Come, open your bosoms, the Spirit is now about to set the Word home upon your conscience; the Spirit of God tells you plainly, That notwithstanding your great birth, you were born in sin; and we have too many of us (nay, too many of you) lived, as if you, and we, had been born to no other purpose, then to sin.  
My Lords, What do you mean, (Brethren, what do you mean,) not only to live in sin, but to die in sin, O it is a dangerous thing to live in sin, but it is a desperate thing to die in sin; for he that dies in his sins, perishes in his sins, and is damned eternally. It is no matter of what strain or complexion, your sins are, or how they relish when the palate is distempered, be they sweet or sour, sins of pleasure or malice, nay, ignorance, sins of gain, shall I say, sins of Honour? Yes, this ignoble age hath plotted how to dishonour God in an honourable way. In a word, Be your sins old, or new, sins received by Tradition from your forefathers, and therefore, received with honour; as if they were some noble vices, which ought to be standers to your noble Families; yet consider, and sadly consider it, He that resolves to live in any sin, but till to morrow morning, may for aught he knows, die, and perish in his sin; the devil may come and fetch away his soul this night, and he may be in Hell ere morning. The God of Heaven, set that consideration home to your hearts; you must fall down upon your faces, and acknowledge, That God is in this Meditation of a truth: The Lord Jesus did press this point home in his powerful preaching, you may read it thrice in one Chapter, John 8. 21, 24. It is one of the most fearful threats in Scripture; for it doth indeed contain all threatenings in it.  
My Lords, Will nothing touch your hearts; yes, I believe your hearts have been touched to day, and touched to the quick. Now then, my Lords, what say you now? Why sure you are come to this resolution, ye would not die in your sins, that were to die basely, to die dishonourably: Why then, my Lords, If you would not die in your sins, ye must not live in them; Oh but how shall we be saved from all our sins, our ignoble sins? Why though Joshuah be called Jesus, Heb. 4. 8. and the people were wont to bow every time that Text was read, yet) there is but one Jesus, the Lord Jesus, who can save us from our sins, Matth. 1. 21. Oh now your hearts relent, and give a little: Now, now consider, how you have abused and undervalued; how you have crucified and tormented this Jesus, who alone can save you from your sins: How you have made a sport and pastime of those sins which let out the heart blood of Jesus Christ. What, are your hearts like Nabals, dead within you? Or are you cast into a trembling fit; are you fainting, and even swooning under the weight of God's wrath, and your sin: why now, now you are in this agony and bloody sweat, the Lord Jesus offers himself to be your Saviour upon fair and honourable terms, do you deliberate, whether you should be saved? Why then take him jailor, clap some bolts upon his conscience, and let the iron enter into his soul; let him taste a cup of brimstone, and see how he likes it before hand; let the Law thunder curses upon him, and the spirit of bondage flash some lightning into his soul. Oh base unworthy wretch dost thou capitulate with thy Judge, and scorn thy Saviour; is thy mind preposessed with prejudice against Christ, and are thy affections preingaged to the flesh, the world, the devil; dost love thy sin better than thy Saviour? Why then thou art mad upon thy pleasure, thou art drunk with honour, and bewitched with gain; enjoy thy sin, and hug thy damnation, the Lord Jesus will not bestow himself on such a sot: Yet once more I'll ask the question, for aught thou knowest, it may be the last time of asking; Wilt thou have Jesus Christ for thy antiquity, for thy nobility, for thy husband, thy King, thy Prophet, thy Priest, thy Saviour, thy All? Jesus Christ will bind Kings in chains, and Nobles in setters of Iron; he will pour contempt upon Princes, if they contemn him. What say you then, my Lords, (and what say you Brethren) will you submit your necks to the yoke, and your shoulders to the burden of Jesus Christ? Will you deny yourselves, take up your cross daily, and follow him? Will you believe him, trust him, love him, obey him. Give me leave to insist a little upon those two special duties of Faith and Love; and I pitch upon them the rather, because Faith and Love are radical Graces, and you can never prove 
The new creature.  yourselves to be new creatures in Christ, but by Faith and Love: Be pleased to compare two Scriptures together, for the clearing of this truth, the Scriptures are not far asunder; one is in the sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Galathians, the fifteenth 
Galath. 6. 15.  verse, In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature: Would you know what this new creature is? Read the fifth Chapter of 
Galath. 5. 6. Jude. Build up yourselves on your most holy Faith, vers. 20. Keep yourselves in the Love of God, verse 21.  the same Epistle, and the sixth verse. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but Faith working by Love. Mark I beseech you, it is worth your observation, Nothing avails but a new creature, in one place, Nothing avails but Faith, working by love, in the other: No man then is a new creature, but he whose Faith worketh by Love: There is the sum of the Gospel, the substance, marrow, power, spirit, quintessence of Christianity.  
