CAIN and ABEL PARALLELED With King CHARLES and his Murderers. IN A SERMON Preached in S. Thomas Church in Salisbury, Jan. 30. 1663. Being the Anniversary Day of the Martyrdom of King CHARLES I. of Blessed Memory.  
By HENRY GLOVER Rector of Shroton in the County of Dorset.  2 King. 9 31. 
Had Zimri peace who slew his Master?  
LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane, 1664.   

PErlegi hanc Concionem, cui Titulus (Cain and Abel paralleled with King Charles and his Murderers,) in quâ nihil occurrit Doctrinae, Disciplinaeve Ecclesiae Anglicanae, aut bonis moribus contrarium.  
Joh. Hall R. P. D. Episc. Lond. à Sac. Domest. Mar. 29. 1664.   

To my Reverend Brother THOMAS HID D. D. and Chanter of the Cathedral Church in SALISBURY.  
I Am not solicitous to give the World any other account of the publishing of this Sermon, but only this, That it was Preached at your Motion, and is now printed at your Request; which was (it seems) animated by others of my then Auditors, who desired to see what they had heard, and to have that in their hands, which otherwise was too apt to slip through their ears. What Censures I may undergo for this my compliance with your and their desires, I am not able to divine; if it be from Wise men, remember you are either to bear the Blame, or to make my Apology; if from others, I hope I shall be able to bear the weight of their displeasure myself, and to requite their censures with neglect. For the Sermon, I have only this to say of it, That it was intended to upbraid none but the guilty, and among them none but the impenitent; and even to them the only harm intended was but this, to set before them, as in a Glass, the heinousness of their sin, that it might be a means (with God's blessing) to accelerate their conversion, and rouse them up from that Lethargy of a dead and dedolent disposition of heart, in which the most of them lie yet sleeping; If God per adventure will give 
Eph. 4. 19  them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. 2. 25, 26. Of the Principals, I must confess, I think there is but little hope; but for the Accessaries, I hope they have not all sinned the sin unto death; and therefore for them I shall put up S. Austin's prayer (upon that passage of the Psalmist, Let them be ashamed and confounded, etc. Ps. 70. 2.) Sic confundantur 
Aug. Enarr. in Psal. 69.  ut convertantur, quia converti non possunt, nisi confusi fuerint; let them so be ashamed and confounded, that they may be amended and converted; because they cannot be converted, unless they be so confounded. If this Sermon should prove instrumental to do any such good upon any one of their souls, I should look upon it as a great blessing both to them and me. But leaving the success of that to God, I shall content myself at present with this demonstration of my readiness to serve you, and so remain,  
Sir, Your loving Brother, Henry Glover.   

CAIN and ABEL PARALLELED With King CHARLES and his Murderers.  GEN. 4. 10, 11. 
And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy Brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.  
And now art thou cursed from the Earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy Brother's blood from thy hand.  
IF I had the Liberty of choosing a Text this day, not only out of the Sacred Bible, but out of any other History in the world, I suppose it would be impossible to find a Parallel for that Tragedy which England this day saw acted; there never having been such a piece of Villainy acted in the World before. It is storied of Conradinus the son of Conrade the fourth, the last of the Noble Family of the Barbarossae, that being taken Prisoner in Battle by Charles King of Naples and Sicily, he was by the Instigation of Pope Clement the fourth, publicly beheaded at Naples. Here was a King beheaded, but then he had the honour to be beheaded by a King, not by a Tumultuous Rabble of his own Rebellious Subjects; and which is more, the Headsman who did the Execution, was presently beheaded by another, Ne extaret qui diceret tam generosum sanguinem à se effusum: that there might not be one able to boast that he shed that Noble blood. Here was some respect had to Majesty, but not so with our Regicides. The sacred blood which they shed was vilely cast away, as if the Person whose blood it was, had not been anointed with Oil, 2 Sam. 1. 21. It being then impossible to find a Text that should represent this days Villainy to the Life, we must be content with one that will do it, although in fainter colours. And truly I think this of Cain (the oldest Murderer in the World, except only his Father the Devil, who was a- Murderer from the Beginning) will come closest home to our English Cainites, or rather Cannibals, (who were the greatest Murderers in the World, the Devil himself not excepted.) woe unto them, for they have followed the way of Cain, Judas 11. And then the sufferings of Abel the first Martyr, will best express the sufferings of King Charles the greatest Martyr in the World. Thus the day is a day of blood, and the Text is a Text of blood; Innocent blood both, crying blood, and both accompanied with a Curse upon the Shedders: The Lord said unto Cain, What hast thou done? the voice of thy Brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed, etc.  
We will observe in the Text but these two general Parts, a Cry and a Curse; a great Cry, and a great Curse; the cry of Blood, and the curse of the Blood shedder. Both these we shall see exactly fulfilled, as well in King Charles and his Murderers, as in Abel and his. Where they run parallel, I shall endeavour to compare them; and where they outgo Cain in Impudence and Villainy, I shall as I pass along, take notice of it. And so I begin with the first part of my Text, a Cry, a great Cry, The voice of thy Brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.  
There be four sorts of sins especially, that are said in Scripture to have a Voice; and though men do not hear the Voice of these sins, yet God doth. They are,  
1. The cry of blood here in this Text. Murder hath a Voice, and a shrill Voice: though it be but the blood of the meanest innocent Subject, it never leaves clamouring till expiation is made by the blood of the Murderer. And God hath a Court of Inquisition for such bloody sins, Psal. 9 12. When he maketh Inquisition for blood he remembreth them, and forgetteth not the Cry of the humble.  
