both both Natural fear and Filial fear But when they stand in competition and my obeying the King will dishonour God and my fearing the King will displease God where sin is the subject of a Tyrants command and Gods Law must thereby be transgressed Act. Then I am at the Apostles resolution Whether it be fit to obey God or man judge ye I am then at King Davids blessed man I fear God and therefore I fear not any evil tydings This will appear more evident if we look into the diverse acceptions of Auditus malus Evil tydings and what is the true construction of evill tydings 1. It signifies sometimes Calumnies Contumelies Checks Taunts and Reproaches wherewith they that fear the Lord are slaundered Thus gluttony blasphemy and sedition were objected to Christ And now his Servants and the late present Kings liege people are called I should have said miscalled Malignants Delinquents Papists evil Counsellours enemies of the Church troublers of the State Haec autem perferre difficile and this is a very heavy burthen to bear Generosis enim animis cruciatus corporis Plutarch quám jacturam famae facilius est perferre A noble mind had rather have his Body to be bruised then his credit blasted yet he that is truly noble et sola virtus vera Nobilitas the Noble Christian that feareth God is so far from being afraid at these evil tydings that he neither forsakes the Truth nor declines his Loyalty He is not afeard of the evil tydings 2. Sometimes evil tydings signifie Famam sinistram quam improbi culpâ suâ contrahunt that evil report which base people deservedly bring upon themselves Thus Shemei is called a Rayler thus Doeg is called an Accuser thus Absolon is called a Traytor thus Achitophel is called a Conspirator thus Corah Dathan and Abiram and all such as rise against the Lords Annointed their lawful King are called Rebells But they that fear God and such as are Loyal Subjects fear not such aspersions If they are cast upon them by evil Tongues they readily answer as St. Augustine did Petilian upon a like scandal I know no such thing by my self and I think I know my self better then he knows me but believe you which you please and judge as you please whether he that writes and fights against the King or he that writes and fights for the King be a Rebel a Delinquent a Malignant I am not afeard of these evil tydings 3. Sometimes evil tydings signifie dangers and Calamities Jobs messengers One tells us Our Cattel are plundered A second tells us Our houses are fired A third tells us Our Children are murthered A fourth tells us Our Soldiers are mutined Our Garrisons are betrayed Our Armies are disbanded and Free-quarier is denied Why yet Non succumbit justus non deficit He that fears God faints not fails not looses not his courage yea though he knows Death to be the Guerdon of his not yielding to a Conquerors pleasure he looks upon his Saviour and fears not him that kills the Body he looks upon King David and fears not â—ay evil tydings These times offer as fit a case as this Text requires King David pronounces the man blessed that feareth the Lord My fear of God is best evidenced unto me by my Obedience to my Parents for that is Gods Commandement my great Parent is the King He is Pater patriae and the higher power so St. Paul calls him The Supream power so St. Peter calls him Therefore I to be subject to him and not to resist him is St. Pauls inference Therefore I to honour him and to fear him is St. Peters inference But of late there were a pack of men met together against Charles I. the long liv'd Parliament so there are now against Charles II. the too long being Protector with his too long fitting Council of State who did and do call themselves a Power above the King who did command us who do command us to take their part against Charles I. then against Charles II. now who did and do threaten us with Sequestration of our Estates That 's Beggary with Registring our names in the black Book That 's Infamy with bringing us to the Barr of Justice of their Justice or more truly To the Barr of their Court of their high Injustice That 's Death We know If we did forsake Charles I. If we do forsake Charles II. and take part with them against the King we sin we resist If we resist we incur damnation The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. Marshall did qualify and linify it by the construction of Judgement and that signifies the destruction of Soul and Body here and for ever Now here is the tryall If we did stand to the late and do to the present King and do our Duties If we were and are resolved as Ittai was 2 Sam. Wheresoever my Lord the King is whether in Life or Death there will thy servant also be Then we fear God and therefore fear no evil tydings But if we did go back to them that opposed and deposed and murthered the Father or