Regicidium judaicum OR A Discourse, about the Jews crucifying Christ, their King. WITH An Appendix, or supplement, upon the late murder. OF our BLESSED sovereign CHARLES THE FIRST Delivered in a Sermon at the HAGVE before His majesty of GREAT Britain &c. & His ROYAL SISTER, Her highness, the Princess of ORANGE. BY RICHARD WATSON, chaplain to the Rt. Honorable the LORD HOPTON.  Agnom rejecerunt, Vulpem elegerunt. Cassiodor: 
HAGE: Printed by Samuel BROUN English bookseller, Dwelling in the Achter-om at the sign of the English Printing house. Anno M. D.C.XLIX.   

To the Rt. Honoble the LORD HOPTON, BARON OF STRATON &c. One of the Lords of His majesty's most Honourable privy council.  
MY LORD:  
Had not my known obligations commanded my present address unto your Lordp. (to whose bounty for diverse years past, & still, I owe as well my being, as some benefit by those intervals of study which our persecuted condition will admit) the subject of this Discourse, which I publish, would have pointed out your patronage to my thoughts, who have hitherto been such an eminent assertor of Christianity by your life, & of monarchy by your Sword. What defects are in it, too late seek your name for their cover, having already run their hazard of censure from them, whose judgement I chiefly reverence, & whose sole displeasure I fear. If it may be owned by your Lordp. as the least title of my duty discharged, & by your honour commended to any future opinion of my disavowing to the world all old or new rebellion & Judaism, I have the end of my wishes, & farther encouragement to express myself:  
MY LORD Yo Lordships most grateful & obsequious servant RICHARD WATSON.   
St. John 19 ch. vers. 14. & 15. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King. But they cried out. Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? the chief priests answered, We have no King but Caesar. 
WEre not my text Scripture, I should apologise for assuming such a sad subject, the sound of which words must needs turn that strong current of grief upon your ears, which hath already for divérse weeks streamed forth abundantly from your eyes. And though it be, were not this a week where in we're every day obliged, as well by Christian duty as command of the Church, preaching or praying, mournfully to commemorate the sufferings of our Saviour, and, like loyal subjects; make some sparks of our old allegiance rise out of those ashes which we cast on our heads upon the forowfull remembrance of so unjust a judgement pronuunced and executed upon so just a King; I should mine own self check my imprudence, and prevent your censure of my importunity in this choice. But the whole gospel for the day (which I presume you observed) was no other than St. Matthew's long narrative of the Jews malicious proceedings against Christ, & my text but a part of the same in St. John, with Pilate's express declaring him to be their King.  
Indeed the name of this day, which is palm Sunday, speaks songs & praises, 
Tract. 49. in Joann.  victories and trophies, Rami palmarum laudes sunt, significantes victoriam, saith St. Austin: But the service of the day speaks sorrows and sufferings, betraying and murdering, holy Church not thinking worth her practical record their slight Hosannas, their high way blessings upon the son of David, who within few days after could silently hear those Anathema maranathas, those judicial blasphemies against the son of God. Not deigning to preserve, for sacred relics, those cast rags, the garments I mean the multitude this day spread in his way to the city, 
S. Matth. 21.  whose persons and lives ought in conscience & duty t' have obstructed his Fridays passage to the cross. The next Sunday, the solemnity for the Resurrection of Christ, it will be mors in victoria, death swallowed in victory, 
1. Cor. 15. 54.  but this day, the first of Hebdomada Magna, the great week, appointed for us to meditate on his passion, it is victoria in morte, the palm turned into cypress, victory drowned in a deluge of blood, overwhelmed with the cruelty of death.  
