compass of Omnis anima and have a Soul to save he must be subject to the Higher Powers honour the King or Kaisar obey him and reverence him and pay him due homage custome and tribute VVhat shall we say then that our Jesuits never read the precept of Jesus Reddite Caesari nor our Romanists the 13th to the Romans no◠our pretended Catholics this Catholic Epistle of St. Peter Sure if they read it they do not regard it For were they to honour the King to be subject to the Higher Powers then and are not we now Consider but what Caesars Kings and Emperours they were in those days in the time of our Saviour and of his Apostles and afterward in the time of Tertullian and the rest of the Primitive Fathers for 300 years after Christ Tiberius and Caligula Nero and Domitian cruel and bloody Tyrants the very worst of the Roman Emperours yea the worst of men the very monsters of mankind these and the like in the time of Christ and his Apostles And then in the Primitive times Trajan Marcus Antoninus and others though the best of Heathen Emperours yet Heathen Emperours utter enemies to the Gospel and Church of Christ and cruel Persecutors of Christian Religion Give Caesar his due saith Christ though that Caesar was no other than Tiberius Lutum Sanguine maceratum a lump of clay molded and temper'd with blood as his School-master call'd him in regard of his dull and yet cruel disposition Honour the King saith St. Peter though that King or Emperour was no better than Claudius for it was in his reign that he wrote his Epistle Pontus Galatia and the rest that he wrote to being then Provinces of the Roman Empire I say Claudius a Heathen and wicked Emperour who banisht the Christians out of Rome Impulsore Chresto assiduè tumultuantes as Suetonius has it mistaking the word the name Chresto for Christo but much more the thing as if Christ had been a Ring-leader of Sedition and likewise the time as if he had liv'd in the days of Claudius whereas he suffered some years before in the reign of Tiberius And yet these were the Emperours whom the Primitive Christians were to honour How much more then does this duty concern us How much more should we honour the King the King whom this day God bless'd us with by bringing him into the world and also this day by a miracle of mercy restor'd unto us by bringing him back to his Kingdom even our Gracious King Charles the Second whom God long preserv not a Heathen Emperour but a Christian King not an Enemy to Christ and the Gospel nor a Persecutor of the Church and Christian Religion but a nursing Father of the Church a zealous Mainteiner of the Christian Religion of the true Orthodox Reformed Religion a Defender of the Faith of the true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith not a Nero or Dioclesian but a Constantine a Theodosius not a cruel and bloody Tyrant but the very picture and mirrour of Mildness and Clemency not a VVolf or Butcher of the flock but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shepheard and Father of his people Under whose auspicious and gracious Protection we enjoy our Lives and Liberties and which are dearer to us our Church Faith and Religion the pure and Reformed Religion the true and sincere Worship and Service of God whereas before his happy Restauration you know how it was with us and in what sad and horrid confusions we were wrapt and involv'd both in Church and State For which ever-glorious and wonderful Revolution as with joyful and thankful hearts we look up unto God this day as the principal Author so we cannot but with loyal and humble hearts reflect upon our Gracious Sovereign as the cheif Instrument under God of all our happiness Therfore as we bless God so let us honour the King honour him with our substance by paying him due homage custome and tribute honour him by our Obedience in a chearful submitting to his Laws and Constitutions honour him by a dutiful Reverence and respect to his Sacred Person honour him with our hearts by entertaining high and honourable thoughts and apprehensions of him loving and loyal affections towards him honour him with our hands by fighting if need be or writing in defence of his Royal Person Crown and Dignity honour him with our mouths by speaking highly and honourably of him and not in the least kind slandering or aspersing disparaging or defaming Him or his Government Take we heed and beware of the blasphemous rudeness of those railing Rabshakehs and filthy dreamers who despise dominions and speak evil of dignities Jud. 8. or as our Apostle St. Peter has it they despise government and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they tremble not to blaspheme Dignities Blasphemy is properly against God now is a kind of Divinity in Dignities and Higher Powers so that to speak evil of them is a kind of blasphemy Naboth did blaspheme God and the King a capital crime had it been true but you see blaspheming God and the King go together He that blasphemes or speaks evil of the King blasphemes and speaks evil of God whose Image and Vicegerent he is Wherefore to conclude Honour we the King ore and opere both by word and deed I and corde too with our hearts and souls Let us show that we fear God by our honouring the King Let us declare our-selves to be good Christians by being good Subjects and so joyn these two together in our life and practice which St. Peter does here in the words of the Text Fear God Honour the King A SERMON Preached upon the Anniversary of the Gun-Powder Treason Psalm 124. v. