WE read in the precedent Verse, That David lamented with this Lamenta­tion over Saul and Jonathan; as we do this Day over a greater King, and a better Man than either. And presently follows my Text, in­serted in a Parenthesis: Also he bad, &c. That I may not be censur'd trifling and imper­tinent, for recommending to you this Text [Page 2]upon this Solemnity; it concerns me first to clear and evince it suitable thereunto. Some of our late Commentators, Munster, Vatablus, Piscator, and others, adhering to the sense of the Targum and Jewish Rabbi's, understand this Bow literally for that Military Weapon, in the Use whereof, the Philistins were, it seems, well expert; wherefore David com­mands his Prefects or Captains of his Army, to Exercise herewith the Children of Judah, who generally, above the other Tribes, were prosperous in Arms, and successful in the Conquest of their Enemies, according to Old Jacob's Blessing,Gen. 49.8. ‘Judah, thou art he whom thy Brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the Neck of thine Enemies.’ The Belgic Edition has annext this reason hereto, lest the minds of the poor Jews should de­spond and sink under the important losses of their King Saul, their Valiant Jonathan, aggravated to them in the following Epice­dium; but rather from their Experience in the Use of the Bow, be rowz'd up and en­courag'd to revenge their Deaths upon the proud Philistins. But the consequence will not hold; nor can it be suppos'd, that the [Page 3] Jews were now to learn the Use of the Bow, it having been their common Weapon, I had almost said, the only one made use of in their Expeditions. And it is observable, That the Ancient Manuscripts of the Septuagint and Vulgar Editions, have render'd it Planctum in stead of Arcum, and the Hebrew Text hath Grammatically construed Written, the follow­ing participle, in the feminine gender, with Resheth, the Bow, rendring the words thus: ‘He bad them teach the Children of Judah the Use of the Bow, written in the Book of Jasher.’

Upon these intimations, Mariana, I think was the first, but presently followed by many Learned Men, particularly Sanctius, Serarius, and our excellent Gregory, who did reject this sense of the words, expos'd the folly and in­consistency of it, and refer the Bow to the ensuing Elegy, which David made over Saul and Jonathan, calling it a Bow, (as he did after­wards entitle some of his Psalms, Shoshannim, Heginoth, Albashith, the Morning-Hart, the Lilly, &c.) either because their Deaths were occasioned by the Philistin Archers, or because of the Bow of Jonathan, out of which he shot [Page 4]beyond the Lad, when a mutual Covenant was entred into, and an intire Affection sworn between them,1 Sam. 20.35. an Affection "greater than the Love of Women. This Bow is written in the Book of Jasher, a Book, which probably comprehended some solemn metrical memo­rials of the Actions of just and upright Men, as the word imports. It is now lost, nor have we any remains, not the least Account of it, but in the Tenth of Joshuah, and in this place, that this Threne or Lamentation was laid up and Recorded in it.

Before we proceed to unravel it, and view it well, rendring it applicable to our present Solemnity, I shall preface these two Obser­vations deducible from it, and the Context.

