Δετμα Βασιλικε A SERMON Preached at the Kings Prison the Fleet On the 30 th of JANUARY 1681. Being the ANNIVERSARY of the MARTYRDOM OF King Charles I. Of Ever Blessed Memory Judges 19.30 And it was so that all that saw it said there was no such Deed done nor seen from the day that the Children of Israel came up out of the Land of Aegypt LONDON Printed for Walter Davies 1682. To the Right Noble HENRY Lord Marquess and Earl of Worcester c. My LORD THey that say they make Dedications to shew their Gratitude to their Patrons do in my opinion at the same time secretly insinuate the worth and value of their own Works Not to acknowledge my Obligations to your Lordship were great want of Breeding But to say I present you this Sermon out of Gratitude were a greater want of modesty And I hope I know my self better than to have any such presumption I profess ingeniously that the chief reason that induc'd me to prefix your Lordships Name to this Discourse was according to the old use of Dedication to do the thing all the credit it was capable of and if at the same time though contrary to my intentions I have displeased Your Lordship in desiring or rather violently arrogating your Protection yet I have this inward consolation that my good meaning especially with so good a man may in some measure apologize for my Errour Again my Lord every body knows what both your self and your Noble Family have suffer'd for his late Majesty of happy Memory so that what you can possibly suffer in a discourse of him will be so inconsiderable that it will scarce deserve the mentioning God Almighty make us truly sensible and ever mindful of what is past and keep us from ever seeing the like again is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Obedient Servant T. S. A SERMON Preached at the King's Prison THE FLEET PSAL. 149 8. To bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron THere was once a wicked Harangue for Sermon I dare not call it delivered from the Pulpit upon these words whereby both the Holy Text and that sacred Stool were desecrated and prophan'd A scriptum est a holy Text and a damnable Doctrine hath been one of the Devils Practices ever since he carried our Saviour into the Wilderness to tempt him Nor are these days of ours the first wherein the Precepts of the God of Love and the Gospel of Peace have been made use of for a Trumpet of Tumult and Rebellion I shall not need to tell you how properly or with what success the Holder-forth brought the Text and his occasion of it together I wish with all my heart it were in the power of this discourse in some measure to expiate his fault and raise as much hatred and detestation in the minds of my Hearers as he did encouragement in those of his towards that never to be mentioned fact were it not to deter Posterity from the like which gave the sad occasion of this days solemnity Wherein we commemorate the unnatural Murder and Martyrdom of our late lawful Sovereign and the Lords Anointed Charles the First of ever blessed memory And indeed besides that I shall right and vindicate this Text which has been so much abus'd when I consider how little there is between the Prison and the Grave the Confinement and the Death of Kings and how sensible his Sacred Majesty was of those wounds which he received through the sides of his Loyal Nobility I know none I could have chosen that might more fully and fitly put us in mind of his suffering s and the Duty of this day Which is to humble and afflict our Souls under the sense of those manifold crying Sins and Iniquities for which God Almighty suffered Rebellion thus to exalt her self and justifie her Villanies and Murders by the success neither sparing Innocent nor Royal Blood but To bind our Kings in Chains and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron I will not be over-careful nor do I think it necessary to reconcile my Text to the present occasion any further than it may serve for a sad Remembrancer of this black and fatal day I will only in passing mind you of the disproportion Whereas the Kings spoken of here by the Psalmist were Heathens that knew not God The King whose hard fate we remember this day was a Christian and so truly the Defender of the Faith that even in the literal sence he resisted unto Blood And whereas the binders in the Text were Saints and Men of Honour ours were execrable Villains and the dregs of the People Though I cannot but observe by the way that there was a kind of fatality in their calling themselves Saints and the People of the Lord. The main Thesis then or Pillar of my discourse at this time will be the Sufferings of our Royal Martyr But because it is impossible to mention them without some reflections on His Vertue and His Enemies Malice these two will make our Topicks or Common-places three to wit His Majesties Sufferings His Vertues and His Enemies malicious wickedness His Sufferings were passing great and for ought I know or have ever read if you will except our Saviours unparallelâ—d His Patience and Vertue as I shall shew you anon were such too And lest any proportion should be