First. Then examine, whether you have any knowledge 
I.  of Christ, or Faith in him; any heart and well grounded assent to the Gospel of Christ: with the heart, man being convinced, believes. Have you any precious Faith? If you have no true Faith, you cannot understand the Mystery of godliness, after a spiritual and saving manner: Now, man that is in honour, 
Mir● simplicit●s est ●…cire qu●…●…das ●…onym. ●…s tenebrarum est quae definitur per ignorantia●.  and understandeth not, saith my Text, you know what follow●. Faith is the eye of the soul; Reason is blind without Faith. Except a man be born from above, (except his reason be raised, elevated by Faith, enlightened by the Spirit) he cannot see the Kingdom of God; as our Saviour told that Ruler of the Jews, when he catechised him, John 3. 3. Every true believer hath so much understanding, as to assent to the truth, and so much ingenuity, as to consent to the goodness of all the promises.  
Secondly. The precious Faith of God's elect, is an holy 
II.  Faith; nay, Saint Jude exhorts Christians to build up themselves on their most holy Faith, Jude vers. 20. True Faith aims at the highest degree of holiness, it is ever labouring to build up the soul one story higher in holiness, that we may be every day nearer Heaven. He that thinks he is holy enough already, hath neither true Faith, nor holiness of Truth. They are unbel●eving men that are afraid, they shall be come too strict in duty, and too precise in abhorting and declining sin; they say they have holiness enough to carry them to Heaven, though there are many (that were as holy as themselves) gone to H●ll already. Remember, that though Jesus Christ be King of all the world, in a providential way, yet he is King of Saints only, in a spiritual and saving way. Christ will save none but Saints; such honour, immortal honour, have all his Saints, and none but Saints; none but his Saints, whose consciences, Christ hath purged from the guilt, and allowance of sin, and whose hearts he hath purified from the Love, 
Heb. 9 14. Acts 15. 9  (and their whole man, from the power, and dominion) of sin, by a lively Faith, that they may serve the living God.  
Thirdly. True Faith is a resting and relying grace, Faith 
III.  doth support the feeble soul, the sinking soul, by leaning upon God's arm, and Christ's bosom; because thou didst rely on 
2 Chron. 16. 8. 2 Chro. 14. 11.  the Lord, saith the Se●● to Asa: Help us, O Lord, saith Asa, to God, for we rest upon thee. Doth thy soul rest upon Christ, not only for pardon of sin, but power against sin?. Dost thou rely upon the free grace of God, the all-sufficient satisfaction, complete righteousness, and perfect merits of Christ, for justification? Then it is well, but a believer must likewise live in a constant dependence upon God, for perseverance in grace, and then he is right.  
Fourthly. Faith is a radical grace; and therefore as the 
IV.  root of a tree sucks nourishing moisture from the earth, foe a ●●leever, sucks and draws nourishing virtue, fresh virtue, and new supplies every day, from Jesus Christ: Faith doth not only depend upon Christ, and adhere to him, but suck from him; it hangs upon the Ordinances of Christ, the Breasts of Christ, as the Infant hangs upon the mother's breast.  
Fifthly. Faith is a mortifying and quickening grace, Because 
V.  it draws virtue from Christ, to mortify our lusts, and quicken us to a lively performance of all duties, in their due place and season: Upon days of Humiliation, the believer draws much power from the death of Christ, to mortify his lust, and sets upon all tasks of mortification in the strength of Christ.  
