OUR Sorrows should always bear some due proportion to the just magnitude of their causes. In most of the troubles in­cident to humane life, a Sigh may suffice; We should weep as if we wept not; with a bridle of Restraint and Moderation, wisely laid upon our Affections. But some Calamities being of a far deeper nature, every good man may be allowed, in re­ference to them, Isai. 22.4. to say as the Prophet, Look away from me, for I will weep bitterly, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. Both Humanity and Piety oblige us to hang up our Harps, and to sit down as per­sons astonisht, whose grief is very great.

The mourning of this day, 'tis upon divers accounts (as they said of the Patriarck Jacob's Funeral) a grie­vous mourning: England's Sorrow, and England's Shame.

As to the Sanction of it, 'tis (like that of Nineve) by the decree of the King and his Nobles; blowing the Trumpet in Zion, proclaiming this Fast, calling these solemn Assemblies, that the Inhabitants of the whole Land might tremble.

As to the grounds of it, 'tis an Humiliation for the [Page 2] barbarous shedding of Royal Blood, the inhumane par­ricide of the sacred Father of our Country: An offence so hainous in the just aggravations of it, that we might say as once Daniel in another case, Vnder the whole heavens hath not been done as hath been done here in England.

We have risen up, the Feet against the Head, the Ser­vants against the Lord of the Vineyard; rebelliously saying as those wretches in the Gospel, We will not have this man to reign over us. We have been open fighters against God and his Anointed; too far verifying that sad story, [...]. Apol. Tot de Diis, quot de gentibus triumphi: So many Battels, so many Attempts against God himself; so many Victories, so many Triumphs over the Ark and Religion. Lord, we beseech thee, let us see no more of these Triumphs, no more of these joyless Thanksgivings in our Land.

[...]alvian.'Twas then written in Characters of Blood, Atrocius sub Sancti nominis professione peccatur: We call our selves Saints, and then take leave to play the Devils. A specious Profession becomes villainously usurped, to patronize the most horrid actions.

In this case we must not think hardly of our Gover­nours, if they deal by us as Moses by the Children of Israel; when they had in that popular tumultuous fit of impatience made that golden Calf, Exod. 32. 20. 'tis said. He burnt it in the fire, he grownd it to powder, he strew'd it upon the water, and made the Children of Israel drink of it. And this he did upon great deliberation, ut majorem eis peccati nauseam induceret, that they might hereby be­come the more asham'd and sick of their sin.

The like penance have our Moses's enjoyn'd us this day. These Anniversary Humiliations, they do (as it were) lay the Royal Body of our late slaughtered So­veraign bleeding afresh before us, accusing us as the Betrayers and Murderers of it.

[Page 3]We read of God, he took a far greater notice of Abel's murder than the Murderer himself was willing to do: Gen. 4.10. The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me; God hears what Cain (it seems) would not. Guilt is a sullen froward thing. I am sorry at the angry Obje­ctions of many against these solemn Fasts, as if they were a needless Reproach continued upon the Land. I hope for our parts we shall rather from year to year (as becoming good Christians, and good Subjects) more ingenuously accept this punishment of our iniquity, acknowledge our sin, and renew the firmest Resolutions that we will offend no more.

This whole Book is stil'd, A book of Lamentations. Our ancient Poets Tragedies seem but Comical Plays, compar'd with the unparallel'd mournfulness of this Scene: A weeping Jeremy, a person skilful in Lamen­tations, is chosen to be the Pen-man to these divine [...], these pathetick Elegies. He proves the best O­rator for God, that speaks from the very heart, that draws the life of his Eloquence from his own internal sense of what he delivers unto others.

The Church and State, Prince and Priest, Throne and Altar, they are all brought in by the Prophet as cloth'd in mourning. 1 Sam. 4.10, 11. If the Ark be taken in one verse, the same sad story tells us all Israel is smitten in ano­ther. We may humourously attempt to divide; but in all History they live or die together.

While the Prophet thus weeps over the Calamities of Gods Zion and Jerusalem, Graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens, he breaks forth into this of the Text, as a memorial of sorrow never to be forgotten by him, The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, &c.

In the verse we have to consider, 1. The person spo­ken of, who it is the Prophet here means. 2. The Ca­lamity [Page 4] into which he fell, he was taken in their pits. 3. The honorary Character here given him, the Anoin­ted of the Lord. 4. The Jews concern in his weal or woe; he was the breath of their nostrils, under whose shadow they might have liv'd among the heathen.

I. The person spoken of, who that should be. I answer, Not Josiah, (as some have conceiv'd;) he was already gathered to his fathers in peace, honourably interr'd amongst the royal Sepulchres of his Ancestors, his eyes clos'd with all due Funeral-rites, some time be­fore these tragick evils so fatally broke forth. Our se­veral seasons of life and death, when we enter the Stage and when we go off, they are all in Gods hands.

Three Kings had now successively reigned after Jo­siah; Zedekiah the third, in whose time all these ama­zing miseries, so pathetically here described, befel Je­rusalem.

Whatever personal failures might be in Zedekiah, Rex tamen & typus Christi, says one, (no great favou­rer otherwise of Monarchy) Zedekiah was neverthe­less a crowned Head, and Type of Christ; Soveraign of the true [...], the City of the great King, the Imperial Princess among the Provinces.

Such was the Person, no Plebeian; but one of Roy­al Extraction, of the true House and Linage of David; and now raised (though in a tempestuous conjuncture of Affairs) to sit on the Throne of his pious Father Josiah.

And has our Prophet such tears of Loyalty where­with to condole this Princes Fall? Certainly, my Bre­thren, our eyes must not be dry.

1. If Israels Zedekiah fell, 'twas not without great personal blemishes in himself. 2 King. 24.19. He did (says the Text) that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. But our late Soveraign, a person of that stupendious exemplari­ness, [Page 5] so amiable in whatever might become him as a Christian, in whatever might adorn him as a Prince, that his Piety became at last his Crime; his Love to Gods Church, the ground of his Hatred with the Rab­ble. He is ston'd for his good works: He is invidi­ously aspers'd as affected to Popery; yet dies in the professed Communion of this Reformed Church: The Defender of it, a Martyr for it. He is odiously upbrai­ded as designing Arbitrary ways of Empire and Ty­ranny; yet dies, because he could not in conscience give up those great things of Church and State, Reli­gion and Law, our true Magna Charta, the Body of our ancient English Government, to the tumultuous wills of violent and unreasonable men.

2. If Zedekiah fell, 'twas at Babylon, above six hun­dred miles from his own Kingdom. The very place was no less than Exile, and the distance a most certain exposure to all inevitable dangers. But lo here (though under different circumstances) a far sadder story; Our Soveraign, after an Iliad of other prece­ding indignities, is murdered at his own Royal Gates, in the very face of his Court and Palace. He is first barbarously driven away by rude Tumults, after that forcibly brought back again by bloody Souldiers; full often (as himself so lively expresseth it) did he change his Keepers and Prison, but not his Captive condition: And at last the woful upshot proves, (as David said concerning Ishbosheth) Wicked men came upon this righ­teous person, and slew him even in his own house; the walls and windows being the sad Spectators both of his Fall and our Treason.

