a strange Woman a Babylonish Breed and Sons of Belial What Lamentation is too much for the loss of such a Father of his Countrey Who would not say with Jeremiah Oh that my Head were Waters Jer. 9.1 and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears Or if a People professing God's Holy Truths should lose such a Nursing-mother should we not behold the sorrowful Children weeping for Rachel and refusing Comfort because she is not 2. Another Title the Holy Spirit gives to the Higher Powers is that of Captains in this style the Prophet Isaiah delivers a Message from God to good Hezekiah Turn again and tell Hezekiah the Captain of my People thus saith the Lord 2 King 20.5 c. And is it not the Interest as well as Duty of the General to preserve the Host under his Command With relation to this Conduct it was that when the Lord appointed Samuel to anoint Saul King he describes the Kingly Office by that of a General To morrow about this time I will send thee a Man out of the Land of Benjamin 2 Sam. 9.16 and thou shalt anoint him to be Captain over my People Israel that he may save my People out of the Hand of the Philistines The General of God's Host could not be sase but by preserving the Armies of Israel The good Captain by strict Discipline retains his Souldiers in their Duty and makes them pay an exact Obedience to his Orders His Vigilance secures them in their Marches his Judgment and Experience directs them in their Encampments his Providence and Foresight prevents Want and Surprize and his Justice deters them from Treachery or Mutiny on the other side the good General never fails to preser those whom he has sound to be Meritorious and does at least make it equally his Care to Reward the good Soldier as to punish him who deserves ill There is a Steddiness as well as a Presence of Mind which does always accompany him and gives that Assurance to his Army which is the Pledge of Victory And is not this the Character of an Excellent Prince One who is both the Head and Heart of his People 3. There was a time when the Supream Magistrates in Israel were call'd Judges as appears by their History compiled in a Book bearing that Name The true Business of those who preside in Courts of Judicature will appear from the Charge Moses gave to the Judges of Israel Deut 1.16 Hear the causes betwixt your Brethren and judge righteously between every Man and his Brother and the stranger that is with him Ye shall not respect Persons in Judgment but ye shall hear the Small as well as the Great you shall not be afraid of the Face of Man for the Judgment is God's 'T was the good of the People which was given in Charge to the Judges who were set as Guardian Angels for desence of Israel against the Sons of Violence They are therefore forbid to cast an Eye upon their own particular Interest but an impartial Administration of Justice without Prejudice or Passion hope or fear is recommended to 'em thereby to put an end to all Controversies to allay all Heats Feuds and Passions and to take from every Man all pretence of a Right to revenge himself for as Revenge casts Judgment out of Doors so Judgment makes Revenge needless it puts a stop to the first Springs of all Desires shewing how vain a thing it will be for an Ahab to covet Naboth's Vineyard 'T is the right Administration of Justice which is the Bond of Humane Society it secures to every Individual his Life and his Property and thereby Industry is encouraged and the Wealth and Strength of a Nation advanc'd Such a due course of Justice was maintain'd during the Reign of good Josiah and as that rendred his People happy so it made his Memory precious and his Loss so greatly lamented whereas the contrary practice of his Son Jehoiakim brought Ruin upon his own House Misery upon his Kingdom and Infamy upon his Name insomuch that God himself forbad any Lamentation to be made for his Death or decent Burial to be bestow'd on his Body The Burthen of this unhappy Prince is denounc'd by Jeremiah thus Jer. 22.13 c. Wo to him that buildeth his House by Vnrighteousness and his Chambers by Wrong It seems this Prince was pleas'd with an appearance of Magnificence and Glory though at the rate of oppressing and spoiling his Subjects and to this the Prophet alludes in the following Verses in which he proceeds with the Wo to him that saith I will build me a wide House and large Chambers and cutteth him out Windows and it is ceiled with Cedar and painted with Vermilion Shalt thou Reign because thou 〈◊〉 thy self in Cedar Did not thy Father Eat and Drink and do Judgment and Justice and then it was well with him Was not this to know me saith the Lord But thy Eyes and thy Heart are not but for thy Covetousness and to shed Innocent Blood And for Oppression and for Violence to do it Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the Son of Josiah King of Judah they shall not lament for him saying Ah my Brother or Ah Sister They shall not lament for him saying