choose him the Ordinance do make him and when he is once constituted a King he is out of the power and constraint of the people he can neither be deposed nor opposed no the Ordinance doth secure him and his priviledges This is for a King by election and hereditary King hath a greater priviledge Secondly that there is a Co ordination with Kings for he which is supreme can have no Co-ordination with hint the best in the land and the greatest representatives at the highest are but grand Counsellers not joint Commanders Was it ever heard that Counsellers were the principall men in an estate Authority and direction are two distinct things All the Members may help in execution of things but still the head doth maintain its honour Thirdly that Kings in point of tyranny idolatry may be repressed and suppressed rejected ejected I hear it but I do not find it Manasses I am sure vomitted both these things for he worshipped the host of heaven made his children pass through the fire to the idol Molech and filled the streets of Jerusalem with blood and yet no Prophet stirred up the people to rebellion against him Is it fit to say to Kings ye are wicked or to Princes ye are ungodly Job 34 18. No though Kings should be wicked or ungodly yet we must not dispossess the Devil with another or cure a Princes sin with a greater crime of our own Therefore against a King there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 when a King was but set up by Prophecy obedience is enjoyned towards him Thou Judah shalt have the Scepter thy brethren shall praise thee thy Fathers children shall bow down before thee thou shalt-be a Lions whelp that shall come down from the spoil thou shalt couch down and who shall rouse thee up Gen. 49.8 9. And how do the Fathers children praise him when they call him enemy to the State how do the Fathers children bow down before him when they stand up against him with spear and poleaxes how do they fulfill that who shall rouse him up when there are those that dare rouse him up and clap him up Are there not mary spirits at this hour and perhaps in this presence so bitter that when there is but a motion of the Kings return they are so opposite to it that they wish never to hear his trumpets blowing nor behold his chariots stirring nor to see his royal face no they had rather that he were smitten with some mortall disease beyond sea or drowned in his passage or slain at his landing then that he should enter the Nation freely to come with pomp and triumph to his Throne We have preached obedience these many years but we have but taught ferrum natare iron to swim or but put our bread as Plato said in frigidum furmum into a cold Oven but let the Viper delight in biting as the old Adage saith and Frogs in croking but let all those who are of these venomous and slate troubling humours express better dispositions Away therefore with all paradoxes and let us once again embrace true Orthodox Divinity that Princes are to be obeyed Let those which hold that Princes may be resisted desist from this cursed opinion for this is but to keep the fire-brand still kindled in the Church And let those which hold that there ought to be no King upon earth but Christ at last be cured of this Lunasie for this is but to pull down lawful Kings and to set up mongrel Princes of their own faction For will not men be aspiring to be Kings amongst the Phanaticks yea there are none of them so humble but if they can they will wear the Crown Arthur hoped to have been a Prince and some say Henry was anointed and was not John of Leyden where this opinion was most rife an actual King and a most bloody one as ever was heard of Oh that men therefore would leave their delusions and be guided by true inspiration Kings there may be and Kings there must be Oh therefore let us acknowledge the calling and submit to him who by the Law of God nature and Nations ought to reign over us Have a reverend opinion of the name of a King and honourable and loyall thoughts to the person of a King yea and principally to your own lawful indubitable and invaluable King though he hath been a long time obscured yet let him come and shine in his proper Horizon though he hath been driven out yet let him be brought back For think that your Countrey will never be happy nor your Church blessed till the Guardian of the Countrey and the Patron of the Church be restored Let others therefore stand upon their tiptoes to defie him but be ye ready to bend your knees and honour him let others be forward to bind his hands but be ye ready to kisse his hand let others go into the gunroom if they can to shoot him back but go ye to the tops of your turrets to see him coming let others wish his absence but do ye pray for his return say oh that the bringing of him back were concluded on oh that the day were dawned when he should set forward oh that our eares might hear that he were upon our shoars and that our eies could set him within our streets oh that the citie were ecchoing to welcome him home oh that his Court-gate were opening to entertain him oh that the Crown Imperial were setting upon his head Walk not with pleasure eat not with contentment sleep not with satisfaction till ye be happy in the sight of his princely face He is the true heir to the Crown and would it not be an unspeakable comfort to see as the Scripture saith the inhertance of the father passe to the son Numb 27.7 We have had too much of Usurpers oh let us desire a Prince lineally descended Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the son of Nobles He is eminent in vertues and what a blessing were it to us to have a man after Gods own heart made Captain over Israel he hath been honoured in foreign lands and how should our Nation be illustred to enjoy him whom many Countries and Kingdomes have magnified he hath high experience in State affairs and what a glory would it be to us to have such a Prince reigning over us as hath been famed through Christendome for his deep and profound judgement he is merciful and what a joy would it be to us that after we have met with so many bloud-suckers we might rest in the bosome of such a tender-hearted father he is valiant how would the presence of such a puissant Prince fill the Land full of prowesse and make the fear of us and the dread of us to fall upon all Nations he is of a magnificent spirit of princely birth and most princely qualifications that knows not as I hear how to be Prince enough in kindnesse bounty and all manner of acts of
