resolved to omit the prosecution of this Point as useless to a People living under such a Gracious Soveraign But considering that the best managed Governments have been from the beginning and will be to the end of the world obnoxious to some Imperfections that there will be alwaies some detracting Absaloms who will calumniate and exclaim against the most righteous Rulers that the prohibition of Rebellion against Tyrannical Governours doth a fortiori conclude for Englands Subjection to our present Gracious Soveraign and lastly that this Crown-Jewel hath been much blemished and sullied of late I was for these Reasons unwilling to leave it altogether unpolished 2. Consider David as Anointed Then Samuel took an horn of Oyl and anointed him in the midst of his Brethren 1. 1 Sa. 16.13 To a Prophetical 2. To a Kingly Office 1. To a Prophetical Office That Clause the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward 1 Sam. 16.13 denoteth the Gift of Prophesie as appeareth by comparing it with 1 Sam. 19.20 23. Where the like Expression is used to set forth the Gift of Prophesie in Saul and his Messengers when they sought David at Naioth in Ramah Davids Psalmes were endited by a Prophetical Spirit And he is expresly called a Prophet It was usual Acts 2.30 for Prophets as well as Priests to be consecrated unto their Office by Anointing The Lord saith unto Elias 1 Kings 19.16 Elisha the Son of Shaphat shalt thou anoint to be Prophet in thy room Now forasmuch as David a Prophet saith God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against my Master Observe 1. That Ecclesiastical persons are not priviledged nor exempted from Subjection to the Civil Magistrate 2. That such of all men should be chiefly solicitous to maintain Loyalty in themselves and to propagate it in others 1. That Ecclesiastical Persons are not priviledged nor exempted from Subjection to the Civil Magistrate Let every soul be subject to the higher Power Rom. 13.1 Every soul is emphatically put for every man as Exod. 1.5 All the souls that came out of Jacobs Loyns were seventy souls i. e. seventy persons Is not the Command general Let every soul whether rich or poor Noble or Ignoble Patritian or Plebeian Political or Ecclesiastical be subject to the higher Powers Non distinguendum est ubi Scriptura non distinguit We sind no place of Scripture that doth except the Pope and his Cardinals out of this general Precept except they disclaim humane nature and avouch themselves to be Angels Cherubims or Seraphims as a Popish Postiller out of Exod. 30.31 hath done where it is said of the holy Oyl Upon mans flesh it shall not be poured thou shalt anoint Aaron and his Sons from hence he ridiculously inferreth that Priests are Angels not having humane flesh Aaron the High Priest acknowledged the Jurisdiction of Moses over him when he was reproved for making the Golden Calf Aaron said Ex. 32.22 Let not the Anger of my Lord wax hot King Solomon deposed Abiathar from the Priesthood for conspiring with Adonijah 1 Kings 2.26 35. What Antipodes do the Popes tread hereunto in presuming to depose Kings The Kings of Judah exercised their Authority in spiritualibus as well as in temporalibus Asa Hezekiah Jehosaphat Josiah reformed Religion destroyed the high places 2 Chron. 17. 2 Kings 18. 1 Chron. 13.1 2 3. 2 Chr. 29.4 2 Chron. 29. and Monuments of Idolatry and convocated Synods So Christian Emperors Constantine Theodosius and others have convented General Councils Hezekiah laid injunctions on the Priests and Levites to perform their duties Paul being arraigned before Festus Felix and Agrippa pleadeth not an exemption from the Jurisdiction of their Courts by vertue of his Apostolical Office His free and voluntary Appeal to Cesar argueth his acknowledgment of subjection to earthly Rulers Jesus Christ paied tribute for himself and Peter that he might not incourage the Jews to deny it nor the Romans to defie the Gospel as destructive to Magistracy Mat. 17.27 That Expression then are the Children free doth shew the Prerogative of Christ as he was the Eternal Son of God but not the exemption of Gods adopted Children from secular Powers For then Lay-men also many of them being the children of God must be exempted as well as the Clergy The Reservation of the Lands of the Aegyptian Priests from sale doth shew the Munificence of their King in that he assigned to them a portion at his own Table but their superiority above or coordination unto Civil Magistrates cannot in any wise be concluded from thence Though some munificent Princes out of their Indulgenoe have granted large immunities unto the Church yet let us do as Christ in the case of Divorce reduce Magistracy to its Original and Primitive Institution and we shall find that from the beginning it had Jurisdiction over the Clergy as well as the Laity How is the Arrogance of the Pope of Rome that man of sin and Son of perdition to be condemned for that he exalteth himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all that is called god or August i. e. above Kings and Emperots The Papists hold 2 Thes 24. that the Ecclesiastical State is as much more excellent than the Civil as the Sun than the Moon and that as the Moon borroweth its Light from the Sun so the Emperors receive their power from the Pope who employeth the Jesuites his slaughter-slaves to murder those