King of Kings in speaking highly and honourably of his Vicegerent upon Earth which is Conscience and nextly to my good Lord and Master the King of England by attempting to make the sin of Regicide as odious in the eyes of all men as it is in its own nature that all After-ages may fear and dread it next to the sin against the Holy Ghost and for ought I know it is a sin of the second Magnitude and next to that Now if every man shall become so perswaded surely for time to come men will as soon throw themselves into caldrons of scalding Oyls or into hot burning Furnaces as either directly or indirectly contribute to the death of their King whereas whilst men make nothing of that first fact what do they Reader I See no necessity of pre-advertising thee touching any more than one thing in this Book viz. the Title if it Loyalty and Peace which I have given it because I am well assured that if men shall revere Conscience more than they regard Interest and entertain those dreadful apprehensions of the Sinfulness of murthering Kings which this Treatise doth bespeak and receive the due impression of some other passages therein contained as soon may a Camel go through the eye of a Needle as they find in their hearts to be disloyal or unpeaceable 1 Sam. Chap. XXIV Verse 5. And it came to pass afterwards that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's Skirt MY Text is part of a Remarkable Story referring to David and Saul Saul had been possest with an Implacable Spirit of Envy such as no Harp could lay from the time that the Women sang in their Dances Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands Little did those sweet Singers of Israel if they may be so called think how great a Discord that their praising Melody which gave the preference to David a Son and Subject above Saul his Father and Sovereign would make in the heart of Saul against David in so much that ever after he hunted him like a Partridge upon the Mountains Thinking no sacrifice great enough to expiate for that his Crimen Alienum or other folks fault in over-commending him but the life and heart-blood of him that was so commended Which sheweth us that Solomon spoke like an Oracle when he said Who can stand before Envy Saul returning from following the Philistins I had almost said like a Lyon that hath tasted blood and thirsts for more was told that David was in the Wilderness of En-gedi ver 1. Forthwith he took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the Rocks of the Wild Goats No Rock but he who is called the Rock of Ages was sufficient for David's security or can be for ours In ver 3. it is said that Saul came to the Sheep-Cotes by the way thinking possibly that the Shepherds of whose Profession David formerly was could inform concerning him where saith the Text Was a Cave which Saul went into to cover his feet It followeth that David and his men remained in the sides of that Cave and no wonder because as Strabo tells us there were some Spelunca or Caves especially towards Arabia and Iturea where in time of War Shepherds hid themselves and their flocks yea whereunto all the Inhabitants of Villages and small Cities did repair for shelter some of them being able to contain at once four thousand men The Mouths of some of those Caves were so small and full of Windings that no man at his Entrance could espy those that were within but those that were within could espy those that were entring so that David and his men saw Saul coming but he saw not them whereupon he went on securely little suspecting that he was within one step of death if God and David had so pleased And possibly he laid by his uppermost Garment the Skirt whereof David was said to have cut off and might be more prone to do when it was separated from that sacred Body to which it did belong than when Gods Anointed had it on to whose holy Anointing David had special regard though his followers had none Witness their words ver 4. And the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine Enemy into thine hands that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to thee meaning that thou mayest kill him Counsel worthy of such Councellors as they who were a parcel of Runnagates men in debt and in distress and of desperate fortunes who looked for nothing but a Jail or worse if Saul should live to be reconciled to David Men likely enough to have been Saul's Executioners if David had but said the word Strike off his Head or Cut his Throat For of that sort of men I presume are all the Executioners of Horrid and Bloody Edicts But as bad and faithless men as they were they prefume not to give such counsel as that without a religious pretext and colour for what they said They countenanced this their sanguinary Advice with three specious things viz. Divine Prophecy Promise and Providence For say they Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee Behold I will deliver thine Enemy into thine hand Which words seem to refer to some Prophecy and Promise of that Nature which God had made to David by the mouth of Nathan Gad or Samuel though there be no such Prophecy or Promise recorded in Scripture which causeth some to think that Providence was the onely Argument which David's Ragged Regiment and Outlawed Crew of Desperadoes made use of to stir him up to take away the life of Saul And then they read the