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are delivered THIS Psalm as ye may perceiv by the tenour of it all along is a Gratulatory or Eucharistical Hymn or Psalm of Prais and thanksgiving to God for delivering Israel both King and People for it was in King David's time the Author of the Psalm the Church and people of God out of the hands of their merciless and cruel enemies the Philistins most like or the Ammonites However some extraordinary preservation some remarkable signal deliverance belike it was and 't was the Dominus nobiscum that did the deed for If the Lord himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick c. but Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey to their teeth Our soul is esaped c. In the words we may observ these three Particulars 1. The Danger that the Church was in or the Plot lay'd for her i. e. The snare of the fowlers 2. The Prevention of the Danger or the Defeating and Disappointing of the Plot The snare is broken 3. The Churche's Deliverance and safety ensuing thereupon Our soul
him as our Jews had done to our Martyr-King Those Jews that put Stephen to death Persecutors they were and Murderers but they were not Traitors nor Rebels as ours were they were guilty of shedding innocent blood but yet they were not guilty of shedding Royal blood as our Jews were Homicides they were yea and Propheticides as I may say they kill'd a Prophet a Preacher of righteousness a Deacon a Church-man but they were not Regicides not guilty of Rebellion and Treason as ours were to purpose In stoning of Stephen they did not Murder their Lord and Master their Leige Lord and Soveraign King as ours did this day Traytors they were not they did not betray him nor did they conspire and contrive and plot his death by any premeditated malice but transported with a rash blind zeal and hurry'd on with a sudden impetuous fury they ran upon him with one accord saith the Text and cast him out of the City and ston'd him but our Jews did their work in a more deliberate way they did plot and forecast and drive on their design by a long train and myne of mischief they wove a curious web of wickedness spun a fine thread of Rebellion and Treason and then cut it or rather cut him off in a methodical way by a Pageantry of villany by a Mock-Court of Justice kill'd their King and embrew'd their hands animus meminisse horret in the blood o' their Soveraign the Lord 's anointed That for his Political capacity as King and Supreme Now for his Moral or Personal take him as a Man or a Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so just so sober so chast so temperate so prudent so gentle so merciful so patient so charitable so religious witness his duely and daily frequenting his Closet and Chappel besides his private Devotions in a word so vertuous and free from vice that even malice or slander could fasten nothing upon him yea some o' the chief Rebels confess'd he was too good for us this sinful Nation was not worthy of him yea the world was not worthy of him and therefore by a new kind of Ostracism far worse than that of Athens he must be banish'd from off the face of the earth only because he was so good and so excellent a Person I read in a very good Author of a strange custom among a people of Scythia call'd Albani and Strabo lib. 11 has something like it speaking of the same people who were wont to offer up that man in Sacrifice to their gods whom they thought to be most eminent for holiness o' life ye know what Countrey is called Albania and ye know who deliver'd up our Royal Martyr though I will not say they offer'd him up with an intent he shu'd be made a Sacrifice as it afterwards prov'd I shall leav it to you to apply it Thus the case stood between the King and the Rebels because he did Sanctimoniâ maximè pollere was so holy a man a most gracious King therefore they proceeded to make him a most glorious King too and so they did by bestowing upon him the glorious Crown of Martyrdom Whatever they pretended to palliate so foul a cause yet their Conscience told 'um they cu'd find no fault in him as Pilat said I find no fault in this man Our Schismatics of neither hand neither Papal nor the other cu'd