THat the Doctrine of Obedi­ence to the Civil Magistrate might not be misconstrued an Encroachment upon the Rights of Humane Nature, but received, as the rest of the Precepts of Christ, for a reasonable and prudent Service; St. Paul declareth to the jealous Murmurer ( Rom. 13.4.) That he is the Minister of God to men for Good. The Institution was not for the Politick Ad­vancement of some to be Princes, that they might enjoy themselves in incommunicable Pomps and Splendours; but for the Bene­fit and Security of every individual Subject, [Page 2]that they might not vex and mischieve one another with remediless wrongs and injuries.

It is true there are other Creatures (as Ants and Bees) live sociably together, without any Coercive Power to command and overawe them: but no argument can be drawn from these to our more troublesom and untoward Species.

Their Appetites are limited by their Real Needs; but ours are retched by E­mulation, Pride and Envy: from whence, if there be nothing to restrain them, will arise Hatreds and Strifes, Fears and per­petual Violences.

With them there is no publick Good that doth enterfere with the private Good of any one in particular; but with men there is a General Good of the So­ciety, which cannot always be promo­ted or maintained without the damage of several single Members in it.

[Page 3] Although they make Sounds among themselves, sufficient to express a simple in­stance, yet they have not the artifice of disguising words, whereby we put false colours upon things, to the fomenting of Discontents and causless Quarrels.

From these and such like differences it is, that though the Agreement of inferiour A­nimals, when they flock and herd together, being Natural, there needeth no such Ordi­nance as a Supreme Authority, to preserve their Peace and Unity: yet that of Men being Artificial, it is necessarily required to make theirs firm and lasting.

There are no Nations, People or Langua­ges that are not convinced of it. Could we ride Post upon the Back of the Sun, and thence look down upon all the Inhabitants on the Surface of this Globe we live on, we might find some People Naked without the Modesty of Cloaths; some Poor with­out the Gayeties of Wealth; some Rude [Page 4]without the Culture of Arts and Sciences: but none so Barbarous, but that they have some to Rule and Govern them.

This is the Foundation which all Order and Equity, Quiet and Property among Corrupted men is built upon, which if it fail, they all fall into Ruines: And then it is ea­sie to foresee what a Miserable and Distressed Case all Meek and Honest, Harmless and So­ber People must be in; what Preys and Sacrifices to the Sons of Craft and Fraud, of Cruelty and Oppression.

These are conceived to be the Psalmists Melancholy Thoughts and Expostulations with Almighty God, upon such Occasion (the Danger of his own Destruction, as King of Israel) in the Text. As the great Gresor was wont to say, That it was not so much his own Interest, as the Common­wealths, that he should be preserved safe: so seemeth holy David to reflect upon it here, and not so much for his own sake, as his poor Sub­jects, [Page 5]to be concerned at his present Condi­tion. What will become of the Flock, if they have no Shepherd to look after them? How will the Children be wronged when the Father is gone that did provide for them? Where will the Building be, if the Foun­dation be undermined that did uphold it? If the Foundations be destroyed, what can the Righ­teous do?

While you are yet but at the door of the Text, before you enter further, I cannot but take notice that some of the Learned Langua­ges have rendred it very differently from that Sence, which it carrieth in our Trans­lation. The most ancient Version out of the Hebrew, the Septuagint, hath it thus; [...]. They have destroyed what thou hast prepared, and what hath the Righteous done? And the other In­terpreters that follow them, the Syriack, A­rabick and Vulgar (although a little varying the phrase) in substance altogether to the same purpose. These make them part of the [Page 6]words of David's distrustful friends, who perswaded him in the first Verse, to retire in this his Exigence to some fortified place of strength, Fly as a bird to the mountains. And then it is the Motive with which they back their Counsel. His Arms and Militia were seised on, or otherwise become useless; his Forces and war like Preparations scattered or else revolted, notwithstanding that Justice and Right he had on his side, and did so much depend upon.

If we take them so, there is this sad Truth to be gathered from them, That a good Cause may have had success. Although it be not so clear what was the particular occasion of his penning this Psalm; whether the perse­cution of Saul, when he was fain to leave his Country, and live as an Exile in the Land of the Philistines: or the Rebellion of Absalon, when he withdrew himself from his Metropo­lis at Hierusalem, for the preservation of his Person, to the hazard of his Crown. E­vident it is, by this his Pourtrature of him­self [Page 7]in his solitude and sufferings, his Ene­mies had got the better of him.

This they cry up for a plain Bath Col in their own behalf, a Determination from above in their favour, saying, God hath for­saken him. Now they conclude that the Lord was for them, let his Laws speak never so much for t'other. When the Vapours of their Prosperity are fumed up into the heads of the prevailing Party, it is usual for their dazeling Eyes thus to mistake the fiery Ef­fluvia of their own tumultuous and over-heat­ed Spirits, for some miraculous Light from Heaven that shineth on them. Am I come up without the Lord against this place? saith Rab­shekah, The Lord said to me, Go up, &c.