wanting in the story such also was the implacable Malice and Wickedness of his Enemies A Malice which I had almost said was immortal and notwithstanding any Act of Grace and Indempnity seems to have out-liv'd both Pardon and Punishments and the very Actors themselves And according to the notion of the Philosopher to have transmigrated and remov'd it self into new Bodies I do very well know that this part of my discourse and it may be some other besides will not please every body but I am confident I am guiltless and they have themselves to thank for it who in this late conjuncture have endeavoured as far as in them lay to involve us in the same miseries and calamities again So that to speak freely and boldly at this time whatever they would make us believe is so far from doing any violence to that his present Majesties most Gracious Act of Oblivion that I do verily believe it were a sin to be silent and I hope the seasonable liberty of all the Pulpits in the Kingdom at this present may be one means to keep us from being twice Shipwrackt upon the same Rocks from being undone again and perishing a second time by the same unhappy method of binding our Kings in Chains and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron I cannot promise you that in this ensuing discourse I shall so strictly as it may be you may expect and so distinctly and severally speak to each of those three Heads or Arguments I have proposed For besides that grief especially such as this is not easily confin'd in Rules and Methods the nature of my
Notwithstanding this the Ordinance for his Majesties Tryal is refused by the Lords whereupon the House of Commons pass it alone and by themselves cause a Charge of High Treason to be drawn up against him in order to his Tryal in the Name of the Commons of England and immediately make Proclamation That they that could Accuse the King should present themselves before the Commissioners appointed for his Tryal and they should be heard I will not trouble you with Remarques upon these several passages the bare Relation does manifestly shew us both the Rebels Malice his Majesties Sufferings and admirable Patience and Resignation whereof himself hath given us the best draught in his own incomparable Book We will therefore leave him a while to his Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations and before we bring him to act his last Part upon this Bloudy Stage according to the order of our method speak a word upon His Sufferings in the Persons of his Loyal Nobility and such good Subjects as stood and fell with his Majesty in that Good Cause We commonly say The King is the Fountain of Honour and when the Fountain is troubled you know the Rivulets and little Streams must needs run muddy The King is like the great Luminary of the world the Sun from which as some Natural Philosophers conceive both the Moon and many of the lesser Lights of Heaven borrow their shine and splendour Now when the Sun it self is Eclipsed the Moon and all those other Planets must needs fade and lose their brightness When the King 〈…〉 we thâ—â—◠〈…〉 Loyal â—â—bles should enjoy their reflected Honours and Liberties Thiâ— was the state of 〈…〉 time 〈…〉 was Dâ—â—â—â—â—'◠〈…〉 the measures of his Suffering this Faiâ—◠〈…〉 were likewise Plunder'd 〈…〉 and many of 〈…〉 So exactly were those 〈…〉 applicable to this sad occasion The Servant is not greater then his Masters And 〈…〉 things in the Green Tree what will they do to the Dâ—â— I will not pretend to give you a just Bill of the Mortality of those daâ—s But since I am so far engag'd I will 〈◊〉 to say something and be sure to keep 〈…〉 bounds of truth and modesty There were on his Majesties part above Twenty Earls and Lords slain and 〈…〉 a pretended Court of Justâ—â—◠〈…〉 and Knights above an Hundred 〈…〉 Lieutâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 and Serjeant 〈…〉 Four hundred 〈◊〉 and other inferiour Commission Officers and then for the meaner Subjects and 〈…〉 you to guess I will say nothing of 〈…〉 â—â—â—hers but pray to God thâ—â— their Bloud 〈…〉 ever â—tise up in Judgment against 〈…〉 〈…〉 or Tenâ—â—â—â—â— overture would 〈…〉 Oak and goodly â—â—â—ars but destroy dâ—â—â—â— crush'd the very Shâ—◠〈…〉 There was fear scarce 〈…〉 were only thought 〈◊〉 to be so though his Quâ—l ioy were never so mean but felt the Insolence and Violences of thâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—ful Conquerours Yea someâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 a Crime only to live in a Loyal Neighbourhood and to relieve or shew mercy to such as were persecuted for 〈◊〉 Loyalty was the â—â—ady way to follow theâ—◠〈◊〉 and share in the 〈…〉 Nay more their malice often times 〈…〉 â—scended all bounds that they did mischief where they were not 〈…〉 to themselves only 〈…〉 they took in doing it Burning 〈…〉 Goods destroying Books Eâ—â—â—â—â—â—s and Publick Records to the prejudice of Posterity the disturbance of Possessions the obstruction of Justice the impairing of Learning only to make themselves sport Nay I believe there is scarce a Cathedral in the Kingdom which does not