2. Next from favour , procured by letters , friends , favorites , servants , and the like : for all these will stickle now and then in bad causes , and Judges do too often listen to such motions , thereby making others indebted to them against such an occasion . But letters of this nature are best answered with silence : as for friends and favorites , a Judge in his robes , upon the seat of judgement , should be no man of this world ; but like the Angels in heaven , where they neither marry , Matt. 22.30 . nor are given in marriage ; that is , all earthly relations do cease . As for your servants , if they move in a cause , suspect those lesser wheels to be newly oyled , or else they would not go so round : yea of all these say , Magìs amica veritas , I will lose you all for justice sake .

3. Sometime from anger : No passion but is an evil guide in execution of justice , even too much compassion ; for there is a cruel mercy : but there is none so impetuous and dangerous , as this of anger : for if there be an angry prejudice against the person , even slender probabilities will seem vehement presumptions , and presumptions will appeare pregnant evidence . Anger is the drunkennesse of the minde , which robs a man of himself : nay , it is a short madnesse , differing from it onely in duration : for if a man should ever be as in his passion , with eyes staring , countenance red and inflate , teeth grating and interfering , tongue stutting and stam●●●●ng , hands shaking and trembling , and all actions thus irregular , shewing laesum principium ; who would not say , this man were distracted ? But if Socrates would not beat his boy when he was angry , how much more should all ministers of justice banish this heady passion from the judgement-seat , lest they heat the oven seven times hotter in their own cause then in Gods , proceeding in heat against the person , and not in zeal against the sinne ?

4. Lastly , from fear or cowardise : this cast away Nabaoth ; the Judges had letters written in Achabs name , and sealed with his seal , and they durst not go against the Kings Mandamus . With this the Jews brought on Pilate to give sentence of death against the Lord of life , who adjudged him both to die and to be guiltlesse of death , Nè non videretur amicus Caesari , Lest he should not be Cesars friend , or rather , lest Cesar should not be his friend : But how much better had it been , if these Judges had preferred the displeasure of the great Judge of all the world ? and said , Da veniam , Imperator ; tu minaris carcerem , Deus gehennam : I will forfeit mine head , or mine office , rather then my truth . Thus they who be in scarlet should be valiant men . Nah. 2.3 . To betray a cause for want of courage , is worse then for want of understanding : this is of ignorance , but that is voluntary ; therefore not to be expiated but by double sacrifice .

A minister of justice of the two had better be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without an head of knowledge , then an heart of execution . But joyn head and heart together in this sacred cause , wisedome going before like a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and courage coming after like a puissant army . And this be said of the first point against this base-born Partiality , descended either from reward , favour , passion , or cowardise ; onely let me adde , that , No errour in justice doth so directly flie to the throat , as respect of persons doth : other do but lame her , but this gives her the deadly & mortall wound .

The second point is , Obstinate offenders are chiefly to be looked unto ; Whosoever will not , &c. This obstinacy is indeed an Alecto in anothers likenesse , a meer mock-vertue , walking under the habit of constancy or fortitude , ( as many other vices have their cloaks also ) but we shall uncase him presently . These obstinates be of two sorts , Dogmaticall , and Practicall : the one in opinion , the other in life and conversation .

The Dogmaticall obstinates are such as erre in judgement : as Schismaticks led by a particular spirit , erring on the right hand ; and Papists who are carried with conceit of the religion of their fathers and forefathers , and these erre on the left hand : both of them thinking themselves constant , but are indeed obstinate , as we know . To both I say with S. Paul , It is good to be zealous in a good thing . Galat. 4.18 . But of these after in as fit a place .

