Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A39839
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The passion-flower a sermon preached on the 30th day of January, being the day of the martyrdom of King Charls the I. / by Christopher Flower ...
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Flower, Christopher, 1621 or 2-1699.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing F1384; ESTC R15159
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14,466
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34
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fell in the saddest Sens on the Wisest of them For had not They first preacht Him down in their Synagogs the People had never cryed Him down in the Judgment-Hall with a Non hune Not This Man but Barabbas III. Here is matter of Comfort in our vilified reproacht Condition here below As thus I. That we cannot be lower than our Saviour was in the World's Repute II. That his Disreputation hath Sanctified Ours If such a one who had don so much Good could not procure a Good word from those he did it to why should such Unprofitable Servants as we are at best be troubled if we be awarded with frowns for our Favors with Cruelty from others from our kindness to them I 'm sure this Lamb of God opened not his Mouth repiningly was dumb before the Shearers who as much as in them lay rob'd him of the whole Fleece of his Reputation yet that which at first sight seems to make for his ignominy realy conduc'd much for his Glory For his Father would not have him ransom'd at such a rate as to be beholding to the people's Favour for his Repriev and live under the Notion of a Malefactor who beeing innocent would be Condemn'd and Dy with more Honor as he did to the stigmatizing of them who were his Judges and Persecutors with the Brand of perpetual infamy In short here is matter as of Comfort so of Caution least at any time we make our Teeth to meet in the rigid Censure of that Penson that die's not a Natural but a violent Death What is this but to condemn the Generation of the Righteous I remember Lam. 4. 20. there is a passage to this purpose The breath of our Nostrils the Anointed of the Iord is taken in their pits Which was this that fell as a Morsel into his enemies Mouths but a good King one under whose Government they pronoun't themselvs Happy as it follows in the same vers Beloved it is unchristian to judg temporal punishments to be judgements due unto Sin Suffer me to speak it Thy wickedness is too triumphant who will not acknowledg that some afflictions are for Trials and in order to the increas of Grace and Glory unto God's dear Children 'T is as much as to say Christ could not be the Sun of Righteousness because he did set in such a Cloud of wretchedness at his Death as to outward appearance dying on the Cross in the midst of two Theeves as if the chiefest Malefactor 'T is not it the manner of one's Death but the Cours of one's Life that makes really wretched or happy To think otherwise is to pronounce thy self as much out in thy judgement as these Jewes were in their Choice when they all cryed Non hunc Not this Man but Barabbas I have now done with my Text and it may be exspected I should speak somwhat of the Occasion For this is not only a Fast-day but a Funeral which we Solemnize The Funeral of as pious a King as ever England had to sway its Scepter That litle that is to be found in Bad men the holy Ghost hath thought good to Register David pen'd Saul's Epicedium which runs thus Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their Lives and in their Death they were not Divided yee Daughters of Israel weep over Saul who cloath'd you in Scarlet and other Delights who put Ornaments of Gold upon your Apparel 2. Sam. 1. 23 24. Which gives a sufficient warrant to mention and not only so but to commend the Dead which I intend not to do at this time His incomparable worth want's not the varnish of my water-Colours to set him off Neither shall I blister the air of this sacred place with mentioning of any of those who had a hand in his Death since Justice is in pursuit of them and its Iron-hand will recompens the Slowness of its Leaden feet But because some were eminently instrumental to bring to pass the Death of that just Man shall Wee think our selves Innocent God forbid There are none of us of mature years but by our Sins gave earnest for that fatal Stroak which made three Kingdomes Miserable at once So that well may Wee assume that passionat wish of the Prophet Jeremy O that our Heads were Waters and our Eyes Fountains of Tears that wee may lament Day and Night for the shedding of the Innocent Blood of that good King The Top-branch of which Royal Ceder to the root of which Envy and implacable Malice laid the Ax the Lord preserv Bless him O Lord in his Body and bless him in his Soul bless him in his Going out and bless him in his Coming in Bless him whensoever he shall adventure upon the Water that dangerous deceitful Element be thou his Pilot Bless him when he shall journey on the Land be thou his Conduct Bless the Guard of his Body with Courage and Fidelity bless the Guides of his Soul with Sincerity of Life and soundness Doctrine May all the blessings on Mount Gerezim in this Life and in the next all the blessings Christ preacht upon the Mount be multiplied upon him And to this Prayer I doubt not but every Loyal Subject will from his heart say Amen Specialy when he doth remember and resent Horresco referens this sad trilinguous Hexastich MAP 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHARLS best of Kings for God's Laws and the Land 's Was Martyr'd murder'd by UNHALLOWED hands Dei Gratiâ Regis Oblatio qualis-qualis EHMAMP FINIS Ter Deno JanI Labens rex soLe CaDente Carolus eXutus soLio sCeptorqVe seCure