That that man is inttactable which is not bene moratus well ordered for he hath the means of a well composed life there is a King Thirdly that sinne cannot ever escape scot-free there will be vengeance for it elswhere for here is punishment there is a King Fourthly That great is the Charge of Supream Authority there are thousands to be answere for for why is one set over all but to be responsible for all Yes he is a King Fifthly That high Dignity doth belong to him in the chief place for he is a King Sixthly That God is to be adored for there is one upon Earth that hath Reverence Subjection and Loyalty there is a King But I shall passe by these and many other Applications which might-justly be drawn one of this word King and shall onely insist upon that which is most pertinent to my Text and the present occasion which is this That true remorse sor Rebellion should carry with it a King secking affection Repentance doth expresse it self in contraries the sinfull acts are turned into dutifull acts for how is it a transmentation if there be not a transformation in the desires Yes he that hated a KING must honour him and he that hath chased him from his Throne must bring him back else though he hath put off his Harnesse and withdrawn his Ordnances yet he doth keep his Drum and his Trumpet though he hath sheathed his Sword yet it is drawn naked in his heart He is not a Rebel in Action but he is a Rebel in Resolution an injured King therefore must be righted and he that hath been cast our must be sought out and brought back Oh then that it is so hard a thing to finde a true penitent Rebell some there are that perhaps have given over the WARS but have they given over their spight They have left their Commands but have they left their Principles They make no tumults but willthey make satisfaction They seek not to destroy him but will they seek to Enthrone him No they had rather bring him to nought than bring him back These same Kings Lands and Kings Rights are so sweet that they cannot endure that the right Owner should have a Reentry there are too many sick of the Kings Evill They have been Kings so long that they are loth that their Jura Regalia should be taken out of their hands it is Indignation to them to hear of the Kings Name but it would be Death to them to look on the King's Face The bringing of a King back would bring them back indeed they must loose their Princely Houses their Lordly Mannours their rich Offices their stately Parkes c. Doe Lyons use to part with preys which they have carried home No there may be many steps seen towards their Dennes but nulla retrorsum none backward A man may easily conjecture what they will give to a King which will not give him the title of a Gerttleman nor the patrimony of a yeomans son were he of their dieting he should have far modicum slender commons were he their Alms-child Pers sat 3. he should receive every thing manu contracta with the Nigards fist Lazras got as much at the gate of Dives They know his birth Horat. but like Foxes they provide onely for their own cubs they knew where his Crown land lay but all the revenew of it goes to their coffers little comes to his purse He may bless the bounty of strangers rather then magnifie the courresie of his own Nation what sumptuousness soever hath been at their own tables to gorge themselves their Friends and Favourites Sycophants and Parasites their Comrades in baseness and complices in mischiefs yet I doubt the King can boast little of their largesses The Smaritain hath powred in all the Oyles and Wine into the half dead mans wounds the rest have but gazed upon him and past by It is astonishment and horrour to think of the barbarous savageness to the Father and the brutish inhumanity to the son And wherefore all this but as they had murthered a King so they would murther Kingship it self behead the very office and calling of a King fain they would have imitated the Romans in keeping Fâ—galia feast for the utter exterpation of Kingly government And why so Kingly power was burthensome burthensome what the rule of one King more then of many No I doubt the shouldiers of this Nation have found the weight trebled by many Governours beyond that it was by one Tappeal to the consciences of any impartiall men whether there was ever heard of such taxes and impossitions venations and skinnings as there were by these Butchers they plagued the living and they would if it were possible a mortuo tributum exigere require tribute from the dead we have found the proverb true that Serpents nisi edat serpentem non fiet Draco a Serpent unless it do eat a Serpent can never be a Dragon They were wholly given to devouring and raveiling bonus odor ex re qualibet The odour was sweet though it came from the bafest exactions and I pray what a kennel of bounds did they keep to hunt the poor Common to death was there ever heard of so many shirking Officers rapations Servatours as there was in their reign if they were such good rulers I hope there are some memorable records that they lest behind them of their worthy spirits but I doubt it will trouble the