The Practicall obstinates are they we now have to deal withall . They who do not obey must have judgement ; but it is a great and unsufferable increase of the fault , when men will not obey : for Non obedire shuts the doore , but Nolle obedire doth bolt and rampiere it up against all duty to God and the King . Such S. Rom. 1.30 . Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , haters of God , and hated of God : Acts 5.39 . these be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , such as will not have God to reigne over them ; like Pharaoh , who blusters at Gods message , Exod. 5.2 . saying , Who is the Lord ? not unlike the Thracians , who in thunder and lightning used by way of revenge to shoot shafts at Jupiter . They are described in Scripture to have words , thoughts , and lives , all peremptorily wicked . For their words , they are stout against the Lord , saying , Depart from us , &c. They set their mouth against heaven , Job . 21.14 . Psal. 73.9 . and their tongue walketh throughout the earth . Psal. 12.4 . Our lips are our own ; who is Lord over us ? Their thoughts are no better , for they are haughty in their own conceit , therein making a fool of the whole world . As for their lives , they have a resolution quidlibet audendi : tell them of death and hell ; they are at a point for that , They have made a league with death , See Isa. 28.18 . and with hell they are at agreement : And as for counsel ( the medicine of putrid mindes ) either they will not be charmed , like the adder which , Cassiodorus saith , stops one eare against the earth , the other with his tail ; or if in any fit they give it the hearing , they take it by whiffes as they do tobacco , it 's no sooner in , but it 's out with a puffe . In their soaring presumptions they build Babels : but as they begin in pride , so they end in confusion ; for this obstinacy in sinning , is ever the punishment of custome in sinne , and is that which S. Paul calls the reprobate minde . Rom. 1. ●8 . These are in respect of Gods and the Kings laws , very outlaws & lords of misrule in a Commonwealth . The character of this obstinate is this , or such like ; By birth he is a Gentleman , or at least an heire of one who lived poore to leave him rich ; he is brought up to nothing but to live upon his lands ; for the most part he comes to his lands at one and twenty , and by that time , though young in yeares , yet is he old in wickednesse ; by foure and twenty hath spent good part of his estate , and if possibly he can he will sell his land twise or thrise over ; he never names God but to swear by him ; he is a coyner or minter of new and execrable oaths ; he fears not God , nor man , save Sergieants , and Baliffes ; he hath already travelled through many prisons ; he owes for clothes of six or seven severall fashions , yet he loseth no rent , for he takes it all aforehand : he undoes his tenants by suretiship ; for the young master , if he gets into an Inne , he comes not out till his horse pay the reckoning , and there out of his window scoffes at those who go to church ; his discourse is nothing but rayling upon , and disgracing the better minded Justices , and other ministers of justice ; in every quarrell he is either principall or second ; he is a night-walker , and if he should never be drunk , he would die for want of sleep ; where ever he comes he misuses the Constable , and beats the watch ; he never comes in any publique assembly but a play , nor rides through a town without smoke at his nose : but in processe of time , his means spent , his credit crackt , his hopes forlorn , having nothing left of a Gentleman , but his long lock and his sword , he had rather lack life then living , and either kills a man or takes a purse , and is brought to the assises : Where if ye meet any such , remember the charge , Whosoever will not &c.

