Loyalty and Peace Or Two Seasonable DISCOURSES From 1 Sam. 24.5 viz. David's heart smote him because he cut off Saul's skirt The First Of CONSCIENCE and its Smitings The Second Of the Prodigious Impiety of Murthering King CHARLES I. Intended To promote sincere Devotion and Humiliation upon each Anniversary Fast for the late King's Death By Dr. SAMUEL ROLLS Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed by Tho. James Mathematical Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Black Bull in Cornhill near the Royal Exchange 1678. but stand ready for such another I had dedicated these my first-fruits in the Church to him to whom all first-fruits are due but that I considered that Kings like High Altars ought not to be approached all at once but by steps and degrees as also that such a Tragedy as I here relate could not be pleasant to his Majesty to read though very profitable for his Subjects that it should be written The Loyal Contents of this small Treatise may assure the world that your Lordship hath admitted into his Majesties Service a Person of as unfained and fervent Loyalty as your heart could wish or as the world affords And now my Lord what remains but my most ardent wishes in which I know your Lordship will joyn with me viz. That the Soul of our Lord the King may be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord his God as the Phrase is 1 Sam. 25.29 and the lives of his enemies may be slung out as out of the middle of a sling that his Enemies may be clothed with shame but upon himself his Crown may flourish and that God would cover his head both in the day of Battle and of Peace For your Lordship I have no greater thing to wish than that the King of Kings may take your Lordship as much into his favour as the King of England has done and instead of the Star which his Majesty hath bestowed upon you may in due time give you that Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judg shall give at the great day to all them that love his appearing which is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Lordships most humble faithful and obedient Servant S. ROLLS TO The most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council S. R. The least of all the Servants of the Church and not worthy to be so called humbly dedicates his poor and unworthy Labours in the ensuing Treatise of Conscience c. May it please your Grace THough some Writings of extraordinary men may seem to need no Patron yet I am very sensible that mine do and this of mine above all the rest which for the nature of the Subject may pretend to deserve one because I do easily foresee it will fall under the displeasure of many both for the Author 's and Arguments-sake for the Author's sake because he hath given his Service to the Church of England which he had done many years sooner but for an invincible impediment not unknown to your Grace and now doth with as much heartiness chearfulness and satisfaction as ever man did for which there are some that do stomach him the more because a doubting trembling sâ—â—upulous Conformist is in their apprehension the honestest man that conforms and in the most safe and salvable condition though the Spirit of God speaking by St Paul hath told us That whatsoever is not of faith is sin and that he that doubteth is damned if he eat No less distasteful to many prejudiced and malecontented people is the Argument of the latter part of this Fook For they cannot endure to hear that Fact called a horrid and bloody Murther which they have look'd upon as a gallant and heroick Enterprize not unlike the signal Atchievements of Jael against Sisera Ehud against Eglon recorded in the Book of Judges I doubt too many had rather that Act had been made a Precedent than the Actors thereof an Example My Lord If I fly not to your Grace's Protection men of that ill Character will be ready to swallow me up quick whilst their rage is kindled against me For having preached but one 30th day of January upon the subject of this Book I know to my sorrow what it and a few more expressions of my Conformity cost me and how I was made to run the Gaunlet for it and from some men could have no quarter But my comfort is that I have fully satisfied my own Conscience in this that I have written and if your Grace's Judgment shall be also satisfied therewith I shall value it more than I shall regard the censure and clamor of a thousand disaffected persons who for want of Capacity Learning and Integrity are not the thousandth part so able to make a judgment of it I therefore beseech your Grace to take both it and its Author under your wing at least the Author for his good and loyal Intentions which may extend far towards the covering of his weaknesses who will easily own that he hath nothing to be proud of if he may be proud of any thing but that he had the honour to have been sometime of the same University and Colledge with your Grace and admitted thereinto upon your Grace's personal Examination and Allowance I write not this as presuming to invite your Grace to water what you have planted but only to make a hedge about it that no wild Creatures may root it up Now that he whose right hand hath fixed your Grace in that place of Eminency where you now shine as a Star of the first Magnitude would always hold your Grace as a Star in his own right hand and make you as hitherto your Grace has been a burning and shining Light shining forth more and more like the Sun towards the perfect day is the hearty Prayer of Your Grace's Most Devoted Orator Humble Servant and Obedient Son S. ROLLS To the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain Of His Majesty's Houshold and one of His Majesties most Honorable Privy-Council c. S. R. Humbly dedicateth the ensuing Treatise wishing it may prove in any measure worthy of your Lordships acceptance May it please your Lordship HAving lately received more immediately from your Lordships hand an Honour too big for me to mention in print I hold it my bounden duty thankfully to acknowledge it Were I able to write any thing that might be worth your Lordships reading which I can scarce presume to think that were one proper way of doing it for the Calves of Mens Lips are as usual a Thank-offering as any and the Calves or Sacrifices of their Pens are almost the same thing For Pens are a sort of Lips wherewith men speak so loud that the world may hear them My Lord within the compass of this Book I have endeavored to express my hearty Loyalty first to the
