as they their unlaced Jackets The Gospel doth take away from none propriety nor from Kings Prerogative Christ knew that Kings would be the best Guardians to his Church for from whom hath Christianity received more suffrage and Patronage favour and furtherance promotion and propagation then from Kings who were greater Foster-fathers to Religion then Constantine Theodosius Justinian Gratian Tiberius the second Theophilus and many others oh these were the great Pillars to support the building the Torch-bearers of faith the high Stewards in Christ Court and the high Chamberlains to the spouse of Christ Jesus The Church had never more Soveraignty then by these pious Princes wearing the Cross upon their Crowns When Kings had the command of the Churches mint there was coine truly stamped we had since little else but Alchynâ—y when these Fathers begat Children to God Almighty we had a lovely Progeny we have had since too many Harmaphrodites Aliud sceptrum aliud plectrum It is one thing to be a good Monarch another thing to be a good Minstrel vulgar spirits are not fit for publick Government Quid caeco cum speculo What should a blind man do with a glasse so what should an ignorant Plebeian do with the glasse of Magistracy Feli crocoton shall the Mouse-catcher weare the Robe of honour Alia Menecles alia Porcellus The Trades-man doth speak of one thing and the Prince of another What then is not every man fit to be a Prince and yet are there men apt to pull down Princes that Kings being stripped Canvas-coat might weare the Robe Alas è squila non nascitur rosa there must be an indoles for Government What then shall we have Prince blown away with a whirle-wind no Christ cannot spare them He which doth give lawes for Princes to be reverenced doth not make them Out-lawes Christ will not lose his chief and best servant out of his Family Christ doth find Princes so beneficial to him that his Kingdom and their Kingdom shall fall together And yet these Larves of profession Hob-goblins of Christianity Zanies of the Gospel Decoyes of faith and Cacodaemons of a Church what a clamour do they raise in the world to pull down all Princes But they which are Arch-Dissemble is in other things which say they are all spirit and yet we find them rank flesh which say they must not fight and yet they are ever with a sword in their hands which say they must turn the other cheek also and yet are ever anon fisting our cheeks which say that they desire nothing but liberty of conscience yet their practise hath been to inslave all them which are not of their own conscience which say that they would possesse the earth as the incek and yet have possessed the earth as the furious these men as they have been equivocal in all other things so much more in this of Government for they would have no Kings that Beggars might be Kings not to carry the name but to exercise the power of Kings to the height To get the Scepter into their hand how turbulent and truculent have they been Germany hath felt enough of them by the uproars which were raised by Thomas Muntzer John Buckhold David Georg Bernard Knipperdoling c. but the saddest Tragedy hath been reserved to be acted upon our Stage Who have refled houses and steyned the land with bloud more then the Anabaptists Levellers and fifth Monarchy-men In all the wars who were more forward and fierce then these whose voyces were louder whose swords were sharper who have shewn more rage against the Kingdome and more rancour against Kings Are not these the men which chased away our Dread Soveraign Charles the first of blessed memory from his Court which fought against him to the last stroke which when they had taken him prisoner carried him up down the Land in Triumph plucked him to prison when he was ready to be restored to his Throne which set up an High Court of Justice against him arraigned him cried out for Justice against him condemned him and the saddest word which ever was spoken in Christendom beheaded him Are not these the men which did vote that our Dread Soveraign Charles the second of blessed presence should never return to his Throne and when to astonishment he was voted in was there not their great Champion with his Myrmidons at his heels at Edge-hill what in him and his lay to keep him out when by Miracle he was brought into the Nation were not these the men which have been continually murmuring and mutining and breaking out into bloudy attempts threatning at one time that they would destroy the King and all the Royall race and assayling at another time to have blunderbussed both King and Kingdome Yet is it not to be feared that the wild beast of the Forrest shall be let loose to range again shall we hardly believe the Tiger to be cruel till he hath gorged himself with a general slaughter Are such to be won with kindnesse or reclaimed with clemency No I am afraid that they are Cockatrices that will never