The third point is , Gods honour must first be provided for , The law of thy God &c. It 's true , the charge proceeded from an heathen King , but not from an heathen spirit ; and is recorded by the Spirit of God , to be a moving president , and authentick copy for all Kings to write after . Blessed be God , our King , when he gives this charge , alters the terms , and saith for Thy God , My God , and doth so charge it upon his Judges , and all inferiour ministers of justice in their severall orbs , that , Whosoever will not obey the law of My God &c. Now if heathen Artaxerxes could stoop so low , as to let the law of Ezra's God go before his own : how much more ( by a binding argument from the lesse to the greater ) will it be expected from all Kings who own him for their God ? So that the naming Gods law before the Kings , is not bare complement , and for manners sake onely ; but for the naturall precedency thereof . And verily when God made all this world , and brought man not to the bare walls of it , but as the bee to the hive , even readie stockt and stored with variety of creatures , both for necessitie and delight , and placed order therein by his providence to keep the same in reparation , that as men have dominion over creatures , so some men are made Gods deputies to rule over men : all this was not to part with his glory to another , or to stand to the curtesie of others , to be at their carving and allowance for his honour ; but that all men , even Kings , should hold all of him in Capite , and do him homage for his goodnesse , the Lord granting us indeed the good and sweet of his favours , but as a rent or tribute , by way of acknowledgement , reserving the honour of them to himself . Hence it is , that in Scripture wheresoever the Kings power is spoken of , there is also expressed , or at least intimated , Gods supremacy . If Paul saith , Be obedient to higher powers , he addeth , Rom. 13.1 . For they are of God . If Christ saith , Matt. 22.21 . Give unto Cesar that which is Cesars , he also saith , Give to God that which is Gods . If Solomon saith , Honour the King , Prov. 24.21 . he hath first said , Fear God . And so here Artaxerxes premiseth the law of God before the law of the King . Nay , if this be not so , what do ye here ? do ye not come to heare Gods charge before ye shew the Kings commission ; as if that could not take place , till this had made way for it ? Hence is it also that all good Kings and Magistrates in Scripture began their reigne and government with doing something for God and religion , as is evident in Moses , Joshua , David , Solomon , and the rest : and of famous memory was that of blessed Queen Elisabeth , who first bound up that tender-babe the Church of England in the swathing band of reformation , before she provided any thing for the establishment of her own throne , by the subjects recognition of her title to the imperiall Crown . And for shame let not us give lesse to God , then the heathen to their Idols , with whom A Jove princip●um was a perpetuall rule , ever beginning all their solemne actions with sacrifice to their gods . The Lord reserved in the Old law as sacred to himself , the first-fruits , and firstlings in every kinde , teaching us in all things to serve God of the first , and best . And what is the Kings law without Gods ? what is the Kings peace without Gods peace ? outward prosperitie without religion ? nay , peace is no peace without religion : unity without verity breeds not peace , but conspiracie . Oh then let God be the Alpha and Omega of this sacred action : let the beginning be with God , by his assistance , the ending for God , by providing for his honour .

Fourthly , The law of the King must also be freed from violation ; And the Kings law &c. There be two sorts offended with this clause . First the Anabaptists , who cannot endure any law of magistracy : accounting all compelling and restraining government , plain tyrannie ; shewing thereby their mutinous mindes , desiring omnia complanare , to beat down all inclosure of magistracy , and to lay all levell and common : and then what could follow , but that every one would do what seemed good in his eyes , if there were no law of the King in Israel ? Secondly the Papists , who though they can brook Kings & many of their laws , yet they cannot endure them so neare God and his law , but there must be room left between God and the King for the Pope , whom his flatterers call Vice-god , Monarch of the Christian world , Defender of the Papall omnipotency . ( oh blasphemie ! ) And as for Emperours and Kings , they be but as the Moon , borrowing their light from him their Sunne ; and are nothing but his vassals , to hold his stirrop , to lead his horse , to carry his canopie , to hold his bason when he washeth , & to be deposed or exalted at his pleasure . But then let him take it with the appurtenances : He is Antichrist for his labour , exalting himself , according to S. Pauls prophesie , 2. Thes. 2.4 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , above all that is called God , as Kings are by God himself , Psal. 82.6 . But ask Tertullian ; he tells us that Kings are homines a Deo secundi , & solo Deo minores , Next to God , and second to none but God : and , as Chrysostom , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Kings have no peer upon earth , but are the top and head of all men . And so , for all Anabaptists and Papists , we affirm the fourth point , That next to Gods the Kings law must also be freed from violation . Those whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder : such are every where God and the King , God and Cesar , Gods law and the Kings law : and indeed they be twins , to laugh and mourn , to live and ( in some sense ) to die together . The Kings law doth clap a shore to Gods law ; not that Gods law is in it self weak and needs it , but because men are not so well bred , as for conscience or love of goodnesse to obey , but are much swayed by temporall reward or punishment by mans law distributed or inflicted . If any ask whether the Kings law doth binde conscience as Gods law doth ; I answer , That Gods law is immediately seated upon the conscience , mans law is seated upon the conscience too , but mediately , and as it hath authority from Gods law : for God doth permit Kings to make laws as Kings do Corporations , and Colledges to make Constitutions , provided alwayes that they contain in them nothing contrary to a statute law : So that though the Kings law doth challenge obedience , as Gods law doth , and gives as it were the same arms , yet ( like a younger brother ) it must be with distinction . If any ask further in what things the law of man hath power to command with strictest tie ; I answer , That as Merchants sometime suffer their servants in the time of their apprentishood , to trade for themselves in some commodities , wherein they themselves do not deal : So properly the law of man hath his principall strength in things of their own nature indifferent ; for these be neither commanded nor forbidden in Gods law : To conclude this point , The Kings law is the sinew of all government , which to cut , is to ham-string Church and Common-wealth ; for it is better to live where nothing , then where every thing is lawfull .