beaâ— the Livery of their madness and some markes of their rage unto this very day Nor do I wonder that the Houses of God were prophan'd and defac'd when I consider that the Priests themselves who serv'd at his Altar were either sacrific'd to the fury of his Enemies or at least depriv'd of their Benefices and expos'd to the wide world which was one of their tender Mercies But what do I speak of their persecuting of the living who envy'd the very rest and quiet of the dead breaking in pieces their Monuments and violating the Ashes of those Bodies whose Souls are in â—eaven out of their reach long ago How monstrous and disproportionable is it in these men to pretend themselves Servants of the Living God who in their practices 〈◊〉 â—â—ich a mortal haâ—â—ed to the places where his 〈◊〉 dwells Or how can we think that they have any Religion who have even divested themselves of all Humanity I will pass from this unpleasant Argument with praying for those of them that are yet alive in the words wherewith St. Stephen the blessed Proto Martyr pray'd for those that ston'd him Lord lay not this Sâ—â— to theâ— Charge I will only put you in mind that when you have added the Sufferings of the Nobility to those of his late Majesty you have the compleat figure and substance of the Text A King in Chaiâ—eâ— and his Nobles in Feetâ—â— of Iron But there is yet no end of this sorrowful story What I have hitherto said are all but flourishes and preliminaries The great slaughter of the fifth Act the last and bloudiest section of my method is yet to come and that is the Murder and Martyrdom of the best of Kings by the hands of his own Rebellious Subjects An action that all circumstances consider'd can find no parallel in time past and God forbid it should in time to come to which Posterity shall for eveâ—â—ay an annual Tribute of Tears and the solemnity 〈◊〉 Penetential Commemoration An action that surpasses all the savage and inhumane Barbarities of those Countreys whose Cruelty is gone into a Proverb and which among other Nations has branded and stigmatiz'd this of ours with an eternal Infamy The Rebels bring their Lawful Sovereign to a formal Tryal in a Court of their own erecting In vindication of whose Authority when questioned by his Majesty as they had nothing to answer so could they not produce the least colour of Law or pretence of Reason for trying him who was unaccountable to â—â—â—y 〈◊〉 upon Earth and according to that antient ma◠〈…〉 the Law can do no wrong But their Poâ—â—â— â—â—â—st pass for Justice and their Wills are a Law And he might as well demand an account of their Proceedings as an Innocent Traveller might of violence offer'd him by a desperate knot of Banditti or Highway-men All this while as the Jews did at the Tryal of our Saviour the insolent Souldiers according to their Instructions not to mention their more than Barbarous and Inhumane affronts and uncivilities cry out aloud for Justice against the Prisoner at the Bar. The President of that High Court of Justice as they called it in the mean while with a torrent of imperious and insolent words urges him to plead while he only persists as well be might to deny the Authority of the Court. There are several days spent in the same manner after which as Judges use to treat Malefactors that have not the fear of God before their Eyes the
The first appearance of this Storm was in that fatal unquiet Quarter the North. The Cloud arose in Scotland and was at first no bigger than a mans hand but at last it grew so great that it covered three Kingdoms and drench'd almost every corner of them with showers of blood The pretence indeed of this disorder was Religion but it appeared by the sad consequences that the thing design'd and intended at least by the Ring-leaders and first movers of it was Violence and Rapine and Sacriledge Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Who would think Religion should make men so wicked They begin first of all with Paper Arms mutinous and Treasonable Pamphlets and insolent and senceless Petitions Then the evil Spirit grew so unruly and disorderly that it assaulted the Bishops upon the Streets nay the very Churches and Pulpits could not secure them from violence And at length this heat and insolence broke forth into an open flame of Hostility and Rebellion But that which made every good mans apprehensions of this mischief the stronger was that the Rebels were conniv'd at if not favour'd and encouraged under hand by a party of their Brethren in England For at the same time there were many Seditious Pamphlets scattered about here likewise which did most impiously reflect both upon the Church and Government yea which was yet infinitely more intolerable several of the Authors who had been taken into custody and confin'd for them were afterwards by the House of Commons delivered and vindicated and commenced the date of their Fame and Popularity as Herostratuâ— from the burning of Diana's Temple from those a bominable beginnings and upon those dangerous Foundations erected the structure of their rising Fortunes This I say to put you in mind