3. If Zedekiah fell, 'twas by the hands of prophane Pagans, Nebuchadnezzar's unruly Janizaries, not by his own Subjects: Zedekiah's Murderers, their very tem­per was Cruelty, their nature Rage; verifying the [Page 6] sowre character Gods Prophet gives of them, Hab. 1.6. A bitter and hasty nation. They breath'd out no better than Blood and Slaughter. In this case the utmost Inhuma­nities could be no Surprize; all manner of Misery, and Death it self, the fairest Quarter that could be expe­cted; where the Turtle was amongst such ravening Vul­tures, and the Lamb in the midst of such savage Li­ons. But lo here, horresco referens, our Soveraign falls under far other hands.

With civiliz'd Nations, the mildness of their Educa­tion is accounted security enough against the irruptions of Violence; where Government is receiv'd, the Laws yield Protection; where the sacred profession of Chri­stian Religion takes place, we are still bound to a far better behaviour of the quietest peacefulness in our places: But alas, all these divine Bands were here con­temptuously broken asunder; and then of course, upon the violation of them, this execrable and horrible thing became committed in our Land.

'Twas not an Enemy that did it; 'twould then have been more easily born: 'Twas the servant who had eat of his Masters bread, that here lift up his heel; 'twas the Subject who had solemnly sworn to bear true Ho­mage and Fealty, that now ( Zimri-like) conspir'd and slew his Soveraign. Oh what Declarations and Pro­testations (as the language of those times then went) that they would make him a most glorious Prince! What solemn Appeals to God and the world touching the Loyalty and Integrity of their hearts! Now what danger can possibly be suspected, where so much kind­ness is pretended? In ipso sceleris molimine Tereus credi­tur esse pius. No such Friends in words, yet no such Foes in deeds. Oh how wretchedly did we then dissemble both with God and man! staining as well our holy Pro­fession, as our own Names to all Posterity. But no [Page 7] words can express these Villanies so lively as his who suffered them: [...]. I die (says his sacred Majesty) a King, by the hands of my own Subjects; a violent, sudden, and barbarous death; in the strength of my years, in the midst of my Kingdom; my Friends and loving Sub­jects being helpless Spectators, my Enemies insolent Re­vilers, and Triumphers over me. His comfort was (as himself so composedly relates it) If he thus died a vio­lent death with his Saviour, the sequele would be hap­pily this, Mortality would be thereby crown'd with Mar­tyrdom.

4. If Zedekiah fell, yet we read not of any indecent measures used toward him in matters of Religion. When the King of Assyria had carried away Israel not long before captive, and had transplanted another people into the Holy Land, we finde he gave express order, 2 King. 17.27. that a Priest from among the Captives should go and dwell at Bethel to teach and observe the stated Rites of Reli­gion formerly used amongst them.

But with us the case strangely alters: Many can im­petuously demand liberty of Conscience for themselves, as the immediate Redress to all our Grievances, the onely Salve to every Sore, a Kindness that should be with-held from none: Yet after all these oily words to please the deluded people, we may finde our Sove­raign in his Restraint entreating the attendance and comfort of his Chaplains, whom for their Function he reverenced, and for their Fidelity (he was pleased to say) he loved them: But alas, he is churlishly denied. He often requested it (as himself tells us) hoping that by the help of their Learning, Baker's Chron. 548 [...]. Piety, and Prayers, he might the better sustain the want of all other En­joyments. But still he receives no better than harsh Repulses to his most Christian harmless Desires. What was so modestly ask'd by so great a person, in so distres­sed [Page 8] a condition, might it seems by no means be heard. God keep all Princes from lying at such Subjects mer­cies. Nor would they indeed suffer so much as a book of Divine Service to be allowed him for his own pri­vate use. The Gates were thrown wide open to take in the Trojan Horse, the utmost licentiousness to all wilde novel Opinions; but no liberty for that Divine Service so advisedly established, so often confirmed by fundamental Laws. Lord! what Monsters are Subjects when once Rebels?

II. Concerning the Calamity into which Zedekiah fell, 'tis said, he was taken in their pits; as the Bird into the Fowlers Snare, as the chased Deer into the Hunters Toil. The Hunters were the Babylonians; the Game they pursued and sought for, was Zedekiah. He fell into their hands as into a pit of destruction, from whence he never came forth again. [...] so the Hebrew. [...], so the Septuagint; a word which the Grecians use in the immediate sence of the Text, [...], so Demost. Zedekiah fell into the fatal Slaugh­ter-house, where he was dispoil'd of Life and Crown, inhumanely butcher'd, and made away.

Several Transactions of Remark passed between Ze­dekiah and our Prophet, during the Siege of Jerusa­lem by the Babylonians (as we finde Jer. 37.) but the sad issue prov'd, Hostis habet muros, the rude Enemy at last entred into the Sanctuary; Gods Holy Temple was now defil'd, and Jerusalem made an heap of Stones. The Prince himself taken and bound in Chains, carried Prisoner to Riblah: where his Children were first slain before his face, then his eyes most barbarously plucked out, and after that his royal person drag'd with all cir­cumstances of scorn as an abject Captive to Babylon. So true is that ancient Proverb, The tenderest Mercies of some men are little better than savage Cruelties. [Page 9] Oh what sore and unexpected measures may even Ma­jesty it self meet with from the hands of cruel and blood-thirsty men! Heaven onely yields what Earth cannot; a perfect Freedom from all Violence. Thrones (the highest of Seats) have their dangers. Happy are those Princes, who wrapping up themselves in Gods Grace and their own Innocency, can say (as our late Sove­raign) They are not sollicitous what wrong they suffer from man, while they retain in their own Souls what is right in the sight of God.

III. The Honourary Character here given him, 'tis this: The Anointed of the Lord. One sever'd from the rest of the people, and advanced to Soveraignty; [...], The Lords Messiah, the Lord Christ. Such high, such honourable Language does our Prophet think meet to mention his Prince in. 'Tis not the coarse Northern Salute, Good morrow King Jeamy for all day; nor is it the Southern Quakerism more demurely canted, Plain Charles Steward. A good Nathan, his gestures and words shall freely de­clare the profound Reverence his very Heart bears to Majesty: 1 King. 1.23, 24. And Nathan bowed himself before the King with his face to the ground, and said, My Lord, oh King! Certainly Rudeness is not Religion.

The same God that has anointed his own Son as our Spiritual Messiahs for our eternal Salvation in Heaven, has likewise anointed Princes as our Civil Messiah for our temporal Preservation here on Earth.

This divine Unction, 'twas aromatick and fragrant, rich and costly, significant and instructive; poured forth as a mysterious inauguration, in token of those Prince­ly Endowments, in testimony of that transcendent Ma­jesty which God herewith convey'd.

'Twas Armour of proof for Safety, a Robe of Ho­nour for Royalty: And there needed no more to be­speak [Page 10] the deepest Reverence, to attract the highest Love, to exact the awfullest Respects, or to fix the truest Allegiance, than this single consideration, Gods Anointed.

'Twas this that swayed so far with David while Saul was yet alive: 1 Sam. 26.9. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed, and be guiltless? He speaks as in a holy pas­sion, as one greatly mov'd at the hainousness of this bold Sollicitation. Nolo hanc mihi extorqueri obedien­tiam: as if David had said, No, no; Abishai, thou see­mest my friend, but art my foe: Get thee behinde me, Satan, I will never suffer my Loyalty to be thus wrested out of my hands: This fair advantage before me may serve to cleer my Innocence; but it shall never tempt me to Rebellion: Saul is the Lords Anointed to me, and I must be a true Liege-Subject to him.

