be accursed and saies Origen propter hoc Ecclesia ab Apostolis Traditionem accepit etiam parvulis dare Baptissimum Rom. 6. Because we are all conceiv'd and born in sin the Church hath received a Tradtion from the Apostles to Baptise Children and saies St. Austin Consuetudo matris Ecclesia c. The Custome of our Mother the Chu ch in Baptizing Infants is not to be slighted because it is an Apostolicall Tradition De Gen. ad li. c. 23. That 's a ninth Invention 10. If we believe and have Faith It is no matter for good VVorks or how we live a meer Invention this For saies St. James faith without work is dead and saies St. Paul Jac. 2. neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by Love That 's a tenth Invention He is gone to Hell For he dyed of the Plague A meer Intention This For many of Gods dear Servants do dye of the Plague 2 Sam. 24. David was desirous to dye of it when he prayed Let thy hand I pray thee be against me and my Fathers house but sure he would not have been so desirous to dy of the Plague if he must have gone to Hell for it That is a 11th Invention Subjects may take up Arms against their King For the King is Universis minor though he â—e singulis major Lesse then the Collective Body though greater then any particular Person If he be a Tyrant If he be Sacrilegious If he be an Idolater He may be Resisted He may be Deposed A meer Invention's this For Saul was greater then all the People because he was their King and Saul was a Tyrant a sacrilegious person an Idolatar a Consulter with Witches and yet David durst not resist him durst not depose him and only for this cause Because he was the Lords Annointed and therefore the Lords Annointed because the King And this hath been the Judgement of all Divines until of late and therefore This is another twelfth Invention Bishops and Presbyters are of equal Authority They are all one For Bishops are called Presbyters in the word of God A meer Invention This and a false Conclusion For Presbyters are never called Bishops either in the Book of God or in any other book unlesse in the Books of Hereticks or Schismaticks And that is a Thirteenth Invention A King may be Deposed by an High Court of Justice and unjustly sentenced to death as a Tyrant Traytor and Murtherer and Publick enemy by severing his Head from his Body A meer Invention This though pronounced by John Bradshaw Lord President so called Oliver Crumwel L. General Henry Ireton Commis General Col. Hardresse Waller Col. Harrison Col. Whaley Col. Pride Col. Ewer Lord Gray of Grooby Sir John D'Anvers with many more who are not worth the remembring unlesse Dr. Dorislaus and Justice Aske Councellours for the Common-wealth Cook Sollicitor General Broughton and Phelps Clarks to the Court Danby Mace-Bearer Humphrey Sword-Bearer and King Cryer And this was an Invention beyond all the Jewes Inventions And a great many more Inventions yet have we found out but I have tyred you and my self already with these and by these though there were no more I am sure we have provoked God to wrath for the Plague is broken in upon us It is my fourth and last consideration in resolving that Question What is the fruit and effect of these Inventions Pars. 4. of these Provocations The Plague brake in upon them Irruit It brake in Magno impetu invasit It came with a mighty violence and could not be resisted Tanquam aqua exundas like a suddain Flood of water Maltiplicata est in eis ruina A multiplyed destruction came upon them Factis est in eis gravis ultio God took an heavy and grievious revenge upon them twenty four thousand of the common people and Princes were slain and this tells you what Plague it was is here meant It was not the Plague of Pustules or the Plague of the Pestilence or as the common people call it the Plague of Gods Tokens or as we of late have had the Plague of the Guts which was never heard of in any Kings Reign but only in the first Reign of a President and in the second Reign of a Protector but it was the Plague of a Civil commotion raised by the Madness of the people for a former madness of their provocation and the small number of the slain then but 24000 shews and proves their provocations to be lesse then ours because the Plague of an Uncivil civil war amongst us hath slain many score of Thousands some Hundreds of thousands and proves our provocations to be greater then theirs However I wish not the rest of the Rebels may either Hoyle or Phane themselves I wish them not confusion here or Damnation hereafter The worse that I wish is That God would be pleased to take them as the Rods of his Justice into the Hands of Mercy and bring in King Charles II. with power to recover his own Dominions and to sit upon the Throne of his Father King Charles Is the Royal Martyr