be charmed And yet some mortified man or other will be pleading for these self-denying brethren saying this will be the last of their practises and therefore pardon that which is past Pardon what till they dash out our brains with a pardon in their hands Is it pity to spare vermine Leopards Crocodiles Beware of Sauls pity in sparing Agag till the Kingdom be rent away for him or of Ahabs pity in sparing Benhadad till life go for life 1 Kings 20.42 Such prodigious male-contents are ominous and if they be not timely severely punished they threaten a bloudy fate to the whole Nation that the King shall be made a Sacrifice and the Kingdom a whole Burnt-offering What the last wind-up of such a connivence will be Plut. mox sciemus melius vate In a short time we may know better then if any Prophet foretold it Post rem devoratam ratio When all is devoured Seneca shall we then consult how to preserve our selves Is not the hazard at this time great yes men cannot eat with comfort nor trade with safety nor walk with confidence nor sleep with quiet so long as the Canaanite is in the Land The Kingdom cannot have peace till the head of Sheba be cast over the walls Let us not trust their soft speeches till they have made us speechlesse nor their pale faces till they have made us look with grisly faces I read of Mahometane Hermits which lived in woods as men dead to the world till they had gotten disciples enough about them and they set upon the King of Fez and Marocco Knolles in his Turkish History and deprived him both of Crown and life So this critical hypocritical generation will so long infatuate us with their tender consciences till they cut in pieces our tender heart-strings Robes and Rochets Stars and Collars of S. S. look to your selves if
Crecians and robbed the Temple of Apollo they slew many of them rased three of their prime Cities causing them to dwell afterwards in villages laid a taxe of threescore talents yearly for the repairing the Temple Oh then that that sin which hath been held a horrid crime amongst Heathens should be accounted a prime virtue amongst Christians is it not a shame that the light of Nature should shine brightlier then the light of the Gospel is it not a scandal that God should provoke such Professours to jealousy by a foolish Nation Shall Gentiles teach Christians Divinity how will these justify their selves at the last day when the Heathens shall rise up in judgement against them If ye are then to look upon a King as a King beware of Salomons winking eye When ye have not faithful eyes to look upon a King Chrys hom 55. in Iohan. ye will soon have treacherous feet yea amissis oculis frustra sunt pedes if your eyes have lost their reverence to a King your feet will soon have lost their obedience to him I trust our King hath none about him which are troubled in their eye-sight if he should then those which have bad eyes will soon have bad hearts I wish them all to have good optick nerves good Crystalline humours good visory spirits Pity it is that there should be any vermine at Court any spiders hanging upon the Kings rafters that there should be any bad tongues nigh to the Kings eares any bad eyes nigh to the Kings face no though there may be some distempered sights in the Kingdome yet it were shame and horrour if there should be a Polyphemus and a Cyclops howsoever a Tiresias and a Hypsea What they which eat the Kings bread and are sworne to preserve the Kings person not clear-sighted to see his honour then they deserve neither the eyes in their heads nor the necks on their shoulders The Furcifer is the fittest Oculist to cure such bloud-shotten eyes And as I would take all bad eyes out of the Court so my desire is to free the Kingdome from such bad-sighted people Rebellion is an high defect in the eye of Subjection therefore let all beware how they comply with the sand-blind stark-blind generation for If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch Therefore if there be a King then amongst you give him the reverence and right of his Name that is be ye Loyal to him Do ye all then make a Covenant with your eyes not to look upon a maid that beautifull Damosel of disloyalty if she with her fair speech can make you to yield and with her flattering lips intice you to step in to her ye go like an oxe to the slaughter and like a fool to the stocks of correction till a dart doth strike through your liver or ye be as a bird which hasteneth to the snare not knowing that it is for your life Beware therefore that ye do not commit fornication with that noted prostitute she will bring you to a morsel of bread and hunt for your precious life howsoever a wound and dishonour ye shall get and your reproach shall never be wiped away Keep therefore a chast heart to your own Bridegroom and seek not after strange flesh If ye do commit uncleannesse ye may thank your wandring eyes and your eyes full of