more vengeance upon themselves by committing the more sins 3. Reason 3 He answered not because he held that Power which at that time the sword had so unjustly gotten to be insufficient and unjustifiable in his case to try his person and to condemn Him to death who in respect of the Hypostaticall union was Rex universae terrae and so King of the Romans as well as of the Jews therefore he would not answer to that charge that was so illegally charged against him coram non Judice before a Judge that had no lawfull commission to be his Judge So Bradshaw had no commission to be King Charles his Judge Or 4. Reason 4 It may be said that he answered nothing to the false charge laid against him because of the illegall power authority or right that his enemies had to require it when as he being their King was not to answer for any faci that he had done to any one of all his Subjects as the King that was according to Gods own heart sheweth when after he had committed both adultery and murder he saith to God Against thee only have I sinned And therefore the Jews being Christ his Subjects and so having neither right nor authority Math. 27.11 to lay any charge against Him that was their King he was altogether silent in all that concerned the charge laid against him Mar. 15.2 But for any other question that Pilate his servant and now made his Judge Luk. 23.3 did ask him He gave him a full and a sufficient answer as you may see in all the Evangelists Or else Joh. 18.34 36. and chap. 19 11. as S. Jerom. comments upon the Evangelists he spake nothing that is nihil durum nihil asperum nothing that might offend either the Judge or the Jews But we find What this King spake not to save his own life but for others that neither Jews nor Gentiles neither High Priest nor Pilate would condemn this King before they gave him liberty to speak and they were ready to hear what he would or could say for himself Because the law of the Jews as Nicodemus a Counsellor of their law testifieth judged no man before it heard him and it was not the manner of the Romans Jo. 7.51 Act. 25.16 to deliver any man to die before he had liberty to answer for himself as Festus another Judge of the Romans confesseth And yet such was the injustice shewed to Charles our King which you may remember by his subject-Judge that contrary to all Laws both of Heaven and Earth both of Jews and Gentiles he would not hear those just Reasons that he sought to shew for himself against their unjust proceedings against him And therefore no doubt but Annas and Caiphas and unjust Pilate will rise in Judgment to condemn that unjust Judge at the last day But though this good King Christ said nothing to their Charge to save his own life yet at his death he spake much to preserve his enemies from Everlasting death as when he said I thirst that was not for the blood of his enemies as they and the Souldiers did for his blood but it was for the accomplishment of the mysterie of theirs and our salvation that was to be effected by his death And especially when as Bellar mine observeth he prayed for his very murderers that were slaughtering and tormenting him and said Father forgive them for they know not what they do and some of them are simply ignorant of the wickedness of this fact being seduced by their false Teachers and others though wilfully blind yet are they ignorant of the consequents of this act that is the heavy punishment that is due to them and without great repentance must light on them for this wicked deed therefore O my Father I pray thee revenge not my death but forgive them for my sake And this prayer prevailed for Longinus that thrust him through his side How mightily the prayer of Christ prevailed with God to forgive his enemies to become a Convert if old Tradition may be believed for truth and for 3000. more at one clap when S. Peter took off the vail that shadowed the truth and shewed to the poor seduced people the horrible wickedness of their malicious leaders and for many many more that returned unto him immediately after and would have prevailed for all the very worst of his murderers even for Judas Annas and Caiphas yea and for the Judges the first and second Pilate that pronounced the Sentence against their Kings if they had had the grace to repent them of their evill deed and to believe in this their Saviour 4. Consider 4 How Speedily they condemned their King I pray you how speedily they executed and made an end of him after he was Condemned for he was apprehended but upon Thursday when-as upon Wednesday at night he did eat the Pass-over with his Disciples and tels them that after two daies was the Feast of the Passover the greatest feast that they had Math. 26.2 solemnized in remembrance of their great and wonderfull deliverance out of Pharaohs bondage And yet they would not suffer him to live till that Feast was past but being taken upon Thursday he must all that day and all that night be hurried from Annas to Caiphas from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod and from Herod back again to Pilate and so from place to place and the very next day which was Friday by nine of the clock in the morning which was their third hour of the day they fastened him to his Cross Mar. 15.25 with nails so large that being found they made a helmet and a bridle for Constantine as it is reported And this was a very quick dispatch indeed King Charleâ— I remember another King that was murdered in like manner by his subjects but though suddenly enough dispatched out of the way yet had a litle more favour and a litle longer time before he was beheaded But why would not these miscreants suffer their King to live one day Quest to prepare himself for his death after he was condemned They answer That the next day after he was adjudged to die Resp Why they would not suffer their King to live one day longer was their Feast day and the greatest feast in the year therefore they must not suffer him to pass over that day nor to die on that day for these two speciall Reasons 1. Reason 1 Lest there should be an uproare among the people because that day being set apart for an holy meeting as the Lord commanded it and as our Apprentices are permitted upon Shrove-tuesday Servants had liberty on Holy dayes and Feast-dayes to take their liberty and to go a Shroving where they please So were their labourers and servants under colour of going to the Temple suffered on this day to gad abroad and to go where they would And therefore the raskality of the people and
righteous and just Secondly I say that there is crudelitas parcens misericordia puniens a sparing which is cruelty and a punishment that is a great mercie and such are the troubles pressures and punishments of God's Children mercies rather then judgments because they proceed not from God's Wrath but as the chastisements of a Father to his Children so do these come from the love of God towards his servants for their good whom he afflicteth here for a moment that they should be bettered and not be condemned with the Wicked hereafter for ever Thirdly I say that the Miseries Crosses and Calamities Reason 1 that the Faithfull suffer in this World are not always so much a punishment for their Sins Reason 2 though their Sins deserve much more Reason 3 and Sin is the root from whence all miseries do spring as trials and probations of their Faith and Constancie in God's love and service for so the Scripture saith that God tempted Abraham not temptatione deceptionis to deceive him as Satan tempteth us but temptatione probationis to try him whether he would obey the Commandment of God or not when he commanded him to offer his Son his onely Son Isaac for a Sacrifice unto God and so he tried the Israelites at the waters of Strife and as Moses saith in their Fourty years wandring through the Wilderness to see whether they would love the Lord their God and cleave unto him and continue faithfull in his service and so he doth plainly tell the Church of Smyrna that the Devil should cast some of them into Prison that they might be tryed and they should have Tribulation ten dayes and