Sixthly. Faith is a victorious grace, it overcomes the world, 
VI.  and the devil, and it doth both, by purifying our hearts, and mortifying our lusts: For if our hearts be purified, and our lusts mortified, the world, and devil, are not able to prevail against us; We shall come of with honour in the main battle, at the latter end of the day, though we may be foiled now and then in a skirmish, and give ground a little, when we are too hotly charged, and overborn by violence. The devil cannot throw a fiery dart at us, but faith will quench it: If our lusts do not fire us, the dart cannot wound us: Take the shield of Faith, saith the Apostle, That ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the devil: Above all other pieces of Christian armour, take the shield of Faith, Ephes. 6. 16. The least degree of true Faith, doth in some measure overcome the world, because it doth persuade the heart (even before the man hath any clear bright evidence of his own election) that there are better things laid up for the elect, in Christ, than any the world can bestow upon them; better honour, better riches, better glory. Christ is a precious Christ, to all true believers, to you, who believe he is an Honour, 1 Pet. 2. 7. The original will bear it, for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the word. Would ye then my Lords, (and you dear Christians) gain an immortal glorious Honour; you see the ready way, believe, believe, and Jesus Christ will be an Honour to you: But remember that your Faith must be the Faith of Christians, not the faith of devils; it must be such a precious faith, as purifies the heart, purges the conscience, assents, and consents to Christ; such a faith as overcomes the world, and quenches the fiery darts of the devil, by resting upon Christ, and drawing virtue from him.  
But I must not forget in the next place, that your faith 
●ides cum Dilectione, & fides Christiani, fides sine Dilectione est ●ides Diaboli.  must work by love, and therefore as you must have a victorious faith, so you must have a transcendent, an heroical Love, to the Lords Jesus; you must love him better than your friends, better than your estates, better than your honour; for you must lay down all your Coronets, all your Honour, at the feet of Christ; nay, you must love Christ better, than your lives. Christ turned to the great multitudes, and said to them, If any man come to me, and hates not his own life (in comparison of me, for my sake, and the Gospels) he cannot be my Disciple, Luke 14. 25, 26. And again, Verse 33. Whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all he hath, he cannot be my Disciple. Our Saviour doth not mean such a Disciple as Peter, and the rest, but by Disciple, he means Scholar, Subject, Member, Servant, Friend, Heir; for he speaks to the multitude, and therefore the meaning is, That one of the poorest and meanest men, in the throng, could not have any interest in Christ, or benefit by him, unless he love the Lord Jesus better than his estate, and life better than all the world; and can men in Honour think to go to Heaven, upon cheaper and easier terms, than one of the multitude? No sure, where God gives more, he requires more. Come then, my Brethren, Let this day of sorrow, be a day of Love, or else it will not be a day of godly sorrow; for godly sorrow arises from the love of God, from Faith working by love, from Faith in Christ, and love to him: The bitterest tears, flow from the sweetest Love. Come you that have any tender hearts, or rolling bowels, let me this day speak to your hearts and bowels, and cast you into the melting pangs of a divine, and Christian love: Consider your want of Christ, and the worth of Christ: Oh consider, the benefits of Christ's death, the sweetness of Christ's promises, the pleasantness of his commands, the preciousness of his graces, and above all, the infiniteness of his love: And you cannot but love him; your hearts must needs be ravished into an ecstasy, if you consider that soul-ravishing Text, Revel. 1. 5, 6. And you cannot but cry out with the ardency of affection, with the strength, the zeal of love: Oh to him, to him, that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, and his Father; to him be glory, and dominion, love and subjection, for ever and ever, Amen.  