him die who rais'd the Dead and him be releas'd whose Trade it is to destroy the Living Let Life depart and Darkness remain The Peace-maker be dispatcht and the Seditious repriv'd How by this Action or Election of theirs did the Jewes in the saddest sense forsake the Fountain of Living waters and betake themselves to a muddy bloody dirty puddle of water They did not set free the Nocent only insteed of the Innocent but put to death Him who was a constant and faithfull Benefactor to them And thus my Discourse all along if you have observ'd it respects the business of this Day which is to be humbled for the horrid Murther of an innocent Person a good Benefactor to this Nation under whom it had flourisht many years First then in this the Jewes betray'd superlative ingratitude and high Baseness to preferr so vile a person before Him who chose them from among all Nations to be His peculiar People his choice Inclosure Secondly here was their Malice who car'd not how things went so as in this they had their wills Thirdly this argues them Blind indeed Malice is blind asking what they should have been against the death of their Saviour and the Release of a Thief and as they passionately desired so it came to pass hugging their Bane in Him whom they were so hot to have releas'd For the Vengeance which such a Choice merited did not long sleep neither would it If they had not made use of that Cabell His Bloud be upon us and our Children to pull it down more speedily upon them For Titus saith Josephus besieging Jerusalem when the Jewes pincht with Famine came forth in Multitudes to seek food for their famisht Souls he daily caus'd a number of them to be Crucified in so much that at length saith the Historian There was scarce any place to erect Crosses on nor Crosses enough to fasten their Bodiesto This this was the Crop of severity which their sinful choice yielded them And how justly were they punish'd with death who refused the Lord of life so plâ—â—gid by that Tyrant who cryed again Non hune Not this man but Barabbas But what had not Pilate a Finger at lest in this from the guilt of which he cleared himself would have been thought to do so by washing of his hands as if he should have said by that action I am innocent therefore look ye to it that I condemn this man O ye Jews I do it not voluntarily but being compell'd I am innocent I call Heaven to witness it is you that are Nocent and guilty of his Bloud This Hypocrite he was as Scarlet or Purple within as without in Heart as in Habit notwithstanding all that Formality of washing his hands accessary he was to the Death of the Lord of Life in a high degree being a faint-hearted Judge afraid to give Innocency its Reward Had he bore up valiantly against the stream of the multitude he had approv'd himself an honest man and a good Judge What could be more base and dirty and sinful then to confess he found no fault at all in Him and yet not to find in his heart to acquit him but to curry favour with the people adjudges him to be Crucified Thus Non rarò bonorum virorism Capitibus ut Talis aut Tesseris Ludunt saith one 'T is the Old Game of the world for the Heads and Lives of good men to be plaid with like Dice or Chess-men by Great men that they might ingratiate themselves with each other I have read of an Apologue to this purpose it run's thus The Wolf the Fox and the Ass on a time came together to Shrift The Wolf confest and was dismist the Fox did likewise and was absolv'd but the Ass confest and his fault was this that being hungry he took one straw out of the sheaf of a poor Pilgrim travelling to Rome for which he was severely punished the Fox and the Wolf straight fall upon him and devour him maintaining that the poor Asses Crime was so great as to deserve it The Fable applys it self To be sure where Pilat is Judge Barabbas shall be loos'd and the Innocent condemned I do believe unjust Sysamnes whom Cambises flead and of his Skin made a Cushion for all succeeding Judges to lean and look on was a Saint to this Judge as subtely as he carried it And yet as madd and malicious as the People were they could not hinder their Prisoner from evading a Glorious King though nothing but unworthy base usage came from them Glorious in his personal vertues Glorious in his Divine Graces but most Glorious in his Constancy and perseverance in his Charity even amidst all his Sufferings which nothing could more magnifie then this Choice of theirs Electing Barabbas and rejecting Jesus not before they had done either good or evill but after One had done all the Evill and the Other for divers years together all the Good imaginable then to elect the Robber and reject the Saviour what could more make against them and for Him Heere again how plainly through the Sufferings of the King of Saints may one see the Sufferings of that Saint of Kings Charles the first whose Murther we are this Day to lament and be humbled for I shall now descend to some suitable application I. From the Competition precedaneous to the Choice presum'd heere but exprest in Saint Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which of the two will ye that I release unto you for so run the words Math. 27. 17. Let us learn that there is no office so sacred or weighty but some either through favour or fear will abuse it whom will ye that I release Corrupt wretch to bring that in Question Which it was in his power to put out of Question and sure would have done had he acted according to the Dictate either of his Wife by his side or of that Scold his Conscience within him For he knew that for Envy they they had de-deliver'd him Matth. 27. 18. Knew yet would not doe what he should have done but did forbear to acquit Christ exposing him to the mercy of the Multitude whose tenderest mercies are cruel Not to save a Man if it be in ones power is to destroy him so saith our Saviour Mark 3. 4. Job brake the jawes of the wicked and pluckt the Prey out of his Teeth 't is said I have read that Sir George Blage if I mistake not his Name one of King Henry the 8ths Privy Chamber being condemn'd for a Heretick was yet pardon'd by the King he coming afterward into the Kings presence Ah my Pig said the King for so he was wont to call him yea said he If your Majesty had not been better to me then my Judges were your Pig had been roasted e're this time for certain there is no such unsavory Salt and more becoming a Dunghill than a Pilate or a Bradshaw an unjust Judge Envy not the pomp of such a one whensoever your eyes