The KING'S LIFE-GUARD. AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable SOCIETIES OF Both the TEMPLES, ON The 30th. of January 1664./ 5. By M. G. D. D. JUVENAL. Falsus honor juvat,& mendax infamia terret Quem, nisi mendosum,& mendacem? PLUTARCH. None are sooner deceived, than such as measure the worth of others by vulgar report or opinion; which( like a shadow) are ever greater or lesser than the body they attend. Truth hath no such enemy as Prejudice. London, Printed by William Godbid for Zachary Watkins, in the Inner Temple near the Church-door, 1665. To the Honourable SOCIETIES OF Both the TEMPLES. SIRS, THough I must needs confess that I have an occult Antipathy against nothing more than Printing of SERMONS; since I have observed how subject they are to be censured, either as not seasoned, or not seasonable: yet I am so very sensible how deeply I stand engaged to you, for your many and singular civilities to me, that I cannot( with any show of gratitude, and good manners) any longer withstand the repeated Entreaties, or rather Commands, of so many worthy Masters of the Bench of both Societies, who( as hearty Lovers of the King.) have joinctly, and severally importuned me to publish this Sermon; the chief scope whereof is to prevent all future miscarriages, and mischiefs, by truly and plainly informing the People in general, of their bound Duty by the Law of God, and this Land, in the no less weighty, than necessary, Point of their Allegiance to the Lord's anointed. And as this single Motive ●revail'd with me for this Publication, m●●gre all my former prejudice, and resolution against it: so I know not how to play this after-game better, than by laying hold of this unexpected opportunity, to testify to the world my real thankfulness( next to Divine Providence) unto you, both for your unanimous election of me to red a Divinity Lecture among you; and also for your noble, free, and unwearied assistance to recover my Right, out of which the iniquity of the late troublesone times, in which there was no King in this our Israel, had forced me by a Sequestration of almost Twenty years standing: During which Inter-regnum Almighty God had a Controversy with this Nation, for our Ingratitude, Schism, Sedition, and Rebellion; which he severely punished by sheathing that Sword in our own Bowels, that was so causelessly, and unlawfully, drawn against his anointed; and making us Captives in our own Land; yea, we were Slaves, to the worst of Conquerors, even our own Lusts. We had then no Law, but Violence; and they that usurped the Power, made it a Capital crime to be found Loyal; against whom they disputed more in Mood, than in Figure; and their only Arguments to refute us, were Commitments, Arraignments, and such Axes, and Halters, as were taken out of the Hang-man's armoury: as St. Hierom reports of their Progenitors,( the Persecutors of the Primitive Christians) Ex officina carnificis, &c. So that then( with the Jews by the Rivers of Babylon) we had cause enough to sit down and weep, when we remembered this our Sion. And since, upon our Repentance, God hath been graciously pleased not only to deliver us out of the House of Bondage, and to wipe all Tears from our Eyes, but also to fill our hearts with joy and gladness: Oh let us never forget to praise, and magnify, his Mercy( even to a Miracle) wrought in the thrice happy Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to His just Rights; and in the sweet Conjunction of Truth, Peace, and Piety, both in Church and Kingdom. In the secure settlement whereof, as your well known Ability, and approved Integrity, made you eminently instrumental: so it shall ever be his hearty Prayer for the continuance, and enlargement of God's special blessing upon your most Loyal, and every way Laudable Societies, who is Your Honours most humble Servant MATTHEW GRIFFITH. Imprimatur, GEO. straddling S. T. P. Ex Aed. Lambeth. Mart. 15. 1664/ 5. Rev. in Christ. Pat. D. Gilb. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. domest. The KING'S lifeguard. 1 Sam. 26.9. For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless. THIS Day is designed, by a solemn Sanction of Supreme Authority, to the Anniversary Observation of a double duty: viz. First the pious Commemoration of our Kingly Proto-martyr, his late Majesty of ever blessed Memory: and well may I say of ever blessed Memory; for if in the Tenth Chapter of the Proverbs, it is upon holy record, That the memory of the just shall be blessed; Prov. 10.7. then sure the Memory of the late King, who was not only just, but, who had such an habit of Justice, that( as Plutarch speaks of Cato) he could not do otherwise; Yea, who was not only a King, and a Just One, but who was a Martyr too, for he dyed primarily to preserve the purity of Religion( as it was established by Law among us) from such an alteration as ever tends to and ends in Corruption; and so he dyed a Martyr for Christ: though subordinately he stood even to Death, to maintain our fundamental laws, by which we enjoy both our Liberty, and Property; and so he dyed the Martyr of his Leige-people; among whom his Memory( that so lived, and so dyed) must needs be sweet, and blessed for ever. Secondly, Our serious Humiliation for a most nefarious and stupendious Crime; viz. The horrid Decollation, and, in plainer English, the wilful murder, of his Sacred Majesty. And therefore as holy Job( in the heat and height of his disconsolate estate) cursed the day of his own Birth; so give me leave to tell you, that you are not truly and thoroughly humbled this day, until in the extreme anguish of your Souls, and bitterness of your Spirits, you be brought even to abominate, if not execrate, the day of this good King's Death. And you cannot do it either more feelingly, or emphatically, Job. 3 1— than in Job's words; Let that day perish, let it be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it, let darkness, and the shadow of Death slain it;— Let a cloud dwell upon it, let the blackness of the day terrify it, let it not be joined to the dayes of the year, let it not come into the number of the months; In which a fact so exorbitantly wicked and barbarous, was committed, that I cannot think of it without indignation and detestation; nor presume to mention it without extreme shane and confusion: and which will ever be so inexpressibly scandalous both to our Nation,( The Britains having been famed in former Ages for their approved Loyalty) and Religion, as it is by Law established in the Church of England; that it deserves to be butted in eternal silence, and he worthy of death, who dares be so fool-hardy as to name it; had not the prudence and policy of our State, thought it in some sort needful at once both to publish and damn it, by a special Act of Parliament; to be used as a Sea-mark, which warns all that pass that way, to take better heed for the future, how they irrecoverably shipwreck themselves on such dangerous Rocks and Quick-sands, as are Schism, Sedition, Rebellion, and Treason against the Lord's anointed. All which that you may the more carefully, and conscientiously, shun and avoid; I have made choice of such a Text at this time, as first arraigns all conspirators against the Royal persons of anointed Kings; and then finds them guilty, in these words, For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed, and be Guiltless? Now this For, is a Conjunction causal; and First, as a Conjunction, it makes good the coherence, and dependence of my Text upon that which goes before; and the History, to which it refers, stands briefly thus. King Saul had made an attempt to kill David: David, to escape Saul's fury, retired himself secretly to the Hill of Hakilah, which is before Jeshinon: The men of Ziph( to cury favour with mighty and angry Saul) discovered where David had hide himself; Saul( attended with 3000 choice men) put himself in pursuit of poor David, and pitched near the place where he lay hide: David, taking notice of Saul's approach, and singling out Abishai, came with him privily, in the dead of the night, to Saul's Tent, and found him fast asleep, as God would have it; for at the 12. verse of this Chapter, we red that a deep leap from the Lord was fallen upon them: And Abishai, an expert soldier, glad of such an advantage, soon offered his service to David, to kill King Saul, David's deadly Enemy; but David would not accept of Abishai's offer upon any terms; and he renders this reason of his refusal, For who can, &c. Secondly, as this For is a Conjunction causal; so it ushers in the true cause and ground on which David raised his simplo denial to give way to Abishai's presumptuous Proposition to kill King Saul; For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? The form of Davids reasoning here, is interrogatory; and( as the Learned observe) it may be fairly resolved into an universal Proposition; either Affirmative, thus; Whosoever stretches forth his hand