First, That neither the Law of Moses, nor any other Divine Injunction hath restrained Kings from adding or altering in the Worship of God. Nay, we have many instances hereof scattered throughout the Old Testament, as David's Numbring the Levites from the Age of Twenty Years,1 Chron. 23.27. whereas the Law re­quired Thirty to qualifie them for the Ser­vice of the Congregation.Num. 4.3. Solomon's change of the Ambulatory Tabernacle, into a Stan­ding [Page 5]Temple. Hezekiah's dispensing with the Law which forbids the Unclean Person to partake of the Passover.Lev. 7.10. And under the Gospel, assoon as Emperours became Christian,2 Chron. 30.17. their first Care was to manage and appoint the Service answerable to the Apostle's Rule, "Let all things be done decently and in or­der;1 Cor. 14.40. "The Jews had a saying, and there was sense and signification in it: That the Keys of the Temple were laid under Solomon's Pil­low: intimating, That a main part of the King's Office and Charge, is the care of Re­ligion, to see, that God and his Service suffer nodetriment; hence is the Commandment which refers to them placed in [...] in the con­fines of both Tables of the Law, to denote them keepers of both, and that, being thus conveniently seated, they may look to Re­ligion with the one Eye, as well as to Civil Justice with the other. Optatus accounts it a piece of Donatus his wonted Fury, and it is no better, no other, to cry out quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia! What hath the Emperor to do with the Church! for he hath much to do, in ordering though not in administring, in di­sposing though not in dispensing the Affairs of [Page 6]it. No sooner was David set upon Gods holy hill of Sion, but he presently fetches the Ark thither, and sets it by him, appointed the Priests and Levites, and all the rest that at­tended upon Sacred Ministrations, their several Dignities, Courses, and Offices; he gives order for the whole Service of the Tabernacle; particularly, among other Psalms, he recom­mends this Bow, to one of his chief Musici­ans, suppose Asaph Jeduthun, or some other, to teach the Children of Judah, that they might sing it in the Publick Service of God.

2. I observe, That publick and eminent Losses may, nay, ought to be solemnly la­mented, as the deaths of Saul and Jonathan were here by David, correspondently to whose Practice, our Church solemnizes as the Twenty Ninth of May, so a Thirtieth of Ja­nuary, and hath adjoyned to Her Service hereon, this Chapter to be the First Lesson; a day, which though to our Royal Martyr was an happy day, for He had herein his Apotheosis, his Translation into an Heaven of Blessedness, and changed His corruptible Crown for an incorruptible one, yet to us [Page 7]'twas Dies Maledictionis, a Cursed Day, the saddest red letter'd one that ever had place in our English Kalendar. Oh! why did not the shadow of death stain it, and the blackness of darkness envelop it! for then was the bloud of the Mighty vilely cast away: the bloud of our Sovereign, as if He had not been Anointed with Oyl. This day therefore we separate as diem luctus, a day of mourn­ing, when both Moses and Aaron dyed, Kingly and Church-Government; so that we may apply to it the words of the Prophet, Alass for that day was great, Jer. 30.7. so that none was like it, it was the time of Jacob's trouble; or as the Trojan Chorus said in the Tragedy, when lamenting Hector, Solitum flendi morem vincit, Carolum flemus; let this days lamentation exceed all other, for now we bedew the Herse of a Martyr'd Prince; the Beauty of Israel is slain upon the High Places, how are the Mighty fallen! But how shall we advance this Sorrow to an Emphasis propor­tionable to His mighty worth, and our loss? How insignificant to this purpose will be that little Rhetorick, if any, I can pretend to? this is a subject becoming an Angel's Tongue, [Page 8]worthy of David, who made this Bow, or our David whom we lament with it. Had I but the Eloquence of either, I should be able to manage the most obdurate uncon­cerned Person, and even in this sense, from the Fall of the Mighty,V. 22. from the Bloud of the Slain, this Bow of Jonathan should not return empty. You have the whole of it in the Verses following my Text, and im­bellisht with these three Affections or Passions, of Grief, Shame, and Detestation, and with these three shall we exercise this Bow, and withal your Patience at this time.