'Twas this that aggravated the case so highly when Saul was soon after slain. 2 Sam. 1.14. And David said to him (that is, to the young man, the Amalekite) How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords Anointed? Saul had fairly spared the Amalekites to his own ruine. That very people whom he had so far shelter'd, contrary to Gods express command, even they can now afford the person that shall destroy him. Who­so is wise, will consider it; prudent, and he will lay these weighty Memoires of Holy Scripture seriously to heart.

The Jewish Writers tell us, this young man was the Son of Doeg, that cruel wretch who imbrued his hands in the blood of above fourscore Priests, the Ministers of the Lord that wore a linen Ephod, for no other fault than the innocent discharge of their sacred Function. The very Ministry, and the faithful Services of it, are crime enough in some mens eyes. Doeg himself (as divers [Page 11] circumstances seem to imply) was at this time Saul's Ar­mour-bearer; who seeing the issues of that fatal bat­tel on Mount Gilboa, and foreseeing how little favour he could expect from David, whom he had so highly of­fended; in the depth of despair falls upon his own Sword. But before he thus dies with his Master, he calls his Son to him; he gives him Saul's Crown and Bracelets, that by these Presents he might make his peace with David, when he himself was dead and gone.

But now see, my Brethren! behold and see the wake­fulness of divine Vengeance; Lo the severe hand of a just God upon the bloody malicious Family. That terrible Prediction which had hung for some time as a drawn-sword over Doeg and his House, was now visibly fulfill'd: God shall destroy thee for ever, Psal. 52.5 he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land of the living. 2 Sam. 1.15. God had spoken it, and God made it good: And David called one of the young men, and said, Go neer, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. Let not man dare to wound, where God anoints.

Tibi summum rerum judicium Dii dedere, Tacitus Annal. l. 6. nobis obse­quii gloria relicta est, said that Roman Knight, with a rare modesty, to the Emperour. He that hath given his Anointed Authority over us, the same God hath left us the honour of a quiet and peaceable submission unto him. 'Tis our Duty, and 'tis no less our Glory. The smallest Star may shine as truly as the Sun. The Subject may as well adorn his Sphere as the Prince: Every one in his proper Orb. May our light, in our several places, so shine, that men may see our good works, and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven.

Baker's Chron. 742 This emblematical anointing has been the ancient way of investiture to our British Kings, and is still so [Page 12] continued at their Coronations. They are anointed on the Head, in token of Superiority; upon the Breast, as an obligement to Sanctity; on both the Arms, in signification of Royal Strength and Authority.

Now where God is thus pleas'd (as in David's case) to say, Psal. 89.20, 21, 22. With my holy oyl have I anointed him; we can do no less than religiously take up the ensuing words as our proper Respond, Oh let thy hand establish him, and thine arm strengthen him. Beat down his foes be­fore his face, and let thy faithfulness and mercy be with him for ever.

IV. The fourth and last particular is Israel's con­cernment in their Princes weal or woe. He was the breath of their Nostrils. M [...]noch. Nobis aequè dilectus ac spiritus vitalis: As if the Church had said, Our Vital breath is not more dear to us, than the safety of our Sove­raign.

We all observe, there is nothing more immediately requisite to this natural life, than our breath. Such is Government to our civil life; such the true weal of our Governours in the esteem of Holy Scripture. The phrase before us, 'tis not a complemental flourish of gay Oratory, no vain Hyperbole of Court-flattery. The words, they are the words of Truth and Soberness, the Language of solid Divinity, the express Assertion of Almighty God and his Prophet, that we might re­ceive them with the greater reverence. The breath of our nostrils, in whom the whole body of the Kingdom (as it were) lives, and moves, and has its well-being.

One (it may be) in a sullen frowardness murmurs, his Princes manner of life 'tis too splendid, his Crown too imperial, his Throne too radiant, his Court too no­ble, his Train too numerous, his Revenues too large, and his Guards too awful: Nay, but who art thou, oh man, that thus quarrellest against the breath of thine [Page 13] own Nostrils? When the Hands and Feet in the Fable were so mutinous against the Stomack, a little time suf­ficiently convinced them, the conspiracy 'twas rather against themselves. To suffocate the Breath, is to de­stroy the Body.

When the Queen of Sheba had seen the unparal­lel'd Royalties, the Order and Administration of Solo­mon's Court, instead of carping with splenetick Cen­sures, she breaks forth into Ejaculations of the highest joy and praise: 1 King. 10.9. Blessed be the Lord thy God which de­lighted in thee, to set thee upon the Throne of Israel; be­cause the Lord loved Israel for ever. He that delighted in Solomon, did still as truly love Israel: The raising of the one, 'twas no despising of the other.

The condition of the Jews (under our Text) was through their many provocations against God, brought now very low: that City which had been sometime Princess amongst the Provinces, was now tributary. 'Twas however a great comfort to them, under their many other sorrows, that they had yet a King of their own: his presence they reckoned as their very life; Vnder his shadow we shall live among the heathen. They hoped in him to reap the fruits of that comfor­table promise between Prince and People; Isai. 32, 2. He shall be an hiding place from the winde, and a covert from the tempest: as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Now his single Death cloth'd the whole Land in Mourning.

Thus David's Worthies concluded, if their Prince fell, the lamp of Israel would be forthwith quenched. Sub regno tuo tanquam sub luce: Cajetan. as if they said to Da­vid. While thou art with us 'tis day; if we lose thee, 'tis likely then to be a dark and dismal night.

From the greatness of our concern herein (it may be) it became so weighty a Maxime in the Law, Crompton. Rex [Page 14] non potest mori: The King cannot die. In his natural personal capacity, he is mortal; but in his Royal poli­tical capacity, he is immortal. That the body of the Kingdom might not perish for want of a never-dying Soul to animate and enliven it, that there might be no Chasm, no evil befalling the Kingdom; the Law rec­kons, that at the very instant of the Soveraigns death, by a kind of State- Metempsychosis, the Soveraignty be­comes immediately transfus'd to the next Heir of the Crown.

Of all Nations, we in this Island may thankfully say as the Church, The breath of our nostrils. We have been here under the government of Kings beyond the utmost Records of all History: So that multitude of days seem to tell us, in point of prudence as well as conscience, we should now fear God and the King, and not meddle with them that are given to change.

Of all Nations (in the acknowledgement of foreign Writers) we may modestly boast what none else can, Britannia omnium provinciarum prima publicitus Chri­sti nomen recepit: Sabell. Enn. 7. l. 5. 'Twas Britain that yielded the first Christian King, by whose piety we also became the first professed Christian people. 'Twas Britain that yielded the first Christian Emperour, so great a blessing to the whole Church of God.

'Twas still under the same good conduct of Kings, that we were brought to this happy state of Reforma­tion whereat we now stand: And if there be any thing which at this day either dishonours or endangers us, 'tis our want of that due consistence which we owe thereto.