against the Lords anointed, is guilty. Or Negative, thus; No man can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless. For in such kind of Interrogatives, the Answer is always so intended; as you may note in the 14. Job. 14.4. Chap. of Job, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? which all Interpreters expound, as if his genuine meaning were, that no man can do it; which I insert by way of Exegesis and Explanation of the question here propounded, Who can stretch forth, &c. And having thus prepared the way, I may fitly divide the words of my Text into two principal parts, viz. An Indictment, and a Verdict. Again, in the former, that which I call the Indictment, be pleased to observe with me First, the person Trespassed. Secondly, the Trespassers; and Thirdly, the Trespass itself. I begin with( that which challenges our consideration in the first place, viz.) The person here Trespassed; who is described in the Text two ways; for first he is styled Christus, The anointed; and next he is Christus Domini, The Lord's anointed. And howe'er in truth it is not safe to divide these terms; yet, for the better opening them, I shall crave your leave to handle them a-part in my present discourse. I find among the ancients some diligent Searchers of the Holy Scripture, who have observed to my hand, that this Title, anointed, is never given( before any Kings were in the Church) save only to the patriarches; whose very name imports a fatherly Government; for the patriarches were both Princes, and Priests in their respective Families; {αβγδ} was in them, and {αβγδ} too; and they were Uncti ante unctionem, as St. Augustine speaks; and this was it that made them patriarches. And from the patriarches, in process of time, this title of anointed came to Kings; to whom the Political Government( which had both its Rise and pattern from the economical) was by God himself committed, as to so many nursing fathers of his Church: and, in Law, you know that the King is styled Pater Patriae; The Father of his Country; and he is separated from the people to Supremacy, by the usual Ceremony of Unction. And the truth is, that both David, who is the Speaker here; and Saul, of whom he thus speaks; were anointed: 1. Sam. 10.1. for Saul was anointed in the 10. Chap. of the first Book of Samuel, where we red, that then Samuel took a vial of Oil, and powred it upon Saul's head, and kissed him:( to testify both his Reverence and Subjection) and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Cheiftain of his inheritance, &c. that is, King of his peculiar people. And David was anointed too, as we red in the 16. 1. Sam. 16.13. Chapter of the same book of Samuel, Then Samuel took the horn of Oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, &c. Then they were both anointed, yet not both Kings together; but Saul was anointed to the present possession of the Kingdom of Israel; and David was anointed only to be his successor in the same. At that time God only looked upon Saul as King; and David only as his Servant; as God is pleased to explain himself in the 89 Psalm, Psal. 89.20. where he gives this eulogy of David, as some inducement to that honor which he conferred upon him afterwards, I have found David my Servant, with my holy Oil have I anointed him. briefly, Kings in Hebrew are commonly called Messiahs, and in Greek {αβγδ}; for they onely have the honour in Scripture of these two great Titles, Gods and Christs; first they are styled Gods, as in the 82. Psalm; Psal. 82.6. I have said ye are Gods, &c. And they are also styled Christs; Psal. 105.15. as in the 105. Psalm, Nolite tangere Christos meos, Touch not mine anointed. Which words, howe'er the Assembly of Divines in the late troubles( which Assembly was made up, like Nebuchadnezar's Image, of dissimilar parts) applied to all the People, as if the Princely Prophet had meant it of them, and called them all, anointed; yet sure I am, that all sober-minded, and unbiased Expositors, that I have had the happiness to meet with, do unanimously understand those words of David there, as they do these here, as properly, if not particularly, meant of a King; whose Anoincting was then performed by God's special Appointment; and the Oil used in his Inauguration, and as the Signature of his Supremacy, is a very lively Emblem of Extraordinary Eminency; and such as is seldom or never found but only in Kings properly so called. For mingle Oil with what liquours you please, and still the Oil will be upmost; to which( in some sense) St. Peter may be conceived to allude in the 2. Chap. of his first Epistle, where( in express terms) he saith, The King is Supreme; 1 Pet. 2.13. and by his Spirit of Infallibility, he determines the Question which of late was so much controverted about it, by some Bountefeu's, who, to justify their own co-ordination, denied the King's Supremacy. Which may be farther illustrated in Solomon's Unction, for, in the 1. Chapter of the first Book of Kings, we red, 1 King 1.39. that Zadock the Priest took an horn of Oil out of the Tabernacle, and Anoincted Solomon. And some hold, that this is it which makes Kings Sacred Persons; though others say, that where there is Jus Regium, there is ever an holy dignity; and the Person is Sacred, yea though the outward Ceremony of Anoincting be not used: or grant it be; yet Unction alone is not enough to secure the King's Person from an hand stretched forth, in the Text, but he must be both anointed, and The Lord's anointed; which is our next Consideration. For though the Ceremony of anointing Saul was performed by the ministry of Samuel,( who was both a Priest, and a Prophet) yet King Saul was not therefore called Unctus Samuelis, Samuel's anointed: Yea, though King Saul had not only Samuel's Unction, but God's own designation, and declaration of him to be King by Lot; and a new heart given him fitting for Government, and put into actual possession of the Kingdom: Yet the People( a beast of many heads, and more humours) were not pleased, at least not satisfied with all this; but after a while, when Saul had managed the War with good Success against Naash the Ammonite, in behalf of Jabesh Gilead; then Samuel observed, in the 11 Chap. of his first Book, that the People were generally won to the obedience of Saul; for there we red, That all the People went to Gilgal, 1 Sam. 11.14. and there made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal. And howe'er all the People are there said to make Saul King, yet their making of him King, was in truth no new Creation, as if Saul had not been King before: But it implies their general doing of homage to him as the Lord's anointed, and an open acknowledgement of his sovereignty; which we red that some Sons of Belial had till then detracted. And though this voluntary and universal coming in of the People to King Saul, at that time, confirmed him in the peaceable possession of his Kingdom, yet it is worth noting, that Saul is not therefore any where styled Unctus, or Electus Populi, the Elect, or the anointed of the People; but Unctus Domini, The Lord's anointed: for it was only the Lord that made him King; I say, the Lord did it, and not the People. Let me add, that howe'er Kings sometimes reign more prosperously, when their own good parts fit them for Government, and there is a good understanding, and correspondence, between Them and their Leige-people; yet they always reign lawfully by virtue of Gods designation; who ever, in Scripture, lays special claim to the deputation of Rulers for him; Prov. 8.15. as in the 8. Chap. of the Prov. By me Kings reign, &c. And to convince them of a gross mistake, who believe Kings to be either the priests, or the Peoples creatures, the spirit of truth still calls Kings, The Lord's anointed. And I do not remember this Title given to any, but Kings, in holy writ; except once in the New Testament; for in the second Chap. of St. Luke, Luke 2.26. I find our blessed Saviour styled Unctus Domini, The Lords Christ, or anointed: {αβγδ}( as critics note) is derived from {αβγδ}, Ungo. And so I have done with the person Trespassed, here styled, The Lord's anointed: I come now to speak somewhat of the persons that are the Trespassers, here implyed in this Quis, Who? Who can stretch forth, &c. This Monosyllable Who, is very comprehensive; and of as large extent, as whosoever: so that all men, and every man, of what quality, and condition, opinion, profession, and religion soever he be, is here taken in; and bound to his good behaviour towards the Lord's anointed. Then Samuel( though both a Priest, and a Prophet) may not upon any disgust, or pretext whatsoever, take upon him to wash off that holy Oil, which he hath once poured upon the head of King Saul. And if not Samuel, then much less may the common people( though never so numerous, and collective) by any natural right, or power, either inhaerent in them, or acquired by them, presume to pull down the King whom God himself is pleased to set up, and over them; either as his blessing, or as their punishment. Their Nolumus hunc regnare supper nos( as the headstrong, brain-sick Jews once cried out) we will not have this man reign over us; will not serve their turn, when they go about to evacuate God's ordinance. Neither will the common flourishes, and threadbare pretences of Law, and Religion, Liberty, Property, and Reformation, bolster them out in any Seditious, and Rebellious practices, against the Lord's anointed. For, if the people( against the known Laws of God, and this Nation, and contrary to their natural and vowed Allegiance) shall at any time, in a tumultuary way, attempt any innovation in, or change of, government; howe'er they may be plausibly decoyed into it by their factious Ring-leaders, and fleshed with seeming impunity, yea with probable success, for a time; yet the Lord will be sure to meet with them, and say unto them hereafter, as he did to Samuel in the like case heretofore( 1. 