Come you, that never studied the Art of spiritual love; Consider, that Jesus Christ saw your distressed souls weltering in blood, and filthiness, and his bowels were turned, his compassions 
Ezek. 16. 6, 8 &c.  were kindled within him; and he said unto you, even than when you were polluted in your own blood, live; yea, when you were polluted in your own blood and filthiness, he said Live, and Live eternally: Was not that a time of love with him? Why, now turn your eyes inward, and look upon your own souls, sprinkled with the blood, the heartblood of Jesus Christ, that they may be purged, and you may be saved; and tell me, is it not a time of love now with your beloved souls? Do you not feel your hearts begin to burn within you? Are you not transported beyond yourselves, are you not even mounting up to Heaven, and flying into the Arms and bosom of your beloved Lord? Come, give up your hearts to Christ, for I must prevail; I am sure you are convinced, that Jesus Christ is the best husband in the world, for your precious souls; for he is the only All-sufficient Saviour, there is no choice, you must have him or none. Come, be not thus dull of understanding, or affection, be not careless and peevish in a business, which concerns the happy welfare of your eternal souls: Away with all prejudicate opinions, and vain conceits; Come, let us be settled men, and spend some sad thoughts, about the saving excellencies of Jesus Christ: Be not so impudently presumptuous, as to imagine, That you love Christ well enough already; if you have not as yet sufficiently known, or judiciously considered, what reason and equity there i●, that you should love Christ better than all the World. Come, let me close with you a little, and speak home to every one of your souls in particular: Friend be not such a sot, as to dote upon trifles, I'll show thee wonders, The wonder of our redemption, the most admirable, and most astonishing Plot of the blessed trinity, sitting in counsel about the Salvation of thy beloved soul: A mystery which the Angels stoop down to pry into, an Orient Pearl, that will outshine all the sparkling Jewels of the whole Creation, if they should be digged out of nature's Cabinet, and hung up with such advantage, that they might all unite their beams upon some day of triumph. Hear what a worthy Divine of ours saith, Our slighting the offers of Grace, and not laying to heart what God 
Master Pinks ●is trial of Love.  hath done for us, is a sin next to wilful apostasy, and malicious blasphemy; For he who doth not see such glorious miracles of love, and inestimable treasures of grace in Christ, as to take of his mind and heart, from the glittering vanities of the world, that he may fix his thoughts, and settle his affections, upon God in Christ, as an all-sufficient Portion and Inheritance; That man doth offer an affront to the majesty of Heaven, he befools the Wisdom, and scorns the love of the blessed Trinity; for he slights the most excellent wonder, that ever the Wisdom of God contrived, or his power compassed, or his goodness bestowed upon the sons of men: And what reason hath such a soft to expect favour from God, mercy from Christ, or comfort from the Holy Ghost. Do ye believe the Scriptures? Why then tell me, Whether the favour of God will not comfort the heart, better than corn and wine, Psal. 4▪ 6, 7. Then sheep and oxen, strong sons, and polished daughters, full barns, and full b●gs. Read and consider the four last verses of the 144. Psalm. Is not the loving kindness of God, better than life, Psal. 63. 3. Can a man gain any thing, though he gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul? Or is there any thing to be given in exchange for the soul? Canst thou set thy heart upon that which thou believest to be dross and dung, Phil. 3. 8. And art thou not ashamed to prefer the ●asest trash and dung, before Jesus Christ? It is impossible, that our affections should for any long time together, stand in aequilibrio, even-ballanced, between Christ and the World. Because every little trifle would turn the scales, there being so many cases, in which a man must either renounce Christ, or the World; and if there were but one thing in all the world, which a man loves, better than Christ; if that come to stand in competition with Christ, he will as basely deny, and betray Christ, for that one thing (be it profit, honour, pleasure, be it what it will) as if he preferred many other things before him. Beloved, I propound these considerations to you, That you may ponder them well in your cool blood, and morning thoughts, and so come on to firm purposes, and steadfast resolutions, to settle your affection upon Jesus Christ; for believe it, such thoughts as these, must go before purposes, and consultation before resolution, or else all your good purposes without counsel, will be vain, they will be frustrated and disappointed, as the wiseman for●-warns you, Prov. 15. 