Sermons Upon Psalm 101, Title page – Dedication
SERMONS, VponUpon the 101. Psalme, conteyning profitable instruction for all, especially for such as hauehave any gouernement ouer others.
By O. P.
IOSVA. 24.15.
And if it seeme euill vntounto you to serue the Lord, choose you this day whome yee will serue, whether the Gods which your fathers serued (that were beyond the floud) or the Gods of the Amorits in whose Land you dwell: but I and mine house will serue the Lord.
1. PET. 2.13, 14.
Submit your selues vntounto al manner ordinance of man for the Lords sake, whether it bee vntounto the King, as vntounto the superiour,
Or vntounto gouernours, as vntounto them that are sent of him, for the punishment of euill dooers, and for the praise of them that doo well.
Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin, for Thomas Man. 1591.
To the right Honorable my verie good Lord, Edward Earle of Bedford, and to the right honorable my very good Ladie Brydgit the Countisse of Bedford, grace and peace be multiplied from God our heauenly father and from our Lorde Iesus Christ.
MY verie good Lorde. The name and remembrance of your right noble Grandfather, Francys Earle of Bedford of famous memorie, is so …retious with such as feare God, and knewe him wel; that as they cannot but bewaile the want of him in these euill, sinfull and dangerous times: So inasmuch as your Lordship is not onelie descended of him, but also the heire to succeede in his honor and place, euen for his sake (no doubt) there be manie, which hauehave you in speciall respect and reuerence. Both which things, (in my iudgement) dutie it self calleth for at their hands. Concerning the first; hee sheweth himselfe altogether careles of the Church and State, that dooth not see with griefe the losse of such a friend of theirs, approued so trustie, faithfull and carefull as that worthie man was. And for the latter, not onelyonly religion, but euen nature it selfe doo teach vsus, to louelove the posteritie of such as we are beholden vntounto. Exod. 1.8.So as the Aegiptians are worthelie blamed, for not fauoring Israel, in respect of the good done to them by Ioseph. And Salomon calleth it a vanitie, Eccle. 8.18.when men bee forgotten in the places where they hauehave done good. For my part, howsoeuer I cannot lay things to heart as I ought, yet am I perswaded, that among other signes of the high displeasure of almightie God against vsus of England for our sinnes and vnthankefulnes, this is not the least, but heauie and fearefull, that he tooke from her excellent Maiestie, and vsus her humble subiects, not onelie this Honorable man, but also many other, wise, trustie, watchfull and experienced Counsellers; and that which is more to bee obserued, sundrie of them in a short space. As if I should begin with Sir Nicolas Bacon sometimes Lorde Keeper, & end with Sir Francis Walsingham Knight, that worthie Secretarie, is there any good subiects heart so hard, that it would not relent; or his head so without water, that it woul dnot send forth teares, in reading the mention of their seuerall deaths? I will say no more touching this matter: onlie this let vsus all remember that in the third of Esay, Isay. 3.2, 3.the Prophet reckoneth vp the taking a waie of the aged, the prudēt, the honorable, & the Counseller, among the great iudgements of God. And that in his 57. Chapter he saith: Isay. 57.1.The righteous perish, and no man considereth it in heart, and mercifull men are taken away, and no man vnderstādeth, that the righteous is taken away from the euill to come. Concerning your Lordship, if there were nothing else to drawe me vntounto you, yet the fauour which it pleased that noble Grandfather of yours my verie good Lord to beare toward mee euen from my youth, and my most humble duetie to his good Lo: in his life time, binde mee to your Lo: in most duetifull and faithfull bands. But there is added beside, your owne honorable and kinde vsage of mee, and that which is the principall, your publique profession of true Religion in these young yeares of yours, & the submitting of your self to the meanes of education in good learning, so as there is good hope, that you shall not onelie succeede in the state & possessions of your said grandfather, but also that you will tread in the good and holie steps of Religion and conuersation which hee trode before you, and hauing finished his course hath now the crown of glorie. This speciallie (my good Lorde) moueth mee to looke toward you, and in any thing that my poore talent will affoord, to …resent you with my seruice, for the furtherance of the good worke begun in your Lo: That hereafter the Church & this State may reape much comfort by you, your selfe true honour here, and the saluation of your soule in the life to come. For the which purposes, I am bold to match your Lo: with the right noble my very good Lady, in offering to you both this homely present, of some labours & sermons of mine vpō the 101. Psal. Which being gathered together by me, when J had preached vponupon the whole Psal. and sithence perused by some learned and godly men, that thought the worke profitable to bee made publike, I hauehave presumed thus far in the dedication of them. My manner of teaching is plaine, for my desire is to be vnderstoode of all, to the edifying of the simplest hearer. Your Lo. therefore must not here looke for, the deckings and furnitures wherewith many seeke to heautifie their Sermons. This I am perswaded, that in the Treatise, you shall finde many