A SERMON Preached the 30th of January at White-Hall, 1664. Being the Anniversary Commemoration of K. Charles the I, Martyred on that Day. By Henry King Lord Bishop of CHICHESTER. Printed by His MAJESTY'S Command. LONDON, Printed for Henry Herringman, and are to be Sold at his Shop in the Lower walk of the New-Exchange. 1665. A SERMON Preached the 30 th'. of January at White-Hall. 1664. 2 Chron. 35. Vers. 24, 25. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the Singing-men and the Singing-women spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations to this Day, and made them an Ordinance in Israel; and behold they are written in the Lamentations. WE are met in the House of Mourning, and I wish that Text of the Preacher, It is better to enter into it than the Eccles. 7. 3. House of Mirth, may prove as acceptable to you, as it is proper to the occasion. In compliance wherewith, my Text, in every part of it from Top to Bottom, is hung about with Blacks to suit the just and solemn Mourning of this Day; A Day wherein the Lord hath called for Esa. 2. 12. Weeping, and Mourning, and Girding with Sackcloth. Yet not long since, This very Day, recorded in bloody Letters, was reckoned the first Day in our unhappy Calendar: A Day of Liberty and Restauration to the whole Kingdom. Behold Joy and Gladness, (as it follows in the Prophet) slaying Oxen, and kill Ver. 13. Sheep, eating Flesh and drinking Wine, in their large Thanksgiving Dinners, and Solemn Feasts. What Liberty, no Man could tell, unless a Liberty to the Sword, Jer. 34. 17. to Rapine, and to Plunder. A liberty to profess all Religions except the Right, and exercise any Law but That which was Prescribed. May I not too truly apply to This Day, the words of Hezekiah? This is a Day of Trouble, of Rebuke, and of Blasphemy: Esa. 37. 3. Trouble to the whole Nation, Eternal Rebuke to the Actors, Blasphemy and Reproach to the Protestant Religion, so stained by the Fact wrought on it, that all the Waters which environ our Island can never wash it out: For where was it ever known, that such a King was Murdered by the Sword of Justice, and Pretence of Religion gave aim to the Assassinate's Blow? when Those, who by their Office were to Preach Peace, became the Trumpets of Rebellion; when every Pulpit was made a Sconce, from whence no Platform shot more frequent Fire than their Tongues did bitter Words, against the Church, and Psal. 64. 3. against Him who was the Nursing Father of It. For this Cause, so much of our Sorrow as can be spared from our greater Obsequies, may be allowed to lament this Scandal to the best Reformed Church of England, when we find those Men acting by their sharp Principles, who desired to be accounted most opposite to Them: Both assuming the Title of Sacerdotes Pap. Massovius vit. Pauli 4 t●. Reformati, Reform and Reforming Priests. Yet need we not much wonder, since in all Ages no Rebellion broke out, which had not the stamp of Religion to make it currant. Florus tells us, the Civil Disturbances of Rome borrowed from hence their Colour, and had their Flamens (who were their Priests) to blow them up. In our own Kingdom, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw had one Ball a Priest, to plead for their Rising, in the Pulpit. And Littestar, the Dyar of Norwich, who took upon Him the Title of King of Commons (Suppressed and Hanged by Spenser the noble Bishop there) had his Chaplains too. The French History tells us the furious Cries of Boucher, Guarren, Fruardent, with others, (Thirteen in number) All Chaplains to the Duke of Guise, in all their Pulpits termed Charles the Ninth, their King, a Tyrant, and Favourer of Heretics: Insomuch that the seduced Parisians changed their wont Acclamations of God save the King, to God save the Guise, Head of the Catholic League, and Patron of Religion: The Tragical issue whereof was the Massacre of so many Protestants, and shortly after, the Death of the King. A sad Glass to show the Rise of our late Distempers here; where praying for the King was prohibited by Order: And, (I speak upon knowledge) in some places, none admitted to the Communion but those who fought against Him. Not to trouble you further, John Knox, and others, were Chaplains in the Scottish Rebellion, in which the Archbishop was murdered, the Churches demolished, and the Queen forced to fly. And if any doubt who were the Chaplains to make our People stumble in their Duties, to solicit our own and the Church's troubles; If nothing appears under Smictymnus his Mask, Archer and Lemuel Tuke (who acted open faced without their Vizors) may sufficiently declare: The one whereof Preached it lawful to resist the King; The other to kill Him. These, and many more like these, were the Prologue to that cruel Tragedy on this Day acted: And Chaplains to that general Mischief which the whole Kingdom than groaned under. And I dare boldly affirm, upon what Clod of Earth, in what Field soever, the sharp Battles were fought, the Sparring Blows were made in the Pulpit. If this Repetition be unpleasing, I beg pardon; it so little pleases me, That from my Soul I wish there never had been cause to give it mention, or make it any part in the luckless Subject of our History. Yet since our Saviour excused the Ointment expended on Him by the Woman, Mat. 26. 