words thus Behold the Day of which the Lord saith unto thee putting in the Present Tense per Enallegen temporis for the Preterperfect Carrying the sense thus Behold this is the day in which the Lord by the plain voice of a signal Providence hath told thee that he hath put King Saul into thine hand to do with him what seems good in thine Eyes Having now so tempting and charming a Providence before thee be not thou like the Deaf Adder that hearkeneth not to the voice of the Charmer though he charm ever so sweetly Yea methinks I hear some of them say unto David as the King of Israel said unto Elisha concerning those Enemies whom he had led blind-fold into Samaria My Father shall I smite shall I smite Or as he said Let me smite but once and I will not smite again Behold a Price is put into the hand of a Fool if he have not the heart to improve it So plain and powerful was the Argument taken from Providence always amongst those whose Fingers itched to be doing and whose mouths watered at that for which they had no better Arguments The force and stress of which Argument lies here What may be done may be done That is what may be
he was besieged by Omri and saw that the City was taken he went into the Pallace and burnt the Kings House over him and died 1 Kings 16.18 How sped the Servants of Amon King of Judah who murthered him in his House See 2 Kings 21.24 And the People of the Land slew all them that had conspired against King Amon and made Josiah his Son King in his stead Joash his Servants conspired against him and slew him 2 Chron. 24.25 which was a most just thing on Gods part to avenge the Blood of the Sons of Jehoiada the Priest v. 25. but how came they off see 2 Chron. 25.3 When the Kingdom was established to him he i. e. Amaziah slew his Servants that had beheaded the King his Father If the Murtherers of private persons be now and then reserved to the judgment of the great day to be punished yet Divine Justice and Vengeance as if more concerned about the death of Princes than of Private Persons by the instances fore-cited seems to have alwayes overtaken those even in this Life who have spilt the Blood of Kings as Water upon the Ground Whence is easie to infer that though Homicide be a very great sin yet Regicide is greater and that he was a King whom the Men I am writing of put to death no man ever doubted Seventhly Neither was it Regicide only or the murthering of one who was meerly a King of which these men were guilty but also Justicidium or the murthering of a good King Who knows not that the wilful murthering of any man though a bad yea though the worst of men is a great and crying sin but the murthering of a good and vertuous man a man of a thousand is worse than that and beyond either of them is the murthering of a good and excellent King yea of one of the best Kings in the World which is the case before us Now by how much better the murthered person was by so much worse was the murther for Corruptio optimi est pessima is a never failing rule I dare not apply to this occasion those words of St. Peter Acts 3.14 Ye denied the holy one and the just because they are peculiar to our Saviour who is the holy and the just one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is no man so besides him but that the martyred King was a man of great vertue is I think as generally acknowledged by them that either knew him or have seen what is in History concerning him as almost any thing is Who could ever taxe him with Intemperance more or less Who knew not the greatness of his Patience under his unparallell'd Sufferings his professed forgiveness of his most provoking enemies Who ever did read more Divine Lines more pious Contemplations dropping from the Pen of any afflicted Prince than his incomparable and unimitable Book doth contain But it will not stand with the brevity here intended or with the Symmetry of this part with the rest of this Book to write a History in this place of that renowned Kings Vertues but he that shall read his Life excellently written as it is by Dr. Perringshief and others if he have any faith in Histories as what wise men hath not some will not as much admire the greatness of his Vertues as the barbarousness of his Sufferings and both together most of all Herein appeared the barbarousness of his murtherers that they could find in their hearts to use a Prince so immensely ill who deserved so excellently well The Apostle saith Rom. 5.7 Paradventure for a good man some would even dare to die Were they Men or Monsters or Devils incarnate or what were they then who instead of dying for a good man put a good man to death An untimely death I had almost call'd it a shameful death for so it in true tended but that I know no shame was in martyrdom If any man doubt the piety of that Martyr and the tenderness of his Conscience let him but read the 2. chap. in his excellent Book viz. upon the Earl of Strafford 's death Because when almost wearied out of his life by the importunity of those that he believed did wish him well and us'd it as a Maxime Better one man perish though unjustly than the people be displeased or destroy'd he had complied to sign a Bill against the Earl of Strafford's life though without plenary consent to his destruction as he himself saith Lord how uneasie was his Consciscience Reader forbear weeping if thou canst when