Vengeance upon Cities and Kingdoms like the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah which laid those famous Cities all in Ashes or like Davids numbring the People which exposed his Subjects to one of three dreadful Judgments choose him whether the least whereof was the Plague or Pestilence when Conscience smites for such things as these it even breaks Mens Bones it makes them Magor Missabibs that is Terrors round about to themselves ready to fall into the jaws of despair cursing the day of their birth as did Job Chap. 1.3 upon an other account and crying out as he v. 11. Why died I not from the Womb Why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the Belly When Conscience smites at this rate ah who can live But Fifthly and lastly to name no more Presumptuous sins that is sins committed against full Conriction of their real and hainous sinfulness against the Lord Out-cryes of Christian Friends Holy Ministers and above all of Mens own Consciences crying out and saying O do not this abominable thing which the Soul of God hateth sins against fairest warnings given by Gods signal Judgments executed upon sinners of the like nature sins against the highest obligations of stupendious mercies obliging men to the contrary and aggravated by whatsoever other circumstances do aggravate the sins of men These presumptious sins as I call them do make the Consciences of Men to smite till even themselves be sick with smiting and to give the sinner little or no rest day or night causing him to cry out My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness there is no soundness in my flesh because of my sin mine iniquites are gone over my Head and are a burthen too heavy for me to bear c. Now that Conscience should smite for such crying and crimson sins as these is no wonder but what should be the meaning of its smiting men as now and than it doth for small sins for motes in their eyes for meer Peccadillo's When poor Jonathans have tasted but a little Honey upon the tip of their Staves Why must they die for so doing Why must Vzza's Hand wither but for stretching it forth and that with a good intention to stay Gods tottering Ark Why must the Carkasses of so many Beth-shemites fall onely for the most pardonable curiositie as it may seem viz. To look into Gods Ark whilst the Angels of God themselves are allowed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to stoop down and to pry into Gods Misteries Why must David lose so great a number of his innocent Subjects as he call'd them when he said What have these Sheep done onely because their King and Shepherd made bold to number them Why since it is a Maxim in the Laws of England Lex non curat de minimis The Law troubles not it self with trivial faults I say Why doth the All-merciful God either smite himself or suffer Conscience to smite at so great a rate for small Transgressions for cutting off not the Head of a King but meerly the Skirt of his Garment Or how can he be said to be merciful that does so Hath he appointed Conscience not onely not to swallow Camels but to strain at Gnats Is this the manner of Men that are accounted mild and merciful Ans It were easie for me to take up the Authors of this objection very short saying no more than this Who art thou O man that repliest against God But since it may easily be done I shall gratifie them with a more full and satisfactory account of this matter in the following Particulars First of all God doth therefore punish small sins such I mean in comparison of others with great temporal Punishments and set Conscience at work sometimes to chide for them at a great rate to let the World know there is no sin small absolutely but comparatively For as much as every sin is committed against God who is infinitely good and in that respect is Ex parte objecti a kind of infinite evil As there is no wilful Murther Incest Sodomy Bestiality Perjury or Treason which is in it self a small crime yet there are some of all these which are small in comparison of other faults of the same denomination clothed with much more aggravating circumstances as we commonly hear of Petty Treason in opposition to High Treason so there are Petty Thefts Petty Oaths of which sins we may say as of the Stars of Heaven viz. They are all great though not all of the same magnitude for all Stars are not Stars of the first magnitude Secondly God sometimes smites severely both by himself and by Conscience his Vice-Roy for small sins to let men know that the smallest sins deserve though not the greatest of eternal yet of temporal Punishments though not the worst place in Hell yet the worst condition can be undergone in this World else God had been unrighteous in laying what he did lay upon Job whose sins were meer Motes in comparison of the sins of many other Men which were like Beams and yet his Afflictions were like great Beams whilst theirs were but little Motes or Atomes dancing in the Sun To punish any man one grain above his demerit were one grain of Injustice which is altogether incompatible with the Righteousness of God Surely the greatest of temporal Judgments are but finite and therefore the least of sins being infinitely evil Ex parte objecti or as it is against an infinite good cannot but deserve it Thirdly Therefore doth God suffer men to be smitten at a very great rate both by himself and their own Consciences for small sins which they use to call Zoar 's saying they are but little ones and their Souls shall live to declare his infinite Purity and Holiness as being so great a hater of all sin that he cannot behold the least without indignation as if the Apple of his Eyes were thereby touched and a very Mote will disturb the Apple of ones Eye Fourthly We may humbly conceive that God puts a Rod into the hands of Conscience in order to its smiting men for small sins for this merciful end that he may restrain them from committing greater He whose Heart smote him for cutting off but Sauls Skirt was in no danger of ever adventuring to cut off his Head Lastly God may be supposed by Conscience and by himself to smite men severely for small sins that thereby he may make other men afraid of committing greater and they who have committed greater to quake and tremble when they consider what God hath done by those whose sins were far less than theirs saying within themselves If this be done to the green Tree what shall be done to the dry And if Judgment thus begin as it were at the House of God where shall the wicked and ungodly appear I hope by this time my Reader is satisfied in the reasons why God doth sometimes punish sins comparatively but small with great and grievous Judgments and