find any fault in him but only that he was not theirs Nuntius à Mortuis who knows the mind and speaks the sense of his Brethren o' Rome confesses plainly that he was so good and vertuous a Prince nothing cu'd stick upon him or be laid to his charge but only that he persisted in the Schism forsooth and Heresie begun by his Predecessor Henry the Eighth that is that he continued firm and constant and immoveable in the profession and maintenance and defence of the true Protestant Reformed Religion They on the other side quite contrary blam'd him for nothing else at least for nothing so much as his inclination to Popery and all because he wu'd not dance after their pipe nor suffer himself to be carried with the stream o' the Faction nor swim with them down the Leman lake but stood firm for the Church of England in opposition to both extreams Thus he was crush'd between two milstones and Crucify'd like Christ by Jew and Gentile and between two thievs For 't was resolv'd and decreed one man must dye for the people as Caiaphos said for the people indeed he must be made a Sacrifice and a Martyr for the Laws and Liberties and Religion too of the Church of England as it stood by Law establish'd both for Doctrine and Discipline I hope after all this ye do not expect I should give you a complete Character of him nor an exact Catalogue of all those vertues and graces of which I nam'd but a few even now that were so eminent and exemplary in him and shin'd so remarkably in his Royal Person This is a task I wu'd not nay cu'd not undertake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shu'd wrong both Him and you and my self if I shu'd go about it Look not then that I shu'd draw a Portraicture or Picture of him with my rude unskilful pencil 't is done already and done to the life and no Apelles can draw it so well as he has done himself with his own hand in his most exquisite and incomparable piece called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Book which so confounded his Adversaries that when they cu'd not contradict nor confute it they were fain calumniari fortiter yea and meutiri turpiter by denying it to be his own And now methinks I may say as Pilat did of him whose example this our Royal Martyr follow'd Behold your King and again Behold the man Look upon him as a King and look upon him as a Man he was a Mirror of both the best of Kings and the best of Men. And may I not then upbraid our Jews as St. Stephen does his here v. 52 by calling our Martyr the Just one of whom they ha' been the betrayers and murderers and apply that in Daniel to Him in a qualify'd sense the Messias was cut off our Anointed so Messias signifies but not for himself i. e. not for his own Sins but the Sins o' the people Thus in all respects the Sin of our Regicides the Sin of this day was a bloody and a scarlet Sin and therefore the Pilat of this day might well be clad in Scarlet when the Sin he acted was so deep-dy'd and all of 'um both they and their President were so scarletted all over so dibaphi double-dy'd and twice dipt dipt i' the blood of a gracious King and dipt i' the blood of a righteous man But I labour in vain to show you the ugliness of this most execrable and heinous Crime to describe and portray this horrid Monster in its full proportion in all its lineaments and lively colours wu'd
and brought home to Christ. Thus in thesi and thus it was no doubt in hypothesi in St. Stephen's case for we may well believ that by his patient suffering and powerful praying some of that durum genus of those hard stony-hearted Jews with their stones i' their hands and their stone i' their hearts were mollify'd to conversion and brought to repentance and that as God was able so he was willing of those stones to raise up children to Abraham and so there was this good effect of our Martyr's Prayer for his Persecutors that the Lord did not charge this nor the rest o' their Sins upon ' um That thus it was with some of 'um is more than probable but of one we are certain viz. St. Paul who by vertue of the Proto-Martyr's Prayer was giv'n and gain'd to the Church and of a persecuting Saul was made a preaching Paul According to that known saying of the Father Si Stephanus non orâsset Ecclesia Paulum non haberet St. Paul's Conversion was the fruit and effect of St. Stephen's Devotion And not only Paul but some others among 'um 't is like were hereby converted and brought to repentance and so their Sin this Sin this horrid bloody crying Sin forgiven and not layd to their charge Thus prevalent was our Martyr's Prayer here i' the Text this happy effect it had upon his Persecutors and Murderers And now shall we say that our Royal Martyr's Prayer this day had the like effect upon his we hope it had at least upon some of ' um 'T was his charity to pray for 'um and it must be our charity and nothing else to