thou readest those melting warning words of his I see it a bad Exchange to wound a man 's own Conscience thereby to salve State-sores to calm the storms of Popular discontents by stirring up a tempest in a man 's own bosom But I will not prevent thy reading of that whole most excellent Chapter which may almost warrant us to call him A father of Penitents as Abraham was called A father of the Faithful I shall conclude this seventh Article of my charge against the Murtherers of King Charles the First with a short reflexion upon David's words to Baanah and Rechab who cut off the head of Ishbosheth and brought it to him looking for a reward 2 Sam. 4.11 How much more when wicked men have slain a righteous person shall not I require his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth As if David had said for that he meant Saul was a wicked King an enemy to God as well as me and yet when one told me saying Behold Saul is dead viz. the Amalekite who said he slew him by his own command to put him out of pain 2 Sam. 1.10 I took hold of him and slew him who thought I would have given him a reward for his tidings If he were worthy of death who only reported himself upon a pick-thankly account to have kill'd Saul who seem'd otherwise about to kill himself and at his own appointment who was then full of anguish though Saul was a very wicked man as aforesaid what have they deserv'd who beheaded a virtuous King sore against his will and best endeavours to the contrary and that with many circumstances of barbarity as you will hear hereafter And so I proceed to the eighth Article wherewith I charge the said King's Judges viz. Hypocrisie I say with great Hypocrisie practized in that fact It was Homicidium maxime Hypocriticum It was even the Master-piece of Hypocrisie and the grandest Cheat under the Notion of Piety that ever was imposed upon the world Now all Hypocrisie is a perfect Lye and the fault that needs a Lye grows two thereby as Mr. Herbert tells us Who that understands the intrigue of that Business do's not cry out Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Could such a Monster spring from the Womb of Religion Who laid that Brat at her Door For it was none of hers So Politicians talk most of Religion when they mean nothing less as if they would compensate by taking God
again and give over smitting Now to that I reply No Man can tell there is no Prophet that in this case knows how long for it is with the smitings of Conscience as it is with the Diseases of the Body Sometimes it smites Men without any intermission and that from day to day and gives them no rest day or night but makes them cry out with David Their iniquity is alwayes before them or say with Job Chap. 7. v. 13 14. When I say my Bed shall comfort me and my Couch shall case my Complaint then thou scarest me with Dreams and terrifiest me through Visions Whereas others again have their hot and cold fits and between while their well days wherein they are perfectly exempted from the smitings of Conscience Again Some have onely now and then a fit or two of Conscience and away which some call their Dumps or Melancholies and they are up again the smiting of their Consciences is but as the Morning Dew or early Cloud which soon passeth away 't is but April with them now and then a Cloud and a Shower and then the Sun presently shines out again but in others the smitings of Conscience are like a Burning Hectick Feaver never off them Their Consciences seem to be implacable towards them and and resolve to admit of no reconciliation but to have War with Amalek for ever if I may so allude It were not hard it may be to tell you of those who have been under the smitings of Conscience Seven years together or more I think that was Mrs. Honywoods Case nay of those whose Consciences have killed them with smiting or provoked them so long and so lamentably till they kill'd themselves or those who leapt out of the flames of Conscience into those of Hell Neither can I say that some who have been none of the greatest Sinners nor guilty of any enormous Crimes have been kept a great while in the Furnace of a smiting Conscience witness Mrs. Honywood aforesaid though ordinarily I do suppose it is the lot and portion of sinners of the first and second rate to be so served rather than others witness those words Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes doth correct Man for Iniquity thou makest his Beauty to consume away like a Moth as also those Ezek. 33.10 Thus ye speak saying If our Transgressions and our Sins be upon us and we pine away in them how should we then live Now Lord what shall we say to this if the smitings of Conscience be so sharp and the shortest of them be so long compared with Humane Corrections and even to be given not onely to Children but Malefactors who can bear them long and who can live when God does this unless supported by that Arm which keeps even the damned in Hell alive We now proceed to the Seventh query viz. the Quando namely When or at what times it is that Conscience doth use to smitein reference to sin Whereto I reply First of all Many times before a sin be committed when Men have as yet but sin in deliberation or are but sitting upon it like the Cockatrice upon her Eggs having yet hatch'd nothing and are yet but parling with the temptation and listning to the tempter even at that time of day 't is usual with Conscience to shoot off her Warning Piece and to bid men take heed what they do and to do by them as Pilate's Wife did by him Matth. 