1. Sam. 8.7. Sam. 8.7.) They have not rejected thee, that thou shouldst not reign over them; but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them: and they that now reject God, and the King, and God in the King, ( whose lawful and immediate Vice-gerent he is) are found guilty in the Text, and shall be found but so many castaways in the world to come. And so Ipass from the Trespassers, to the consideration of the Trespass itself; which is partly implied, and partly expressed, in this Phrase of Stretching forth the hand; Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed? The hand is an Instrument and indication both of action, and strength; and by a Metaphor, the hand usually signifies power; as in the 16. Gen. 16.6. Chapter of Genesis, where Abram said to Sarai, Behold thy maid is in thy hand; which he interprets of her power, in the next words; Do to her as it pleaseth thee. And in the 31. Chap. of Gen. Laban, Gen. 31.29. joining them together, said to Jacob; It is in the power of my hand to do thee hurt. And to stretch forth the hand against any person, or place, doth commonly import actual violence: Either Divine; Zeph. 1.4. as in the first Chapter of the Prophet Zephany, where the Lord saith, I will stretch forth mine hand upon Judah; and this he explains in the next words, where he saith, I will cut off the remnant of Israel; for he stretcheth forth his hand in judgement, and indignation. Or human; as in the 12. Act. 12.1. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where we red, Now Herod about that time stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church; and he killed James the Brother of John with the Sword, &c. And this is the meaning of the Phrase in the Text, viz. That whosoever violates the person of the Lord's anointed, is guilty: for Nè perdas goes before this Qui extendit manum; as you may observe in the former Verse; where Abishai said to David, God hath delivered thine Enemy into thy hand this day: Now therefore let me smite him,( I pray thee) with the Spear even to the Earth at once; and I will not smite the second time. And David said to Abishai, in the front of my Text, Destroy him not: and in the 11. verse he enforceth his prohibition with an Absit; The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. Take his words together; and they demonstrate that every one is bound, not only to save the life of the Lord's anointed, if need require; but also to see that there be not so much as Extensa manus, not the least offer any way, or by any means, to actuate any violence upon, or against, the person of the Lord's anointed. As our Saviour intending to restore the Moral Law to its primitive punity, in his Sermon on the Mount( contained in the 5, 6, and 7 Chapters of St. Matthew) when he came to interpret the 6. Commandment( the Law against murder) he there forbids unadvised anger, Math. 5.22. and foul language; and goes so far as to take notice of scornful gestures, coy and disdainful looks, &c. so here David said to Abishai, not only Nè perdas, Destroy him not, when he offered to kill the King; but he adds, Nè extendas manum ad perdendum; stretch not forth thy hand against him; for whosoever shall but manum movere, in that kind, is here found guilty; and this is my second part of the Text, that which I call the Verdict. Sure there is great-iniquity in this hand stretched out, or the righteous Judge of all the world( whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive) would not, without any qualification, or alloy at all, have here pronounced all them( without respect of persons, and circumstances) guilty that do it themselves, or draw in others: for if they be not guiltless( that is innocent) then, without any medium at all, they are guilty; a term( as the best Interpreters observe) which includes not only temporal death, to be inflicted by the Sword of Justice, which the Civil Magistrate bears not in vain; Rom. 13.4. but also, if they be cut off before they have soundly and seriously repented it, God will find them guilty of eternal wrath, and condemnation: and the punishment is proportionable to the Sin, which is heightened by these degrees. First, because the hand thus stretched forth to hurt, is guilty of professed opposition to the hand of God, which is generally stretched forth to help: Thus then to resist Gods hand, is direct Theomachy; or, as Gamaliel, in the fift Chap. of the Acts, Act. 5.39. doth English it, fighting against God. Secondly, because, though it be true that the general Providence of God extends to all his creatures; and in this respect the Psalmist saith that he saves, that is, he keeps safe, both man and beast: yet in the 7. Chap. of Job, Job. 7.20. the Lord assumes it to himself as a special title of honour, That he is the preserver of men; whom he made at first in his own Image( Gen. 1.26.) wherefore he that destroys a man,( unless he be a malefactor, for in such a case St. Bernard acquits the Civil Magistrate, and tells us, that he is not homicida, but malicida; he destroys not Man as made at first after the Image of God, but a malefactor, that hath made himself like his Father, the Devil; who was a liar, and a murderer from the beginning) doth therein destroy the Image of God; and this makes his Sin out of measure Sinful, and accordingly aggravates his guilt. Thirdly, because Kings are God's special Ordinance; and in that respect favoured, and honoured, above all other men: First, because Kings, in their respective spheres, and places, are the livelyest representation of God's Majesty, and he hath deputed them to execute his judgments upon earth. Secondly, because God owns, and calls them by name, Isai. 45 1. as you may observe in the 45. Chap. of Isaiah, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, &c. And he stiles them the Shepherds of his People in Scripture; and gives them divers the like amiable appellations. And the people( in a deep resentment of their benefit) style them in the 4. of the Lament. The breath of our Nostrils: Lam. 4.20. Tacitly acknowledging that Kings are as useful, and needful for the public Weal, as the common air in which we breath; there is no living, at least no living well, without them, as some of us found by late sad experience. Lastly, because Kings are chiefly entrusted by God himself with the tender care of his Church, and public Worship and Service; and to see that all things therein be done decently, and in order. And consequently, Whosoever stretches forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, is here found guilty as a notorious transgressor not only of the Civil, Canon, and Common Law, which do all utterly condemn it, and most severely punish it; but also he transgresseth— First, the Law of Nature; which at first was written in our hearts, and taught us only to do as we would be done unto: and the Philosophers( not being able to discover by their principles, how much this Law was obliterated by the fall of Adam) do very much extol Natures Rectitude; exhorting us to follow Nature as the best guide, and asserting that if we would but observe the dictates of Nature, we should never do amiss; and though they erred herein( as not knowing the Scriptures) yet they were thus far in the right, that even nature ( Statu quo) abhors all murder, and Blood-shed. Secondly, the Law of Humanity; which he that witting and wilfully infringes, un-mans himself, and becomes, ipso facto, more brutish then the beasts that perish: for they all mutually tend to the conservation of their own Species or kind; whereas the manslayer is degenerated into a Monster, and is in truth a Devil incarnate, Apollyon. Apoc. 9.11. Thirdly, the Law of Policy; which ever makes special provision for the preservation of the Civil Magistrate, on whom depends the safety and welfare of the people; and so much is implyed in the Greek {αβγδ}. Which very consideration made the people to cry out to their King, Thou art worth ten