Ah Lord or Ah his Glory He shall be buried with the Burial of an Ass and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem This wo makes a full description of the unhappy state of a Kingdom when the Fountain of Justice is corrupted when Courts of Judicature become Snares to the People when Mens Causes are not Tried but their Persons when no Man shall have Right done him unless he himself is content to be an Instrument in oppressing his Countrey or in wronging his Neighbour When the Laws are interpreted to serve turns When those Laws which were intended for a steddy and equal Rule to all are extended or streighten'd as the occasion requires as an Innocent Man is to suffer or a profligate Offender to escape When Murthers are committed in Forms of Justice When a Judge of this kind when such a Prince falls the People are forbid to lament though one might think such a prohibition needless and the Prophet tells 'em expresly he is to be Buried with the Burial of an Ass Infamy is to follow and to stick upon his Memory 4. Sometimes the Soveraign Prince in Sacred Style is call'd a Shepherd Isa 44.28 God saith of Cyrus he is my Shepherd and in Ezekiel the words Shepherd and Prince signifie the same thing I will set up one Shepherd over them and he shall feed them Ezek. 34.23,24 even my Servant David He shall be their Shepherd and I the Lord will be their God and my Servant David a Prince among them And as it is the Business and Interest of the Shepherd so it is the Business and Interest of the Prince to cherish preserve and increase the Flock The watchful Eye the tender Heart and the gentle Hand
the Sin of Judah begets in him a just Indignation So that whilst he bewails the Wound he justifies the Hand that strikes and laments the Sins of the People with deeper Groans than their Punishment Wo unto us that we have sinned These Words together with the occasion upon which they were spoke suggest to us these two Considerations I. The Loss of a Good King gives just Cause of Lamentation to a People The Crown is fallen from our Head II. In the Day of our Lamentation we should lay to Heart those Sins which brought this Judgment upon us in order to prevent the like for the future Wo unto us that we have sinned The first of these Propositions appropriates our Lamentation to the Loss of a good King such as was Josiah of whom the Prophet so pathetically speaks The breath of our nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord Lam. 4.20 was taken in their Pits of whom we said under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen Or as Grotius renders the last words In spite of the Heathen The Fresh Air through the Nostrils makes its way to the Lungs and with them fans the Heart by its nitrous Spirit advancing and by its Coolness adjusting the Circulation of the Blood and thereby imparts new Vigour to each Member of the Body Thus good Josiah 2 Chron 34 3â— by reading the Book of the Law to the People and renewing the Covenant with the Lord restrained those Feuds and Quarrels which the variety of their Idolatries produc'd and united the different Sects into the Worship of one God By this he gave new Strength to Judah and Benjamin for their Support against their Enemies What Streams of Tear did the Loss of such a Prince call for But had they liv'd under a King who by ans open Example and Encouragement of Debauchery should have drawn the People from their Covenant with the Lord and by secret Favours bestow'd on Idolaters should have tempted Judah from worshiping the God of Jacob If he should have prepar'd the way for Pharo Necho by crumbling his People into Factions and by turns wheting the Anger of Judah against Benjamin and Benjamin against Judah it would be hard to perswade Men to call such a King the Breath of their Nostrils And when they were in so much Danger of Ruine by his Life they would be apt not to be very passionately concern'd for his Death From what has been said the Reason of the first Proposition will appear viz. Why the loss of a good King gives such cause of Lamentation 'T is because he has no Interest separate from that of his People This is plainly implied in the Words of the Text The Crown is fallen from our Head That is as the People have no Head but their King so the King has no Body but his People and that there can be no more separate Interest of a Sovereign from his People than of the Head from the Body And that this is the true Notion of that relation which is between Prince and People appears from all those Characters by which Supreme Magistrates are describ'd to us in the Book of Go which are these Five viz. Fathers Captains Judges Shepherds Gods 1. Fathers so God promiseth to a good People suitable Governours Kings shall be thy Nursing fathers Isa 49.23 and Queens thy Nursing-mothers Now what interest can a Father have separate from that of his Family Or can a Mother divide her Assection from her Children the pretended Mother who appear'd before