But let them that follow Mahomet plead the Conquest of their Swords, for the Ju­stification of their ways; we have not so learned Christ: If so he that we have heard him, and been taught by him as the truth is in Je­sus: we know that here all things fall alike [Page 8]unto all, there is one Event to the good and to the bad, and no man can judge of love or ha­tred by all that is before him.

• The Wise God for great and weighty ends, either
• The Punishment of some former Sins, or
• The Exercise of some unacted Graces, or
• The Discountenancing some unfitting In­struments, or
• The Magnifying some After-providences, often dealeth with two contending Sides, as old Jacob with Ephraim and Manasseh, cross­eth his hands on them; layeth his right hand on them that stand at his left, and again his left on them that stand at his right, guid­ing them so wittingly. The Arms of the unbelieving Ottoman have been crescent, when all his neighbour Christians have been in the Wane. The Harps of the Irish Pro­testants hung upon the Willows, while the blood-thirsty Papists among them sung to theirs and made Melody.

[Page 9] Should we judge according to such Ap­pearances (concluding from the Providence of God to his Approbation) what not only unrighteous but ridiculous and contradicto­ry Judgment must we pass upon things? ma­king the same bread and stone, both Fish and Scorpion? As the Barbarians on Paul when the Viper was on his hand, then he must be a murtherer; when he shooke it into the fire, then they change their minds, and say, that he is a God: so must we, blow, now hot, now cold; pronounce now blessing, now curs­ing (according to the interchangeable sways and turnings of the doubtful and trembling Scale) upon the same Cause.

But this is a point which, as for your sakes I need not, so for our Translation sake, I must not longer insist on. This more suitable to the Original, maketh the words have another aspect: to be not an Argument of David's Friends to him, to fly from his Adversaries, but of David himself to God, to protect him against them. And so they are a Rhe­torical [Page 10]Representation of the ill Consequen­ces that follow the want of lawful Gover­nours and Government. Where the Tur­bulency of evil and unreasonable men shall prevail to the pulling down and rooting out of these, what is like to become of that King­dom and People? This is the sum of his Ex­postulation, If the Foundations be destroyed, what can the Righteous do?

Considered thus, they contain,

First, and significant Denomination of them who are in lawful Authority; they are they upon whom the welfare of the People is bot­tomed, the Foundations of it.

2dly, A dreadful Supposition of their Danger, from the Fury or Treachery of the never-satisfied Sons of Belial. These Foun­dations may be destroyed.

Lastly, The fatal Confusion that must follow such Acts of desperate Disobedience and Disloyalty, What can the Righteous do?

[Page 11] These are the Particulars the mournful Text and more horrid Tragedy of the Day require that I should speak to.

The first in order is the Denomination, the significant Denomination, here given to them who are in lawful Authority, they are they upon whom the welfare of the peo­ple is bottomed, the Foundations of it.

The Etymologists will have it, that the Greeks upon this score called their King [...], say they, [...], that they chose such a word to express him by, as was deriv­ed from a Root which signifieth a Basis, as he that supported the Interest of the whole Community. It was no Court Comple­ment that the People passed upon David, but a judicious and sober Truth, when they tell him, 2 Sam. 18.3. Thou art worth ten thou­sand of us; as to their publick Concernments there is none can doubt but he was so.

Most of the Titles that are given by the [Page 12]holy Ghost in Scripture, to them that are honoured with this high employment, com­mence upon this Hypothesis. They are called the shields of a Land, Psal. 47.9. as they that de­fend it from being hurt: The healers of it, Isa. 3.7. as they that cure it when it hath been wounded; The bars of it, Lam. 2.9. as they that secure it from being broken open by foreign Invasions: The foundations of it, in the Text, as they uphold it from tumbling down by inte­stine Commotions. Passages of this nature have given countenance to an old Tradition among the Jewish Doctors, viz. that although there were but three things enjoyned their Fore­fathers before hand, to do when they should possess the Land of Canaan; One, to destroy the Amalakites; Another to build the Tem­ple; yet the first of all was to chuse them a King, as one without whom they would scarce be in a Capacity of either of the other two. From this their apparent Usefulness, not only Jews and Christians, who were ex­presly commanded it from their God, but the whole remaining World with one con­sent [Page 13](and who can suppose such a General and Oecumenick Council as this should err?) have of their own accord decreed a Hedge to be made about their Sacred Persons, that none upon any pretence whatsoever should stretch forth their hands against them.

It is true, apprehending that bottomless Evil of having things managed in ways that are purely Arbitrary; and that great Influ­ence the observed Examples of Princes have upon them that are their Subjects, they cau­tiously provided Ordinances for them, not only to govern the People by, but, in several places, themselves also, Diodorus Siculus speak­ing of the Egyptian Kings, relateth how be­sides the Rules of their Judging, the very manner of their Eating, the times of their Ba­thing, the hours of their Sleeping, the Qua­lifications of their Officers and Attendants were all punctually prescribed to them. And so it was with the Jewish▪ Deut. 17.16. there were Injunctions about the Religion they were to profess, their Wives they were to [Page 14]marry, the number of the very Horses they were to keep, &c. The Prophet Samuel wrote a Book about them, though now it be lost, there is mention made of it, 1 Sam. 10.25.