Thousand of us; in the 18. Chap. of the 2. Book of Sam. 3. And withall moved them to swear, in the 21. Chap. of the 2. Book of Sam. at the 17. verse, Thou shalt go no more forth with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. Without the King the people are benighted, even at Noon. Lastly, the Moral Law; both in the fift Commandment, Honour thy Father, &c. whether he be thy Natural, Ecclesiastical, or Civil Father( as the King is ordinarily styled) yet still qua, and quatenus, thy Father; thou art bound to honour him both with reverence and maintenance. And also in the sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, not any man; much more, not the Lord's anointed: For whosoever stretches forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, is guilty. I have done with the Explication of my Text, and yet I have not done with you, for our Saviour in the 12. Chap. of St. Luke at the 42. verse, saith, that he that is a faithful, and wise Steward, will give his household their portion of meat in due season. Hitherto I have only served up the first course, to stay your Stomachs; but without some Application of my Text to the time, as I cannot discharge my duty( which is to give you your full portion of meat in due season) so neither can I approve myself such a faithful and wise Steward as our Saviour there commends. Wise perchance the Politicians of this Self-seeking age, would repute me, if I say nothing of the matter of fact, against the grand Factions, whom the Text finds guilty; and who hope e'r long to be re-impow'red, and thereby enabled to make any man's head an atonement for his tongue, that dares impeach them. But I shall never approve myself a faithful Steward, if I keep back a principal part of your portion of meat which I am bound to give you in this, which is the proper, season. Then somewhat must be said by way of Application; and therefore I say must be said; because Si homines tacerent, lapides clamarent( as our blessed Lord in the 19. Chap. of St. Luke, Luke. 19.40. said in the like case) If I should hold my peace, the Stones would immediately cry out. And now for my more orderly, and effectual Application; let me invite you to take a summary review of the two main parts of my Text; The Indictment, and the Verdict. In the Indictment we are again to consider, First, of the person Trespassed; Secondly, the Trespassers; and, Thirdly, the Trespass itself. The first, viz. The person Trespassed, was the fountain of honour among us; The Lord's anointed; Our late gracious sovereign, Charles the First; and worthy to be so; and so much the more, because he was so unworthily dealt with: He had goodness enough, to have overcome any kind of evil; but the ambition, covetousness, and cruelty, which was then predominant in his Trespassers; who could not all reign, like so many Kings here, until they had hastened his translation from grace, to glory. He was a God on earth; or if but a Man, yet a man of so incomparable parts, and piety, that he infinitely exceeded, and excelled, not only all his own people, but all the Princes, and potentates then in the world; both in Moral virtues,& Theological graces. The constant course of his more than Christian, and Kingly conversation( beyond all presidents, and precedents of former ages) proved the one: and his {αβγδ}, makes good the other; which deserves a better orator to dilate, and embroider, than myself; but that it is a theme which exacts tears, rather than rhetoric. An Elegy suits better than a panegyric. He that would do him right, and praise him to the life; must first be such as he was, of a Kingly spirit, and such as he now is, a comprehender in the Kingdom of Heaven; which as no man can do, so no man can be, until this mortal shall have put on immortality. And because our praise( falling so short of him) doth rather lessen than add to his perfection; I will say no more but that he was truly the Lord's anointed; as well in regard of his holiness of life, as holiness of Unction; against both which, and against God himself, whose anointed he was, all they sinned, and sinned with an high hand, who had any hand at all in his death. Which puts us in mind of The second, viz. Trespassers; who though they were the several Factions spawned by the late Schism, and complicated in one unnatural, and exorbitant Conspiracy, grounded on, and animated by, the Solemn League and Covenant( made not only without, but against the King; and so like that in the 28. Tai. 28.18. Chapter of Isaiah, which was a Covenant with Death, and an Agreement with Hell) yet I must tell you, that the late Kings two great Antagonists, were the Contradictories of the Church of England; viz. The Jesuitical Papist, and the Schismatical Presbyterian; who by new, nice, needless, groundless, and boundless distinctions, have devised a way, to stretch forth hands against the Lord's anointed; not only without any guiltiness at all, but also with singular approbation, and glory; they encouraging, and crowning such Crimson Parricides, as have embrew'd their hands in the Sacred Blood of their lawful sovereigns, with the honourable Title( though grossly abused, and mis-applyed) of Patriots, and Religious. Egregiam vero laudem, et Spolia ampla refertis, Tuque fraterque tuus!— which I apply to our Simeon and Levi; brethren in iniquity: Nemo tam propè, tam procúlque nobis. I say again, that howe'er the several Factions were the only visible Actors in the late Bloody murder, or rather Massacre;( for it was not a single death, but a general desolation; since all his Leige-people bled at his wounds) yet they were animated by the Spirit of Possevine, Ribadeneira, and other Jesuits; who first Brewed, and then set a broach, the accursed Doctrine of King-killing no murder; straining the tender Teats of some Texts of Scripture so hard to maintain it, that they forced out Blood in stead of Milk, as St. Augustine speaks. And Mariana( a Spanish Jesuit) is very angry at, and sore troubled with, this example of David, and the words of my Text, as making point-blank against his Heretical, and execrable position, viz. that it is lawful for any people in case of Tyrannical government( and were it so, there's scarce any people that would long want that pretext) not only to depose, but also to deprive, their Kings, by killing them. And to show that he blushed not to maintain what he had so confidently, or rather impudently, delivered, he magnifies the Bloody Treason of James Clement, the Black-Saint Monk, that killed Henry the third of France; and to colour it the better, he reports that this James had consulted divers Divines( he means sure either some of the Jesuits or Presbyterians) before he acted his desperate design, and they did all legitimate the fact; and he calls this prodigious, and perfidious assassination, Insignem animi confidentiam; and facinus memorabile. Yea( Pope-like) he not only Indulges but Canonizes the fact itself, by styling it, Redemptionem Patriae suo sanguine factam, &c. But( though he sets a fair face upon so foul a fact; yet) his conscience did convict him, and the words of my Text stuck still on his Stomach; and to remove this deadly Surfet, he took a Dose of St. Augustines Cordial water in his 17. Chapter to Adamantius; Noluisse Davidem occidere Saulem, said licuisse tamen. And in this Quotation he shows himself a right Jesuit, fathering upon St. Augustine, what he never said; for he only brings in David there as a great example of loving our Enemies, who would not kill Saul when he had him in his power; but St. Augustine never said any such thing, as Licuisse, that it was lawful for David to have done it. And therefore he belies St. Augustine; and might better have pleaded the panegyric Oration of Xistus quintus in justification of the Black-Monk, against all Scripture, and Religion, and right Reason, and Nature itself. And let no man think it strange that he would bely St. Augustine, who durst bely David himself; whose words in the Text, do plainly and necessary enforce, Non licuisse occidere; that it was utterly unlawful for him to kill the King. If his heart smote him, in the 24. Chap. 1. Sam. 24.6. of the first Book of Samuel, only for cutting off but the Skirt of Saul's Garment; then how deeply would it have wounded him, had he given way to Abishai's cutting off the thread of his life, and so made himself guilty of consenting to the murder of his Lord the King, who is here styled with an Emphasis, the Lords anointed? Yet this the Jesuit( upon his founders principles) can do; and having done it, he can wash his hands, with Pilate, from the blood of such a just man; or, which is somewhat easier, Prov. 30.20. he can( with the Harlot in the 30. of the Proverbs) wipe his mouth and say, he hath done no wickedness. And that you may not wonder at any thing he saith, or doth, in this kind; let me tell you, that he was bread out of a Lame soldier,( for Ignatius Loyola was both a soldier, and a