22. Go home then, and read, nay, peruse the love-letters of Christ, in his glorious Gospel, and review all the love-tokens which he hath sent to thy dear soul, and then fall in love with him; nay, before thou goest home, let me gain a promise from thee, That thou wilt have no other Saviour, or Husband, for thy soul, but Jesus Christ; that thou wilt receive him for thy Lord, with the thankful affections of Love and Reverence; that thou wilt take an unmixed delight, and complete content in him, as thy Treasure, thy happiness, thy All. Suffer me now then, even now, whilst thy judgement is convinced, and thy heart warmed, to cast thee into a lovetrance, into the seraphical flames of conjugal affections. Come, art thou ready, is thy spirit raised, thy heart enlarged, thy mind fixed, thy soul in tune to say after me. O my blessed Lord, I have been too proud, and pervish heretofore; but thy freegrace, and undeserved love, hath beaten me out of all my pride, and natural enmity; I fall down at thy footstool, and lay myself flat before thee: At first I wondered to hear▪ Preachers talk so much of Christ, and I was bold to ask thy▪ friends, What their beloved was more than another beloved: But now I wonder, that I could endure to be so long without thee; my fervent desires of thee, were at first grounded on a thorough sense of the extreme misery of all my happiness without thee. But now I have renounced all my self-love, and abhor all self-ends, as base and mercenary, being fully convinced, that thou hast bought me out of myself, and all that I called mine; and therefore, out of a well-advised, dislike, and disesteem of all worldly profit, honour, pleasure, or any other admired vanity: I make a full and absolute Resignation of myself, and make over all that is dear and precious to me, in the world, to thee, my Lord and Saviour; For truly Lord, I am thine, only thine, ever thine; all that I am, is at thy command, and all I have is at thy disposing, be pleased to command, both it, and me. With all humility and thankfulness, I accept thy precious offers of grace and mercy, and do confess them to be offers worthy of all acceptation; because I know, that whatsoever I adventure, or lose, for thy sake, I shall receive with infinite advantage in thy blessed Self: I dare trust my dear Lord with the best thing, that ever he gave me; my precious soul. Oh my bleeding heart, and broken spirit, doth languish in a thirsty love, panting, and gasping after thee, my beloved Saviour. Oh let me taste how gracious thou art, by some real experiments in mine own heart; smile upon me from Heaven; answer me with some assuring whispers of the Spirit of Adoption; kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth, for thy love is sweeter than the taste of wine, or the love of women. Oh let me bathe my soul in the delicious intimacies of a spiritual communion with thee, my God, and Saviour, that I may for ever adhere unto thee, with a sincere constancy, and rest in thee with a love of complacency; for I feel, I find my soul cast into a longing sweat for thee, and nothing can satisfy the importunate longing of my perplexed soul, but thine only Self; for thou art, my Lord, my love, my life, and thou art altogether lovely.  
And now Lord, I have found thee whom my soul loves, I will let go any thing in the world, to take better hold of thee: Now I have embraced thee, I will not let thee go until thou bless me; nay, I will not let thee go then, but hold thee fast for ever, that thou Mayst for ever bless me; If thou killest me, I will trust in thee, nay, I will love thee; for thy love is better than life, therefore my lips shall praise thee; If I live, I will live, serving thee; if I die, I will die, praising thee: Whether I live or die, let me be ever thine, and then I know thou wilt be an advantage to me, both in life and death.  
To this effect, the soul that is in love with Christ, doth usually express itself; for such souls are commonly cast into an agony, into pangs of love; and therefore, the Scripture hath described the outgoings of such a soul by several similitudes, By the gasping of the parched ground, the panting of a 