But although there were Laws to guide and direct them, yet if they forgot them­selves so much as to violate and break through them, there were none by which they might resist and punish them, their Ministers and Instruments were ever accountable, but as to themselves it was a Maxim every where, that they could do no wrong. The Egyptians, Herodotus hath told us, as a modest Admo­nition to their Successors, did sit solemnly in judgment upon their Kings, after they were dead; before they put them into their Sepul­chres, a survey was made of their past Reigns, and accordingly there passed a Sentence of Honour or Dishonour on them: but to do it while they lived, is so presumptuous an Abomination, as that nothing was able to provoke them to. The later Rabbins have asserted, that if their Kings transgressed in [Page 15]those particulars enjoyned them by the Law of Moses, the Sanhedrin might adjudge them to be scourged: but this if it were true (which we may well suspect, there being so many things in Scripture that seem against it, and nothing but their extravagant Say-soes ap­pearing for it) if, I say, it were true, it was rather a Voluntary Penance than a Judicial Sentence: for they themselves confess it with­out infamy, it being in his own choice, both the number of the Stripes, and the Person who should inflict them.

For the Office sake, all places and Coun­treys have in the highest degrees been tender of the Officer; and in kindness to themselves, if they had none for him, stil took care of his Preservation. The Kings of the Gentiles did exercise Lordship over them (a rough and domineering Power) yet they that ex­ercised this Authority were called, by them that were under it, all things considered, their Benefactors. In so much that Plutarch in the Life of Themistocles) thinketh it well [Page 16]returned of Artaban, who when asked, a­mong all the wise and eminent Laws of the Persians, which he thought the most whol­som, answered, that which required Honour and Obedience, Tribute and profound Sub­mission to be paid to them that ruled them.

How wild a Wickedness is it to act other­wise! If there were no danger of their receiving to themselves damnation in the other World for such unjustifiable forbidden practices; yet they do but bring upon themselves troubles and calamities in this. What doth Sampson get by pulling down the Pillars of the House? he hath his reverenge indeed upon his enemies, but (alas!) he payeth dearly for it, poor man! he braineth himself too. And what do turbulent and unpeaceable Men get more by pulling down the Pillars of the Commonwealth they live in? Whatever they may fancy and propound to themselves, what is the usual end of it, but burying the Peace (and Fortunes if they have any) of themselves and others in the Rubbish of [Page 17]those unforeseen, but unavoidable Confusions that must ensue upon it! But yet notwith­standing the Experience of so many Ages hath so abundantly confirmed this, there sel­dom want some who would be adventuring upon this senceless Project: and if any room, or it may be but its Furniture, in the vast Building of the Policy, have the ill luck to be disliked by them, are for pulling down all and rasing the very Foundations. And hence it sometimes cometh to pass that God permitting, and they succeeding, they are de­stroyed: which is

The dreadful Supposition couched in the next part of the Text, the danger of them who are in lawful Authority from the Fury and Treachery of restless Sons of Belial. The Foundations may be destroyed.

Seeing the Foundations are of the same corruptible Materials with the Superstructure, we cannot expect they should last always: though they are said to be Gods, yet they [Page 18]must die like men: why then doth so contem­plative a Person as David send forth such a Tragick Exclamation at their downfal? Did he think that the holy Oil that anointed him King of Judah was so sovereign as to ex­empt him from being a subject of Death? No, it was not the thing, but the manner of it, he seemeth so startled at. It is one thing to have the Foundation fail of it self, another to have it destroyed by others: although in common Buildings the mischief is the same to that which standeth upon it, either way all cometh tumbling down, yet in these it is quite diffe­rent. In the former case, the State still re­maineth as it was, upheld by the surviving Heirs, who immortally supply the place: but in this latter that only Remedy seldom or never is admitted of, but [...], as some Greek Copies read the Text, the Legal Suc­cession also is cut off with them.

And yet as pernicious as this is to the Peo­ple, so common hath it been for their Kings to be served so, that a violent and un­timely [Page 19]End is Proverbially called, Psalms 82.7. falling like one of the Princes. This hath been the lot, not only of Usurpers who had no Title, and Tyrants that abused their Office, but e­ven of the most excellent and deserving a­mong the Order. In sacred Story you find Moses, though the meekest and mildest man the World then had, yet is mutinied against, and like to be deposed by Corah and his Complices. David is a man after Gods own heart, yet fowl-mouthed Shimei bespatter­eth him, and fair-tongued Absalon stealeth a­way the peoples hearts from him. Ahasue­rus, a Heathen indeed, but in the character of all Writers, a well qualified and sweet na­tured one, yet Bigthan and Teresh, though no cause can be found for it, are said to be wroth, and that they sought to lay hands on him. Should we pass into the Roman History, it would there appear that of the forty Em­perours between Julius Caesar and Constantine, there were not ten that died in their Beds; and of them that did, scarce one that was not endangered by more than one Conspi­racy. [Page 20]And thus (though not in so great pro­portion, where their standing Forces being less, were more governable) hath it been in the other parts of the Earth also.

