God's Iudgments UPON REGICIDES A SERMON Preached in the Fleet-Prison on the 30th Day of January 1682 3. Proving that the Bloud of that Pious Monarch and Glorious Martyr King Charles the First is not yet Expiated By J. Butler B. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Ormond LONDON Printed by T. Moore and J. Ashburne for Awnsham Churchill at the Black-Swan in Ave-Mary-Lane 1683. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To the most Noble and Thrice Excellent Prince James Duke Marquess and Earl of Ormond c. My very good Lord and Patron Health Happiness and length of Days be ever wished My Lord THough it pleases God to distinguish me from your other Chaplains by that Eminent Mark the Sign of the Cross Yet neither do I nor am I to esteem my self any thing the more thereby acquitted or in any thing the less whit discharged of that Diligence in Service which in Duty I owe unto your Grace In a great Mans House there ought to be Vessals of all sorts God has made others much more Weighty in the Purse and more Graceful upon the Back as well as in the Head and as so the apter Ornaments in your Parlour and Chappel and at your great Table But God has confined me to a private Closet and thereby as it were given me in special charge to be the more instant at my private Devotions and most serious Studies and therein lies my Service while they attend your greater affairs Afflictions especially when they come in crowds and thronging one upon anothers Neck as with me for some time of late they have done do usually threaten with much of blame as well as pain and I am content to bear the blame and do acknowledg a guilt upon me equal to the Burthen that my God hath laid upon my Back though the sin wherewith I am charged is such as in the Book of God is no where forbidden in that sense as it lies at my door and was never proved against me by any Circumstance or light of Evidence more then by one onely Boy whose Education had never arrived to the understanding of an Oaths weight and I have endured a Twelve-Months Imprisonment upon that one Boys Evidence and yet do still find my Crime so unpardonable as no submission nor satisfaction can expiate it We know that where God loves best many times he mostly chastizeth and yet that knowledg though we have for it a Divine warranty is very apt to be out of mind when we look upon a Man in Calamity But your Grace is a Person of more Candour whose own Experience of the good Hand of God in the day of adversity has taught you to look upon a perplexed Sufferer with such an equal Eye as can distinguish his Sorrows from his Shame This Sermon my Lord was Preached in the Prison such another place as was that where St. Paul sung his Psalms 'T is a Prophetical Discourse and toucheth nearly upon our own Countrey and upon our own Times and almost upon this very Instant The Inspiration is none of mine I pretend not to it in the least what is thereof is our Saviours and of other Sacred Persons from whose Writings and Sayings I took it up and my Authors I have quoted The Reading the Application and something of Interpretation I own and your Grace will find them all back't with Reason and good Warranty Our present Age God have Mercy on us is not without very great stain and shame of crying sins sins exceeding hainous if not unparallel'd excepting those against the Bloud of our Blessed Saviour and therefore such as have for a long time cried for Vengeance And besides old sins of above Forty Years standing Alas here is a loud cry of many fresh sins which smoak with very large thick black dreadful and nausceous Vapours Schisms Heresies Hypocrisies and wicked Envy on one Hand and Atheism Sensuality and unreasonable Prophaness on the other and excess of Pride and Covetousness on all Hands do Reign beside the Sacriledg Simony Flattery Bribery and Cheats which are to be found predominant in some one sort of particular Persons and the Rapines Oppressions and Extortions in some other sort And now that the menacing Signs of Heaven do appear day by day and year by year and yet the Persons mostly therein concerned do least regard them But undoubtedly there are some wise Men among us which its to be hoped will expose themselves to stand in the Gap in this time of Eminent danger We have my Lord among others one eminent Prophesie of a most eminent Father in God whom your Grace did well know who being a Person of Famous Authority and that as well for Wisdom and Sanctity as for Place and Dignity has left so much the more weight upon his words which says That bloudy dangers do await us but withal promises that in the midst of that danger the truly Religious and best sort of Christians shall be safe And surely this is a great encouragement to all wise Men to be diligently and seriously striving who shall most excel in Piety Truth and Righteousness And for this Reason and to