to dale not suffering him to rest and not leaving him a safe hold wherein to lay his head for so Ch the King complaines that they had cast him into a condition worse then that of Birds or four footed Beasts when he saith Matth. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the aire have nests but the Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head 3. And was it not a spightfull usage of a King to be led into the common judgment Hall by a Band of rude Soldiers who not long before had been attended by the Best crying as he went Hosanna blessed be or God save the King 4. And was it not a spightfull usage of a King when he was in this common Hall to countenance set on and to hire the scumme of the People or rascallity of the Soldiers to call out for Justice and Execution when they cried Crucifie crucifie him Luke 23.31 5. Was it not a spightfull usage of a King when as he the King speaks to them in mild and civill language as to Judas Mat. 26.50 Friend or Sir but they to him as Mat. 26.61 this Fellow the Prisoner 6. Was it not a spightfull usage of a King to carry him out to Golgotha there to suffer in an open place which was more fit for the baiting of Beasts than the decolling of a King 7. Lastly was it not a spightfull usage of a King not to afford him a Sepulcher or place of Buriall but he must be beholding even for this to another man and yet thus spightfully was Ch the King used My heart bleeds to thinke of their mockings and spightfull usage of their most blessed King and will leave them to be inlarged by our owne Meditations and for a brief close of this scene shall onely say that as a King may so this King was killed by these Jewes before he was slain or put to death and K. David shewes how when be saith Psal 55.21 Psal 59.7 their tongues are swords Psal 140.3 they are poyson of Serpents Killers all these so that calumny slander if it be not the first degree it is a step I am sure to kill a King and here with these weapons they first set upon Ch the King calling him Samaritan John 4. Perverter of the Lawes Deceiver c. And spit on A man may be said figuratively to be spit on when by Declarations Remonstrances Pamphlets or scurrilous terms he is reproachfully and uncivilly entertained and so Ch the King was shamefully most unjustly spit upon when they proclaimed him a Deceiver of a trust John 19.29 a Traytour by perverting the People and drawing them to destruction and in this sense they might truly be said to spit upon Ch the King But not onely this they did which was too much and more dangerous then what was after done by the Soldiers who did vomit out their excrementitious froth upon him of whom I may repeat a passionate expostulation or holy indignation once used by a Preacher on this occasion What rheumatick Raskals said he were these Soldiers for had they or could they find no place to disgorge the scumme of their ulcerous lungs but on the Anointed of the Lord All that I can say for these is they were not onely Soldiers but barbarous Heathens that did this and yet if report be true there hath not wanted even among such as professe themselves Christians such a Soldier who hath done the like to his King and if any such were let him repent in time lest God in justice spew him out of his mouth as it is said Apoc. 3.16 or that he spit not poure out to the dregs the full vialls of his wrath and indignation upon him and all such as have mocked spightfully entreated and spit on Ch the King In the 20 of S. John v. 5. we read that when Pilat a Stranger an Heathen and an Idolater had seen and presented the King thus spightfully entreated he said to the bloud-thirsty-miscreant Jewes Behold the Man as if he had said See how disgracefully and wickedly you have used him already and therefore if you have any sparke of manhood left in you for humanity sake proceed no further but behold him as an object of all pity a deserted afflicted scorned spitefully-used man but the sight of this man which would have melted the eyes of a savage Tiger into water hardens them as rocks and prompts them on to the increase of his misery and their owne vilany for seeing him even then and so miserable then they say as Mat. 21. Come let us without delay not granting time or reprieve let us kill him for so it followes in the story in the Text for they shall kill him But before we enter upon this bloudy act it will be proper and pertinent to the whole to set downe the severall grounds and causes moving these Traytours thereunto which we shall clearly collect and expresse as we find them storied in the Gospels And these were either pretended such as themselves fained and held forth as causes or such as were really and truly the motives and causes of this their killing Ch the King Now the causes pretended we find to be First that which is generally used in raising the People into a Rebellion the Innovation Alteration or Destruction of Religion and with this the Jewes closely charged him Mat. 5.17 where Christ himself by way of Answer saith Thinke or say not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill and in that Chap. he instanceth and proves that they by their owne Expositions and Traditions were the Innovators and himself the keeper of the Law of Moses and of the Prophets And after this when they thought him too strict in the point of reverence in the Temple in that he drove out the Prophaners thereof Mat. 21.12 which they conceived was lawfull for them to doe No saith he for God himselfe saith of this materiall Temple or Church My house shall be called an house of prayer but You you have made it a den of Thieves or a Stable and place for theft and prophanation 2. They charge him often and with loud out-cries that in the matter of Sabbath-keeping he is too loose and a Prophaner thereof to which he Answers that themselves are in this Jewishly superititious and not he the Prophaner for saith he Marke 2.27 The Sabbath is made for man that is for the preservation of man by necessary actions and recreations conducing to his life and health on that day 3. They closely charge him with abridging them the liberty of Divorces upon any cause which they said was granted them by Moses Mat. 5. Mat. 19. No saith he it is not I but you that alter the Law in this for Mat. 5.32 Whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to cōmit Adultery but to this whole charge he gives one general answer
