Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A31734
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A character of His Most Sacred Majesty, King Charles the IId with a short apologie before it, an introduction to it, and a conclusion after it / written by a minister of the word ...
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Minister of the word.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing C2017; ESTC R21751
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17,960
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39
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were Captives unarmed and some of them half naked when wounded before and many of them faint sick and almost famished circumstances which did most highly aggravate the cruelty which was shewed them for when it was thus with them above all example of immanitie and barbarousness ever read or known before as I suppose especially by men that dust call themselves Christians yet by such had in cold blood their brains beaten out in several places as they passed by the English Souldiers because they went not forward and faster when by reason of their extreme lameness and feebleness they were scarce able to move at all and nothing done to those barbarous inhumane monsters for so doing though we may say of their cruelty then what was long since spoken by the Spirit of God of that horrid act of Simeon and Levi who fell upon the Shechemites when they were sore and expected not that violence and fury which they were made to feel Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruel Of which cruelty in those strange Butcheries the Relator hereof lived near enough the road where they passed to have been an eye witness of some of them if he could have endured to behold the sight of men causelesly murdered And they of the City of Durham as very many others inhabiting those most remote Northern parts of England are able to relate many like horrid cruel parallel stories before this time after the Scots defeat at Dunbar O what a Savage Cruel Bloody thing is man when he hath lost his Humanity for then they who have been inured to shed blood make it but a sport to kill as if the life of a man were not worth the valuing for custome makes that most hateful and unnatural sin so familiar to them as that the horror thereof is tvrn'd into pleasure thus they making havock of men as fearfully made as dearly redeemed as tenderly cherished and brought up as others yet occidendi causa occidunt they kill because they take pleasure in killing and are no more troubled at the death of a man then if a dog had faln before them But the lives of those poor men I named as the blood of very very many more within the circuit of this Nation to go no further cry loud for Vengeance and the avenger of blood will certainly in his due time return full answer to that loud cry For God who is Mercy it self abhors Cruelty above all other sins he cannot endure that one man should destroy an other as the Beasts of the field the Fowls of the air and the Fishes of the sea do And as every sin hath a tongue so that of blood out-cryes and drowns the rest it is alwayes clamorous and restless and will never leave crying out unto God until it be washed away with a flood of tears issuing from bleeding and broken hearts and dyed into another colour by the blood of Christ but if not so it will certainly in conclusion bring woe and misery enough unto them that shed it For there was never any drop of Inocent blood spilt upon the face of the Earth from the blood of Righteous Abel unto this present hour or that shall be shed so long as there be men and malice and mischief in the world but it swels big as the sea in the eyes of God and cannot be washed away by all the waters therein And further neither the heat of the Sun nor the dust of the ground shall ever be able to dry or drink it up till it be either Avenged or Pardoned Unless the Earth and Heavens and all that are therein can be bribed to keep silence and to take no notice thereof And the Lord the Lord God of Mercy deliver this Land from that and from all other Blood-guiltiness I have done with this most Melancholy Sad Bloody Story which hapned as I have said about the time when that Noble Person before mentioned was intreated by some who much desired to have satisfaction therein That he would please he having had such a particular Knowledg of the King by reason of his near attendance on Him to give them a true Character of his Majesty and to speak nothing but what they might confidently from his mouth believe and report as Truth The Gentleman was very free to it and assured them amongst whom was this Relater that he would not say any thing more or less as to it but what he should report for Truth if desired as his last words when he came to dye which now hear speak thus The Character I. THat His Majesty was a Prince unto whom the Lord had given a very large measure of Wisdom and Understanding far above his Years for to the great Admiration of those who there sate in Council with him and when they thought that they had spoken unto some good purpose His great Reason upon Emergent occasions would weigh down all theirs II. He said That while he had the Honor and Happiness to wait upon his Majesty at St. Johnstons in Scotland which was during the whole time of his abode there he kept both his Eyes and Ears open upon him and could never observe nor hear which was very remarkable that his Majesty was addicted unto any sin of Youth III. To testifie this his Majesty was very careful to have a most Regular and Exemplary Court keeping his whole Family therein very excellent and good Order And to this end if he had heard of any Person or Persons in it given to Swearing Drunkenness or to any other Exorbitancies upon a Serious Admonition if they did not Reform they were shewed the way out of his Doors not to be taken into his Family any more IV. He told us that he had heard the King oftentimes to say thus and he desired that this might be in a special manner remembred by us That if ever it should please God to Restore him unto and to settle him in his Just Rights that he would assoon endure a known Traitor about him as a Debauched man V. That his Majesty was very strict in the Observation of his Private Devotions twice every Day and would not suffer any occasions to divert him from those Duties and that he was as careful likewise to frequent the Publick Ordinances VI. That his Majesty retired himself in his Chamber or Closet where he Fasted every Tuesday in Memoral of his Royal Father that day of the Week forced out of his Life by the hands of Violence which day weekly he reserved himself as much as he could from all company and business whether Publick or Private VII That his Majesty was a Prince as Just to make his Word good as any one in the world could be for he would never fail to perform any thing he promised if possibly in his power and therefore was more shie in promising for fear that he might not be able to make good his Word VIII That his Majesty was a Prince