Solomon would have divided a Living Child that she might have had part of it to her self 1 Kings 3.26 while the true Mother could not separate her Bowels of Compassion from the Fruit of her Womb. This Title of Father expresses justly the nature of that Love which is owing by the Prince to his People It has indeed been made use of by some to a very different purpose to prove that Regal Authority is founded in Paternal although whoever considers the Relation between Father and Son will see how absurd this Notion is For 1. Nature gives to all Parents equal power over their Families so as to exclude the Unkles power over his Nephews Family and the Grandfathers nay Fathers over the respective Families of Son and Grandson 2. The Mother has to Filial Obedience equal Right with the Father 3. Execution of Vindictive Power whereby a Father shall pass Sentence of Death upon his Son seems unnatural Nor do we find it came into the Thoughts of Adam to avenge the Murther of Abel by adjudging Cain to death nor can I perceive that the imaginary Patriarchal Authority has any Foundation in Nature so as to render the younger Brother upon the Father's death subject to the Elder For 1. Brotherhood bespeaks equality as appears by what God saith to the Elder Brother of all Mankind when he had conceiv'd Wrath against his younger Gen. 4.6,7 And the Lord said unto Cain why art thou wrath And why is thy countenance fallen If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted If thou dost not well sin lyeth at the door that is the punishment of thy sin draws near the following words of the Verse want only a point of Interrogation to make 'em understood for instead of Vnto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him The Learned P. Fagius thus renders it Num Abelis desiderium ad te erit num tu eris ejus dominus Shall his desire be to thee Shalt thou rule over him Such an Interrogation is a strong denial of any Authority the Elder Brother can by nature claim over the Younger But 2dly How can we conceive that Nature gives the Nephew Authority over his Unkle and Great Unkle Which the Notion of Patriarchal Power does necessarily infer And 3dly To found Kingly Power in Patriarchal Primogeniture seems as Impolitick as 't is Unnatural because it shakes the Thrones of all Kings there being no Throne at this time fill'd with the true Patriarch Lineally descended from the Eldest Son of Noah Or at least who is able to derive and prove such a Pedigree But to return from this digression We are sure that we can justly say of a good King He is a Father of his Countrey 'T is Fatherly Care he expresses in the Administration of his High Office he provides for the Education of his People in good Living he restrains the publishing of Bad Principles he checks ill Tempers and chastiseth those wicked Servants who by their ill Examples would endanger the corrupting of his Family he bears an equal Affection to all his Dutiful Subjects not suffering himself through any unaccountable fondness to distinguish some of his Children from others so long as all join in an equal respect to him But if there be any such in his Family who have the impudence to own another Father either Spiritual or Civil 't is a just provocation for him to disown them and look upon them as the Children of
to their People But it would be very false reasoning from hence to conclude That because God is pleased in such a manner to submit his Sovereign Administrations to the Judgment of Men and Men will in the like manner judge of the Actions of Princes that therefore a People may assume to themselves a Judicial Power over their Sovereign Lord. Against an Unrighteous and Illegal Proceeding of this kind the whole Nation enters its solemn anniversary Protest this day acknowledging with Shame and Detestation that the Sentence then executed upon our lawful and rightful Sovereign Lord King Charles the First to have been a notorious and crying piece of Injustice Indeed the Nature of the thing demonstrates at the first View the Absurdity of such a Proceeding nothing being more ridiculous than that a Prince in whom 't is confess'd by all the whole Executive Power of the Law is lodg'd should become legally accountable to his Subjects and answerable to that Justice which he alone has the right of administring But yet it is not necessary to carry this Notion so far as to take all right of Self-preservation from Subjects and to put their Lives and their Estates their Wives and their Children under the lawless Power of every Prince who thinks fit to degenerate into a Tyrant and to oblige Men to sit quietly and to see the Laws the Religion and the Liberties of their Country overturn'd and themselves and their Posterity brought into Slavery But even in such a case as this there can be no Legal Jurisdiction pretended to No Judicature remains to judge of the Prince's Actions Indeed the Pretence of the High Court of Justice to judge of their King was never