We have been rescued by these Jerubbaals from the Usurpations of Popery over our State, deposing our Kings, and disposing of their Crowns as the Pope pleas'd; by secret Artifices withdrawing and alienating [Page 15] the minds of Subjects from their bounden Allegiance to their Princes; abetting Seditions and Rebellions, as best serv'd his ends: And now shall we tread in the same perverse steps? God forbid. Shall we do the same things which we so justly condemn in others? Shall we traiterously depose or murder Kings? Shall we dare to dispose of their Crowns as every popular Tumult shall happen to incline? far be it from us. What is so bad in a Pope, is scarce much better in the People.

We have been recovered by these Jerubbaeals from the corruptions of Popery in our Church: They have gone (as our Saviour into the Temple) with autho­rity and zeal, casting out the abuses that had crept into Gods house. They have left the state of divine wor­ship so deliberately reformed in our Liturgie, that (in the judgment of our greatest sufferers under Queen Maries Reign) no Christian Conscience could be offen­ded at any thing therein contained. Dr. Taylors Acts and Monum. And shall we now turn Gods Grace into Wantonness? Shall we grow weary of our own Mercies, as persons sick of that good Reformation which has received so honourable, so re­spectful a right hand of Fellowship from the reformed Churches abroad? We may not, we may not; and I hope we shall not.

Are we happily set free from the follies and trifles of former Superstitions, and shall we now instead of them, chuse new Gods, Gods newly sprung up, such as our Fathers, the ancient Church, and Primitive Chri­stians never knew? Such lenities they may indeed please us, but (as our ignes fatui) they will most cer­tainly mislead us.

The extreams of the circumference may seem strange­ly opposite one to the other; and yet both equally distant from the centre of Truth. 'Tis not much odds [Page 16] whether it be frenzie on this hand, or on that: God in his mercy keep us from either.

To draw toward a close, I see I must at present for­bear what I would very willingly have added. Let Israel's Lamentation, become England's Instruction: And the Churches deep Sighs thus mournfully expressed in the Text, may they excite the like pious sense through­out the Assembly.

We must not by any means flatter our selves concer­ning the black action of this day. 'Tis well known (and I wish it may be as well laid to heart) how great an abhorrence primitive Christians had of such execra­ble Crimes. We may easily finde Albinians, or Nigrians, or Cassians, that is, Mutineers and Rebels amongst you Romans; Tertull. (says one who lived within less than 200 years of Christ:) but (says he) you shall never finde any of this seditious turbulent humour amongst us Chri­stians.

Julian himself (how bitter soever, yet) fairly vin­dicates the Christians of those times in this point: If any (says he) carry themselves disorderly toward their Soveraign, [...]. that is, the rest of the Church immediately inflict the most severe punishments upon them. Rebellion against lawful Authority, vio­lence against the Lords Anointed, this hainous spot 'twas not then the spot of Gods Children.

2 Sam. 20.1. And is it now ours? Have we, as Shebah, lift up our rebellious hands against our David? We must then mourn out the rest of the day, and set our selves in the greatest seriousness to bring forth fruits meet for all unfeigned Repentance in this sad case the rest of our life.

This 'twas the great confidence of his late Majesty, as himself mentions it in his Advice to our present So­veraign: You shall receive it in his own Princely words. [Page 17] None (says he) will be more loyal and faithful to me and you, [...]. than those Subjects who being sensible of their Errours and our Injuries, will feel in their own Souls most vehement motives to Repentance, and earnest de­sires to make some reparations for their former de­fects.

He has promis'd it; oh let us perform it: And we shall thereby translate our Prophets mournful lamenta­tions into Anthems of praise; and this Song shall be yet sung in our Land, The breath of our nostrils, the A­nointed of the Lord, sitteth in honour and safety upon his throne, environed with the love and loyalty of his peo­ple, under whose shadow we live in peace among the nati­ons. And let all true Christians and true English-men, say,

AMEN.

UPon the like mournful Solemnity the last year, we sat down and wept with this sad Elegie. We found the Scene too truly in England, the doleful Tragedy here, and our selves the wretched Actors of it. 'Twere but a joyless question to ask, as in the Poet,

Oh how comes Majesty to be thus basely, thus bar­barously treated? What mean such Instruments of Cru­elty about the mourning Scaffold? Such numerous Troops of arm'd Assassinates so furiously raging with that cursed cry, Crucifie him, crucifie him: or in their own Language, Justice, Justice; that is, in plainer terms, We will have the King's Bloud.

Such were our woful Outrages. And instead of ex­cusive Palliations, we must with one common blush confess, So it was.

Our Prophet's Jerusalem bleeds with us in Britain. The Zedekiah in the Text, proves to be our own Sove­raign. The Pit wherein he was taken, the traiterous [Page 19] hands of his ungrateful rebellious Subjects. The Ho­norary Character here given to him, every way as pro­per in our case, the Anointed, the eminently Anointed of the Lord. And our concernment in his Weal or Woe, as deep as Israel's could possibly be in Zedekiah's. Our Prince was also the very Breath of our Nostrils; and under his shadow, had not we our selves laid vio­lent bloudy hands upon him, we might have liv'd with much comfort, with much happiness and honour a­mongst the Nations. You have already received some abrupt account of these several particulars: the sadness of the matter invites not to any fresh insistance upon them.

'Tis the Glory of God, that he is able to bring good out of evil. 'Twill be at present our work from the remains of this Text, as far as we can, humbly to imi­tate God in so divine an Art, and to make tryal what good improvement we can likewise draw from so horrid, so great an evil; and that shall be twofold.

1. To make our penitential Lamentation together, for what was this day done.

2. To adjure one another to the utmost Allegiance, Loyalty, and Duty, as our preventives from relapsing into the like Villanies any more. All curious discour­ses may now be very well spar'd; the plainest matter (if truely pertinent) will be to this sad occasion most proper.

The first and fairest expression of our Piety, in re­ference to so unparallel'd a Murder, were plainly this: To bear a due sense of it, and to melt into a truly pe­nitential sorrow for it. If David's heart so deeply smote him because he had cut off the skirt of Saul's Garment, how severely then ought our hearts to smite us, who have cut off not the Garment but the person; our Soveraign himself from the land of the living?

[Page 20]But sins (especially of this nature) are sooner com­mitted, St. Aug. than repented of. Peccare non pudet—de ligaturâ vulneris erubescit. Where we could well e­nough brook the sin, we can by no means bear the shame. And 'tis one very hard abodement upon Eng­land at this day, that we are so loth ingenuously to acknowledge our iniquity in this particular.

I shall therefore, that I may the better promote that great humiliation which the day so earnestly calls for, lay before you these few aggravating considerations.

1. The violence this day committed; 'twas a most high affront to that Signature of Sacredness, where­with God hath invested the persons of Princes. He hath said (and certainly he hath not said it in vain) Ye are God: Psal. 82.6. A kind of terrestrial Angels; Heavens Viceroys, 1 Chron. 29.23. sitting (as was said of Solomon) upon the throne of the Lord. 'Twas Solomon's Throne, and yet God's: 'Twas God's Throne, and yet Solomon's. 'Twas God's in way of donation, Solomon's in way of posses­sion. And this in a true propriety of speech, Sic om­nes throni Principum Dei throni dici possunt. Lavator in locum. Neither was this Solomon's single prerogative. The Thrones of all other Kings, the Thrones of our Kings, they are no less than the Thrones of God; that we might al­ways look with the more aweful reverence upon them.