Psal 63. 1. Psal. 42. 1, 2. Psal. 119. 131, 174. Cantic. 5. 8.  chased Hart, the longings of a teening woman, by the fainting and swooning of one that is in good earnest, sick of Love. What say you then, beloved Christians, are you willing to live to him who died for you? Will you indeed, live to him, and if he calls you to it, die for him: believe it, He dies the noblest death, who dies a Martyr. And if you talk of Honour, you cannot be preferred to an higher degree of Honour, then to be esteemed the Friends of Christ here, and made Coheirs with Christ in glory. Beloved, Such as our affections are, such are we: It our affections be right set, on things above, we are Saints; if they be set on the things below, we are Beasts or Devils. Come then, ye men of Honour, come set your affections upon the noblest and most honourable object, the highest, chiefest good, God in Christ: If you do not set your affections upon Christ, you will have no place with Christ in glory, and in Hell, men lose the sweetest and comfortablest part of their affections, or at least, the use and exercise of them; there is nothing amiable, or lovely in Hell, therefore there is, no use of love; there is no joy, or delight, no good to be hoped for there, only the tormenting affections of grief, shame, despair, and the rest of that black crew, remain to vex and torture the soul, though they cannot devour, or consume it: Let us then so place our affections here, as that we may enjoy the comfort of them, in another world; let our love and confidence be placed on Christ; let us delight and rejoice in him, and his service, that our souls may be for ever, satisfied with his goodness, and even ravished with his love. Remember, that Faith and Love, are both Active, it is Faith working by Love; you have heard of the obedience of Faith, Rom. 16. 26. And if ye Love me, keep my Commandments, Joh. 14. 15. Consider, that Jesus Christ is the author of eternal Salvation, to all them, and none but them, that obey him, Heb. 5. 9 Beloved in the Lord Jesus, If you will learn to perform all your duties in faith, and out of love, trusting only upon free grace, and aiming only at God's glory. My soul, for yours you will be of the Christian circumcision, you will worship God in the spirit, 
Phil. 3. 3.  rejoice in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh: You will be justified by freegrace, acted, and lead, by effectual Grace, into all necessary truths, and holiness of truth: Faith and love, will find out their way to Heaven: Faith and love will establish your hearts and minds. These graces will make you not only patient and constant, but zealous also; For zeal can never boil high enough, unless it be raised by Faith, and inflamed by Love. Zeal is the strength of affection, and height of grace; it is the height of knowledge, the height of prudence, and therefore, not to be ordered by discretion; as they talk, who mistake policy for wi●dom, and subject matters of Religion, to reasons of State; nay, zeal is the height of Faith also: When we read, that something was imputed to Phinehas for righteousness, Some say it was Justice, others say Zeal, but I say, Faith; for I know nothing else imputed for righteousness, in any Scripture notion: And Faith is said to be imputed for righteousness, because the object of Faith, the Lord Christ, is Jehovah our righteousness. Come then, let your Faith, and Love, and Zeal, kindle, burn, rise, flame, higher and higher. believe it, you'll be but useless men without zeal, for your parts and gifts, will be useless: As a knife without an edge, a ship without sails, sails without wind, a bird without wings, wheels without oil, an horse without mettle; such is a man, any man, a man in Honour without Zeal.  
But a word or two more, my Lords, and I have done: You must show yourselves noble Christians in your places, relations, correspondencies, and improve all your Interests for the Honour of Jesus Christ; and if you Honour God, he will Honour you, and your house, 1 Sam. 2. 30. Honour God not only with outward, but inward worship; honour him with your soul and body, and substance: Perform Honourable actions, do not disdain to anoint the feet of our Saviour; the lower you do stoop to serve Christ, the higher you will be preferred for your humble service: You may smell the perfume of that woman's ointment (that anointed the feet of Christ) even to this very day, wheresoever the Gospel is Preached. Salvator noster faeminae monnumentum curr● triumphali vel Statuâ Imperatoris, illustrius erexit. Study Honorabilia legis, The great and honourable things of the Law and Gospel. Consider, that vile affections, base lusts, will dishonour your bodies, and damn your souls, Rom. 1. 24, 26. O possess your vessels in sanctification and honour, 1 Thes. 4. 4. It will not be for your honour to be guilty of those sins which ye ought to punish. Jehu was a murderer in the sight of God, for slaying of idolators, because he was an idolater himself. Mordecai was next to the King, great among the Jews, and accepted of the people, by doing what was right in the sight of the people, Hester 10. 3. You shall be near to Jesus Christ, and accepted of God, if ye do what is right in the sight of God, Glory, and Honour, and Peace, shall rest upon you; for to them, who by Patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honour, and immortality, God will give immortal honour, eternal life, Rom. 2. 7, 10. You know, that they are good men, who are good in their places; and they are men of Honour, who keep a good conscience, in places of honour.  