adultery Monarchy is that Government which ye ought to be espoused to Look therefore where ye should look and see whom ye should see and that is a King See him to be a King and see him as a King for that duty is that which must compleat the delight of my Text Thine eyes shall see the King Fifthly this doth serve to reprove them which would quite take a King out of the world which would not have one King for any eye to look upon these are the right Basiliskes to sting to death the Basilic calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King shall be so farre from being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of a Commonwealth that he shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mischief and destruction of a Commonwealth Good Commonwealth-men they are in the mean while which take away the honour and Ornament of a Commonwealth For a King in a Commonwealth is like the heart in the body the root in the tree the Spring in the stream the Eagle in the skye the Sun in the firmament these pink-eyed people look upon a King not only with disdain but defiance Neque mel neque apes Tryphon They like not the hony of Government nor the Bee that should afford it them This wild colt that he might not be backed at all neigheth up and down in the world against the Rider and saith Aristoph Tolle calcar take away the very Spur. To such a King is an heart-gripe an eye-sore yea they can look upon their Fawnes and Satyres Anakims and Zanzummims Arbahs and Ashbibenobs with more delight then upon a King What need have we of a King what doth a King amongst us They have cried themselves so long to be the free-born people of England that they would not onely be free in respect of liberty but free in respect of Soveraignty Oh this same Monarchy say they is the great bondage of the world King-ship and Gospel-ship cannot stand together Virgil. Cur non Mopse why not brother of Christ How can Christ be a King here when he saith that his Kingdom is not of this world doubtlesse these persons make themselves Angels which expect Christ to Reign over them Why may not Kings here exercise authority when Christ suffered them He paid tribute to Caesar and wished all men to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Why do he himself often compare himself to a King and call himself the King of Kings if there should be no such thing as a King Was is not prophesied that Kings should be noursing Fathers to the Church yes and in the time of the Gospel it is said that Kings shall hate the Whore and eat her flesh and burn her with fire Rev. 17.16 and that not onely the people which are saved should walk in the light of the new Jerusalem but that the Kings of the earth should bring glory and honour to it Rev. 21.24 In what one place of the whole Scripture is it said that there shall be no Kings no I find it not in Holy writ but in holy fancy in the Acts of the Pragmatical I believe the religion of the businesse is rapine that such might share amongst them the Crown-Land every Mechanick might sit in a Chaire of State goodly Domination we should have under such Kings their free Monarchy would be as good as their free Ministery But let them leave fulminating against Kings for I do not find in the whole Bible one thunder-bolt cast at the calling If Scripture be their Rule I do not see there but that Kings may as well enjoy their Robes
if the King will not frame up such a Government as we desire we will teach him how to rule by the edge of our swords These are not Physicians but cut-throats God hath allowed no such Paracelsians in a Kingdom to cure a Kings distempers For if a King may not be provoked to wrath he may not be so far provoked as to fight for his life if he may not be spoken evil of or cursed his maladies are not to be remedied by cutting off his head This is rather to be Executioners then State-Doctours I never yet read that there could be a Lictor or a Spiculator or a Carnisex for a King Let the greatest Subjects then busy themselves in preparing Lawes for the Commonwealth and not in prescribing rules to a King in remedying the grievances of the Country and not in avenging grievances which may be suspected by a King in binding the people to obedience and not in bringing a King to account For they are but Subjects and they cannot adde to themselves one cubit above their stature If ye comply with such politicians ye do but please a company of seditious persons and incense the Nation in general for ye cannot do a greater injury to your Country nor offer a greater indignity and violence to true Patriots then to disturb the peace of the Land and to strike at a King For the Kings safety is the Kingdomes Triumph The Nation hath no greater joy then to see the King in his Beauty Thine eyes shall set the King in his Beauty Sixthly this serves to exhort all good Subjects not to disfigure the face of Majesty for if the