27.19 When he was sate down on the Judgment Seat sent unto him saying Have thou nothing to do with that Just Man for I have suffered many things concerning him in a Dream c. Yea it is not unusual with Conscience to smite Men meerly for parling with a temptation or lending their ears more or less to the tempter for looking at the bait though they have not yet bit of it much less received the hook into their mouths and to give such Counsel as Solomon doth Proverbs 23.31 Look not thou upon the Wine when it is Red when it giveth its Colour in the Cup when it moveth it self aright at last it biteth like a Scrpent and stingeth like an Adder Thus in my Text Davids Heart smote him but for entertaining a Thought of Killing Saul as some suppose he had done or but for lending an ear to those disloyal Miscreants who counselled him so to do Secondly Conscience sometimes smites men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very act of sin as Zimri and Cosby were smitten by another hand Thus while Belshazzar was carousing in the Bowles of the Temple which he ought not to have so prophaned and probably debauched himself and his Nobles round about him at that very instant appeared the Hand-writing upon the Wall in these words Dan. 5. S5 Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin c. They are much mistaken who think that great sins if long adoing are committed without great regret in the very doing of them Conscience poures in Gall and Wormwood into the stollen Waters which Men thought would have been altogether sweet imbittering them in the very drinking of them and mixeth Colliquintida which is a very bitter thing with that sweet bread as men hope to find it which is eaten in secret Conscience doth purposely disturb and interupt the pleasures of Sinners and to spoil their sport doth as it were set a Deaths-Head by them in the midst of their Feasting and Jollity and doth cast their Sins in their Dishes whilst they are Feeding without fear and maketh them now and then to drink a Cup of Astonishment and of the wrath of God and to be like the Citizens in Esop's Fables Who whilst they were Banqueting are represented scared and affrighted with the noise in the Key-hole viz. Some Creditor or Creditors came to attaque them Now Conscience seems to do this not onely to imbitter so much of the Sin as is past but to make Men break off presently like Souldiers quaffing and carousing when they hear the Drums and Trumpets of an approaching Enemy David seems to have been approaching towards the Murthering of Saul when he cut off his Skirt It seems to imply he was trying what his Conscience would permit him to do in that case but blessed be God he had such a check from hs God and his Conscience for doing but that that he durst proceed no farther Thirdly More especially Conscience is wont to smite Men after Sin committed and that sometimes sooner sometimes later I had almost compared Conscience to an Vsurer who though he long forbear his Money when it is well secured as by Motrgage of House and Lands yet at last will be sure to call for Principal and Interest yea for Vse upon Vse or to take the forfeiture of what is engaged for his security There are particular reasons to be given why Conscience sometimes doth not smite men either before the Commission of a great Sin or in the very Act nor yet presently after but as sure as Old Age will come upon Men I
day for there are a sort of Men of whom David speaks Who are wont to transgress without a cause Psal 25.3 David speaks of some who were his Enemies without a cause Psal 7. and without Cause had hid their net for him in a Pit which without cause they digged for him Psal 35.7 May it not be said of some that they are Enemies to God and to the Peace of their own Minds by making work for Conscience and for Repentance without any considerable cause Of this sort are those who abound in needless Oaths and Execrations crying at every turn I will be hang'd if this or that be not so Yea here and there you have a Monster of a Man that fears not upon every slight occasion to cry God damn me as if he defied his maker and scorned that Tophet which was prepared of old for such as he which God hath made deep and large the Pile whereof is much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 Or as if they could cheerfully drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out with mixture into the Cup of his Indignation and endure to be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and to have the smoak of their torment ascending for ever and ever and to have no rest day nor night Rev. 14.10 11. Or as if when the question is put Who can dwell with the consuming Fire who can dwell with everlasting Burnings as it is Isa 33.14 they could roundly answer That can we do If so they have stouter hearts than sinners in old time were wont to have for the Text saith The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites saying Who shall dwell with devouring Fire c. Methinks I can resemble these Persons to nothing so much as to the Priests of Baal spoken of 1 Kings 18.28 of whom it is said They cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with Knives