2. The cry of that filthy, unnatural sin of Sodomy, Men with men working that which is unseemly, as the Apostle speaks, Rom. 1. 27. And this is a very crying sin; Gen. 18. 20. The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grievous. Those lustful Benjamites which we read of Judg. 19 22. were unnatural Sodomites: Bring forth the Man (say they) that came unto thee, that we may know him. And there went up a cry from Gibeah for that night's work, that was never appeased, till almost the whole Tribe was destroyed.  
3. The Cry of the oppressed, groaning by reason of their Affliction, under the Bondage of their Tyrannical Taskmasters; and God hears the cry of such afflicated, oppressed souls, Exod. 2. 23. The children of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God. Thus when men by oppression and rapine do set their Nests on high, there is a cry of the very Stones and Timber against the unjust Builder; The stone cries out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber doth answer it, Hab. 2. 11.  
4. The Cry of the poor Labourers hire detained from him by fraud or violence, and that cry entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, Jam. 5. 4. When the poor man is defrauded of his wages on Earth, he sues for it in Heaven, in forma pauperis; and God will surely hear his cry, and punish thee for not paying of him, Prov. 22. 22, 23. Rob not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the Gate: For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoilt them. This denotes the grievousness of these four sins that they have every one of them a voice, crying in the ears of the Lord for vengeance.  
This in the Text, is the first of these, The voice of blood. Innocent blood you may be sure, for Guilty blood hath no voice. The blood of a Malefactor let out by the hand of Justice for the preservation of the Body Politic, makes no more noise in the ears of God, than the blood that is let out of a vein by the hand of a skilful Physician, for the preservation of the Body Natural. So when a Murderers blood is shed by the Magistrate, it hath no voice, its dumb blood; because God hath commanded it to be shed, Gen. 9 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. This then is Innocent blood (we are sure) because it hath a voice. And was not the blood that was shed this day such? Yes certainly; If Abel's blood had a voice, this could not be still. The same ground of quarrel that Cain had against his innocent brother, these Regicides had against their King: what that was S. John will tell you, 1 Joh. 3. 12. Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his Brothers righteous. This was it, and this made them both not only innocent 
Aug. de Civ. Dei lib. 15 c. 7.  Sufferers, but eminent Martyrs. Facibus invidiae inflammabatur in Fratrem, (saith S. Aug. of Cain) & quem debuerat imitari, cupiebat auferre. Cain envied his brother, because he was more righteous than himself, and so thirsted for his blood, whose virtues he ought to have imitated. Had these Murderers but looked with a Christian eye upon the virtues of the Royal Martyr, his eminent Patience, and Meekness, and Charity, his constant Courage, and Resolution rather to die then do any thing unbeseeming a Christian and a King, they had had a fair Copy to have written after, and had never left their Names with such a curse upon them to Posterity. But the Devil of Envy and Discontent was entered into their hearts (as he did into the heart of Judas,) and that together with those other Fiends of Covetousness, Ambition, and Sacrilege, set them upon this Hellish Project. Thus Esau being discontented because his brother had the Blessing, vowed his death. Thus Cain being discontented because his Brothers Offering was more acceptable to God, shed his blood. Thus Ahabs discontent, because he could not have his Neighbour's Vineyard, cost innocent Naboth his life; and when he had killed, he took possession. Thus Judas being discontented (as it is conceived) because he could not get money for the Ointment that anointed our Saviour's feet, Joh. 12. 5.) went away to the Priests, and betrayed his Master. And lastly, thus the Devil not being contented with his place in Heaven, rebelled against his Maker, and thereupon procured for himself a place in Hell. Now, put all these together, Cain, Esau, Ahab, Judas, and the Devil; make up (if you can) one compound of their several sins, Envy, Malice, Discontent, Pride, Ambition, and Sacrilege; beat them all together till they are become one great sin, and you have the very Picture of these wretched Regicides, who acted over all their sins in this one Murder. No wonder then to hear of a Voice, when Innocence is assaulted with such a legion of Fiends together; what voice it is, you have in the next words, viz.  
2. The Voice of Blood. Of Blood! that's not all. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original, The voice of bloods. What is the meaning of that?  
1. Junius is of opinion, that it was put in the Plural Number, because it was shed abroad upon the earth, and so ran here and there in streams, as if it had been seeking out of new veins to disperse itself in: And so though it were but Blood in the body, yet now it was shed it became Bloods. Vox sanguinum, i. e. sanguinis caede fusi, & huc illuc dissilientis ex ictu. And then this expression will serve to aggravate the sin of Murder, and to show the cruelty of shedding Innocent Blood. The Bloodthirsty man is usually in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of bloods, so Psal. 5. 6. And if it be so in the murder of a private person, if that be a sin of such a deep die, that nothing but bloods will serve to express the guilt of it; what shall we say of Rebellious Subjects shedding the blood of their lawful Sovereign, and letting it out like water upon the Earth? Surely this is Bloods indeed, and more than so, if we had more than a Plural to express it by. As when you break a Looking-Glass in pietes, every little bit of it will show you your face, and so there is not one face but many, when the Glass is broken: so when that Royal blood was shed, every drop of it had a several voice, and so it was not a Voice, but Voices; not only a Voice of blood, but a Voice of bloods.  