In the next place , Justice in these cases must have her due course , Let him have judgement &c. By this time Justice calls out to all her retinue , Judges , Justices , Jurours , &c. Is there any who will not obey & c ? I charge you let him have judgement , whosoever he be ; and saith in Gods words , Thine eye shall not spare in judgement . And heare your charge , O ye Ministers of justice : she hath made you executours of her will , and hath bound you all by oath well and truely to perform it , so farre as Gods and the Kings law shall binde you : See then ye discharge and not deceive the trust reposed in you , lest Church and Commonwealth , the orphanes whose guardians ye be , do lose religion and peace , the legacies which she hath bequeathed them . Judex , saith Isidore , is jus-dicens : for the Judge is a speaking law , and the law is a silent Judge . Verily the law is a dead letter till the Judge breaths the breath of life into it by execution , which is the edge and life of it . The law sees nothing but by the eyes of the Judge , and Judges are the eyes of the Commonwealth : which if they be by any means put out , a State , though never so potent , is but like big-limbed Polyphemus , ready for ruine ; or mighty Sampson , pulling down all upon their heads , to their own and the ruine of all ingaged with them in the same condition . Cicero could say , that Impunitie is the greatest breeder and nurse of transgression that may be : For to let malefactours go without judgement , either not at all or condignly punishing them , is but to stroke the offenders on the head , as Eli did with a Do no more so , my sonnes , and so to give them and other after them a kinde of commission to do the like . Take heed of a weak affectation of mercifull Judges , or mercifull Juries ; take heed ( I say ) ye do not thereby encourage sinne , and clap it on the back . Can that be mercy , which is unjust ? The greatest and most admired mercy that ever the world saw , even that whereby we must all live for ever , was it with neglect of justice ? No : for Ecce benignitatem & severitatem Dei may also to this great work be applied , it being hard to determine whether Gods adopted sonnes found more mercy , or his naturall sonne more severitie . Bonis nocet qui malis parcit , saith Seneca ; By sparing one ye are injurious to many ; for Chrysostom saith well , Dum parcebatur lupo , mactabatur grex , Spare the wolf , and the flock goes to wrack . What though the vulgar account you hard Judges ? remember the answer of a King of Thrace to one telling him that ( in regard of his severitie ) he played the mad-man and not the King , Oh , saith the King , this my madnesse makes my subjects sound and wise .

Execution must be speedy , Without delay . Yet no more haste then good speed ; mature deliberation must go before execution : nothing must be judged before the time ; for that were not speedy but rash judgement , an evil in our private and petty carriages severely forbidden , therefore much more in publique and weighty affairs . But when the way is made , and the offender convicted , then Judges must ( like Almighty God ) be swift witnesses ; for sinne and punishment must ride both on one horse , let him that hath done the work have his wages ; for in criminall causes it is as crying a sinne to detein it , as from the honest labourer : And this hath no lesse place in personall causes between man and man , which if they hang long before a Judge , it is as a sore long under a chirurgians hand , or a quartane ague , which is opprobrium medicorum .