and Launces till the Blood guished out upon them Many who laugh at the Papist for whipping themselves on Good-Friday do worse for that Papists do in point of Devotion aiming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to beat down their Bodies as we translate it by beating them Black and Blew but Atheists slash and gash their Souls with severe stroaks for no good intent at all but out of meer Irreligion and wanton Prophaneness Lord I can but think how these men will look when Conscience shall come to reckon with them and they find themselves not able to answer it one of a thousand I can but think how pale they will look or rather how black in the Face with fear and astonishment what a dreadful eccho those Oaths and bloody Curses will have in Mens Ears when they come to be resounded upon a Sick-bed or Death-bed Or rather in what a pickle those men will be when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and they see themselves punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. If it be so terrible as it is to hear but a zealous Minister warmly discoursing of the Torments of Hell especially if a Mans Conscience at the same time second what he saith and joyn issue with the Preacher as did the Conscience of Felix of whom it is said Acts 24.25 That when Paul reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgement to come Felix trembled I say if the bare hearing of Hell be so terrible as to make a Heathen Judge upon the Bench tremble at the words of his poor Prisoner at the Bar standing there to await his Sentence how intollerable will it be to feel such things And who can chuse when in the midst of those Flames but cry out as did the Sinners and Hypocrites in Zion Who can dwell with devouring Fire Who can dwell with everlasting Burnings You would be loath constantly to sit under the Ministry of a Boanerges that would be alwayes thundring and lightning preaching of Hell and Damnation flashing Hell-fire in your Faces with every Sermon as if Mount Sinah were his Pulpit but were your Minister such you could make a shift and an excuse to go out of the Church as oft as he came to his use of terrour and stay out of his way till the storm were over but if you provoke your Consciences and make them burning as well as shining Lights within you as that phrase may be taken whether will you fly from those flames and whereunto will you betake your selves Go whither you will Conscience will follow you and if you have Ears to hear will make you hear yea will find you Ears if you make as if you had none yea speak loud enough to be heard though you were almost dead or were disposed to turn a deaf Ear upon it Conscience will have access to you at all hours even in the dead and still of the night it will come stealing upon you like a Thief in the night nay that it need not do neither for it will make bold with greatest noise to burst your Iron Bars break open your Doors and make a loud and forcible entrance upon you when it pleases and look upon it self to be always at home when it is where you are yea to be Master of the House and to have full authority to speak and do within your Breasts what it listeth Conscience is as it were every Mans Chamberlain and carrieth the Key of every Mans Breast as it were at his Girdle and therefore can go or get into a Man when it pleaseth and if they do as it were bolt or bar the Door on the inside it is able to make even Brass or Iron Grates to fly open before it for nothing can keep Conscience out Now Conscience being such a thing as I have described what Solomon saith viz. He that passeth by and medleth with strife that belongeth not to him is like one that taketh a Dog by the Ears may be applied to Conscience And therefore it must needs be folly and madness in any Man needlesly to provoke his Conscience and without great cause and temptation to make work for it as he were mad that would rouze up a sleepy Lion or Mastiff when he had no occasion so to do So much shall serve for the 3. Vse Fourth Vse shall be this Sith it is the office of Conscience to smite Men as in reference to sin it must needs behove us to keep our Consciences alwayes in smiting case I do not mean to give them cause to smite us for that we should by no means do but to keep them in an aptitude and fitness to smite us when just cause is given What is a Dog good for if he
their lives and were they not charg'd with lying not only to men but to the Holy Ghost Now there is nothing of greater tendencie and efficacie to bring Religion into hatred and disgrace if a man had a real design so to do than to make a Cloak of Religion for all sorts of Villanies and to entitltle them thereunto to put Rebellions and Treasons and Sacriledges and Murthers and Regicides all to its account and to shelter them under its wings They that make Religion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do say signifieth the Dung-cart which passes by a City to receive all its filth or like to those persons whom the Latines called Piacula i. e. Sacrifices on whose head all the sins and curses of the people should be laid and expiation made by sacrificing of them I say thus to do by Religion is the way to make every one smile at the naming of it and bid defiance to it Their sin had been less if they had said in so many words we will kill the Heir that the Iâ—heritance