this end no doubt it hath pleased God to load some Men with the heavier Irons upon their Heels in order to hold them out of that crowd which he intends to shoot at when the time shall come up to serve his purpose And Blessed are all they who by some lighter punishments shall be rendred so safe that when others shall be called to an account for their Pride and Wantonness and all other defilements of over-much prosperity They shall be excused Methinks my Lord I do contemplate in the Person of your Grace a sometimes eminent Patron of your Family Gislebert Earl of Brionij in Normandy who was Grandfather to Robert the Cup-bearer the first of your Line that assumed the Sirname of Le Boutellier in the days of King William the First of this Kingdom This Gislebert was Guardian to King VVilliam the Conquerour when Duke Robert his Father left him an Orphan at Eight Years of Age and by his Wisdom and Care carried him off thorow more then an Hundred dangers of his Minority See Stow upon Will the Con. at end of his Life and worthily gained the Name as he was called in those days Pater Patriae He lived in an ill time but with much Wisdom and Courage he stood in the Gap and withstood the insolencies of an unruly People and attained unto old Age and to see his Sons and Grandsons of perfect Age and lastly dyed in a Tumult wrestling with ill humoured People to serve his Countrey I do not propose this example my Lord as if I do any way conceive your Grace in any more then common danger to follow him in a violent Death but rather as such with whose Noble Acts hitherto you have had the Reputation to compare And as for a tumultuous Death every wise Man among us does know it threatens the most obscure as times go and
much more the more Noble and Eminent Ones I Pray God keep your Grace and all the Noble Patrons of our Church and Kingdom from such danger But chiefly I pray God so keep you with his Grace that you may be always ready for our Blessed Saviour and that with such an heart as dreading no danger you may be most apt and able to put forth your self so as to go unto him with submission according to his own way what ever it be It hath pleased God to do for your Grace very great things and to lengthen the Line of your Family from a very Ancient Remembrance to be the Seven and Twentieth Noble Person descended in a direct Male Line from Dukes and Earls beyond the Conquest And to Preserve your whole Genealogy down unto your most Noble Self untainted in your true Allegiance And to make your Grace the Head of the greatest Tribe of one Bloud that any Noble Person in either of these three Kingdoms can shew again of which Famous Tree your unworthy Remembrancer hath the Honour to be an humble Sprig with Branches And now with Gods Blessing it 's to be hoped this tall Tree out of your Loyns is putting forth a fresh as if it will not cease it's growth but be spreading on still more and more even until Doomsday You are God be praised at this day in good health and strength and that unto admiration your great Age considered I Pray God of his Mercy continue it unto you unto your utmost time and to strengthen your Inner Man with all heavenly Graces equalling and exceeding those of your Outer Man So Prays My Lord Your Graces most humble Servant J. Butler A SERMON Preached on the 30th of January 1683. LUKE 21. Verse 25 26. And there shall be Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars And upon the Earth Distress of Nations with Perplexitie the Sea and the Waves Roaring Mens Hearts failing them for Fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth For the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken THere is Prophetick mention of two Fatal Times as they are fore shewn by the Prophet Daniel and by our Saviour Jesus Christ Dan. 12.1 There shall be saith Daniel a time of Trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time and at that time thy People shall be deliverd And this seems to be the very time my Saviour Fore-Bodes by the Signs in my Text mentioned For if we observe He adds saying then as much as to say when you see those Signs shall they see the Son of Man coming in a Cloud Luke 21.27 28 29 30 31. with Power and great Glory And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your Hands for your Redemption draweth nigh And as sure as the Sprouting Fig-tree is a Prodromer that Summer is at Hand even so when ye see these things that is the Signs in my Text c. Then know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand By the Son of Man spoken off by Christ seems to be understood the same Person who by Daniel is Stiled Michael the cheif Prince Of whom as 't is said here that He shall come so it is spoken there saying he shall stand up And both these seem to speak of the coming of Christ to Reign but that not Personally as some imagine but by his Vicegerent as saith the