Lame one, who was the first founder of that order) and so no mervail though all the Jesuits be crippled in their Plots, and Practices, and that the Bloody-Flix is in them an Hereditary Disease. And not in them alone; for the Presbyterians are as Blood-Thirsty, as a Wolf of the Evening, or as the Daughter of the Horse-leech; yea, in their bloody opinions( which they freely vented and printed in the late troubles, and to which, for brevities sake I refer my Reader, or to the faithful collection of them in the Pamphlet called Evangelium Armatum) and their pernicious practices,( discovering what an Insatiable thirst they have after Royal Blood) though they have out-acted the Jesuits, and done enough to stink the very name of Protestant out of the world, yet I shall need to say no more, than only to remember you of the dreadful and dismal design of this very day, which convictingly confirms all their dangerous and damnable positions, about both the Persons, and Power of lawful Kings. Among which this is one, that they all pertinaciously maintain; That evil Princes( and such they feign all, that will not submit to their Discipline, which they have learned of Geneva to make an essential mark of the true Church) ought by the Law of God to be deposed, and deprived. And as the Prophet in another case tells the Israelites, that they levied their Sister Sodom: so may I say to the Presbyterians in this; that they justify their Brother Jesuit( as in truth they differ seldom but in terms) for they do alike make use of the Name, and Word of God, to betray the cause of God, in his anointed. And because they cannot find in all the Canon of Scripture, any express precept to make good their so peremptory position; therefore they are forced to under-prop it with Presidents, and Examples; as our late Pontius Pilate, or rather Presbyter John, then President( the only man that ever blemished the honour of the long rob by turning it into a Jump; whose very name is enough to disgrace an History; and himself, as slain of place, and scorn of time, condemned to everlasting infamy) did in the arraignment of his Sacred Majesty, where( like Necessity) wanting Law, he made it up by instancing the Deposition and murder of King Edward the Second, and King Richard the Second, here; and of Athaliah and Jesabel, in holy Writ. And because the main strength of the Presbyterians( like that of samson) lies in these small hairs; therefore it will not be amiss to cut them off with a short Answer; which being done, they will be found weak and worthless, like other men. First, for the deposition of the two Kings here, Edward, and Richard, the fact is concluded on all hands to have been most unjust, and abominable; and not only the hand of God did signally appear in revenging it, but also the two Spensers( the Father and the Son) were justly condemned for it in two succeeding Parliaments; The one in the Reign of Edward the Second, called Exilium Hugonis le-Spenser; And that was looked upon as so high an act of justice, that it was thought worthy to give denomination to that Parliament. And the other in the first year of Edward the Third. And as for the deposition of Athaliah, and Jesabel, all that will red their Story, shall find two things in it very remarkable. The one, that nothing was done against either of these two Queens, but by Divine Warrant. The other, that neither of them was a sovereign Prince. And so the point in question, is nothing advanced by these two Examples; which are here brought in like Mummers in a Mask, that make a fair show, but say nothing to the purpose. And as for this Example of David in the Text, who made a conscience of killing Saul; the Presbyterians shift it off by saying, That it was his own private cause, and so unlawful for him to do it: whereas, if they would look upon my Text, without such a false pair of Spectacles, as they are often fain to use when they are driven to such exigencies, they should surely find that no person whosoever, and upon no pretence whatsoever, can warrantly kill the King: Since no man can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless. For if any man might justly have done it, sure David best of any man; for he was already anointed to succeed in Saul's room, and had heard Samuel pronounce from God himself, both Saul's rejection, 1. Sam. 15.26. and his own election: in the 15. Chap. of the first Book of Sam. Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord; and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel: Samuel also rent the skirt of his Mantle and said, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a Neighbour of thine, that is better than thou; he adds, The strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent. How easily might Ambition have mistaken the meaning of Samuel, and have made a present Invasion upon the Kingdom of Israel, upon the Plea of this warrant? but David understood God better; viz. that not the present Jus regal was taken from the King; but only the Jus hereditarium, was thereby transferred from the house of Saul, to the house of David; and that none of Saul's race should reign after him. Thus David understood Samuel's words, as it appears when he had a former like advantage of the King, and was urged, by them that were with him, to take away his life: But in the 24. Chapter of the first Book of Sam. 1 Sam. 24.6. The Lord forbid( said David) that I should do this thing unto my Master, The Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him; seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. Again, in regard of the person of Saul; as God professed the rejection of him from his government of Israel, so there was a manifest desertion of him; for the good Spirit of God forsook him, and an evil spirit came in place thereof, and vexed him; as we red in the 16. Chapter of the first Book of Sam. 1 Sam. 16.14. Moreover, Saul knowing David was anointed to be King after him, striven, what in him lay( by destroying David) to defeat the counsel of God. Whereunto let me add Saul's cruelty against the Lord's Priests, whom he basely butchered, upon a mere surmise of their conspiring with David, against him; in the 22. 1 Sam. 22.17. Chapter of the first Book of Sam. And yet so strong is the bond of natural Allegiance, that all these, and divers the like provocations, could not embitter, and exasperate David against his Lord and Master; he knew Saul to be the Lord's anointed, which he looked upon as an indelible Character; in which respect he made conscience of the least violation of his person, which he ever held sacred in regard of his Unction; and accordingly he did acquiesce, commending both himself, and his Cause to God; that he might convince all Subjects how they ought to carry themselves in the like case, to the end of the world. And thus much( if not too much) of the Trespassers. I hasten now to touch in a word, upon the Trespass itself; which is here called Stretching forth the hand: For who can stretch forth his hand, &c. The Lord hath ever been so tenderly careful to preserve his anointed; that he inspired David in the Text to lay his charge upon Abishai, with a Nè perdas of King Saul in particular, Destroy him not; though Saul was none of the best Kings, and David's inveterate Enemy: And in the 105. Psal. he sences them all about, with a Nolite tangere, &c. Touch not mine anointed. First, Touch not, there's God's special Interdiction. Secondly, mine, there's God's special Claim. Thirdly, anointed, there's God's special Character: and so( as a Reverend Bishop hath well observed) God hath fenced them about triplici vallo, with a three-fold Trench. First, against the touch of the Hand; as in the Text. Secondly, against the touch of the Tongue; in the 22. Chap. of Exodus, Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy people. Thirdly, against the touch of the Thought, in the 10. Chap. of Ecclesiastes, Curse not the King, no not in thy thought: The word in the Original forbids any dis-esteem of the King; And the Psalmist in his Nolite tangere, forbids our very will to touch him. The two Eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, in the 2. of Esther, had no matter of fact given in evidence against them, but a bare volverunt; they had a will to do King Ahasuerus mischief: and this being made known to, and discovered by Mordecai, by some overt act, they were without any more ado executed as traitors. And the Text calls them Sons of Belial, who went about to cast off the yoke of the King, yea though he was but King Saul: And St. judas, in his catholic Epistle, stiles them filthy persons, that despise Government, and blaspheme Dignities. How much more then to lift up an hand, or to stretch it forth, to pull down him, whom the hand of God hath set up as his anointed, doth it aggravate their Sin, and punishment, who are in any kind guilty of it? And yet the several Factions, hatched by the Presbyterians, were guilty of