My Lords, I do not desire to deal with you in a full Body, as you make an House of Peers; but I consider you, as you 
Tiberius ergo cujus tempore nomen Christianum in saeculum introivit annunciatum— detulit ad Senatum cum praerogatiuâ suff●agii sui Sena●…s quia non in se probaverat, respuit. Tertul. Apol●ge●. c. 5.  will be considered, and dealt with, at the day of judgement; then Christ will take you out, every Lord single by himself, one by one, and say: Sir, you had the honour to sit in the House of Peers, why did you hold correspondence with my utter enemies, the Antichristian faction, and commonly give your Vote against me, when the welfare of three Kingdoms, the building up of my Church, and the making of a new heaven upon earth, did much depend upon your Vote. When it was put to the Vote in the Senate at Rome, Whether Christ should be worshipped as God in the Roman Territories? It was carried against him, by a major part of Votes. But, my Lords, I hope, nay, I know better things of your House, then of the Roman Senate; for the House of Peers hath passed a Vote lately, much conducing to the Honour of Jesus Christ, and the Reformation of particular Congregations: Be pleased to proceed, and perfect the Work; let the ignorant be better instructed, and the scandalous better disciplined; the Liberties, and privileges of God's people, restored, heretics, Blasphemers, Seducers, severely punished. Oh that you could form, and new mould, our Armies into Churches also: Is it not possible, that there should be a spiritual Militia, a powerful ministry, and some ecclesiastical, as well as Military Discipline, set up, and countenanced amongst them? I must acknowledge, That when I had the honour to serve the sat, and attend the Army, I received all encouragement from His Excellency, the Noble general, in the work of my ministry: But I believe, the want of Ministers was one defective cause, or at least, occasion of many disorders, in that Army; and how highly God was provoked by those disorders, we have all cause to acknowledge, yet give me leave to say, That your sins had an influence into that sad defeat, as well as ours, and notwithstanding all the faults of that Army: Surely, my Lords, That Army which had borne the heat, and burden, nay, carried away the glory of the day, in so many set-battles, and solemn victories, should not have been so much neglected, but timely relieved. You see, my Lords, I know not how to flatter you, but I beseech you, I beseech you, That since the Kingdom hath paid so dear for our learning, we may learn so much wisdom, by what we have suffered, as to make better provision for the Army, in both those particulars, another time: Let faithful, judicious, able, Ministers, and a good Reserve, constantly attend the main Body of your chief Army, that it may be an Army with Banners, a royal, terrible, successful, Army.  
My strength is spent, but I must revive my spirits, and entreat you to take care of your Noble Families. What a dishonourable thing would it be, if it should be said of any Noble man's Family, as it was of Abimelech's Court: Surely, the fear of God is not in this place; nay, the contempt of God and godliness, reigns, and domineers, in this place. Machiavel himself could not but censure, such gross corruption, and abominable contempt amongst those that call themselves Christians. Summopere vituperandi sunt Religionis contemptores & corruptores, Disp. de Repub. l. c. 10. Take heed of such Chaplains which poison Noble Families with Socinianism, leaven them with Atheism, or corrupt them with profaneness: Beware of them that have no more Religion, than is to be found in that unworthy Book, called Religio 
Foedumcrimen ●ervit●…is est adulatio.  Medici, A Book too much applauded by noblemen. Be sure your Chaplain claim no kindred of that tame Beast, we spoke of, The flatterer, Pessimum genus, laudantes: The Panther by his sweet enticing breath, doth first invite men, and then devour them. And when you have an honest Chaplain, command him to deal honestly with your precious souls.  
My Lords, You will allow your gardener to weed your Gardens; you will not tell him, that it is a breach of privilege for him, to pluck up a weed in your honour's Garden; you will not say, Such a weed stinks, but it grew here in my father's time: Oh spare that weed for antiquities sake. Oh give your Chaplains as free leave to weed your Souls, and Families, as your gardener hath to weed your Gardens. reformed your servants likewise; let David a man of honour, be your pattern: Read the 101. Psalm when you come home, and put it in execution. If the Liver, stomach, Spleen, be corrupt, and send up impure vapours to the head, the brain had need be of a strong constitution to dispel, or expel such noisome vapours. But above all, take care of your sweet children, the rising Hope of your Noble Family; Fix, fix your careful eye upon the son of your first love, your Heir: Make him a man, before you leave him Heir of all: Make him another Cobham, another Harrington: Observe what company he doth affect, for his companions are his Peers: Pares cum paribus congregantur. Noble men do too often go to Hell with their Peers. Some Heirs of excellent