His Grief appears in the Front, but flows down through every Part or Verse of the Threne,V. 19. ‘The Glory of Israel is slain upon the High-Places: Oh, how are the Mighty fallen! ye Daughters of Israel, V. 24. weep over Saul, who cloathed you in Scarlet, with other delights; who put on Ornaments of Gold upon your Apparel: Weep over Saul! who yet was none of the best Kings, had debauched his Subjects into several sins, and so hurryed as many Judgements upon them.’ I believe no blessing can be bestowed upon a Nation, more advantagious, more [Page 9]creditable to it, than a good and indulgent King, under whose example and providence, Religion flourishes, and Virtue triumphs: But when God shall be pleas'd to remand to him­self this great Instrument of National Happi­ness; when this God upon Earth, and Child of the Most High, shall die like other Men, and fall like one of the Princes; with what a sincere and resolute Passion is such a judgment bemoan'd! how much, how long lamented! Osiris among the Aegyptians, who taught them Husbandry, and especially the culture of Vineyards, (whom a Learned Historian appre­hends to have been Mitzraim eldest Son of Cham) was worshipped, yea annually com­memorated by them with very solemn Lamen­tations. Yea, the Jews, God's own People, did on all occasions very grievously resent such a Loss, and were therefore jealous lest God was about to remove His Presence and Affection from them. Moses, whom once Corah and his Complices had invidiously re­presented as a Tyrant and Arbitrary, was yet by God's own Testimony, the meekest man upon Earth; ready to indulge them in any thing but what might be a Dishonour and an [Page 10]Offence to God,Deut. 34.8. was therefore bewailed by them with very lamentable remembrances for thirty days together, insomuch that they ne­glected their own Interest, and deferred the seizure of the Promised Land. When Josiah was unluckily slain at Megiddo, not only Je­remiah, Chron. 35.25. but all the singing men and women were obliged to aggravate, and even to con­tinue to Posterity their resentments of his death. 'Tis true, presently after they were forced away as Captives into Babylon, by the waters whereof they sate down and wept, when they remembred Zion: but when they returned they took down their Harps from the willows; and yet their Sorrow for the good Josiah was reiterated, nay, to such an height advanced, that when the Prophet would ex­press some great mourning, he resembles it to that of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo. Zech. 11.12. But we need not ramble from the Text, I am sure, not from the Day, to demonstrate this. He who laments not upon the Thoughts of this Days Tragedy, must be a Stock or a Traytor: It will be hard here to restrain our griefs from overflowing and betraying us to undecencies. O Daughters of Israel, weep over [Page 11]Saul; we may more reasonably urge it, Weep over Charles, who cloathed us with Scarlet and other delights, continued Peace and Plenty, Wealth and Propriety, Honour and Security to the Nation, every man safely and quietly sitting under his own Vine, and Fig-Tree. He was good in both respects, his Political as well as Personal one. He was a King, a Word quod cum ictu quodam audimus, we hear it with a kind of smart, it strikes Terror into us; and no mushroom King, sprung up in a Night, but the Son of Nobles, the bloud of many Royal Veins run in his; One own'd as such even by them that Crucified him, in their Inscription of Regum Ʋltimus; a Good, a Pious King, too good for a People so un­grateful; Let the proudest of his surviving Enemies say it, if they can, Was he a Pharaoh to us, and changed a Kingdom of Free-men into an House of Bondage? did he ever enslave us in our Persons, Labours, Possessions, and Understandings? did he ever invade your Rights, and abridge you the Liberty of Sub­jects? when did he without any Tryal of Law, make his Pleasure pass for Right? can you say, you had then such Times as Tacitus [Page 12]describes, when no man durst be Virtuous, lest he should upbraid his Prince! Or were his Subjects like Naboth, Ston'd for their Vineyard! No, no, he acted like a Steward for his People, rather than a Lord over them, that we might well call him the Tutelar Angel of his Three Kingdoms, whom when God called to himself, he quickly sent a de­stroying Angel among us! You may read him protesting in his Royal Portraiture, ‘That he was ever more Afraid to take away any Man's Life unjustly,15 Decem. 1641. than to lose his own.’ Some of the Rebels, when they first Remonstrated against him, could not but Acknowledge,Ex. Coll. p. 529. ‘That he had passed more good Bills to the Advantage of his Subjects, than had been done in many Ages.’ He gave them indeed what they asked, but a liberty to destroy themselves; and to pro­cure their Good and Peace, parted with many Jewels from his Crown, as Queen Elizabeth used to call her Prerogatives: yet would not all this please them, being like the Sea, insatiable.Sander. Hist. K. Ch. p. 505. Hambden. "He must part with his Power "too, and trust it to them; as one of their worthy Patriots once with some earnestness [Page 13]He might truly say in the words of our Sa­viour, Many Good Works have I done, for which of these do you kill me? Joh. 10 32. From his Politick let us pass to his Personal Capacity, for it was the least of his Titles that he was a King, whose virtuous endowments were unparallel'd, and raised him higher above the People than his Throne. He was Sober, Just, Temperate, Prudent, Gentle, Merciful, Cha­ritable; his Patience was invincible, no Af­fronts could conquer, no Injuries overcome him: His Charity in forgiving his Enemies was admirable; ‘It is all (saith he) that I have now left me, (viz.) a Power to forgive them who have depriv'd me of all, and I thank God, I have an heart to do it, and joy as much in this Grace which God hath given me, than in all my former enjoyments, as being a greater Argument of God's Love to me, than any Prosperity possibly can be;’ You may read it in that exquisit and incom­parable Piece, his Eikon Basilike, a Book which at once evidences his Parts and Piety, his Reason and Religion, to be above any but his own expression; a Book which so confounded his Adversaries, that when they, [Page 15]could neither contradict nor confute it, they were fain to deny it to be his. His Piety and Religious Observance of the Duties of it was very conspicuous and exemplary; no Occasion did ever interfere with his De­votion, nor Business of State outdate his At­tendance on the Offices of the Church; so Virtuous and free from Vice, that even Ma­lice it self could fasten nothing on him; these ungrateful Islands, yea the World was not worthy of him: and therefore by a new kind of Ostracism, worse than that of Athens, he must be Banish'd from it, because he was too good and excellent.Grot de sa­tisfact. cap. 10. Grotius tell us of a strange Custom among a People of Scythia, who would offer that man in Sacrifice to the Gods, whom they knew most eminent for Holiness of Life. Thus stood the Case between the King and his Rebels: whatever they could offer to palliate so horrid a wicked­ness, their Conscience told them, There was no fault in him, as Pilate said of our Saviour: of whose Life and Death he was the most exact Picture, and pointed out so by the casual Lesson read the very Morning of his Sufferings.