that is either ten years as Junius expounds it or else several times as others think yet all to this end that they might be tryed whether they would continue faithfull unto death or not and such were the afflictions of Job and of many other of the Saints of God they were justly deserved by their Sins and God in mercie sent them for their trial What the former Doctrine teaching the us And therefore whatsoever and how great soever a measure of Miseries Crosses and Troubles we have or shall suffer yet let us not faint nor be affraid of them and let not the Children of God be like the Children of Ephraim that being Harnessed and carrying Bows and so well prepared for the fight yet turned themselves back in the day of Battaile when there was most need of their assistance but as we have loved our King and have suffered all the calamities and burthens that are layd upon us for our faithfulness to him and the preservance of a good conscience so let us continue unto the end and never comply with any of the King's Enemies in the abatement of the least jot of our love and good opinion of the deceased King or with the Factious Non-conformists in the dis-service of God and the new invented Religion of our upstart Schismaticks let neither weight of trouble nor length of time change our minds because perseverance in Faith and Virtue is that which crowneth all the other Virtues and if at any time even at the last we forsake our first love and change our Faith we lose all the reward of all the former good that we have done and do by our revolt testifie that we were not good for the love of goodness nor adhered to the truth for righteousness sake but for some other by-respects for our own ends that never brings any to a good end and therefore the primitive Christians could never by any means be drawn to alter the least point of their Faith Prudent De Vincéntio and the right service of God but as Prudentius saith Tormenta carcer ungulae Stridénsque flammis lamina Atque ipsa paenarum ultima Mors Christianis ludus est All the Torments and Terrours of the World could never move them to change their mindes But some man may say Objection Providence hath decided the Controversy the King is dead Victrix causa Dits placuit and the Parliament hath prevailed against him and all his Friends and therefore what should I do now but comply with the stronger side and use that religion which they profess and that form of worship which they prescribe and so redeem the time that I have lost and repair some losses that I have sustained I answer Solution that our Saviour Christ to prevent this very Objection that the Jews might make to terrifie the Christians and to with-hold them from the faith of Christ because they had killed him and he was dead and therefore to what purpose should they adhere to a dead Saviour and hazard their lives and their fortunes to maintain the honour of a dead man that could not preserve his own life because a Living Dog is better then a dead Lion saith unto his Servant John I am he that liveth and was dead and behold or mark it well I am alive for evermore Amen and therefore let not my death deterr any man from following me or believing in me so I say that faith and truth are still alive and though oftentimes suppressed and afflicted yet not killed and therefore the Poet saith Dispaire not yet though truth be hidden oft Because at last she shall be set aloft And as another saith Terra fremat regna alta crepent ruet ortus orcus Si modo firma fides nulla ruina nocet And for King Charles I say though he is dead yet he is still alive many ways and that his blood like Abel's blood being dead yet speaketh and speaks aloud not onely to God These things were written and preached by the Author in the time of Oliver but also to every one of them that loved him that they should not so soon forget their faith and love to him that lost his life for their defence and the defence of the true Catholick Faith and though he be dead he is still alive alive with Christ in Heaven for evermore and alive with us on earth in the good that he did bring to us in the love that he shewed towards us and in the good that he left amongst us and shall we leave him and leave our love to him and our remembrance of him and forsake our faith and prove perfidious both to God and to the honour and to the memory of our deceased King and cleave to them to say and do as they say and do that have bereft us of him and would have destroyed us with him No no let us abhor them and their evil doings detest their false Faith and hate their Wickedness with a perfect hatred And though we have suffered much and may suffer much more at the hands of these Tyrants that are our new Masters yet let us submit our selves unto them but as Daniel and the rest of God's people did unto the Chaldeans full sore against their wills Iames v 11. Job lxii 12. and let us yield none otherwise to this present Government
these murderers All these saith our Saviour shall be destroyed and so they were all of them that repented not did soon perish For 1. Judas the prime Traytor hanged himself and that without any regard of his grand Masters who when they saw his disconsolate soul and heard his confession of his foul Treason said no more but What is that to us as if they said Be hang'd or be damn'd we do not care thou shouldst have looked to that thy self 2. Pilate that unjust Judge not long after the execution of this King was disgracefully displaced and exiled his Countrey and therefore killed himself in a strange land 3. Herod died most miserably being eaten up with worms 4. Annas and Caiphas were violently killed as the Stories do report 5. The Priests and Presbyters Pharisees and Sadduces and many others that were Actors in the murdering of this King lived I believe most of them to see the famous City of Jerusalem besieged and many of them to see it destroyed and at least 1100000. of their Countrey-men slaughtered and all the rest even their Children that were unborn when they kil'd their King either Captivated by their enemies or scattered like Vagabonds over all the face of the earth And as the severall Factions and the different Sects conspired together and agreed as one man to kill their King So their divisions and differences made way for the Romans to destroy them all and which is strange by this their wicked act the very things that they feared came upon them for their great Prophet Caiphas tels them it was expedient that he should die lest the Nation perish and by the just Judgment of God their Nation must perish because they did so wickedly put their King to death And so they were resolved to kill him lest the Romans should invade their Land and change their laws and because they did kill him God sent the Romans to destroy their Country to change their laws and to make such havock of slaughtering them ut nec locus crucibus nec cruces corporibus sufficerent And ever since the murder of their King they have been hated of all Nations For Sisibut King of the Visigothes and Dagobert the 10th King of France commanded them on pain of death to depart out of their Dominions And Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queen of Castile within these seven-score years 1500. years after the murdering of their King handled them very shrewdly Camerar l. 5. c. 9. and put an infinite number of them to death And Emmanuel King of Portugal did the like So hateful are they for their regicide to all good men and so just is God in all his wayes and so exceedingly hating Rebellion against our Kings and much more the murdering of our own lawful just and pious King that the same never escapeth the severest punishment that can be imagined as I shall shew it in the next Treatise For if he who sheddeth mans blood though but a poor Beggar by man shall his blood be shed then surely he that sheds his Kings blood cannot escape the severe vengeance of God who peremptorily saith Vengeance is mine and I will revenge saith the Lord. And you know what the Apostle saith It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who is a consuming