2. The Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, Vox sanguinis seminum, the voice of the blood of seeds; or vox sanguinis familiarum, the voice of the blood of Families; or vox sanguinis generationum, (as it is variously rendered) the voice of the blood of Generations. Because it was not Abel's blood only that was shed, but the blood of all his Posterity, of all the Families, and Generations that should have come out of his Loins, if he had not been murdered. The blood of Abel should have run in the veins of many others that were to descend from him; so that it was the blood of families, the blood of Generations, the blood of seeds, which now by being shed lost its prolifical virtue. God (it seems) takes notice of this; and in this respect Cain was a Murderer, not only of one, but of many. You may see this more clearly in 2 King. 9 26. Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord, and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. We read of none but Naboth that was put to death, no mention of his sons being murdered with him, in all the history of his Trial, and condemnation, and execution, 1 King. 21. 13, 14. How then was it the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons? I suppose they are in the right, who do understand it, De filiis nondum ab eo natis, sed qui geniti fuissent, si diutiùs 
Vide Munsterum in 2 Reg▪ 9 26.  vixisset; Not of those sons which he had, but of those which he might have had, if he had lived longer. And so though his sons were not murdered with him, yet they were murdered in him. And God calls Ahabs' family to account, not only for Naboths blood, but for the blood of his sons too, which he might have had, had he not been murdered. To bring home this to our present purpose. The Murderers of his late Majesty shed more blood than they were ware of; blessed be God, not the blood of all his seed, so far the Divine Providence would not permit them to go. He hath been pleased to preserve the sacred branches of that Royal Root, and to make them flourish again, to keep alive that great Name in his Posterity. And yet for aught we know, the blood of some of his Posterity was shed in his. This we may truly say, That one unhappy stroke let almost all the blood of his three Kingdoms out of his veins; and 'twas God's great Mercy that the whole Land (which in his fall was left almost lifeless, and bloudless, and spiritless,) had not bled itself to death; which would surely have come to pass, had not God himself been pleased to stop the issue of that blond with his own hand, in the Restauration of our Gracious Sovereign. So 'twas vox sanguinum, the voice of bloods. But whose blood was it? that is the next thing.  
3. Vox sanguinum fratris tui, the voice of thy brother's blood. That was an horrid act of inhumanity indeed. To kill a stranger is a savage act; to destroy the Image of God in any person living (without just cause) is a grievous sin: but to kill a brother, this dies the sin of Murder of a deeper bloud-colour then ordinary, and leaves a double guilt upon the soul. To kill a brother is (as it were) to let the blood out of a man's own veins, when as it is the self same blood that runs in his brothers. A brother in the Greek Tongue is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because brethren do lie all in one Womb, in one Belly. And how inhuman is it for those that drew blood and breath from the same Parents, to take away that blood and breath one from another? so to kill a brother is heinous, but to kill a pious, innocent brother, more heinous yet. When a man is persecuted for his Piety, and murdered for his Innocence, and slain for Righteousness sake; this is not only to strike at the Image of God, and destroy that in the man (as every Murderer doth,) but it is to strike at God himself in the man. When a Christian is thus wounded, Jesus Christ bleeds, Act. 9 4. The blood of Innocents' doth cry, but the blood of Martyrs doth shrick in the ears of the Almighty. And thus was cain's sin aggravated in the person whom he slew. But alas! Cain was a Saint to these men we are now speaking of. He shed the blood of his brother, these of their Father, even the Common Father of their Country. If we should alter the words a little, and in stead of fratris tui, say patris tui, in stead of thy brother's blood, say thy father's blood, we should make the matter a little worse; but it would still fall short of the savage barbarity of these Tragical Murderers. Had they with Romulus killed their own brother, or with Oedipus their own father; had they with Medea chopped their children in pieces, or kicked the child out of their wives bellies with Nero, or ripped up their Mother's bowels, to see the place they lay in before they were born; all this had been a sort of Piety to what these Monsters did. To be short; Fratricide is a heinous sin, but Regicide is far more heinous than that. To kill a man is homicide, to kill a father is parricide, but to kill a King is Deicide; that's but Manslaughter, but this is a sort of God-slaughter: God himself calls them Gods, and man is forbid to curse them, much more to kill them; he must not use his tongue to their dishonour, much less is he permitted to take up a sword for their destruction. Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor curse the Ruler of thy people, Exod. 22. 28. You see then in respect of the person whom they slew, how far these men have outgone Cain in villainy; and you shall see the same in other respects by and by.  
Thus we have seen blood, and we have heard blood. The sight of blood is no pleasant sight, and the voice of blood is no pleasant hearing; especially if you consider to whom it cries, and for what purpose; which is the fourth particular.  