if we do go back to them who resist and keep out and calumniate and hunt after the bloud of the Son let it be upon what consideration it may I shall leave my Wife and Children beggars else I shall be a Slave and Prisoner all the dayes of my life else I shall be han'gd else And these pettire thoughts fright me out of my Duty I have then ruined my blessednesse I am not blessed I have lost my Evidence I am witnesse against my self I am afeard of evil tydings basely and slavishly afeard and therefore I fear not God Well fare that Heathen who was resolved for all Fortunes and will rise in Judgement against many very many cowardly Christians in England Non fulminantis magna Jovis manus Terrebit justum And again Etiamsi fractus illibatur Orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Let the world totter turn round and fall I will not be afraid I will fear God But a Heathen is not fit to be our Schoolmaster look we upon the Primitive Christians and amongst them well fare old Hilarion who being in the hands and power of his Persecutors and by them demanded Antimeret If he were not afeard of those evil tydings they brought him For they came to strip and plunder him To which he returned an Answer as full of gallantry as mirth Nudus latrones non timet An empty Ship fears not a Pyrate A naked man fears not a Theif They then thâ—eaten him with Terribilium terribilissimâ— the Hyperbole of evil tydings sed occidemus te we will put thee to most exquisite torments and in the end will kill thee Non times mortem Art thou not afeard of death and he returns as great a Hyperbole of gallantry Non timeo mortem quia paratus sum mori No I fear not death because I fear God and am therefore prepared to
moveretur ab avo tuo Maximiniano I was then a Confessor when your Grandfather Maximinian persecuted the Church and if you now raise a Persecution I am ready to endure any thing rather then to betray the Truth I know that whosoever with an envious eye maligneth your Imperial Majesty ctntemneth the Ordinance of God yet I may and do beseech you Take heed of the Arian Heresie No neither these nor any thing else if Justin Martyr Appol ad Anton. pag. 113. Tert. ad Scap. Cypr. contr Demetr Tertullian and Cyprian may have credit given them can justifie Rebellion For they all jumpt in this That the Majesty of Kings and Emperours is ordained of God and therefore their Government not to be reviled much less by force and violence may they be resisted deposed or murthered And now Beloved chuse you whom you will believe these Grandees and Fathers of the Church these Martyrs and Saints of God or those Punies the Jesuit of Rome with the Presbyterian and Independent of England Or if you will have the word of God carry it from all parties why then in a word take it thus 1. Saul was a Tyrant in Davids judgment if those two Psalms were penned in respect of Saul as most Commentators are of opinion In the one it is sayd Ps 54.3 Tyrants that have not God before heir eys seek after my Soul In the other Under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge Ps 57.1 until this Tyranny be overpast 2. Saul was an Usurper and that upon the Priests Office and in the highest part of his Office too in the judgment of Samuel 1 Sam. 13.19 For he offered burnt-offerings upon the Altar 3. Saul was a Persecutor and shedder of blood 1 Sam. 22.18 For he slew the High-Priest and 84 inferior Priests upon one day 4. Saul was a Demoniack 1 Sam. 28.8 and possessed with a Devil 5. Saul was a Necromancer and consulted with Witches and yet for all that says David to Abisai 1 Sam. 26.9 Nè perdas Destroy him not and to the Amalekite in my Text who thought he had done God some service and David a great curtesie in belying himselfe to be a Regicide and a spiller of Sauls blood Quommodo non timuisti How wast thou not afraid to put forth thy hand to destroy the Annointed of the Lord But this is Old Testament and not worthy credit with an Army of Saints Take it therefore from the New too from true Saints Nero was a Tyrant a Persecutor a Murtherer as bad as you can imagine him and yet for all that says St. Paul once Let Prayers be made for him and again Let every soul be subject to him 1 Tim. 2.1 Rom. 13.1 For he was the Power St. Paul then spake of Domitian was a Tyrant a persecutor a Murtherer a Blasphemer and almost as bad as Nero and yet says St. Peter Be ye subject unto him 1 Pet. 2.15 For he was the Supreme St. Peter there intended And if for a Nero St. Paul had his prayers and subjection If for a Domitian St. Peter had his Obedience If for a Saul David had his Nè perdas while he lived and his Quomodo non temuisti when he was dead O God! what would that Prophet and these Apostles and all the Primitive Fathers have said if they had lived now Now wherein a King and such a King as was Annointed