It should seem Pilate, whether upon some touch he had in his conscience, with a partial illumination of God's spirit; or upon the circumstantial accomplishment of many known predictions of the Prophets, or upon the grandeur of our saviour's speech, & more than human majesty in his countenance; he collected that, which St. Chrysostom calls megálen sypónoian, 
Hom. in 18. & 19  a great suspicion of some what more then ordinary in his person; 
Ioan. S. Matth. 27. 19  Or whether scared by his wife's dream, and dissuaded from the business by her counsel; Or whether the principles of moral honesty prevailed with him to resolve against the condemnation of innocency, and instrumental completing the malice of the Jews; 'tis notoriously evident what shifts he used, what pretences he framed, either to retract them from their madness, or withdraw himself from any interest in the murder.  
The first instance here of may be his transmitting the process from his own Court to the Sanhedrim of the Jews. Take ye him, and judge him according to your Law. St. John 18. 31. Quae non sunt verbae concedentis, 
Kaì epì pragma ou synkechoremenon autois 〈◊〉 othountos.  sed horrentis crimen, saith Cajetan, which are not words of concession, but detestation of the fact, aphosimenou saith St. Chrysostom. But this they put off with a non licet, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, either because the Romans had forbid them the legal cognizance of all capital causes, which Maldonat saith is the opinion of the most: or as some lay to their charge, though they might stone, or strangle, or burn, crucify they could not, and none but that would satiate their malice, because the most ignominious way of execution, and as good not all, as not wholy to their purpose, as they express it indefinitely, with out any limitation. 'Tis not lawful for us to put any man to death. 
St. John 18. 39  A second instance of Pilate's aversion may be the advantage he took of a custom they had to free a malefactor at this time, and so none fitter than he, who, were his person as bad as their malicious charges would make him, must be least guilty by his office or dignity, in all reason and justice most capable of their favour which made him use (at least in our Evangelists story) the Royal title in his question, and say, Shall I release unto you not Christ, or him who, you say, makes himself to be the son of God, but your sovereign? Iudaeorum Regem, that King of the Jews, vers. the 39 of that chapter. And here their non licet could not pass for an answer, for all though is was not indeed lawful for them to put at least this man to death; it was not only law, but conscience, and duty, and allegiance, to save his life and restore him to his liberty. But here comes in their clamour and cry, for fear the Judge should be deaf at such a senseless demand, 
Vers. 40.  Non hunc sed Barabbam, they all cried, Not this man, but Barabbas. thieves and robbers, villains and murderers, set whom they will at liberty but the King, Non hunc sed Barabbam, we will not save him but Barabbas.  
The third and last experiment we have of Pilate, may be drawn out of the words of my text. Behold your King, this he thought might move their compassion. Shall I crucify your King? this he hoped would confound them with shame. But they have impatience where with to turn off their pity, they'll take no thought to what pass they brought him. Away with him, away with him, and a false colour they have ready at hand to cover their shame Habemus Caesarem, they good men have Caesar for their King.  

My text divides itself into four parts.  
I. First here's Pilate, a heathen Judges ingenuous profession of Christ's regality, his kingly dominion over the people of the Jews, Ecce Rexvester, behold your King.  
II. secondly, Their impatient aversion from acknowledging such his supremacy of power. Away with him, away with him, crucify him.  
III. thirdly Pilate's profession resumed, and framed into a strong argument for the freedom and indemnity of Christ. Crucifigam Regem! Shall I crucify your King? which question, the know, implies a negation, and the enthymeme's this. He is your King, therefore, non crucifigam, I must not crucify him.  
IV. fourthly, and lastly. The chief Priests cunning evasion, and apology for the Jews rejection of Christ. Mistake not us, nor the good people we countenance, whose thoughts are not set upon murdering their King, Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar, who may be well assured of all fidelity and loyalty from us, we must hear of no other, alium non habemus, we have no King but Caesar.  
These be the parts. Before we enter upon the handling of which, Let us pray for Christ's holy Catholic Church, &c.   

And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King.  
THis He in my text is that Pilate you meet with every day in your Creed, infamous there for the worst of his acts, his condemnation of Christ, recorded here for the best of his words, his public profession to the Jews that he was their King.  