4. Clamat ad me, saith God, it crieth unto me. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used, doth signify exclamare, vociferari, to whoop or hollow, to cry out with abundance of earnestness and violence, as one that is in any great danger, would do for help; and that generally not with any articulate, significative voice, (that's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) but only with a great noise, as if the voice of blood were that which would even fill the ears of God, that he should hearken to nothing else, till that were avenged. So than it is not a small, still voice, but a loud, fearful, shricking voice, and clamat ad me, saith God, it crieth unto me, that is, it is a voice crying for Justice to the Judge of all the World; a voice crying for vengeance to him, to whom vengeance belongeth. 'Tis a voice of blood calling and crying out for blood, that they who have shed blood may have blood to drink; Rev. 16. 6. Thus doth all innocent blood cry and shriek in the ears of the Almighty. No other innocent blood that ever was shed in the world, hath any other note, but only the blood of Jesus Christ. That is indeed better blood then that of Abel, and so speaketh better things then that of Abel, Heb. 12. 24. It cried for Mercy, and for Mercy to the very Murderers, whose souls (some of them at least) were washed with that very blood which their hands had shed, Act. 2. 23. with 38. The efficacy and virtue of that Prayer of our blessed Saviour, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do, made that precious innocent blood a sovereign bath, to cleanse their souls who had shed it. And so the blood of Christ did outcry even the blood of Christ; that is, The voice of Christ's blood as Mediator, did cry louder for Mercy, than the voice of Christ's blood as an innocent Sufferer did cry for vengeance. Thus that blood cried, and still doth cry for Mercy; but all other innocent blood (having no merit in itself to cleanse souls) doth cry for vengeance, and will never leave crying till it be revenged. The souls of those that lay under the Altar, (Rev. 6. 9 who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, cried with a loud voice, saying; How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth? Not as if those blessed souls were Vindictae Cupidi, or had the least malice, or desire of revenge against their Murderers. Such an opinion will not suit with that happy state of bliss in which they are. But as the blood of the Sacrifice (saith Grotius) which was poured at the foot of the Altar, did 
Grot. in Apoc. 6. 9  as it were mind God of the Sacrifice which was offered up to him upon the Altar: So the souls of th●se Martyrs, which are said to lie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Altar; do as it were continually put God in mind of their innocent sufferings, and stir up his justice to take vengeance on their Murderers. So did the blood of our Royal Martyr cry, and that under the Altar too, being slain for the Testimony which he held, and it cried so loud, that all his Kingdoms heard it from one end to the other, and shook at the noise, and could never have rest till God heard the cry of it, and avenged it.  
5. Once more, and I have done with the first part of my Text. A voice! a voice of blood, of brother's blood, and that crying blood; not whispering, but olamouring for vengeance. Now lastly, From whence doth it cry? Why, clamat de terra, it crieth from the ground which had received it from the Murderer's hand. As if the Earth itself had showed some compassion in drinking of it in, when the Murderer shown so much cruelty in the letting of it out. Or rather, as if the Earth would have hid the blood, or Cain would fain have hid it in the earth, but yet it could not be; for when it was covered in the earth, yet still it did cry; and when it could not be seen, yet still it was heard. Thus vengeance pursues Murderers, and (as the Poet could tell us) Raro antecedentem scelestum 
Horat.  deseruit pede poena claudo; when such bloody sins do march in the Front, vengeance will not fail to bring up the Rear. The very Barbarians themselves had it either from Experience, or from Natural Light, that Murderers could not go unpunished: which made them say one to another, when they saw the Viper hanging on S. Paul's hand, Act. 28. 4. No doubt this man is a Murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the Sea, yet vengeance (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Goddess of Justice, saith Vatablus) suffereth not to live. They acknowledged that there was a Nemesis, a Vindictive power somewhere, that would not fail to execute vengeance upon men of blood: the blood will cry still, when the man is dead and buried, that owned it. And thus it is here, Vox de Terra, a voice out of the earth, but yet a voice that (like the cry of Sodom's sin) reacheth up to Heaven, and a voice that pursues the Murderer down to Hell. John Baptist was the voice of one crying in the Wilderness, Isa. 40. 3. but this is the voice of one crying in the earth, and crying out of the earth. That voice out of the Wilderness called for Repentance; but this voice out of the Earth calls for Justice. We read of the Wizards in Isa. 8. 19 that they did peep and mutter out of the earth. Forerius saith, that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there rendered Familiar Spirits, 
Forer. in Isa. 8. 19  were spiritus in sepulchris mortuorum, & locis subterraneis, qui Rogati voce stridula respondebant; some subterranean spirits lying in the sepulchers of the dead, which gave answers to those that consulted them, in a strange kind of hissing voice. But now, as if Necromancy and Witchcraft were but a petty sin to this; the blood of the Innocent doth not peep and mutter, but cry and roar out of the earth. And when the Murderers think 'tis safe covered, and there shall be no more tidings of it, when they have hid it, and buried it, and hope it is forgotten, even then there is spiritus in sepulchris mortuorum, a spirit in the sepulchers of the dead, that lifts up its voice afresh, and cries out in the words of Job, O earth, cover not thou my blood, Job. 16. 18. And thus we have found it true by experience; there was spiritus in sepulchre Regis, a spirit of vengeance that cried out of the King's Grave, and never left crying till the curse came a dozen years after upon the shedders of it. Which brings me from the Cry to the Curse, the second part of my Text, And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.  
Cain was cursed presently, though the curse did not presently overtake him in all the parts of it: so are all Murderers, so especially were these. No sooner is the stroke given, but the curse falls; as the Bullet is at the Mark in the very instant that the Powder fires, so saith God▪ Nunc maledictus es, Now, at this very instant, thou art cursed, etc. But before I come to take notice of the Curse itself, and to compare the curse of Cain with the curse of King-killers, I shall crave leave a little further to compare the Persons and Dispositions of these men, with the Person and Disposition of Cain; that when we have seen how well they agree in their Qualities, we may the more admire the justice of God, who hath made them to agree so well together in their Curse.  