12, 13. and would not have it forgot, as being done, to bury Him; I hope I may have leave to reflect a little upon those Dead flies, whose only aim was to corrupt the sweet Ointment of our Josiah's Name, which is like Ointment poured out, perfuming all places, with the Example and Memory of his Virtues. For what the Woman did to Christ in Piety, they did in Malice, to bury Him too, at least to. Antedate his Funeral, by burying His precious Fame, his good Name, before the fatal Stroke which brought his Body to the Grave. Our Text's Subject is Josiah's Funeneral, 1. They mourned for Josiah. Where you have the general Train of 2. Mourners, All Judah and Jerusalem. Then the Particular, The Prophet Jeremiah 3. lamented for Josiah: The Singing-men, and Singing-women spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations to this Day. The perpetuation of this solemn 4. Mourning; And made them an Ordinance in Israel. The Record kept of Them: Behold 5. they are written in the Lamentations. When we mention Josiah, we mention 1 Subject. Josiah. the best Prince that ever sat upon the Throne of Judah: One who did 2 Kings 22. 2. right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his Father. One not less zealous for the House of the Lord, than for the Service in it: For he caused the Temple to be Repaired, and the Law of God diligently to be cap. 22. 3. Read in it. Yea, so great was His desire to restore the Temple to its former Lustre, That he took down all those Houses joining to 2 Kings 23. 7. the House of God, which either Defiled, or Defamed it, by their Neighbourhood. But that Josiah is not my scope. My Scene must here change from Judaea to Great Britain; from Judah's King to our Own, who fell under worse hands than Pharaoh Necho. Vers. 21. He fairly warned Josiah, and persuaded him to decline the Fight, wherein 2 Chron. 33. 20, 21. God's Ordinance, which sent him against Euphrates, made his Arm too strong to be resisted. But our Pharaoh Necho, and his Complices, did all they could, by false Oaths and Flatteries, to bring their Master within the Reach of their Blow, and take the Anointed of the Lord in their Pits. Lament. 4 20. A Fact so horrid, that it is easier to bewail in Tears, than utter in Words. Indeed, the grateful Duty to a Dead Master, and the Allegiance to such a King, make all expressions I can use, too narrow for the Argument; upbraiding my Inabilities with that practical truth: Nihil difficilius quam magno dolori paria Seneca Con sol. ad Polyb. cap. 22. verba invenire. Nothing is more difficult than to match so great a Sorrow with Language equal to it. So that with Nazianzen, upon an occasion somewhat like this, I might wish another Jeremy in my stead, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 21. in Laud. Athanas. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who only was able to frame a Lamentation proportionable to the cause, and invent a Throne, worthy of his excellent Pen, and of the Subject. The Piety of our Josiah being not Inferior to that Elder Josiah, and his Moral virtues every way equal. So great and meritorious a Person as Josiah, is not to be narrowed by the common Expressions of a bewailing Tongue, nor will any Rhetoric suffice, unless assisted and supplied, where Words fall short, by the number of the Mourners, 2. General Train of Mourners. as here it was; All Judah, Jerusalem, etc. Nothing is so Natural as to Lament the Dead Man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners go about the Streets. Eccles. 12. 5. — Moesta phalanx Teucrique sequuntur. The Stoics indeed, by their rigid precepts, Virgil, Aeneid. 11. laboured to seal up the fountains of our Eyes, pronouncing it unmanly for our Sex to melt in Tears. Ennius was of the same humour: Nemo me lachymis decoret, nec funera faxit; He would have no weeping at his Grave, nor Funeral solemnity: Nay, Ludovicus Cortusius, Patavinus by his last Will, forbade Mourning Drexel. Prodrom: Cap. 1. for him, and because he would have no show of a Funeral, he ordered, that the Black Monks, habited like Mourners, should not be invited to his Burial. But Solon, wiser than all three, thought his Memory disparaged, if he deserved so little of Lacedaemon, that none were found to bewail his Loss: His words were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did expect some Tears dropped over his Hearse, and some Train of Mourners to attend him to his Funeral Pile. They are miserable Men, who go out of the World, as it were in the Dark, neither missed nor bewailed by any. Josiah you see had many, All Judah All Judah and Jerusalem. and Jerusalem. A less proportion of Mourners would not suit his Funeral. When Masters of private Families Dye, those in the Household are Mourners by Custom. But when the Pater Patriae, the common Father of the Kingdom, the Lord Paramont, and Master of us all Dyes, the whole Confluence of the People, by an universal Summons, are called together as sharers in the Solemnity. When our Saviour was Born, there was Luk. 2. 1. a general Tax went from Augustus to be levied through the World. Which Tax was but a concurrent shadow of the universal Homage, due to the New Born King, whose Empire extended not over Judaea only, but the whole World, as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And sure, when soever his great Vicegerents leave the World, it is fit, that their Death, which is (as one calls it) Fatalis Nativitas, a Fatal Birth, should be Solemnised by a Tribute of Tears levied upon the whole Kingdom. If that Tyrant John Basiliwick, D. of Muscovy, exacted Phialas sudore plenas, a Tribute of Sweat wiped from his Subjects brows, and kept in Glasses and Bottles for him to see; sure a good Prince dying may expect a Subsidy of Tears Bottled up, and Sorrow kept in store, to weep bitterly for such a Loss. It is held an usual Duty at the King's Coronation, to bring Contributory wood to make a Bonfire: 'Tis then (Ratione Contrariorum) an equal Duty, when He is un-crowned