And now, Behold the Man, look upon him as a King, and look upon him as a Man; he was a mirror of both, the best of Kings, and the best of Men: The more I praise him, the more miserable you will think your selves in the loss of him, and lament as David did over Jonathan, we are distressed for Thee, most Dear Sovereign, thy Love to us was wonderful, passing the Love of Women, let us recover our selves a little, if we can; but yet proceed to complain with that Holy Man, How, O How are the Mighty fallen! Had he fallen like one of the Princes, (i.e.) dyed the common death of Men, or, Had he fallen like Saul and Jonathan, by the Philistin Bow-Men, we might ease our selves a little of this burthenous Grief: but he fell as the vilest of Malefactors, led as a Sheep to the Slaughter, as a Sacrifice led in procession through pretended Courts, through infinite Indignities, to a solemn and ceremonious Death.

His Betrayers and Murtherers were not open Enemies, for then we could have born it; but his Treacherous Friends, who had pub­lickly professed and declared for his Safety [Page 16]and Honour; even by them was he most Barbarously Butcher'd before that part of his Palace, where he was wont to appear in State, and give Audience to Ambassadors; and in order hereto, they erect themselves into an High Court of Justice, a Court, which was no ways High, but in Guilt and Impudence; nor had any thing to do with Justice, but as they were fit to be the Ob­jects of it; no ways capable of the Title of it, but by an Antiphrasis, because it was so eminently unjust, as well in its illegal Con­stitution, as in their direful proceedings against their Lawful Sovereign.

And now what Name shall we find for such a Wickedness! a Crime piacular, black as that Hell from whence it came, and which nothing can equal but the Defence of it. ‘Pass over to the Isles of Kittim and see,Jer. 2.10. go unto Kedar, and consider diligently and see, whether there be any such thing: and we may Answer in the Words of Joel, There never was any such thing, nor ever shall be.’