Christi nomen & regnum ubique porrigitur, 
Advers. Iud.  saith Tertullian. As the name, so the regality of Christ is held forth everywhere to the world. In the prophet's predictions, such as that of Micah the 5. of his prophecy and 2. But thou Beth-leem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. In the wiseman's search and inquisition at his birth St. Matt. 2. Where is he that is borne King of the Jews? In his own administration and spiritual exercises of his power, as when he rebuked the winds and the water, and they obeyed him St. Luk. 8. In several intimations by his words. In this place is one greater than the Temple. The son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. St. Matth. 12. In his silent acception of the acclamations and worship from the people, whose mouths were full with Rex Iudaeorum, 
Cornel. a Lapid.  Rex Indaeorum. This is he that hath been the desire of Nations, this the expectation of the people, the King of the Jews. The sum and fullest period of which was the strange ecstatike reverence was given him at his entrance this day into the city, by spreading of garments, cutting down of boughs, and crying Hosanna to the son of David, 
Baron. A. 34.  which is Free us, or save us we beseech thee, a speech never used but in their feast of tabernacles, being there a piece of their public service, a part of the people's responsals to the Priest. So that he which had conversed with the Jews, and heard at least, if not read, the writings of their Prophets; He that knew what pains the Wisemen took to adore, & do him fealty in his cradle; He that saw the miracles he wrought, & heard the strange language that he spoke; He, whose eyes, and ears were this day filled full with the accomplishment of that prophetic exhortation in Zacharie. 
9 9  rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion, shout o daughter of Jerusalem, (for never was joy so highly expressed, never before this was Hosanna known to be turned into a shout) Ecce Rex, behold thy King, cometh unto thee lowly, and riding upon an ass, the very same language with this day's history in the gospel, He I say that had all these inducements to believe, had reason to tax the incredulity of the Jews, 
Tract. 35. in 27. Matth.  and allay their cruelty by pointing at their sovereign. Ecce Rex, Behold your King. In the foregoing chapter Pilate, at his entrance, into the Judgement Hall, so dissembled his inclination to believe, that Origen puts to peradventure his question, Art thou the King of the Jews? deridens, aut dubitans, that he asked it in derision, or doubt. And, upon our saviour's reply, Sayst thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee, so loath he seemed to be taken for a Christian, that he would not own the remote alliance of a Jew. But when he saw the malice of the priests delude his cunning and assail his conscience; when the importunity of the people's clamours was likely as well to violate his faith, as ravish his justice, than he doubted about nothing but his honour, a Christian he was, pre conscientia Christianus Tertullian calls him, but he would with all continue president in jury, 
Apol. c. 21. P. Gagn. Ambian.  God and Caesar must be content with a joint interest in his service, Convictus ille, imò & confessus, nec tamen professus, saith one, convinced he is, and confession he makes, though he becomes no professed Christian, what he thinketh not good to assume to himself (in all likelihood only for fear of Caesar's displeasure) he presseth very hard upon the Jews, Ecce Rex, Behold your King.  
But this Ecce here seems not only to hold forth Pilate's faith, but to guide the Jews to a sad object, worth their commiseration and pity. At the 5. verse of this chapter, when, to avoid greater mischief, Pilate had taken Jesus, and scourged him; When with plaited thorns, and purple robe the soldiers had crowned Jesus, and arrayed him; When with their Ave Rex, hail o King, they had in scorn derided and mocked him; ‛ anosíos catechismenon' aphoretoes' exybrismenon, saith St. Chrysostom, thus undeservedly chastised, thus unsufferably reviled, he brings him forth as a fit object for human compassion, and saith no more but Ecce homo, Behold the man. 