Prophet Isaiah Isa 49.22 23. Dan. 10.21 Kings shall be thy Nursing Fathers when I set up my Standard to the People and they shall bring thy Sons in their Arms c. And thus Michael the Son of Man or the Cheif Prince shall stand up and come to deliver the Ancient Jews and Israelites his People out of Captivity by the Hands of Christian Kings his Earthly Angels and Ministers or Vicegerents The Total Sum of all which things Amounts thus far That the Jews and Israelites shall be converted to the Christian Faith and then shall be delivered out of Captivity by the mighty Power of God and be restored unto their own Ancient Country and Land called Palestina but immediately before those Days shall be great Tribulation Mat. 24.21 such as was not since the beginning of the World to this time no nor ever shall be But now withal we are to understand that this time of Trouble or Tribulation is to be twice repeated whereof once as has been afore shewed and another time before that when the Abomination of Desolation shall be set up in the holy Place Dan. 9.26 27. Luke 21.32 And when Michael is also called Messiah all come in Person and shall be cut off but not for himself in the midst of the Week there shall be and follow the first Tribulation which was to be fulfilled before that Generation wherein our Saviour lived was quite passed over And this has already been fulfilled once or acted repeated over the first time And is to be expected to be acted over a second time and that second time is justly supputed to be near at hand Now to Calculate these things Regularly and Exactly according to what is expressed by that Holy Prophet and confirmed by our Saviour The ground Plot of all those things is the coming and standing up of Michaelâ— who is the Messiah our Chirst our Saviour who came first personally in order to Suffer that we may be Redeemed At this time He came unto his own Joh. 11.11 Acts 2.23 Mat. 27.25 and his own received him not but took and Crucified slew him and called down the Vengeance of his Bloud upon their own Heads and upon the Heads of their Children And hence followed the first Direful Tribulation the like whereof was never known before It was in the Thirty Third Year of our Saviours Incarnation upon Friday the Third of April at a little after Three a Clock in the Afternoon Joh. 19 30. at what time hanging upon the the Cross He bowed down his Head and Died. And on the Thirty Seventh Year after on the Fourteenth of April Titus with the Romans at a Pascal time Joseph of the Wars shut in the Jews into the City of Jerusalem by a close Siege at what time it was infinitely throng'd with People who from all parts had come thither to the Passover On the Third of May he took one Wall by Assault and on the Eighth of May another Wall On the Fourteenth of July the dayly Sacrifice ceased for want of Victims On the Twenty-Fourth of July the Castle called Antonia was taken by the Romans and the same day the Northern Porch of the Semple was burnt and on the Twenty-Seventh Day the Western Porch was burnt by the Jews themselves On the Eighth Day of August the Romans entred the Temple and on the Tenth Day it began to burn with Violent Flame Then did the Romans kill the Preists and prophaned the Alter and the Bloud ran
Times and an Half So as at the end of those Times and under that very Generation wherein the scattering shall be accomplished then shall be the Restoration of the Jews But the very Day or Year Mal. 24.36 much less the Hour time was when the Angels of Heaven did not and no Man did know but the Father only But this first Answer being Mystical and unintelligible to the Learned Prophet He Prayed for farther Information saying Himself to the Man in Linnen O my Lord what shall be the end of these things as who would say Dan. 12.8 When shall this Time Times and an Half begin or when shall He who is to scatter the Holy People Vers 11 12. and their Power appear unto which is Answered At the end of 1290 Days and at the end of 1335 Days from the Time that the Daily Sacrifice shall be taken away and the Abomination that maketh Desolate be set up Vers 9 10. This Answer was still Mysterious unto Daniel for it was to remain Sealed up as a Riddle hard to be unfolded until the time of the end but at that ends time the whole Mystery shall appear open and manifest unto the sight of all wise Men. And now that ends time seems to be come For our Eyes have seen and our Ears have heard the accomplishment of almost the whole matter come to pass For Observe we First That the Daily Sacrifice ceased on the 24th of July in the Year of Christs Incarnation 70 for want of Victims next the Abomination began to stand up on the same Year and on the next Month when Idol Sacrifice was layd upon Gods Alter and when the most holy place by Fire was Converted into Rubbish and was Troden with profane Feet and continuing in its