mettle, have been rung lamentably out of tune, by wicked companions. Augustius was not acquainted with his two Daughters, till as Su●tonius saith, He observed them at a public show, and then he knew them by their company; for the senators discoursed with Livia, and the Revellers with Julia. Be sure to have your Heir well-catechized, let him learn how to live like a Saint, and how to die like a Martyr: Quatuor Novissima semper perpendenda sunt: But Noblemen think too little of Death and Judgement, Heaven and Hell. Let your Heir know, that the flesh of Christians must not be pampered, because they are often called on to be in a readiness, to have their flesh tortured: Tell him, that Protestants were wont to overcome the torments of fire, and he must learn to do that, and more, to overcome the temptations of the Court: Tell him, that the glory of the Christians of old, was to derive their Pedigree from some Noble Martyr: Bid him prepare for this Christian Ennoblishment; assure him, that if his Honour be not a spur to virtue, all his Honour will be but vanity in his youth, and vexation in his latter age. Do your best to make him a Scholar, as well as a Christian. Lewis the eleventh, desired his son might be no Scholar, because he was afraid, that the pride of his learning would make him scorn his council of State, and adhere to his own private opinion, Ne esset in cons●li●● capiendis refractior & tenacior sui sensus: Lewis had his desire in part, his son was ●o Scholar, I say, his son was no Scholar, and yet despised his council, and harkened to base fellows, who turned him which way they pleased, to the prejudice of the State, and their own private gain. Let your sons have learning enough, to balance contrary arguments; settle their minds with some principles of rational learning, but be sure, that they neglect not practical Philosophy; such as we borrow from fragments of Pythagoras, Socrates, and some pieces of Plato. Socrates was the Athenian doctor, Qui Philosophiam primus à c●lo avocavit, in urbibus collocavit, & in D●mos introduxit: We are beholding to the School of Socrates, for Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle, and Aristotle (who heard Socrates three years, and Plato twenty) might if he would, have given us some more practical notions, than he thought fit to communicate unto us. But when your Heir hath sucked what he can from Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Plutarch, Quintilian, Seneca, Epictetus, and the rest: Let him know, that he may learn more Wisdom, and morality, from Solomon's Proverbs, and the Book of Ecclesiastes, then from all the Philosophers, that ever wrote; yet that you may know what Philosophers thought of their own sons, when they proved degenerate: Give me leave to communicate the notion of a Philosopher unto you, though it be clothed with a very homely comparison; yet because I have dealt so plainly with you, I will conceal nothing from you. Suppose you saw Aristippus plucking a Louse out of 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Diog. La●r●i●…, vit. Ari●●ip. p. 142. Vi●e Xenophon▪ Cyropaed. e'en. Sylv. tract. de liber. educat. Nec non Epistol. 339. Brisson de Regno Pe●●, de Insti●. lib. Reg. Plat. de Repub. lib. 2.  his h●ad, and be speaking his debauched son much after this manner. Son, I am as much cried out on for neglecting you, as if I had forgotten, that you are part of myself; but I do here solemnly acknowledge, that you came out of my body, so did this ●…mine also; and I value you no more. Let your sons be acquainted with such severe truths: Command them to lay aside their Amorous Pamphlets, and corrupting playbooks; but more especially convince the son of your hopes, and the son of your desires, That those black Books which kindle the fire of lust, kindle the black fire of Hell within him. Aeneas Sylvi●s was ashamed of his youthful Pamphlets, after he was made Pope, and had the noble Title of Pius added to the gravity of his years. S●ni (saith he) magis quam Juveni ●…dit●, En●am ●…ii cite, Pium suscipite. Command your son to read the Bible daily, nay, even night and day; for all Arts and Sciences are contained in the Book of God: This one Book is a Library. Here you may confer with the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and ancient Saints. Ladies look here, and part with all your Looking-Glasses, as they did, Exod. 38. 8▪ for this lookingglass, this Laver: Here's a lookingglass to show you your spots; and here's a Laver to wash them off, Jam. 1. 23, 25. Titus 3. 5, 6. See here's a Garden full of Flowers; here's a Casket full of Jewels; here's an Heaven full of Stars; here's a Book full of GOD.  
FINIS.   

ERrata. Pag. 7. l●ne 24. read, nor is it an act of will, p. 7. l. 25. read, or reason, or left, p. 8. margin, for ara●us, r. aratris; p 13. marg. r. des●… esse nobilis, p. 13. l. 2 r filled with, p. 23. l. 4. for names, r. manners, marg. r. ad●ibuisse, p. 24. l. 14. r. stronger ass, p. 38. l. 12. r. so far from, p. 41. m. r. Dictatoremse, p. 47. m. r. fru●●raren●ur, p 48. l. 1. r. preserved, in m. faelicior, p. 49. marg. r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, p. 53. 〈◊〉. 35. r. any hearty, p. 56. marg. r. est for &.