wits of their best friends to shew one good deed conspicuous and eminent that they did in their eighteen years supremacy except they did count these good deeds to help beggers to honest mens estates and to execute the innocent that their well-affected men might inherit No marvaile therefore that we should desire these pious governours once more to Saint it over us when we are minded to be possessed and to be tortured even to the death it self we will call again for the spirit called Legion in the mean time let all the world judge whether Monarchy hath not been more gentle in usage and noble in expressions then ever was Poliarchy under Poliarchy phere was nothing but invading mens estates rifling and â—â—undering but under Monarchy what door was broken up what freeborn subject was cast out of his inheritance was the name of sequestration ever heard of under Polyarchy what obstruction was there of justice No man could get right against a Saint of the cause but under Monarchy who was denied propriety was there ever heard then of a Committee of Indempnity under Polyarchy there was nothing but conventings and imprisonments but gibbets and blood-axes under Monarchy was there a man suffered but by the known Laws of the Kingdom was there ever heard of a high Court of Justice under Polyarchy there was nothing but profaning of Churches toleration of blasphemy abusing of Alms-houses impeding of Merchandise pulling down of Palaces rasing of Noble mens houses what Patriot was there What benefactour out of those millions
and any man had a cause or suit if they would lay down their grievances at their feet they should have speedy justice done them Absolom would set up Committees enough to redresse the plaints of the people and as Absolom paid his vowes in Hebron so have not we had them that had their religious exercises and strict fasts and as Absolom had Achitophil the Gilonite to promote the work so have not we had them that had dangerous wits Craftmasters Achitophels enough And as the conspiracy grew strong for Absolom so did not multitudes and mutinies and â—actions and seditions grow strong and mightily encreaâ—e for oue male contents And hath not the fright of this rebellion caused as much consternation here as ever it did to Pavid even to leave the Royal Palace and to passe over the river hid on and to go up the mount of Olives weeping and hath not the Kings Court been entred and though not his concubines lain with yet his Royal revenue and Prerogative deftored And hath there not been a Shimei to curse the King and to call him bloudy man and son of Bâ—lial veâ— how numerous and venemous have the Pamphlets and Libels been to defame the King and blast his innocency Thus farre then they do agree as face doth answer face in water onely they differ in this that some of these turbulencies commotions disgusts disgraces happened in the fathers time and some in the sons howsoever the son is still in his flight and doubtful it is when he shall return for what a delaying fluctuating scrupling Nation have we they would and they would not they desire and despair they wish and long and again faint and fear all is ambiguity and suspense Pugnaces Parthi dubium tenuere favorem These warlike Parthians which have been so used to booties and spoils promise but a doubtfull favour to the businesse they have been so used to garboises that they are loath to hear of peace and to cut throats that they are loath to sheath up their swords they act things not according to their duties but their designes not according to their consciences but their conveniencies not according to their judgements but their ambitions they dream more of spoil then restitution and their own profits then the Nations peace and of having their own turns served then the Kings return there may be some candid upright dealing men amongst them which seeing the miseries of their Nation have remorse and shame for what hath been done but for the generality of them triplex Mercurius there seems to be a tripple headed Mercurie amongst them confounded they are in their resolutions Sybilla horrendus canit ambages atque remugit obscuris vera involvens This Sybil is in her trembling variable answers and loweth out of her den with a mixture of truth and obscurity Few men satisfied most men debating and full of ambiguities and perplexities iisdem èliteris Comoedia Tragoedia compenitur out of the same Letters both a Comedy and a Tragedy is compounded ye shall find such strange contraries wrought up together that a man may say as August plus aloes quam mellis there is more aloes then honey in them examine the ingredients and ye shall find this diversity of simples in the compound they acount the Kings return not an absolute requisite thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Strabo a necessary evil Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus This same vulgar is divided into several opinions full of divisions and distractions Et libet timeo nec adhuc exacta voluntas Et satis in dubio pectora nostra labant The thing pleaseth and frighteth the will is not compleat but the brest tossed with various conceptions And are there not the like alterations disceptations anxieties amongst a great part of the Nobility Gentry Clergy Merchants and common people in general yes hear them speak if the King should not return what shall become of our oaths protestations exhausted Nation and decayed Trade if the King should return what shall become of the violences offered to the father and the outrages to the son of the settling of our purchases and the confirmation of our preys one Parliament hath granted our conveyances and another may cancel them and wring our new-forged keys out of our hands So that it is hard sailing through the whirlepool here are collateral winds