Ch. 53.  Behold and see, whether this be not he, whom your own Prophet Isaiah speaks of, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; Whether it be not he that is wounded for your transgressions, he that is bruised for your iniquities; Whether upon him be not the chastisement of your peace, & whether by these stripes ye may not be healed But when he saw those sharp thorns that pierced his head could not prick them at the heart; When he saw those stripes, which had ploughed up and made long furrows in his back, could by no means break the dry barren ground in their breasts; When no argument drawn from such a spectacle of human misery could move them; He becomes, as he thinks; imperious in his rhetoric, hopes the name of majesty will awe them; that they, who would take no pity on him as man, will recollect themselves and reverence him as their sovereign, Ecce Rex, Behold your King. But they, who once have burst the chains of human society, will break the bonds of sovereignty asunder, and cast away their cords from them; They, who have forgotten to be men, to be merciful one to another in love, will scarce bethink themselves to be subjects, to be obedient all to any one in duty.  
When Seneca had defined cruelty to be a certain fierceness of the mind in exacting of punishment, 
De Clem. l. 2. c. 4.  he discovered a generation of bloody men that could not be comprised in this definition, such as, no fault nor injury preceding, can be said neither to punish nor revenge, but qui occidendi causa occidunt, kill merely because they will kill, nec interficere contenti saeviunt, nor are they content to kill only, but torment too, and rage in the manner of their murder. And he knows not what to style these men's distemper but a brutish savageness, a raving madness, both implying their incapacity of doing, or hearing any thing that is reason, so that Ecce homo and Ecce Rex to tell them of man or King, to use any rational argument to appease them, is to take a lamb from a lion's mouth, to divert an evening wolf from her prey, it heightens their rage, it inflames their fury, impatient they are of hearing any thing that tends to that purpose, nothing then but Tolle, Crucifige, Away with him; Away with him, crucify him. And this leads me to my second part, the Jews aversion from acknowledging Christ's supremacy of power, aggravated first by the violence of their passion, Clamabant, They cried. secondly by their vehement iterated expression, Tolle, Tolle, Away with him, Away with him. thirdly by the cruelty of their tumultuary condemnation, Crucifige, crucify him.  
Aut ignorantia nos rerum aut insolentia iracundos facit, 
Senec. De Ira. l. 2. c 31.  said the Stoic. 'Tis either ignorance or insolence (which in his sense is somewhat hapening beyond expectation, or out of course) that is the cause of our anger and fury. Either of which, though it can not fully excuse the excess of our passion, may abate somewhat the delinquency of such acts as very naturally issue from the extremity of the same. To plead either in behalf of the Jews were to deny that their fathers had a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night to conduct them. Habent Mosen & Prophetas; They have Moses and the Prophets, and they showed before of the coming of the just one, St. Steven tells them Act. 7. I shall not stand to reproach them with those glorious beams of the sun of righteousness, which will they, nill they, 
St. Matt. 2. St. Luke 2. 49. 10. Baron. Apparat.  struck themselves into the eyes of the Jews, to which the wiseman's star in the East was but a sparkle, & the light that encircled the shepherds but a shadow. The known accomplishment of the promise in Genesis, That when the sceptre departed from Judah should Shilo come, evidenced First in Herod the Idumaean, who was no native, but a proselyte to the Jews, who transmitted the sceptre to his son Archilaus, and he to Antipas who had a foreigner for his mother, giving them, that minded it assurance of the thing, might very well put them upon search after the person, and if our saviour's promise were valide in the 7. of St. Matthew, seek and ye shall find, (which Tertullian saith, 
De Praeser. advers. haeret. c. 8. 24. 1 3.  with the rest of that nature, was in this case directly intended to the Jews) that search would have ended no otherwhere then in the clear discovery of Christ. But they were rebels lumini, as Job speaks, rebels against the light in a proper sense, for when this light, that was the sun of righteousness, the King of the Jews, 
5. John. 3. 19  was come into the world, they loved darkness rather than light. This darkness some of them loved in Herod, 
Tert. De Praeser. c. 15.  whom they would needs in flattery make that anointed of God, & instead of Christians were called Herodians. This darkness others of them loved in the Serpent whom they commemorate as the founder of knowledge of good & evil, 
Ibid. c. 47.  whose power and majesty they say was lifted up in the brazen image by Moses in the wilderness, and in the son of man by that pattern, as himself professeth in the 3. of St. John, the likeness whereof Tertullian saith, they used in their sacrilegious mysteries, preferring the devil himself before Christ, and from thence were called Ophitae. Thus like silly children, they changed the bread that came down from heaven for a stone, and the fish that their father gave them for a Serpent.  