The Jews tell us, that man in his primitive condition had a bright mark set upon him, which they called [...] Pavor, at the sight whereof all inferiour Creatures stood in awe, and became subject to him: And this upon mans Apostacy, they say, became in a great measure lost. We may safely say this orient Signature 'tis fair­ly visible upon the persons of Princes, that their Sub­jects might fear and tremble before them. Oh let not us by our Rebellions attempt to deface it.

'Tis of some moment this way, what we finde re­ported [Page 21] concerning our own Realm. If a Villain pur­sued by his mean Lord, could but come and prostrate himself ad sacra vestigia, Plowden. that is, at the Kings sacred feet, he was then esteem'd as one safe at Sanctuary, his Pursuer might now trouble him no further.

And is the royal presence such an unquestionable A­sylum to others? Oh then let Reason and Modesty judge how Sacred must the royal person it self be to the Consciences of all good men.

From the deep sense of this Sacredness it is, that the Addresses of religious persons to Majesty, are usually tender'd in Holy Scripture with the utmost lowliness; As an Angel of God, 2 Sam. 14.17. so is my Lord the King. The Princes Sphere, 'tis an Angelical Sphere; and in our access to such, we stand before those who are already [...], as the Angels of God.

Holy men of old were far from contriving the base Artifices how to expose Majesty as cheap in the eyes of the People. Job 34.18. They thought not fit to say to a King, Thou art wicked; or to Princes, Ye are ungodly: Their Language and Carriage savor'd of a far better Spirit. Whether their Affairs went smooth or rough, they were still at this good frame, 2 Sam. 19.29. My Lord the King is as an Angel of God.

These impressions were then indelible when tempta­tions were most busie with David, and all outward cir­cumstances concurrent to have made him (if possible) a bad Kings-man; yet then, even then, he retains his Loyalty and Veneration for his Prince as high as ever. God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anointed. 1 Sam. 26.11.

This Sacredness of the Soveraigns person was held inviolable in the Jewish Church, where their express Doctrine was, that no creature may judge the King, this judgement 'tis left to the holy and blessed God alone.

[Page 22]Thus hath God set bounds (as at Mount Sinai) that the people might not rudely break through, or rush with insolencies upon those whose persons he hath made sacred.

2. The violence this day committed, 'twas a most unnatural breach of that neer connexion wherein God hath knit Prince and People together. The welfare of the one, 'tis the welfare of the other; the distress of ei­ther, the danger of both. This 'tis the plain language of the Text: He that runs may read it. Zedekiah's Calamity 'tis all Israel's Lamentation. Any evil befal­ling him, 'tis most deeply laid to heart by them.

We have in the Prophet Ezechiel an aenigmatical passage of this nature: Ezek. 19.14. Fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devour'd her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule: this is a lamen­tation, and shall be for a lamentation.

The Prophets phrase 'tis metaphorical. Zedekiah and his Sons were now miserably destroy'd and slain; the other Branches of the Royal Family inhumanely cut off. The first part of this dismal Tragedy 'twas a­cted by Nebuchadnezzar, at Riblah and Babylon: The second part wherein fire is said to have gone out of a rod of her Branches, and to have devour'd her fruit, so that she had no strong rod to be a Scepter to rule; this may (possibly) relate to Ishmael, mentioned in the 41 of Jeremy, who being of the Seed-royal, might be not improperly called one of the Rods of those Branches. Sure we are, fire came out from him, and devoured Gedaliah and 70 other eminent persons, as that Chapter sadly attests; so that there seem'd now no strong Rod left to be a Scepter to rule.

Hereupon the Prophet so pathetically cries out, This is a Lamentation, and for a Lamentation. [...] so the 70; it is, and it shall be a proverbial mourning, [Page 23] a precedent, a leading case to future Ages. Ad suos usque nepotes: as if the Prophet had said, While time, lives, this sorrow will scarce die. 'Tis not, The King is taken away, the Government broken up, and what care we? no, no, the Church resents it with a far dee­per sympathy: the Funeral may be his, but the Mour­ning must be ours; both ours, and our Childrens after, us. We must go down sorrowing to the Grave. The joy of our heart is ceased, the crown is fallen from our head. May this Piety in Subjects toward their Sove­raign live for ever.

'Tis thus in the natural body: He that wounds the Head, endangers the whole man. 'Tis thus in the ci­vil body: The smiting of the Shepherd, 'tis the scat­tering of the whole Flock. We have the brighter side of this Truth, fairly exemplified in Solomon's case; where his Greatness and his Peoples Happiness, 1 King. 4. his Grandeur and their Welfare, went hand in hand kissing and congratulating each other▪ Solomon he reigns o­ver Israel; Vers. 1, 21. and they brought presents and served So­lomon all the days of his life.

Nor was Israel at all eclipsed by it. Vers. 25. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his Vine, and un­der his Fig-tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. Here needs be no envying: The Princes Fe­licities, they are as Aaron's rich Ointment, which pre­sently ran down to the skirts of his Garments; where the Head is thus honour'd, the whole Body shares, and of course rejoyces with it.

The sadder, the darker side of the Cloud, we see that too fully verified in the unhappy interregnums under the Judges. Judg. 17 6. In those days there was no King in Israel: but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Right in their own eyes it might be, but wrong enough in the eyes of God and all good men. Gross Idolatry [Page 24] in Religion, the most odious Savageness in Conversa­tion, as the Sequele attests. Such are the barbarous products of loose times.

Hitherto the Princes Soveraignty and the Subjects Safety, his Augustness & their happiness (as those wings of the Cherubims over the mercy-seat ) they meet and embrace each other. What God has thus exemplarily put together, 'tis pity that man should attempt or dare to put asunder.

The relative Titles which our ancient Laws with so much sageness use, may further confirm us in this point. Pater patriae, Medicus, Maritus regni: The Soveraign is the common Father of the Country: He the Physi­cian, we the weak Patients; he the Husband, the King­dom his Spouse, betroth'd to him with a solemn Coro­nation-Ring. His absence makes us a Family of deso­late Orphans, an Hospital of languishing Patients, and the whole Kingdom a solitary helpless Widow expos'd to endless Oppressions. Such a Prince did we lose, and such were the Calamities that ensued upon it.

'Tis true, all specious perswasions were us'd to raise that wretched War against the King; nothing but gol­den Declarations set forth to reform Church and State, to remove evil Counsellors, to redress Grievances, and to secure Liberty and Property to the People. Da­justum sanctumque videri. So fair the pretence (it seems) must needs be. But alas, this Angel of Light soon vanished as a personated appearance, and the issue prov'd such, as we have but small joy to relate. A wilde Scepticism in Religion, an utter Subversion of Government, such excessive Taxes and Impositions, such fifth and twentieth parts, such Sequestrations and Decimations, such Views and Reviews, such plundring of Loyal Subjects and illegal sales of their Estates, such vast expence of Bloud and Treasure, as England till then had not known.

[Page 25]These sore pressures by degrees fill'd the whole Land with sighings, Vtinam viveret: Oh that the King were alive and upon his Throne again; for then was it better with us than it is now. Our sin became our punish­ment: In the day that we rebelled against our Sove­raign, in that day we laid violent hands upon our own Happiness.

3. The violence this day committed, 'twas a most open Violation of all Laws both Divine and Humane; whatever may be the sinews of boisterous War, we are sure good Laws are the sinews of all civil Society and Peace; where they fall, we also fall with them: Plebs sine lege ruit.