Of which a twofold account may be given,

• One from God,
• Another from men.

First, If we look upwards, as we ought in all the various Events below, as it cometh from God; he hath informed the people that they ought to be sensible of it, as an Ef­fect of his anger and displeasure; not against their Princes that are so used (though some­times it may be so, they ought not to pass that Censure on it, because it is more than they at any time can be sure of) but against themselves over whom they reigned, for the punishment of their sins. So Solomon telleth us, Prov. 28.2. For the transgression of a land (even when there may be eminent and exem­plary Piety in the King) many are the Princes thereof. If by this [many] be meant many [Page 21]collectively, then it sheweth the sweet Ori­ginal of that we call a Commonwealth, the blessed Womb that beareth it, and the Paps that give it suck: It is not the Reformation, the Liberty, but the Transgression of a Land, that it oweth its Birth to. But if it be not meant of many at a time (as in his days and for some while after, it doth not appear there was any such Form of Government as a De­mocracy in the World) but of many succes­sively, then it informeth us, that where ever this befalleth a Nation, that the Crown stayeth not hereditarily fixed in one, but is ravish­ed from Family to Family (where there must needs be contrary Dependencies, Factions and Projects) it is a Judgment on them. Al­though the new-fangled Multitude may fancy to themselves beforehand great Advantages by such alterations, yet in the Event they still find it is but an Addition of new Distracti­ons to their old Grievances, or an exchanging their Rods for Scorpions: in so much that when they see the Successor, nothing more common than (with the Peasant that would [Page 22]be digging for Antigonus out of his Grave a­gain) to confess they were better under his Predecessor.

And by how much the Prince is the wor­thier, by so much the Case is still the sadder. When Saul is slain, the Children of Judah are taught the use of the Bow, that they might revenge his death: but when Josiah is slain, all Judah and Hierusalem mourn in the Valley of Megiddon, they lament his death. So that if Hiram King of Tyre said of Solo­mon's Reign, Because the Lord hath loved this people, he hath made thee King over them, we may upon the same ground affirm upon such a King's Ruine, because the Lord is incensed against that people, he taketh away him from being King over them.

Various are the ways of God in animad­verting upon the ways of men. As where there is a natural Union, sometimes he vi­siteth the sins of Fathers upon the Children, and sometimes again the sins of Children up­on [Page 23]on the Fathers: So where there is this Politi­cal Union, sometimes he visiteth the sins of Kings upon their Subjects, and sometimes a­gain the sins of Subjects upon their Kings. Nor can one suffer without the other: for if the Head cannot say to the Foot, I have no need of thee, much less can the Foot say to the Head, I have no need of thee. So that as it cometh from God, it is certainly a token of his Indignation. Look downwards upon this in the

Second place, as it cometh from Men, and it must be attributed to their Pride and Am­bition; the Pride and Ambition of such as covet to be in their Room. God permitteth it as a chastisement for a disobedient and of­fending People, howbeit these mean not so, neither do their hearts think so; but it is in their hearts to promote and exalt themselves. Though the Dignity of Princes be great, yet their Burthens are so heavy, that several, who have not been much mortified neither, merely out of Prudence and Modesty have [Page 24]declined the meddling with it. Saul when to be anointed King over Israel hideth himself among the stuff: Gordian, when elected Em­perour, fell down upon his knees to beg them to pass him by. Charles the Fifth grew wea­ry of his fortunate Sceptre, and upon a long Experience deliberately resigned it. But though the Olive and the Fig-tree and the Vine have no mind any of them to be King of the Trees, yet the Bramble is wild for it. There are that consider not that the Head is the leanest part of the Body, but only that it is the highest.

Not that if they were so shameless, men were ever so silly as to own this directly, that were the way to lose the envious Rabble (Tools without which such work as this can never be done) and be forsaken by the gid­dy Multitude: No, no, they have solemn Protestations and self-denying Ordinances, specious Declarations and fair Remonstran­ces for the cajoling and inveigling these. But whatever hypocritical Colours it may be [Page 25]painted over with, when time hath washed them off, the End all along hath made it ap­pear this was the Old Cause that was under­neath; they kill, that they may take possession, they dethrone, that they may reign in his stead. In so much that though there never yet was a­ny Rebellion or Civil War, where Religi­on or Liberty (according as the Genius of the place would best bear) were not one or both pretended, yet I shall adventure to say, that he who examineth the most judicious and impartial Writers of Story, will be huge­ly put to it to produce an Instance of any one, where personal Disgusts and selfish De­signs were not the first promoters and fo­mentors of it.