and Annointed by God with Oyle with his Oyle with his holy Oyle as well in his Person as in his Function and â—â—at above his Fellows too for what Age can parrallel him for his Vertues for his Graces was first resisted then imprisoned then deposed then condemned then murthered And yet who knows for what For with what Vices hath the world branded his repute Did ever his high Diet his strength of Body his Sovereign power warpe him to any luxurious vanity Had he ever any Attorney to his Royal lust No he remains a President and so will till Domes-day of unblemisht chastity and therein out-vied those two great Favourites of God David and Solomon Had he ever any Cateror or Bottleman to pomper up his wanton Palate with choice Wine and curious Viands No he remains a Pattern and so will till Doomes-day of Temperance and sobriety and therein equalled Samuel Had he ever any Zany to magnifie his Mercy or to sell his Justice to reward a Service or to pardon an offence No he remains the example and so will till Doomes-day of Inexorable Justice and of Admirable Mercy and therein he exceeded Ely But something there was and for ought I can yet find This it was King Charles was like to Jesus Christ so like to him that I can find but this difference betwixt them Jesus was Christus Dominus the Lord Christ and Charles was Christus Domini the Lords Christ both in his Graces and in his Crosses 1. For his Graces look upon him in his Patience therein he exceed Job For he never cursed the day of his Birth or desired the day of his Death Notwithstanding the Winnow he under went by Sathan and his Instruments notwithstanding all the Indignities and Affronts were offered him by his vassalls In all which he comes only short of Christ and yet as Christ the King was led like a Lamb to the slaughter and opened not his mouth but only in the behalf of his Disciples saying If ye seek me let these go their way Joh. 18.8 so King Charles offended not in his Lipps by any impatient expression and when the Blood-thirsters urged him to deliver up his Friends into their hands No says he here am I pray let my friends live in peace and safety 2. Look upon him in his Content and therein he vies with St. Paul Philip. In omne conditione In every condition and only comes short of Christ Mat. 8.20 and yet as Christ said The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Aire have nests but I have not where to lay mine head so said King Charles to his loyal followers Gentlemen go you and take your rest for you have houses and homes to go to and Beds of your own to lodge in but I am deprived of these comforts I must intend my present affairs and return this night from whence I came And this he said at Wrexam in Denbighshire when he had travelled thither from Shrewsbury And to assure you this was no complement look upon the Text as you have it in the 14. chapter of King St. Charles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the first verse O God make me content to be overcome when thou wilt have it so 3. Look upon his wisdom and therein he comes near Solomon yet as it is said of one greater then Solomon The Wisdom of God dwelt in him bodily so when the Treaters were last with King Charles it was confest by some Lords and many Divines That such illustrious wisdom as King Charles was
â—eÌ„ non digné operis ex eâ substractâ Gratiâ magis time quia te reliquit custodia tua si redirit gratia multò amplius time ne forté contingat pacis excidium If Grace be present Fear lest thou answer not the expectation of that Grace If Grace be absent Fear more because thou art left unto thy self If Grace return again Fear much more least thy Security ruine thy Peace And if Fear be so necessary a Vertue by the Verdict of so many Fathers and grave Authors what means King David here to give the blessed man this Character He feareth not Do but you distinguish of the Subject Fear and look upon the Object what the blessed man fears and you will presently confesse There is neither Adaxie nor Paradox neither Absurdity nor Ambiguity in this Character He feareth not Some have made six sorts of Fear 1. Natural which respects Beeing and this is in all Living creatures 2. Humane which respects Life and this is in all men 3. Mundane which respects Riches Liberty Beauty Honour and the like and this is in all covetous and cowardly wretches 4. Servile which respects pain and punishment and this is in Slaves Reprobates Rebels and Devils 5. Initiall which respects sin and this is in all good Christians and Loyal Subjects who chuse rather to suffer in Gods cause then to participate with the sins of a more successfull party 6. Filiall which respects God and this is in all Noble Martyrs and Glorious Saints who therefore fear to sin because they will not offend God You may contract these six into these