diffused power of the two last should happen to be equally divided as is possible for it to be and yet to have a power of determining it self and turn the Scales must not that be done by some one man will it not necessarily issue there For say All power were in a Senate consisting of a thousand men admit there be all the Members of that Senate present at a debate save only one by means of whose absence there being five hundred Votes on the one side there can be but 499 on the other upon this so great division you see the whole Affair is carried by but one voice Even amongst those who by their constitution have an equal share in Government is there not generally a Dominus fac totum a Chieftain or Superintendant a Leading-man a man that hath the casting voice generally given him in whose advice and counsel all the rest or the major part of them do acquiesce And what is such a man but a Monarch in his place and amongst those over whom he governs so absolutely so uncontroulably let him go by what name he will either of Justice Magistrate or Minister c. Kings themselves do not act without their Privy Council and other persons of Honor who are assisting to their Affairs but in conjunction with them their advice and assistance they do what they please And truly so do those petty invisible Princes or Kings that walk incognito and under disguise They in conjunction with some of the best Head-pieces that are about them and by the assistance of their party which adheres to them carry what they please carry all before them in spight of all opposition Thus it was from the beginning thus it now is and will be to the end of the world Were it not easie to say Who is in effect a Monarch amongst the Anabaptists and amongst the Quakers c So that all the Governments in the world are virtually and in effect Monarchies though the people see it not and their Votes are little more than for fashion-sake and to please them with a shadow of Power and Liberty when their real power is little more than to sit still He then that is an Enemy to Monarchy and to every thing that is like it will presently become an enemy to all sorts of Governments all the world over which are indeed and truth but so many Virtual Monarchies all things considered So men fly the Name whilst they continue the Thing and alter the Shadow whilst they accept the Substance of Monarchy over them Amongst those who are equal in power the wisest will always govern the weakest and they that by their Wealth or Prudence or otherwise can make the greatest Party will carry all before them If then the light of Nature and universal practice of the world hath determined Monarchy to be the best and most necessary form of Government who can sufficiently decry their sin who did not only destroy an excellent King and Monarch but also aimed at the destruction of Monarchy or Kingly Power throughout Europe that if it were possible the Name and Thing might be rooted out and might be restor'd no more And so I have made good the 12th thing which I charg'd upon them viz. an attempt to destroy Monarchy though it be the best Government in the world Thirteenthly It must needs be confest they were Self-murtherers or Felo de se's who murthered the late King For in taking away his life they forfeited their own If an Earl or a greater Subject do wilfully but murther a poor Foot-man or Beggar by so doing he forfeits his life according to God's Law yea and the Law of England too He then that kills a King had he a hundred thousand lives would by so doing forfeit every one of them and be made to pay his forfeiture too unless great clemency interpose I remember no one Regicide in all the Scripture but what is punished with death save only that of Jehu committed upon the person of Joram which being done at the express command of God ought not I think to be called Regicide But I pass on Fourteenthly The murthering of the late King was Animaecidium not only Self-murther as to each of their Bodies but Soul-murther as to every of them unless the infinite Mercy of God should step in and prevent it Is Hell-fire the wages of them that wilfully murder but a private person witness those words 1 John 3.15 And ye know no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him i. e. no wilful murtherer hath jus in re as to eternal life i. e. any present actual capacity to enter into life eternal as he that was under a Leprosie under the Law might not for that time be admitted to eat the Passeover though jus ad rem i. e. a dormant suspended right which may or shall be restor'd and redintegrated upon his repentance that he may have as David had when he defiled Bathsheba But divers do say If David had never actually repented of that great sin he had never had eternal life but had been everlastingly damn'd So Baronius in his excellent Book De peccato mortali veniali If the wilful murthering of one private man be enough to sink a Soul into Hell what will not the murder of a King do Will not God heat that Furnace yet ten times hotter for Regicides Korah Dathan and Abiram are called sinners against their own Souls Numb 16.38 for rebelling against Moses and Aaron i. e. for but murmuring against them though not one drop of blood was shed by their hands How greatly then have they sinn'd against their own Souls who have rebelled and resisted even to blood I have before quoted that Text Rom. 13.2 They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation I leave that word to fasten this head on their Consciences as a nail in a sure place and pass on to the next Fifteenthly The murthering of the King was Multicidium pardon the making of a new word in such a case as this or Caedes multorum or Homicidium multiplicatum complicatum i. e. it was a great many murthers in one First it was virtually so according to the computation which we read of 2 Sam. 18.3 But the people answered Thou shalt not go forth i. e. David should should not go forth to Battle thou art more worth than ten thousand of us c. Secondly It was actually so as the Complices in that violent action by encouraging and emboldning each other thereunto were guilty of the sin and death of one another Thirdly As the death of the late King was remotely the death of many persons and families I mean the ruine and destruction of multitudes of Families which depended upon him which was worse than dâ—ath its self Sixteenthly Putting of the late King to death was Legicidium as well as Regicidium i. e. the death of the Law as well as of the King For first By the King's death a stop was put to the
them murtherers each of other because they did abet and encourage each other in and unto the murther of the King in which was included their own consequentially If there were forty of them each of them was guilty of the death of forty not the forty only guilty of the death of one man viz. the King but each of them of forty murthers viz. each of other for that they strengthened each others hands in and unto the work Again If naked Murther be a damnable sin as hath been proved that murther which is cloathed with barbarous and inhumane circumstances must needs be so much more In Judg. 19.25 we read of a Levites Concubine not only killed but with circumstances that were very barbarous viz. forced to death by the Benjamites dwelling in Gibeah Chap. 20.5 But what dreadful things ensued ver 6. I saith the Levite took my Concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her through all Israel for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel The product of this was what we read Judg. 20.34 35. And there came up against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel and the battle was sore And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and four thousand and an hundred men all these drew the sword or were men of valour as is said ver 44. Though wilful murther it self cloathed with the most extenuating circumstances be a great sin yet the barbarous circumstances wherewith it may be cloathed may make it twice so great a sin as otherwise it had been and much more expose it to the Divine vengeance as appeareth by the instance aforesaid But to proceed 6thly Is Hypocrisie a damning sin or not It must needs be so because Hell or the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth is called a portion with the Hypocrite Matth. 