that sometimes men arrive at strange degrees of honour and esteem only by the merit of their Crimes And I am of opinion we have seen but too many examples of the like kind very lately who to please the people and make a fortune neither cared what they said or swore or did But let me tell you by the way that such attempts and practices as these are for the most part very unfortunate in the end and when the Peoples eyes are opened they that before cryed Hail Master will then cry Crucifie him Crucifie him and they that to day cry Hosanna will to morrow cry Away with him to Golgotha But I came not here to Prophesie The Male-contents in England after the example of their rebellious Neighbours begin to cry out aloud for Liberty and Religion and a thorow Reformation Hereupon his Majesty thinking it the most proper remedy for these Agonies and Convulsions of State calls a Parliament And this as it happened afterwards proved a remedy worse than the Disease it self For instead of healing and composing differences and grievances they made it their business to aggravate and make them worse They themselves immediately begin to complain of Bishops and the whole Hierarchy of Ecclesiastical Officers in the Church and of evil Counsellors in the State and about his Majesties Person Nay they begin to descend to particulars His Grace the Lord Arch-Bishop is Impeached and afterwards Executed for high-Treason nor can the Reverence of his Office nor the Integrity of his Manners secure him About the same time the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland of whose Innocence his Majesty and all the World not excepting his very Enemies who took care that his case should be no president for Posterity were very well satisfied was also Committed to the Tower Condemned and Executed upon the like accusation All this while his Majesty was but a helpless looker on for the Common People upon his occasion ran together in such Multitudes and clamorous Tumults as endangered not only the Servant but the Master A hard case and a pitiful that a King whos 's the Laws are could not deliver an innocent Person from being Condemned and suffering Death contrary to Law and a sad presage of his own misfortunes In the mean time the Parliament is plyed with Petitions from all sorts of men and women too except the good and Grievances and Fears and Jealousies of I know not how many kinds But the main common places were Religion and Liberty Alas what Religion do they dream of that strike at the very roots and foundations of it Or what Liberty can the Subjects expect when the King himself is not free However they and the Parliament mutually encourage one another and strengthen one anothers hands in wickedness The clamours of the People make the Parliament bold and the boldness of the Parliament makes the People clamorous All this while his Majesty to shew how much he tendered the peace and quiet of his Subjects and to satisfie them all if it were possible at their importunity recedes in some things from his Right and Prerogative He passes a Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and afterwards settled this during the pleasure of the two Houses A wonderful condescention and goodness in a King the like of which we have never met with in all our English Chronicles And now let us see how they requite him About this time his Majesty charged some of the Members of the House of Commons and not without just cause with High-Treason and demanded them in the House himself in Person But this they exclaim of as a high breach of Priviledge and the accused Members who were for the present fain to abscond were in a little time afterward brought again to sit in the House and vindicated without Tryal Thus finding the ground they had got of his Majesty their demands grow every day louder and more unreasonable They do not blush to demand the power of the Militia the Command of the Navy the Government of all the Strengths and Garrisons in the Kingdom So that Royalty was now to be strips of all her Ornaments and Soveraignty to be Vox praeterea nihil An empty Name and nothing else And now what is become of our old English Loyalty and Honesty when our King shall by his own Parliament be divested of all the Ensigns of his Honour and Majesty and the Father of his Country become a Slave to his Subjects About this time did the Natives of the Kingdom of Ireland encouraged by the example of the Scots and the attempts of this Parliament upon the Crown cast off the Yoke of their Allegiance and run into open Rebellion and made such a Massacre of his Majesties Protestant Subjects as never was heard of before in the three Kingdoms And here notwithstanding his Majesties continual solliciting and importuning the Parliament for the reducing and settling that Kingdom it is very observable that they still declin'd it And some men were so barbarously scandalous and so unreasonably malicious as to object the cause of that Rebellion to his Majesty himself and intimate to the World that it was secretly begun and favoured by his Authority and Commission Thus did the three Kingdoms as