That God who hath created man a reasonable crea­ture, hath thereby shewed his intentions to govern us by such moral Ductures, his holy Commands and Laws: but these we wretchedly cast behind our backs.

As our soveraign Legislator, he hath set over us [...], Supreme Powers. The persons commissio­nated, are honourably stil'd the Ministers of God; Rom. 13.1, 2, 4. and the Commission intrusted in their hands, no less than the Ordinance of God, thus issued forth for our good. And all this, while Princes were then open Pagans; with this severe caution added to the convert Christi­ans of those times. That resisting this power, 'twould be a confronting the Eutaxie, the Oeconomie, and good Order of Heaven; a supplanting the true jus divinum, a despising not the Delegate, but the Original; not man, but God. Lord! how apocryphal were these great Doctrines of the Gospel esteemed in our late Re­bellion! Or rather, what unchristian Christians were we then grown!

Solomon tells us, Eccl. 8.4. Where the word of a King is, there is power; that is, Authority and Majesty; and who may say unto him, What dost thou? 'Tis not for every [Page 26] clownish Peasant, 'tis not for every pragmatical Mecha­nick, Grotius. rudely to censure his Princes actions. Non potest ad rationes vocari: He is a Person too high to be ci­ted before their Tribunal.

Thus our English Laws in all humble reverence of the Divine, tread plainly in the very same steps. Om­nis sub Rege, Bracton. & ipse sub nullo nisi tantum Deo: We are Subjects to the King, he a Subject to none but God. If we do ill, the King is a Revenger to execute wrath upon us; if he does ill, Reges in ipsos imperium est Jo­vis, God himself will take cognizance of that matter in a Superiour Court. Idem. Satisque ad poenam, quod Deum habet ultorem. This is the check in his case; God stands ready both to inspect and punish his faults.

But that we might not incroach upon Gods Prero­gative, we have Angels set (as it were) with flaming Swords before us. Psal. 105.15. Touch not mine Anointed, curse not the King, Eccl. 10.20 no not in thy thought. In the nearest Harmo­ny wherewith our own Laws have most religiously de­termined, The very thoughts of evil against the King, though never spoken, they are treason; and could they be proved, they would be death.

Hence it is that so strict care is taken for the Person, the Life, the Crown and Dignity of the Soveraign in the Oath of Allegiance, which by Act of Parliament is to be administred to all forts of persons, that the Oath of God might make us the better Subjects to our King.

The same pious sence our Parliaments have as loyal­ly from time to time expressed to our Kings: The Crown of England hath been so free at all times, 16 R. 2 d. 5. that it hath been in no Earthly subjection, but immediately subject to God. So one Parliament at another time, The King hath no Peers in his Land, and cannot be judged. And in King James's time the Parliament having agnized upon the knees of their hearts, their constant Faith, [Page 27] Loyalty, and Obedience to the King and his Royal Progeny, they proceed in all lowliness to this further Address: 1 Jac. c. 1. We recognize, as we are bound by the Law of God and man, that the Realm of England, and the Im­perial Crown thereof, doth belong to You by inherent Birthright. Which they beseech the King to accept as the first-Fruits of their Loyalty and Faith to his Maje­sty and his Posterity for ever.

And well had it been for us, had we kept these sa­cred Memorials, this sense of our bounden Duty, truly engraven upon our hearts: The Soveraign had not then been so heavy a Sufferer; the Subject had not then been so hainous a Criminal: but both eminent­ly happy in Gods blessing.

The Counsel was certainly good, and well worthy his Robe, Judge Jenkins. who then gave it, Hold to the Laws, and the great Body recovers; forsake them, and it will certain­ly perish.

Men and Brethren, we have thus far made our Pre­parations for some penitential Sorrow. We have now to sit down together, as Job's three Friends, every one with our Mantle rent, and Dust upon our heads, making our confession, as Joseph's Brethren, Verily we are guilty concerning our Soveraign's blood.

Methinks we may see him religiously preparing him­self the better to receive this bitter Cup, solemnly ta­king that divine Cordial, our Spiritual Viaticum, the blessed Sacrament, in commemoration of our Saviour's death. D. of Gloc. and Lady Elizabeth. Then embracing his Children (such as might come to him) with the tenderest affections of a most loving Father; and yet that Princely spirit of strength which so highly became a Royal Martyr, leaving his last Blessing and Counsel with them, Baker's Chron. 580 Fear God, love one another; forgive my Enemies, I my self have done it; but trust them not, for I have found them most false to me.

[Page 28]Methinks we may see the butcherly Irons and Ropes fasten'd to the Block and Scaffold, Baker's Chron. 581 to have forc'd and bound down Majesty with the utmost barbarousness, in case (which they feared) he should have resisted; who came, alas, as a Lamb to all this slaughter, in the glories of his Saviour's patience, no way discompos'd at the Vizar and disguise of the Executioner, who sought in the depth of his consciousness to conceal him­self and his infamous person (if it could be) from the knowledge of God and man. But lo our Soveraign's serenity and condition! every place 'tis to him a Thea­tre for the exercise of his Piety and Vertue. In the very Agonies of Death, he closes as one already in Heaven. He endured the Cross, he despised the Shame, and through the joy that was set before him, leaves these holy dying words behinde him (as the Garments that fell from Elijah) in his very departing from us: I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side. I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbances can come.

Methinks we may, without a Prosopopeia, hear the deep Groanings of the whole Land; without any Hy­potyposis, we may behold a numerous train of Mour­ners from all parts attending that Funeral, which might then have no solemnity allowed to it.

Methinks we may see the Royal Family, though scat­ter'd through violence, yet upon this sad occasion, pre­sent as close Mourners, with that amazing Scripture dropping from their pale lips. As a man falleth before the wicked, so fell our Father this day.

Methinks we may see the Church, as Jerusalem, with Tears upon her cheeks, bitterly crying out, that our David who had set his affection so piously upon the House of God; Fuller's Church-History. another Constantine, a truly nursing Father, who was never sensible of any loss to himself, [Page 29] if thereby gain might redound to God; as our Histori­ans so justly acknowledge of him. Methinks we can­not but see the Church lamenting that this Royal Pa­tron of Religion and Learning was thus barbarously taken from us.

Methinks we may see the whole People trembling as at that great Mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon, when Josiah, the desire of their eyes, the joy of their hearts, was now no longer with them.

This was that distressed day wherein the beauty of Israel was slain amongst us. Ye Daughters of England, weep over your murdered Soveraign, who clothed you in Scarlet, and put upon you Ornaments of Gold; who crowned the Land with such Riches and Plenty. Oh tell it not in Gath, oh publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, that other Countries (if possible) might nei­ther hear nor know what Christians, what Protestants this day so prodigiously did before all Israel, and before the Sun.

And that the measures of Inhumanity might be full and running over, when it came to our Soveraign's In­terment, though divers noble Lords entreated the rights of Christian burial for their Royal Master, Fuller's Church-History. and the then Lord Bishop of London stood ready with tears to have officiated that last service to the remains of Mortality now to be deposited in the joyful hopes of a blessed Re­surrection; yet neither were able to prevail: so that silence and sorrow were the onely circumstance of re­mark, the sad ceremonies of State to so great a Funeral. But we must draw the Curtain (as in Agamemnon's case) — Tanto par nulla figura dolori.