Princes that deny his Supremacy or affront his Greatness Witness the Murder of Henry the 4th King of France by Ravilliack and the Gunpowder-plot contrived by Garnet the Jesuite and others his Complices for the destruction of King James The Popes Affronts unto Excommunications of Incroachments on and imperious Domination over Princes are so notorious that I need not recite Examples thereof Sed exorto Evangelii jubare sagaciores ut spero Princepes ad nutum Romani Orbilii non solvent subligaoula History affords manifold Instances of the Arrogance of Popes how they have trampled on the Necks of Kings kicked off their Crowns and crowned them with their Feet forced them to hold their Stirrups and to dance attendance at their gates excommunicated deposed them Mat. 4. and in imitation of the Devil disposed of their Kingdoms absolved their Subjects from obedience and chained their Ambassadors like Dogs under their Tables How do they herein deviate from the Example of Saint Peter whose Successors they pretend to be and of the holy Prophet David who calleth King Saul his Master That Ministers of all men Observ 2. should chiefly be solicitous to maintain Loyalty in themselves and to propagate it in others David a Prophet preacheth a Sermon of Loyalty to his Souldiers Ministers have great opportunity to expelseditious and instil loyal Principles into the hearts of their Auditors The Reverence that people bear unto their holy Function will facilitate the entertainment of their Instructions The benevolence of Christian
unto this day and made them an ordinance in Israel Zac. 12.10 compared with Acts. 2.36 37. Yea so great was their sorrow that the holy Ghost accounts it a fit pattern and resemblance of that grief which should possesse the hearts of the converted Jews for their crucifying the Lord of glory They shal mourn over him whom they have pierced as a Father mourneth for his only Son And in that day there shall be mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon which was the place where Josiah was slain If the Israsites thus lamented the death of Josiah 2 Chron. 35.22 notwithstanding he was slain in battle by enemies in open hostility against him which might have mitigated their grief How inexcusable would the neglect of a sorrowful resentment of murder of our English Josiah be seeing he was not slain in the heat of War which would have excused a tanto though not a toto but butchered in cold Blood in time of peace by his own Subjects or at least those that ought to have been such It was the saying of our Martyred Sovereign himself That it is more honourable for a King to be invaded almost destroyed by Forreigners then to be dispised at home Psal 55.12 13 14. Had it been an enemy I could have borne But it was thou O Man my friend and mine acquaintance The Dagger of Brutus peirced Caesars heart more then any of the rest which he intimated to him in his last words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Scipio was wont to say that he had rather Hannibal should ear his Heart with salt then Lelius his friend offer him the least unkindnesse How did David weep over the Hearse of Abner being perfidiously murthered by Joab He commanded the people to rent their cloathes 2 Sam. 3.31.32 33 35. and gird them with sackcloth and mourn before Abner And King David himself followed the Bier and lift up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner saying Died Abner as a fool Dieth and all the people wept again over him And David would not tast bread or ought else till the Sun was down whereby all Israel understood that day that it was not of the King to slay Abner the Son of Ner. Did David a King so much lament the murder of Abner his subject How much more should we Subjects lament the murder of our Sovereign that all the world may know that it was not of us to slay Charles King of England That funeral oration and mournful Elegy which David pronounced for the death of Saul with a little variation will serve for our occasion 2 Sa. 1.17 to the end England laments with this lamentation over King Charles the first ver 17. The beauty of England is slain upon thy high places how is the mighty faln ver 19 Tell it not in Gath publish it not in Askelon least the daughters of the Philistines rejoice least the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph ver 20. How was the crown yea blood of the mighty vilely cast away the blood Charles of as if he had not been the Anointed of the Lord ver 21. Ye daughters of England weep for Charles who cloathed you with Scarlet with other delights who put on ornaments of Gold upon your apparel ver 24. O Charles thou wast slain at the Gate of thy Palace ver 25. we are distressed for thee Oh King Charles very pleasant hast thou been unto us thy love to us was wonderful passing the love of Women ver 26. How did the mighty Prince fall and the Royal Crown perish That the horrid nature of this cruel Regicide may be more fully represented unto you as an argument for humiliation Consider First the Act it self Secondly the manner of its commission Thirdly The Object thereof Fourthly the Authors Fifthly The effects and consequents 1. Consider the nature of the act it self It was not only contempt imprisonment but murther The Superlative love of Abraham unto God was amplified in that he was willing not only to chastise Disinherit