24.51 intimating that Tophet was prepared of old as much for Hypocrites as for any sort of men Doth not our Saviour let fly as many Vae's or Woes against Hypocrites as against any sort of men Mat. 25.14 15 16 23 25 27 29. and does he not utter those dreadful words in the close ver 33. Ye Serpents ye generation of Vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell Now with what direful circumstances of Hypocrisie the late King's death was managed I have told you before 7thly If it be a mortal damning sin to murther but one man especially if a King a Monarch or any thing so great is it not more so to murther a whole Kingdom Country and Monarchy at once The whole species of Monarchy is much more than one individual Kingdom or Monarchy Now I have shew'd before that was aim'd at in putting the King to death which was not only Monarchicidium but designed to issue in Monarchiaecidium or in the ruine of all Monarchy 8thly Is it not a horrid and damning sin to subvert and destroy the good and necessary Laws of a Nation all at once Yea. Not the Laws only but also the very Legislative Power or the Power of making more good Laws as the matter should require If they who resist or disobey the powers that are shall receive damnation as the Apostle speaks Rom. 13.2 What will become of them who in effect destroy and disanul all the Laws of a Nation at once and all the Law-makers Such were the Regicides For when there was no King in England arm'd with power no new Laws could be made nor the old ones executed neither Legally for who but a King has power to give Commission to Judges and other great Instruments of the Law upon all emergent occasions c What the Apostle saith of the Law of God viz. The Law is good if a man use it lawfully is true of the Law of England it is good if it be used lawfully or legally but how could that be done when there was no King in being 9thly Is it not a damning sin for a man to murther himself as did Judas Ahitophel c And did not they murther themselves who murther'd the King For besides that they were dead men in the Eye of the Law the first moment they did or attempted it did it not cost most of them their lives and expose them to an untimely and shameful death though no punishment could be so shameful as was their crime 10thly and lastly Is Deicidium or striking at the life of God himself a damning sin If that will not damn men without great repentance what will The murthering of earthly Kings in Person is it not a kind of murthering the King of Kings in Effigie For his Stamp and Inscription they bear and from thence are called gods in Scripture frequently not that they are equal to the true and living God yea not but that they shall die like men but because in point of Power and Authority of Honour and Majesty they do resemble God much more than Subjects do Now as he that should spit upon the Kings Coin or Picture would be dealt with as one that offered an affront and indignity to his Person and were highly disaffected to him so in this case Now all those Soul-damning sins that I have mentioned being in the womb of that one sin viz. the murthering of the late King let the Reader judge whether the Regicides did not take as direct a course to damn their own Souls as men could take And whether if any shall hereafter attempt to do the same thing to his Majesty that now is as they did to his Father which God forbid it will not prove as ready and certain a course not only to throw away their corporal lives with ignominy but also to damn their Souls and the Souls of their Confederates as any that men could take I am hardned against those that shall say if any such there be That this was done in favour of Religion and for the preservation thereof in power and purity by a Story which a noted Parliament-man and Purchaser of the revenues of a Bishoprick told me about the year 1648. Whereas saith he it is given out that all the change which hath been made has been in order to the preservation and Reformation of Religion there is no such thing For said he had there been Preferments enough in Church State wherewith to have gratified all men of parts interest who were ambitious of them I do assure you there had been no war He was as capable of knowing what he said as any man could be being at that time a Member of Parliament and a great man amongst them though more plain-hearted than some others were The discoveries which I have made of notorious Hypocrisie and blasphemous pretences to God and Religion whilst men did uti Deo at fruantur mundo i. e. use God that they might enjoy the world together with the little difference which I could ever discern betwixt the conversations of those that called themselves the Godly Party
save in a few instances here and there one c. and of them whom they censured as carnal and ungodly or but moral people at the best for that the morality of some of them did much outstrip their own has put me out of conceit with what had wont to be called The Good Old Cause more than any thing else has done And then to see that the Chieftains and greatest Bigots of and for the good old Cause as they call'd it could swallow such a Camel as was the murthering of the King yea be themselves some of the Camels that murthered him or caused him to be murthered whilst they seem'd to strain at meer Gnats could say This is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours Those I say are the things which have made me think cheaply of those times those men and their pretensions to suspect if not more than so a very grand cheat and a bottomless-pit of worldly interest and carnal design in and under all those things and to wish heartily that the Church and State might always continue as now it is much rather than to fall back again into the hands of such Tinker-like Reformers as were in those days making ten holes where they mended one and be re-invaded by hypocritical Vsurpation Sacriledge Enthusiasme and Confusion If I know any thing of my own heart I do at this very day sincerely love every body that I know or think to be truly good and possibly my charity is as large as most mens and my censoriousness as little but as for those who make the highest pretences to Religion and seem to be Piety-like Calomelanos as Physicians call it six or 12 times sublimed or like the Pharisees of old who said to other men Stand off I am holier than thou who rather blaze and blare like great Comets than shine like Stars in the Firmament of Religion if I find them playing the Knaves becoming the Ring-leaders of Murther embrewing their hands in Royal blood under pretence of abhorring Idols committing Sacriledge and bringing all to confusion and under colour of Reforming Church and State to design nothing but the