We must greatly blush, as persons who stand ashamed, yea even confounded, that ever so odious an evil was wrought amongst us. Were the several sad circumstances of it gathered together, & laid in order before our eyes, [Page 30] we might say as once the Tribes of Israel in another case, There hath no such deed been done, nor seen, from the day that England became a Christian people to this day. Consider of it, become truly humble under it, and lastly watch with all unfeigned sollicitude against whatever might endanger our relapsing into it.

Which leads to the second particular mentioned at first. There are divers things of unhappy tendency this way. Give me leave to enter some needful Caveats against them, and then I close.

1. The first shall be against erratick disloyal opinions. The Head usually betrays the Heart, and debauches the Life. On the one hand, when Papists shall grow le­ven'd with Jesuitical insinuations, that 'tis a meritori­ous work to dispatch an excommunicated Prince, and that the Assassinate shall forthwith become a Saint; when Popes shall proudly tread upon the necks of Kings, and take upon them to absolve Subjects from their due Allegiance; when they shall exalt themselves above all that is called God, setting the Crozier above the Scepter: then 'ware Kings and Kingdoms, danger is not far off.

And on the other hand, when a Fanatical Vertigo shall creep into the heads of others, that the Saints must by all means govern the world▪ which Saints are they; the next work is commonly this, Let us kill the Heir, that the inheritance may be ours.

The late Rebellions in Scotland, scarce yet quietly allayed, are too ready an instance of this nature. What influence the extravagant Opinions of some of their former great Kirk-men might give to such bad practices, I shall not here determine. Their Positions have been such as these: Kings and Governours have their Autho­rity from the People, and upon occasion the People may take it away again. So one of them, He that by Ex­communication [Page 31] is cast into Hell, is not worthy to enjoy any life upon Earth. So another. And when a Party of this humour had taken a very odde way to make the King their own, Spotswood History. by a forcible detaining his person at Ruthuen, 1582. that they might thereby bring him to their own wills, though the action were Treason by the Law of Nature and Nations, adjudged by the E­states of Scotland as Crimen laesae Majestatis, and the insolence so deeply resented by the King himself, K. James. that he cried out he was a Captive, and desired all his good Subjects to procure his liberty; yet the Kirk-Assembly stands up to justifie it, and ordains all to be excommu­nicated, and subject to further civil punishment, that a­greed not with them herein.

There is a full, though joyless truth in the common Observation: Superstition (whether Popish or Fana­tick) where-ever it takes place, introduceth a new Pri­mum Mobile, which commits a Rape upon the Spheres of the civil World, and puts all into utter Confusion.

Thus delirous did we also grow in England; so far transported with these religious Frenzies, that after many lesser Skirmishes against the innocent Rites of the Church, men drew up at last into open Battalia against the State. The Walls became scal'd & taken; any House of Lords was voted useless; a single Person (that is, the King) was voted needless; and the life of our Soveraign traiterously taken away by an infamous Conspiracy of men, pretendedly stil'd an High Court of Justice. Such was the Series; Wild Opinions led the Van, and open Rebellion brought up the Reer.

It may and must be a just Argument with us and our Posterity after us, to be sober-minded. There is a chastness, and there is a wantonness of spirit in things pertaining to Religion. The sober Christian chastly consists with the plain Soul-saving Truths of God. The [Page 32] wanton Professor is fond of every strange face he sees, As Sampson in his wandring Amours, none of the Daughters of Israel could please him; he must needs have a Dalilah from among the uncircumcis'd Phili­stims: by which means both he and all Israel fell with him.

The case 'tis too applicable to our selves. The ve­nerable Orders of a reformed Church, the mildest Laws of a well-constituted Kingdom, cannot (it seems) please many mens minds; they must needs have some other Dalilahs of their own: God forgive it. And I beseech you, my Brethren, hold fast a form of sound words, and labour to steer your whole Conversation by the Spirit of a sound mind.

2. A second Caveat I must as heartily enter, is a­gainst excentricalness of Carriage. We are almost as many Rulers as ruled: Rather Privy Counsellors, and chief Ministers of State, than ordinary Subjects: Great Agitators, exercising our selves in matters too high for us. This apparently endangers the whole.

The Locusts mentioned in the Prophet, break not their Ranks, they thrust not one another, they march every one in his Path; but we, like some bad Husbands at home, spend most of our time abroad: mightily ta­ken up about the Duties of others, but supinely negli­gent in our own.

These St. Peter couples with very coarse company: Let none of you suffer as a murderer, 1. Pet 4.15. or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busie-body in other men; matters. The Apostle shakes them all together in the same bag: murderers, thieves, busie-bodies, and evil doers; as se­veral sorts of jayl birds, all of them selons and criminals against the divine Law.

I shall not compare these sins one with the other, to extenuate here, or to aggravate there. The whole As­sembly [Page 33] will rather say, God of his mercy keep every honest man from falling into any of them.

'Twere certainly both modesty and prudence, for every man to wash his hands from that pragmaticalness with which this Age is so much defiled.

Unless some evil Spirit troubles and haunts us, which God forbid, otherwise what hinders, but that we might (according to that Apostolical Counsel) study to be quiet, and to do our own business? taking that good advice, of learning every man his own Lesson:

When the eye, the hand, and the foot keep steady to their own proper offices, then is the whole body most happy and like it self.

3. The next thing we have as much cause to take no­tice of, is the instilling of strange false suggestions into the minds of others. Such impressions are easily made. In all History the people greedily receives them, but scarce ever parts with them.

The evil Spies were very industrious this way: They buz'd such formidable stories up and down, that Israel concluded themselves quite undone; Numb. 14.1. And all the Congregation lifted up their voice, and cryed; and the people wept that night. But pray was there any real cause for all these panick frights and fears? Surely no. Joshua tells them more comfortably, Vers. 9. The Lord is with us. And Caleb, to whom God himself gave this high testimony, Numb. 13.30. that he had followed God fully, 'tis said of him, that he stilled the people. He did a far better of­fice in Gods account that quieted, than they who thus troubled the peoples minds. If evil surmisings be a fruit of the flesh, we may justly suspect amusing insinu­ations [Page 34] are the cursed root from whence they grow.

Absalom had perfectly learned this knack of popular wheedling: 2 Sam. 15.3. And Absalom said, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee. Things (it seems) went very bad, and were likely to grow dayly worse: But is there no re­medy in such a dangerous conjuncture of affairs? If Absalom would but please to speak out, it may be he knows of some expedient that would relieve us; yes he does. And rather than we shall want it, he will be so kind as to expound his mystical Riddle, and tell us what it is. Vers. 4. And Absalom said, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause, might come to me, and I would do him justice.

A brave contrivance, well worth his good wishes to the peoples welfare! They must be courted (it seems) into their own ruine. Lord! what a religious cheat is here, to steal away the hearts of the People from their lawful Prince! Yet thus the Scene was laid, and thus a most unnatural Rebellion was soon after rais'd; only a just God brought it severely home upon the heads of the Rebels, the first raisers of it.

David (it seems) neglects them, Absalom is the onely man that takes care for them; 'tis but rising up briskly for Absalom, and all is well. Here's the poy­son'd Arrow that flieth by day, here's the devouring Pestilence that walketh in the darkness. God preserve us from it.