by Death, to bring some Contributory water falling from our eyes, to Quench that fire again. Nicephorus Gregoras writes, that in their Naemia, those mournful Exequys for the Lib. 10. Emperor, the People wished the whole River of Nilus drawn up into their Eyes, that so they might raise a Mourning proportionable to the Loss. And at the Burial of Titus the Mourning was so general, That omnes tanquam in propriâ doluerunt Eutropius in Tito. orbitate, as Eutropius expresseth it; All sorts of men thought themselves concerned in that Precious Loss, Lamenting as disconsolate Orphans deprived of their Father. Nay Barbarians themselves who had been conquered by the Sword of Germanicus did bear their share in the sorrow for his Death. I know Buchanan whose study was to Buchanan dejure Regni apud Scotos. diminish Princes and contract their Grandeur, tells us, that a King, though he be better and greater than any particular Subject, yet He is less than the whole Aggregate and Multitude of His Subjects. But a Text more authentic than his tells us, in the Person of King David, Thou art better than ten Thousands of us, which you must not take for a confined 2 Sam. 18. 3. number of so many, but Indefinite, nay Infinite the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So here you see the King set in scale with the whole Kingdom, for All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Which transcendent Lamentation grew into a Proverb, Like the mourning of Zach. 12. 11. Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. Where give me leave to tell you, Though Abulensis thought this Hadadrimmon a person then King of Syria, in whose assistance Josiah engaged against Pharaoh Necho, who therefore in gratitude bewailed his death so excessively, that it became Proverbial; Yet Baronius will have Hadadrimmon to be only the place where Josiah fell. Baron Annal This Rite of mourning had Josiah, And though our own Josiah deserved no less than He, and had it from all that understood His value; yet at the time of his cutting off, it was reputed so great a crime to express any show of sorrow for Him, that a mourning suit was looked on as the Livery of a Malignant and an affront to the State, may Libel upon the Murderers. Myself knew some assaulted merely for their Habit, and hardly escaping with life. By which you see the misery of Judaea, under his Captivity, translated to England, where Ne fletus quidem gratuitus, It Hieron in Sophoniam. was dangerous to mourn, and men were forced to fine for their sorrow expressed at the murder of our unparallelled Josiah. The Large and numerous Train which attend the Funeral show the Greatness of the Person, but the Quality of the Mourners speak his Virtue and Merit: 3. The Prophet Jeremiah lamented, etc. It did so here when the Prophet Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. The better the Persons are that attend, the greater is the honour done to the Dead. When Christ wept at the Grave of John 11. 63. Lazarus, the Jews looked on it as a special Evidence of his affection, See how he loved him. And though Saul deserved not such an honour from Samuel, having so oft revolted from the command of God sent by that Great Prophet, yet was it the demonstration of a scarcely paralleled Love, that Samuel mourned for Saul all his Days, and this before his Death. That the Prophet Jeremiah did no less for Josiah, the Threnes and Lamentations by him left to Posterity show, divers whereof were particularly applicable to him, telling the World how well this excellent Prince deserved, Like 2 King. 15. 25. whom there never was any before, neither succeeded any to equal him. That the Subject of our Funeral this Day solemnised was as meritorious as Josiah, I speak not in the custom of those who in their funeral Sermons oft times belly the Dead, atributing Virtues to them whereof, whilst they lived, they were not guilty. But my own knowledge, confirmed by an attendance upon him for many years, makes me confidently rise to this Superlative. The Hebrews make Jeremiah Chief Mourner; Maximè lugebat: which was partly out of Pity, for that he ran upon a Danger whereof he was forewarned, Justin Martyr. indeed forbidden to encounter Pharaoh Necho, as Justin Martyr infers. But especially in remembrance of His Virtue and Piety: His singular love to God's Service and care of the Temple, both in adorning it, and ordering the Provision for the Priests. That our Gracious Josiah took as great care to preserve the Church's Patrimony, and protect the Priestly Office, against those Sacrilegious Harpies who made the spoil of both their aim, let the charge given to his Treators at Uxbridge testify, with several other expressions in his Declarations. Therefore Jeremiah, and the Schools of the Prophets had reason to lament. Discipulorum inter jubeo plorare catervos, And the House of Levi had cause to Zach. 12. 14. Mourn Apart. And Plorent Sacerdotes, Let the Priests weep betwixt the Porch and the Joel. 2 17. Altar. Many whereof, when He was cut off had neither maintenance from the Altar at which they served, nor so much as a Porch to shelter their unhoused heads from the injury of the weather. The loss of such a Patron might justly cause the whole Church to Lament, To turn the Songs of the Temple into Howl, Amos 8. 3 to change our Anthems into Dirges and Ditties of Lamentation, as it did in vers. 10. Josiah's days, when the Singing Men and Singing Women spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations. The Singing Men and Singing Women made mention of Him. spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations. What strange Contrarieties doth Nature and Custom, put betwixt our Beginning and our End. When we come into the World Tears and Lamentation are our Prologue. The first Voice I uttered, was Crying as all others use. But at our going hence, Music Wisd 7. 