We read in the Roman Histories, of the bloody and unnatural Emperour CARACALLA, that he slew his own Brother GETA, his Brother by Nature, and should have been so in the Empire: and which aggravated his Cruelty, he forc'd the poor Innocent from his Mothers Arms, where he had refug'd himself, and after all translated him into the number of the Gods, with this bloody Sarcasm, sit divus modo non sit vivus, let him be Registr'd among the Gods in Heaven, so he be not numbred among the Emperours on Earth. It is in some sort, an Emblem of this days villany, but only this was more foul, more horrid; there 'twas but a Brother, here 'tis a Father, (and which renders it more highly criminal) the Father of our Country, the head of our body, the light of our eyes, the breath of our Nostrils, whom the bloody CARACALLA's of our Age, ravish'd out of the Arms of his be­seeching Mother the Church, and inhumanly Mur­ther'd him in the face of Heaven, and before the Sun; and though the most malicious and blood­thirsty of his enemies, (might their consciences have had a free Voice in Court) would have been his compurgators, yet they were as Religious as bloody CARACALLA; Sit divus, let him be a Saint in Heaven, so he be no longer a King on Earth.

To conclude this first point, with applying to him Davids lamentation over Abner, Died Abner as a fool dyeth? 2 Sam. 3.33. thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into Fetters; as a Man falleth before wicked Men, so fellest thou.

I proceed to consider a second passion, viz. of Shame, which the Prophet emphatically expresses in this his Threne, Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the Streets of Ashkelon, v. 20. lest the Daughters of the Philistins rejoyce, lest the Daughters of the Uncircumcised Triumph. People are generally tender of the credit of their Country, cannot indure to have it blemish'd with any ignominious defeat; yea, some have sacrific'd their lives to the honour of it. Moses did therefore deprecate Gods judgments from the Jews, lest their Aegyptian enemies should Triumph and say,Exod. 32, 12. For mischief did he bring them forth. In this manner, the Priests in Joel are appointed to pray for the people,Joel. 2, 17. Spare thy People, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach; wherefore should they say among the Heathen, Where is their God? and well might they among the Heathen have said of late of us of this Nation, Where is your God? where your Religion? His Majesty indeed by the institution of this anniversary Fast, would wipe away the dishonour, where with this [Page 19]horrid perpetration of a few Miscreants, has stain'd the whole Nation; yet there are still those who will not cease to blacken, to brand it with infamy, due only to our Enemies. How did their villany render us a reproach to all neighbouring Nations? the name of an English Man did stink in their Nostrils, was a scorn, a derision, to those who are round about us; that, when our Natives walk'd in the streets of foreign Cities, (from which before we had the priviledge of a kind acceptance, above all people in the world) the finger of scorn was lifted up against us, our name was Schellam, and our entertainment an exprobration of such shameful practices, as by the example of which the Turk might plead innocence, and the Salvages justify their Barbarities: What kill your King! as if this had been an unheard of wickedness, so that our Merchants and Travelling Gentry, chose sometimes rather to deny their Country, than to abide this ignominy.

Wherefore Maximilian the Emperour was, you see, little less than a Prophet, when he stil'd the King of England, a Prince of Devils, because of their frequent Insurrections and Rebellions against their Kings. We have had the best Kings, and been the worst Subjects, God forgive us, and to our shame [Page 20]be it spoken. But the credit of the Nation is not so much our concern, as of the Religion of it. This suffers, this is dishonour'd, and 'twill be difficult to assoil it from that dirt which Mahume­tans, Heathens, and even Romanists have therefore thrown upon it. The Heathen World would have censur'd,Eustat. in Ho [...]. p. 199. Rom. ed. abominated, this sin as piacular, and ever paid a mighty deference to their Kings. Homer calls them, born from and nurtured by Jove, implying, that from God they derive their regal power.Syn. orat. de Regno. Plato stiles the Kingly Office, a Divine Good among Men: Menander, as he is expressed by Henry Stephens, elegantly delivers it, that the King is the lively Image of the living God: Mo­nostich. ab Hen. Steph. e­dita An. 1569. And from this notion of them, the noble inhabitants of Nicaragua inn="*" Tho. Gage, Survey of the West In­dics. cap. 12, p. 74, 75. America, had no Law to punish the Murther of a King, because they conceiv'd no Man so unna­tural as to commit such a Crime.

