Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

336 Of the vanitle of worldly nobilitie. bienes of world' lime in force particular examples.Cain, as we know, was the tr nobds {y(hew- firfl borne of Adam, who hadhis defcent from God himfelf, íd by diners ex- and was heire apparant to the whole world, but what did it amples. Luke 3.38. auaile him to haue the moil excellentman for hisfather,and the foueraigneKing ofheaucn and earth,in force fort,for his °rand- father? Or what did.his great birth-right profit him, when as defiling his heart with rage and cruehie, and his hands with innocentblood, he made himfelfe to become a bale vagabond vpon the earth ? What did it benefit Cham to be noblie defcended of that great and 'righteous Patriarch Noah, the fecond maine roote ofrepaired mankind, when as by his wickednes he becamefubie6l to the curie, and being free- borne, did by his vice and fin make himfelfe an abie6t feruät ?What did it profit Ifmadl ro be the firfi borne offaith- full adrabam, or Pfau to be the eldeft fonne of religious lfaac,wh@ as the one becóming a derider ofGods promifes, was as it were excommunicate and call out ofthat family,to whichthe conpn ant ofgrace was made & appropriated; and the other fhe(ving himfelfe aprophane contemner of holy and heauEly things,lofl both the birth -right & the blefling? It were infinit tofland vpon fuchparticulars; and therefore for breuitie fake, contenting our felues with there few, let vs alto confiderthe truth hereof in a whole people or countrie. What nation in the world was euer comparable in nobilitie to the people ofthe Iewes? who being defcendedfrom c.f- broth am the Father ofthe faithfull, had the Lord hirnfelfe for the firfl and immediate founder of their common-wealth, yea for theirKing and Soueraigne, who iudged, ruled and gouerned them, as it were by his owne mouth in difficult caufes,holding in his owne hand the royalllawes and prero- gatiues, till they vnthankefully defined another King, and would needsbe ruled like other nations. Againe,that which other people counterfeited,they trulyhad;namely,the Lord himiclfe for their Law-giuer, who proclaimed the chiefe fumme of their lawes by his own glorious voice,and at large expounded them by his faithfull f.-ruant yli1of s; all which were muchmoreexcellent then the lawes of any other nati- on. Moreouer,if we refpeól antiquitie, they were moll an- cient,