WERE not the Annals of the Late Times written in the Memories of the generality of Men ; or were not a fresh Generation sufficiently informed touching that Execrable Murder , whereof their Parents were guilty this Day , it would be necessary for me to give you an account of the sad Occasion of our meeting now . But the Clamour of the World about our ears , the Judgments of God that have alarm'd us even at our doors , that Reproach and Infamy which this Nation lyeth under , those Miseries we have felt , and those we fore-see ; but above all the Consciences in our breasts , cannot but storm us into a Confession , that this day the Anointed of the Lord was cut off , the Honour of Christians , the Wonder of Ages , the Mirrour of Kings , the Noblest of Martyrs , and the best of Men . This day that mighty Man fell , by the hands of his own Subjects he fell , by the merciless Ax he fell , before the face of the Sun , and at his own doors he fell ; and with him the breath of our Nostrils was taken away , the Joy of the Earth , the Beauty of Sion , the Fountain of Law , and the Father of the Church ; and all Order , Peace , and Religion followed him , and was buried with him in the same Grave . Be astonished , O ye Heavens , and let the Earth put on her Weeds of mourning ; let Rhetorick be silent , and our Thoughts be confounded with horrour ; let Christianity hide her Face , and let the Thrones of Princes be cover'd with Sack-cloth ; let the Voice of Loyalty be still , and let all Faces gather blackness ; for this was a thing never seen , never heard of before ; the Tongue of Men and Angels is not able to express the black Circumstances of it ; that Majesty should be accused for Disloyalty to the People , that Subjects should oppress their Sovereign by such pompous and solemn Artifices of Cruelty ; that Christians , who are commanded to Obey for Conscience sake , should for Conscience sake Rebell , for Conscience sake turn the whole Land into an Aceldama , a Field of Blood , and at last be so bold as to cut off , not the Skirt of his Garment , but the very Head of the Lords Anointed , and that for Conscience sake too ; that they should be so profligate and prodigiously wicked , as to stamp upon all these unnatural Proceedings the sacred Names of Justice and Religion : This is such a Mystery of Iniquity as no Age can parallel ; no History cometh near it , but that which tells us of the Selling and Arraigning , and Condemning and Executing of the Son of God himself .

But as long as the Fifth of November and the Thirtieth of January stand in our Calendar in Red Letters , we shall never want occasion of informing the World ( if it be not inform'd enough already ) of the bloody Attempts of the Romish , and the Reformed Jesuite , the Devil with a Crucifix and a Legend , and the Devil with a Bible and Samuel's Mantle . I join them together , because like Sampson's Foxes , they set all on Fire , though they are turn'd tail to tail , and their Faces look two contrary ways .

The Argument which has been used by many men to prove the Papacy to be Antichrist , is this , that the Pope exalteth himself above all that is called God , that is ( as some Divines understand it ) above the Kings of the Earth , arrogating to himself a Power over them in things Spiritual , and in Temporal matters too , in ordine ad Spiritualia . If this be true , I know not how They can rub the mark of the Beast out of Their Foreheads , who pretending to be Reformers , have claimed the same Power over Kings , whom they are pleased to call Tyrants , as the Pope doth over those whom he is pleased to call Hereticks . Sure I am , 't is an Antichristian Principle which was never held till these last days , when men of debauch'd Consciences have counted it a great piece of Religion to be Traytors . And into the bargain , 't is a Principle so seditious , that I am not afraid to say , 't was the Trumpet that sounded a Battalia in 1642. And the Ax that cut off the Kings head in 1648.

I find those who were good Christians , and Loyal Subjects , opposing this Principle throughout the late Troubles , ( when Goodwin and Bridges , and the rest of those Rebels defended it in Print , ) particularly , the Judicious and Excellent Dr. Hammond did learnedly confute it in that Treatise of his — Of Resisting the Lawful Magistrate , which was written in the Heat of the War ; And afterwards in his Address to the Lord Fairfax and his Council of War , when they had the King in their Clutches . The Sober World saw , that nothing could promote , or justifie a Rebellion , nor erect first a Tribunal for the King's Arraigment , and then a Scaffold for his Execution , but this Bloody and desperate Doctrine , that The Magistrate hath his Authority from the People , and that they may re-assume the Authority to themselves , and both Try and Sentence Him , in case of default .