hope the best of 'um that the guilt of that innocent and Royal blood this day shed was wash't away from 'um by the blood o' Christ and the tears of true repentance and so this bloody Sin not layd to their charge However our Proto-Martyr here i' the Text and our Princely Martyr here o' the day have both set us a Copy and taught us our Duty viz. by their example to pray for our Persecutors Which is the fifth and last Particular Officium Christiani The duty of Christians under the Cross by Stephen's example to pray for their Persecutors Thus we are taught by our Church to pray first in her Litany That it wu'd please God to forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and to turn their hearts then in her Collect for our St. Stephen's day That we may learn to love and bless our Persecutors by the example of the first Martyr St. Stephen who pray'd for his Murderers And thus we are taught by our Saviour to pray first by his Precept in his Sermon on the Mount Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you and then by his practice at his suffering on the Cross Father forgive them for they know not what they do Pater ignosce and Domine nè imputes forgive and discharge come both to one both the same Prayer in effect and Stephen herein follow'd our Saviour's example nay borrow'd this Prayer from Christ's own mouth say some who therefore affirm that he was present at our Saviour's passion 'T is possible he might be but yet this is gratis dictum and only conjectural and however this be whether he heard it or no yet he learnt it to be sure of our Saviour thus to breath out his last with such a transcendent charity and with such a zealous and ardent affection thus to pray for his Persecutors I say with such a zealous and ardent affection for he cry'd with a loud voice says the Text and when he had said this he fell asleep as if he had been unquiet as it were in his mind and in a kind of restless condition till he had vented his fervent charity and perform'd this last duty of love to his Brethren for so they were though his enemies till in lieu of their heaping stones on his head he had heapt coals of fire on theirs by his ardent zeal and affection for 'um in a word till with great earnestness and contention o'Spirit he had pour'd out this short but pithy and pathetical Prayer for 'um and when he had once done this then he was quiet and found rest for his Soul when he had said this then he fell asleep Here then is a pattern for our imitation an example for us to follow and we know who follow'd it this day even our late Martyr'd Soveraign who pray'd for his Persecutors as the Proto-Martyr did and was a follower of him as he was of Christ for he follow'd not the steps of Stephen only but of his blessed Master and Saviour and according to his pattern pray'd for his Murderers says our Church in one of her Collects for this day Let his memory therefore be ever precious among us that we may follow the example of his patience and charity as it follows there You 'l say this is a Doctrine and a Duty for Christians under the Cross but thanks be to God we are not so we are not with Stephen under a show'r of stones nor with our Royal Martyr in the hands of Murderers Beloved in the Lord 't is well we are not yet we know not how soon we may be for who of us knows what days we may live to see or what times God has reserv'd us for If we look abroad the face of things has no such pleasing nor promising aspect But I will not malè ominari and now especially when I am upon a theme of charity which thinketh no evil loth I am to suspect the worst Yet let things be at the best while we are Pilgrims here on earth travelling through the wilderness o'th is world we are but in a suffering and conflicting condition In the world we shall have tribulation says our Saviour I and enemies too therefore we ha' need o' patience to endure the one and o' charity to pray for the other But my Text is not a Theme of patience nor our Martyr's Prayer here a Prayer of patience so much as of charity and therefore to this latter I shall confine my self viz. to Charity which teaches us by their example to pray for our Enemies and Enemies we have to be sure and those not a few the Lord forgive 'um For what good Christian can want Enemies now adays when Atheism and Prophaness has so many friends what sober Christian can want Enemies as long as Riot and Luxury and Debauchery has so many Friends that in some places 't is almost counted a Sin to be civil once more What peaceable Christian can want Enemies as long as Schism and Sedition has so many Friends and there are so many Sectaries and Malecontents in Church and State And ha' we not need o' charity think ye to pray for these enemies that God wu'd give 'um a sight o' their Sins