feathering of their own Nests getting wealth and power into their own hands per fas nefas overturning overturning overturning till they themselves whose right it is not come and take all and when they have done all entitling God and Religion to all their Villanies like those with whom the great God doth thus expostulate Jer. 7.9 Will ye steal murder and commit Adultery and swear falsly and come and stand before me in this House and say we are delivered to do all these abominations c. I say the people to whom this Character is due whose Inscription this is are to my Soul as one calls it the first-born of Abominations Now after all that hath been said of the exceeding sinfulness of their bloody fact who were the Murtherers of the late King and of the woful hazard which their precious and immortal Souls did incur thereby give me leave to hope that if the same opportunities should ever come again which God forbid i. e. if ever the now dissenting people of England should have so puissant an Army at their back as then they had and so subtile skilful and resolute a General to conduct them and so many covetous people at their heels waiting to enrich themselves by the spoil of the Kings and Churches Lands so dividing the Lions skin when once he were dead from a real dread of thereby plunging themselves into everlasting flames they would rather burn at a stake than have their hands in such another business To shut up all I have been induced to insist so long upon the heinousness and danger of their sin who put the King to death because a thorow belief and due consideration of what I have said and I do aver it is all true might and would in my opinion be a very great security against all publick Mutinies Insurrections and Civil Wars hereafter For if the people of England did universally and all as one man dread the thoughts of Regicide as of a sin next to that which is unpardonable there would be no cause to fear Rebellion for then would men be govern'd and over-aw'd by this Dilemna If the King against whom we rebel shall always keep his head we shall lose our lives first or last but if he lose his head by our means and contrivances we shall be in great danger to lose our Souls which is worse For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own Soul FINIS
and Religion often into their mouths for their having nothing of either in their hearts Commend me to a famous Story which I heard from a Reverend and dignified Divine not far off and not long since which was to this purpose An excellent Knight told me saith he that a year or two before the late War betwixt the King and Parliament broke out there were several Meetings held at his house then in Covent-Garden betwixt some great Officers of State that were then in play and other popular Gentlemen who had a great mind to their places The late King was privy to all their Conferences if not sometimes present and finding where the Cardo Controversiae or Hinge of the Controversie was viz. that some Popular but yet private and unpreferr'd Gentlemen thirsted to get into publick Offices such as Mr. of the Court of Wards c. and that they would never be quiet till it were effected yielded that all of them save one to whom he had some particular and unpardonable exception should have and enjoy the Places and Offices which they sought for but the King refusing him and they being resolved upon one and all hit or miss the meeting was quite dissolved and not long after the War broke out which saith he could every one of those great Seekers have found the Preferment which he sought for had been prevented But that which the Author of this Story said most of all to my purpose was this Whilst we were thus bandying at this our meeting from time to time one half to hold the places which we were possest of or parta tueri the other half of the Company to throw us out and get themselves into our places without those Walls nothing was talkt of but Religion what great contrivances there were at that time for reforming and settling Religion whilst God knows within those Walls there was not all that while one word spoken concerning Religion but some of us were willing to hold our Preferments and others to get them away from us O Nation sweetly cheated O thou blessed Name Religion how oft hast thou been misus'd and made use of to christen the most horrid Villanies For the Proverb has prov'd too true In nomine Domine incipit omne malum Was it not under pretext of Religion because Religion as was alledged could not be preferr'd if he were suffer'd to live that that Martyrs blood must be made shed for the Church that the King's Head was said to be cut off As if to cut off the Head of the Church of England were the only way to keep life in the Body thereof Now how fond and irrational a thing was it how groundless and malicious a slander and censure to say or think that the life of King Charles the First could not consist with the true Christian and Protestant Religion Moreover they knew no more than their heels when the Religion established in the Church of England by Law was gone what to put in the room of it for they themselves were not of one Religion nay what if many of them were of no Religion What think you of St. Martin and St. Scot were they not pure Saints with several others of those Aeacus's and Radamanthus's who gave Sentence against the late King Oh how did they burn Was it with zeal for Religion A man would hardly think that Religion to be chaste and honest which such men courted or seemed to court What Religion I beseech you in pulling down all the fences of the Church and letting in all sorts of little foxes and wild bores to spoil God's Vineyard If this were Reformation it was not unlike that in Egypt when the whole Land did swarm and was over-run with Frogs and Lice and Flies Exod. 8. Whilst these men pretended to the honour of Religion who ever disgraced it more to the preservation of true Religion who indangered it more to the Reforming of Religion who ever deform'd and undid it more Look how the Ivy whilst it creeps into the wall and clasp's close about it embracing it as it were with greatest kindness doth mean time rot decay and perish it or look how the Ape so hugs her young ones as that she kills them with her kindness so kind and no kinder were those bloody Reformers to true Religion which they could have as ill afforded to have lookt in the face as a Debtor his severest Creditor or a Malefactor his Judge Surely they were never intended by God for Reformers considering what God said to David 1 Chro. 28. Thou shalt not build an House for my Name because thou hast been a man of war or hast shed blood Who could expect a Reformation of such men's making worthy the cost of that Royal Blood wherewith they purchased it That which they gave us was to dear by every drop which the purchase cost them When I am convinc'd that Jezebel took the course which she took with Naboth upon a Religious account that a zeal to reform Religion put her upon writing Letters in Ahab's name and sealing them with his