or banish his Son Isaack but also to kill him by cutting his throat ripping open his bowels and burning his quarters on the Altaâ— so it is on the contrary the high aggravation of the high Treason for which we mourn this day that it was not terminated in some smal affronts but proceeded to the effusion of the Royal blood of his Sacred Majesty 2. Murder Purposed though not perpetrated is of an infinite guilt Sin conceived in the heart is damnable though it never come to the birth or be brought forth Was it not a cursed and Diabolical design in Faux and the rest of the Gunpouder-Traytors at one blow to blow up King Prince and Nobles notwithstanding it proved Abortive how villanous then were those bloody consultations and resolutions which came to Maturity and ripened unto the execution of the Lords Anointed 3. It was a voluminous and bigbellied sin a sin in folio which containeth a great litter of other sins in the belly of it Ingratitude envy malice covetousnesse ambition rebellion perjury Treason blasphemy were the bitter ingredients whereof this confection of porson was compounded 4. It was a sin that admitted of no reparation An imprisoned Prince might have been set at liberty a dethroned Prince inthroned againe but a murdered Prince cannot be revived Secondly Consider the manner how the Death of our Royal Sovereign was effected It was no casual or involuntary act no chance-medly nor man-slaughter but wilful murther How studiously and Deliberately was it acted with what Impudence and malice with what boasting and triumph with what impenitency and Remorslesnesse and with what a fixed resolution against all admonitions and supplications was it committed Murders of Kings in former ages being done privately were modestly acted in comparison of this It was the aggravation as of Absaloms incest 2 Sa. 16.22 that he spread a tent on the house top and went into his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel So of our King-slayers treason that they built a Scaffold before the Royal Palace and adventured on the Decollation of the father of the Nation in the face of the Sun before thousands of spectators in the most populous City of London Thirdly Consider the object of this cruelty or the subject whereon it was acted Not a private person but a King whose person is sacred by the Law of God of Nature and of Nations yea not only a King but a Christian a Protestant King Jesus Christ his Apostles acknowledged subjection unto the primitive Christians prayed for heathen Emâ—â—rors The Jews were commanded to seek the peace of the King of Babylon to whom they were captives Mordicai discovered the treason plotted against the life of Ahasuerus by his two Chamberlaines Esth 3.21 22 23. If the lives of Pagan Emperors and bloedy Butchers of the Church were precious in the eyes of the primitive Christians then certainly the murder of a Gracious
hath given thee a Kingdom Those Nations that will not serve Jer. 27.6 8 9. and put their necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon shall be punished with the Sword and with Famine and with Pestilence until they be consumed Therefore hearken not to your Diviners nor to your Dreamers nor to your Enchanters nor to your Sorcerers which say unto you ye shall not serve the King of Babylon The holy Apostles Peter and Paul command Subjection to heathen Emperors Rom. 13.1 2 3. 1 Pet. 2.13 17. For it was about 300 years after Christ and consequently a long time after the death of the Apostles before any Magistrates became Christians The Primitive Christians were wont to pray for Pagan Princes Exoptantes ipsis vitam prolixam imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes Senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum Tertul. Apologet. Cap. 30. Eminent was the example of Mephibosheths Loyal deportment toward David notwithstanding he 〈◊〉 unjustly sequestred half his estate The King said 2 Sam. 19.29 30. why speakest thou any more of thy matters I have said thou and Ziba divide the Land And Mephibosheth saith yea let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again to his House in peace Our Saviour Jesus Christ commandeth the payment of Tribute unto Caesar Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Mat. 22.21 And acknowledgeth that Pilate an unjust Judge had his Commission from Heaven Thou couldest have no power against me John 19.11 unless it were given thee of God The barbarous Jews themselves who crucified the Lord of Life being asked by Pilate whether they would have their King to be crucified answered we have no King but Caesar intimating that if they had believed that Christ was their King no violence should have been offered unto him Rehoboam threatned Tyranny unto Israel saying my little finger shall be thicker than my Fathers Loyns my Father chastised you with whips but I will chastise you with Scorpions yet the Revolt of the ten Tribes from him is called Rebellion 2 Chron. 