long enough for all us Therefore let us take off our eyes a while from beholding o' them and reflect and look a little upon our selves and knock at our own doors to see whether all be well at home Though I hope we had no direct immediate hand nor heart in the Sin of this day yet shu'd we be called to account for it who of us all here present if then alive and of ripe years cu'd now plead not guilty Doubtless they were the Sins of the Nation in general and the Sins of every one of us in particular that sharpen'd the Ax and brought the King to his end It was for our many and great provocations that God did suffer his Anointed to fall this day into the hands of violent and blood-thirsty men as our Church in her Collect for this day devoutly confesses and again We humbly confess that the Sins of this Nation have been the cause which hath brought this heavy judgment upon us Many national Sins I might name which were then rife and common among us and so they are still which then provok'd God's wrath against us and so they do still for truly the world is not much mended since But because St. Stephen had so much to do with Libertines and our Royal Martyr with those that cry'd out so much for Liberty I shall therefore only take notice of that universal Libertinism looseness and licenciousness that seems to overspread the whole body o' the Kingdom Men every where taking Liberty enough whether it be giv'n 'um or no. We ha' need of more Stephens to beat down our Libertines such a general Libertinism possesses the Nation An Atheistical loosness licenciousness and prophaneness in point of Morality as to life and practice a Sceptical loosness latitude and indifferency in Religion as to matter of Opinion and Doctrine an Anarchical loosness what shall I call it remisness and slackness of the reins of rule and government in point of Order and Discipline Every one of which is of dangerous consequence and has a very sad aspect and malignant influence upon a Kingdom and Nation threatning the ruin and dissolution both of Church and State if not timely prevented especially that I last mention'd that general loosness and slackness of the reins of government in point of Discipline that universal neglect and contempt of Autority that Epidemical undutifulness irreverence and disrespect to Superiors a rust and restiveness contracted in the late lawless irregular and rebellious times and yet not rub'd off nor worn away the dregs and reliques of that old leaven not yet purg'd nor wrought out of the minds and spirits of men the seeds of Rebellion and Treason still lurking among us for all undutifulness to Superiors is a kind of petite Treason Lex est copulativa there 's a concatenation o' duties and he that breaks one link o' the chain of Subordination and Subjection to lawful autority endangers all and this is certain He that is undutiful and disobedient and disrespective to his Superior will not stick upon occasion to be disloyal to the Supreme and then beware of hoc peccatum the Sin o' the day Now as for personal Sins I must leav that to every man's Conscience in particular to call himself to account and see how the case stands between God and his own Soul Let us then do so I beseech you every one of us seriously and thorowly search and examin our selves in private for that 's the work of this day and not only to pray and hear a Sermon in public I say let us search our own hearts to find out what Sins we are most guilty of our bosom and beloved Sins for they are the Murderers and Malefactors that must be attach't arraign'd and condemn'd this day at the bar of Conscience they are the Regicides that have had so deep a hand in the Sin of this day they are the Traytors and Rebels that betray'd and murder'd the King Let then every one of us put these and the like interrogatories to our own Souls Was it not by my high-mindedness and self-conceit pride and ambition that God was provok'd to let proud aspiring Tyrants and Traitors climb so high Was it not my uncleanness my lusts which war in my members that contributed to the kindling of that unnatural war between the Head and the members Did not the heat and fire o' my lusts among others incense and provoke God to let fire come out o' the bramble and devour the Cedar of Lebanon Was it not by my envy hatred and malice and uncharitableness and hardness of heart that God was provok'd to harden the hearts of those cruel Regicides against their lawful King and permit 'um to be fill'd brim-full with hatred and malice against his Royal person Was it not my rash swearing and prophaneness my false-swearing and perfidiousness my breach of Oaths and Covenants Promises and engagements made in my Baptism that mov'd God to give up those false perfidious Traitors to a reprobate mind so as to break all those Sacred bonds and obligations and Oaths of Allegiance to their Leige Lord and Soveraign and in stead of them to enter into those two bonds