fire And therefore if any man hath persecuted Gods Servants the Preachers or conspired to take away the life of his King the Annointed of the Lord let him repent and that quickly lest God as He saith to the Church of Pergamos do quickly come unto him and fight against him with the sword of his mouth which is a two-edged sword that cuts on every side the soul with the worm of conscience and the body with most fearful plagues and punishments For if the blood of Abel which had no voice while it lived yet being dead cryed so loud here on earth that it was easily heard in heaven and it was as fearful as it was loud for it was for vengeance against his brother then questionless the innocent blood of a just King being dead yet speaketh and speaketh louder for vengeance against his Subjects than the other did against his brother which I fear without our speedy and deep repentance will be abundantly poured out upon this sinful generation for that we have so barbarously murdered our own King in such wicked manner that I never read the like in any History nor the Sun I believe did ever see the like since the devilish murder of the King of kings from which these murderers took their pattern to proceed in like manner in most particulars and herein therefore Licet parvis componere magna I thought good to parallel the practises of both sorts of murderers the Jewish and the English murderers The murdered I confess are far unlike and will admit of no comparison the difference and distance betwixt their Persons being so great as is betwixt Heaven and Earth the Creator and the creature King Charles being begotten by an earthly father as all other men are and subject to like passions as we are but Jesus Christ the King of the Jews was conceived by the Holy Ghost and free from all sin and mastering all affections And King Charles was King but of small Territories But Jesus Christ was Rex universae terrae and he was and is King of kings and Lord of lords King Charles did good but to many and hurt but few if he hurt any but the King of the Jews did good to all and wronged none and so in all other things I know how that the one is finite and the other infinite in justice wisdom Power and all other Attributes of excellencies But if we look how both these Kings were handled by their Subjects we shall find the later not much unlike the former and King Charles hated traduced mocked spightfully used and causelessely killed and murdered And all this in like manner though not in every particular in like measure by his own Subjects as Jesus Christ was by the wicked Jews As I hope I have fully and sufficiently and plainly declared unto you in this Treatise And therefore that we ought all of us to confess lament and bewail as in general all our sins so more especially this our great sin of murdering our own King and to pray to God night and day that for the merits of the death and passion of Jesus Christ the King of the Jews he would pardon and forgive us our sins committed in putting to death our own most just and gracious King Grant this O dear Father for thy dear Son Jesus Christ his sake to whom be glory c. THE SECOND TREATISE 2 Kings 9.31 Had Zimri peace that slew his Master THE Doctrine of Obedience both to God and to our lawful King and his Magistrates hath been so fully and so excellently handled by the Right reverend and most Worthy and Learned Bishop of Downes that more need not and better cannot
circumstances may be Punctually observed in the murder of another King 1. The base and Spitefull usage of this Good King by all his wicked Adversaries 2. How causelesly and Vnjustly they condemned and executed him 3. How Mildly and how Sweetly this King behaved and Demeaned himself towards all his enemies both at his Judgment and at his Death 4. The Speedy execution of his Sentence when these murderers had Condemned him 5. The Place of his execution and the Number of attendants that followed him to That place 6. The smal regard and Inhumane neglect of any Funerall Rites and obsequies at his Buriall And for the first 1 The base and spitefull usage of the King our Saviour fore-shewing his death unto his twelve Apostles saith that he should be delivered unto the chief Priests and unto the Scribes and they should condemn him to death and should deliver him to the Gentiles Mar. 10.33 34. and they should mock him and scourge him and spit upon him and should kill him where you may observe 1. He is twice betrayed and 2. He is three manner of wayes abused 1. Mocked 2. Scourged and 3. Spit upon 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trado signifieth to deliver up or to betray from whence traditor Two sorts of Traytors that betrayed this King a traytor is derived So our Saviour being twice delivered up once by Judas to the chief Priest and Scribes and then secondly by the chief Priests and Elders and Scribes and the whole Council to Pilate You see there were two sorts of Traytors that betrayed our Saviour Christ 1. Judas that Arch traytor as being a menial servant and of his privy council Psal 55.12 13 14. Math. 26. as the Psalmist noteth and therefore to his everlasting infamy is no lesse than twelve times termed and proclaimed Traytor in the same Chapter 2. So was King Charles twice betrayed 1. To the Parliament 2. To the Souldiers A whole pack of Traytors all that conspired counselled and consented to deliver up this their King to be put to death close they were many of them and would fain seem clear from the last act which was his Execution and therefore innocent from his blood and freed from the high and loud crying Treason Yet as close as they were and because there be no accessaries in Treason the Holy Ghost finds them out and ranks them all under the same Crime of Treason and styles them by the same name of Traytors or traditors unto their King And the base and barbarous usage of this King from his first apprehension 1 How this King was mocked So was King Charles mocked in these very particulars following John 6.15 to the last moment of his execution is punctually observed by the Evangelists as that 1. They should mock him which though it be worse than death to a generous mind as you see Sampson chose rather to die than to suffer himself to be mocked and scoffed at by the Philistines yet did these trayterous rebels mock and scoffe and flout at this their King many wayes and divers times as 1. They vote to make him a glorious King that is if he will be ruled by them he shall reign over them Luke 19.38 and because he refused to be this mock-king they presently vote no more addresses unto him and cry Nolumus hunc regnare super nos We will not have him for our King any longer and yet when they hoped he would submit to their desires they cry Hosanna blessed be the King and we shall have a blessed accommodation betwixt the King and the people Jo. 19.1 But within a very few dayes after when their chief Leaders like not this but vote and declare his death then they cryed out as fiercely Justice Luc. 23.21 Justice Crucifie him Crucifie him 2. Instead of a Royal traine a Band of the rudest Souldiers must not attend him So was King Charles led to Westminster-Hall but must be sent to lead him not to his Chamber of Presence but to the common Hall there as a Malefactor and a Traytor to his people to be tryed for his life 3. Instead of his Royal Robes he shall have his own garments stripped off and he shall be clad in a Player's suite that he may be the more ridiculous unto these Raskals 4. So they must have K. Charles bend and yield to every thing that they desired Instead of a Scepter of Gold which is the Ensigne of Rule he shall have a Reed put in his hand to be bowed by every wind of their own will and to be broken in pieces when they will This is the Rule that they like of best 5. Instead of a Crown of Gold beset with the Jewels of Royal Prerogatives befitting a King they platt a crown of thorns and prick his brows and his brains So they loaded K. Charles with all disgraces with all the disgrace they could lay upon him and 6. Which a Learned Preacher well observes they invented