Beauty of a King be the brightest thing that a Nations eyes can be fixed upon then what a dark Kingdom is there when a King does not shine out in Royal Splendour If every one would have his right that the Cotrager and Commoner would not lose his Country tenure nor the man of noble bloud and honourable family would not lose his peerage then why should not the King have his Jura regalia his Crown-rights I confesse the Propriety of the Subject and plead for it but I find likewise and am an Advocate that there may be Hammelech Melech The Right of a King 1 Sam. 8.11 it is a Right of great antiquity no fundamental Law can vy Seniority with it no multorum festorum Jovis glandes comedit it doth derive the pedigree 4. Nannaso there are antiquiores dipththerae to be brought for it indeed it is as ancient as the Institution now the word do naturally signify Right it is but Metaphorically translated Manner as Buxtorfius and Pagnine declare if it be a Right then it must continue as long as the original Hebrew hold The Text will not perish nor the Title It is the Kings Right but it is Gods Designation and Charter for the Crown I do not say the King should have all I know to the contrary but I say that the King should have his own none ought to say to the contrary especially when it is Jus divinum a Gods-right The Kings Right being setled upon Scripture it is firmer then if it were bottomed upon the best State-groundsel Some say that this is onely meant when God doth give a King in his wrath but I say then that they are in wrath for there is a great distance of time between Samuel and Hosee and between Saul and Jeroboam Kingdomes may have their particular Constitutions in accidental things which do belong to a King but not in the essence of a King especially not against the essence of a divine Institution Let all the just reverence that may be be given to humane Lawes but still let Scripture be sacred and inviolable or else what have we left that is stable infallible The handmaid must not rule the Lady or the star out-shine the Sun all the Sages of a Land must not be wiser then the Oracles of God Virg. 3. Aeneid Parcius istis Cedamus Phoebo moniti meliora sequamur A Prophet that hath understanding in the visions of God is not to be believed in this no If an Angel from Heaven should come and preach otherwise let him be accursed Galath 1.8 Well then what is the Beauty of a King what but his power Take a King without power and what is he but a Ghost without life a meer Phantasme and Apparition How can he do any thing that is Kingly either in setling Religion protecting the Church administring justice making leagues drawing his people to Humiliation for their sins in maintaining the liberties of his people at home or propulsing the violences and affronts of Adversaries abroad no he must sit by with tears in his eyes and deplore all exorbitancies and sad accidents but not be able to remedy them he hath a sympathy but he hath no Soveraignty he hath a will but he hath no power he hath a face but he hath no Beauty in it A Kings authority then is the true Majesty of a King till he can command like a King he doth but personate a King Oh then that the policy of many men is but to designe against the power that their chiefest drift is not in honouring and obeying a King but in restraining and regulating a King that when their purses are empty then they fill them by a Crown-quarrel that when their high parts are not considered then they will be observed to be Master-wits in seeking to master authority and to silence such a Mutiner a Challenger by many a good King must be preferred when many a loyal Champion of as good endowments and better worth must stand upon low ground and this popular Eare-wig creep to his desired height But away with these new dogmatizing principles of State-magick whereby Kings are conjured into politicians Circles or confined to their august limits This may be a Science but I am sure it is none of the liberal Sciences It is a pitiful thing when a King come to be tutoured under such Pedagogues he is then rather a Disciple a pupil then a King for he must do nothing but what is prescribed him nor order any thing but according to commensurations And this is rather Geometry then Monarchy or to make a Mathematical rather then a Majestical King Let the people have their birth-rights Liberties Priviledges but let not liberty eat up Royalty nor birth-right Crown-right nor priviledge Prerogative for then the judgement in Aegypt is fallen upon the Land that the lean kine have eaten up the fat and what then but a famine can be expected The people may be amiable but the King hath no Beauty or the soul of the Kings power is defunct and by a Pythagorean transmigration is past into the body of the people And how will Natives then disregard such a King and how will Forreigners insult over him he shall be able to act nothing neither at home nor abroad The thick smoak in the form of a cloud which was raised by one