13.4 5 7. and the Promoters thereof Sons of Belial Ahab and Jezebel were as great Oppressors and as bloody Persecutors of the Prophets as ever held Scepter yet God threatneth to punish Jehn for destroying them and their Posterity Hos 1.4 I will avenge the bloud of Jezreel on the House of Jehu and will cause the Kingdom to cease from the House of Israel Though the defection of the ten Tribes from the House of David was the punishment of Solomons Idolatry and the destruction of Ahab and Iezebel 1 Kin. 11.11 the Judgment of God on them for their Cruelty to Naboth Yet this did no more excuse the Treason of the ten Tribes and Jehu 1 Kings 21.19 21. who out of rebellions minds executed these Judgments than Gods predetermination of the death of Christ did justifie Judas betraying him or the Jews crucifying him So then we conclude that in case of private and personal or publick and National Injuries received from a King Subjects ought to lay aside all Malice Guile Envy Evil Speakings 1 Pet. 2.1 and all weapons of War and Instruments of death Jesus saith to one of his Disciples resisting the Officers of the Chief Priests and Elders of the Jews that were sent to apprehend him Put up thy sword into its place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Mat. 26.52 Preces Lachrima were the only Arms that the Primitive Christians used when they were oppressed and persecuted Humiliation Refâ—â—â—â—ion and Supplication unto God who judgeth among the gods and in whose hands are the hearts of Kings Prov. 21.1 who turneth them as Rivers of water are better Expedients for the removal of Pressures from a Nation than Rebellion Samuel having in the precedent verses foretold to the Israelites the rigorous carriage of their King towards them 1 Sam. 8.18 he saith ye shall cry out in that day because of your King but the Lord will not hear you he doth not say ye shall rise up and depose your King but ye shall cry unto the Lord for Relief A provoked Prince ought to be pacified by Submission not irritated by Revenge which is not lawful against a Private Person much less against the Head of a Nation For a Subject lying under groundless suspitions to infer from thence that it is better to be suspected for somthing than nothing is the Devils Logick and to exercise Rebellion correspondent to such a Principle is a diabolical Fact Mens submissive deportment and sedulous endeavours to remove even the causless Jealousies of their Prince is the most probable means to stir up the Embers of Ingenuity in his heart A Flint will break upon a Featherbed No heart can be so Adamantine as to withstand the force of an Argument drawn from doing good for evil This like a Sun-beam melted the spirit of Saul himself Saul said is this thy voice my Son David and he lift up his voice and wept 1 Sam. 24.16 17 18 19. And said to David thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil and thou hast shewed this day that thou hast dealt well with me forasmuch as when the Lord delivered me into thy hands thou killedst me not For if a man find his enemy will he let him go free 1 Sa. 26.21 Again I have sinned return my Son David for I will no more do thee harm because my soul was precious in thine eyes Behold I have played the fool and erred exceedingly Herein the words of Solomon are verified By long for bearing a Prince is best perswaded Prov. 25.15 But a revengeful retaliation of Injuries will exasperate the Spirits of Princes who being Cedars in Lebanon will disdain to receive affronts from Thistles in Lebanon Wherefore that Admonition in Eccles 10.4 is not only most pious and Christian but also most prudential If the spirit of a Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place i. e. flee not away in rage and passion for yielding pacifieth great offences Now this Prerogative of Princes to wit their exemption from the violence of their Subjects should be a golden Bridle to restrain them from all actions exorbitant and excentrical from Justice and equity and a golden spur to quicken them to such Heroical actions for the publick good that may argue them to be of Noble and Prince-like spirits as well as of Noble and Princely Blood and Dignity But blessed be the Lord who hath set over England not a Scratching Bramble but a Royal Olive whose Fatness and Sweetness doth rejoyce and exhilerate our hearts A Prince that is as it was said of Titus the Roman Emperor Deliciae generis humani the delight of mankind in whom Clemency Wisdom and all other Royal endowments and Princely vertues are concentricated Upon this account I had almost
Princes to the Church in protecting the Ministry from the fury of grossely prophane and giddy Fanatick people to whom it is an eye-sore in supplying the Church with maintenance in order to the carrying on the Worship of God in providing Universities and Colledges to be Seminaries of Learning in backing the Laws of God with their secular Authority doth lay strong Obligations on Ministers to make their Churches Schools as of Piety toward God so of Loyalty toward their King What horrid ingratitude would Ministers be guilty of by proving fire-brands of Sedition Trumpeters of Rebellion and by making their Sermons an Alarm unto war It would be to rip up the bowels of their Nursing Fathers and to cut off the Breasts of their Nursing Mothers Furthermore as Simeon and Levi made the Name of their Father Jacob to stink Gen. 34.30 Num. 13.32 by their perfidious Murder of the Shechemites as the Spies brought an evil report on the Land of Canaan and as Judas delivered his Master unto the Scoffes of his enemies so disloyalty in Ecclesiastical persons scandalizeth Religion The sins of Elies Sons caused the Sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred 1 Sam. 2.17 The Prophet