Thus have I with your Honourable and Christian an patience passed through the points propounded ; I have washed and searched the wounds , and also prepared the plaister : Now give me leave , I beseech you , to lay it on ( as tenderly as I can ) in a few words of Application : wherein I intend healing , not exasperating ; but if any sore smart , it is because it 's festred or ranckled , not by any corrosive in the balm . And now what shall I do ? shall I be silent and give in a verdict of Omnia bene ? that 's indeed the shortest cut , and safest way ; but so should I make all your sinnes mine own : No , we must review every piece of the Text , and charge the same upon all the Ministers of justice , great and small , upon Judges the Kings eyes in their circuits , upon Justices the Judges eyes in their divisions , upon Jurours who are the scales of justice to weigh all actions , and upon witnesses who put these weights into the scales . But oh hard task , to rake in this kennell , to speak of the many-headed vice in all these particulars , without dislike from you , or check from mine own conscience ! so that I may say in Persius his words , Oh , si fas dicere . Sed fas . Shall the stage in a play , and the Poet in a peal of Satyres deride your sinnes with a prophane spirit ? and shall the Spirit of God in the pulpit be confin'd ? or must the Preacher stoop at pulpit-doore to take measure of his hearers feet ? God forbid ; I am sent this day on Gods errand to you all ; which if it should not please , remember I beseech you that I am but a poore messenger , and must do my message at mine own perill . First there must be no partiality in judgement . And give me leave , most Honoured Lords ( lest I should commit a sinne of partiality while I speak against it ) in the first place to addresse my self to your Honours . I have an awfull and reverend respect of your places and persons ; yet remember , I beseech you , that humilitie in eminency is a singular vertue , if ( like the soaring eagle or towring hawk ) the higher ye be , the lesse ye seem : and I do well know your labours & pains are great : for magna fortuna , magna servitus : your difficulties also are more then we can imagine ; you have the winde and storms in your faces , when we be under the lee ; and being fathers of the Commonwealth , do wake for us when we do sleep . I meddle not with your employments of state ; they are out of my reach , I am no eaves-dreeper of state ; it is for me to observe the ground-winde , not the rack-winde ; I keep me therefore within the compasse of my Text , and desire your Honours seriously to ponder , that acceptation of persons in judgement is a stinking abomination in the nostrils of the Almighty , whether it be for reward , favour , passion , or cowardise . For the first , mine own breast doth clear your selves , that ye be not as those Judges in Plutarch , who ever came to the judgement-seat , as to a golden harvest , and I hope ye will as well look to the fingers of those about you . Let it not be with you , as with many great ones , who are said to allot no other wages or reward to their servants , but their avales of this nature : partiality for favour findes easier entrance then the former : but I beseech you remember , that publick places afford not means of pleasuring private friends , but follow that memorable example of Cleon , who being called to the government of the Commonwealth , assembled all his intimate friends , and disclaimed all inward amity with them . And most truly saith Tully , He deprives himself of the office of a friend , who takes upon him the person of a Judge . Yet also take heed of the contrary , of being transported with anger : we use not troubled water till it be setled , we bring not a rough and unmannaged horse to the turney ; no more should you unbridled affections to the judgement-seat ; but when ye robe your bodies , ye should also apparrell your mindes with calmed affections . I confesse there is an anger becoming a Judge , for one saith , Qui caret irâ , caret justitiâ , He who cannot be angry , cannot be just : but this is to be understood of that anger which whets courage , not of that which blindeth wisedome .