dark-eyed or narrow-eyed in seeing our own felicity no that which we desired to see with so much vehemence let us now look upon it intensively oh let us embrace that Rachel with all manner of affection for which we endured so many years of hardship to obtain her Oh that our God went at a great price with us that we would weigh him out a National gratitude according to the value of his favours that our apprehension were as signal as his goodness We can never Arithmetically requite him let us give him some Geometrical proportion Let us conspire together to send him a bountifull present yea say here Lord take a freewill-offering for the benefit of our liberties lives consciences Thou hast given us a Kingdom-redemption accept of a Kingdom-retribution Oh that we knew how to retaliate to weigh out God a recompense according to the shekel of the Sanctuary that every one of us would strive who should have the most devout heart or the most thankfull hand Will we be sparing to such a munificent God can there ever be enough given for such Halcyon-dayes What have ye gained by them shall God rise up a looser no let the extension of our commemoration and remuneration answer the latitude of Gods benevolence and benediction It becometh well the just to be thankfull then what degree of thankfulnesse do we owe to God Almighty ye that are strict in your engagements and desire to satisfy every man to a Deneere remember your obligation to Heaven and pay God his debt his preservation-debt The felicity of the Nation is manifest the piety of the Nation is tried We are the happyest people upon earth let us be the holyest people upon earth wheresoever God hath his spiritual race let the English-man be the Saint Let every one of the Reformed Church be a transformed Protestant It is a shame that here should be a Libertine or that any Sectary or Papist should excell us in purity Gods mercies require more innocency at our hands the brightnesse of his favours oblige us to brightnesse of sanctity yea that the Kingdom all over should shine in the radiancy of grace Oh therefore let us enamel our blessings and as we have reigning mercies amongst us so let us set a Crown upon the head of them Let here be the new creatures the children of light the lively stones the seed of the blessed the trees of righteousnesse the people that are partakers of the divine nature that have a lot amongst them which are sanctified that are bought from men men that this world is not worthy of yea let the whole Land be turned into a Kingdom of Priests We ought to do this for our very sights sake our Objects do require us to be such Ornaments and our mercies such Mirrours What should be seen in us when so much is seen by us We see that which we did not see we see that which we were once afraid we should never have seen Though we be now in fruition and our eyes do see yet let us remember how remote this happinesse was at what a distance the Object was placed from us we had it but in expectation or our greatest propinquity to it was in a promise the sight reserved to the future Thine eyes shall see 2 Part. The King I have done with the opening of the Cabinet I now come to take out the Gemme Seeing there is a sight I would fain see what it is Is it the best of the Nation then I wipe mine eyes to look upon him Hath he been hid in a cloud then it will be pleasure to see him when God does present him Hath he not for many years been seen and is now the seeing time come then I can no longer with-hold mine eyes from him no I passionately desire to see the King Thine eyes shall see the King The King From hence observe that A King is the perfection of all earthly Objects Of all desireable and delectable Sights that this world can afford a King is the splendour of them Thine eyes shall see the King He is publici decoris lampas the lamp of publick brightnesse Cassiod Seneca in Hecuba Matthias Agrittius Lud. Vives ad Henr. 8. Homer Greg. in Pastorali Agap diae de off reg Philo Iud. de Charit Aug. de 12. abus grad 6. Procop. in Genes 2. Naz. Tertull. Chrysost Coelitum egregius labor the Master-piece of the divine Artisan Excubitor communis salutis The Watch-man or Sentinel of the common safety magnum regni columen the great pillar of the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heavenly dew to water a Nation Caput quod ab alto providet The head which from above doth provide for multitudes Oculus innatus corpori the eye set in the head to look for the general good Peritus Gubernator the skilfull Marriner which doth preserve the whole bark from perishing Paxillus reipublicae the stay or supporter upon which hang the weight of a whole Commonwealth Ignis qui urit lucem praebet The fire which doth burn up all the wicked and doth give light to all the Godly Yea the Ancients knowing the high