own'd by the Body of the People 'T was an upstart monstrous Opinion hatch'd by the heat of War And as it was very absurd and monstrous so it was but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Insect of a Days Duration and is now disown'd by all sorts of People amongst us the whole Body of the Nation being affectionately disposed to Monarchy and convinc'd of the utter Impossibility of setting up any other Form of Government amongst us And if there be a Man left that has other Thoughts as such a Visionary there may be 't is well for us that he stands alone that we are sure he can have no sensible Man of his side because no sensible Man can join in a Design against the Genius of the People against the Laws and Customs against the Liberty and Property of the Nation all which are founded upon and united to the true ancient legal Monarchy of this Kingdom And it ought to be a Comfort to us all when we see that Body of Men who in some Church matters unhappily dissent from us yet heartily joining with us to pay a just Deference and dutiful respect to that Man whom God hath raised up to be the nursing Father of his Church amongst us who by his especial Providence and by the universal Consent of the Nation is Rightfully possessed of the Throne of these Realms who as a great Captain defends us from the Destroyer abroad and as a Judge secures us against the Sons of Violence at home who like the good Shepherd our Saviour mentions Joh. 10.11 is always ready to lay down his Life for his Flock and thereby also shews himself as a God amongst us May Almighty God preserve him long to be a Blessing to us and secure his Person in the midst of those Dangers to which he is contented to expose himself for our sakes and for the common Liberty of Europe And since the best and bravest of Princes must at last die may it be many very many Years hence before this Nation may have cause to take up the Lamentation of the Prophet and bewail that the Crown is fallen from our Head II. The Second Consideration which arose from the Text was this viz. In the day of our Lamentation we should lay to Heart those Sins which brought Gods Judgment upon us in order to prevent the like for the future Wo to us that we have sinned Although there be no Evil of any sort in a Land which is not a Moral Cause of bringing it under Gods Visitation yet there are some Sins which are the Natural and Specifick Causes of their respective Punishments Thus Excess brings Diseases Pride begets Contempt Idleness Poverty And the proper Enquiry of this Day is after those sins which by their own particular Energy occasion the loss of a good Prince and thereby bring Affliction upon a People which I take chiefly to be these two I. Flattery And II. Faction 1. Flattery was the Engine Satan first contriv'd to seduce and ruine the Parents of Mankind He told them that some Prerogatives were then wanting to fill up that great Character God had impressed upon them which must be attain'd though against Law that they might do themselves Right For though the Law forbad them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge yet it must be done and then your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3.5 said the Flatterer And how the Crown is hereby sallen from our Head what Woes and Lamentations have arisen from hence their whole Posterity both feel and see And has not the same detestable Sin of Flattery drawn Princes to aspire at such an Absolute and Arbitrary Power as was not only beyond but inconsistent with that just Prerogative which God's Providence had invested them with God knows how great a Share in the Calamity which we lament this day this Sin had An entire Subjection of all we had to Despotick Power was call'd Apostolical Obedience and that specious Name was made use of as a Bait to draw the Prince into a Separate Interest from his People which was indeed to divide him from himself And we in our days have seen the same Engine at work and are sadly sensible of the unhappy Consequences the Notion of Passive Obedience having prov'd in a manner as fatal to those who have hearkned to it as that of Apostolical Obedience formerly did Liberty gives the true Relish to all the Comfotrs of Life without it though a Man may possess much he can enjoy nothing to preserve it is the true Prerogative of a Prince To defend the Liberty of a Nation when it is invaded is the most Glorious thing upon Earth And he that is such a Deliverer has a Name above all other Titles And who would change this Style for that of Conqueror Which is the new Disguise Flattery has put on All Flattery carries with it a Tacit Affront to the weakness of that Person to whom it is address'd But this is so gross that it Affronts the common Sense of Mankind and therefore if directed to a particular Person presumes the last degree of weakness You may as well be perswaded that Bread is Flesh as that the Deliverance of a Nation is a Conquest of it For 1. Does not a