may be ours c. To conclude this Article Wo to you Regicides as because of Perjury Rebâ—llion Treason Sacriledge so no less because of what I mentioned last viz. notorious Simulation and Hypocrisie And so I proceed to the Ninth particular Ninthly To all the former I must needs add That the putting of King Charles the Martyr to death was Parricidium Parricide or the Murthering of a Father a Crime which useth to make the ears of all that hear such a thing done to tingle If a Son or Daughter happen to kill either of their Parents all the Country rings of it and it makes as it were an Earthquake throughout the whole Kingdom But the Parricide of Parricides was then committed when K. Charles the First was put to death who was not only a Father to them that had a hand in it but to the whole Nation besides a common Father a Political though not a natural Father To be fure he was one of those whom the fifth Commandment intends by the name of Father when it saith Honour thy Father and thy Mother meaning every whit as much Kings and Princes whom God hath somewhere promised to make nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church as those whom the Scripture calls the Fathers of our Flesh For though we owe not our Being to them as to our natural Fathers yet our well-being we do owe to them under God though we owe not our Generation to them yet our Preservation we do owe to them under God Every good King is a Protector of his People as to their Lives Limbs Estates good Names Relations Property Religion c. And is not that a great piece of Fatherhood as I may call it Are not his Subjects safe under the shadow of his wings Philosophers say That Preservation is a continued Creation If that be so do we not owe as much to those by whom we are preserved under God though not so preserved as by God himself as to them by whom we were propagated David did both represent himself and was represented by others unto Nabal as one that had deserv'd very well at his hands and the hands of his because he was able to say as it is 1 Sam. 25.7 Thy shepherds were iwth us we hurt them not neither was ought missing to them all the while they were in Carmel As who should say It is a favour in those who have power over us though no lawful Princes neither if they do us no hurt Also in the 15th ver we find one of Nabal's Servants thus pleading with Abigal the wife of Nabal But the men meaning David's Souldiers who came to salute our Master and he raild on them were very good to us and we were not hurt neither missed we any thing as long as we were with them This they look'd upon as a great obligation though that which followeth as a greater ver 16. They were a wall unto us by night and by day all the while we were with them keeping sheep Nay David himself insists upon it as a piece of merit ver 22. Surely in vain saith he have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to them and he hath requited me evil for good Now Nabal's returning a churlish answer to a Captain and his Company who had not only not plundered but protected him tempted David to say in a great passion as ver 22. So and more also do God to the enemies of David if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any one that pisseth against the wall Did Nabal owe so much to David and his Souldiers for not injuring him or suffering others to injure him whilst they were near him what then do we owe to good Kings for their fatherly kindness to us In not dealing with us as Samuel told the Israelites should be the mishepat hammelec or the manner of a King 's dealing with them 1 Sam. 8.11 He will take your sons and some of them sâ—all run before his Chariots ver 14. He will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards even the best of them and will give them to his Servants ver 16. He will take your goodliest Servants and put them to his work c. i. e. he will use them as he list and you shall be able to call nothing your own but he will let ye know that whatsoever ye call yours is now his and shall be more at his command and dispose than at your own If they who have power enough in their hands to serve us so do not even for that we have cause to thank them and bless God on their behalf but if they defend our Lives Limbs and Estates and above all the true Christian and Protestant Religion as thanks be to God His Majesty that now is doth and so did his Father before him we have cause to own them as our Fathers yea Nursing Fathers Such Fathers they are as we are bound to honour fear and obey more than our Natural Parents for though we are bound to obey them in all lawful things and are not bound to obey Kings in what is sinful yet when the Commands of the Parents of our Bodies interfere with the commands of our Political Parents or of our Kings and Rulers we ought to obey the later rather than the first viz. because what is injoyned by the former becomes unlawful when it is forbidden by the latter I was about to say that respective Kings are not only our Fathers but our Fathers Fathers our Grandfathers yea our great Grandfathers Fathers if they be living and within their Territories Soon should we lose what our Parents gave us viz. our Lives and Estates if we had no King or Rulers to protect us Receive it therefore for an indubitable truth that Kings are Fathers what then are they that murther them but