3. Ushers us to our Grave. When I consider the truth of that saying, Musica in luctu importuna, Music in a time of mourning is an importunity both unwelcome and unseasonable, May I not justly wonder what use the Singing Men and Singing Women had at Funerals? Might we not say, as God doth, Take Amos 5. 23. from me the noise of your Songs, I will not hear the Melody, etc. Sure those who feel the weight, and know the apprehension of a just grief, raised from a deserving Cause, need no Helpers to improve it. And yet in all Ages, and in all places, there have been such. The Romans had their Praeficas (Tanquàm in hoc ipsum Praefectas saith one) who like Counterverse led to the Chorus in their Dirges for the Dead. And Jeremy the Prophet bids Call for the Mourning Jerem. 9 17: Women Skilful to Lament. 'Tis true, Threnodiae primum à Simonide inventae. Their Funeral Songs were first invented by Simonides in Greece. But besides these, they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Instruments used at Funerals according to the Scaliger. Quality of the Person who died. For meaner People jibias, Pipes; for the Noble, Trumpets. When Jairus his Daughter lay dead, the Text tells you, there were Minstrels, Math. 9 23. who were put out by our Saviour. The Reason given by the Jews for coming to those places was, that by their sad Tones they might work upon the Affections and increase the Mourning. We in our practice have none but Bells for the Common sort, and Trumpets for the Prince. And surely it is not merely conceit, that though they are the same Bells, which Ring at a Coronation, and at a Funeral, yet our Passion, intent upon the Subject, believes they sound more sad and heavy for this Last than for the first. 'Tis just so in the Trumpet, whose shrill and Lofty Sounds give spirit to a Triumph, but at their Master's Hearse their dull and hoarser Accents plainly seem to groan. Yet this is not all: However the Hebrew reads the Singing Men and Singing Women, the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Nobles of either Sex. And justly might they so do. Ammianus Marcellinus, bewailing the death of the Emperor, says, Post cujus Lachrimosum interitum, unius exitio quisque imaginem Ammianus Marcellinus. periculi sui considerans, documento recenti similia formidabat. His Fall did warn all those who were in the next station of honour below him, That Their condition He was shaken, could not be long secure, Ululat Abies quià cecidit Cedrus, Well Zach. 11. 2. might the Firr-tree Lament being of lower growth, when the Lofty Cedar fell. It was a Prophetic warning given by our excellent Josiah, when He found some of His Nobles cool and staggered in their Duty towards Him, They themselves would one day find the mischief, nor must look to retain their Lustre long, when He their Great Luminary was Eclipsed, Per quem Nobiles Nobiliores facti; As when the Fountain of Honour was diminished, the Streams derived from it must needs fail. He, I say, gave them This Prophetic warning, and some of them found it verified. For when the proud Levellers of that time took the confidence to invite the Peers to quit their Station, and sit with them in the House of Commons, Upon a Contest betwixt a very mean Person and a great Peer, one of the most Insolent of the Party, to whom Complaint was made, scornfully answered, He hoped to see the time That a faithful blue Apron should be as good as a Blue Ribbon. Therefore most justly Plorent Proceres, Let the Peers mourn no less than the Priests. Both which have Reason to speak of Josiah to this Day in their Lamentations. To perpetuate the Memory of which Solemn Lamentation, That neither the Person nor the occasion should be unremembered, They made them an Ordinance in Israel. 4. And made them an Ordinance, etc. We have known many Ordinances in our late wicked Times to carry on the War and prosecute the Life of our Josiah. 'Tis well we have here one Ordinance to bewail the Facts, and Repent ourselves. The Prophet David calls the Grave the Land of forgetfulness, where we forget and are forgotten. Psal. 88 12. And elsewhere He Complains, I am forgot as a Dead man out of mind. Psal. 31. 21. But Josiah found a Preservative to keep his memory alive after Death. As the Daughters of Israel by an established Judg. 11. 40. custom yearly bewailed the Daughter of Jephtha, so did the surviving Israelites Lament Josiah, and so we our late Martyred Sovereign. The Children Zach. 7. 3. of the Captivity had their solemn weeping in the fifth month; we have ours in the first. It was the Old fashion at Funerals, when they committed the Body to the Earth, to Salute and take their sad farewell of the Deceased Party at once; we shall not need to do that, nor yet bespeak our Incomparable Josiah, as Virgil did the Brave and Noble Pallas, Salve aeternum mihi maxim Palla-Aeternumque vale. O thou who wert as eminent for thy goodness, as great in thy Titles, Receive our last Valediction in the Tears of us who are left behind. Here is an Ordinance to keep Thee Fresher, than all the spices which Embalm thy Body. Nicephorus writes that in Chabda, a City in India, when the Husband died, the wife Niceph. Calixto Lib. 8. Cap. 38. was a perpetual Mourner at his Grave. Should we follow the Son of Syraches rule, to Weep for our Loss as he is worthy, we should never give over, never be out of Mourning. But truly say, Vigilant qd me i sine fine dolores. A story tells us, that at Zeilan in Asia, the Inhabitants believe Adam and Eve to have Purchas Pilgrims Asia. lib. 5. cap. 17. wept three hundred years for their Murdered Son Abel; from whose Tears a puri fying water sprang wherein Pilgrims washed. I dare not say what a Torrent shall grow from our Sorrow for so Inexpressible a Loss; but the Duration of it shall, if the World lasts so long, Treble this Account of Time. The Apostle says, Abel, though Dead, speaks yet: so doth our Dead Sovereign Heb. 11. 