1. It is observed by the Jews that Cain was grown upon the matter an Atheist, before he slew his brother. There is in the Jerusalem Targum, a Dialogue of what passed between Cain and Abel in the field. Cain said to Abel, There is no judgement, nor Judge, nor any other World after this; there shall no Reward be given to the Just, nor revenge taken of the Wicked; the World was not created by the Mercy of God, nor is it governed by his Mercy: why else was thy offering accepted and not mine? And Abel answered, There is a judgement, and there is a Judge, and a World to come, and a Reward for the Just, and vengeance for the wicked; The World was created by the Mercy of God, and is governed by his Mercy; because my works were better than thine, therefore my offering was accepted and thine not. Thus they contended together in the field, and then Cain risen up against his brother and slew him. Jonathan Ben Uz●el adds, Fixit lapidem in front ejus, & interfecit eum, He beat out his brains with a stone. So that (I say) taking it upon the Authority of these ancient Paraphrasts, it appears to be at least their Opinion, that the Devil had first tempted Cain to Atheism, to a disbelief of judgement and the World to come, before he could tempt him to Murder. And truly, I think our King killers were of cain's Religion, that is, of none, as errand Atheists as he. It seems to me impossible, that such a sin should have been committed, by men that did believe a judgement to come, or had any thing of Faith, or of the fear of God left in them: So that as S. Bernard saith of Cain, Nec dum fratricida, fideicida fuit, he had 
Bern▪ Ser. 25. super Cant.  cut the Throat of his own Faith, before he killed his brother. We may say the same of these men▪ They were fideicidae, before they were Regicidae, Men of no Religion, before they could act a Villainy, that was so contrary to all Religion.  
2. Cain talked with Abel his brother, before he slew him, ver. 8. Some understand it thus; That Cain for the present, dissembled his Anger, and gave his brother good words, that he might get him out into the field, and have the fit opportunity to kill him. And then, here is in Cain a notable example of a bloody hypocrite▪ who fawns and flatters, that he may kill and destroy. So Joab took Abner aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, 2 Sam. 3. 27. And as if our King-killers had learned this craft from their Father Cain himself, they held the King with pretended Parlays, and Treaties, and a seeming desire of accord, even when the hearts of many of them were fully set to murder him. God deliver us, and the Kingdom from such Crocodiles, who weep over the head, when they have a mind to feed upon the brain; from such Judas', who have oil upon their tongues, whilst they have murder in their hearts, whose words are smother than butter, and yet they are drawn swords, Psal. 55. 21.  
3. Josephus tells us, That Cain after he had killed his 
Joseph. Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 3.  brother, and was gone out from the presence of the Lord, turned Robber, and so became the first Robber as well as the first Murderer in the world. And here certainly our King-killers have outgone him. As the whole world cannot match them in bloodguiltiness, so neither can it equal them in Robbery. The Tartars themselves, among whom Thievery is tolerated by a Law, were never so great Thiefs as these. They Robbed three Kingdoms of their lawful Sovereign, and they rob the lawful heir of his Kingdoms, and they rob the Church of its Revenues, and in doing so, they rob God, Mal. 3. 8. They rob the People of their Pastors, and they rob the Pastors of their maintenance; they rob the Nation of infinite sums of Money, and they rob hundreds of Families of their whole Estates. And (which was worse) they did what they could, to rob us all of that which is dearest to us, our Religion and Christianity. Never were there such Robbers in the world as these; here Cain himself lies behind, and cannot come near them.  
4. And as they were more Notorious Robbers, so they were more impudent Murderers then ever Cain was. He drew his brother out into the field, a private place; his Conscience being (it seems) so startled at the Gild of his sin, that though the World was so thinly peopled, that there were none but his near Relations on earth, yet he durst not commit it openly, but drew him into a secret place, thinking to conceal the Murder, and probably to have made such an excuse to his Father, as joseph's brethren did to their Father Jacob, That some evil beast had torn him in pieces, Gen. 37. 33. so heinous a sin is Murder in the eyes even of wicked men, that it is ashamed to walk bare-faced, though the sword of Humane Vengeance be not drawn to pursue it. But these wretches acted their villainy in the most public place of the Kingdom: as if Murder were now become Meritorious, and the greatest of Crimes durst impudently proclaim itself to be a Virtue. They poured out this sacred blood upon the top of a Rock, and poured it not upon the Ground to cover it with dust, that it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance Ezek. 24. 7, 8. so that Cain was a modest, shamefaced Murderer, compared with these men. S. Hierom tells us from the Tradition 
Hieron. in Ezek. 27.  of the Hebrews, that the place in which Cain slew his brother▪ was the Field of Damasous, which thence took its name Sanguinem Bibens, Drinking Blood. And there was as much reason that the place where this sacred blood was shed, should have been called Aceldama, The field of Blood, had there not been some kind of Expiation made, by shedding the blood of some of the Murderers near the same place. And so the curse fell upon them in a most exemplary way; as if God had said to every one of them in particular, as he did here to Cain, And now thou art cursed from the Earth (from that very same Earth) which hath opened her mouth to receive, etc. which brings me about again to a more particular survey of the Curse itself, and the correspondence that may be observed, as well in the Punishment as in the Sin, of Cain and these Murderers.  
Maledictus tu à Terrâ, that's a heavy Curse. You may observe the difference between Adam's curse and cain's; adam's was Maledicta Terra propter te, Gen. 3. 17. the curse lighted mainly upon the earth: but cain's curse came home, and lighted upon his own person, Maledictus tu à terra, cursed art thou from the earth. That was, Cursed be the earth for thy sake; but this is, Cursed be thou for the earth's sake. When God curseth a man's Goods and Possessions, it is not half so much, as when he curseth himself, his soul and body. But cain's was both, a double curse; he was cursed and the earth too. Cursed art thou, there's the curse upon his Person; and the earth shall not yield her increase, there's the curse upon his Possessions. One single curse is not enough for such Murderers, they are followed with curse upon curse, Cursed in their Basket, and in their Store; Cursed in the City, and in the Field: So was Cain; he built a City, but (it seems) stayed not long in it; the furies of his Conscience (as 'tis thought) drove him out into the Field again, and the City was called by his Son's name, ver. 17. And lastly, Cursed in the fruit of their Body, and in the fruit of their Ground, and in the fruit of their . Deut. 28. 16, etc. All this came home upon Cain. And the heaviest of all temporal curses is, when God (who often visiteth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children) doth curse the fruit of a wicked man's body, and gives him cursed children for his cursed sins. Cain was cursed in his soul, and cursed in his substance, and cursed in his posterity. His children were cursed children, not one of them came to good. Their wickedness infected the whole world, and brought the Flood, and that Flood swept all the posterity of Cain away, not one left. I do not wish this curse upon the children of our King-killers; rather let them live to see all their Father's sins which they have done, and consider and do not such like, that they may not die in the iniquity of their Fathers, Ezek. 18 14, 17.  