St. Paul indeed in the 3. of the Acts notes that they and their rulers did out of ignorance crucify Christ. 
St. Luke 23. 34.  And Christ on his cross prayed, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. But it may be said, That St. Paul's charity might possibly get the uper hand of his faith, and yet our saviour's words were unquaestionable truth, relating to their fatal imprecation, 
S. Matth. 27. 25.  Let his bioud be upon us and our children, made when they little thought how long that purple vein would be running, how many generations of their children they plunged into this river of blood. Their knowledge of this might else have amused and startled them in the act. And in this sense perchance our Saviour might speak it, Ignorant, They know not what they do.  
But let their knowledge be what it will, I am sure it could not be greater than their malice, which broke out into this extremity, of passion, that the Evangelist saith not, ‛ élegon they spoke, but ‛ ecráugesan, they cried.  
An affectus sint corpora, 
Sen. Ep. 106.  Wherher the passions of the mind be not bodies, hath been a question sprung in moral philosophy. Such strange alterations have they made, such shapes and representatives of themselves, as seem more than effects of immaterial forms more than bare impressions of a spirit. Thus of ten-times hath fear shot that blood to the heart which shame had flushed up in the face, and showed herself in the image of death. Thus when joy had painted out to the life the verdant spring in the countenance of man, hath sorrow sent his moisture to the root, and as if it were the autumn of his age, 
Id. De Ira l. 1. c. 1.  parched up his skin like a leaf. But quod aliiaffectus apparent, hic eminet, whereof other affections are the shadow, anger seems to be the substance itself, what they in a transitory apparition, this in a permanent habit and real.  
Doth modest shame discover itself in a gentle blush, & pass away like the dawing of the morn? Anger driveth furioussie like the Sun up to the meridian of his rage. Doth sorrow sigh and sob it in a corner, or whisper in the secrecy of a wood? Anger cries aloud in the streets, and clamours to a tumult in the mercate. What had been stilly dropped by tender-hearted pity in a tear, Anger raiseth in the noise of an earthquake, and throws about the world in a a tempest. 
Tous. 7. Hom. 83.  Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, saith the Wiseman Prov. 27. 4. Chrysostom renders this ‛ ecráugesan,' epebóon, which is, they bellowed it out like an ox. And otherwhere paraphrasing upon my text, saith he pros' aptoistéran mâllon' apotauroúmenoi gnómen, they were raised in their minds up to the fierceness of a bull. A similitude very expressive of a licentious heady multitude in a rage, which, saith Tully, 
Bro Planc.  non dilectu aut sapientia ducitur ad judicandum, sed impetu, is not lead to judgement by discretion and wisdom, but hurried by the violence of their passion. With such beasts as these was good King David encompassed. Ps. 22. Many oxen are come about me, fat bull, of Basan close me in on every side. Vituli & tauri, 'tis rendered by St. Hierom as if young and old had been all of this temper, all in a cry, and a terrible one too. They gape upon me with their mouths, Sicut lo rapiens & rugiens, as it were a ramping and roaring lion. Vers. 13.  
If you observe the history of their actions, who are crying in my text, they all speak the fierceness of their wrath, and most irrational extremity of their passion. 