people the creator and maker of the King as it appears he is by the Text hath power to destroy his owne creature if he faile in the end of his creation Answ Saint Peter writing here to the Jewes who held their Royall Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be divine and immediate from God and to stand in force without the election or ordination of man might call the Heathen dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane ordinance or creature for so creature sometimes notes what is heathenish or not heavenly and if so then the Argument of the Apostle holds the more strong for Ch and all Christian Kings being the Apostle commands the subjection not resistance the obedience not murdering of such humane creatures as Heathenish Kings 2. In some part and in some degrees the jurisdiction of the best Kings for extent may be humane of man but that concludes not that the power of managing the Sword is simply humane and not divine for as Saint Paul and Saint Peter spake by and from the Spirit infallible truth so Saint Paul expresly professeth Rom. 13. that this power of the Sword is in the King the Supreme as Saint Peter here stiles him and that to be not from man humane but from God divine 3. Were the Kingly Office an humane creature yet the person or manhood of the King is not such his person or manhood is Gods creature so that from this Text taken in their owne sense the most that can be inforced were that they might in some cases dethrone whom they had exalted but kill him the person the man they cannot they may not for this God made and not they Object But nature and reason teach us to defend our selves and to kill what would destroy us rather then to be killed Resp 2 Cor. 20. the wisdome and reason of worldly men is foolishnesse with God and the naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2.14 Secondly although nature and reason in the generall dictates so much unto us yet nature and reason have laid some restraints upon this Maxime in respect of Persons for suppose the head of a man intoxicated or distracted should endeavour the hanging or drowning the body might the body to preserve it selfe destroy this head and the King in respect of his Subjects hath the like relation and therefore is so called both in Gods and our Lawes the Head of the People Thirdly but can there be a better Expounder of the Law of nature or reason then God himselfe in this case which if you grant then I pray go through the whole Booke of God both in the Old and New Testament and tell me if God hath not every where injoyned subjection and forbad even resistance against the worst Kings 2. Whether throughout the Bible those that were led by Gods Spirit did not follow this rule strictly as David to Saul c 3. Tell me whether you find the least print of any precept or counsell given to any Subject to put their King to death 4. Whether ever any Subjects mentioned in all Gods Book ever pleaded any Text or good example in warranty or excuse of such an act 5. Whether for the most part all Offenders in this kind have not throughout Gods Booke and Law received condigne punishment from heaven or earth or both and if all this holds true and good I cannot but wonder that men that Scriptures should forsake Scriptures and betake themselves to reason and nature when as still it cannot be denied that the Scripture of God is the best Expositor of nature and reason Object But vox Populi vox Dei what all the People say may be interpreted to be as the voice of God 2. Heare Pilat as well as divers Texts in the Gospels thy Nation John 18.35 which may be expounded the people of the Jewes in generall they have delivered thee unto me Resp Had this been really and absolutely true that all the Jewes had delivered Christ to death yet it could not have justified the act any more then the number of Sinners can make a sin just and lawfull 2. Though in this case of Ch it be said the People or Nation yet no more could rightly strictly be thereby understood than that those who were then present or who conspired delivered him to be slaine and this was not all the people of the Jewes it is therfore too unjustly too figuratively charged upon all when it is done but by a few of them all Object But you 'l say it was done by the Councell the Representative of all Resp This Councell by money corruption and usurpation had a great deale inlarged their power 2. But had their power or priviledge been greater it could neither make good evill nor evill good 3. But to the point if you consider what Ch the King had done for the people and how the people loved him you will easily collect from severall passages in the Gospels that the voice of the people was not for killing him And if you will yet presse that the voice of the People of God was for it and that is as the voice of God I must answer that if all be such as call themselves so then the Conspirators Numb 16. and then these Jewes that acted against the Lords Anointed were the people of God for these so stiled themselves the holy yea Numb 16.3 the word Holy may be rendered Saints And these are they who shall put him to death They shall put him to death which Translation by the leave of the learned and judicious I would gladly change and for this they shall I would read they will in stead of put to death I would render it they will kill and murder him for although for the most part future tenses are rendred indifferently by shall or will yet here to take away all shadow or plea from the malice of the act by laying it on the determinate counsell of God as Acts 4.28 I would read not they shall but they will 2. Not put to death but kill or slay for a lawfull Judge may put to death a Malefactor without staine or guilt of sinne but if the Party executed were innocent and the Judge not vested with just authority the man is truly and rightly said to be murdered And indeed I know not upon what cause or slip the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is Englished by put to death and in other Texts as Mat. 21.39 by slay John 5.16 John 8.44 by Murder And all other Scriptures that speake of Christs death in relation to the Actors render it by kill slay or murder But if any aske the Question why not imprison or secure his Person as to Jo Baptist or banish him as to John the Apostle I must answer 1. that generally when Tyrants Usurpers of rule begin they scarce ever end but as here in killing for usurpation and unjust possession