touching his late Majesty all these ways; as might be shewed here somewhat more at large, but that I have done it already in my Samaritan Revived. And now let me tell you, upon the whole matter; that they have but one Fig-leaf to cover their Nakedness, and to palliate this mystery of Iniquity; and it is this, that to amaze, and amuse the people( who at best are scarce competent Judges of truth, and falsehood) under colour of distinguishing between the King's Natural capacity, and his politic; they infused such poisonous principles into the zealots in the late troubles, as set them all on fire to destroy both. And therefore, that I may the better undeceive them who in the simplicity of their hearts were unawares drawn in to the conspiracy; they must know that the bond of Allegiance to sovereign Princes, obligeth not their Subjects only to their Royal graces fit for Government( as the Ring-leaders of the several Factions made their devoutly ignorant Proselytes then believe) but to their Jus regal, and imperial dignity; which is seated in their natural capacity, and not in their politic considered distinctly, as some took upon them to maintain then, not only against the express words of my Text, but even against the Law of this Land( which is ever consonant in equity to the Law of God) as in Mr. Calvin's case, where upon a mature and full debate, it was unanimely resolved by all the Reverend Judges, that Legiance, or Allegiance is due to the natural person of the King, for these legal Reasons: First, because every Subject is supposed in Law,( whether he be so, or no) to be sworn to the King; that is to his natural person, as he is descended of the Blood Royal of this Realm: and this body is of the creation of Almighty God, and is subject to sickness, casualty, and death; whereas in his politic capacity, he is esteemed to be immortal, impassable, &c. And in this respect the Law saith, that the King never dies. Secondly, because in all Indictments of Treason, when any do compass or imagine the death of the King( which must needs be understood of his natural body) the Indictment still concludes Contra legeantiae suae debitum; ergo Allegiance is due to the natural body of the King. Thirdly, because a body politic( qua such) can neither make, nor take homage. Fourthly, because in Allegiance nothing ought to be done, but ex fide non ficta, to avoid all such mental reservations, aequivocations, and prevarications as were used in the Covenant. Lastly, because the King holds his Kingdom( under God) by birth-right inhaerent, by descent from the Blood Royal, without any essential Ceremony, or thing to be done ex post facto; Coronation being a Royal Ornament, but no part of the Title: and descents cannot be in bodies politic; Ergo. The Doctrine therefore of the Disciplinarians( such as were Knox, Buchanan, Wollebius, Whittingham, Cartwright, Traverse, and divers others) which by distinguishing the King's natural capacity from his politic, doth insensibly enervate by degrees both the one and the other, as we saw by late sad experience. The Doctrine which makes use of oaths( though most sacred) to serve as a stalking horse for design, enlarging the conscience to swallow down any protestations, leagues, covenants, vows, and engagements, which may advance, or continue a combination; and yet straitning it against the Oaths of Supremacy, Allegiance, Conformity, and all others lawfully imposed by the Civil Magistrate in order to public Peace, unanimity, and obedience, which they check at as being still resolved to resist( what they may) the Civil Magistrate, and they call it conscience, but it is contempt of all that is called God among us. The Doctrine which stirs up men to pluck tkeir hands out of their bosoms, and to take into them instruments of fury, to violate the Sacred person of the Lord's anointed. The Doctrine which Authorizeth the people( in case the Civil Magistrate will not do his duty when they require it) to take upon them to reform things amiss either in Church, or State, without the gracious, and simply needful concurrence of supreme Authority. The Doctrine which inflames the Common people to take up Arms against their lawful sovereigns. The Doctrine which either openly or covertly, directly or by insinuation, doth tend either to the discolouring of the King's person, or the diminishing of his power; Either Civil, by complaining of his evil Counsellors, and Officers; Or Ecclesiastical, by declaiming against the hierarchy, the public Liturgy, and the Ceremonies of the Church established by Law, which have no other fault but that they were imposed by the Civil Magistrate. The Doctrine which, in making the King but a Member of the Church, will not allow him to command as Head of the Empire. The Doctrine which affirms that Christians are not bound in conscience to submit themselves any longer then only while they want either ability, or opportunity to resist the higher powers. The Doctrine which blasphemes all such Christian Kings, as for weighty reasons of conscience, and honour, either will not, or rather cannot, yield to set up their newly minted model of Church Government, and therefore first excommunicates them, and then legitimates any plots, and practices, though never so dangerous and destructive, against them. The Doctrine which wilfully puts asunder what God himself so carefully joins together, viz. God and the King: as in the 24. Chapter of the Proverbs, Prov. 24.21. My Son, fear God, and the King. And in the 22. Chap. of St. Matthew, Render unto Caesar, Matth. 22.21. the things that are Caesar's; and unto God, the things that are God's. And in the 2. Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Peter, 1. Pet. 2.17. Fear God, Honor the King, &c. The Doctrine which pretending zeal to set up the Lord Jesus, hath no other use but to pull down the Lord's Christ, or anointed; as if both their Thrones could not stand together, whereas in truth they mutually support each other: judge. 7.18. For the Sword of the Lord, and of Gideon, in the 7. Chap. of Judges, is but one two-handed Sword, wielded at the same time by both: and it is rarely found that any one is the true servant of Jesus Christ, who by his thoroughpaced Loyalty approves not himself a good Subject to his anointed. The Doctrine which divides the Church from the Kingdom( on purpose to destroy the Interest of both) which make but one Body politic; and like Ezechiel's wheels so move one within the other, or rather are so firmly concorporated, that it is hard to distinguish them; for the Kingdom is in the Church, and the Church is in the Kingdom: and if any will suppose them two, yet he wrong's them, that thinks them to be two Factions, and not two Sisters: for troth is, Religion and Policy are Twins, yet not like those which striven for Priority, and Superiority in Rebecca's womb; but like those famous Twins of Hippocrates, which smiled and wept, lived and died together. The Doctrine which to improve Religion, impairs Reverence, as if none could worship God sincerely, unless they be known to do it after either a saucy, or a slovenly manner: whereas God himself commands us to serve him in fear, Psal. 2.11. and to rejoice before him with Reverence. And it is commonly observed, that all such as for want of the true fear of God, are false to him, do seldom prove faithful to his anointed. The Doctrine which first founds all power in the People; and then presses them by any way to reassume it, and when they have done it hand over head, then teaches that they are not bound to yield subjection any longer to their Leige-lord, then while he is able to protect them. The Doctrine which feigns all, but their own Faction, to be wicked; and being so, that they have not so much as a Civil right to any good creatures of God, no not to their own goods and estates; allowing them no Judicatory but the Saincts, meaning themselves; who( as Pleni-potentiarie Commissioners from God) say, that they only have the proper cognizance, as sole Judges, of all causes whatsoever, if not directly, yet In ordine ad spiritualia. The Doctrine which, for Sinister ends, leads the people out of one extreme into an other, as out of Ignorance into hypocrisy, out of Superstition into sacrilege, and out of Faith into Faction, &c. upon Mr. Cartwright's ground, that the best course to make a crooked stick streight, is to turn it the quiter contrary way. The Doctrine which teaches that no man is bound by the Oath of Allegiance to be true and faithful to to the Person of the King, but only to his Authority conferred upon him by the consent of the people; and that longer than he is faithful in discharging their trust( of which this Doctrine makes them the Judge) they are not bound by virtue of that Oath to yield him their due Allegiance. The Doctrine which turns Pulpit Prayers into Libels, either by their ill affection venting unjust aspersions; or by their indiscretion letting fall unwholesome, and