blowing insomuch that though the speech of all Israel be come to the King to bring him home yet Iudab sits in her tents muttering and stunning and doth not stir at all or if that tribe doth move at length it will be the last that appear Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King and if he be brought back I doubt there will be bitter heart-burnings why some are emploied and not others in the re-installing of him yea I fear that some seditious Shebah will blow a trumpet and cry to your tents O Israel and that some haughty Ioab will be massacring an Amasa that he should be commissioned to reduce the Countrey to peace rather then his all deserving self I fear some turbulent spectacle or other to dismay the King upon his return yea I suspect some Scotch receptions or English Stratagems the children are apt to strive together in the womb mens hearts will be boiling their heads inventing and their hands fatal But away with all plots and projects suppositions and oppositions minings and counterminings and fervently and faithfully candidly and cordially ingeniously and instantly bring back the King abhorie to be out of the work and be ashamed to be the last wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King Think what ye have suffered for the want of him what ye may enjoy in the fruition of him oh that ye could b humbled for the driving him away oh that ye could desire his return oh that ye could prepare the highest joy that can be to entertain him oh that ye could be dejected for the expelling him Is it not an errour to chase away a King is it not an heinous sin to put a King to flight are Princes to be contested with and in an armed way resisted no away with this damned popery all sober Protestants defy it let the Vaticane of Rome be stored with poisons and pistols dagges and daggers engineers and canoneers against their lawfull Sovereigns but let not the Reformed Church be such an Armoury The primitive Church I tell you again used no such Armoury in the height of martyrdome though Cities and Castles were filled with Christians and they could have resisted if they would successefully The Scripture doth allow no such artillery doubtlesse if we may not curse the King in our thoughts we may nor crush him with our hands if we may not meddle with them which are given to change we may not change both King and government these three positions are Paradoxes First that the people make a King for the people almost do but
ENGLAND'S BACKWARDNESSE Or a lingring PARTY In bringing back a lawful KING DELIVERED In a SERMON at Waltham Abbey Church in the County of Essex at a solemne fast By THOMAS REEVE D. D. Preacher of Gods Word in that Parish Aegrè facimus facimus tamen LONDON Printed for William Grantham at the black Bear in S. Paul's Church yard near the little North Door 1661. To the Right Honourable THOMAS Earl of Southampton Lord high Treasurer of England and one of his MAIESTIES most Honourable Privy Council length of dayes and increase of Honour Right Honourable and admired Peer WHat is man if but meer man where grace doth not sanctifie what is natural wisdome but a subtil Cacodaemon we may see it in this Synopsis of Davids troubles what variety was there of strange prodigious Wits the Prototype was in Davids time the Antitype hath been in our time There was an Absalom that took up arms against his natural Father and what have we had but Absalom amongst us for these many years Subjects which are political Sons appearing in an hostile manner against their natural Soveraign the true Father of the Countrey we have had the chariots horsmen prepared men persons of servile spirits and complying dispositions to run before the Designer yea the trumpets of sedition have been blown and the popular perfidious cry hath been heard Absalom reigneth in Hebron and our Land hath been filled with as many Spies Intelligencers Face-triers Speech-latchers the vermine of corrupt Commonwealths as ever Israel abounded with in Absaloms dayes And as Absaloms rebellion began with glorious pretexts of religion and reformation so have not we been sprinkled with the Rebels holy Water what was there in this Nation for a great while but paying of vows in Hebron Lectures Fasts Self-denying Ordinances and telling the people that the Form of Government in this Nation was distempered but if any had a cause or suit and they would repair unto them they would do them justice Thus all the engines of execrable policy were set on work And as in those dayes there was a Zibah that betrayed his dear Master Mâ—phibosheth so have not we had many a Zibah Yes what have we had but infinite treacherous servants and supplanting neighbours which to gain the estates of renowned Noblemen and worthy Patriots have used all manner of undermining practises and blemishing informations Si sat sit accusasse quis erit innocens If a bare accusation be enough to make a man guilty who shall be innocent yet a meer aspersion was enough for a Sequestration if this stratagem hath cost me three thousand pounds how many Millions have there been drained by these hellish contrivances from many innocent and eminent men in this Land And as there was a Shimei that cursed David and had no better terms then bloody man and Son of Belial and telling him that the justice of heaven did pursue him and that he was taken in his mischief so have not we had as cursing a generation Yes what was the spittle of many mens lips but sirnames and nicknames Malignants Delinquents limbs of Antichrist hellish Fire brands Cyprianus was called Caprianus and Athanasius Sathanasius no scandalous names they thought were ignominious enough to avile us revile us and reproach us to the people and this by men that professed the spirit of meekness and knew that it was not lawfull to say unto a