of blessed memory who upon this day January 30. Anno Dom. 1648 was murthered by barbarous hands for seeking to preserve the Churches Rights and the Peoples Liberties and Reign over us and our childrens children in peace and prosperity thorough Jesus Christ Amen GOD Save King CHARLES II. Anno Dom. 1658. ACTS 13.28 And though they found no cause of death in him yet desired Pilate to kill him THere are not many steps betwixt Princes Prisons Graves Mat. 2. Christ was the King of the Jews so confest by the Magi and the People would have proclaimed him so But Pilate the Lord President and Cajaphas the High Preist having Him delivered into their hands by the Treason of Judas for a far less price then 200000 l. even 30. pieces of Silver and though they found no cause of death in him unless it were Negatively because he had not Ahab-like took away Naboths Vineyard or plundered any of his Subjects Illegally nor Jesabel-like took away Naboths life or put to death any of his Subjects Extrajudicially or Affirmatively had healed their sick cured their lame and their blind ear'd their deaf raised their dead delivered them all from the Kings Evil and made them happy to their Enemies Envy and their Friends Admiration yet they desired Pilate to kill him That 's my Text and in it I observe two parts and they are these 1. A VVonder they found no cause of death in him for a VVonder it is that a King who hath so many Prerogatives and Advantages to Blaspheme to Rob to Rabe to Murther to Idolatry and more causes I find not to kill any man should have no cause of death found in him 2. A Murther and a monstrous Murther Yet they desired Pilate to kill him for a monstrous Murther it is that Subjects who have so many tyes of Obedience upon them
the Greeks used towards the Trojans gave it by this very word saying Fit via vi rumpunt aditus Aeneid primosque trucidant By this time I believe your Intellectuals are weary of so sad a Theam and rueful Discourse I shall now speak a word to your Affections If it prove sad there too you may not think much of it since it was upon the Prince of Life which is my second Consideration In Quis Who was killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince Pars. 2. the Author of Life 1. The Author of Life who gave life to us 2. The Prince of Life who preserves life in us Corporis anime et utrinsque tám conjunctim quám seperatim The Prince and Author of all our Animal Life For by him were all things made and without him was not any thing made that was made John 1.1 Acts 17. says St. John For in him we live we move and have our being says St. Paul The Author and Prince of our spiritual life I live now says St. Paul Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ liveth in me and that I now live in the flesh I live by Faith in the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me and so he speaks of us as well as of himself Eph. 2.1 saying You who were dead in sins hath he quickened together in Christ by whose grace ye are saved The Prince and Author of our eternal life and that three ways 1. By Preordination Eph. 1.5.2.6 He hath decreed it to us from all eternity He hath predestinated us to be adopted thorow Jesus Christ to sit together in heavenly places 2. By Purchase He hath bought it for us and us to it by the price of his blood 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price says St. Paul and so bought and with such a price as neither Man nor Angel did administer any help in the Satisfaction Torcular calcavi solus says the Prophet Isaiah in the Person of Christ Isa 63.2 I have trodden the Wine-presse of my Fathers wrath alone and of all the people there was not one with me and so bought and with such a price that neither man nor Devil can hinder us from the fruition of it Nec sublimitas nec profunditas says St. Paul Neither height nor depth nor life nor death nor sword nor peril nor any other thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 8.39 For 3. He is the Author and Prince of our Eternal life by Donation were it put upon our Desert Merit we might not only doubt of it but utterly despair of it For all our works whether of Obedience or Patience come infinitely short of it and therefore said one Father Etiamsi millies servirem Though I could should serve God unreproveably a thousand years yet should I not thereby deserve to be one half hour in Heaven and therefore said another Father Etiamsi millies paterer Though I could and should patiently suffer all the pains of Hell for ten thousand years yet should I not thereby deserve to be one minute in Heaven But being that Heaven and eternal Life is Gods gift we may rest assured that no thing Man nor Devil is able to take it out of his hands and therefore we shall have it But oh for