A man might wonder , that since God hath brought a Calm upon this Land by the Happy Restauration of an Exil'd Prince , the same boisterous Euroclydon should rise again upon our Coasts , to sink this Kingdom deeper than ever in a Gulph of miseries ; But such is the temper of men who love to swim upon the top , like mire in troubled Waters , that nothing is a greater Eye-sore to them , than a lasting Peace . We know , that some pretending to wit and Policy ( I wish I may say Christianity too ) have declared to this purpose , that The King is King by Law , that Government is not Jure Divino , but that the Country-Swain hath as good a Title to his Cottage as the King hath to his Crown . And I confess , if St. Hobbs , or St. Machiavil , be as Authentick as St. Paul , if once the Scriptures come to be degraded into the same Classis with Magna Charta , and the Voice of the People be made as Authoritative as the Word of God ; so it is .

But let them put upon it the best Gloss they can , to make it popular and pleasing to the Rabble , it is destructive of all Government , and may be compared to the Locusts , Rev. 8. which though they had comely faces like men , yet were their shapes like unto Horses prepared unto Battel , and had tails like unto Scorpions . We have found by woful experience , that it hath involv'd this Kingdom in One Unnatural War already , and he that is not so quick-sighted as Lynceus , may yet easily fore-see , that when ever it shall be radicated in the Consciences of a Tumultuous Rout ( and there be many aking Teeth among us ) it will Ruine it in another .

For these Reasons , I hope it will not seem either unseasonable ; or unnecessary , if to answer those Obligations , which Religion and Allegiance both have laid upon me , I discourse at this time touching the Chief Magistrates Authority ; and for my Subject , I have made choice of these words of Wisdom , that is , the Son of God , the Wisdom of the Father ; By him Kings Reign ; by his Power and Authority ; though they are appointed for the Peoples good , yet are they not the Peoples Creatures ; they receive not their Commission from any thing under Heaven ; nor is their Power a Derivative , from any Consent , or Suffrage of men , or Humane Law ; but from his Appointment who is the Original of all Power , and whose Trustees , and Representatives , and immediate Deputies they are . By me Kings Reign .

I know some have look'd upon this Position , as somewhat too much and too lofty to be granted , and would fain have it pass as a piece of Courtship and Flattery brought into Request of late by some Prelates of this Church , by one especially , whose Head was more worth than the Noblest Dathan's that ever followed Corah in his Conspiracy . And therefore for the clearing of this matter , I shall endeavour to make it good by Scripture , and Reason , and the Testimonies of the Ancients ; which I hope will be enough to satisfie any man but an Atheist , but an Unreasonable Machiavillian , but Haughty and Insolent Innovators , who are given to Changes , and fear neither God nor the King : as our Solomon intimates , Prov. 24. 21.