St. John 18.  First for the surprisal of his person they must have no less than a band of armed men, 
S. Matth. 26. 47.  and other officers of the Pritstes and Pharises with swords and staves, when he was only with a few Disciples in a garden. Then whereas they had him daily in the Temple, they must come with this power of darkness in the night. And in this night, (thought as the learned Grotius observes, at the time of full moon, too bright for such an enterprise as theirs) they must blaze their fury metà phanôn kaì lampádon, in lanterns and torches, 
S. Ioh. 18. 12.  and feign a senseless difficulty in the search. When they have got his person, in their power, they must bind him before they carry him away, scarce trusting him with the liberty of his legs when Pilate demands their accusation against him, fain would they have sentence pass with out a charge, upon Pilate's implicit faith in their honest word, 
S. John 18. 30.  that had he been no malefactor they would not have delivered him to the judge. And, after many passages of this kind, when Pilate presseth upon them that he was their King, they make an open sepulchre of their mouth, and bury Royal majesty in a cry.  
But this cry of theirs was not merely a confused nothing, to stop Pilate's mouth about their King, ‛ athetoûsi dôxas, as St. Jude speaks, They set aside or despise dominions, Away with him, away with him, are words of scorn, contempt, and derision, by which they do, as it were spit Regal aurhority in the face. St. Cyprian calls them, 
Advers. Demetria. Apol. c. 21.  violenta suffragia, Tertullian in the abstract, suffragiorum violentiam, which I will English no otherwise then the madmen's verdict. This is gladius linguae, the sharp sword of the tongue, that cuts off the legal process of a Court, pierceth law and justice to the heart. When the Herald calls for the cap and knee for due reverence to be rendered to the King, 
Ep. S. Jude.  these raging waves foam out no thing but their own shame, Away with him, away with him, is all can be got from the madness of this people. When the Judge commands silence in the Court, and would have a quick hearing of the cause, as in the 59 Isai. By the strength of their cry is judgement turned away backward and justice bid to stand afar off. Non juris ordinem quaerunt, sed furore vincere volunt, saith one. 
Tolet.  They look not after the method of the law, they will cast him not in judgement but fury. That the prophecy in the 53. of Isai. might be fulfiled. De judicio sublatus est. He was taken away from prison and from judgement. Thus in the propriety of David's expression, was our Saviour made a scorn of men, 
Ps. 22.  and the King of the Jews an out cast of his people. And what was done by the Jews unto the King, was afterward by the Romans to his subjects decreed to the death, and when their own sins had drawn down vengeance upon their heads, when any public calamity took hold of them, 
Tertull. Apol.  Christianos ad leones, it was solemn with them to surround their Magistrates in tumults and cry to have the Christians cast unto the lions; And not only so, but, as if they had learned their lesson from the Jews, and desired to maintain as well their words, as their actions, 
Baron. An. 301.  Christiani tollantur. Away with the Christians, was a second form of their tumultuary clamours.  
But there remains yet a third aggravation of their fury in my text. They are not content to have him taken out of their sight they are not satisfied with the nullity of his power, the imprisonment of his person, they must quench the thirst of their malice in his blood, not only Tolle, but Crucifige, Away with him, crucify him.  
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, saith the Wiseman, Prov. 18. 21. Which power never plays the tyrant more, than when it gets into those habitations of cruelty, the mouths of a rebellious multitude in a cry. These, if any, are the madmen he speaks of Prov. 26. who out of their burning lips and wicked heart cast, not words but, 
Tract. in Ps. 36.  firebrands, arrows, and death. St. Austin makes the mouths of the Jews fiercer executioners than their hands, and their tongues sharper instruments than the nails that fastened our saviour's body to the cross. unde occidistis? gladio linguae. Et quando percussistis nisi quando clamâtis crucifige?  