Now there being no place unpestered with store of these, hence it comes to pass, that in all places, according as they have seen pro­bability of prospering, lawful Governours have been disturbed, and the Foundations at­tempted to be destroyed. But O how de­plorable is the Condition of that People, [Page 26]where such things do happen! How are they tossed by the boisterous Waves, and their Souls melted because of trouble! How do they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are even at their wits end! Such is the Description here given of them that are in these State-storms, in the

Last part of the Text, where you have the fatal Confusions that follow upon such wicked and disloyal Practices Rhetorically represented, What can the Righteous do? If the Foundations be destroyed, what can the Righ­teous do?

It is not asked, what shall they that call themselves the Righteous do: there are of them that pretend it is lawful for them to do this, destroy the very Foundations: that to them pertaineth the Privilege and the Glory to bind their Kings in chains, and their Nobles in fetters of iron. So a place, not hard to be understood, hath been wrested by them, to their Sovereign's destruction as well as their [Page 27]own: and because the Israelites had a Pro­mise that they should so conquer the Kings of Canaan (whose Country God had engaged to restore to them, as those to whom, by an hereditary Right derived in a direct line from Sem, it did belong) therefore assert that the People of God, in all ages, may serve their own so also. But if this Title be a legal Com­mission for it, and a sufficient Dispensation from all the Precepts of Obedience and Sub­jection, who would ever be guilty of such course Sins as Treason and Rebellion? How cheap and easie is it for them, when upon such projects, first to canonize themselves? For though men of down-right Integrity do ever abhor the Canting and unmanly Supercili­ousness of such distinguishing and vain-glori­ous Names, yet men of subtil Mischief (it is easie to observe) have ever most unbeseem­ingly affected them. The bitterest enemies of our blessed Lord called themselves Pharisees, that is, they of the holy Separation. They that denyed the Resurrection, Angel and Spi­rit, called themselves Sadduces, that is, the [Page 28]Righteous. Those Hereticks, against whom St. Paul is so sharp in most of his Epistles, called themselves Gnosticks, that is, the Knowing and Enlightned. Those plundering bloody Rake-hells among the Jews, called themselves Zealots, that is, inspired Reformers. But they are not the Saints, that we have nothing but their own word for, that are here en­quired after.

Neither doth he ask, what can the Un­righteous do? No, there is no question to be made of them, but they will do well enough, it may be best of all then; others Ruines shall be their Raisings, others Losses shall be their Gains. What if the Waters are troubl­ed? they know how to catch Fish in them. What if the Kingdom be in a Flame? they take the advantage of warming their own hands at it. They can sail with the Wind that bloweth, and with the Hedgehog be sure to open to the Sunny side. They that can dis­pense with their Oaths, and comply with U­surpers; be Instruments of the illegal Inno­vations, [Page 29]and zealous for the statutes of Omri, may receive some wages for their unrighte­ousness, and ravish to themselves Fortunes unexpected as ignominious: But for those that dare not debauch their Consciences, nor be pertakers of other mens sins; that will re­tain their Integrity, and rather than do, would suffer evil, what can these do?

These are they that are here so pitied, as in a lamentable and wofull case, and that in all which concerneth them either as men or good men, I mean both

• Their Religion and
• Their Property.

First, consider them in their Religious Con­cernments. Religion indeed, consider'd in an ab­stracted Notion, standeth upon a Foundation that cannot be destroyed. It is built upon the foun­dation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone. So it de­pendeth [Page 30]not upon the Will or breath of a­ny mortal Man, how great soever. It was the same, as much deserving to be believed, as necessary to be obeyed, yesterday, under the most furious heathen Persecutions, as it is to day, that Kings are become its Nursing-fa­thers. But though, as it is a divine Revelati­on, it standeth upon another bottom, and leaneth not at all upon the Civil Power, yet as it is a visible Profession, so it is a most desirable and strong Support to it. As long as this holy Vine hath the benefit of such a wall to grow up by, it spreadeth its orderly and thriving Branches, secure both from the Boar and Foxes: but when this is under­mined and falleth, how may we see its weak and feeble parts, unable to sustain themselves, ruinously drooping upon the same deceitful earth, rotted by that, and tangled within it self.

God grant them as much Grace, as they have Cause, to repent of their ingratitude, that if the Magistrate doth not humour them in all the odd punctilio's of their disputable [Page 31]and troublesome perswasions, still are mur­muring, sad times! and persecution! O how thankful both to God and them would the better primitive Christians have been, if they could have been blessed with such Defendors of the Faith, who would but have encoura­ged them in the Profession of its great Sub­stantials! Call to mind the days of old, when the Potentates of the earth took counsel a­gainst the Lord, how Christians could not go to the Temple without danger of being sacrificed at the Altar; not put up their pray­ers, but others were ready to pour out their Souls for it. How as soon as they were dis­covered to follow the Lamb, they were con­demned to be cast to the Lyons; and might not partake the Riches of the Gospel without utter undoing of themselves and Families, and see in that Looking-glass the rueful Counte­nance Religion hath when the Civil Power is averse to it.