1. For Scripture . I would fain know what Article of Faith is more plainly , and more expresly asserted in the word of God , than this thing . Consult the place in Rom. 13. 1 , 2. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers , for there is no Power but of God , the Powers that be , are ordained of God : whosoever therefore resisteth the Power , resisteth the Ordinance of God . And at the Fourth ver. the Apostle tells us , twice in a Breath , that the Mgistrate is the Minister of God . Where he confuteth two very gross mistakes , the one on the Christians part , the other on the Heathens . There were some lately converted from Judaism to Christianity , who did greatly question whether the Roman Government they lived under then was from God , as that was under the Kings of Israel . The Pharisees once put the Case to our Saviour , Whether it were lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar or not , Mat . 22. 17. Though they were forced of Necessity to submit to the Roman Yoke , yet they did not think that it was laid upon their necks by the hand of God . And therefore that Speech of theirs , We have no King but Caesar , Joh . 19. was spoken only to curry-favour with Pilate . For their frequent Rebellions , and endeavours to set themselves free from the Heathen's power , were a plain Argument of their perswasion , that their Jurisdiction over them was an Illegal Usurpation ; and Grotius fetcheth it out of the Talmud , that they were wont to say , We have no King but God . Now this opinion , that the Romans were not their Lawful Governours , continued still in the breasts of some Converts : and for the correcting thereof , St. Paul lays down that plain Proposition , There is no Power but of God . Again , there was another mistake on the Heathen's part , who , among other Calumnies , did cast this Reproach upon the Christians , that they were disloyal , and seditious ; and the pretence for their malicious Accusation was this , because they cryed up their Liberty , and refused to Sacrifice to Pagan Deities , and would not swear by the Emperour's Genius , and the like . Therefore , to stop the mouth of Slander , and to tye up the hands of Disobedience , the Apostle lays down this short Proposition , as an undoubted Maxime of Christianity , that the Powers that be are Ordained of God ; and when St. Paul wrote this , the Power was in the hands of Nero , who was as great a Monster as ever the World bred , excepting Cromwell . Add to this , that of Daniel , Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever , for Wisdom and Might are his ; and He changeth the times and seasons , He removeth Kings , and setteth up Kings , Dan . 2. 20. That of the Psalmist , I have said , ye are Gods , that is , in His place , and his Delegates , Ps. 82. 7. That of our Saviour to Pilate , Thou couldst have no power , unless it were given thee from Above , Joh . 19. 11. That , Subjection is required of us not only for wrath , but also for Conscience sake , over which none but God alone hath an immediate power ; that , he who Rebelleth is not only a Traytor against the Laws of men , but a Sinner in grain against the Laws of God ; and that , as the Wages of sin in general is Death , so the reward of this sin in particular is Damnation ; Nothing can add light to these words , that are as clear , and bright as the Sun : and the Result of them plainly is this , That the Supreme Power is of Divine Right , because it is set up , not only by Gods Permission , but by his Institution and Appointment ; by his Warrant and Ordinance Imperial do Kings reign : so that he that lifteth up his hand against the Lords Anointed , striketh at the Face of God himself ; as he told Samuel , that the Jews had rejected Him , ( the Lord of Life himself ) that He should not Reign over them , 1 Sam . 8. 7.

2. If now in the second place we argue from Reason : It is impossible to shew by the strength of any Philosophy , that Government can be derived but from God alone . For questionless , the World was not created to be nothing else but a huge Wilderness ; neither were men sent into it only to beat and devour one another like salvage Beasts . God did ever design , that we should live godly , righteous , and sober Lives ; and our Passions being so various and turbulent , and our Wills being so perverse , we cannot imagine how there should be among us any Order without Rule ; nor any Rule without Law-Makers ; and therefore a Governour is of God's Appointment , who never decreeth the End , without decreeing the Means first .

