Casuistical morning-exercises the fourth volume /

Use 1. Let me not by any be counted too bold, and going out of my place, while I turn me to the great men of the Nation, and speak to them as Persons not too high for the Counsels, Commands and Exhortations of the Word of God, I mean, the King as Supreme, Nobles, Gentlemen, and all under him to whom any part of the Government in this Nation is committed; and these, all these from the highest to the lowest I do with all due Humility, as knowing my distance from many of them, yet with utmost earnestness, I do beseech that they would awake unto Righteousness, and see to it that they be found faithful in their place and to their trust, filling up every one the Province which God hath set them in, and trading every one with their Talents, whether more or fewer, five or two; nay let not him that hath but one hide it in a Napkin, and bury it in sloth, but be abounding in this work of the Lord, that through your care and industry Justice may run down among us like a Flood, and Judgment like a mighty Water, for the washing away that loathsome filth which is in our Streets.

Ʋse 1. Let me not by any be counted too bold, and going out of my place, while I turn me to the great men of the Nation, and speak to them as Persons not too high for the Counsels, Commands and Exhortations of the Word of God, I mean, the King as Supream, Nobles, Gentlemen, and all under him to whom any part of the Government in this Nation is committed; and these, all these from the highest to the lowest I do with all due Humility, as knowing my distance from many of them, yet with utmost earnestness, I do beseech that they would awake unto Righteousness, and see to it that they be found faithful in their place and to their trust, filling up every one the Province which God hath set them in, and trading every one with their Talents, whether more or fewer, five or two; nay let not him that hath but one hide it in a Napkin, and bury it in sloth, but be abounding in this work of the Lord, that through your care and industry Justice may run down among us like a Flood, and Judgment like a mighty Water, for the washing away that loathsome filth which is in our Streets.

All that know you, may it please your most excellent Majesty, know, that you have a great deal of important and weighty work continually before you, which must necessarily fill your Royal Head with Thoughts, and your Heart with Cares, that keeps your eyes waking while others sleep without Interruption or Disturbance. There is abundant reason for us all to pity your burdens, and to pray that you may be counselled by the God of Wisdom, and supported by the God of Power, and have the Arms of your Hands made strong by the Everlasting Arms of the God of Jacob, but no reason for any Protestant among us to envy your Honour and other Prae-eminences, which are just, though too small recompenses for the hazards you have run, and the Kindness you have shown, and the Thoughts, Cares, and Pains you have taken for the saving of a People looked upon as being within a very few steps of Ruin. None knows the weight of a Crown but he that wears it. While it glisters it sits heavy; yet, Great Sir, among those other Affairs which do incessantly engage you, let the promoting of Morality and Piety, the beating down of Ungodliness and Profaneness put in for and obtain a principal share, for they do deserve it.