of iniquity the Covenant and Engagement Lastly was it not my intemperance gluttony and drunkeness that provok'd God to suffer such a crew of savage and barbarous Rebels to glut themselves with the flesh of Nobles and to be drunk with Royal blood Thus shu'd we with sorrow of heart reflect upon our selves who were then in being and at years when this horrid Sin was committed But then what shall we say to our Postnati or Puines those of the younger sort Indeed they cannot be said to be guilty o' the Sin o'th is day or any way accessory to it seeing they were not then in rerum natura not so much as enter'd upon the Stage o' the world when this sad Tragedy was acted they were not born when the King was beheaded Yet by way of prevention of future calamities let them take heed o'those Sins which in those times were the meritorious causes of this fearful judgment and provok't God to suffer it In a word let all of us both old and young fear to commit those Sins which as they were then so they may be still the meritorious procuring causes of as heavy and dreadful a judgment upon the Land and Nation Let us I pray take heed of persisting in the perpetration of our old wickednesses and impieties and of acting over those Sins a fresh by which God was provok'd to permit cruel men Sons of Belial this day to imbrew their hands in the blood of his Anointed and thereby to deprive us of so good and gracious a King This then is the proper work o' the day every one of us to say with Pharaoh's Butler I do remember my faults this day and so to humble himself before the Lord not only in public but in secret to lay his hand upon his heart and put his
and taken as the bird is caught in the snare of a sudden in a trice in a moment And thus it was Malum repentinum and both these both the unexpectedness of the danger and the sudden dispatch mystically and covertly imply'd in the Letter to the L. Mountegle by which the business was discover'd the former in these words Though there be no appearance of any stir yet they shall receiv a terrible blow this Parliament yet they shall not see who hurt them The latter in these The Danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter That is as that sagacious Oedipus wise and learned King James rightly expounded the Riddle The blow shall be suddenly given by a blast of Powder which is as soon over as the blaze of a Letter burnt in the fire And so you see this mischievous Plot laid this day for this Church the Church and People of God here in England may very well be compar'd to a snare in regard of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it both in respect of its sudden coming and likewise of the sudden dispatch it shu'd have made when it came 3. And lastly As it was sudden and unexpected so 't was dangerous and deadly The snare of the Fowler is a fatal engine an instrument of death the bird that 's caught in a snare seldom escapes with her life such was the mischief design'd and intended this day a fatal and deadly blow it had been indeed if it had taken The snares of death encompass dus as David speaks and so our Church expresses her self in her Collect O Lord who didst this day discover the snares of death that were laid for us Indeed a deadly snare it had been if it had not been broken King and Parliament Prince and People Peers and Prelates Lords and Commons all blown up at a blast a whole Kingdom Church and State swallow'd up and destroy'd by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A dangerous dreadful and deadly design it was to cut off or rather blow up the King and the whole Representative Body of the Kingdom head and tail branch and rush in one day nay in a moment at one blast and yet thus they had done if the snare had held this they intended and had it in voto nay in parato Caligula's wish O! that the people of Rome nay O! that the people of England becaus they were not the people of Rome O! that the Church of England had but unam cervicem one neck that they might cut it off and why think ye even becaus it had not that unum caput that one Head which they would have set on Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel Instruments of cruelty were in their habitation and in their self-will they digged through a wall They heaped up wood and faggots to burn up us Heretics Indeed these Romish Beautefeu's and Incendiaries had been at their fire-works before they had been trading and tampering long with fire and faggot by retail in the Marian times and now they thought to do it by wholesale by making a Bonfire of the Parliament-house burning and blowing up the whole Body of the Realm Head and Members the King with all the three Estates of the Kingdom assembled and met together But blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth Our soul is escaped c. The snare is broken the danger prevented the design