unhandsome expressions against the King; by both which they beget and foment animosities, fears, and jealousies in the people, on purpose to steal from them their good opinion of, and good affection to, the Lord's anointed. The Doctrine which( by enlarging Christian Liberty beyond its just bounds) curtails, if not quiter cuts off, Civil Subjection: as if because Christ hath made us free in an Evangelical sense, therefore we are not bound by Law, and Conscience, either to pay Debts, or to perform Duties of Honour, Custom, Tribute, &c. to all such as the Scripture shows that such debts, and duties belong. The Doctrine which divides the Congregation, either into Brethren well-affected; or the profane, and carnal, Esau's, Ishmaelites, Edomites; holding the Buckler of praedestination over the side that is favoured for siding with them( and distinguished by their demure looks, and affencted language, as by Shibboleth the Ephraimites were from the Israelites) and powring out Plagues, and Curses( Curse ye Meroz) thick as storms in Winter, on the contrary party: as if they profes'd open hostility against a considerable part of their Auditory; whom if they cannot by plausible pretexts of Reformation, work up to be of their rigid persuasion, then they labour, by denouncing of God's judgments, to terrify them into a kind of compliance; and longer than they have power to persecute, they cry out of persecution; and evil dayes; and suffering times: but it seems they have quiter forgotten what they so many years together cruelly did; and I am not willing to remember what they deserve to suffer; because when they had the power, they could upon their principles do no otherwise; and I have learnt to overcome evil with good. Rom. 12.21. The Doctrine which teaches that the Gospel is to be propagated by the Sword; as if the lawful Ministers thereof are not Ambassadors of Peace, but so many Heralds at Arms, sent forth by the Prince of our profession, not to divide the Word, but the World; and like so many Sons of Thunder, with their hideous cracks to terrify, and with their bolts to dissipate, and with their coruscations, and flashes of fire, to set in combustion, and utterly consume, all that withstands them. The Doctrine which makes specious shows of extraordinary zeal, piety, purity, and of more intimate familiarity with God, and fullness of his spirit of grace; on purpose to draw on the people to disturb the public peace by their not coming to their own Parish-Churches, and creeping into their corners, and Conventicles, against the known Laws of the Land. The Doctrine which cries down all for Popery, that makes against the bringing in of Presbytery; which( as hath been shewed) lays the Axe to the root not only of all Monarchs, but even of Monarchy itself, as being wholly inconsistent both with their Principles, and practise; which are commonly written in Characters of Blood: and I cannot find that it was ever introduced into any City or country, without War, and Blood-shed; and is as fatal where e'r it comes, as the Trojan Horse. I say that all these Doctrines, and divers other of the like virulent and viperous nature, which were preached, and pressed, and prayed, and printed, and practised, and justified, and persisted in, in the late troubles, without remorse, or control; some of which I cannot now stand to recollect; or if I could, yet I am very unwilling either to scandalise the Reader, or to slain any more Paper with them; yet take them single or together, and they will be found so many Doctrines of Trespass; or rather of Treason; as being Contra legeantiae suae debitum. And the sour fruits of this Doctrine do to this day set our Teeth on edge; and we now sadly lament, and experimentally commemorate, in most of the material aggravations, which but now furnished the Indictment against( our Simeon, and Levi) the Jesuited Papist, and the Schismatical Presbyterian, and the Hydra-headed Factions hatched, and fauster'd by them; who joinctly, and severally contributed their utmost assistance towards the bringing of His sacred Majesty to the fatal Block, and there cutting off his head, who( as the Lord's anointed) was, under him, the Supreme Head both of this Church, and Common-wealth. Thus I have preferred in open Court, a Bill of Attainder against all the Principal Actors and Abettors in this wilful murder; for that they respectively( not having the fear of God before their eyes) did one way or other Stretch forth their hands against the Lord's anointed: To which let them pled what they will, yet David( a man after God's own heart and so beyond all exception) as fore-man of the grand Inquest, here finds them guilty of all the particulars mentioned in the Bill, thus opened; and so gives up his Verdict in the words of the Text, That whosoever Stretches forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, is guilty. Then of this Verdict in a word; for few Verdicts have more. This term Guilty, is much used both in the Civil and Common Law, in both which they are said to be Guilty, who are culpable of the matter of Fact, whereof they are accused; either, Inwardly, by their own Consciences; as in the 42 Chap. of Gen. at the 21. Verse, Gen. 42.21. where Joseph's Brethren said one to another, we are verily Guilty concerning our Brother, in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he befought us, and we would not hear. Or, Outwardly, by sufficient witnesses to convict them in cases Criminal, among which this in the Text is one of the most Capital: and in both respects we red in the 34. Chapter of Exodus, at the 7. verse, that God will by no means clear the Guilty. Exod. 34.7. And there is a reason given why he will not clear them, in the 2. Chapter of the first Book of Samuel, at the 25. verse, If one man Sin against another, 1 Sam. 2.25. that is, against any ordinary man; the Judge shall judge him( and the Judge may possibly be sweetened, and mollified by Mediation) but if a man Sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? But whosoever stretches forth his hand against the Lords anointed, doth therein strike at God himself, whose anointed he is. For what Alexander the Great said of his Favourite, Ephestion is also Alexander: The Lord is pleased to say of his anointed, in a qualified sense, My anointed is also a nuncupative God; Est Deus in terris; Psal. 82.6. he represents my Majesty; and therefore if any man stretch forth his hand against my anointed, who shall entreat? or if he doth; yet whose intercession shall obtain audience and acceptation for him that is any way guilty in this kind? since what is done to my Vice-roy, I take as intended against myself. Other Sins may be palliated with specious pretences; as the manslayer will pled in excuse of his homicide, that he did it either Se Defendendo, or in hot blood, or against his will, &c. And the Adulterer( if he be taken in the Act) will say, that he would not have been unclean, but that he was fleshed with hopes of secrecy: but the murderer hath nothing to say for himself, for he knows that there is ever a Cryar conscious of it, whose mouth cannot be stopped from proclaiming it, Clamitat in coelis vox sanguinis. The Murtherers guilt ever begins within, at a settled malice, and a praemediated mischief in his heart, in which regard St. John in the 3. Chapter of the first Epistle, Joh. 3.15. at the 15. calls him that hates his Brother, a murderer; and when he hath finished his work of darkness, he is ever double guilt, double guilty; first of murdering in the malicious intention of his heart, and then of murdering by the mischievous execution of his hand; and so he hath nothing to pled. And yet whosoever stretches forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, is guilty not only of murder, but High Treason too; and the Law of God, and this Land, looks upon all accessories therein, as so many principal Actors, and finds them guilty alike; and their guilt commonly so entangles them, and stops their mouths, that they have no defence or apology to make for themselves, and not a word to say why Sentence of death should not pass upon them; nor yet why that Sentence should not forthwith be put in execution. And you may observe( in divine, and human Story) that the punishment of murder, in any kind; much more of Parricides, most of all of Regicides; is very dreadful, and terrible; and yet I must tell you, that it is confessed on all sides, that the inward guilt is much more terrible, and intolerable, then the outward punishment; for that hath been born by some men of great resolution with admirable patience, and undaunted courage; but this pricks at the very heart, as you may note in St. Peter's hearers( Acts 2.37.) when he charged them as guilty of murdering the Lord of life: and wounds the very spirit: And a wounded spirit who can bear? saith Solomon in the 18. Chapter of the Prov. at the 14. verse. Other Punishments are, in comparison of this, but like punctura