4. speak this Day from every Pulpit, nor will the Voice of his Blood be silenced whilst there is a Tongue to proclaim or Memory to retain it. And as the famous Egyptian Synophanes, having lost his Son, Statuam dolori consecravit, Consecrated to Sorrow a Pillar to stand as his Monument: so in our Ordinance, for the perpetuating of this day (though other Tomb or Statute He hath none) we raise a Column to the memory of his Precious Name, which malice cannot slain, or Time decay. And for an Inscription upon this Pillar the sighs of a whole Land shall be Recorded, and the Lamentation of a people never worthy of such a Prince. Turkish History p. 476. Bajazet these con, in token of his Sorrow for his Son, wrote his Letters in Black Paper with white Characters. We need not put our grief into such Fantastic Dress as he did, seeing our Loss is more nobly writ in Mourning Hearts and Thoughts suitable to the Occasion: All which endorsed upon our Looks, and bound together, are sufficient to make a Volume large as Ezekiels Ezek. 2. 10. written within and without with Lamentations and Mournings and Wo. Unto these the Last clause in the Text seems to refer you. Behold, they are written in the Lamentations. 5. Writen in the Lamentations. What Lamentations for Josiah these are I dispute not: Some believe They were not those extant in the end of Jeremy's Prophecy, at least not all of them, but framed purposely for him, though lost by the injury of Time, or neglect of such who ought to have preserved them. Sure I am we can never want matter of Lamentation for our unparallelled Josiah: Our Annual Sorrow, not apt to grow barren by continuance, will prompt us to New forms suitable to their Argument. First, whilst we consider the Person, Endowed with all the Virtues and perfections which might adorn a Prince. Secondly, when we reflect not only upon his Loss, but upon the manner of it, and the Circumstances of his Death, sufficient to wring out Tears from Marble. Whilst we consider his Virtues, I may truly pronounce, Never did any sit upon the English Throne, who could in all perfections match Him, As Niceph. Gregoras of the Emperor, so may I of Him; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I cannot recount all his Virtues, and without prevarication I dare omit none which I know. His Religion was so constant in the practice of it, That not all the Glories of the Court, exhibited in their most solemn Revels and Masques, could divert, nor His Journeys of Recreation, when He came home wet and weary, could interrupt it: I am able to give signal instances in both. His Temperance never stained by any excess of Meat or Drink His Chastity never tempted to those Wander which Beauty invites. Let his profession made to some of his Royal Branches, the Night before his Jan. 29. 1648. Death, witness that. His strength of Reason and Acuteness of Judgement the Conference in the I'll of Wight testifies, which was managed Chiefly by himself against all the Knot of Divines (so they are called) there combined to oppose him; who, when They neither had Ingenuity to submit to his Reasons, nor any Arguments of their own to convince Him, Those weak Opponents left Him with this Compliment,— That they wished such a Pen, in the hand of such Abilities, might ever be employed in a Subject worthy of it. The same was evidenced before in his Intercourse at Newcastle with Mr. Hinderson; who of an Antagonist in Dispute proved a Convert, and upon His Deathbed, not only confessed the rare Endowments of his Royal Master, but left it as a Legatory Charge to his Countrymen, That they should value Him as a Jewel whose worth they hitherto understood not. Withal professing, That he believed him no whit inferior to the Best of all the Kings in Judah. Nay, I dare be bold to affirm, without Partiality or Assentation, That all the virtues which singly adorned Every one of them were United and Conjoined in Him. — Sparguntur in Omnes, Claudian. In te mista fluunt. For the Excellency of His Pen, let me refer any to the Declarations sent to the Parliament, and his Answers to theirs; which whosoever judicially weighs, will find his wrote by so Masterly a Hand, that in respect of theirs, they looked like Tintarits or Holbens Pieces compared to a Painter of Signs. Odi istam quadrante dignam Eloquentiam: Hieron. so little weight did Those pensioned Scribblers hold, compared to him. And truly that Cardinal of France did not Him more Right, or himself Honour, in any thing, than in that Emblem (said to be his) wherein a single hand was deciphered holding a Great Pen, and an infinite Number of lesser Pens held up against it; which verified in Him the old saying which you shall find mentioned in Aullus Gellius, Unus Cato mihi pro centum Millibus, et Plato instar omnium: One like him might stand against an hundred thousand Peruse his Cabinet, for the opening whereof a Committee of Picklocks was appointed; who, after a Studious Search, and long sumbling about it, discovered nothing, but what was visible to the whole Kingdom, His Resolution to adhere to the Protestant Religion, and constant affection to His Royal Consort, That Excellent