Tantus so great an Essence so good an Essence as the Prince of Life of our corporal Life of our spiritual Life of our Eternal Life should be made Tantillus so little a thing as never was lesse Agnus a Lamb Jer. 11.19 Psal as the Prophet Jeremy calls him pittifully slaughtered Vermis a Worm as King David calls him spitefully trod upon me thinks is able to melt Stones into Tears and Hearts of Rock into Hearts of Flesh To see a Lamb lye pittifully bleeding it is a pittiful spectacle To see a Worm scornfully trod upon is a sorrowful sight But Lambs were made to be slaughtered and Worms to be trampled on Be it so But yet for a Man to be made a Worm and no man for a Lion to be made a Lamb and no Lion and that without any demerit of his own To see an Innocent and a Noble person suffer to see a great and a gracious King to be trucidated to see God the Prince and Author of our Life to be killed certainly it is a heavy a very heavy spectacle and enough to make our Bowels yearn The Sun was asham'd of it and therefore withdrew his light the Temple was afeard of it and therefore rent it self in twain the Farth trembled at it and therefore fell into an Ague And shall not we be moved at it to them it appertained not For he came not to Redeem Sun Temple or Earth but to Us it doth For he was killed for us Justus pro injustis He for us The Righteous for the Unrighteous and he by Us Justus ab Injustis The Righteous was killed by the Unrighteous which is my third consideration Qui Pars. 3. Who killed him Vos Ye If you charge his death upon Judas the Traytor who sold him for thirty pence or upon Caiphas the High-Priest who accused him of Envy or upon Pilate the Lord president who condemned him of cowardise and against his conscience you take your aime amiss We wretched sinners that we are were the principal They but the Accessary Instrumental Killers of Christ The Executioner doth not Kill the Man He doth but execute the Sentence The Judge doth not Kill the Man He doth but pronounce the Sentence No Solum peccatum est homicida only sin is the Murtherer so then the true Construction of this Text is this You have killed the Prince of Life i.e. Our sins or we by our sins have killed the Prince of Life And upon the thought of this Can we do lesse then weep Can we see the Sun asham'd and cover his Face and our selves not blush Can we see the Temple rent in two and we not rend our Hearts Can we see the Earth quake and our selves not tremble Can we see Christ pati suffer for us and we not compati suffer with him and if need be for him too Can we see his soul heavy to the death and hear him complain of it too Marke 14. My soul is exceeding heavy even to the death and our souls be light with and delight in sin Can we see Christ Trucidatus killed at and transfixus peirced through the Heart and we not be compunctus prick't at the Heart Can we see the Jewes spet upon his Face that did when he pleased out-shine the Sun and we not wash our Face With Tears Can we see them buffet him on his Face and we not smite our Breasts and cry out God be merciful unto us miserable sinners Can we see his Head Crown'd with Thornes Crown'd to deride him Crown'd with Thornes to torment him and we not cover our Heads with
our Preserver from Sin and Danger from the Sin of Rebellion which was this Day acted to purpose and from the Danger of Rebels which for this Dayes Rebellion will ere long be executed on them to the purpose as our Judge according to the Clearness of our Hearts and Cleanness of our Hands we are then Blessed Spe in Regno Gratiae by Hope in the Kingdom of Grace because we have the Forgiveness of our sins and are thereby assured that therefore we shall be Blessed Re in Regno Gloriae by way of Possession in the Kingdom of Glory because then we hall have Everlasting Life And this is the upshot of all Blessedness And this Blessedness will not be had until we be Dead nor can it be had unless we Dye in the Lord. It is my next Consideration 2 a. 1 ae my Secunda Primae proposed thus Who are Blessed And disposed thus The Dead They are the Subject of this Object The Dead are Bessed and their Qualification is If they Dye in the Lord. By Dead here is not meant St. Pauls Dead which he speaks of to Timothy 1 Tim. 5.16 The wanton Widow who is Dead whiles she lives she is not Blessed because Dead but therefore Cursed because she is Dead whiles she lives For howsoever she drawes in the Life of Nature yet she never breaths out the Breath of Grace And this I prove by those three parts which are the best Indications of a Dead or Living Body The Pultse the Heart the Mouth If a mans Pultse beat If his Heart pants If his Mouth speaks or breaths we are sure he lives but if all these are silent and stir not we conclude He is Dead 1. Now for