I know what can be said as to this ; viz. That every man is born a Free-man by the Charter of Nature ; that he comes into the world invested naturally with a Title to it , and with Liberty in it , and so no Man can take his Inheritance from him , without his own suffrage and consent . Let this be believed , that every one hath power over his Goods , whether to keep or alienate them : that he has a power over his Liberty , to divest himself of it or no . 't is granted , that in Elective States men do voluntarily put their power into the hands of the Chief Magistrate ; and 't is reasonable they should do so , that by these Advantages he may be enabled the better to protect them . But when this is done , all is done that is in the power of Man to do . There is something else which is the richest Jewel in the Governour's Crown , namely a Power of Life and Death ; he must bear a Sword in his hand to execute Capital Punishment upon Malefactors in Cases Criminal ; or else it cannot be that a Kingdom should stand . Now , this Power can be given him by none but God himself , whose Vicegerent and Representative he is . For none hath an Original Right to our Lives but He that formed us . Whatever some Heathens have thought , yet it was never granted by any Christian , that a man hath any power to kill himself . He may sell his Estate ; he may give away his Liberty , chain himself to an Oar as a Galley-Slave , as a Jew had liberty by the boring of his Ear through , to become a Servant all his days . He may open a Vein , or amputate a Member for the preservation of the rest ; but kill himself he cannot , without being felo de se , guilty of his own blood : Now , what he is not able to do himself , how can he impower another to do it for him ? How can I communicate that to him which I have no Right to my self ? Since no man is Lord of his own life , no man hath liberty to rob himself of it , nor power to warrant a second Person to do it . Vengeance is mine , I will repay , saith the Lord : It is Gods Sword wherewith the Magistrate strikes ; and by Him he is Ordained to be an Avenger : By whomsoever he is Chosen , by God alone he Reigneth ; his Crown and Scepter , his Prerogatives and Royalties he holdeth of Him , and of none besides . Take the World distributively or collectively , either Man by Man , or by whole Communities , the King owns no Superiour or Enfranchiser ( much less may he be invaded by an Usurper ) here below .

All the fear is , that by this grant a Monarch's Power will be unlimited : An idle Dream , which some Demagogues have held out as a Flambeau , to set the World on Fire : For though he be not under the fear of Law , being exempt from all manner of Penalty , yet it is confessed by all Divines and Lawyers , that the directive power of Laws doth oblige him . Who knoweth not , that God hath bound him to the respects of publick Honesty , though he hath not made him liable to a publick Rod ? Who knoweth not , that the Laws of Nature and Religion do oblige him as he is a Man , and much more as he is Prince ? Who knows not , that he is under the Municipal Laws of his Kingdom , such as is the Petition of Right here with us ? To these he hath bound himself by his Own Consent : And who knows not , that a Promise or an Oath obligeth him too ? and that sometimes he is more careful to keep it than his very Subjects are ? But yet , if a Prince will abuse his Power , and the Law too , he is not subject to any manner of Compulsion , being accountable only unto God , who alone hath Seal'd his Commission . It is a violation of the Laws of God and Nature both , to drag a Supreme Magistrate into a Court of Judicature ; and I never read but of two that were ever haled so since the World stood , the King of Israel before Pilate , and the King of England before Bradshaw , who was by far the greater Knave of the two , because of his Malicious and Bloody Intention . For , Pilate moved on our Saviours behalf , and sought to deliver him ; but This Son of Belial contrived and intended our Soveraign's destruction , and thirsted for his Blood , and therefore his was the greater Sin .

3. But the time spends , and therefore I must touch a little upon the next Argument , concerning the sense of the Ancients about the Divine Authority of the Supreme Magistrate . And here I might fill a whole Volume with a Cloud of Witnesses ; I , out of the Heathens themselves , who had no Candle to guide them but the light of Nature ; and yet {αβγδ} , Sayeth Homer , Kings are from God . We look so upon our Governours ( saith Seneca ) as if we saw the immortal Gods themselves ; and divers more have said , that Kings are God's Representatives , & à Deo secundi , next of all unto him . 2. Out of the Book of Wisdome , which though it be Apocryphal , yet is very Ancient , Power is given you from the Lord , and Sovereignty from the Highest , Chap. 6. 3. 3. And if you enquire of the Primitive Christians ; Clement in his Constitutions will tell you ? That the King is , {αβγδ} . The Ordinance of God . Irenaeus will tell you , that by whose Command men are born , by his Command Kings are appointed . Tertullian will assure you , that the Emperour is from him , from whom the Man was before he was Emperour . That he hath received his Power from his hand , of whom he received his Soul . Chrysostome will inform you , that 't is the work of Divine Wisdome , that some Rule , and others are in subjection . And Epiphanius , that the Civil Power is Ordained of God , who alone hath put the Sword of Vengeance into his hand . And Augustine is positive , that he who enthron'd Augustus , enthroned Nero too ; that he who made Vespatian made also Domitian an Emperour ; and that he , who set up Constantine the Christian , did set up also Julian the Apostate . What shall I speak of after Ages , which have all along spoken to the same effect ? And what hath been said to this purpose , must be understood with relation to Lawful Magistrates only .