brother Racah and did they not pronounce upon us and say that we were taken in our mischief judged from heaven and that the hand of the Lord was lift up against us Oh what adoe was there with the righteous cause and of vengeance printed upon our brows by the stigmatizing finger of God Almighty These were a people of high revelations and seemed to be Secretaries of State to the hidden Councils and Decrees of the great God That party carried it in that height as if it had been Master of the Ordinance to the Lord of hosts or been the very Council of War in heaven by authority to sentence poor Malignants as they called us to be shot to death And as Ahithophel was the busie active man in that rebellion so have not we had an abundance of Mercurial brains and dangerous Craftmasters in this Insurrection such as have advised Absalom to lye with his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel I mean to counsel our State Masters to do the most nesarious detestable abominable things which ever the Sun beheld yea to plunder rifle imprison gibbet to make their own countrymen Vagabonds at home to sell them for Slaves beyond sea to break in pieces the great Seal nay the Crowns and Scepter to rase Palaces to demolish Castles to set up Eunuch Parliaments Hermaphroditical Committees Cyclopical High Courts of Iustice to seiz upon Church-land to expel the most reverend Churchmen out of their just Cures Oh how have we had Anabaptistical and Phanatick principles of State delivered as the fundamental Laws of the Kingdome these Ionadabs these wily men these Ahithophels were accounted as the Oracles of God in those dayes And did this rebellion go on onely with a State-vapour or a daring bravado no as in Absaloms dayes the battle was scattered over the face of the whole Countrey and there fell twenty thousand men and the wood of Ephraim devoured more then the sword so our treason was it not a most satal and destructive attempt to the Nation how many pitched battels were there fought what horrid slaughters were there committed as if here and elsewhere there had been nothing but slaughterhouses to be seen What corner hath not been sprinkled with bloud how many mournful Families hath this war caused we might justly be called Acheldamah The losses of precious treasure is grievous but the losse of mens precious lives is an astonishing dismaying Spectacle Now my honourable good Lord what shall the result of this hideous passage be but to conclude with Samuel that Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 For if men had not been bewitched it could never have entred into the hearts of men or Christians or especially such Christians as seem to defie Iesuites for treason and rebellion to perpetrate such barbarous things upon their natural Country and Countrymen Some say there are no Witches and some say there are no Rebels those that are called Witches there are that say they are but Venesitae Poysoners or Ventriloquae Speakers through the belly so those which some call Rebels are but such as have a rare art in a new way to take away the enemies of State can speak through the belly in a mysterious way to cry up the liberties of the people or if they be Witches they are to be called but Sagae the prime Wits of the time or White-witches that do more good then hurt But I doubt they will be found Maleficae black Witches and their very practises will declare it 1. as Witches are discontented people so these are Malecontents
Martae suo Lyrnessia maenia vidi Ovid. Ep. 3. We have seen the wals or glorious Cities levelled by the hands of their own Natives their own Country-men have been Pioneers and Batterers to work their own desolation nay such a City Quam neque finitimi valuerunt perdere Marsi Minacis aut Etrusca parsonae manus Horat. Epod 16. Which neither our neighboring Enemies nor our most spightfull full outlandish foes could ever destroy these have brought it to ruin Oh what wastes and spoiles have there been in England and Ireland It would make a Barbarian lament to see how the Houses of Ivory have perished and goodly dwellings have been made possessions for Bitterns and Cormorants and Scritch-owles yea a land that was once as Eden the garden of God hath been since left desolate like the wildernesse sure I am that Ovid. Ep. 2. Luxuriat Phrygio sanguine piguis humus Many a Feild hath been fattened with the blood of the slain and massacred Now oh yee wilde Furies how long will it be before we shall see these wofull skars of your blinde and mad rage healed up No tumult may root up that which moderation cannot in a long time replant The Foole may cast firebrands and Arrows and say Am I not in sport But the wiseman cannot extinguish the burnings of these firebrands nor cure the piercings of these Arrows which the foole hath been the Author of Multi laedunt nemo succurrit nemo opitulatur Hugu Many men hurt but few succour or help When Jehoshuah the high Priest stood before the Angel to procure remedy for Jerusalem Sathan stood at his right hand Zach. 3.1 So when some would redeem a Church or State out of thraldome there are Adversaries enough to continue her miseries and increase her bonds How many soft bowels and State-building hands are there in this land Speech cost nothing and siding with a party is not very chargeable many men will subscribe their Names be Confederates with the just cause and vaunt vapour as highly as the best but it is an hard thing to get a Commonwealth Offering from them No they which are worth thousands and have no charge of Children yet they will give away all that they have to strangers or some new created kinsman rather than bestow ten Talents upon the Publique their Natural Country that hath bred them and fed them and stocked them and bestowed all their Honours upon them get not a Legacy