the Pultse of a wanton Widow the Pultse of her Soul her Conscience If it beat at all yet it beats unevenly and out of tune either too high by Desperation and Presumption or else too low by Security and Supiness And by this we know she is sick For the most part It beats not at all It gives no warning before It starts not at the temptation to sin It gives no Remembrance after It checks not at the Commission of sin and by this we conclude she is Dead And so her Heart too If that pants at all It is after sensual Pleasures and things forbidden like the Harlots in the Proverbs Come and let us take our fill of love Prov. Broken Cisterus that can hold no water It is not after the Fountain of living waters like Davids Come and let us go into the house of the Lord. Psal 3. And so her Mouth too That speaks not the Language of Canaan and such as becometh Saints but the Language of Ashdod and such as becometh Devils By which it appears she is Dead but not Blessed Nor by Dead here is meant those Dead which Christ speaks of Let the Dead bury the Dead i.e. The Deal in sin bury them that are Dead for sin As elsewhere He speaks to the Jews Yee shall dye in your sins And they that are so Dead Dead in their sins while they live or so Dye Dye in their sins when they leave this life They that give sin leave to reign in them while they are here and over them when they depart hence They that obey the commanding power of it now and sink under the Condemning Guilt of it then They are not Blessed though Dead but Cursed Cursed in their finishing of sin because that sin brings forth Death as St. James speaks i.e. Eternal Death Jam. 1. But by Dead here is meant not Universally All but Indefinitely Many Those that Dye in the Lord It is my next Consideration my Tertia Primae And here I shall shew you first What it is to dye in the Lord by way of Doctrine and Explication And secondly How we may dye in the Lord by way of Use and Application And first 3 a. 1 ae What it is to dye in the Lord Why To dye in the Lord or To dye in Christ or To dye in Faith for all these are Synonima is either To suffer Death for Christ like a Martyr or To end our life in firm Faith in Christ as a Confessor The Romanists contend earnestly for the Former and will have the Text to be understood of Martyrs onely and so they take In for Propter To dye In the Lord is To dye For the Lord. Now be it That the Martyrs are here Specially meant yet sure I am That they arc not here onely meant For I do not read Luk. 16. That Abraham was a Martyr yet I read That he was Blessed in Heaven with Glory nor do I read That the Thief upon the Cross died for Christ Luk. 23. yet I read That he was Blessed in Paradice with Christ He whosoever he be that doubts of the Martyrs Blessedness His that dyes for Christ is scarce worthy himself to have any part in Christ It is a thing so little doubted That Saint Augustine sayes Injuria est He does the Martyr wrong that prayes for him For by praying for him he doubts of his Salvation and Christ himself sayes He that looseth his life for my sake shall find it And certainly Mat. If he wrongs the Martyr that prayes for him then he that grieves for him wrongs him much more For he either doubts of his welfare or repines at his happiness To see Clouds in the Clergies face for the departing of our late most reverend Father in God William Laud Arch-bishop of Canterbury To see Furrowes in the faces of the remaining Greenvills Smiths or Boules To see water in the eyes of the surviving Cavendishes Lyndseies or Gardiners To hear Plaints from the Tongues of the being Bourcheris and Yeomans Tompkins and Challoners for the not being of their Fathers Sons Brothers Kindreds and Friends is equally to doubt of their being Martyrs and therefore Blessed as of our Enemies being Rebels and therefore Murtherers which for mine own part I no more doubt of either then of success in the End or mine own Salvation It hath been questioned I know by the Church-men of Rome Whether Souldiers may be Martyrs and their Reason is Quia bonum Reip. licet maximum inter bona humana non potest esse Causa Martyris sed solummodo Divinum Yet I know withal It is resolved by them again Quod bonum humanum officitur Divinum si referatur ad Deum est Causa Martyris Aq. 2.2 q. 124. Ar. 5. ad 3. a Subjects fighting and dying for their King or King fighting and dying for his Subjects did Fight and Dye for God they did it of late For of late Gods and the Churches and the Kings Cause consentred in one The King endeavoured to maintain that Religion and that publicly Service of God which Gods own right hand planted and his blessed Martyrs watered watered with their Blood and therefore blessed because they have so done Etiam dicit Spiritus so sayeth the Spirit blessed are