It sufficeth for the close of this matter , that it is , and ever hath been , the plain and honest Doctrine of the Church of England , and I should have wonder'd , how any Wise man should not see it in the Homily against Rebellion , but that I do consider , that that Homily is a Looking-glass ; wherein those , who have been Traytors , cannot but see their own guilt and deformity , and therefore do not care to look at all into it .

You see by this time that the King is not by the laws of men , but by the Power and Appointment of God . By him Kings reign . The inferences now from this are very obvious .

1. If by Him Kings reign , then for his sake we are bound to Obey them . It is St. Paul's Conclusion . Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers , for this Reason , because there is no Power but of God . It is an Act of common Justice to be subject to him under whose Government and Protection we live : For why should that man have any benefit from that Ordinance , which he will not submit to ? Nay it is a Prime Act of Religion too to be obedient to the Magistrate , who beareth the stamp and image of God ; and that , not only as he is a man , but chiefly as he is a Magistrate .

I know there are some who make nothing of this Command , though the breach of it be attended with no less then Damnation ; they can despise Government , and speak evil of Dignities , and pull them down from their Thrones , and take their Crowns from their Heads , and their Heads from their Shoulders , and yet think they are very Godly men too , and perhaps the more Godly for that . But whatever men may pretend , Godliness cannot be without Obedience ; the fearing of God , and the honouring of the King must go together , because the King hath no less than God's Authority , and such Religion as is not cloathed with Subjection is plainly nothing else , but the cloak of an Hypocrite . According to this Rule the best Christians have carried themselves before Religion came to be Sophisticated . Witness the whole Company of the old Apologists ; Tertullian in particular , who boasted with great confidence , that Nunquam nec Albiniani , nec Nigriani , nec Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani ; that is , never was a true Christian found to be a Traitor to his Prince ( though some in these latter dayes could have wish'd that that passage could have never been found in the Writings of Tertullian . ) I cannot but take notice here of an ungodly and scandalous Evasion , which has been used by some who have come among us , partly from Tyber , and partly from the Lemain Lake ; and like Herod and Pilate have consented together to do mischief . Bellarmine and Parsons , and other Jesuits , have given this Reason , why the Primitive Christians rebell'd not , Quia deerant vires , Because they wanted strength And we cannot but lament when we consider that they , who have so bitterly declaimed against the Papist's , have yet lick'd up their principles , and prosecuted their design . But 't is well known that Buchanan and Knox long ago , and Goodwin and his fry since ; and ( within these eight years ) the Author of that Expedient , which was the fore-runner of the General Indulgence , have said the very same thing . But , not to speak of the quite contrary Testimonies of Cyprian ; nor of the Thebanlegion , consisting of above 6000. in the Reign of Dioclesian , who suffer'd themselves to be cut in pieces rather than they would rebel ; Tertullian himself said , that they wanted not forces to revenge themselves , seeing all places were fill'd with great numbers of Christians ; Cities and Islands , Towns and Castles , nay the very Senate , Court and Camp swarming with men of the Christian Profession ; and 't is well known that Julian the Apostate's Army consisted of Christians for the most part , who though they had the Sword in their hands , yet could not lift them up , but in Prayer to God , that he would divert the Emperour's most wicked designs . Religion is so far from disturbing the publick peace , that it settles the King's Throne upon the surest Basis : And as Guiccardine tells us how it pass'd for a Proverb , that Proprium est Ecclesiae Romanae odisse Caesares , it is Natural to the Church of Rome to hate Princes : So the World can bear witness of the Sons of this Church , that they did ever love and honour , and dutifully obey them ; and an ingenious and good man , who hath of late excellently written upon our Liturgy , observes , that whereas we pray in our Letany , that God would deliver us from all Sedition , privy Conspiracy , and Rebellion , nothing to that purpose can be found in any of the Roman Missals : It is a Glory belonging to this Church , that as all her doctrines are pure , so all her practices , and prayers are loyal .