Nay, though he be not a Nero that is in the Throne, if he be but a Gallio, how much [Page 32]doth the Church of God suffer? what Con­tradictions? what Schisms? what Scandals? what Disorders? what Animosities from a­mong their own perverse and wanton selves, where there is no restraint on them? Ammia­nus Marcellinus maketh this excuse to his fel­low-heathen, for Julian's not persecuting the Christians, as did some preceding Emperours, That it was not from any Inclination he had to them, but from an Observation he had made on them, that no savage Beasts are so cruel and quarrelsom among one another, as they, when they are at liberty; and that there­fore he did indulge them, that slily he might undo them. This having always since been found the sad Effect of it, the destruction of a pious and prudent Magistrate must by all be concluded a dreadful Blow to the Righte­ous upon the account of Religion. Nor are they likely to suffer less by it in the

Second place upon the account of Proper­ty. If there be no King in Israel every one will do that which is good in his own eyes: [Page 33]and though this seemeth pretty and desirable, if a man could enjoy it alone, yet when eve­ry other hath it besides himself, he being but one to so many, the pleasure will not near counterpoise the danger. Where each In­dividual sets up for an Ishmael, his hand is against every man and every Mans hand a­gainst him, O the Insolencies, the Oppressi­ons, the Cruelties, the Crimes of all sorts, that such a Land must be covered with! How will the Hawks prey upon the Doves! The hungry Sharks devour the more help­less Fry! Where there is no Law, there will be nothing but Transgression. It was dis­creetly answered of the Child, when dis­swaded from taking on so for his dead Fa­ther, because he was severe and harsh to him, That though he was a severe and harsh Fa­ther, yet he was a Father still. It is so here, the Commodities of Government are so great, that a very froward and rigid Father of the Country is better than none at all. For whereas in a corrupt Monarchy there may be one Tyrant, in an Oligarchy a few [Page 34]Tyrants, in a Democracy many Tyrants, in an Anarchy they are all Tyrants.

Not that the Throne doth any where long stand empty. One passeth away and another cometh, but the poor Subjects (as earth) a­bide so, and are under one or anothers foot for ever. But if we should suppose, that upon the downfal of one, in process of time, another building more fair and goodly than the former should be erected, yet when the Foundations fail, this is undeniable, the several parts of the present Superstructure that stand upon it, will be generally spoiled and broken; and that, one would think, should be consideration enough to them to be chary of it. To strip the argument of David's Me­taphor, none can reasonably hope that their lines should fall in such an Eutopia, where there shall be nothing amiss in the Publick Administrations, but for them to determine upon resisting and pulling down their Go­vernours, because they are sensible of some Failures and Miscarriages in their Govern­ment, [Page 35]is much such wise contrivance, as he that resolved to have his Head cut off, that he might be eased of the Tooth-ach. For certain it is, that among the greatest Tyrants the Earth hath ever groaned under, the Ca­ligula's, Nero's Domitian's there cannot one be named, that ever shed so much blood or did so much wrong to a place, as a Rebelli­on or Civil War doth. No, where they have slain or undone their thousands, these have their ten thousands. Down then, down to the place of Darkness, from whence it came, with that Antichristian Principle, That it is lawful for the People, upon the ill Mana­gery and Abuse of their Power, by Arms and Force to depose and punish their Prin­ces; seeing any Faction that is strong enough, will be sure to call themselves the People, and whatever they dislike shall be voted ill Manageries and Abuses. This once admit­ted, layeth the Axe to the Root of all Civil Society, destroyeth the Foundations of all Peace and Settlement, keepeth up constant Jealousies between Kings and their Subjects, [Page 36]and involveth all Humane Affairs in a wild and endless Chaos. From which the Righ­teous God of Order now and always defend the World in general, and this distracted Land we live in in particular. For, If the Foun­dations be destroyed, what can the Righteous do?

I have done with the several heads pro­pounded from the words to be discoursed of; and now, O that there had never been the Execrable Occasion of proceeding any further! Then we had not been such a Ba­bel among our selves, nor such a By-word to the Nations round about us! Then the Blood of our slain had not cried so loud, nor our wickedness been unparallel'd! Let the day on which it it was acted be solitary, and let no joyful voice be heard in it! Let it not be joyned unto the days of the year, nor come into the number of the Months! The melancholy Text hath yet one syllable of hope in it, that is [If] If the Foundations be destroyed, there it is but a hazard whether it would be so or no: but in this days sorrows [Page 37]even that small Cranny of Light was stop­ped up, and to the high Dishonour of the Righteous God, the deep Defilement of our native Land, the fearful Scandal of the Re­formed Religion; in the Person of our then most Gracious Sovereign, our Foundations actually were destroyed. Although I abhor that barbarous Cruelty of tearing open Wounds, which time is closing up equally with that pragmatick Sin of the Pulpits meddling with things pertaining to any other Kingdom but that of God; yet it would seem a stupid offence against both this sad Anniversary and Assembly (so far as it lieth within the Compass of of my Profession and relateth to Christian Doctrine) to say no­thing of so extraordinary and calamitous a Subject. Lend me then a few Minutes for some serious Reflections upon that Scarlet Abomination, and I shall leave you to your Prayers to deprecate the Guilt of it, that the Lord may not require it.