blasted the Plot defeated that is the second particular we observ'd in the words viz. the Prevention of the Danger or Disappointment of the design The mischievous machinations and devices of wicked and ungodly men against the Church and people of God though never so closely and cunningly contriv'd and carry'd are often frustrate and broken defeated and disappointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such wicked works do not always succeed and prosper they often prove abortive and come not to the birth The reason is there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an all-piercing eye that sees and discovers them a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God above that blasts and disappoints them and brings them to nought And so it was this day the snare was broken and how was it broken just as it is here in the Psalm by a Dominus nobiscum in the first verse The Lord was on our side and by an Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini in the last Our help was in the name of the Lord. How was this Treason discovered and the danger prevented just as God says to Zerubbabel Zech 4. 6 Not by might nor by power I may add not by wisdom nor by policy but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts The snare is broken and we are escaped as a bird tanquam Avicula 't is not by her own strength or cunning that the poor bird makes her escape Alas she is weak and simple only there comes some strong hand and breaks the snare Nodos vincula linea rupit in the Poet and then away flys the bird so it was here a strong hand from heaven broke this snare This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 't was by the spirit of the Lord and 't was the Lord's doing that the Treason was discovered and the snare broken Yet our Zerubbabel our pious and prudent Prince King James under God had a hand in it too in the breaking and disappointing of it for sure he was guided by the Spirit of the Lord and more than ordinarily inspired and directed in opening the secret and unfolding the mystery and Riddle of the Letter and according to that of the wisest of Kings There was a Divine Sentence in the lips of the King Great Brittain's Solomon so that his mouth transgressed not in judgment when upon his reading of that dark aenigmatical writing he past his sentence whereby the whole business was happily discovered and brought to light and so the snare was broken and we were delivered that 's the third and last Particular the Churches safety and deliverance following upon the snare being broken we are delivered And this indeed is a necessary consequent of the former for when the snare is once broken the bird will soon fly away and escape We are delivered so we were this day indeed delivered from death and destruction delivered from fire and faggot delivered from the mouth of the lyon and from the paw of the bear and from the horns of the bull the Pope's Bull I mean and from the tayl of the Dragon delivered from the savage cruelty of Catesby and Faux Et ab ipsis faucibus Orci from the very jaws of Hell delivered from passing through the fire to the Moloch of Rome from being made a holocaust a whole burnt-offering to that Idol by those Priests of Baal Father Garnet and the rest of those Gun-powder-Saints and Martyrs Thus we were and are delivered I and which is more our soul is
mouth i' the dust and take the shame and guilt of his Sins to himself and say God be merciful to me a sinner and deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God and Lord lay not this sin to my charge Thus we shu'd do and O that we cu'd do it with that brokeness of heart and contrition o' spirit with that true godly sorrow and remorse o' Conscience that God may hear in Heaven and have mercy and forgive and pardon that so no one drop of that Royal blood may ever be upon the head of any one of us in this Congregation and much less upon the whole Kingdom and Nation O gracious God when thou makest inquisition for blood lay not the guilt of this innocent blood the shedding whereof nothing but the blood of thy Son can expiate lay it not to the charge of the people of this land nor let it ever be requir'd of us or our posterity Be merciful be merciful unto thy people whom thou hast redeemed and be not angry with us for ever but pardon us for thy mercie 's sake through the merits of thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen A SERMON Preached upon the Anniversary of the Birth and happy Return of King CHARLES the Second 1 S. Pet. 2. 