As for fear , it 's too base an humour to trapper justice , the over-fearfull man is but a piece of a man . Claudius ( the first of the Cesars ) his mother was wont to say of him for his faint-heartednesse , that nature had begun , but not perfected him . The Egyptians had a law , that if great men should command Judges against law , they should refuse it : and Trajan when he invested any Praetour by giving him the sword , would command him to use it even against himself , in case he violated law or equity . Plutarch worthily reproves Agesilaus for writing thus to one of his Judges in favour of an offender ; Si insons est , dimitte ; sin minùs , meâ causà dimitte : utcunque dimitte : If he be guiltlesse , good reason he should be discharged ; if he be guilty , for my sake discharge him : but guilty or not guilty , see he be discharged . But let your judgement-seats be ( like Solomons throne ) supported on both sides with lions . Oh let Judges be absolute and independent , not having their scantlings given them , and their sentences moulded to their hands : for this is to be an apprentise , and not a master in the art .

In the next place I turn my speech to the worshipfull Justices , who are also Minores Dii , and the second sonnes of justice : Carry an even hand among your neighbours , help not to smother drunkennesse , basterdy , or any wickednesse in any , though allied or linked in any relation ; prosecute not a small errour over eagerly in one , whereat ye connive in another : in a word , let there be no one sit on our bench , in whom the countrey may observe that the baskets not walking , not giving worship , cap & knee enough , not coming in upon your carting daies , not saluting you on Newyeares day morning , or any such mean respect , or other disrespect will incense you to whet the sword of justice , and so to avenge your private conceits .

Now a word to the Jurours and witnesses , & let it be spoken not onely to them who are so at this assises , but to all that have been before , or that may be hereafter : for I would fain for this short Christmas keep open house , and give every one something . Let me therefore tell you Jurours , There must be no partiality in judgement : but when ye have heard the case opened , counsel speak on both sides , ye know the issue to be tried , ye have heard the proof on both sides , then when ye go together ye have the scales of justice put into your hands to weigh the evidence , ye cannot but see which carries most weight , which scale goes up and which goes down : Now let not reward , liberall charges , or expectation of future kindenesses ; let not favour , alliance , or neighbourhood , or any such respect ; let not anger or malice ; let not fear or cowardise make the verdict : but for love of God , for love of justice , for love of your countrey , for love of your own souls do that is right without partiality . But have all Jurours done thus ? or will all do thus ? Oh no ; for how frequent is it for a Jurour to be prepossessed of a cause , and to resolve not to go against his neighbour , neighbours friend , his kinsman , his old masters sonne , his Lords tenant , and the like ; thinking it but a small courtesie and not to be denied , to lend one another an oath in such cases ; and so against all right do bring in a verdict which makes the Judge amazed , the whole Court astonished , and justice clean overturned ; and all this by a Suffolk Jury , a place not civilized only , but noted for religion . But what doth such a Jury ? First it tells a loud lie , for it 's before all the County : next , they call God to witnesse this lie by falsifying their oath ; and as much as lies in them they make him a partie : besides , they justifie the wicked and condemne the just : fourthly , they rob and perhaps undo the party against whom they go : lastly ( without Gods wonderfull mercy ) they cast away their own souls . Oh! what heart bleeds not to see souls thus thronging to hell by the dozens ?

As for witnesses , whose testimony makes the cause weighty or light , and who also binde themselves solemnly by oath to speak the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth , ( here 's no evasion ) yet how common is it with some to be Knights of the post , for a small reward to be able to frame an oath of any size ? yea some will do it for a meales meat , and thus deeply transgresse for a morsell of bread : yea , for a need a man may finde some who will swear to things done before they were born . Others for favour and their friends will desperately stretch their consciences ; but , if there be malice , one would wonder at their sound tales against witches and other offenders , and how again they will mince the truth for fear of greatnesse : but remember , a false witnesse shall not go unpunisht : for God either payes them at the stub , by shewing some speciall judgement upon them ; or , if it be deferred ( without deep repentance ) they have it with interest in hell for ever .