This is that we chiefly are met together [Page 38]for. Though David's Cursing the Moun­tains of Gilboa, the insensible place where Saul fell; and Jacob's the Treacherous Cruelty of Simeon and Levi, in slaying of a Prince to whom they were no Subjects, might seem some Plea for the vehemence of a Satyr, a­gainst the more inexcusable Instruments of this so great a Wickedness: yet in the an­nual Exposing the Body of our murthered Caesar, the great Design is not to provoke to any Passion, but that of Grief and Sor­row. And this not for him (who is long since entred into his Joy, and hath received a Crown incorruptible and that fadeth not away, which God the Righteous Judge hath given him, instead of that his Unrighte­ous Judges took from him) Grief and Sor­row (I say) not for him, but for that com­plicated Guilt of his crying Blood, that it may not come either upon this Generation, or those that shall come after us.

That which looketh like the most threat­ning Symptome that it may, is that there are [Page 39]so many yet among us, that needlesly adopt the Crime, and beholding it in no other Mir­rour than such a one (as that Pausanias telleth us was kept in the Temple at Smyrna) which represented every thing that was beautiful as deformed, and every thing that was deform­ed as beautiful, will be Justifying instead of Mourning for it. The Houses of God would not in most places be so unfrequented, nor this Day so slightly observed, if this Woe were not yet in part upon us of calling evil good and good evil: and because he suffered in the same Manner as a Malefactor, there are too many will not learn to distinguish that it was not by the same Right. Had he been poisoned at his Table, stabbed in his Cham­ber, stifled in his Bed, they would not have stuck to have called it Murther; but now he was beheaded on a Scaffold (as if it were any thing the more blameless for being shame­less) it shall be accounted Justice.

It would be superfluous for Confutation of this to have recourse to his Innocence, al­though [Page 40]though (like Ceraunias which Pliny speaketh to look like an ordinary and worthless Stone in fair, but shine and sparkle gloriously in dark and stormy Weather) thousands and thousands of his once deluded Subjects were fully convinced of that, during his Calami­ties, and then seemed troubled for him, whom before they troubled: not (I say) to have recourse to his conspicuous Innocence, this had been a daring Wickedness against all the Laws both of God and Man, merely upon the account of his Office. It was the Aggra­vation of their wickedness that they destroy­ed their good King, but their wickedness was that they destroyed their King. Such a Care he, whose Vice-gerents they are, hath taken of them both in the Old Testament and the New, that he that runneth may read, no man can stretch forth his hands against them, and be guiltless.

This was the constant Doctrine of all that were called Christians for more than 500 years together; and though afterwards it [Page 41]was corrupted, yet they that pretend such peculiar Abomination of Popery, one would think, of all men, should not have symbolized with it; for let all the house of Israel know as­uredly (however now with that other Harlot she wipeth her mouth) Rome, degenerate Rome, was she by whom the Doctrine of King-killing was first sanctified. It cannot be denied indeed, but that loose and dange­rous Tenents of that nature have been vend­ed by some who were enemies to that Com­munion: but yet this is manifest, they were of a later Date; in so much that whenever any of their Tongues or Pens have been found fighting against the Civil Power, he that will take the pains to enquire, may easily discover that they sharpned their Weapons with these Philistians.

But that which is the pleasantest Scene (if any may be called so in so sad a Plot) is to see how these two, though they seem to a­gree so well as to the main Matter, ( viz. That Princes may in some Cases be deprived not [Page 42]only of their Government, but of their Lives too by their Subjects) yet differing as they do in the explication of the Manner (as Natura­lists report the Combat of the Elephant and the Dragon) have each very substantially confuted and overcome the other. When they of the Romish Party defend such things by the high and mighty Power of the Pope, they of the Consistory undeniably prove a­gainst them, that Christ never made him a Temporal Judge however, and that he is but a busie Body for meddling in these Matters: when they of the Consistory plead for such things from the Fundamental Power of the People, they of the Romish Party irrefra­gably prove against them, that they being Inferiours, are not to resist but submit to eve­ry Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake. Thus when Voluptuous Childerick of France was deposed, and the Crown transferred to Ambitious Pipin, then Lord Marshal, it is observable that both sides speak well of it. Bellarmine, Harding, Fevardentius, with the rest on that side, grant that it had been [Page 43]unlawful for the Nobility or Commons to have done this of themselves, because of their Oaths; but Pope Zachary absolving them, it was well and justifiable. Danaeus, Bucha­nan, Hottoman, with those on that side, prove it malepert Pride and Arrogance in Pope Zachary to pronounce any Sentence, but the Nobility and Commons of the Country con­cluding it meet and necessary, this, they say, made the Fact lawful. Thus while the thieves that would be stealing the Sovereign Autho­rity of Princes fall out and quarrel, by their detecting one another, these come honestly by their Goods again.