ejected and cast him forth by their Law their sin had been the lesse but first to kill him and that upon his owne ground his own Vineyard and then after that to cast him out and declare against him and his title for ever thereby to take and hold the inheritance to themselves is but to lay the foundation of their Babel in the bloud of Gods Anointed their lawfull rightfull King and so to strengthen one sin by another worse which Gods justice will not suffer long to prosper lest the wicked should thinke God altogether such an one as themselves Psal 50.21 and therefore the Prophet in the same Psalme subjoynes but I will reprove thee and in the forementioned Gospel after that they had killed and cast him forth it presently followes in the next words v. 9. God the Lord of the Vineyard will come and destroy the unjust bloudy Actors and will give the Vineyard to others And should not this move a Iew to tremble and repent it had this operation by the mercy of God on many of them as it appeares Acts 2.37 for they hearing Saint Peter to open their sin they were pricked in their hearts and said what shall we doe that is to be saved to which the Apostle applies a double counsell the first v. 38. repent and the second v. 40. save your selves from and no longer be seduced and deluded by this untoward Generation which Christ Mat. 23.33 calls a Generation of Vipers which will eat out the bowels of those who give them their life And the execution ended let me put you in mind how the people were affected therwith which is exprest Luk. 23.48 where it is said and all the people beholding the things that were done smote their breasts and now oh ye people having in this sad discourse or short history beheld what hath been done to the Anointed of the Lord Ch the King the least that ye can doe and to this I must exhort you is to smite your brests and yet as Ch himselfe taught Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves so beat not your brests for me but beat them and repent you of your sinnes committed against Heaven and me which were the cause of my death and will be your destruction if in time you repent not And weep not beat not your brests for me for it is come to passe as in the words following the Text it was prophesied He shall rise againe 2. He shall ascend and for an earthly ignominious Crowne he shall receive an Heavenly glorions one 3. And throughout the world where the Gospel is preached and further this shall be spread which hath been done by the Jewes to Ch the King And thus the Tragicall Acts being ended on the Sufferers side the Actors there are now to be made Sufferers in another Tragedy for the Tragedy ends not in the bloud of Him in the Text Ch the King but calls for bloud more bloud the bloud of these Jews for if the bloud of Abel which living and animated could not speake yet being wickedly shed receives a voice to be heard as high as Heaven then much more this bloud of Ch the King the Text speaks it Mat. 21.41 God will miserably destroy them and will let out his Vineyard to others In this Tragedy there are but two Acts 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is set down Mat. 21.40 but in them a destruction threatned he will destroy 1. Personally them 2. Nationally their Vineyard or Church 3. Both totally not by letting the Vineyard or People out for a time but by alienating or giving utterly away them and it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to others that is Aliens or Strangers Neither was this long in acting for Judas the Arch-Traytor either before or soone after the death of his Master whom he had betrayed hanged himself and so payed himselfe his owne wages and that without all pity or regard of those Jewes for whose sake he betrayed his Lord for they said what is that to us Mat. 7.4 or what care we Go and be hang'd 2. Pilat the Judge not long after the execution of Christ whom he sentenced was put out of his place was exiled his Country and killed himselfe 3. Caiphas and Herod died through misery or violence 4. Many of the Jewes who were alive at that time of Christs suffering lived to see the great City Jerusalem destroyed 1100000. at least of their Country men slaughtered and all the rest of them either to be captivated by their Enemies or to be scattered over the face of the earth and to this day to live as Vagabonds odious to all and pitied of none And lastly so it came to passe that as severall Factions conspired together to kill Ch the King so it pleased God to blind these Jewes at the time of the Roman Siege that the one part of them were zealous for the Temple the Church another part who cared not much for the Church yet were willing to have a good peace on reasonable termes but the third part who were all for robbing spoiling killing and therefore regarding neither Church nor State put all in such a confusion and combustion that the Romans became Conquerours more by the Jewes divisions than by their owne Armes And lastly whereas these Jewes pretended three speciall causes why they would put Ch the King to death 1. Lest by his life the Romans should invade and change their Lawes 2. Lest their Nation should perish 3. Lest the People should believe and follow him All these pretended feares as leading causes to his death are by Gods righteous judgment soone after brought upon them for the conquering Romans did invade and change their Lawes 2. Did destroy City and Country 3. And the People farre and neare both of Jewes and Gentils have believed on and followed this Christ the crucified King And thus oft-times God crosseth mans policy turning the edge and point of his owne weapons upon himselfe we have found it so done to the Brethren of Joseph to Pharoh to Achitophel to Jeroboam and thousands more and here saith the Jew It is expedient that our King die lest the Nation perish and God saith the Nation shall perish because ye have wickedly murdered your King And thus we see God to be an upright Judge in the execution of his owne antient Law-given Gen. 9.6 Who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed 2. A strict Defender of his inherent prerogative as it is written vengeance is mine 3. A faithfull Performer of his covenanted promise I will revenge saith the Lord Rom. 12.19 we read Acts 5.11 that upon the judgement executed on Ananias and Saphira the Text saith and great feare came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things and I pray God the like feare may touch our hearts and worke in them a timely and hearty repentance that God in his mercy may avert all judgments which deservedly are threatned to fall upon us and this Land and this let us humbly beseech God to grant for the passion and mediation of his onely Son and our alone Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus FINIS