benefit of such a supreme Governour know not how to bestow Elogies and Encomiasticks enough upon him And doth not Scripture concur with these and set out a King with as great lustre yes I have said ye are Gods Ps 82.6 As if a King were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Medal wherein Gods own Image is represented Alter Deus in terris another God upon earth For me think I see in a King a semblance of Gods infinite being his quickening spirit his out-stretched arm and his glorious Majesty He is not the Divinity but a Synopsis of the Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God exemplified or effigiated Why are Kings so promised to Abraham Kings shall come out of thy loines and so prophesied of by Jacob Judah shall have a Scepter and so passionately desired by the people Give us a King and so confirmed by God Almighty by an Institution an Oath and by the holy oyle yea why is God himself called the great King the King of glory and the King of Kings if there were any thing upon earth more eminent then a King As it is the greatest curse upon earth to want a King For many dayes shall passe in Israel without a King Hos 3.4 and because we feared not the Lord therefore we have no King Hos 10.3 So it is the greatest blessing to have a King for the shout of a King is amongst them Num. 23.21 and the Lord hath given you a King 1 Sam. 12.13 and Why dost thou cry out Is there not a King in thee Micah 4.9 as if a King were there all were well When I read of so much reverence awfull subjection enjoyned to Kings that we must submit to them for the Lords sake and not resist them for fear of damnation that we must not provoke them to wrath not stand in
burning of beanes might more terrify Charles the fifth Iovius l. 37. hist Plut. in Alexandro and Francis the first at Villafrank they thinking that a Navy of the Turks had been coming and the very dead statue of Alexander at the Temple of Apollo at Delphos might make Cassander sooner tremble then the presence of a King will beget awe or reverence in such a Nation But some will say that Kings ought to have Counsellers and he must be guided by them Ought and must are high words It is convenient I confesse that Kings should have Counsellers for in the multitude of Counsellers there is health Salomon the wise was not without them but then these Counsellours must not be Compellers the King must be the Head of the Counsel a King must not be subjected to their excentrical humours if any such things should happen or to their self-willed and self-ended aymes for these should then be rather projectours then Counsellours or Dictatours then Directours all the Beauty should then be in the Counsellours cheeks and not in the Kings-face Let there be as many Counsellours then as ye will but still let the King have the liberty of election to accept or reject what in his Princely wisdome he thinks fitting for constraining advise belongs rather to headstrong surly Subjects then to true Counsellours A King no doubt may as well refuse ill counsel as ill meat ill weather ill lodging Bad company is dangerous and so likewise is bad counsel Is a King bound to walk in the dark to take receipts of all Empiricks to sail with all winds to go out of the way if his guides mislead him no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian in Asin Plut. in Themistoc It were better to run back in the middle of the way then to run wrong That Counsel may be followed there must be sancta penetralia justitiae the holy inwards of justice How is a King at liberty if his judgement be not free his captived person were something like to his captived reason Non per regulas juris communis tenetur sequi eorum consilium Pet. Greg. de rep l. 24. c. 8. quos adhibet consilio The King is not tyed by the rules of common justice to follow their Counsel whom he doth admit to Counsel no ordinary Client is limited to this How is it the Kings honour to search out a thing Prov. 25.2 if the Kings heart must ly in other mens brests why do David say Give thy judgements to the King Ps 72.1 if all the judgements of a Land lay in Counsellours lips or the King hath no commands of himself but by deputation No good King will refuse Counsel no wise King will yoak himself to Counsel The King might then make himself a slave the Church a vassal and the Kingdom a Bondman Then the Land hath lost her Liberty and he himself may lose his Crown For though noble Counsellours disdain to give any Counsel but according to honour and conscience yet there are a company of pragmatical Sages that will be Balaams Jonadabs old Achitophels or young Rehoboams Counsellours If the King then be necessitated to the wits or wills of all Counsellours where is his Scepter and Broad Seale Let there be then Majesty in Kings moderation in Counsellours Soveraignty in Kings sobriety in Counsellours dominion in Kings devoir in Counsellours For if the