mended and extolled than this ; 3. There is no one duty that hath more choice and precious promises annexed to it than this ; 4. There is no one duty that hath greater rewards attending it than this.l Evagrius, a rich man, being importuned by Synesius, a bishop, to give somethmg to charitable uses, he yielded at last to give three hundred pounds ; but first took bond of the bishop that it should be repaid him m another world, according to the promise of our Saviour with a hundredfold advantage. Mat. xix. 29. Before he had been one day dead, he is said to have appeared to the bishop, deliverino- in the bond cancelled, as thereby acknowledging that what was pronnsed was m^ie good. It is certain, that one day's being in heaven will make a sufficient recompense for whatsoever a man has given on earth
Neither shall I acquaint the world with those particular favours and respects which you have shewed to myself, but treasure them up in an awakened breast, and be your remembrancer at the throne of grace Only I must let the world know that I owe you more than an epistle- and If you please to accept of this mite in part of payment, and im- prove it for your soul's advantage, you will put a farther Obligation
Let the lustre of your prudence, wisdom, charity, fidelity eenerositv and humi ity of spirit shine gloriously through all your plkfesoS' abih les, riches employments, and enjoyments; for^thTs Cthe Wht the! sTf Sof^r];- • ^/ ''1 '' .4^> -' --^-ber for everX ot bad, are always fixed upon you. God is all ear to hear aU hind fo punish, all power to protect, all wisdom to direct, all goodness To rdieve ter I' Pfd°^'/nd he is totus oc^dusMl ?ye to obse^^^^^^^^
stvirVYrn r^^fcrofThri '^.n^ ^^ "^' ^^^^^ -^
affirmeth, that God beh M e^en thf^er^fLJrAf' ""' ^?.^°' ^SoTttl^&^t^^^^^^^^
Plai'n path,beci of t eneX^'k^^^^^^^^ '''^ ''' '^ ^
Hebrew, 'because of our obseW ^n T^l^ ^^ ' ^''. °f^'^^ *^^ there have been Sauls and ^nptJ it' J ^}^ J^^ ^^^^ «f ^^^ ^o^d with an evil eye^nd tlLf^e^^^^^^ ^'^'^ ^^^^«
are multitudes that will be stV e,W nn^^^ '^'■\^^\ 1^' ^^^^^
offices, carriages, and Lversation n? ^"^^.P/^f ^ ^^to the practices, more it conct-ns themTw. T . "^^f'^'^}^' ^^d ministers, the earthly angels in the mid. f Z ' P"f^' ^^t, and walk like so many ration; PhriL?5 ""^ ^ ''''^'^' P^^^^^^^' ^^d froward gene-
or^^rntStthT^^^^^^^^^ to a kingdom
i, wnicn Jethro well understood when he gave Moses
^ Prov. iii. 9, 10; Eccles xi 1 2 • f l • i '-JMPOJ^der upon it;] Mat. xxV. 34-41.^'" ' ^ ^''''- '''"' ^-^' ^"^ i^- 1.2; Isa. Iviii.
of th/sc-hooiiie; ^ic^'eSin ^Del^st ?>i/i';i""- ^^ ' ^'^- ^^- ^'- I* i« a saying
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 9
that good counsel, to make choice out of the people of grave and able men, ' such as feared God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; and to make them rulers over thousands, and rulers over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens/ i But in the nations round, how rare is it to find magistrates qualified, suitable to Jethro's counsel ! Alphonsus, king of Spain, coming very young to the crown, some advised that seven counsellors might be joined to govern with him, who should be men fearing God, lovers of justice, free from filthy lusts, and such as would not take bribes ; to which Alphonsus replied, If you can find seven such men, nay, bring me but one so qualified, and I will not only admit him to govern with me, but shall willingly resign the kingdom itself to him. Wicked policies are ever destructive to their authors; as you may see in Pharaoh, in Ahithophel, in Haman, &c., Exod. i. 10, 22 ; 2 Sam. xvi. and xxiii. 23 ; Esth. vii. 10. As long as the Roman civil magistrates, senators, and commanders of armies were chosen into places of honour and trust for their noble descent, their prudence and valour, their state did flourish, and did enlarge its dominions more in one century of years than it did in three after these places of honour came to be venal, and purchased by concession.^ For then men of no parts were for money promoted to highest digni- ties ; whereupon civil contentions were fomented, factions increased, and continual bloody intestine wars maintained; by which the ancient liberties of that state were suppressed, and the last government of it changed into an imperial monarchy. As long as the chief offices of the crown of France, and the places of judicature of the realm, were given by Charles the Fifth, surnamed the Wise, to men of learning, of wisdom, and valour in recompense of their loyalty, virtue, and merits, that kingdom did flourish, with peace, honour, and prosperity ; 3 and the courts of parliaments of France had the honour, for their justice and equity, to be the arbitrators and umpires of all the differences that happened in those days between the greatest princes of Christen- dom. But when these places of honour and trust were made venal, in the reigns of Francis the Second, Charles the Ninth, and Henry the Third, and sold for ready money to such as gave most for them, then was justice and equity banished, and that flourishing kingdom reduced to the brim of ruin and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody civil war. The wicked counsel given by the Cardinal de Lorraine, and the Duke of Guise his brother, to Charles the Ninth, king of France, to allure all the Protestants to Paris, under colour of the marriage of Henry de Bourbon with Margaret de Valois, the king's sister, to have them all as in a trap, for to cut their throats in their beds, as they did for the greatest part, proved fatal to the king, to the cardinal, and the duke ; for the king, by the just judgment of God, died shortly after by an issue of blood, which came out of his mouth, ears, and nostrils, and could never be stopped; and the cardinal and the duke were both slain by the commandment of Henry the Third in the castle of Blois.^ The barbarous policy of Philip the Second, king of Spain, to banish two or three hundred thousand Moors, with their wives and children, under
* Exod. xviii. 21, 22. Magistratus virum indicat, is a maxim as true as old. « See Livius, Decades. ^ See the History of France.
•» See the Massacre of Paris in the Inventorj- of France.
10 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
colour of religion, on purpose to confiscate all their land, and to appro- priate the same to his demesnes, was fatal to him and to all the Spanish nation ; for by the just judgment* of God he was eaten up of lice, and the Spanish nation never thrived since, &cA Were it not for exceed- ing the bounds of an epistle, I might shew, in all the ages of the world how destructive the wicked policies of rulers and governors have been to themselves and the states and nations under them, &c. ; but from such pohcies God has, and I hope will for ever, deliver your soul. Sir, the best poHcy in the world is to know God savingly, to serve him sincerely, to do the work of your generation throughly, and to secure your future happiness and blessedness effectually, &c.