from them in their last Will and Testament His Epitaph will be this Hic jacet Triparcus donec farcae sub hoc tumulo condiderunt here layeth self-thirst till the Destines laid him under this Tombe-stone Therefore seeing help doth come in so slowly let not damage be so rife let this Boutefeau of Nations leave casting of his Bals of wilde-fire Vermine are not beloved every one hate a Woolf and a Crocadile Nimrod the mighty hunter hath no good report it made the tears to spring out of the eys of Elisha to look but upon the face of Hazael who should slay young men with the sword and dash in pieces Infants against the stones and rent in pieces women with childe Thou may est count thy self an Hector by these things but thou art but a Mastiff for What is thy servant a Dog that I should do such things Thou hadst better be a Dung-hill carrier than to lay Cities in heaps or be a Fox-hunter then a Kingchaser for when David is driven from Jerusalem Absalon doth play mad prankes and thy poore Conscience is subject to the advise of Achitophel thou silly wretch doest thou know no God but thy Commander then see thy Captain General and his Zanee at his elbow Art not thou a rare Swordman under Absalon and Achitophel Give over thy trade therefore for poore blinde soule thou art doing that that the childe that is unborn shall curse thee for yea that after ages shall defie thee and execrute thee for For thou hast nothing in thy mind but wastes and ruines pulling down of Nobles and frighting and pursuing Kings but of the Nation Egregiam vero laudem spolia ampla thou wouldst faine have a great name for vilany and be egregious for that which is prodigious and execrable But when thou hast done all thy mischief who shall make satisfaction for it We know thy Venomous heart in the state that thou art in very well thou hast nothing but poyson in thy breast but who shall pull out the stings that thou hast left in other mens sides Thou art bad enough thy self and it is an hard thing to finde good men enough to redresse that which thou hast left deploreable The best are not very forward to promote good things no that which some have damnified others will hardly repair him whom some have driven away others will hardly bring back no they are the last usually in such a work Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back The King Now let us come to the person of quality to be reinstated The King It was not to bring back a Patriot or a Peere but one more Pretious than all the Potentates of the Nation one worth a whole Land a King From hence observe that a Nations Lustre is a King So long as a King is wanting there is an eclipse in the Hemisphere but so soon as he is brought back the whole Dominion doth shine If Agar wept so for want of water and Saul went so sorrowing up and down for the want of his Fathers Asses then how great may be the National dolour for the want of a King A Land without a King doth seem to be without ey-sight for that thou mayest be unto us in stead of eyes Num. 10.31 and unarmed for Kings are the sheilds of the earth Psal 47.9 and without day-light for a King is the Light of Israel 2 Sam. 21.17 and without her Capitall member for a King is the head of the Tribes 1 Sam. 15.17 and without motion for he is the breath of the Nostrils Lane 4.20 put all the grandees the high and mighty Ones of a Land together yet can they match a King in Stature no he is higher than Agag Num. 24.7 the rest are but Hillocks these are the Mountaines of Israel Ezek. 36.1 these are so great that they are called Dignities 2. Pet. 2.10 The foundations of the Earth Ps 82 5. they are the shepheards to the sheepe Num 27.17 Nursing Father which bear the children in their Armes or cary them in their bosomes Num 11.12 They are kind of bright Spirits in a Nation for David is called an Angel of God and Cyrus an anointed Cherubin yea the Deity it self hath not a clerer reflex upon earth then a King for I have said ye are Gods Is 82. very Extracts of Gods Power Superiority and Authority The earth hath not a Nobler object of grandeur then a King for Excellent Majesty is added to him Dan. 4.36 Oh how great is Eminency Excellency
Summity Sublimity Prâ—pollency Praepotency It is said of Moses that he might be set out as the principal of the Jewes that he was as King of Joshurn when the heads of the people and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together Deut. 33.5 and of Job to shew his potency that he chose out the peoples way and sat as chief and was as a King in the Army Job 29.25 as if there were none above a King or a King were above all Seeft thou a man diligent in his way he shall stand before Kings and not mean men Pro. 22.29 as if all were mean men in comparison of Kings and there were no greater honour upon earth then to stand before Kings He that endeavoured to set out himself with the greatest honour could say no more then I am the son of antient Kings Esa 19.11 The Church can have no joyfuller news then of a King comming unto her Rejoyce oh daughter of Sion behold thy King commeth unto thee Zach. 9.9 Is there a sadder judgment that can light upon a Nation than the want of a King No They shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord Hos 10.3 As if God then had punished them to purpose laid on a braining blow strook out their right eye cut their very heart-strings in pieces when he had deprived them of a King Well this is the greatest punishment and can there then be a greater blessing happen to a Nation then to enjoy the presence of a King No Oh tower of the flock the Strong hold of the daughter of Sion unto the shall come the First Dominion the Kingdoms shall come unto the daughter of Jerusalem Why dost thou cry out It there no King thee Micah 4.8 9. confesse that there are several sorts of Governments