2. If by him Kings reign : Then beware we of those deceitful workers , who , like Rats that gnaw in the dark , do privily go about to undermine Government , by such poisonous Doctrines as these , that Kings may be deposed . For if all the powers on the Earth cannot give a King his Authority and Prerogative , neither can all the powers on the Earth take them away . We know whose Creed it is , that the Pope is Head of the Church ; that Princes hold their Crownes of him ; that by his command their Kingdomes may be taken from them ; that a dispensation absolveth men from all manner of Oaths , and an Excommunication doth discharge them from their Allegiance ; that , if Subjects cannot depose their King but by War , then they may raise an Army , and proclaim him a common Enemy , and at last take away his life : nay , that though sentence be not formally pronounced against him Ex Cathedrâ , yet a Prince his being guilty of Heresie doth ipso facto deprive him of all his Royalties , and any private person whatsoever may lawfuly kill him . Hence it was that Chilperick of France was dethron'd ; that Francis Dandalus of Venice was bound with chains , and fed like a dog with scraps and bones ; that Henry the third was murder'd by Clement , and Henry the fourth by Ravaillac . These are such deep staines in his Holiness's Sleeve , that all the waters of Tiber will not wash them out . Indeed some of his flatterers have used this devise as Fullers-soap to take it off , if possible ; that these were only the Doctrines of the Canonists , and a few more ; and the practices of some private men ; and therefore they take it ill that they should charge it upon their whole Church : But 't is observable what we find in the Controversial Letters , that when Blackwell , the Arch-Priest , advis'd the English Recusants to take the Oath of Allegiance , the Pope sent over a Breve , and forbad the Oath : and Bellarmine reprehended Blackwell for an Apostate from the Catholick Faith . And in the dayes of King Charles , our blessed Martyr , Anno 47. when there were hopes that all parties would agree , the Papists subscribing to some Articles which tended to the confirmation of our Government , the Old man at Rome check't them , and made some do pennance for it . And since this Kings happy Restauration , when the Irish Remonstrance came out with hopes of gaining a Toleration , by the renouncing of some pestilent Doctrines , Peter Walsh the Contriver of it was Censur'd for his disobedience to the infallible Sea . To these I shall add but one observation more , that when Henry the third of France was murder'd , the Jesuites wrote a Book de justâ abdicatione Henrici tertii , wherein they affirm that it is lawful for any man to kill a Tyrant ; and that Book was allowed at Rome ; my witness for this is Father Watson the Seminary Priest ( in his Quodlibets ; ) and yet that very man , who accused the Jesuites , was afterwards executed for Treason himself . And now let the impartial world judge how it concerneth all States to spew those villains out of their land , who do not only like the Egyptian Frogs croak in Kings Chambers , but like so many Leviathan's are ready to devour them .

But we must not think , that disloyalty and treason do lurk onely under a Friers Cool : it had been well for us , if it had not found shelter under the Schismaticks Cloak . We look upon the Jesuites as the very worst of Papists ; because no other Sect is such an enemy to civil Government , as they . And what a sad consideration is it , that they , who have called themselves the purest Protestants , should choose no principles to espouse and pursue , but the Jesuites ? Let impartial men consider what seditious practices King James charged some Reformers with in the conference at Hampton Court ; that , in the Geneva Translation of the Bible , the Marginal Note upon the 2 Chron . 15. 16. taxeth Asa for deposing his Mother only , and not killing her : that Salmasius hath marked a sort of men in England with as black a coal as ever the Art of man could find ; that the two great Apostles of the North did teach , that if Princes were Tyrants , their Subjects were free from all bonds of Allegiance , that it was as lawful to kill them as Wolves and Bears , and that it is Blasphemy to say , ( though Paul and the old Fathers said ) that we must obey Kings , be they good or bad . Let us consider that a Book formerly written against the Supreme Civil Magistrate ( whereof Ficlerus a Papist was thought to be the Author ) was proved to have been written by a Dissenter ; and that , in the very year when King Charls was beheaded , another book was Printed ( and as some say , licensed by the Fag-end of the house of Commons ) bearing this Title , Several Speeches deliver'd at a Conference concerning the power of Parliament to proceed against their King , which was found to have been the same with the seditious Pamphlet of Parsons the Jesuit , of Succession to the Crown . I say , whoso shall consider these things rightly ( that I may not mention any new instances , since the discovery of the late devillish Plot ) must needs see , that many great Pretenders among us have been plain Jesuites , and we may say of them , as was once said of one of their Fraternity , that they preached such a Gospel as was clad in Armour . From such Preachers as these , Good Lord deliver us .