Men and Brethren, let us not deceive our selves. False suggestions of this nature, they are as Brutus dag­ger at Caesar's heart; a secret stabbing of any Govern­ment. But we are perswaded better things of England, and such as may become that gratitude which we all owe to God and our Soveraign, for that Peace and Plenty, that Liberty and Property, those many com­forts [Page 35] both for Soul and Body, which we so freely enjoy under his Government.

4. A fourth thing, as natural for us to take heed of as any of the former, is, a froward murmuring against those whom God hath set over us. This was the great sin of Israel in the Wilderness: Exod. 16.2. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. How hard is it to please some peo­ple!

God had brought Israel safely out of their House of Bondage with an out-stretched arm; they were now travelling to the Land of Promise, feasted day by day with Angels Food, supplied from the Rock with streams of Living Water, which followed the Camp where-ever they went; directed by a Pillar of Light through their whole Journey; their Cloths still fresh (without any waxing old for forty years together) up­on their backs; yet they murmur. So querulous a creature is man.

They murmured against Moses. Never had man deserved more highly of any people, than Moses of them. He had waved all the Honours of the Court and Crown of Egypt for their sakes; he had chosen to suffer the sharpest afflictions with them; he had manag'd their affairs with that happy conduct, that they were now brought fairly from the reach and power of their Oppressors; yet they murmur against him with that rage and bitterness, that he mournfully complains to God, He was even weary of his life, and knew not how to bear the burden of this wayward People. It becomes us to be truly faithful to the welfare of o­thers; but let no man ever expect that good services should be always duely resented by those for whom they are done.

They murmur against Moses and Aaron, against [Page 36] Church and State, highly discontented at the posture of things in both. Vers. 8. But says Moses, What are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. Take heed, in Gods name take heed; murmurings a­gainst Moses and Aaron, murmurings against Church and State, may be murmurings against God himself.

He that has said thou shalt not revile the Ruler of thy People, it may be will not take it well at our hands if we shall dare to despise Dominions, and speak evil of Dignities; as if depretiating of Majesty were grown some essential branch of the Subjects Liberty.

'Twas, no doubt, upon weighty grounds, that the Parliament expressed their sense with so much freedom and plainness to our present Soveraign in this matter: The growth and increase of our late Troubles and Disor­ders, Ca [...]ol. 2. cap. 1. Proem. did in a very great measure proceed from a multi­tude of seditious Sermons, Pamphlets, and Speeches, dayly preached, printed, and published, with a transcen­dent boldness, defaming the person and government of his Majesty. These (we see) went before, and all know what followed soon after: Upon Cadmus sow­ing these Serpents teeth, whole Troops of armed men forthwith grew up.

We find Corah a very busie seditious Stickler this way: And because he saw he could effect but little a­lone, he draws in 250 Princes of the Assembly, Lea­ding-men with the people, into his Party; and now both he and they thunder to purpose, Majesty becomes confronted to his very face. Numb. 16.3. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and said, You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: where­fore then lift you up your selves above the congregation of the Lord?

You King Moses, and you Priest Aaron, you take [Page 37] too much upon you. They charge them as plain In­vaders of the Peoples Rights, as persons that went a­bout in an arbitrary tyrannical way to set up themselves far above what they ought.

But there was a still and secret Snake hid in the grass, Jos. ant. l. 4. c. scarce yet discovered. Haec Cores videri volens reipublicae curam habere: hoc interim reverâ agens, ut concitato populo honorem invaderet. His words were softer than Oyl, yet were they drawn Swords; smooth Pretentions of a Publick Good, but the devillish de­signe at the bottom (says Josephus) 'twas this, how he might attack the Government, and usurp it him­self.

God saw it, and God punisht it. The ground clave asunder that was under them. Numb. 16.31, &c. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and all that appertained to Corah, and all their goods. And they went down a­live into the pit, and the earth closed upon them. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them. Thus ended that wretched Mutiny; They pe­risht (says St. Jude) in the gainsaying of Corah.

Men and Brethren, there is no administration of Go­vernment upon the face of the Earth, without many defects. From the Cottage to the Throne, we are all but men: 'Tis the peculiar glory of Heaven, that that place, and that alone, is free from all imperfe­ctions. However, the Mercies we enjoy under our Government, they are many, even to the envy of other Nations. And oh that we did but understand our own Happiness! it might fairly silence our Murmur­ings, and fill our lips with David's praises, The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places.

5. The last Caveat I shall need to adde, is this: Let us take heed that we with-hold not the due Sup­ports of Government. A churlish Egyptian may pos­sibly [Page 38] demand the full tale of Brick, and yet afford no Straw; but the true Christian, the loyal Subject, cheerfully renders tribute to whom tribute is due, cu­stom to whom custom: and ingenuously considers, That Government is scarce likely to protect us, that is not duely supported by us.

'Twere but a low-priz'd kindness, demurely to say, Be thou warmed, be thou clothed. For our parts, we wish very well to the Government: But if after all these fair words, we give not those things that are need­ful, God may justly ask us, as in that Scripture, What doth this profit? Jam. 2.16. All wise and good men know, Im­perium sine vectigalibus retineri nullo modo potest: Cicero If Government be essential for us, these Supports are as truly essential to that.

We read of Saul, when he was anointed and inau­gurated into his Kingdom, some still despised him, and brought him no presents; But says the Holy Ghost, They were the children of Belial. 1 Sam. 10.27. Saul indeed wisely overlook'd it, but they nevertheless offended very highly in it; They brought him no presents, but he held his peace. In raising the Tabernacle, in supplying the Crown, divine Wisdom thought not the Free-will-of­ferings of the people any disparagement to either. Nor did God check or obliquely frown upon, but express a very kind acceptance of both. Moses with much honour records the one; And the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord. Exod. 35.29. And the Au­thor of the books of Samuel makes as respectful men­tion of the other; 2 Sam. 19.32. Now Barzillai (that worthy Patriot in his Country) provided the King of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim. And I hope in things of this na­ture, God of his mercies will ever give a most endeared mutual good understanding between Prince and Peo­ple amongst us.

[Page 39]I must conclude. This day was our royal Orpheus and his Harp, King and Kingdom, barbarously torn in pieces by furious Bacchides: A Theam beyond all expression bad. Sen. Epist. We read of Cato, Hunc civitas diu ignoravit, nec intellexit nisi cum perdidit. The pre­sent Age understood not his worth: He was better priz'd, more feelingly lamented, when lost and gone. The like Reflections must we make upon this horrid action: We have rebelliously cut off a Prince of most incomparable Pieties and Vertues; invidiously traduc'd in life, but shining (as Caesar's Star) with greater bright­ness after his death.

The Devil of Rebellion hath been at length driven out of the Land. He seemeth for present to walk up and down in dry places. God forbid that evil Spirit should ever return and find our hearts (as that house) garnisht and ready again to receive him.

'Twere but a specious kind of Hypocrisie, to disclaim the execrable Enormities of the late times in words, and yet to abet Disloyalty afresh in our deeds; like those Jews that built fair Sepulchres for the former Prophets, but still went on to stone those that were for present a­mongst them.

There is one, and but one way before us, in any mea­sure to wash out so foul a stain, and that must be sin­cerely and practically this: For the wretched Indig­nities thus offered to such a Father, to take all faithful care that we repay a double Loyalty, the utmost Alle­giance and Duty to the Son.

Which God through his Grace enable us all to do.

AMEN.