Our Regicides pitched upon the more plau­sible Plea of the two, viz. The Original Power of the People, which (they pretend­ed) being made over but in trust, if they judged it abused they might reassume. But this Hypothesis is so unsound in all its parts, it will no more bear handling than one of the Apples of Sodom: and it could not but be wondred at that they did not relinquish it as [Page 44]soon as they avowed it; were it not for what the modest President of it returned to this ex­cellent Prince, when he would have argued it with them, namely, That that was a Court that would not hear Reason. When Valentini­an (in Sozomen) was pressed by the Army to a thing he thought inconvenient, he told them it was in their power whether they would have chosen him Emperour or no, but hav­ing done it, the Act was irrevocable; they had nothing to do now, but leave affairs with him, and obey him. In this case there might be said more: it was not in their power whether they would have him for their King or no, his Crown was not Elective but He­rereditary, with what face then could they affirm it was in theirs to depose and condemn him?

No, not even by their own beloved Prin­ciple. For if this power were in the People, then every one had an equal share in it, and ought not only personally to have been con­sulted, but explicitly to have given consent to [Page 45]it. But (blessed be God) the abused People were not given over to such a reprobate sence: no, though for the better sound sake they used the Name of the Commons and the Peo­ple, they had no more ground for it than for their Pretences to the Spirit and new Lights. Set aside the People of the obnoxious Ar­my, and who of the People were they that would own it? Were they the People of Ireland? Why then did they not signifie it by some Authentick Instrument? Were they the People of Scotland? Why then did they publish a Declaration against it as contrary even to their Covenant? Were they the Peo­ple of the Country? Why then did they so oft petition for a Personal Treaty? Were they the People of this City? Why then did they pull up your Post and Chains, and keep a Garrison in your very Cathedral to over-awe you? Were they the Peoples Re­presentatives in Parliament? Why then even of those, that remained at that time among them, did they imprison so many, before they could obtain a Vote for it? No, so far was [Page 46]it from any of this, that the ablest Writer that was to be had for money, to defend the Villany to the World, being pinched, with the fewness and despicableness of those who were engaged in it, hath nothing to return to it, but that sneaking Blasphemy, That it was the Mysterious Will of the Lord, and so not many Wise, not many Mighty, not many Noble were called to it.

But yet all this should not make the Nati­on think themselves wholly unconcerned in it. Although in Murther the Law maketh all to be Principals, yet great Numbers that in Conscience may be acquitted, as to that, yet (I fear) upon the examination of things, may find enough in this to accuse themselves as Accessories. Such they should acknowledge themselves (how good and harmless soever their Intentions were) who by their early Activeness among, or Assistance of his more blood-thirsty Enemies, helped them into the capacity of thus dealing with him. The de­priving him of his just power was the destroy­ing [Page 47]of the King, the depriving him of his Life was but the destroying of the Man, I doubt not but I may bespeak multitudes of those, as St. Peter did the Jews in the case of the holy Jesus, And now Brethren I wot that through Ignorance ye did it, as also did some of your Ru­lers, following these hypocritical Ring-lead­ers to the War, as the two hundred men did Absalon to Hebron, in the simplicity of your hearts and knew not any thing; yet those that designed not the diminishing so much as a hair of his head, yet in as much as they cut off but the lap of his garment, now they see what followed on it, in this day of Humiliation should have their hearts smite them for it.

Let not the Distance of time since these things were done, make us fancy our selves the more se­cure, as if it were a thing so out of date, as that it were superfluous now to take any notice of it. He that considereth the vengeance God took on Amalek, destroying both Man and Woman, In­fant and Suckling, Oxen and Sheep, Camels and Asses, and that for a Sin had been committed by their Ancestors four hundred years before: or all the righteous Blood that had been shed on the [Page 48]Earth, from that of righteous Abel, coming upon the Jews four thousand years after; may soon be satisfied, that if we do not so repent that God doth forgive, we have no reason to hope he will ever forget us.

Because therefore his Judgments are u [...]archable, and his Ways past finding out, that [...] cannot know the Mind of the Lord, nor in [...] things be of his Council, as to tell to what degrees he may yet look upon it and require it, let [...] hearti­ly and fervently importune him this [...], That he who is plenteous in Forgiveness and heareth Prayers, would not lay this or any other either of our National or our Personal, our Open [...] our Secret, our Old or our New Sins to our Ch [...]e; that he would visit us according to the [...] the years wherein we have seen evil; and as [...] once more graciously restored, so he would always mercifully preserve both Foundation and Super­structure, King and People, Religion and Laws, from the danger of Destruction, by any kind of Enemies that lie in wait for them, either those that would have blown up the Father [...] or those that did this day cut off the Son, that u [...]er our most Gra­cious King and all that are in [...] we may live quiet and peaceable Lives in all God liness and Ho­nesty; giving unto the King etern [...], immortal, invi­sible, the only wise God honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen.