Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A63996
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England's breath stopp'd being the counter-part of Jvdah's miseries lamented publickly in the New-Church at Westminster on January 30 being the anniversary of the martydom of King Charles the First of blessed memory / by Robert Twisse.
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Twisse, Robert, d. 1674.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing T3416A; ESTC R967
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16,659
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42
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Chickens under her wings to protect them from the ravenous Kite for there is mention made in Scripture of the shadow of wings Psal 36.7 and 57.1 and 63.7 Though I rather embrace the first Metaphor of a Tree as most proper for this and other places of Scripture to shadow forth the Excellencies of Kingly Government III. The unhappy Fall of this tall Cedar in those words was taken in their pits IV. The unlooked-for Season viz. at such a time when the Jews promised themselves no small Happiness under his Government Of whom we said Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathens The Kingdome of Judah had strangely shifted her Princes in a little time In the space of less then 12 years four Kings were removed partly by death and partly by Deposition Egypt and Babylon were Judah's Make-kings And she poor Kingdome like a Tennis-ball was bandied up and down and driven into several streights according as those two mighty Monarchs play'd their game At last Babylon having gained the prize from Egypt Judah was in some hopes of a Settlement under Zedekiah who being of the Royal Line was advanced to the Throne with the joynt consent of Hebuchadnezzar and the Jews but within few years as their Riches had fled away long before so now their Hopes too are upon the wing and gone The Tree is cut down the Rock is overturned all the Feathers of the Wings are plucked and the poor Jews exposed to the wide world The Breath of our nostrils the Anointed of the Lord was taken c. I begin with the First viz. The Sacredness of Zedekiahs's Person by virtue of his Kingly Office being styled the Anointed of the Lord. Kings are the Anointed of God God gave commission to Samuel to anoint Saul the first King of Israel 1 Sam. 9.15 16. which accordingly he performed chap. 10.1 Then Samuel took a vial of Oyle and poured it upon his head and kissed him and said Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance Hence is Saul called the Anointed of the Lord by David often After the Rejection of Saul by God Samuel is authorized by God to doe the like unto David 1 Sam. 16.1 and did so v. 13. And of this solemn Consecration to the Royal Office David speaks Psal 89.19 20. Then thou spakest in a vision to thy holy one viz. Samuel and saidest I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my Servant with my holy Oyle have I anointed him And hence in many of the Psalms David styles himself the Anointed of the Lord. And because David's Successors had the like honourable Ceremonies done unto them thereupon they might challenge the same honourable Title Neither was this Ceremony of Anointing proper onely to David and his Successors but other Kings likewise had the same Honour done unto them by the special warrant of God as namely Jehu and Hazael Now the Effusion of Oyle upon their heads did betoken 1. The pouring out of a spirit of Government and Courage upon them beyond what they were ordinarily endued withall before their Assumption to the Crown as appears in Saul and David 1 Sam. 10.6 9 10. and ch 11.6 And of this last it is expresly said 1 Sam. 16.13 that The Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward viz. the day of his Anointing And as by this Ceremony of pouring out Oyle upon the head was signified the pouring out of a spirit of Government upon the person so consecrated so withall 2. The Dignity and Sacredness of their Persons With mine holy Oyle have I anointed him doth David bring in God speaking concerning himself Psal 89.20 The Person therefore being anointed with holy Oyle becomes after a sort Holy so as not to be rudely or prophanely treated either with hand or tongue or thoughts Curse not the King no not in thy thoughts Eccl. 10.20 Much less ought his Life to be ravished from him by a stroke of pretended Justice Nay the very Garments of Kings call for Reverence and Respect from us else what need David's heart have smote him for but cutting off the skirt of Saul's Garment 1 Sam. 24.5 6. which was done upon no worse design then to give Saul an earnest of his unspotted Loyalty towards him Say not it was want of wisedome or courage in David to let his Enemy escape when the Cave furnished him with so fair an advantage against him Time was when you might have seen David so hardy as to dare to take a King by the Beard 1 Sam. 17. and kill him but it was a King of Beasts not of Men viz. a Lion A Lion and a Bear were both worsted by David Yea a tall and mighty Giant in the field big enough to eat him up at a bit could not daunt little David armed indeed weakly with a Sling and a few small Stones but backed strongly with the Name of the Lord Prov. 18.10 which is a strong Tower Onely a King in a Cave makes David's Sword to fall out of his hand and his heart too to faint And observe when it was that David held his hand when Saul was covering his feet in the Cave Strange when our Earthly Gods betray most of man and humane infirmity even then there should such a Majesty appear in their Persons as to command the Swords and Hearts of all Loyal Subjects So again ch 26.7 8. when King Saul at another time lay at the mercy of David being fast asleep and Abner the General of his Army in the same posture who therefore deserved the reward of that Thebane Sentinel who being found asleep by Epaminondas was dispatched by him with this Memento Dead I found thee and dead I leave thee when Saul I say lay fast asleep Abishai's stomach was sharp set and very earnest to fall aboard him but David withholds him with this strong Cord v. 9. Destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless Who can and be guiltless Sure if any might have made bold with Saul's life David was the man being a King himself and so Saul's peer and equal and having a better Title to the Crown then Saul since God had rejected him chap. 16.1 But David cannot persuade himself to thrust his Prince out of the Saddle that he may mount up Rather he will attend and wait God's leisure and not stoop to take up that Crown which being at all times lined with Thorns doth then prick most when the Thorns are steeped in Royal bloud Yea but I hear a muttering of some Patrons of our Regicides We are as much against King-killing in a Cave as David we abhor to give our Prince either a Spanish Figg or Dagger we never once encouraged any to Assassinate or stab our Sovereign we leave such practices to such as have been tutored thereunto in the Jesuites Chamber of