and practised a little before a fine kind of subtile and malicious mockery upon this their King For they would have him to believe that Herod who would be soly King was purposely set to kill him and therefore Luke 13.31 So perswaded they K. Charles to save himself by retyring to the Isle of Wight out of a seeming care to his safety they perswaded him to get him out of the way and secretly to depart to some retired place when as indeed these very Counsellors were those bloody Herodians that hunted him thus into their net thereby the more readily to take away his life which was a treacherous and a bloody Mock and I wish King Charles had as well understood this Mock when he believed their false letters and thereupon conveyed himself to the Isle of Wight as this King of the Jews understood this malicious plot of these his mocking enemies 2. S. Mark saith they should scourge him severe enough no doubt of it 2 Scourged and despightfully handled And K. Charles was thus spitefully handled in 8. of the like particulars Forty stripes save one was the Jews usual manner to lay on him whom they hated but whether Pilate that now scourged him laid on more or lesse the Holy Ghost sets not down and therefore I will not presume to determine it S. Luke adds to what S. Mark saith they should despightfully intreate and handle him and so he was indeed most spightfully used as 1. When they hunted him like a partridge and left him not an house to put his head in Math. 8.20 Chap 26.55 2. When they came to take their King as against a thief with swords and staves 3. When they led him by a Band of rude Souldiers as a Traytor Luc. 23.31 to the common Judgement-hall 4. When in this Hall they caused or countenanced the scum of the people and basest of the Souldiers to call for justice and to cry Crucifie him
all think that which is evil and all speak that which they think and finally where all men do what they list in such and so unfortunate a Realme where the people are so wicked let every good man beware that he be no inhabitant for in a short time there must happen there either the ire of the gods or the fury of men to the depopulation of the good or the destruction of the bad when as nothing can betide the people in such a Kingdom but Oppressions and Taxes murmurings distractions and dissentions until the fire be kindled among them to consume and to destroy one another But if the personal shedding of the innocent blood be thus haynous and so severely punished what shall we say to National shedding of such Blood as was shed in these Kingdoms that was so infinitely more abominable than the other But as Doctor Turner when he was terrae filius in the University said to his Opponent Thinkest thou with terrible words to terrifie terrible Turner So these monsters of men that dare to kill both Kings and their Masters and then to suppresse the good and to advance the wicked to silence the wise and to magnifie fools will say these things are but shadows and bug-bears to frighten Babes and poor-spirited men that have neither the courage of Heroicks nor the knowledge of Scriptures for they can tell us well enough that although some King-killers have been punished like Zimri for slaying their Masters yet à particulari non est syllogizari we must not conclude a General Rule from particular examples for Baasha slew his King and his Master Nadab and yet he reigned 24. years and died peaceably in his bed And Jehu killed Joram his King and his Master and yet he reigned 28. years and prospered and died peaceably in his bed And Menahem slew Shallum his King and reigned 10. years and died peaceably in his bed and so did many more that are recorded in prophane Authors and the ambitious hunters after Kingdoms perswade themselves that they may speed with the best and not perish with the worst fortune And so likewise those Common-wealths and Kingdoms that have killed their Kings which they conceived to be wicked In the third speech at the Conference of Parliament pag. 15. Eutrop. l. 1. did not only escape free from punishment but were prosperous and had good successe and were the instruments of much good unto the people As it fared with the Senate of Rome which as Halicar l. 1. saith killed and cut in pieces their King Romulus and afterwards expelled Tarquin and judicially sentenced Nâ—ro to death as some do write and is the onely sentence for death that I have read in any history though for deprivation not so which sentence notwithstanding was never executed yet was it decreed and as those and the like Senators do alleadge the Common-wealth prospered after it I answer that una hirundo non facit ver and though Balaams asse once spake shall we think that all other asses shall be able to speak So one or two examples in particular are of no force in the generall but the truth is that Gâ—ds judgements are unsearchable his wayes are in the Seas his paths in the great waters and his footsteps are not known yet this we may know for certain that although a sinner do evill an hundred times and God prolong his dayes yet it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes but be shall be like a shadow because he feareth not before God and so the Prophet David testifieth at large and Job did the like before him And we may know also that although Jehu and some others that had speciall Commissions from God to fulfill his will prospered and escaped the hand of judgement for their zeal to Gods service and their repentance for their transgression Psal 37.9.10 yet is it a most certam truth that murderers King-killers and all other like wicked malefactors shall never escape unpunished and yet God doth not alwayes punish them in like manner Either in respect 1. Of the time or Either in respect 2. Of the punishment or Either in respect 3. Of the persons for 1. In respect of the time he reserveth the punishment of some though they be never so wicked for the next life and suffereth them to prosper all their dayes in this world as he did the rich glutton what evill soever he did and this both holy Job and the good King David do sufficiently prove and examples enough might be produced of most wicked tyrants and murderers and the like malefactors that escaped the hand of God in this life but how they escaped the next I cannot tell themselves by this time know and this future punishment is the heaviest punishment in the world and the prosperity of such malefactors is the worst and the unhappiest prosperity that can be Others he punisheth in this life and yet those not all alike in respect of the time of their punishment but some presently as Achan Cosbi Corah Dathan and Abiram Nadah and Abihu Ananias and Saphira and the like others have some time given them to see if in that time they will confesse their sinnes repent them of their wickednesse amend their lives and make satisfaction to the parties wronged Zimri 7. dayes so Zimri had 7. days given him before he was punished Shallum that slew Zacharia had one month given him Otho that caused Galba to be slain had leave to reign four months before he suffered for his murder Otho 4. months Vitel. 8. mon. Phil. Arabs 5. years Decius 2. years Niceph. l. 18. c 58. Phocas 8. years 2 Kings 15. Peka 20. years and Vitellius that was the destruction of Otho had 8 months before Vespasian brought him to death Philip Arabs that slew young Gordian had 5. years given him before Decius revenged the death of Gordian and Decius that was the death of Philip raigned 2. yeares before he was punished for the death of Philip Phocas had 8. years after he killed his Master Mauricius before he had his punishment and Peka raigned 2. years after he killed Pekahiah before Hoshea revenged the death of Pekahiah so the Prophet tells the Nintvites they should have 40. days before they should be destroyed the children of Israel 40. years in the wilderness and Jerusalem was not destroyed in 40 years after they had crucified Christ the Son bearing with them just so long as his Father bore with them in the wilderness the old world had 120 yeares given them to repent before they were destroyed and the wickednesse of the Amorites remained well-nigh 400. years before it was revenged having continued from the wandring of the Israelites in the wildernesse even till the dayes of King Saul And therefore let no man wonder that we see not adulteries oppressions and murders presently punished neither should we think that because