Gods honour and the Kings must be freed from violation : for I finde them together in the Text , and so I 'le keep them in the Application . The sturdy sinnes and obstinate vices of the times against Gods law and the Kings , are those for whom justice at all hands calls for judgement . I pitch onely upon foure which I take to be the bleeding wounds and running sores of this Kingdome ; all forbidden by the law of God and the King : These are Superstitious Popery , Blasphemous Swearing , Profane Sabbath-breaking , and Beastly drunkennesse . A word of each . First , Popery violates the honour of God ; it being inglorious to each Person in the Trinitie : to the Father , by attempting an Index expurgatorius upon the very Commandments of God , by rasing out the second : to Christ , by setting up a company of miserable saints for mediatours , and joyning works to his all-sufficient sacrifice : to the Holy Spirit , by making the Popes lewd holinesse to be Christ his unerring vicar upon earth , as if Christ were Non-resident from his Church , when he hath said he will be with it to the end by his Spirit : It is also against the Kings law and honour ; for it reacheth at his Crown , and ( if the Catholick cause requires ) at his life too , by setting some base villain for an Assassinate , to change his miscreant life , for the sacred life of Gods Anointed : and a King thus dead , by them dies an excommunicate and accursed person ; and the other an allowed and canonized Martyr . Now the professours of this religion among us , be among the obstinate offenders ; for few of them will conferre , to be informed ; they who will conferre , will not be convicted ; or if they be by Scriptures and arguments convicted , yet will they not be convinced ; and if I had them to speak too , I should have little hope to do them good : yet they shall give me leave to bemone their condition . Poore souls , ( I speak of our common seduced ones ) they have no religion but that which is in Feofees hands : and in whose hands is it ? The Italian proverb tells us , The worst of Catholicks are Priests , the worst of Priests are made Cardinals , the worst of Cardinals made Pope . And the Pope thus bred , is the Feoffee in whom they betrust all their religion : for they have no Faith but that of the Church , to beleeve as the Church beleeves ( a short cut to heaven indeed . ) And who is this Church ? is it not the Pope vertually , and that upon this conceit that he cannot erre ? and yet some , nay most of these Popes have been Sodomites ; and yet he cannot erre : all of them have been ambitious Symonists ; and yet he cannot erre : Some have mixt poison with the Sacrament ; ( and so , if there were any such thing as transubstantiation , had poisoned Christ himself ) and yet he cannot erre : Some have been Hereticks condemned by their successours ; and yet he cannot erre : Some have been Sorcerers and Necromancers ; and yet he cannot erre : He must not be reproved , though he should carry millions of souls to hell ; and yet he cannot erre : One was a woman ; and yet he cannot erre : sometimes there have been Popes and Antipopes together ; and yet he cannot erre : sometime none at all for divers yeares together ; & then onely he could not erre . Behold your Religion , your Faith , your Church , your God in this your Pope , O Catholicks : Poore souls , who bear so great adventure in so leaking a bottom ! If these things be so ( and many here present know them undoubtedly to be so ) may we not wonder that so many are seduced upon these grounds ? but more , that this heresie should dayly gather strength and number , and what the reason should be of the increase of Popery ? We have good laws against them , but they ( like our arms ) lie up and rust . What , do we not still smell the gunpowder , beyond which is Terra incognita , no man knowing what is between it and hell ? do we not know that for these sixtie yeares and more , they have laboured of nothing so much as the undoing of their dearest countrey , which bred and bare them ? Blessed be God , we have the law in our hands : for had they it in theirs , their little finger would be heavier upon us , then our whole body is upon them . Judges complain for want of information : what , have the Justices none in their divisions ? or do their lands lie too neare together ? some others complain , they have promoted , and nothing done . Well , I beseech you , all joyn to put those laws in execution : but ( alas ! ) they are put rather to execution , like those excellent proclamations against Priests and Jesuites ; which once proclaimed , no more is done , but to nail them to a post , and there they hang like malefactours . But remember , I beseech you all , that Sarah and her sonne can have no securitie , unlesse Hagar and her brat be beaten out of doores . Superstitious Papists will not obey the law of God , nor the Kings law ; therefore Let them have judgement without delay .