And now, let us consider how God hath brought home the rest of cain's curse upon the children of Cain, those men of blood that murdered the King; and by the dreadfulness of the curse, learn for ever to detest and abhor the sin. The cry of that Royal blood you have heard already, and all the Land heard it, and groaned under it for many years; but now the Curse hath overtaken the Cry. We will pursue it step by step, that we may see and admire the justice of God in the exemplary punishment of that enormous sin.  
1. That the earth was cursed that received the blood of Abel, ver. 12. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield her increase. We are told that blood defileth a Land, Num. 35. 33. that it doth ever; and the Land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Therefore there was no satisfaction to be taken for the life of a Murderer, because the Land could not otherwise be purged, ver. 31. so saith Solomon, Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall flee to the pit, let no man stay him: that is, let him die without Mercy, let no man mediate for him. But beside this, A bloody Land being thus defiled, is sometimes in God's judgement, made a barren Land: and the soaking of an Estate in blood, is equivalent to the sowing of it with salt. Psal. 107. 34. A fruitful land turneth he into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. The Country of Sodom and Gomorrah was turned into a salt Lake, for the wickedness of the Inhabitants. Thus doth God's curse many times get into wicked men's estates, so that they crumble away without any other reason to be given, further than that the Flying Rowl is consuming the beams and the timber, Zach. 5. 4. Let them look to that, who have built their houses in blood. This is certain, That the curse for this Murder did hover a long time, like an Eagle over the whole Kingdom, which hath been by reason of it, for many years a Land of Nod, that is, a Land of trembling. There was a cup of trembling put into our hands, and we were made to drink the wine of astonishment, and were never quiet till this blood was revenged. The voice of it shook the whole kingdom, and shattered it in pieces. And so part of the Curse fell upon the Earth.  
2. Cain himself was cursed that shed this blood. And this is one great part of his curse, that he should be a Fugitive and Vagabond upon the earth, ver. 12. that is, That he should be pursued hither and thither, by the Furies of his own Conscience, driven up and down the world, as one that is pursued with a Hue and Cry by the Ministers of Justice, so that he should never find a quiet Habitation more as long as he lived. So Junius expounds this part of the Curse, that by it is meant, Corporis & animi instabilitas, ex diris conscientiae, the unsettledness both of his body and mind, through the terrors of his Conscience. And thus Euripides brings in Orestes after he had slain his mother▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, running up and down Greece, having his Conscience stung, like a Beast that is pricked with a Fly, ●nd so never able to be quiet any where. This punishment was very exemplary in the Jews, after they had crucified the Lord of Life; Dispersi, 
Tertul. Apol. c. 21.  palabundi, coeli & soli sui ext●rres, vagantur per orbem; sine homine, sine Deo Rege, saith Tertullian. They had never a certain abiding place since, but as banished men, they put in where they may be permitted to live; never a Temple, nor public Sacrifice; never a King to govern them, nor a God to take care of them. Insomuch that Nicephorus calls them Theatrum Vindicta Divinae, the Theatre of Divine Vengeance. And this was cain's punishment; He was not yet in Hell, but Hell was got into him, and that made him restless, endeavouring (if it had been possible) to flee from himself, as carrying his own Tormentor in his own bosom. The Gild of his soul set Spurs (as it were) to his body▪ and made him continually to be in a restless motion. And this (if you consider it) is the very Curse that is fallen upon the Regicides, those of them especially, that have hitherto escaped the Sword of Justice. They are in the Land of Nod, Mobilis & Vag●, frighted with the Noise of the Fetters of their own Consciences, and still afraid lest they hear the feet of the Revenger of blood behind them. Thus is that Curse fallen upon them, than which David (by the Spirit of Prophecy) could not imprecate a greater upon the enemies of God and his Church, Psal. 109. 10. Let them be continually Vagabonds, and seek their bread out of desolate places. Indeed we read in Scripture of a company of holy Vagabonds, that did wander about in Sheepskins, and Goats-skins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in Deserts, and in Mountains, and in Dens, and Caves of the earth, Heb. 11. 37, 38. This was not their curse, because not for any crime; nor their misery, but their happiness. The world was not worthy of them, though they were not thought worthy to live in the world. But to wander as Cain did, with a guilty conscience up and down the world, this is a Curse indeed, the very curse that the remaining Regicides are now under.  