they prosper bear rule and raign in a flourishing stare for some years they shall therefore flourish for ever and never be punished because the Lord is flow to anger and cometh to punish on leaden feet using much patience towards the most wicked reprobates to see if his long sufferance can lead them to repentance But if they be such as the wise man speaketh of that Because sentence against an evill work treason Eccles 8.11 or murder or the like is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill Te peccare sinit siquidem divina potestas Temporis ad spatium parcit quandoque nocenti Sed gravius tandem tormentum rector Olympi Injungit torquetque magis delicta nocentum Obadiah v. 15.16 Exod. 1.22 15.5 then will God recompence the slownesse of his coming with severity of vengeance and smite then home with iron-hands for this law is irrevocably enacted in heaven that murders adulteries oppressions perjuries and other such wickednesses shall not always prosper but shall undoubtedly be punished though the times and the manner are not by us to be known 2. For the punishment of malefactors it is 1. Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they shall suffer the same strokes and receive the same measure as they have measured unto others As thou hast done it shall it be done unto thee Even as Pharaoh drowned all the male-children of the Israelits in the waters of Nilus so was He and all his Host drowned in the red Sea and as the sword of Agag had made many women childless so did the sword of Samuel make Agags mother childless among women and as all the foresaid examples that have proved Traytors and have kil'd their Kings have been kil'd themselves just as the Lord had said Whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed 2. Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall suffer some punishment that shall be somewhat like to the sin 2 Chron. 12.5 that they have committed for so the Lord saith You have forsaken me and therefore I have also left you and so it hapned to Solomon that as he divided Gods service betwixt God and the Idols so God divided his Kingdom betwixt Rehoboam his son and Jeroboam his servant And this likeness of the punishment hath a reference sometimes 1. To the Subject 2. To the Place 3. To the Time of our sinning for 1. 1 Kings c. 11. c. 12. As Adam sinned in eating the forbidden fruit so his punishment shall be to eat the fruit of the ground in the sweat of his face and Hezechias for shewing his Treasure was punished with the loss of his treasure 2 King 20. as many other men for being proud of their wealth do lose their wealth some one way and some another 2. The Lord saith that 2 In respect of the place 1 King 21.20 In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood even thine which came to pass accordingly you may see in 1 King 22 38. 3. Sometimes the punishment hath reference to the time of our sinning 3 In respect of the punishment as the spies that searched the land of Canaan 40 daies and sinned by their false report were punished by wandering in the wilderness 40 years and it is observed that Pompey was killed by Septimius and Achillas as upon the same day wherein he had formerly triumphed for the spoile of Jerusalem and the Jews had their City utterly destroyed by Titus at the same time of the year and as some think on the same day of the month wherein they had crucified our Saviour Christ 3. In respect of the persons sinning and punished we are to observe 3 The persons sinning 2 King 14.6 that although the Lord saith The fathers shall not be put to death for the children nor the children be put to death for the fathers but every man shall be put to death for his own sin and the soul that sinneth that soul shall die and God will not have them say The fathers have eaten sower grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge Yet it is most certain that many times the wickedness of the fathers is remembred in their posterity and the punishment of that wickedness is oftentimes delated and after a sort both deferred and in part transferred as well to the children and to the childrens children of them that walk in the same steps and follow the same courses as their fathers did and sometimes upon the very innocent Infants as upon the wicked fathers that are murderers and malefactors themselves For so the Lord saith that for the sin of Jeroboam therefore behold and mark it well I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam 1 King 14.10 11. and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam asa man taketh away dung till it be all gone And so Baasha the son of Ahijab smote all the house of Jeroboam 1 King 15.29 he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed untill he had destroyed him 1 King 16.3 4. according to the Word of the Lord and the Lord threatneth the very same punishment and the rooting out of all his posterity to Baasha 1 King 16.11 12. that killed his King Nadab and did other evils in the sight of the Lord and this Zimri the servant of Elab brought to pass according as the Lord had threatned and the very like punishment happened to all the posterity of Ahab even for Naboths murder and other sins of Ahab 2 King 9.9 and c. 10.17 and too many more murderers and wicked men that by their sins and desire to raign and unjust preferring of their children have pulled down vengeance upon themselves and rooted out all their posterity And for Romulus Tarquinius and Nero I say neither of them were either good or honest and yet the holy Scripture doth not allow the killing or sentencing of them to death and the proof of the Senat 's killing Romulus or sentencing Nero to death is not Authenticall nor the examples by any means to be followed when they are so apparantly contrary to the practice and precepts of the holy Apostles and the success which followed Neroes death proved so lamentable Corn. Tacit. l. 20. 21. as the Tragicall butchering of three of their succeeding Emperors Galba Otho and Vitellius that had been three most famous Captains and had done very worthy exploits for their Countrey And therefore whosoever thinketh by murder and slaughter to usurp another mans Kingdom Inheritance or Possession and thereby to raise his house and to advance his children as Zimri Baasha Shallum and others thought to do or thereby to benefit the Common-wealth as they pretend to do he deceives himself because this is the only
aut per maria ambulare Aug. de bonis Câ—njugal c. 37. Non in quantum sil dei sed in quant filius hominis Id. de sanctitat Virginit c. 27. aut coecos illuminare but learn of me that I am meek and lowly in heart Therefore The second sort of the Acts and Doings of Christ are such as he did as man and are imitable to be imitated by us that are men and would be counted the Sheep and Servants of Christ and herein we should follow him And therein also we are to follow him 1. In respect of the Manner 2. In respect of the Matter For 1. What vertuous or pious act soever we desire to do 1 Sincerely 2. Totally 3. Diligently 4. Constantly 5. Humbly Diabolus dux nobis fuit ad superbiam Aug. ho. 12. Phil. 2.7 and to imitate Christ therein we must strive to do it to the uttermost of our power Modo forma in the same manner as Christ did it and that is 1. In sincerity without hypocrisie 2. For Gods glory and not for our own commodity 3. In a discreet knowledge and not in a blinde zeale Without the observation of which rules the Acts that we do may be good in themselves and yet quite spoyled from yielding any great good to us by our ill manner of doing them As 1. To fast and pray and to pay Tythes of Mynt and Annyse 1 Boni videri volunt sed non esse Bern. in cant Ser. 66. 