Lady! Who never refused Trouble Abroad, nor feared Danger at Home, when she might any way assist Him in his Distress. Which was plainly seen, when at one Time her Return from Holland was welcomed by a Bullet shot from the mouth of a Cannon: And at another time putting to Sea, She had a Chase Peece sent after Her for a farewell. All which Hazards then, and Afflictions since, when exiled from Her Own, she suffered, like that Undaunted Queen Zenobia, with so much Magnanimity and such high Resolution, as became the Daughter of Her Great Father Henry the fourth. And I heartily wish, Her Story may be particularly transmitted to Posterity, that the Example of so Peerless a Wife, and the Barbarous usage she underwent, may never be forgot. Where give we leave to say, Though the Rifling this Cabinet proved one of the highest Honours as well to the Owner as to Her, yet was it by Those (whose Valour was always less than their Spite) intended a Brand of Eternal Defamation. Nor ever can the Actors acquit Themselves from the baseness of the Action, whereof a Noble Enemy Would never have been Guilty. When there was hot war betwixt Philip King of Macedon, and the Thebans, whose Scouts had intercepted some Letters which passed betwixt the King and his Queen Olympia, Mother to Alexander the Great, without Violating the seals They sent them back, holding it an unmanly insolence to pry into the written passages betwixt Man and Wife. But why do I mention the demeanour of a Noble Enemy, compared to those who in all their Actings (I say in all) declared, that They never understood the Rules either of humanity or Honour. And as they used the Cabinet, so did they that Incomparable Jewel found in it too, Our Blessed Kings Portraiture, Which those infamous Raylours, whom the Proud Faction kept in pay, went about to persuade the world was none of His. Did not the Papers, all writ by his own hand, refute that Libel, Look upon the Matter, and you may Conclude, None but the Heart of a King Enlarged by God could Indite It; And if you consider the Style, Loquela prodit, No Pen I ever knew, either then, or since, but His own, could write it. One of them, and indeed the most Malicious in the Pack, who calls himself Iconoclastes, so shamelessly rails, That as St. Paul said to Simon Magnus, so might I to him, Thou art in the Gall of Bitterness: And as the Apostle charged Act. 8. 23. Elymas the Sorcerer for Mischief and perverting the Truth; so it is very memorable Act. 13. 10. This Wretch had the fate of Elymas, Struck with Blindness to his Death. There is mentioned in the Prophet Scriptura Ezekiae; The writing of Hezekiah: Esa. 38. 9 What this was I will not dispute. But sure I am, Our Hezekiah hath left the written Account of His Solitude and Sufferings upon so firm a Record, that the Incomparable Author needs no Monument but his Book. That is in Nazianzen's Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Living column. Gregor Nazianz. Orat in Laudem Basilii. Nor needs he any sheet of Lead to enwrap Him: His own precious Sheets will preserve Him, And cause admiring Posterity to look upon Him as a Second Ecclesiastes, sadly preaching to the world the Misery of Mankind, and the vanity of all humane Glories, verified in the Greatest of Men, and in the Best of Princes. If the Loss of so Excellent a Person as this may justly raise our Lamentation: The Manner and Circumstance which brought Him to His End must needs increase it. To parallel which unhappy Passages, I never found any History Divine or Humane, excepting only the History of His Great Masters sufferings under the Jews. In his Meditations upon Death at Carisbrook He tells the world, As he had leisure enough, so cause more than enough, to Meditate and prepare for Death, knowing there were but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes. And elsewhere He professeth it his Greatest Comfort, That he had the Honour to imitate his Saviour's Example in suffering for Righteousness, though obscured by the foulest charges of Tyronny and Injustice. pag. 146. How did he Rejoice and bless God on that very day, which was to Him his last on Earth, when from that worthy Praelate● who had leave then to attend him, he understood that Chapter of Matthew the Seven and Twentieth, which is the History of our Saviour's passion, was not chosen by him to suit his purpose, but was the proper Lesson appointed by the Rubriok and order of the Church for the Morning Service? I say, how did he rejoice, That his own sufferings held such Conformity with his Saviour's, unto whom in very, few hours he was ready to resign Himself! Indeed, whilst I recount the steps and passages which carried Him to His Grave, There is scarcely any Circumstance of our Blessed Saviour's Passion, with Humility and Duty be it spoken) unto which his carried not some resemblance. The Clamour of the Jews upon the First (Away with him) and the Tumultuous Luk. 23. 18. Exclamations of an enraged People upon the Last. Caiaphas' Prophecy upon the First, Joh. 18. 14. That One must die for the People; And Cromwell's Profession heard to fall from him at Childerly, near Cambridge, when he was in the Army's Power, against the Last; It was not fit that Man should live. The Tampering with Judas to Betray him, I draw not into the Parallel, I must not say he was Betrayed, but Parted with He was. And yet the High Price set upon him carries this Excuse; perhaps as those who expose Land to Sale ina very high demand, unto which they believe the purchaser would not rise, do in effect deny the Sale; so I hope this Price, which they could not expect might be easily laid down, showed a desire to Keep Him still Themselves. Yet when this was done, and His implacable Enemies had his Person in their power, Though they wanted not Will to Destroy him, They wanted a colour for their Murderous Purpose. When Christ was brought to Pilate by the Jews, and He plainly told them he found no fault in him, They replied they Luk. 23. 