Davids Adultery with Bathsheba and Murder of Uriah Rom. 2.17 to 25. gave great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme For Ministers to prostitute their Sacred Function unto Ambition and Rebellion is a great provocation unto Magistrates to root them out of their Kingdoms yea to put them to death as Saul did Ahimelech and the Priests of the Lord of whom he slew fourscore and five persons upon Doegs false and malicious information that they conspired with David 1 Sa. 22.18 Let Sermons be Exclamations against sins not against Kings against the Prince of the power of the Air not against the Princes of the earth The Lord teach the Clergy of England not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may neither procure the accusation of disloyalty to themselves nor derive any scandal unto Religion Let no man be lifted up with pride by reason of the dignity of his Office Judas cast Devils out of others Luke 22.3 but could not keep the Devil out of himself Then Satan entred into Judas and so as Luther saith there was one Devil in another As water cleanseth other things and then is crst into the sink as many who laboured in building Noahs Ark were drowned in the Floud so a Minister may teach others and yet be himself a cast-away without true Piety which is inconsistent with disloyalty The Scripture hath linked them both together My Son fear thou God and the King It was the honour of Zadok and Abiathar Prov. 24. that they turned not aside unto Absalom but faithfully cleaved unto David their rightful Soveraign 2. David was anointed to the Office of a King The Lord said unto Samuel how long wilt thou mourn for Saul 1 Sam. 16.1 seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel Fill thine Horn with Oyl and go I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have provided me a King among his Sons 1. David by vertue of this Unction had a plausible Argument to have justified the Murder of Saul being rejected by God and himself elected in his room and to have represented such an act as the execution of Justice as Jehu did the destruction of Ahabt posterity But David abhorred this obvious plece of Policy 2 Kin. 10.10 because it would have been a breach of Piety Forasmuch as Comminations are no Commissions Gen. 4.15 Whosoever shall slay accursed Cain vengeince shall be taken on him seven fold So the bloud of rejected Saul would have brought down vengeance on the head of David if he had shed it The crucifying of Christ was an Act of Glorious Mercy in God but of barbarous Cruelty in the Jews Joseph tels his Brethren that it was not they but God that sent him into Egypt and yet they were guilty of the most unbrotherly act next to actual Fratricide that ever was committed Gen. 45.8 One and the same action may be righteous as it proceedeth from the first cause and unrighteous in respect of the Second Gods bidding Shimei to curse David 2 Sam. 12.11 12. and permission of Absalom to ravish his Fathers Concubines were acts of Justice in God but acts of Treason and Incest in Shimel and Absalom Wherefore let such be accounted Instruments of the Devil Ch. 16.10 who dare offer violence to Kings under pretence of being Instruments to execute divine Justice 2. David by vertue of his Unction might have produced a specious Title unto the Kingdom of Israel if he had been of an ambitious spirit but he knew that he was anointed only to the reversion of the Kingdom and that as a last Will and Testament is of no force until the death of the Testator So his Unction was of no force until the death of Saul A Loyal Subject will wave obvious Pleas for his Right unto a Kingdom 3. David being anointed to the reversion of the Kingdom by the death of Saul might have took Livery and Seisin of it But as Moses cast the Kingdom of Egypt with all the Honours and Treasures thereof at his heels chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Heb. 11. So David preserred the prolongation of his undeserved persecution before the unjust acceleration of the day of his Inauguration unto the Office of a King he esteemed a Turfe in the wilderness with a clear Conscience a better seat than a Throne in a Palace with a Conscience laden with Royal Blood-guiltiness he accounted it a greater honour to be a Loyal Subject than an unlawful King Crowns Scepters and Kingdoms are cogent Temptations Caesar said If Justice may be broken in any case it is regnandi causa Mat. 21.38 The Husbandmen cry out This is the Heir come let us kill him and the Inheritance will be ours But David abhorred to swim unto a Throne through the Blood of his Master having taken the resolution of Ferdinand the first Emperor of Germany Fiat Justitia pereat mundus Let Right be done and come what will of it The gain of a Kingdom will not countervail the loss of a good Conscience What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own Soul Or what will be given in exchange for the Soul There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words What will it profit i. e. What an hard bargain will it be What infinite Damage and Detriment shall a man sustain thereby For put the whole world into one ballance and the Soul into another and this little spark of Divinity will out-weigh the whole Globe of the Earth the vast Fabrick of the Creation It is far better to be upbraided as Balaam was by Balak The Lord hath kept thee