1 Chr. 28.9 Prov. 21.1 Psal 51. Ad novercae tumulâ—m flere Hieron in Esa l. 6. How horrible it is to do villanies under the pretence of Piety Erasm in simil were very good deeds commended and commanded to be done by God himself yet because the Scribes and Pharisees did them in hypocrisie to be seen of men and to make the world believe they were Saints and the onely religious men our Saviour denounceth many a bitter woe against them and tells us that they have their reward and that is as Saint Hierom saith Gloriam mercenariam supplicia peccatorum So they that proclaim dayes of Humiliation and practise nothing but Oppression that pray to God to blesse them and prey upon the poor that curse them do but as the Greek Adage saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to weep for the death of our Stepmother and double their sin in the sight of God Quia levius est in alium aperte peccare quam simulare sanctitatem because the professed thief that robs by the high-way-side is not so bad as the holy Saint that under the shew of Religion takes away mine Estate saith Saint Hierome for as Wine mingled with Water doth sooner provoke vomite then either Water alone or pure Wine Ita intolerabilior est nequitia pietatatis simulatione condita quam simplex aperta malitia so any wickedness that is covered with the Cloak of Religion is a great deal more intolerable then if the same were plainly committed without any pretence of Piety saith Erasmus So horrible a sin it is to cloath Sin in the garment of Holiness as to put the Coat of Christ upon Judas his back 2. As it was an acceptable service unto God 2 Many doe Gods work for their own end as to subdue the rebels to get their lands for themselves The continual course of all worldlings in the service of God and a very good work to root out the house of Ahab for his Idolatry and prophaning Gods Service yet because Jehis did it rather to get the Kingdom unto himself and destroyed all the Kings children the better to secure himself in his Kingdome then to satisfie Gods justice for Ahabs Impiety the Lord saith that he will require the blood of Ahab on the house of Jehu even so they that destroy any Offenders root out the Transgressors of Gods Lawes and punish the Corrupters of Gods Worship be they whom you will the Work may be good and just yet if the doers thereof do it not so much to execute Gods Will as to satisfie their own Malice to suppress whom they hate or according to their ambition to make themselves great and to get their Estates and Possessions to themselves and their Posterity God will never accept of this work for any service done to him but will most severely punish it at the last And I think that the making of themselves great as Jehu did by the service that men pretend to do to God doth sufficiently cause many others to doubt whether they have done those things onely for Gods glory or for a conjuncture likewise of their own profit and I conceive you may be sure the jealous God will not regard that service which is done to him with a sinister aspect and respect to our own profit because he will not give his glory unto another he will not yield any part of his service to any of them that do the service but though he will certainly reward every man that doth him service yet as our Saviour explaineth the words of Moses it is written The shalt worship the Lord thy God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and him onely shalt thou serve and not thy self with him in the service that thou dost to him so he will neither accept nor reward that service which thou dost to thy self as well as to God or rather to thy self then to God And therefore I would advise all those that in doing service unto God by pulling down the Transgressors of his Lawes have raised themselves to such great Polsessions I would the Rebels would consider this to look well to their intention progression and execution of their work lest that for the service they believe they do to God they receive the reward of the Scribes and Pharisees or of Jehn that pulled down King Ahab to make himself King of Israel 3. 3 Many do good in a blind zeal Num. 11.28 2 Sam. 16.9 The love of Joshna to Moses when Eldad and Medad prophesied was good and so was the love of Abishai to David when Shimei cursed him and of James and John to Christ when they would have called for fire out of heaven to destroy the Samaritans for not receiving Christ but the love of them was in a blind Zeal without knowledge and therefore instead of being commended they were much reproved for their indiscretion even as Saint Paul persecuted the Saints when his blind zeal perswaded him that he destroyed Gods enemies And as Aiax in his frenzy is reported to have slain his own children by taking them for Ulisses and Agamemnon so many men in their blind Zeal destroy the true Ambassadors of Christ and the Pastors of Gods people by taking them for Popish Prelates Origen in ep ad Rom. Zelus ad mortem Amb. in Ps 119. and therein think they do God good service as the Jews thought when they crucified Christ for as Origen saith Putant se zelum Dei habere sed quia non secundum
of it And whereas this day five years past all the Protestants in this Kingdome and we especially of this City were destined to be sacrificed and slaughtered and sent as an Holâ—â—â—st or whole burnt-offering from the holy Father to the infernal God as many thousands of our Brethren were then and since yet by the love of God towards us we are still preserved alive that we might serve him and love him again And what more shall I say but cry out with the Psalmist O how plentiful is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.21 and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee even before the Sons of men for thou hast shewed us Marvellous great kindness I cannot say in a strong City but I say in a weak City and delivering us from strong Enemies whose Subtilty and Cruelty Treachery and Perfidiousness would require the head of the best experienced converted Jesuite to express it I had rather preach of Gods Love than treat of their Malicâ— and to talk of his Goodness rather than their wickedness and that great goodness The Lord Marquess of Ormond which he hath so lately shewed in delivering our most Excellent Governour so often from that malicious wickedness of the Sons of Belial so perfidiously intended against him is not the least Testimony of Gods Love to us all especially if we consider that what was intended this day 5 years had now questionless been executed if God had not broken the Snare of the Fowler and by delivering him redeemed us all from the Sword of Malice and from the Jawes of death and therefore this ought to be rightly weighed and duly remembred in our Thanksgiving among the many great undeserved and unexpected Preservations that our good God hath wrought for us And because his Excellency trusteth not in Lying Vanities but putteth his Trust in the Lord and in the Mercy of the Most High therefore he shall not miscarry But indeed this Love of God to us hath been so great and his Blessings in our Deliverances have been so many that if I should go about to enumerate them I might as well tell the Stars for as the Prophet saith they are more in number than I am able to expresse and therefore I will now conclude with our hearty thanks and Praise unto our good God for all his Love and Favours and Deliverances that he hath shewed unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord who is blessed for evermore Labilis memoria hominis How easily and how soon men forget good things the memory of man is very frail and slippery especially in the retention of all good things for though as the Poet saith Scribit in marmore laesus we write injuries in marble and never forget nor forgive the least ill turn that is done against us yet we write all benefits and all good instructions in the sands where the waves of forgetfulness do soon wash all away as the children of Israel regarded not the wonders that God wrought in Aegypt neither kept they his great goodness in remembrance Psal 106.7 13 21. but soon forgot his works yea and forgat God their Saviour which had done