Democracy the Government of the People Aristocracy the Government by Nobles Oligarchy the Government by a few as the Decemviri the Triumviri in Rome and of later times amongst us when the Pettitoes of a Parliament stood for the Representatives of a whole Nation yet when all Governments are reckoned up Monarchy is the chiefest and best Wretched we that knew Kings so well and lived so happily under them yet for our execrable and incorrigible sinnes have drunk of all waters been under the Army of all Empericks have tryed the paces of all Hackneys been sucked by all Horseleeches been scourged with all the whips of the Coriection-house and possessed as it were with all Devils yet now we have had experience of all these which of all these besides Monarchy are so good that they can have our good word No I doubt that they deserve rather a Sarcasme than a Panegyrick Let men if they will preserve the skins of those Scorpions which have stung them and lay them up for Reliques Some Humourists and brainsick people may doe so but I believe that the greatest part of the Nation are not so taken with them that they will write Encomiastickes and sing Paeans to the honour of them no Difficile est Satyram nonscribere it is hard thing to keep patience at the thought of them The land in general Ora indignantia solvit speak of them with indignation and detestation and good reason for their consciences that they brought in new Oathes a Directory Lay-Elders for their estates they brought in the blessed excise Monthly Taxes and descimation after Composition all new new that old England from the first foundation of Government never heard of before can a worthy Patriot of the Land think of these without anguish no Alcides magno errore percitus he that hath any regard to his principles or priviledges cannot but with a kind of diserutiation and vexation decest these innovations both in Religion and Government For my part I am holy for Monarchy not only because of the Unity Moderation and Majesty that is in it for these may be the Topictes of politicians as if every States-man had a measuring rule in his brayne to line and level to draw out what Government he doth think most convenient for himself but principally in respect of divine Authority For I finde that God first set up this Government in the Father of Family and afterwards he promised to Abraham that Kings should come out of his loynes Gen. 35.11 And therfore Jacob prophecied by inspiration that the Scepter should not depart Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come Gen. 49.10 yea Balaam as bad a prophet as he was pronounced to the honour of Israel That the shout of a King was amongst them Num. 23.21 and was it not foretold that in the time of the Gospel Kings should be their Nursing Fathers and Queens should be their Nursing Mothers Es 49.28 were the children of Israel ever in a worse case then when they were without a King No it was threatned as a curse that many dayes should passe in Israel without a King Hos 3.4 and when this happened what wofull effects followed every man did that which was good in his own eyes Judges 18.13 21. Then there were nothing but setting up of Teraphims robbing of houses and outragious lusts as in the Levites wife This Government is so requisite that very Heathens have magnified it Nil Monarchia melius Nothing is better than Monarchy saith Herodotus Herodot l. 3. Monarchiae multum attribuunt ut optimo generi Isorc ad Nicor Men attribute much to Monarchy as the best kinde Thucydides could say Vt plures apparere siles frodigiosum est sic plures Monarchas As it is a prodigious thing for many Suns to appear so it is to have many Governours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there be one Lord and one King saith Homer in his first Illiad Thucid l. 6. in conc Alcib Nulla communionis humane curatio majori mitiorque quam regin saith Polit. in Polit. There is no Government of humane Society greater or milder than Kingly I could abound in many more Authorities but here is enough both from the Law of God and the light of Nature to shew that the most Conscionable and Comfortable Covernment is Monarchical Sure I am we may in this Land with wringing hands and bleeding hearts think of the pernicious Nefarious flagitious practises and outrages in the interval that Monarchy was interrupted and other Governments took place enough for us forever to abhor all Legislative Powers but that of Monarchy Therefore let who will honour the Ring-taile Ospray Ostrich Vultur I honour the Eagle There is no Government like to Kingly And it is a Lunacy a Phrensie no to desire the best and choose the best and replant the best as it was in Judah when a King driven out from them not to bring him back Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King Application I could make several Applications of this point as first to shew that mans nature is wilde for he must be kept under by Government there must be a King Secondly