unfitly be resembled by that figure of the Man in our Almanacks who seems to be wounded in every part from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head yet I cannot look upon it as past all remedy or cure For there is still Balm in Gilead and Physitians there by which the health thereof may be recovered In order to which let us first know that to sin is not the way to prosper And therefore that we may not slatter our selves into ruine nor be infatuated to destruction let our consideration and fear prevent our perishing And if we do desire to understand the minde of God aright we must not take some passages of Scripture in a literal sense which the Spirit of God never intended by them but that which is quite contrary and there are many such to be observed in the sacred Story like that in the last of the Revelations He that is unjust let him be unjust still To this end Almighty God speaks often to sinners unto whom he intends Mercy that they should Return as if before they had been quite out of their way Repent and turn your selves from your transgressions so iniquity shall selves from your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine And therefore if we would have mercy and pardon for sin we must labour as much as we may to free our selves from guilt and shew as much forwardness to redress Evils as to acknowledge or grieve for them remembring amongst many more particulars which might be here inserted that unquestionable Trath Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum That there is no remissien without restitution if it can be made And here likewise we of these Nations shall do very well to call to remembrance our former Vows and Oaths as that of Allegiance and other lawfully imposed on us and taken by us as also since those were usually tendred The Solemn Protestation and after that the more Solemn League and Covenant which upon serious consideration was commended to the people here and by them received and sworn to with hands lifted up to Heaven and it would be remembred likewise what in them both was promised to his late so-so-so much suffering Majesty For Vows if lawfull and in our Power when made they must be kept Vow and pay unto the Lord your God Jephta was over-strict in this when he had made a rash Vow yet he concluded That he had opened his mouth to the Lord and therefore thought that he might not go back from it And for Oaths it is very observable in the case and story of the Gibeonites that though they had surreptitiously and by fraud gained a League with the Israelites God is very angry with Israel four hundred years after for the blood of some of them whom Saul slew though they were but servants yea drudges to the Israelites the Reason Because there was a Perjury attending upon their slaughter violating that ancient Oath wherein the Princes of the Congregation had bound themselves upon Joshua's League with those Gibeonites That they would suffer them to live And though this Oath was extorted by fraud from Israel yet because it was solemn and by no less Name then the Lord God of Israel God long after most severely punished the breach thereof with three years famine upon Israel All Vows Oaths Covenants if lawfull made on earth are registred in Heaven and God holds it a very high indignity that his Name should be Sworn by and the Oath violated And if the Vows and Oaths of others may bind us how much more must cur own Now these particulars require a very careful and serious Review which we hope will be taken especially now at last it hath pleased Almighty God and in a very short space of time so wonderfully and unexpectedly to alter and change the outward Face of things here amongst us in making us like the Israelites when newly return'd out of their Captivity to be like men that dream or as sleepers suddenly started and awakened out of their dreams that cannot presently consider where they are or how it is with them So it hath been with many of us by the encouragement we have had by some things already received in hand which of late we could scarce know how to hope for which makes us ready to question or make doubt whether it be so with us in reality which in deed is true Nescis quid vesper serus ferat We know not what a day may bring forth Yet if we observe the Courses of Gods Providence we may learn better how to know it One day cleared the innocency of Joseph from that most unjust Aspersion which lay so long upon him and brought him from a Prisoner in Egypt to become the Ruler over all the Land of Egypt and the same day changed his Fetters of Iron into a Chain of Gold his Rags into fine Linnen his Stocks into a Chariot his Jaile into a Pallace and Potiphars Captive into Potiphars Lord and Master Serving and Suffering leads unto Honor and God at last will be sure to pay his Children well for their Patience and Pressures I said but now That the great things which God hath done for us done for us already have made us like men that dream O how much did one day bring forth and another day may bring forth much more and blessed be God it is not a Dream we are in for God hath begun to open a door of Hope unto us which in good time may lead us on towards an happie jettlement and we have great cause to praise God and earnestly to pray for those worthy Patriots who have been so instrumental in it as for all others who by his Providence shall be again suddenly intrusted with the great Publick affairs and high concernments of these Nations that by his most gracious assistance as they have a Price put into their hands so they may improve it to the utmost advantage that the end of their meeting may be Happiness and the conclusion thereof Peace which we may expect if amongst many other things which of necessity must fall into their most serious Consideration they shall think too and that very seriously of what hath been immediately before spoken as of that which here follows after Secondly Suppose that if the Condition of things among us should yet continue as they now for the present are and these Nations for a time might appear to be setled in Peace and so that they might imagine themselves to be very secure yet could they never be established in Safety Because such a Peace would be like a grievous Sore skin'd over not cured and therefore continually ready to break out again For his Majestie or some other of his Royal Line and blessed be God there are many of them will be alwayes laying Claim to their Rights here and if they cannot by any fair means find out a way to them will then force themselves in the use of all other