so great things in Aegypt wondrous works in the Land of Ham and fearful things by the Red Sea therefore lest you should forget the first part of this text before you heard the second I thougt it high time to proceed to those points which the time prevented me to inlarge not the last time I was in this place but the last time I treated of this verse and I hope you do remember that I told you this text was a text of love and of a twofold love 1. The love of God to man And 2. The love of man to God And In the first I noted these four things 1. The lover God 2. The affection Love He loved us first 3. The beloved Us. 4. The time First And I have done with the first three and therefore not to stand upon any further repetition I am now to proceed to shew you the fourth point that is the time when he loved us 4 The time when God loved us first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loved us first i.e. before we would or could love him for love is one of the affections and the affections are seated in the heart and the heart is placed in the midst of the body and the body could not contain the heart nor the heart cast forth the affections nor the affections produce love before our loves Jer. 31.3 God loved us from everlasting before our Creation and affections and hearts and bodies had their being But God loved us before we were created and before we could have the least thought of our very being for I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee saith the Lord and this love was everlasting as well a parte ante from the time past as a parte post for the time to come and this love will appear the greater if we consider how freely and how undeservedly he hath loved us for the object of love is good either that which is really so indeed or seeming so to be And S. Aug. reasoneth most truly that antequam creati eramus nihil boni merebamur before we were made we could do no good we could merit no reward we could deserve no love And yet before we had received any being the love of God towards us had received a beginning and when our souls were unbreathed our bodies unframed and all this glorious structure laid in the dust before ever we beheld the light or the light was brought out of darkness or the darkness was upon the face of the deep our bodies and our souls were affected by God and we had a deep interest in the love of God when as then the earth was created for our habitation the creatures were produced for our service and the heavens were appointed for our comfort So God loved us before our Generation before we were before we had our being and after our transgression God loved us after our transgression John 8. when as God had made us his sons like himself and we had made our selves like our Father the devil there was cause enough of hate but none of love for then we found a way to run away from God we invented garments to hide our shame and to cover our nakedness from the eyes of men but to make us most loathsome in the eyes of God and we became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God that laboured with the old Gyants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight and war with God to unthrone him and to ungod him when we desired to make our selves like Gods nay the only Gods and he should be no God at all unless we might have our wills and not his will to be done in heaven as we do in earth Yet then when
all his ways Psal 145.17 and holy in all his works and the Prophet Daniel testifieth as much and so do all the Saints and Servants of God yea and the very wicked Reprobates do confess the same for Adoni-bezek the Tyrant that had Seventy Kings having their Thumbs and great Toes cut off to gather their meat under his Table doth acknowledge that God did most justly deal with him as he had dealt with others and so we finde that the Law of God is most just and requireth Justice to be done at all times in all places and to all persons as an eye for an eye tooth for tooth and he that sheddeth man's blood by man should his blood be shed yet such is the corruption of man's Nature that we do often judge amiss of the just Judgments of God and therefore Christ adviseth us not to judge that is amiss or if we judge not to do it according to the Superficies and outward appearance of things but to judge righteous Judgments and especially of all the Judgments of God that he sheweth either in this world or in the world to come And because God of late hath poured out much of his wrath and indignation and shewed many Judgments upon these Kingdoms I will endeavour Rom. 2.3 by the help and assistance of the same God to make as the Apostle saith a Declaration of the just Judgments of God to stop the mouths of all discontented Murmurers and to shew the just deserts of us all that either have been or still are most justly punished and I shall further shew how that in the midst of God's anger against these Nations he was pleased to continue his mercies and loving kindnesses to his dear and faithful Servant and our late most gracious King of ever blessed Memory Charles the First And first as the Poet saith A Jove principium Musae so I shall begin with him that was Jehovah's Vice-gerent the Anointed of the Lord and our most gracions King CHAP. I. FIrst then for King Charles I knew him before he was crowned King a most virtuous Vera quidem res est patrem sequitur sua proles Et sequitur leviter filia matris iter and Religious Prince religiously following the pious steps of his good and godly Father and well-beloved and well spoken of by all his Fathers Court pietas spectata per ignes and his Travels through France and Return from Spain have sufficiently testified his sincerity and constancy in the true Religion so that I may truly say of him Firma valent perâ—se nullúmque Machaona quaerunt And after he was crowned King all in white in token of that purity and innocency which he desired always to retain according to the counsel of Solomon that saith Let thy Garments be always white I living in His Court in no mean place had a very great desire to note and observe the lives actions and contrivements both of the King and of most other men that were of any note in the King's house and throughout all the space of seventeen or eighteen years that I was resident in His Court whereof I waited in my turn six or seven years upon His Majesty my Witness is in Heaven that I could observe none nor find out any man either of the Lords Knights or other Gentlemen of his House that was of so mild a Disposition so courteous in his Conversation and so pious in all the actions and circumstances of Religion as King Charles was a man that I never heard to take the Name of God in vain at any time nor ever saw him passionately angry with any man neither do I believe that the mouth of the Father of Lies could justly tax him of any open crime or inexcusable defect either of Charity Equity or Piety before the Birth of the Long Parliament or after throughout all his life for he knew that Qui sceptra duro saevus imperio reget Timet timentes metus in autorem cedit Seneca in Oedipo Act. 3. and I am sure I am able to arise in the last day to testifie against many of his enemies and accusers that I have often heard them justifying him in those things for which afterwards they accused him and condemned him yea they were his Counsellours to have them done and then his Prosecutours and Persecutours of him unto the death for doing them Much more could I speak and speak it most truly in the just praise and commendation of this good and godly King and when all that I could speak were set down I must confess mine offence that plenty it self and the abundance of his virtues Talem vix reperit unum Millibus 〈◊〉 multis bominum consultus Apollo Ausonius and merits hath made me poor in mine expressions thereof Prob dolor infoelix sors nostra amittere talem Ter foelix talem quae tenet or aviorum And is it not therefore strange that the just and good God should suffer the wicked Sons of men so strictly to prosecute and so unexemplarily to handle and to deal with so just so good and