4, 14. had a Law, and by That Law, he was to Die. But in this case Our Jews had no Law: The Law was yet to make, and the Heads of the proud Faction laid together resolved to erect anew, One of Cassius Mensuraque Juris Vis erat. his Tribunals, and write the Law thereby enacted like Dracoes, in Blood; I mean their High Court of Justice. Whose Character the Psalmist gives Psal. 94. 20, 21. you; They imagine mischief as a Law. They gather them together against the Soul of the Righteous, and condemn the Innocent Blood. But this brought not their design to effect. Quomodo te torques, O Malitia? O Malice, how dost thou torture thy brain! Now they have invented a Law, They cannot find a Judge to Execute It. The Office is tendered to all the Robe here left behind. Amongst whom (I speak it to their Reputation, and the Counterbalance of many errors which might be imputed during the distempers) not one was found to accept the Office; All of them leaving it to the Lawmakers themselves, and saying in effect (as Pilate to the Jews) Take ye him, and Joh. 18. 31. Judge him according to your own Law. Until a Man at last appeared, capacitated only by his Ignorance and Impudence: This wretch Commissioned by them, as Doeg the Edomite was by Saul 1. Sam. 22. 18. for the Murder of Ahimelech, Fall thou upon him, undertook the cruel Task. And truly in the Manage of that foul Business, Pilate showed himself the more Civil Person; Indeed, the Better Christian. Pilate, upon the Evidence given in by the Jews (to show that nothing alleged by them convinced his Judgement) Took Water and washed his hands, Mat. 27. 24. professing he was Guiltless of the Blood of that Just Person. But that Purple Radamanth professed Nothing should satisfy him, But to wash his hands in His Sovereign's Blood. Besides, when Our Saviour stood silent amidst the Clamorous Accusations Joh. 19 10. of the Jews, Pilate invited the Prisoner to speak, Answerest thou nothing? Marc. 15. 4. etc. But this Barbarous Wretch, who sat in Pilat's place, denied his Sovereign the Liberty of answering for himself; Sir, I must interrupt you, you may not be permitted to speak of Law or Reason: (Alas, these were not the Rules of their proceeding.) The Authority of the People is Superior here, and (whatever God says to the Contrary), you are now Subordinate and Subject to Them. This was the sense of that Reverend Precedents speech in this Case, though contrary to Pilat's, who was the President and Praefect of Judaea. Let me proceed in my Parallel; If the Mocks and Derisions of the Soldiers Mat. 27. 29. added to the sufferings of Christ, Ours did the same to Their King, using Acts of the highest Scorn, even to the Interrupting his private Devotions, and words (if possible) worse than their Actions; Spitting in his face, as in His Masters, from rotten unwholesome mouths not Mat. 26. 67. worthy to be named here. Nay, upon the Day when that fatal Sentence was pronounced, To sever the Wisest and Best Head in His Three Kingdoms from His Body, a wretched miscreant, whose best education was from the Dray-cart, then sitting as one of the Judges (in which ungracious Pack there were few of better breeding) had the Impudence to say unto him, Now Stroaker cure thyself: Alluding to those Miraculous Cures performed by the Regal-Touch, which mock was equivalent to that of the Jews: He saved others Himself He could not Mat. 27. 42. Luk. 23. 33. save. I have but one more, Their Obstinacy and Impenitence for the Murder committed; which appears, when it was moved in the House wherein they sat, that the Names of all those Regicides, who had the confidence to condemn their Sovereign, might in all places for which They served be engraven in Plates of Brass, that Posterity might never forget such renowned Patriotts. Poor deceived Men! As if that sinful Act of theirs were not, like the Sin of Judah, engraven with a Pen of Iron, to be recorded Jer. 17. 1. at their Final Account. I beseech you now judge, what doth this Impudence of Theirs differ from the Cry of the Impoenitent Jews, His Blood be upon us, and upon our Children. Mat. 27. 25. And truly, I speak it with much Christian Sorrow; It hath been observed, That not One of those Men who Murdered Him, at the time of his Execution did express the least penitent Remorse for the Bloody Fact by Them committed. Whether then our Jewish Sanedrim, Our High Court of Justice, did not in all particulars, at least match the Jews, if not exceed them, Let the World judge. Nor indeed know I any thing which might conclude them Not Jews, But that They wanted the Seal of their Cursed Covenant, I mean That Circumcission, which the Law of Moses and the Law of the Land appoints for such horrid Murderers. Think not, I beseech you, That I come to whet the Sword of Justice, or sharpen the Axe, my Office is rather to blunt it. My intent of coming to this place is to invite Mourners fit for such a Funeral; as all Judah and Jerusalem for the first Josiah, so The whole Kingdom and the City, for the Celebration of our Own Josiahs exequys. For All are involved in the misery of this Day; In one kind or other all were Contributors unto it, Not only Those who voted in the Cursed sentence, But Those who voted their Commission to Sit. All Those who by their Raised Forces abetted the Bloody Fact; All Those who approved it when it was Done; All Those who did not endeavour to hinder it, if they had Power: Lastly, All Those who do not heartily detest the Bloody Fact, and bewail the Person taken from us, with a Lamentation worthy so Irreparable a Loss. Well may I say to the whole Kingdom, as Christ to the Women who followed Him Lamenting to his Cross, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. So may I bid Luk. 23. 