3. Cain despaired when he heard his sentence. My punishment (saith he) is greater than I can bear; or as others read it, My sin is greater than can be forgiven. He that before could not be brought to Repentance with the sight of his sin, is now upon the sight of his punishment, driven to desperation. And this S. Bernard calls the greatest 
Bern Ser. 3. de S. Andr.  of cain's sins; Grande illud scelus evomuit, major est iniquitas m●a, etc. He vomited out (saith he) that great blasphemy, My sin is greater than can be forgiven. A sin that is injurious, 1. To the Mercy of God; for it makes God to be weaker than Sin, weaker than the Devil, as if his Mercy must be triumphed over, and led captive by Satan's malice. And therefore S. Bernard having repeated those prodigious words of Cain, My sin is greater than can be forgiven, cries out, Mentiris Latro, Thou liest Villain, Major enim est Dei pietas quam quaevis iniquitas, for the Mercy of God is greater than any iniquity of man. 2. To the Merits of Christ; For it is to charge the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ, with weakness, and impotency, and insufficiency; as if the Devil were more mighty to destroy, than Christ is to save. To which the same Father 
Bern. super C●●t. Ser. 61.  replies again, Quid tam ad mortem quod non Christi morte salvetur? What sin is there so deadly, that Christ's blood cannot heal? Yea, but Cain (saith he) was not a member of Christ, and therefore had nothing to do with the merits of Christ. He could not say, Quod mihi deest, usurpo mihi ex vesceribus domini, I will fetch honey out of the bowels of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; quoe viscera per vulnera patent, whose very bowels you may see through his bleeding wounds. 3. It is utterly destructive to true Repentance, and so a sin against the very Remedy. For this is it which makes wretched sinners desperate, when they look upon God as all Fire and Fury, Wrath and Indignation, Vengeance and Terror, but they apprehend nothing of Mercy and Compassion in him. This was it that made Judas hang himself, and Cain run from God. And truly, I am afraid this Curse fell upon many of the Regicides too; upon some the curse of Desperation, upon most of them the curse of Obduration, that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a hard and impenitent heart, Rom. 2. 5. S. Gregory saith 
Greg. Mag. in Psal. 51. 11.  upon this speech of Cain, that he committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. I dare not say this was that sin, but if 
Aug. Expos. inchoat▪ Ep. ad Rom.  we may judge by S. Augustine's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who makes it to lie mainly in final impenitency joined with desperation, I doubt many of the Regicides came as near to it as Charing-Cross is to Whitehall, None of them (that ever I heard) even when they came to Execution, manifested any great signs of Repentance, for this horrid Murder; some died stupidly, others justified it, others excused it. They that are yet alive, have their hearts hard enough, were their hands but strong enough to act over the same sin again. So that here too is cain's Curse right, The plague of an impenitent heart is fallen upon them.  
4. Cain was afraid that every one that met him, would slay him: such was the terror of his guilty conscience, that he took himself to be an Anathema, an execrable devoted person, an Outlaw that any one might kill that would. Nay, not only so, but the word may be read in 
Fagius in loc.  the Neuter Gender, Quicquid invenerit me, etc. whatsoever doth meet me, will slay me. And so he was afraid not only of men, but of the beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. He was afraid lest God should arm the very irrational creatures to be the Revengers of this blood. As (you know) God sent Hornets to drive out the Canaanites, Exod. 23. 28. and commanded Bears to tear in pieces those lewd children that mocked the Prophet, 2 King. 2. 24. And this very terror of Cain, lest every thing that met him should slay him, lay upon the hearts of our King-killers too. A Panic fear surprised them, as it is the property of the Workers of Iniquity, to be afraid where no fear is, Ps. 53. 5. They were scared with their own shadows, and (if Report lie not) with their own dreams; the very thoughts of their hearts were as so many Scorpions still stinging them, and that in the time of their greatest Prosperity. They lived in perpetual Frights and Fears as wretched Cain did. And so this part of the Curse fell upon them too; They were afraid that every one that met them would slay them.  
5. The Lord set a Mark upon Cain, which was partly to secure him from his fears of being killed by the next he met, and partly to warn others by his example to take heed of shedding blood. What this Mark was, is very uncertain. Some of the Jewish Writers have a fancy that it was a Dog which always kept him company, and suffered no person to come near him. A fancy that will suit well enough with our King-killers, who (no doubt) had a Dog to wait upon them ever after; they were dogged with the terrors of their guilty conscience, which followed them still close at the heels, till vengeance overtook them. Others say, it was a truculent bloody aspect, that frighted all that came near him, so that they would say, Fugiamus hinc, iste est crudelis ille homicida, qui fratrem 
Fag. in ver. 16.  suum occidit; let us flee hence, this is that cruel Murderer, who killed his Brother. Others again say, It was a perpetual trembling of all his members; which they gather from the Septuagints Translation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that he should go up and down the world groaning and trembling. Lastly, others will have it to be a continual trembling of the earth under him, so that it made all persons afraid to come near him; and this they gather from the Land of Nod, that is, the Land of Trembling, in which he dwelled, ver. 16. Whether the earth did shake under Cain, I know not; sure enough the whole Kingdom shook under the Murderers of the King. Be the Mark what it will, it was that which made him an Example and Terror to others, and a greater terror than his death could possibly have been. Our Law condemns Notorious Murderers to be hanged on a Gibbet, there to rot, and this in terrorem. Now suppose Cain had been served so, in less than twenty years there had been no Mark nor Memory of such a Person, nor perhaps of such a Sin. But now that Cain was driven up and down the world, for the space (as 'tis conceived) of several hundred years with Gods Mark upon him, as a living, walking Monument of vengeance, this was such a punishment, as was most likely to effect the ends for which God appointed it, viz. to deter others from Murder. And surely God hath set a Mark upon these Murderers too, enough (I hope) to deter all but themselves from the like sin. He hath set a Mark of infamy upon them and theirs; he hath made them an astonishment to themselves and the World; and (which is worse) he hath (as I noted before) set a mark upon the souls and consciences of many of them; he hath seared them with an hot iron, 1 Tim. 4. 2. and given them up (as it is to be feared) to a reprobate mind, Rom. 1. 28. so they have cain's Mark upon them; and in this also they share in his punishment, as well as in his sin.  