King be to sit in the Throne and he is the Law-giver of the Nation and people be to seek the Kings face and to listen to the Divine sentence that is to come out of his lips if he be to sit as chief and to dwell like a King in an Army if he be to send forth the Decrees and Nations be to bow down before him if young men ought to hide themselves from him and old men ought to arise and stand up if the voices of Princes ought to be stayed in his presence and after his words they ought not to reply if all the Land ought to wait for him as for the raine and to open their mouthes for him as for the latter raine then surely the best Councel the great Councel of a Kingdom is not circumscriptive to a King No good Counsellours know better fealty bad Counsellours ought to leave off this exiliency Let Magna Charta then be preserved and the petition of Right have all the right that is in it but let the Maxima Charta and the prescription of Kings Right be thought on with them and above them for it is the Elder Brother and of the Bloud Royal and ought to weare the Crown before all others If then the honour of God or the fear of his Lawes the Image of God in a Kings fore-head or the Scepter of God in his Hand a Kings Royal Ornaments or a Kings Royal Office the advancement of Religion or the protection of the innocent the obedience of Subjects at home or the dread of Forraigners abroad the duty that ye require from your children or the reverence that ye expect from Inferiours the peace of the Kingdom or the prosperity of the Kingdom carry any authority with you let the last word be spoken that may tend to the disparagement of the Kings dignity and the last arrow be shot that may be levelled to the diminution of his power let us fill his Coffers with Gold and his heart with confidence let us end all enmity in unanimity change all fiercenesse into fidelity let us fight no more against Kings but fold our armes in subjection let us all fall at the Kings feet and vow never again to strike at his head let us join no more battels but join hands weep that we have been such enemies and smile that we are become such friends let us rejoyce that we have gotten at home the Father of our Country be glad that we are coming home to our Mother Church let it comfort us that the King hath brought Bishops along with him to restore us to our first Faith and Judges to settle us in our old inheritances oh let it delight us that we are come to our wits and begin to remember that we are Country-men and that the malignity of the Church-fever is spent and that we begin to look upon one another as Fellow-Professours Let us say we will go together to the Kings Court and go together to the Kings Chappel that we will join together in allegiance and join together in worship adore the same God and knit our hearts to the same King All this is for the Kings honour and if we will have a King let us grudge him no honour Let it be our ambition to strive that we may be the most devoted people to a King to be the Nation of Loyalty the Island that will set up a magnificent King that no Subjects upon earth shall pay such Homage to a Soveraign as the English Protestant Oh let us adorn the Protestant and grandize the King For to make the King great it
is to make our selves happy and honourable for there is no greater delight and dignity to a Country then to have a King exalted the blessing and Beauty of a Kingdom is to see a King in his Beauty for Thine eyes shall see the King in his Beauty Well in conclusion let me bring home the joy of the Text to our own hearts and present the sight in the Text to our own eyes The prophesy was first fulfilled upon Jerusalem and we have had it in as memorable and miraculous a way seconded and doubled upon us We have been Spectatours of Wonders Fathers to their children may relate them whatsoever dolorous things for a while afflicted our eyes yet these sad Objects are removed and we have beheld those things which are pleasant to the eyes Our eyes have seen the King in his Beauty Had not our King as fierce enemies as Hezekiah yes Senacherib ranged over this Country and made all the Land to tremble that hammer of the earth dashed all in pieces for he and his Rabshakehs and Rabsarisses and Tartans made a Land that was like the Garden of Eden like a desolate wildernesse neither high-wayes nor high Rulers fields nor Forrests Cities nor Castles were secure but our wards and our woods our heritages and our honours our labours and our lawes our reputations and our religion our beasts and our beds our tillage and our Tables our Tabernacles and our Temples our backs and our necks were subject to the fury of our Adversaries for what were we but an harrassed Land a plundered Nation a sequestred people Our enemies ruled over us with rigour and made our lives bitter unto us Cities were turned into heaps and the houses of Ivory perished