house 1 Kings 13.18 or the Father of the Blind mans speech Quomodo autem nunc videat neseimus But how he doeth now see we know not Ioh. 9.21 or the Devils Praecipita te scriptum est enim Angelis suis mandabit de te ut tollant manibus ne impingas pedem in lapidem Mat. 4.6 Cast thy self down headlong for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee to lift thee up least thou dost dash thy foot against a stone Mat. 4 6. There may be some shew of truth in these things but as far from the essence of truth as Michals pillow stuffed with goats haire was from the body of David They are blear-eyed that will not see them falshoods and partial and parasitical which will not acknowledge them to be so The result is if the fifth of November were an unlawful attempt why should the Protestant smell of the Romish Gunpowder If Equivocation be unlawful why should we have new Jesuites under colourable disguises I am afraid that at the latter day of judgement these things will be found to be worse Poperie then crossing Infants or Organs or Cap Cope and Surplice How can such be heard speaking against any sinne when such palpable dissimulation is apparent the grief is this that if Protestants may be allowed to weare this pocket-dagger every Prince doth stand in fear of his life which doth reign over them if they cannot preach them into their own Paradoxes there will be fighting to the worlds end and they shall be christened to be the Lords battels as if they were waged against Paynims and Infidels in what streights doth a King live when he hath Anabaptists on the one side which would destroy all Magistracy and others which if they cannot subject Magistracy to their own bents will fight it into order an odd weapon I never find that Christ and his Apostles ever armed Subjects thus against their lawful Soveraigns lusty Popes indeed have done thus and this is plain Popery I beseech you therefore by your hatrâ—d against Popery and your reverence to Protestancie by the name of Authority and the fame of obedience by the passion of Christ which could have freed himself and by the patience of Martyrs which would not free themselves by the miseries of War and the blessings of union by the subjection of Pagans and the concord amongst Devils by Christs rebuking his Disciples when they would have fire fetched from heaven and by Christs commanding S. Peter to put up his sword into his Scabbard by Davids heart smiting him when he had cut off the lap of Sauls garment and by S. Pauls checking himself when he had called Ananias painted wall by the black infamy of this action and the horrid effects of it by the certainty of divine providence and the uncertainty of events by the thraldome which ye have long endured and the pardon which ye have obtained by the assistance which ye may yeeld to your friends and by the plots which ye ought to prevent against your enemies by the fruits of the flesh and the arm of flesh by the propagation of truth and the flourishing of Trade by the honour of your profession and the obligation of your oaths by Christs legacy of peace and by the Gospel of peace by prace in the time of your pilgrimage and by peace at the hour of your passage that ye never list a Souldier nor set up a Flag nor undertake a March nor discharge a Canon against a lawful Soveraign Bella gerant alii Let others if they will fight against their just Princes but let the Protestant have the honour of being a peaceable and patient Professor for how else Subjects how else Christians Blessed is he that is not condemned in that which he doth allow Rom. 14.22 Doubtless ye cannot but have inward convictions self-smiting Consciences The fear that begetteth pain and then there is a bloodier war within then there is without it were well therefore that you would confess your error purge away the scandal of it by some Christian satisfaction yea to procure the inward peace of your own souls and to inform the souls of them whom ye have misled to pacifie offended minds and to give assurance to Prince that ye will hereafter prove truly loyal that ye would defie and execrate a thing so abominable to the whole world but if out of obstinacy or modesty ye will not do this yet that we may for ever rase out of our brests the memory of all the injuries and miseries which we have endured by this rash and fatal design let us from henceforth find you reall Converts learn war no more study not commotions preach not up the Gantlet and the Pole-axe this is the way whereby we may heartily forgive you embrace you and bless you think how many watchful and implacable enemies we have abroad and how full the land is of Sectaries Hereticks Papists and Jewes and if ye have any apprehentions of dangers love to your Country pitty upon a distracted Church fears that ye may perish with us in a common fate or desires for the preservation of Religion government prosperity lay down animosities yeeld to conveniencies let us and you which differ but in a few things and doe equally lay open to the general spight for the same sword will draw bloud from us both alike if ever Papist or Anabaptist or Phanatick get the upper-hand agree in this one fundamental of mutual preservation that order shall never be disturbed nor authority assaulted but our Countrey-men shall sit quiet in their houses and Kings sit quiet in their Thrones if ye have any grievances debate them kindly argue them meekly petition as much as ye will dispute what ye can and what ye cannot convince by reason submit to with quietnesse but fight no more let us never hear your drum beating nor your trumpet sounding nor have any more of your solemn League and Covenant nor fighting for King and Parliament for Kings are sacred persons and are not to be sacrificed unto with Gunpowder no et Iesuites or Devils offer such oblations but let not Protestants have any such bloudy victimes If ye then have unroosted any such Kings do ye settle him if ye were the first that drove him away be not ye the last to bring him back For wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King Thus beloved have ye heard an expostulation about David's return and ought not we to have the like disquisition about our Kings return hath not the fate been alike to both yes as David had his Absolom that conspired against him so have not we had many which have broken the yoke and to all their other disrespects have added rebellion to their sins which with Absoloms feigning lips have stolen away the hearts of the people and with the complements of putting forth of hands endeering kisses and large promises of high reformation that if they were made Iudges in the Land