Ashes it was made desolate But especially the Abomination and Desolation was then perfected at what time Idol Temples were erected in the Place of Gods House the whole Nation of the Jews utterly driven away Root and Branch out of the whole Kingdom by Aelius Hadrianus And this Abomination of Desolation and Cessation of dayly Sacrifice lasted until the Reign of Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour who in the 7th Year of his Reign Euseb Eccl. Hist of Christ 313 set fourth Edicts in Favour of the Christian Religion Licinius Maximinus the other Emperours assented unto the same But in the End of the same Year Maximinus perswaded by his Magitians renewed the Persecutions but was Routed in Battel by Licinius and soon after in 314 Died of the hand of God And then every where Idolatry was Destroyed and Gods Gospel Worship was set up at Jerusalem all Idol Temples being there abolished and cast out Here therefore ending the Abomination the daily Sacrifice being restored Hence are we to begin the first Term of Daniels Times and to reckon onwards Ezek. 4.4 5 6. Dan. 9.25 26 27. The times mentioned are two whereof the first is of 1290 and the second 1335 days which according to the usage of Holy Writ are to be understood of so many Years as they are called Days And now count we from the Year of Christ 313 an Addition of 1290 Years and they will set us in the Year of Salvation 1603. Which is the very Year whereon King James came into England and began to possess the Crown of great Britain and on the same Year was the Saventh great Conjunction in the Fiery Triplicity and at the end of the Year was a new Star in Seventeen degrees of Sagitary And the second Term mentioned by Daniel which bounded his 1290 Years was the Time Times and an half So as 't was not the deliverance of his People which at end of those Years was forshewn for the Years are long since come up and gone by and no such thing is done and thefore it follows that at end of this Date or Term of Time the other mentioned by the same Author is to take place And thus after 1290 Years from the Abomination of Desolation set up is to follow a Time Times and an half and then is to be expected the Deliverance And so from the coming into England of King James there was to be expected a Time and Times and an half and then shall follow the Restoration of the Jews And whether we will have it the time of Reign of One King and Two Kings and an Interregnum or any other way and whether we will esteem these times to be reckoned by our Kings Reigns in England or Germany or at Rome it cannot be long to the end thereof The second Computation of Time mentioned by Daniel is 1335 days which also turned into so many Years and added unto 313 do set us in the Year of Christ 1648 at end whereof the most sacred Prince our late Sovereign of blessed memory King Charles the first of great Brytain Suffered Martyrdome and then the Sheepheard being smitten the Sheep were scattered Zech. 13.7 8 9. and many of them cut off and the residue were tryed and refined as Silver or Gold tryed in the Fire And on the same Year was the Grand Signiour or great Emperour of the Turks at that time Lord of the Holy Land cut off Summoned Tryed and Condemned by the pretended high Priest or Mufti and the rest of the Divan Mr. Ricants Turkish Hist somewhat after the rate of our Saviour And on the same Year were great troubles in the Empyress of Russia and Abassia and in France and at Naples in Jtaly and diverse other places But especially here in England both Magistracy and Ministry the two Holy Offices appointed by God Almighty and sometimes executed by Christ were utterly cut off and abolished and the whole Body of the holy People who had in any wise stood up in defence of holy Authority Power and Discipline in Church and State were dissâ—pated Slain and driven into Exile And he that did these things was especially the late Protector Oliver Cromwel a Man of obscure Birth who advanced his Fortune by perjury and Lyes Hypocrisy Murder Rapines and Rebellions and therefore appears to have been beyond Pope or Turk or Mahomet the greatest Impostour that ever was born and most Eminently the Man of Sin beyond all Men besides that ever were known or Read of And thus have we attained unto the utmost Term of the last Number in the Year of Christ 1648 9 1335 Years precisely since the Abomination of Desolation set up and taken down And now therefore Blessed is he who waiteth for that we have arrived at the Year 1335. And the time of the Gentiles seemeth to be fulfilled They having done unto a most holy Prince Defendor of the Faith true Ancient Catholick and Apostolick in a great measure as the Jews did unto Christ And now therefore to the Jews says our Saviour Look up for the Day of Redemption draweth nigh But unto the Heathens the Pagans Hereticks and Schismatical Christians Unto you