so Religious a Prince as the Long Parliament hath done with King Charles and so to confute that Poet which saith Nullum caruit exemplo nefas when as no Historie of any Times of any Kingdom can parallel the proceedings against King Charles I answer no not at all but in the death of this good and godly King may be seen the great merey of God and I dare not say the Revelation of the just Judgment of God but the gentle chastisement of a most loving Father to a most dear and dutiful Son that all men that see the same might praise God for the one and fear him for the other for as the death of the Son of God Jesus Christ was most unjustly done by the wicked Jews that condemned him for Blasphemy against God and Treason against Caesar whereof he was most innocent and guilty of neither yet was it most justly suffered to be done by the determinate Counsel of God as Saint Peter sheweth because that out of his great love and mercy to save sinful man he became his Surety to pay his Debts and to satisfie God's Wrath by suffering that death for our sins that as the Prophet saith We by his stripes might be healed therefore did God most justly execute upon him what he had most mercifully undertaken for us all so though King Charles was a very good man and a most religious Prince and as his friends knew most innocent and free from all those crimes that were layd to his charge by the long Parliament yet could be not be justified from all offences against his God but as Moses that was faithful in all Gods House yet failed he a little at the waters of Meriba and as David that was a man according to Gods own heart yet offended he also in numbering the people and as Ezechias and Josias that were two of the three best Princes of all the Kings of
prophane all Holy-daies even those that are set apart for the Commemoration of the blessed Birth Circumcision and Ascension of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and all other days that the former Saints and the whole Church of Christ had appointed for the children of God to meet to give thanks to God for the great blessings that all we had received from him I demand of any man even themselves being Judges if it be not very just that they should be plundred and pressed and even lose their livings which have so unjustly and so perfidiously done those things in hope to retain their livings for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non te latuerit O supreme Jupiter horum malorum quisquis autor extitit The Heathen man can tell us God will not be mocked neither can we blinde the all-seeing eyes of God nor hide our selves out of his sight when we do commit such evils and Christ tells us plainly he that saveth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for his sake shall finde it And were the Martyrs so ready to lose their lives for his sake and shall we be so unwilling to forgo a little worldly pelf and some small living for his sake that tells us plainly whatsoever we give or lose for his sake we shall be required an hundred-fold and shall receive eternal life Let them therefore that will if not out of faction or ignorance but for the love of their livings reject our inoffensive and divine Liturgy that is so conducing to peace and good order so little obnoxious to any just exception and so exceeding profitable for the instruction of the people for mine own part I know it to be the true service of the true God and the best way that I know to serve God and therefore by God's help I will never omit it nor be guided by their directory for all the livings that they could or can heap upon me and I pray God it be not layd to their charge that to comply with the factious opposers of it or to retain their livings have done it to betray the service of God and to lay aside those heavenly prayers that were made by holy Saints and approved by all the best Doctours of the Church and appointed by authority to be used to help the devotion of God's people and in the stead thereof to authorise or at least by their example to encourage every Ignoramus to prate nonsence and sometimes to belch out blasphemies in his prayers to God and in the face of the Church without shame God forgive them Secondly For the lay-subjects of the King that have had their part in the miseries of these latter days The lay-subjects I speak onely of those that in their Consciences approved of their King's cause for his enemies their portion perhaps is yet unpaid I may divide them into two ranks just as were the followers of Gideon 1. Judges vii 7. Some were faint hearted and they were the greatest part and that by much 2. Others were very faithful and couragious but they were by far the smalest number not above 300. of 32000. so were the following subjects of King Charles First The faint-hearted Royalist the fainthearted subjects that loved the King and wished that he might prosper and prevail against his Adversaries but feared the powerful numerous multitude of the Parliament abettors that were very many and were just like the Inhabitants of Meroz that hated the Cananites but did nothing for the Israelites so did these nothing or so little as nothing for the King and for their fellow-subjects that were with him And yet the Scholes tell us and so do the Heathens also that Qui potest liberare alium non liberat occidit he that can deliver another that is from anundeserved death as in his Conscience he believeth is innocent and delivereth him not killeth him and is thereby guilty of his blood and the Canonists do say Scotus in sent dist 15. decret secunda parte c. usa 23. q. 3. Et Seneca passimâ— qui succurrere perituro potest cum non succurrâ—t occidit And Cicero saith Nâ—l habet fortuna majus quam ut possit nec nâ—turametius quaÌ„ ut velit servare Pro. xxiv 11 12. qui non repellit injuriam à Socio cùm potest tam est in vitio quam qui facit he that hindereth not an injury or a wrong that is done his fellow when it lyeth in his power to do it is as much in fault as he that doth the injury and Solomon saith If thou faint in the day of Adversity thy strength is smal and if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain and sayest behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works and the Prophet David biddeth us to defend the Fatherless and the Widdows and to see that such as be oppressed have right which was the practice of Job as himself confesseth and of Moses also when he killed the Aegyptian to deliver the oppressed Israelite out of his hands and the Poet that knew no more then what the dim Light of Nature shewed him saith Turpe erit in miseris veteri tibi rebus amico Auxilium nulla parte tulisse tuum Ovid. lib. 2. De Ponto It is a foul shame for any man to leave an old friend in distress and not to further him with his aid and assistance And if men are thus obliged to assist their Neighbours and their Friends A shameful thing to neglect our Friends in Adversity when they are wronged how much more are they bound to aid and to defend their King when they see him wronged and sought to be murdered or dethroned for these men had sworn Allegiance and fidelity to their King at divers times and many of them if not most of them had their places and offices at least their Protection formerly from him and passing over those that were furthest from my knowledge and to speak of them quorum pars magna fui mine own Country men and Kinsmen with some great I know not how good men had like Aeneas and Vcalegon invited the wily Greeks to enter Troy and to come into our Coasts the chiefest Gentry were all moved and perswaded to swear and to take an Oath so well deviced and penned as the best and most learned Divines in all those parts could do it to be true and faithful unto their King and to the uttermost of their power with the hazard of their lives and the expence of their goods and fortunes to oppose all those Adversaries The inconstancy of many men that then opposed him and the chiefest of them by name And yet behold the Constancy and the Faithfulness of these good Subjects how good Christians I know not before one drop of their blood