Seal as it is 2 Kings 21.8 9 10. saying Proclaim a Fast and set Nabal on high among the people and set sons of Belial to bear witness against him saying Thou didst blaspheme God and the King and then carry him out and stone him that he may die I say when I believe that a true zeal against blaspheming of God made her do as she did who 't is most certain did all this meerly in order to what we read ver 15. When Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead Jezebelsaid to Ahab Arise take possession of the Vineyard of Naboth which he refused to give thee for money for Naboth is dead I say when I so believe then and not till then shall I think that an unfeign'd desire to promote true and undefiled Religion to keep out Popery and to reform Protestantism as practised amongst us was that which prompted the unhappy Judges of King Charles the Martyr to send him packing out of the world How hypocritical and false was the name that was given to the Court which tried him called The High Court of Justice For 1. we know it was no Court for it was not any such thing legallâ— and nothing is a Court but what is legally so and moreover his Majesty would never own it for a Court 2. It was no ways Highâ— but in â—ride presumption and Arroganâ—e to undertake what they did 3. It was to be sure no Court of Justice for it was called together only to serve one turn like Jezebâ—ls Court that was summoned against Naboth aforesaid to do one wiâ—ked job or feat that is per fas aut nefas right or wrong to cut off the Kings Head and there was to be the end of it But do men think that God will always be thus mocked When Ananias and Sapphira added as little Hypocrisie as this comes to to their Sacriledâ—e did it not cost them
Kings of England and particularly of his gracious Majesty that now is for ever after Let us Ministers tell the people on that day how just and righteous God is how God is known by the Judgments which he executeth the wicked being taken in their own snare and in the pit which they digged for others how he causes mens sins to find them out and long forborn Murther and Regicides to pursue men like Blood-hounds how he brings the wheel upon ungodly men after long-forbearance how though he be long-suffering yet not ever-suffering and when he maketh inquisition for blood he will not forget the Blood of Kings or suffer the shedding of Royal blood to go unpunished Mind your people how dangerous the beginnings of publick Disturbances and Changes are even like sparks of fire in the midst of a Magazine of Gun-powder and may prove of as dangerous consequence When a King and his people are once ing aged against each other in a War ten to one but the issue will be either he will hang them if he have the better of it or they will behead him if the day be theirs Think of Solomons words Prov. 17.14 The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out waters therefore leave off contention before it be medled with Think also of the words of St. James Jam. 3.5 Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth Labor on that day especially to bring one French fashion into England viz. to cause the people of England to love and honour their King as universally as the people of France are said to do whose humour and it is a very good one is this as I am informâ—d viz. If their King enjoy great renown and prosperity if he be victorious and successful a little matter else will content them they are content with any thing looking upon their happiness as bound up in his and that if he be happy they ought not to think themselves miserable A 30th of January is as good and sutable a day as can be to exhort the people as St. Paul doth 1 Tim. 1.1 2. That not only supplications prayers and intercessions but also giving of Thanks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be made for Kings and for all that are in Authority and in order thereunto to make them sensible how many and great mercies benefits and priviledges they enjoy under the Government of his Majesty that now is Doth not the blood and spirit of Justice if I may so call it freely and uninterruptedly circulate in all the veins of this Nation Was there ever less complaint of Male-administration in publick Courts than has been ever since his Majesties return What great numbers are there of able Lawyers Judges Sergeants and others Learned in the Law And possibly as many Gentlemen of honesty and integrity as have been known of that Profession in any one Age. How well furnished are both the Vniversities with good Scholars and good men though it cannot be expected they should all be such especially Masters and Fellows of Colledges And that I may instance in every of the Liberal and Learned Professions How many Learned Physicians are there in England far surpassing the number of Learned men of that Profession it may be in any part of Europe for so I have heard Nay how many scores of Pious and Learned Divines are there at this day in England doubtless in no age all Divines were such and amongst them how many painful and excellent Preachers acurate Disputants noble champions for the Protestant Religion mighty Goliahs to encounter the greatest Leviathan's and as rational clear-headed enemies to Atheisme Enthusiasme and Nonserse as ever drew sword against those Enemies I was about to fay If God had given us leave to bespeak a King after our own hearts or made one on purpose for us such as we desired he could not in sundry respects have excelled what he now is Ex. gr 1. In point of Mercy and Benignity I think he has forgiven more than any King did before him or may do after him a more unsanguinary Prince never was in the world Blame him not if he exact that Obedience which is due to him but he cares as little for Sacrifice as ever King did and as small a matter hath atoned him as ever did atone any Prince so provoked and injured as he hath been If he has not fed his enemies when he saw them hungry and clothed them when they were naked many men that were his enemies both in war and otherwise never did any man do it 2. In point of Peaceableness for all know him to be the true Grandchild of King King James He is none of those that delight in War and are ever and anon immersing their Subjects in Seas of Blood He loves not to quarrel his Neighbours round about him and to Hector them into War and to give up his people to the Sword to eat their flesh and drink their blood but had rather have them sit under ther vines and under their fig-trees none making them afraid 3. If Humility and Condescention be an ornament to a Prince and the advantage of his Subjects I am much deceived if his Majesty doth no abound therein and yet reserveth to himself the Majesty and Greatness which doth become his place What Prince in the world more affable more accessible than he 4. If it be a mercy to have a wise Prince who understands his own business as doubtless it is t is well known by this time of day that he is one none but a wise Pilot could steer safely in so great storms as his Majesty hath been in and preserve a