3. If it be by God that Kings reign , then we may well ask the Question , by whom it is that Kings are murder'd ? By God's permission , no doubt . He may hold his hand , and not interpose his Omnipotence , to rescue an innocent man from violence , but let things go on in vengeance for a peoples sins : So he suffer'd Abel to be murder'd , and his own Son to be murder'd ; and 't is no wonder that in wrath to this Nation he suffer'd our Good King to be murder'd . But all this will not excuse either Cain , or the Jews , or the high Court of Injustice , which outvyed Both in their boldness and wickedness . 't was by God's permission that all this was done , but yet by the Contrivance and Instigation of him , who worketh in the children of disobedience . Ephes . 2. 2. Before Judas betrayed Christ the Text saith Emphatically , that the Devil enter'd into him . Had not the Devil been in him , he could not have betrayed his Master : But considering all the circumstances of that horrible Act committed at this time , it was so diabolical , so transcendently and eminently Diabolical , that the Divel never shewed himself to be an Absolute Prince and Ruler until now . Shall I crucifie your King ? sayes Pilate . The Heathen could not but speak it with indignation and horrour . What ? Crucifie your King ? 't is such a Base as well as Barbarous Act , as every one , who as but the face of a man , though he be never so great a Villain cannot , methinks , but blush at the very thoughts of it . The Jews were an inhumane , and bloodthirsty people ; They killed the Prophets , and stoned them which were sent unto them , and yet when Pilate put it to the Vote , whether he should crucifie their King , they seem'd to detest and abhor it ; they said we have no King but Caesar ; intimating , that had they been satisfied that Jesus was their King , they would not by any means have his blood shed , or so much as lift up a finger against him . To confirm this , our Saviour himself upon the Cross pleaded their Ignorance . Father forgive them for they know not what they do . It was ignorantia Facti , ignorance of the fact , not of the Law . They knew , by the Laws of God and nature , they ought not to murder any , much less their King ; but they were not convinced that that man was He . But those sordid and degenerous Traitors , who executed their Malice upon this holy Martyr , they knew him to be their King , they confess 't he was so at his tryal . They had Sworn Allegiance to him , nay they swore it in a Solemn Covenant of their own , in which little was good or tolerable but that very clause ; and to let the world see how little they regarded , either Humanity or Religion , Promises or Oaths ; to convince us that they feared neither Man , nor God , nor the Divel himself , they kept that Covenant where they should have broken it , and forswore it where they should have kept it .