6. Cain (being condemned) with his Mark upon him, went out from the presence of the Lord ver. 16. That is, Ab Ecclesia fidelium ex●lavit, saith Fagius, He was banished from the Church and Ordinances of God; he never frequented them more, nor offered sacrifice more, after he had killed his brother. And being thus cast out of the Church, he lost the light of God's countenance, which was so sad a part of his Curse, that Cain himself complains of it, ver. 14. And from thy face (saith he) shall I be hid. Gregory the great upon that passage of the Psalmist, Psal. 51. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, etc. hath these words, A fancy Dei projicitur, cut spies veniae post peccatum negatur; He is cast out from the presence of the Lord, who grows desperate after sin committed. Cain was now in a desperate condition, and cries out, From thy face shall I be hid; that is, I shall never approach near thy Gracious presence more, I shall be out of thy Protection, and special favour. So Gods hiding of his face, signifieth the withdrawing of his comforts, care, and protection from a person, Psal. 13. 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever? how long wilt thou hid thy face from me? God's hiding his face from a man, is his forgetting of him; and his forgetting of him is nothing else, out his leaving him out of his protection and special favour. It is the withdrawing of the light of his countenance from a man, which if it be for a season, is called Desertion; if for ever, it is Hell: so that when Cain was gone out from the presence of the Lord, he was (as it were) in Hell, while he was upon Earth. And this part of the Curse is eminently fulfilled upon the Regicides and their Adherents, who have voluntarily pulled down cain's curse upon their own souls; and by excluding, and separating themselves from the Church and Communion of God's people, have gone out from the Presence of the Lord. This is remarkable, that the greatest part of them never cared to come near God in his Ordinances, in any part of his Public Worship, since they killed the King. God indeed hid his face from Cain, but these men have hid their faces from God, and run out from his presence without driving: which is so exemplary a Curse upon them, that he that runs▪ may read it. For as Cain, after he went out from the presence of the Lord, was Mobilis▪ & Vagus, a wand'ring Runagate, that could never be quiet in a place: so these men, after they had forsaken the Communion of our Church, were never settled in any thing, but ran from Error to Error, and from Delusion to Delusion till many of them had quite cast off the profession of Christianity. These were they who separated themselves, sensual, having not the spirit, which they so much gloried in, Judas 19 They went out from the presence of the Lord.  
7. And lastly, It is a received Opinion among the Jews, that Cain, running about in the Woods, was killed by Lamech instead of a wild Beast, in the seventh Generation; and so he met with his reward at last, though it 
Aug. Qu. ex Vet. Test qu 6.  were long first. I know S. Augustine denies this, upon the account that Lamech was not the seventh, but the fifth 
Hieron. ad Damasum. Ep. 125  from Cain; but S. Hierom so far defends it, as that it was majorum nostrorum sententia, an old Tradition that Cain was killed by Lamech, who was the seventh from Adam, though not from Cain. And this is that which we may rest somewhat secure of too, that as God hath given some of these wretches their reward in a great deal less time; so for those that yet remain, the Revenger of blood will pursue them, and at last, overtake them too, though they may be suffered a while for greater terror, as Cain was, to be Runagates and Vagabonds upon the Earth. 
In Tom. 9 Hieron. Ep. 5.   
I shall conclude all with a saying of S. Hierom, or whoever was the Author of that Epistle, Ad Virginem in exilium missam, which is among his Works, Nullus tam crudelis homicida est, quam qui ita erga alterum saevit, ut non parcat sibi, none so desperate a Murderer, as he that will destroy himself to be revenged upon another. Cain never thought what a mischief he should do to himself, in killing his brother. For beside all the former curses, this misery he brought upon himself, that now he was deprived of his brother's company, counsel, and assistance upon all occasions. And certainly, had not our King-killers been possessed with a spirit of strong delusion, they must needs have foreseen, that beside all the misery they should infallibly bring upon the Kingdom, they did but thrust a knife into their own Throats, when they killed the King. But thus it is, when God hides his face, and giveth men over to an infatuated spirit. They were like the Madman that beat out his own Brains with his own hands; Et immemores salutis suae, propria manu seipsos interimunt, in Reges suos proprias convertendo vires, saith 
Concil. Tolet. 4. Can. 74.  the fourth Council of Toledo; And being unmindful of their own safety, they kill themselves with their own hands, who lift up their hands against their Kings.  
And thus you have seen how cain's Curse in every particular is fallen upon the Regicides; that we may say of them, as S. Paul of his Countrymen the Jews, That wrath is come upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. 2. 16. And God grant that the Curse may rest there, and never fly farther abroad, and that the Land may be cleansed from that blood. And for the Kingdom's peace and settlement, let us put up that Prayer to God, which the children of Israel were taught to pray when a man was found slain in the field, Deut. 28. 8. Be merciful, O Lord, be merciful unto thy people whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto their charge. O let the Gild of this blood be forgiven the whole Nation, and let the blood of Christ Jesus cry louder for us, than the blood of King Charles against us. Even so, O Father, for Christ Jesus sake, thy dear Son, our only Saviour; to whom with thyself, and thy Eternal Spirit, Three Persons, One Glorious God, be all Glory, Praise, and Thanksgiving, etc.  
FINIS.