the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away and nothing amongst us but wastes and groanes chaines and gibbets all the mirth of the Land was gone and the very Songs of the Temple were turned into howlings we even stood amazed under our disasters and even despaired ever to see better dayes Many a cord was let down to pluck us out of misery but Hic funis nihil attraxit This rope drew nothing many means used to preserve us in the storm but Deus praevertit anchorae jactum God prevented the casting forth of the Anchour so that absumpta salus nec spes jam restat Iüli All safety seemed to be taken from us and there was no hope appearing to repair our broken fortunes our hearts even failed us and we were ready to ly down in our confusion for when any gave us comfortable words to expect yet happier we accounted them velut aegri somnia vana As sick mens dreams and gave no other but a kind of diffident answer Alas who shall live when God doth these things Num. 24.23 Yet how hath God cleared the Land of Senacherib saved us by a mighty deliverance Senacherib is vanished and Hezekiah desired Hezekiah admired Hezekiah Hezekiah the King of high preservations Hezekiah the King of conspicuous qualifications doth appear we may carve the whole Text graven in capital Letters golden Characters and celestial impresses upon our hearts for We have seen and we have seen a King and We have seen a King in his Beauty Oh Heaven hath presented to us this sight this is the Object of Miracles We may draw nigh and see this great sight Exod. 3.2 Hath this been done before or in the dayes of your Fathers Joel 1.2 no there hath not been the like neither shall there to many generations we may count it as one of the chief of the wayes of God for a King that could not enter the Land nor safely set his foot upon any corner of the Nation now with Hezekiah he may see the Land afar off and walk upon the length and bredth of the Land Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things Is 66.8 doubtlesse that in Num. 23.23 may be applyed to us According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and Israel what hath God wrought what an incredible an ineffable and an invaluable thing Blessed be the Omnipotent God and blessed be his potent Champion which hath made the Land happy in the sight of a King in the sight of such a King I say of such a King who cometh to us with a right Title one Usurper more would have quite broke the heart-strings of the Nation with the right Religion a Papist or a Phanatick would have after so many factions fractions shivered the Church into nothing but sherds with the right Princely endowments who hath in him a treasury of moralities may be a pattern to all the Princes of his time for true virtue An Hereditary King an Orthodoxe King a Compleat King what can the eye of the Nation look upon with more satisfaction no Our eyes do see a King in his Beauty we do see him so in his personal Beauty and God forbid but we should give him all the National Beauty that may be Confesse his right and give him his right welcome him home with melody and bestow Majesty upon him make him as great as he doth desire to make us mighty we were never happy before he came we are unhappy if we know not how happy we are since his coming he hath redeemed us out of errour out of bondage out of despair O Redeeming King Let us not serve him now as the Israelites served Moses who were ever groaning till they had a Deliverer and ever murmuring after they had a Deliverer No let our joy in him be answerable to the comforts he hath brought along with him and our peerlesse esteem of him be answerable to his prizelesse worth Consider his devout Heart and his divine Lips what zeal he doth bear to the truth and what hatred he doth carry to an Oath how he hath preserved his Religion amongst the Jesuits and is come to his Subjects to tell them what a Protestant he is consider his chast eye and his sober Palate his soft bowels and his just hand how he is fragrant with almsdeeds and doth shine in wisdome how he was patient under afflictions and is humble in prosperity how he hath forgiven his enemies and is daily preferring his Friends how the whole Land doth not exceed him in Candour nor the whole earth in valour consider what he hath done for your consciences what for your liberties what for your Lawes what for learning what for a flourishing trade and what for a setled peace consider if he be not the prime man that could have comforted you if he be not the onely man which could have made you happy and will ye open your eyes and not open your lips give him your acclamations and not give him your affections shall English-men have the best King and be the worst Subjects be the ferventest Desirers of a King and the ficklest Reverencers of a King what still squint-eyed rank-breathed half-hearted still Censurers Malecontents Mutiners Send for Senacherib