things fit for your meditation and practise, not only in respect of your general calling, as you are a Christian, but also more perticularly as God hath made you a noble Peer… of this State, and set you in honour abou… many others. For here you may see, what you ought now to vow & promise vntounto God, how you ought to carry your selfe in respect of that which God hath appoynted for you hereafter, what an example you ought to be to such as depend vponupon you, what seruāts you ought to entertaine, and whome to banish from you. How you should carie your… selfe in the place of gouernement vnderunder her Maiestie, and many other things, which J trust your Lo: and others may make good vse of. And I beseech you let me obteine it at your Lo: handes, not onelyonly to reade or sing often this Psalme, but also sometimes to read your selfe or cause to be read vntounto you, these poore labours of mine vponupon it: Now is the time (my good Lord) to furnish your selfe with graces fit for one of your place, that when you come to full age, you may hauehave as it were a storehouse of heauenly knowledge, to guide your selfe in the court and in the coūtry, your houshold and your affaires as becōmeth. Beware you come not out vnfurnished for so great things. Now is the time to season your soule with the feare of God and obedience to his commandements, that you may not onelyonly be free from the vexation and torment of conscience which many suffer for their young dayes ill spent, but also may be the more plyable to the Lords yoke herafter, which wil be the easier to you thē, if being young you will now stoupe vntounto it. This is the onelyonly way to true honour, and to lead you in such a course, as will make your house more noble than as yet it is. The example of Iosia must often bee before your eyes, who sought the Lord being young, and so continued till his death; to his worthy remembrance in the Church so long as the worlde continueth, and to his owne euerlasting comfort. Remember you are but the steward of all you shall hauehave, and the more you be steward of, the greater your account shall be, and the more grace is required to vse it well: vse therefore this time well to learne to bee a good steward before hand. God mercifully in the losse of some your Lo: most neare and honorable friends reserued for you a Christian and honorable Aunt, to care for you as a mother for her Sonne, who as you may perceiue is not onelyonly careful for your outward estate, but also for your Christian bringing vp. For the which purpose you bee prouided of a learned and godly Schoolmaster, and hauehave religious seruants to attend vponupon you. My good Lord, let this care bring foorth in you a worthy effect, that hereafter the olde Earle that noble Francis may seeme to be aliue againe in your person, and that my selfe and others may cease to lament his absence, hauing your Lo: in his steade, to supply his worthy seruices to the Church and State.
Concerning your La: (right honourable and my very good Ladie) as it pleased you when I made my sermons vponupon this Psalme, to shew your diligence in resorting to the publike exercises in the place where I preach: So doe I offer them to your La. againe, as they be here come forth. What somewise, learned, and godly men my neighbours knowne to your La: thought of them, I hauehave partly in a word shewed before. I doubt not but your La: reading of them, will call somewhat of that to remembrance which in the pulpit, you heard me vtter. Howsoeuer it be, I know the Treatise to be such, as may minister profitable instruction to eueryevery reader, and specially to those that be of great calling, many be the causes for the which I hauehave and still doe much honour your La: your marriage with the right honorable my very good Lord Francis Earle of Bedford, might & ought much to moue me, if there were nothing else. But when J consider your auncient profession of the truth, your open continuance in it still vntounto this present day, together with your fauour to the faithfull Preachers of the Gospell, and your sundry fauours towarde my selfe, specially in the desire you shewed to hauehave my poore seruice vsed in the Church, and that you thought so well of me, as to moue me to the place where I am. All these be as it were so many seueral bands and obligatiōs, wherein I doo vnfeygnedly acknowledge my selfe to be bound in al duty to your good La: Jn witnes whereof, if you will please to accept my putting forth this Treatise in your La: name, as it were my hād & seale to the former confessed obligations, it is a thing which I doe desire of you, and for the which J will be humbly thankfull, promising also at all times still to be readie to the vtmost that is in mee, in the Lord to doe you seruice, as I doe very heartely confesse it to be my duetie.
Much am I bound to the noble house of Bedford, & vntounto your good La: I am hartely thākeful for it, & desire to leaue behinde me some publike testimony thereof: And because my store is so scant, that I hauehave not seuerall things such as J wish to publish in your names, to testifie my thankefulnesse: I hauehave been thus bolde, rather to deuide this (such as it is) betweene you, than to leaue out the honourable remembrance of eyther. And indeede sith the most wise GOD by his prouidence, hath lincked you so neere together, by two honourable marriages, the one of your La: with the right honourable my Lord the grandfather (whereby you page missing
Psal. 101.
I will sing mercy and iudgement, &c.