28. the Sons and Daughters of our Jerusalem, weep, not so much for Him, as for your selves and for your Children; Who All, more or less, were instrumental in the Tragedy of this Day. All Ages, Old and Young: With sorrow must we remember the time when Old men, who needed a Staff to under prop them, Tied to their Swords, with feeble Knees knocking one against the other faster than the Drum beat, to show their good will to the Cause, went tottering about the Streets: Nay, Young Boys, as if they had been taught to suck in Their Parent's Rebellion with their Milk, marched up and down in a warlike manner. All Conditions and Professions, whether of Law or Gospel: What the First did too many can well remember: And what the Last did, This whole City yet rings of. Nay, in that Sphere where I am placed, I dare affirm, no Romance yields Example of more Lunatic pranks than some played, who transformed themselves from Ministers to Captains and Colonels. A strange Metamorphosis! We read in Esay of Swords converted into Ploughshares Esa. 2. 4. and Spears into Scythes: But, till of late, never heard of Ink-horns converted into Bandileres, and Pens into Pistols. And as all Conditions, so all Sexes, concurred in the production of this mischief. We had a Maiden Troop raised and maintained by their Contribution who went under that Style: Nay, in that City which myself have best reason to know, A Band of Women led by One, who took upon Her the Office and Title of a Captain, with Drums beating, and Colours flying, marched daily through the Streets. And to show, This Sex is almost as good for Fortification as for Fight, at that time when in These very Streets the Drum, by a Ridiculous and Scandalous Beat, called together Men of the Spade and Mattock, to go dig in the Works cast up to keep out their King; some Ladies, to express their Zeal to the Cause, appeared upon the Ramparts, and set their hands, not accustomed to such Tasks, unto the Spade. That virtuous Woman, whom Solomon in his Character describes, dealeth in Prov. 31. 13. 19 Wool and Flax, not Iron; And lays Her hand to the Distaff, not the Spade. Wherefore upon this occasion I cannot but remember, that when our Late Master was told divers Ladies wished ill to his Cause; He replied, He was confident no Woman of Virtue and Honour would be against Him. I do not summon These Daughters of Jerusalem to weep at this Funeral; Tears Dropped from such Eyes upon this Glorious Dust would dishonour it: Nor am I so skilful an Herald as to tell where, to Rank these Ladies for the Cause, unless with the Chaplains for the Covenant: Let them weep together, and lament the several Scandals, by either of them brought, by the One upon Their Sex, by the Other upon their Function. I come hither (in the Prophet Zephanies Zephaniah 3. 18. Phrase) To gather them that are Sorrowful for the Solemn Assemblies, The Fasts and long wound Exercises intended only to draw on That Mischief which we This Day bewail, And unto whom the Reproach of these Transactions is a Burden. Ibid. Such as These whom I have mentioned have work enough To weep for Themselves. As indeed we all have, and To Cover the Altar with our Tears. Mal. 2. 23. Nor is it our Duty to weep only, but to Pray. The Prophet bids us come with weeping and Supplications. Jer. 31. 9 In the first to Lament our own Sins which were contributors to this Irreparable Loss: In the Last to Deprecate the future Miseries which, upon the Account of His Blood, hang over this Nation. When the Lamenter cries The Lam. 5. 16. Crown is Fallen, He goes on, Woe unto us for we have Sinned. 'Tis True that, sometimes Plectuntur Achivi, The People are punished for the Prince's fault: As at David's Numbering the People, The Sheep died for the Shepherd's Offence: Quid Oves istae? cries David. But Samuel tells Israel, when God 1. Sam. 12. 14. had given them a King, If they continued in Their Obedience, not rebelling against his Command, They should Enjoy their King: But if ye shall do wickedly, Vers. 25. ye shall be consumed both ye and your King. I can therefore impute to None but ourselves, The Loss of Our King. For Those many Crying Sins of the Land, was Our Glorious Sun Darkened at the Height of His Life's Noon, and His Spreading Beams quenched in His own Blood. According to that Threat from God by His Prophet Amos: I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon, and Amos 8. 9 Darken the Earth in the Clear Day. We have therefore Just Cause to Pray, that the Happy Light sprang from the Loins of our Late Buried Sun may long continue His Lustre, not lessened by our unthankfulness, nor darkened by Our Sins. That, according to the Example of so unparallelled a Parent, He may continue a Patron of the Protestant Religion, and Protector of the Liberties of His Subjects; As, Blessed be God, He doth. Lastly, That as He happily Inherits His Kingdoms, so He may Inherit His Virtues too: But that those Virtues may never be put to that Cruel Bloody Test unto which the Piety and Patience of His Martyred Father were, this Day sixteen years, Put: That God, who hath Power to grant, and Will to assent, when He is faithfully supplicated, Accept our humble Supplications, for His Beloved Son's sake our Gracious Intercessor. AMEN.