Ship from being lost sayling amongst so many Rocks and Shelves and Sands as he has done The wisdom of his Grandfather King James as being one of the greatest Royal Scholars that ever was began early to appear for the warm Sun of so literate an Education quickly brought him to maturity But the wisdom of King Charles the Martyr did then most gloriously shine out when he himself was under a cloud of Adversity and was like Musick which makes the sweetest melody upon the waters So did his Piety and Wisdom upon the waters of Affliction As a man may bebold the Sun in a shady pit or well better than above ground for there is no reflexion from the earth to divert our eyes So they who beheld King Charles the First in the deep pit or well of Affliction saw his wisdom to greater advantage than it was taken notice of before and in him that Maxime verified viz. Vexatio dat intellectum Quite contrary it hapned to his Majesty that now is whom God bless for ever In the years of his Adversity his wisdom and other excellencies were better known to Foreiners than to us his natural Subjects for that he was then upon force-put a stranger to his own Country and Kingdoms and evil-minded men took the advantage of his Exile and absence to represent him as they pleased But
since his Return we have had as much assurance as we need to wish of the greatness and goodness of his Princely Intellectuals of his being endowed with excellent natural parts which brings to mind a Scotch Proverb viz. That one inch of Mother-wit meaning natural ingenuity is better than an ell of Clergy And those natural parts improved and exalted by forein Travel converse with all sorts of men Experience both of Adversity and Prosperity dispatch of business for many years together the constant and assistance of wise Counsellors and the advantage of his great office and Dignity and you know by how much higher any man standeth by so much farther off can he see So that now I know no man can question whether he hath great fitness and skill for the business and purposes of a King great understanding how to govern in all points and better skill to manage a Scepter than any man who hath not a Scepter to manage 5. If it be yet a further mercy or happiness to a people to have a King that is active or nimble not dull or sluggish so is he I had almost said that his Majesty seems to be as much an Vbiquitary when he pleaseth i.e. here and there and every where as his Affairs require his presence as any man that wears a body I had almost said he hath not only a body so agile and active as if it were a Soul but also a Soul so active as if it were an Angel rather than the Soul of a mortal man 6. Is not that King a great mercy and blessing under whom his Subjects do live as easily as freely and as much like men as any Subjects in the world do Where more liberty more peace more plenty than amongst English men who by their Representatives in Parliament may be said to carry the purse at their Girdles whilst his Majesty carrieth the Sword by his side Go but over Sea to other parts of Europe or of the world and when you see how it fareth with Subjects almost every where else what meer Slaves they are in comparison of Englishmen you will look upon England as the most temperate Climate that any Subjects do live in and think with your selves that if there were but a Bridge betwixt England and other parts of the world all Subjects would chuse to come and live here as is said in another case Verily the Subjects of England are little Princes to what the Subjects are in other parts and to them I may apply those words of the Poet Foelices nimium sua si bona norant We are too too happy if we did but know it If there be at this day a Canaan upon earth like that of old flowing with milk and honey I mean abounding with all manner of good things England is one not for Bodies only but for Souls also In England God is known and his Name great in England he hath not dealt so with every Nation nor have they known his Statutes as we have done Why then hear we such bleating of the sheep and such lowing of the oxen Why such murmuring complaining and not rather serving God with chearfulness in the midst of all the good things which we have in England Is it not a great wonder that we should be the most happy of all people and yet the least contented the least thankful If it be a happiness to a trading people to have a King that maketh it his business to promote the Trade and Traffique of his people we have such a one I could safely produce a person of great worth and eminency and of as much skill in Merchandize possibly as most men in the world who has told me time after time bona fide that no Prince to the best of his observation was ever so much concern'd for the good of Trade or had more denied himself for the advancement thereof than his Majesty that now is hath done which I doubt not but he is ready to demonstrate to every rational man But if after all this Trading be but dead as that is the great complaint and the very cardo controversiae hinc illae lachrymae may not his Majesty say to his people Am I in Gods stead If the Lord help ye not in that point as the King said to the woman of Samaria that cried to him for bread in the time of famine How should I help you So it fareth with many private Families they are but poor and yet the Master of the Family is a man of double diligence providence forecast rises early and eates the bread of carefulness Is it just and equal that his Children and Servants should be ready to stone him because he doth not grow rich upon all his labours Nay it is as God pleases for that matter witness Deut. 8.18 Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth If he that is poor in spight of all his diligence and care had been careless and slothful possibly his Family had been starv'd which now is only not rich So had we not had a Prince who had been such a Nursing-Father to Trade as his present Majesty is it may be by this time there had been no Trade at all or next to none 8ly If Kings be Defenders of the Antient Catholick Apostolick Faith The faith once delivered to the Churches of the true Christian Protestant Religion have we not cause to bless God for them as such And such an one is he whom God hath set over us Is not the Protestant Religion defended by him Are not Protestants by him defended and protected in the publick open and free exercise of their Religion So as Papists are not who fly about like Bats rather than otherwise Are not all the Preferments of the Church bestowed upon the Protestant Divines have not they all the Archbishopricks Bishopricks Deaneries Prebends Masterships of Colledges c. amongst them Are not good and learned Books against Popery licens'd from time to time and Popish Books suppressed whether they come from beyond Sea or endeavor to get out of our English Presses Are not all publick Ordinations Administration of Sacraments and other Church-Offices dispensed after the manner of Protestants Are not the Articles of the Church of England defended by his Majesty and are not they all purely Frotestant Those things considered who can deny his Majesty to be really a Defender of the Faith And why should any man go about to clip his Title any more than he dare to clip his Coin May he not be truly a Defender of the Faith though he be no Defender of Presbytery either Scotch or English nor yet of Independency nor of Anabaptism nor of Quakerism nor of Fifth-Monarchism I say though he be no Defender of any of them in the Abstract but only of their persons in the Concrete who are of those perswasions I say he may be a Defender of the Faith nevertheless and so he is