two Filial Servile because under Servile may be comprised Humane and Worldly and under Filial Initial and Natural fear Filial fear looks upon God as a Father and honours him and is resolved to honour him though there were neither Heaven to reward him nor Hell to torment him Servile fear looks upon God as a Judge and shuns him and if now and then in a Fit he yields God any obedience it is Formidine paenae onely for fear of punishment Filial fear is an Ornament and Vertue of the Soul Servile fear is a Passion and Distresse of the Soul Filial fear is in the Regenerate both in the Church Militant and Triumphant but in several considerations Here by two Actions Evitando malum et faciendo bonum by eschewing evil and doing good There only by doing good Perficitur in Patriâ non abolebitur reverentia Timoris says St. Augustine Reverential fear shall not be diminished in Heaven but encreased It shall not be abolished but perfected Servile fear is not in them not in them at all so far as they are Regenerated As men they may fear their Lifes as covetous they may fear their Estates as Carnal they may fear their Liberties But he that fears either or the losse of either Liberty Estate or Life can never be good Souldier or Loyal Subject can never be good Christian or Gods servant He may fear God as God is just and so Fear is a Passion Distress of the Soule He doth not fear God as God is good for so Fear is a Grace and Ornament of the Soul As Fear is a Passion of the Soul you may understand that speech of St. John Many of the Rulers believed in Christ but for fear of the Jewes they did not confesse him least they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God I may add They feared the Injustice and punishment of men more then the Justice and Judgment of God and therefore says Christ Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell Mat. 10.28 The words in the Original are worth the marking Fear not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that kill the Body it is not them that can kill the body they do it by a permissive power They cannot do it by any Inherent power of their own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Soul they neither may nor can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather fear him who hath power to destroy Soul and Body in Hell I wish the late Renegado's had seriously considered these Texts Those men I mean who served the late King and tarried with him so long as the Sun shined and the weather was calm but so soon as ever the Rain began to fall and the Winds to blow they presently ran away to compound and save something a little wealth and some few dayes but they did forget that God could Luke 12. and it may be will cast both Soul and body into Hell And then as Christ says Fools whose shall these things your Riches and your Daies be Yes He both can will without a great deal of Repentance For their Sin was far more desperate then the first Rebells They ran into the Sin out of Rashnesse and Inconsiderately But these men put God into one Scale and the World into another and therefore to them especially belongs that fearfull doom The fearful shall be cast out Apoc. 21. i. e. Such men as fear the losse of their Estates more then the losse of Gods favour and the losse of their momentary Lifes more then the losse of their Eternal Lifes They forsook their King and God will forsake them And God have mercy upon us all and forgive us our following the Apostles in their worst Act and forsaking our Soveraign upon the Scaffold as they did their Saviour upon the Crosse and give us grace to redeem that fault by living for the time to come Loyal Christians and dying stout Romans to continue obedientially and not fear man who can kill but our Bodies and dye couragiously in the fear of God that we may not fear any evill tydings It is my second consideration Pars. 2. Quid non timet timens Dominum what he fears not that fears God Ab auditione malà non timet Ab auditu malo non timebit He is not afraid He shall not be afraid of any evil tydings At first sight again this Object encreaseth my wonder Fear not any evill tydings Why the Kings wrath is evil tydings for it is the messenger of death And shall I not fear him Solomon says Fear God and the King St. Peter it at the same Prov. 1 Pet. 2. Fear God and Honour the King St. Paul is at it for conscience sake Be subject to the higher powers not only for wrath but for conscience Rom. 13.5 And is the Son of David against either Fear not them that kill the Body Or is the Father of Christ against either Fear not any evil tydings not the wrath of Kings No at no hand This is no Absolute no General Prohibition but only a Relative and Comparative God is to be feared and the King is to be feared where their commands are not in opposition Fear belongs to them