I cannot but wonder at the monstrous Hypocrisie of those Times , when the Glory of God was set in the Frontispiece of every dismal Tragedy . I have read of Pompey the Great , that he erected a Theatre for Digladiators to fence and kill one another in , and , as if intended to sanctifie his horrible Design , he built a Temple over it , and dedicated it to Venus : so did these cursed Miscreants ( whose Religion was of the same size with their Loyalty ) act all along under the Vizour of Religion ( Their Father Lucifer is often transform'd into an Angel of light ) they perjur'd themselves in the name of the Lord , enter'd into a wicked League in the name of the Lord ; Levyed and carried on a Rebellion in the name of the Lord ; proclaimed a Fast before the Execution day , ( as Jezebel did when she saught Naboth's bloud , ) in the name of the Lord ; in the name of the Lord they cut off the head of his Vice-gerent ; and did such wonderful works , as the Sun never saw before , since 't was created . Religion , that tyeth the hearts of men in a bond of love ; Religion , which is a Preservative of Government and obedience ; Religion , which assigneth an appartment in hell to every Rebel , and , I believe , the lowest Dungeon in hell to every Regicide ; that , it seems , did bring the good King to the block , which should have upheld him in his throne . Is this the Glorious King they promised to make us ? Is this the Holy Reformation which they cryed up to the skies ? Holy did I say ? This One act will make the memory of it odious , and detestable to all eternity ; however some make a shift to wipe their mouths at last , with the Whore in the Proverbs , as if they had done no wickedness .

And shall the Bloud of Charles the first be forgotten Thus ? However it was spilt upon the Earth , yet the cry of it is gone up to Heaven , and hath returned upon our Heads , in Plagues and Wars , and many dismal Fires by Sea and Land : and if we repent not of it seriously and heartily , it is to be feared that God will enter into Judgement further with us yet . The guilt of that Innocent and Sacred Bloud , is not so easily washed off , as an Act of Indemnity is made .

Well , it is time to Conclude . Those black and gloomy days are gone , and God grant we may never see them more . What I have said , was not intended to ease me of my Choler , or to provoke mens Passions ( unless it be that of sorrow ) or onely to rip open an Old Ulcer to enrage the Patient : But to lay before you the Grand Impiety of the Fact , which indeed this Solemnity doth require of us in some measure , that out of a deep Sense of this Nations guilt , we may be stirred up ( All of us ) to be Humbled Truely and Sincerely for so foul a Crime , and from the bottome of the most penitent hearts to beg of God , not to lay this Sin , this grievous and horrid Sin , to our charge . And in this Duty there are two sorts Concerned .

1. Those old , and Grey-headed Rebels , who did either assist , or encourage , or countenance the Murder , and have liv'd to see the fearful Consequences thereof : I wish they may have liv'd to repent and be asham'd of the sin too . But how many are there , who will not own themselves to have had an hand in it , but lay it rather at the Jesuites door , or some where else ; far enough , to be sure , from their own Threshold ? One would think , that men who have been so horribly disloyal to the Father , if they were sensible of it indeed , and convinced in their Consciences that they sinned , would long ago ( as one fruit of their Repentance ) have shewn the most Dubtiful submission and obedience unto the Son . But 't is sad to consider , that instead of a sincere Amendment , they are not yet come so far as to Judas his Remorse . For he Repented himself , saith the Text , and acknowledg'd that 't was Innocent Blood , which had been betray'd , and that he himself had betray'd it , and that he had sinned in betraying it : I have sinned , said he , in that I have betrayed the innocent blood , Mat . 27. 4. Here was a very great sorrow , and that which made him refund the thirty pieces of Silver , and at last to go and hang himself too . I do not wish the men , I now speak of , Judas's end ; but I heartily wish that they were so sorrowful as to confess their guilt ; and so honest , as to make some Restitution of the Price of Blood ; and moreover , that they were such friends to themselves , and so just to the whole Nation , as to bring forth such fruits of Righteousness , Peace , and Obedience , as are meet for Repentance . For if they would consider it , 't is an Eternal reproach ( besides many other mischiefs ) which they have brought upon Religion by the Sin of this day ; and for it 's kind , greater , then what the Romanists themselves have hitherto occasioned . They have murder'd Kings privately with poyson ; they have assassinated Princes openly with Knives and Ponyards : but they never yet brought a Monarch to the Block by a semblance of Judicial proceedings , daring the Majesty of Heaven by their Superlative Villany . The Jesuite has been but a Puny , in comparison of these Regicides ; and yet I wish there were no Room for the Prophets complaint , I hearkened and heard , but they spake not aright ; no man repented him of his wickedness , saying , what have I done , Jer . 8. 6.