for none of these are the Faith These are but Mint Annise and Cummin in respect of the great things of Religion the Magnalia Dei the two Tables of the Law of which he is Keeper Those are but the arbitrary Modes Habits and Dresses of Religion Clothes do not belong to the essence of a man A man is a man to all intents and purposes whether he wear a Cloak or a Coat or neither or both Christianity is the same thing in all good men whether they wear Gowns or no Gowns Cassocks or no Cassocks and who are called either Episcopal Presbyterian Independent or whatsoever else So long as the essentials Vitals and Fundamentals of Religion are guarded by the Laws of England and the vigilant care of his Majesty what becomes of those little airy vehicles of disciplinary names divisions and distinctions is the least thing of a thousand For so long as a man lays no other foundation than that which God hath layed viz. Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 building upon him by faith love and obedience if he should chuse besides Gold and silver and precious stones to build upon the foundation wood hay and stubble that his superstructure would be burnt yet himself should certainly be saved If a man may go to heaven out of the Church of England as well yea more readily than from Geneva or Amsterdam and from under the Discipline of any of those places let him look to it that he be a good Christian exercising himself to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and men one that worshippeth God in the spirit rejoyceth in Christ Jesus and has no confidence in the flesh as it is Phil. 3.3 and my Soul for his having thus his fruit unto holiness his end will be everlasting life So a man come to Heaven at last fighting a good fight finishing a good course and having kept the faith i. e. having been true to the great Doctrine and Rules of Christian Religion defended by the Church of England and his Majesty more especially the Supreme Governor thereof under God by a sincere life and practice thereof I say if a man persevering thus to do come to Heaven at last whether he come in the Kings high way as I may call it I mean in the more eminent and beaten Road of Episcopacy or in the more private narrow and unfrequented paths the matter is not great But I make account no man can ever come there who shall live and dye an incourager of known Schisme in others which is as truly a damning work of the flesh as Adultery or Murther or a wilful allower of it in himself 'T is no complement much less flattery or blasphemy to call him Defender of the Faith by whom as much of Religion as is necessary to Salvation is defended or rather we his Subjects in the free and safe exercise thereof though the same favour be not shewn to those who turn aside from the only established Discipline for but one Discipline can be established in one place as to those who conform thereunto If a man travel upon the Kings high way betwixt Sun and Sun and be rob'd he may sue and recover his Money but so may not he that travelleth in By-roads or cross the Country or over hedges and ditches I say if any man rob them that shall chuse to travel in such by obscure and unguarded paths no amends is made him only if he chance to be kill'd or murder'd in any wood or wilderness the Law will lay hold on him that did it Let who will govern or the Government be what it will be they who conform thereunto will always find more regard and countenance than those who do not though others may be tolerated and protected also And so much of our Kings being Defender of the Faith truly and properly so called upon account whereof we have cause to bless God for him 9thly We have cause to give thanks to God for those Kings by and under whom all the great ends of Government are provided for and therefore for his Majesty that now is By him all the great ends of Government are provided for What are they but in two words Religion and Property How Religion ot the preservation thereof and our protection in the profession and practice thereof are provided for I shew'd under the 8th and last head 'T is manifest that care is taken that we may lead a quiet and peaceble life in all godliness and honesty as it is 1 Tim. 2.2 Also how Property is secured to us may be gathered abundantly out of the formentioned particulars Now if you have any thing more to expect from a King declare what it is For I confess I know nothing else that there is for him to do as a King for us or for us as his Subjects to expect 10thly and lastly I do solemnly appeal to the discontented people of the Nation and to those whose mouths are most full of complaints I say I appeal to them in two cases which I shall propound in the two following Questions 1. Quest If you meet with less misery enjoy more mercy under his Majesty that now is than ye did expect or look for have you not cause to bless God for him Quest 2. Do you not really meet with less misery and more mercy under his Majesty that now is than you thought you should have done How oft have I heard many that were Parliamenteers say If ever the King were restored they should not be left worth a morsel of bread there would be no being for them then in England he would make the Land too hot for them and all such as they They had as good buy Bishops or Deans and Chapters Lands as not for if a change came they should as certainly lose their Lands of Inheritance and what they got by their own labour and was as free as any in the world as Kings and Bishops Lands if they intended to buy them I know that many did look upon the King's return as the giving up the Ghost of all their joys and comforts possessions and enjoyments But did it prove so Have not many of them seen as good days as ever they saw before Where is the Popery you prophesied of that would come in presently For you saw it flying towards us as upon the wings of the wind Where has been the bloody Persecution the Marian-days which your minds boded to you Have you not since that seen days of Grace and Peace and of the Son of man Is the Ark taken as you thought it would be Is God gone Is the Glory departed Is the Gospel extinguished and the Sun set as it were at Noon day as you fancied it would be O leave your dreaming of Dreams and divining of Divinations away with those hypocondriack vapours which turn to new Light and Prophecy Silence and slight your mistaken fancies Your eyes yet see your Teachers and your ears hear them Now even now there is