The opinion of the Jews is soon evinc'd from those titles in the Old Testament, wherewith they dignify their Kings, stiling them the lights of Israel, the breath of their Nostrils, the Angels of God, and the Heads of the people, all which denote them supream and inviolable. It was an usual saying among the Rabbi's, that no one can judge the King, but he who is over all, God blessed for ever; and [Page 21] Solomon confirms it, where the word of a King is, Eccl. 8, 4. there is power, and who shall say unto him, what dost thou? David speaks home to the Amalekite, 2 Sam. 1 14. How wast thou not affraid to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the Lords Anointed? and so does Pilat to the Jews,Joh 19, 15. shall I Crucify your King? he cannot be Crucifyed, but your Honour is Crucify'd with him. This was a sin too great for the delicate Consciences of the Scribes and Pharisees; Jews themselves could not away with such a dishonour, who then, and ever since, were the most profligate and despicable sort of humane-kind. How then shall we hide this shame? how shall we rescue our Christian Religion from those disgraces poured thereon by reason of the Professors of it! Yes we can: let the Church of Rome, and other Churches, look to, and speak for themselves; the Reformed Religion of our Church, gives no Rules, prefers no Examples, but what are obedient and loyal ones. If any will convince our Church as accessory to any others, let them impeach her authentick Constitutions, her Doctrine, Worship or Discipline. Her Doctrine is con­tain'd in the 39 Articles,Arti [...]. 37. and Book of Homi­lies, which are of Age, and can speak for them­selves, ‘That the Queens Majesty, [now the [Page 22]Kings,] hath the chief power in these Realms, and is not, nor ought to be, subject to any other jurisdiction.’ What our Articles do more concisely speak, the Homilies do more fully teach; I referr you to the six Sermons against Rebellion, which evince the greatness of that sin from Scripture, and the remarkable instances of Gods vengeance on persons guilty of it. With an exact agreement to this Doctrine, is her Liturgy compos'd, where are none of her Services, whe­ther of daily or weekly use, wherein the King is not particularly remembred, and with an acknow­ledgment of his Soveraign Authority, and sub­jection to none but God, whom therefore we stile the only Ruler of Princes; a piece of duty, which with some, instead of a just applause, hath met with severe censures, and been cavill'd at, like Mary's Box of Oyntment, to what purpose was this wast? Our blessed Martyr took special notice here­of, as a reason, why so many zealots of those times bandied against the public Service: [...] ‘One of the greatest faults, some Men found with the Common Prayer Book, I believe, was this, that it taught them to Pray too oft for me, to which Peti­tions they had not Loyalty enough to say Amen.’ Her Ecclesiastical Constitutions, agreed on in a full [Page 23]Convocation, 1603. accord hereunto, ordering, ‘That all having cure of Souls, shall four times a year declare in their Sermons, that the Kings power within his Realms, is the highest power under God, to whom by Gods Law do all owe Loyalty and obedience.’ Nor has the practice of the Children of this Church, ever run counter to those excellent Rules, nor can any object to us the least connivance at this late Rebellion and bloody Regicide. Our Martyr himself hath vindicated us, in his Letter to the then Prince of Wales, his present Majesty. Whereas, they who fomented or were active in carrying it on, departed from our principles, and suck'd in others, most pernicious ones, from Rome or Geneva. They went out from us, and would not be of us, because our Re­ligion was too Loyal and passive for Men of such a fiery temper: Not unto us, therefore, not unto us, but to them be the shame of it, if as yet they are capable of any.