in cute, a prick in the skin; or vulnus in carne, like a wound in the flesh; scarce felt by some; soon healed in others: But this guilt pricks at the heart, and wounds the spirit( the only things which should support Malefactours in their greatest agonies, and anguish) with that which they will find to be no less endless, than for the present they feel to be an easeless and remediless torment. It was Cain's guilt that forced him to cry out( like a man in the Forlorn hope, and at the very brink of despair) in the 4. Chapter of Genesis, at the 13. Gen. 4.13. verse, My punishment is greater than I can bear: or as it is very well rendered in the Margin of the King's Bible, My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven. Take the several readings together, and they do wonderfully bewray the force of guilt: Because Cain's Punishment was greater at that time then he well knew how to bear; thence he concluded point-blank against God's Mercy, that his Iniquity was greater than could be forgiven. And thereupon St. Augustine was so bold as to give him the lie, Mentiris Cain,( saith he) Cain thou liest; for God hath mercy enough to forgive thee, hadst thou but grace enough to ask him forgiveness. And the Schole-men tell us that the impossibility of pardon, which Cain seems to speak of, is not ex parte gratiae divinae, but pervicaciae humanae. This indeed sometimes renders that crime unpardonable in the event to the impoenitent, obstinate, and obdurate malefactor; which of itself, and in its own nature, is not so. That impossibility then must be understood morally, for extreme difficulty; for in truth, nothing is impossible with God; who, as he can give us abundantly above all we can ask, or think, as the Apostle speaks: so he, and he only, can also forgive us infinitely more than we can possibly be guilty of; which I touch to prevent despair. Other Physicians can cure a Flux of blood sometimes; yet none but God alone can at any time cure the guilt. Psal. 51.14. And to signify so much, the Princely Prophet in the 51 Psal.( being one of the seven which the Fathers style penitential) addressed himself only to the Lord for cure in this kind, Libera me de sanguinibus, &c. Deliver me from bloods( as it stands in the original) or as we red it, from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: in which words he insinuates, that howe'er some may be carnally secure, yet they can never be truly safe, and saved from this guilt of bloods, but only by the free grace and favour of the God of our Salvation. And though it pleased Supreme Authority ( pox ragioni di stato) by a late gracious Act of indemnity to reprieve and pardon divers of the Factions from Temporal punishment, Who had stretched forth their hands against the Lord's anointed: yet their own consciences will tell them plainly, that no state on earth can dispense with, and absolve them from the guilt, which( like a bloodhound) will be sure to trace them step by step wherever they go; yea let them skulk where they can, and fly whither they will, even to Geneva, Amsterdam, or New-England,( the interested harbours of all Schismatical, and malevolent Fugitives and Renegadoes) yet a Guilty conscience can never fly from itself. Haeret lateri lethalis arundo. When Phocas had murdered his Lord and Master( the Emperour Mauritius) he was so incessantly haunted, and tortured, between fear and guilt, that he resolved to build a Brazen Tower for his security: till in the dead of the night he heard a shrill voice crying unto him, Though Phocas build his Tower as high as Heaven, yet he can never be safe so long as he doth conscire sibi; and it is lined with inward guilt. And to the same effect, when painted Jesabel observed Jehu carrying on the work of Reformation( as he usually driven) furiously; and under pretence of Zeal for the Lord of Hosts, killing all the priests of Baal, and whosoever obstructed his way to the settling of the Crown upon his own head; she touched him to the quick with this poignant question, 2 King. 9.31. in the 9. Chap. of the 2. Book of Kings, Had Zimri peace that slay his Master? As if she had said( for so she meant) Jehu, you know well enough that Zimri conspired against his liege Lord and Master King Elah, and, having traitorously slain him, reigned in his stead; yet because he raised himself upon the ruin of his Master, and laid the Foundation of his Empire in the blood of his sovereign; therefore when he had the Crown on his head, yet he had no peace in his conscience; and God let him reign not above seven dayes. Implying withall, that if Jehu took the same course, he must expect that divine Justice would soon bring him ( as it did) to the same Catastrophe. Sanguisugas sequitur ultor à tergo Deus. For all blood-shed in this kind( unless it be thoroughly washed away with a flood of Tears, issuing from a broken and bleeding heart; and dyed into another colour by a lively faith in the Blood of Christ, which hath the only virtue to fetch out such deep stains, and inveterate cankers, and iron-molds) hath such an inseparable, and indelible guilt cleaving to it, as swells like the Ocean; yea, climbs as high as heaven; and neither heat of the Sun, nor drought of the Earth, can so wholly drink it up, but that it will be ever clamouring to the Lord, until it have brought down condign vengeance upon their heads, who, either by consenting, conniving, counseling, contriving, countenancing, commanding, covenanting, or any other way, contributed towards the spilling of it; as might be farther enlarged, and illustrated, out of the Casuists. And howe'er the world takes notice of some heinous Murtherers, that have dyed in their beds; and seemed to depart hence in peace;( as the great Lawgiver may, and sometimes doth, dispense with the rigour of his own Law) yet let none flatter and deceive themselves in such a seeming impunity; for the Princely Prophet( in the 9. Psal. at the 12. Psal. 9.12 verse) assures us, that God in his own, which is ever the due time, will make inquisition for blood. And in the mean time, God leaves not himself without witness, even in their own Consciences; which( like the finger on the wall to Belshazar in the fift of Daniel at the fift verse) will ever be writing such bitter things against them as will put their little world into an earth-quake, Dan. 5 5. causing them in the ruff of all their jollity to tremble, and their knees to beat each against other, &c. Insomuch that all such guilty persons,( unless they be given over to a reprobate sense, which is counted the heaviest judgement on this side hell) must needs find themselves slain with their own Sword; they die daily by the cruel stabs and lancings of their own Consciences. As Cain did, who( in the 4. Gen. 4.14 Chapter of Genesis at the 14. verse) cried out in the horror of his guilt, Whosoever finds me, shall slay me. This made him afraid of every one he met; Nunc omnes terrent aurae: and he endured a punishment worse than death, by being marked out for life, Gen. 4.15. that seeing God's brand upon him, no man might attempt to kill him. Morsque minus poenae, quàm mora mortis habet. And thus that which Nero was so much condemned for, viz. For saying, Sentiant se mori;( as savouring of extreme cruelty) because he would have such kinds of death inflicted on some malefactors, as were both tedious and lingering, yet sharp and vehement; is generally found in the punishment of all wilful Murtherers; their guilt ever includes both those sad extremes; as being both exquisite; and indeterminable. This some hold to be the evil spirit which so vexed Saul, after God had deserted him. This the Poet meant both in his Furiis agitatus Orestes, and also in his Tacito tortore flagellum. And this the Prophet intended by the Worm that never dyes. The guilty begin their infernal torments here. And as in the first Plague of bloody Pharaoh, Exod. 7.17. all the Rivers of egypt were turned into Blood: So in the mind and conscience of a murderer there ever praeludes a Plague of blood; his blood-shed eyes can see no other colour but a Sanguine. Which made the good Prince Wenceslaus freely to spare his brother, who came with a drawn Sword to kill him; and he gave this reason of his non-retaliation, Praestat Abelem mori, quàm Cainum vivere. It is better far to die an Abel, then to live a Cain. To conclude, Grant a murderer could possibly escape both the temporal Sword of Justice; and the Convulsions of his own conscience, yet( without speedy and hearty repentance) it is altogether impossible that he should by any means avoid the Sword of God's eternal wrath; which in the Text is both unsheathed, and brandished against( the worst of Murtherers) Regicides; whom the Spirit of truth here pronounces Guilty; and the Sentence being passed, there is no more to be said to them, or of them; but only we must pray for them all, as our Reverend Judges are wont to do in the like case, Lord have mercy upon them. THE END.