17. Fear God Honour the King FEw words but full and pregnant and big with variety of matter Two short Sentences but long and large in sense and signification Two breif compendious Precepts but of a huge diffusive and comprehensive reach Two short Lessons but of so grand importance and so vast a latitude that it will take up a man's whole life to learn them the first of them especially Fear God which the Royal Preacher in the close of his Sermon makes the Totum hominis the whole duty of man And if so we need learn no more but put a stop at Fear God and go no further For if that be the whole duty of man then Honour the King will fall under it as included and comprehended in it and so he that hath learn't to fear God hath learn't also to honour the King And though the latter of these Duties be not so comprehensive as the former as to the direct and immediate import of it in regard of the object yet take it in its full extent and latitude and in all the due qualifications of it as to the act prescribed and enjoyn'd together with the grounds and reasons of it and then it implys and presupposes the other And so he that hath learn't to honour the King hath learn't also to fear God And this shall be my task at this time to shew the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mutual coherence and connexion of these two Precepts the reciprocal clasping and concatenation of these two Duties together Well then Fear God is a large Theme and would afford matter for many Sermons and so would Honour the King too if one should discourse of them severally and apart as simply and absolutely in themselves consider'd but I shall not do so but twist them both together and so handle them joyntly as they have a mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reference one to another and a mutual dependance each upon other Juncta juvant And so I shall speak to these two Aphorisms or Propositions 1. No man can truly honour the King but he that fears God 2. No man can truly fear God but he that honours the King So that here in this Text St. Peter reads two Lessons or Lectures one to the prophane ranting Royalist the other to the fanatic hypocritical Rebel 1. No man can truly honour the King but he that fears God Loyalty and subjection to the Higher Powers is a fruit and consequent of the fear of God where there is not this root in the heart there can be none of that fruit in the life 'T is nothing but Conscience and Religion and the fear of God that can aw the spirits of men into a sense of their duty and keep 'um within the bounds of loyalty and allegiance Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers saith St. Paul Rom. 13. but how can he be subject indeed to the Higher Powers in obeying their Laws that is not first subject to the most High in keeping his Commandments Can I think that man religiously observes the fifth Commandment that makes no conscience of keeping the other nine and so pays God but the tithe of the obedience due unto him He that would truly honour the King and give due obedience to him and his Laws must do it for conscience sake saith the Apostle but without the fear of God where is conscience if it be any where it 's asleep to be sure for the fear of God will rouz it up and awaken it There is no power but of God saith the same Apostle in the same place the powers that be are ordain'd of God and so the Supreme Power Soveraignty or Supremacy is the Ordinance of God and upon that account it challenges our dutiful submission and subjection to it Now how can he that fears not God truly submit to the Ordinance of God and consequently how can he truly honour the King Again the King is God's Lieutenant as I may say upon earth his Vicegerent and Deputy how then can he truly honour the King that dishonours God whose Person the King represents The Judge in the Gospel neither fear'd God nor regarded man and he was not asham'd to say so himself Indeed if he fear'd not God no marvel he regarded not any man in the world so as to give him any due honour respect or reverence though never so much his Superiour Abraham to be sure was in the right when he made the want of the fear of God the root of all evil the Parent and Nurs of all Sin and Wickedness Adultery and Murther and the like Gen. 20. 17 Surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake either to kill him or abuse his Wife he thought they would make no bones of either as long as the fear of God was not among them And 't is likely our Common Law borrows that phrase in her form of Inditement viz. of a Malefactor's not having the fear of God before his eyes either from that speech of Abraham or else from that of the Psalmist The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes And from thence he knew it was viz. from the want of this fear that all his wickedness did proceed For 't is the fear of God that keeps all in aw and in order and where that is wanting nothing is safe nor secure neither Money in the Chest nor Wife in the Chamber nor Man in his House nor King in his Throne It is that great wheel in the clock that sets all the other o' going it makes a man move orderly and regularly in all his relations