I begg your Patience, whil'st I speak a little upon the third strain of this Bow, his Detestation or Curse of it: Ye Mountains of Gilboa, vers. 21. let there be no Dew, neither let there be Rain upon you, nor Fields of Offerings: For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been [Page 24]Anointed with Oyl. But how shall we manage this Passion? Shall we curse, shall we detest the Men who acted or encouraged this Murther? No, our present King has grac'd them with a Pardon, and our Martyr'd one with his Prayer, that Repen­tance may be their only Punishment: But we will execrate those damnable Positions which gave oc­casion to it; those Positions which fix the Govern­ment in the people, and transfer to them a power to curb, to correct, to depose their Prnces. You Bloody, you Anti-Christian, you Hellish Doct­rines, let there be no more Dew nor Rain upon you! let them not be diffus'd, nor propagate any farther, but wither and die. And that I may not be thought to fight without an Adversary, I can call forth many who have broach'd those accursed opinions, which did but too much abett and justify this days Calamity. And in order hereto, give me leave to preface a story, to the truth of which my own experience does attest. When attending in Scotland, Skeen. Sprewle. Steward, 1680. in Decemb. upon his ROYAL HIGHNESS, that great and good Prince, I was curious to discourse some Rebels then in Jail; who did openly avow their Rebellion, and did refuse even to pray for the King; I told them they were variously repre­sented to the world, by some to be Jesuits, or Je­suitically [Page 25]affected; by others to be Fifth Monarchy-Men, wild arrant Fanaticks. They told me they were neither one nor other, but true Presbyterians according to the Covenant. I replied, we had Presbyterians in our own Kingdom, who yet did not thus obstinately maintain such King-deposing and Murthering Doctrines; they told me, I did not understand them, for they believed the same Doctrines, but only wanted power and courage to act them: And I believe, 'twas from a resentment of this discourse I had then with them, that two of them, when upon the Ladder, ready to be Executed, bad the people take notice, they dy'd true Presby­terians according to the Covenant, and I am apt to think they did so, when the Books they had with them in Prison, were no other than Presbyterian ones, viz. The Assembly's Catechism, with the Covenant annext to it, Baxter of Conversion, a Sermon of Jenkins's, &c. nor were they without Presidents for what they said and did, as I shall now make appear. John Calvin, the Founder of this Sect,Calv. in Amos. cap 7. v. 13. pag. 281. started up at the very same time with Ignatius Loyola, and his inconsiderate zeal hurry'd him on into a fury even against Crown'd Heads, particularly against Queen Mary, when he call'd her Proserpine, and said, she outstrip'd all the [Page 26]Devils in Hell; withall referring to the Parlia­ment, a Power to restrain the enormities of Kings,Instit. lib. 4. c. 20. sect 3.1. and telling them, if they do not, they are perfidious and betrayers of their trust; and as he, so his Disciples too, have made it their business ever since, not only to derogate from, but also to extirpate all civil Authority, not conducible to their Interests: I shall only mention some of them, Cartwright, Trevers, Knox, Beza who went abroad under the Masque of Junius Brutus, a fit name for such a Murtherous mind; as also in one Goodman, who, in a Book written by him,Euller. l. 9. p. 77. publickly vindicated Wiat's Re­bellion, affirming, that all who took not his part were Traytors to God, his people, and their Country; nor will these intimations seem strange to any who shall peruse their Geneva Notes upon our Bibles,2. Chron. 15 16. where you may find them highly com­plaining against Asa, because he did not kill his Queen-Mother, furiously terming it lack of zeal, and a foolish pity. Nor do we wonder at their Seditious Preachments and practices in their late Conventicles, when in one of the first which they ever held in this Kingdom, in Queen Elizabeth's days, in one of our Famous Univer­sities, they Collected a good sum of Money for [Page 27]their Scottish Brethren,Weavers fun. Mon. pag. 54. who fled hither for High Treason. What troubles they created to King JAMES would be tedious to recount; and when our late Martyr succeeded him, this Presbyterian humour advancing into a Parliament, never left working, till they had barbarously brought the King upon the Scaffold, and deli­vered him over to his Independent