Meditation we acknowledge in this respect the Lives of Kings to be as consecrate Corn J. G. fit onely to be reaped by the hand of God But for a Prince that hath bathed his Sword in the Bloud of his Subjects to have a fair Trial in open Court and afterwards to have Justice done upon him by virtue of that ancient Law of God He that sheddeth man's bloud by man shall his bloud be shed cannot justly be parallel'd with Romish and Jesuitical practices who murther with white-powder and kill without making any noise But who is so great a stranger in our Israel as to be ignorant what kinde of Trial our Gracious Sovereign underwent Who knows not that his Judges were his sworn Enemies and forsworn Rebells Who knows not that our Sovereign's Death was decreed before ever their High Court was erected which was onely to adde Mockery to their Malice as was observed by our late Sovereign Who knows not what bloudy purveyors were sent up and down the Nation to procure hands to Petitions which the poor Subscriber never heard nor read onely the mention of Justice upon Delinquents from highest to lowest blinded the eyes of some perhaps honest and well-meaning but yet silly men that they could not see to the bottom of that Hellish Design who otherwise would have shriek'd aloud to have seen the Devil appear at noon-day with his cloven foot And whereas it is said that bloud must goe for bloud I grant it if understood aright viz. so it be ordered to be shed by the Magistrate that is authorized thereunto by Commission from the Supreme Magistrate for otherwise if any men may take the Sword of Justice in their hands they will be sure to doe Injustice our hands then like Ishmael's will be lifted up against every man and every mans hand against us If the King be Supreme then sure I am the People are inferiour and if it be an undoubted Maxime that Par in parem non habet potestatem then certainly the Inferior though they may have Power yet can challenge no Authority over the Superior The truth is had either the Law of God or of Nature or of the Land been consulted withall the Sacred Person of a King would never have been made so cheap nor His Head severed from His Body on such easie terms If either Moses or Daniel or David or Paul might have been allowed to have been of His Majestie 's Counsel and heard as Advocates on His Royal behalf I am sure He would have been acquitted at their Mock-Court Moses saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods Exod. 22.28 nor curse the Ruler of thy people then sure not Behead him 1 Sam. 26.9 David is peremptory Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless Dan. 4.19 Daniel was wholly seis'd with Horror and astonishment for one hour to behold as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sad Doom of Nebuchadnezzar approching which yet would not reach his Life but onely his Honour which yet after seven years Eclipse would recover his former Lustre and brightness Oh how much more Trembling and Confusion of spirit would have overtaken him had it been revealed to him that his own native Prince should not onely have been hal'd from his Throne but forced likewise to his Grave by his own unnatural Subjects Rom. 13.1 Paul commandeth every Soul to be subject to the Higher powers And it 's worth observing that this Command was given when Souls were at best and Powers at worst But Silent Leges inter Arma The clattering of Arms will not allow any Laws but Martial to be heard But if neither the threefold Cord of Reason Law and Religion can binde you O ye Justiciaries to your good behaviour yet let your own Concernments prevail upon you Time may come that the winde may tack about and the Sun shine so hot upon you that you may wish for a Tree with leaves to shade you or if you are weary of your own lives and can be content to stop your own breath yet be persuaded to let your Neighbours live and breathe a little longer And this brings me to the consideration of the Second remarkable in the Text. Secondly The happy Influence of Zedekiah's and so of all Kingly Government displayed in two Metaphors 1. It is compared to the Breath of our nostrills The Phrase is taken from Gen. 2.7 where we reade the Lord formed Man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life and Man became a living Soul It seems by this expression that Kings are as Souls to actuate and enliven the great Bodies of people which without them would be but as so many Corpses when once the breath is gone As when God made Adam of Clay or Red earth he is said to breathe into his nostrills the breath of life and so Man became a living Soul so when God erects a Nation into an orderly Government but especially a Kingdome or Monarchy then are we a living Soul and breathe indeed Well may then their Memory stink and rot amongst us that made Three famous Kingdoms become so many stinking Carcases They must needs be so when their breath was stopt And how just is God in taking away their breath that robbed Three Nations of their breath at once And it is worth observing That these Three Kingdoms could never thrive till they did breathe again towards Monarchy under a thing called a Protector But indeed his breath could not agree with our English bodies His breath was too hot it did rather scorch then cool the body and being more Artificial then Natural for his Head was only fastned to the Body by an Instrument it could not animate the Body long so that within a few years the Three Nations lay a gasping and panting for breath and were in a manner giving up the Ghost when God in rich Mercy was pleased to inspire a new Life into us in raising up our present Sovereign to be unto us as Life from the Dead 2. Kingly Government is compared to a Tree not a naked one without Branches or Leaves but such an one as is stored with plenty of Leaves for Shadow and Fruit for Food Of whom we said Under his Shadow we shall live Like that fair tall and well-spread Tree in Dan. 4. whose leaves were fair and fruit much for all the Beasts that came under it Not a Bramble or Thorn which in stead of affording Covert and Nourishment will scratch and tear the Flesh of those poor Sheep that seek for shelter under their boughs Not the poisonous Yew whole melancholick shade is reported by some deadly to those that sit under it These may be fit Emblems of Democratical and Protectorian Government But the Tree under which Judah of old and England of late sate was the spreading Vine that together with the broad Leaves affords thick clusters of Grapes which yield Wine to chear the