Executioners. Yet still the Presbyterians are Loyal Men; it's true, they profess'd to be so; they vow'd, they protested to be so; so did the subtle Fox in Chaucer, who Swore, he came only to hear the Cock sing, but when by that craft he had once got hold on him, the case was alter'd then. We may allow them somewhat a Kin to the old Parthians, who acknowledged no Honesty nor Religion, but what conduc'd to their own private interests; their obedience is but a bargain, at best they are but conditional Subjects, and will serve the King no longer than he will serve their turns, still Seditious and opposite, never complying with Authority unless that submit first to them. You may judge of their Loyalty, by what you read in the Writings of those Boutefeus, Incendiaries of Sedition, whose Treasonable suggestions I cannot stand now to mention, much less to insist on; [Page 28] Hall, The No­ble Cava­lier cha­racte­riz'd. p. 56. Fou­lis Hist. of Plet. l. 3. cap 2. p. 181. Concerning Baxter, vide his Holy commonwealth. p. 846. 477, &c. Knox, v. Hist. Reformat. of Scotland, p. 392, 393. Jenkins his Sermon before the Parliament. 24 Septem. 1656. p. 23. 2. Croffrons J [...]stning of St. Peter's Fetiers. p. 67, 118. Lov's Englands destemper. p. 7. 26. 32. 37. Hall of Kings-Norton v. Funeb. Flor, &c. Baxter, Knox, Crofton, Jenkins, Case, who did once in a famous Church near the City, Pray for a Gentlewoman sorely afflicted because her Son was fallen from Grace, and serv'd the King in his Wars. I will not excuse Mr. Love himself, though they boast him a mighty Martyr for the King: You may believe it, if you please, for upon the Scaffold he profess'd a vehement detestation of the malignant,Narrat. p. 14. i. e. the Royal Interest. And yet still they will proceed to object and boast their integrity, their Loyalty: These things are past, his Majesty has forgiven them, and good reason, for they restor'd him: They did so, but as Marcus Livius was ‘the cause of taking Tarentum, because if he had not first lost it, it could not have been taken: So did they restore the King, for if they had not driven him from his Kingdom, he could not have been restor'd.’ They restore him! Why then were they they so angry at his undisturbed Restoration! Why have they been so Turbulent and unquiet since he was Restor'd? Why presently upon his return, do they threaten him with Divisions, breaches, doleful effects, confusions, great Calamities, if their hu­mours [Page 29]be not satisfied! For my part,Master Whalys civil rights, &c. of Episco­pacy in his Speec. at Nott­ingham. p. 9. I cannot but agree to that of an Ingenuous Gentleman, Men po­ssibly may repent of Presbytery, but Presbytery never yet repented of any thing. I profes; 'tis not with any delight that I have rak'd in these Sinks, nor should I have thus expos'd these Men and Do­ctrines, but that we see this seditious humour abroad again; those Venemous Serpents are still in the High-ways, sedulous to betray and undermine us; upon the same principles they Murthered the Father, even upon the very same they contriv'd to seize, yea Assasinate his Sons.

What remains, but that we ever detest and ac­curse their Villanous suggestions, beware of the witchcraft of Rebellion, and not suffer our selves to be again charm'd and trick't our of our Loyalty, by the pretences of those abominable Men. What Jacob upon his Death-bed bequeath'd to those Brethren in Iniquity, I shall Apply to them and their Inde­pendent Brethren, and so conclude.Gen. 49. ‘Simeon and Levi are Brethren, instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitation. O my Soul, come not thou into their secrets, unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united; for in their Anger they slew a Man, a Man of Gods right hand, a Man after Gods own heart; and in their self-will they digged [Page 30]down a Wall, a Government that was a Bulwark to our Lives, our Liberties, our Fortunes, to de­fend them from Violence and Invasion:’ Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. But praised be God who hath Re­paired that Wall, by Restoring the Son of that Royal Martyr to Reign over us. May he long, long Reign and prosper. May the Government flourish in his hands! May all those Factions which oppose him, be as the dust before the Wind, and their designs as the Grass on the House tops, which withereth before it be plucked up! May all his Enemies be Cloath'd with shame, but upon himself let his Crown flourish many and many years, that under him we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and Honesty. AMEN.