Now, the two principles of popular fury are, for the most part, ignorance and malice. By the one they are not able to judge of the species, or kind, much less the degree of that which they take to be a crime, and, being jealous that what may be bad, is the worst, they proportion revenge by their illimited sensitive appetite, never weigh it in the balance of reason. By the other they become exquisite inventors, and as curious about the circumstance or form, as violent about the substantial part or matter of their mischief. Such is this jury of raging Jews in my text, who do not only outrun judgement in their haste, Away with him, away with him, nor in their rage throw mercy out of the Court, by crying kill him, or, put him to death but specificate execution at their pleasure, and exercise the tyranny thereof, 
Paul. Apul.  as well in the shame, as the torment, by crying out for the worst of the kind, Crucifige, crucify him,' apenéstaton thánaton, saith St. Chrysostom▪ summum supplicium saith another extremam poenam, a third, & S. Paul more emphatically than they all, the cross, the shame, as we translate him. Hebr. 12.  
Baronius observes that the Jews never clamoured to have our Saviour crucified, 
An. 34.  until Pilate had given them their option, Shall I release unto you this man or Barabbas? And then, upon a sudden, advantage they took by this unfortunate occasion, to quit Barabbas of his double due, as he was a thief and a murderer, and cast the cross upon our saviour's neck, who was so far from being either of both, that he was Lord of life, King, of heaven and earth, and sole proprietary of the world. Thus oftentimes are very unhappy opportunitier of mischief administered by such innocent adventures, and fury by accident carried beyond design.  
I shall not exspatiate about the circumstances of his death, only desire you but to glance upon the two specious objects they set up, the one upon his right hand, the other at his left. 
S. Matth. 27. 38.  In which to his last gasp he might see the double image of their malice, with out any reflection upon the least guilt in himself. Briefly, such was the ignominy of his sufferings, as put part of Christianity to the blush, and made many haeretikes about the cross. In the head of whom was Simon Magus, 
Baron. An. 60.  who said Christ withdrew himself at the instant of death, & suffered only in the counterfeit of his person. After him Cerinthus, author of that concision you read of in St. Paul. 
Phil. 3. 2.  Beware of dogs, beware of the concision, which was a cutting or dividing Jesus from Christ, and asserting that Jesus did both suffer and rise, but that Christ was impassible forsook his company, and left Jesus to suffer by himself. In the rear of these comes Basilides with a fiction; That Jesus and Simon, meaning him of Cyrene, who helped to bear the cross, changed shapes by consent, and so Simon suffered, while Jesus slipped away in his disguise. 
Tert. De prescript. cap. 46.  And these are taken to be the men whom St. Paul mentions with tears in his eyes. Philip. 3. Whose end was destruction, because (in this manner as I have told you) enemies to the cross.  
But to take off your thoughts from these idle fancies, I desire you to fix them upon a serious object in my third general, and behold Pilate with amazement and horror metamorpho'zd for a time into a statue, till at length blood melting in his veins, and just wrath burning at his heart he speaketh with his mouth, yet hath not patience to be explicit in a syllogism, he presseth, I told you, his argument in an enthymeme. He is your King, therefore, non crucifigam, I must not crucify him, Nay he yet contracts that into a question, and when neither, human misery could move them to pity nor setting Royal majesty in their sight, draw them to a remembrance of their duty he thinks to shake their obstinacy in pieces, and strike dumb the insolency of their cry, 
Tow. 7. Hom. 84.  ‛ emphrátton' autôn tà stómata, Kaì pánton tôn categoreîn bouloménon, xaì dejenùs hoti to oìkeio basileì' epánestesan, saith St. Chrysostom, by Crucifigam Regem? Shall I crucife your King?  
I know Interpreters differ about Pilate's meaning, and are as apposite as may be in rendering their conjecture upon his words. St. Cyrill of Alexandria saith. That his first words. Ecce Rex, Behold your King, might be spoken in compliance with the Jews, whose charge lay chiefly against him for accepting that title from the multitude at his entrance this day into the city, and so, Behold I deliver him up unto your pleasure whom some idle people among you publicly cry up for the King of the Jews. And upon that ground Euthymius makes an irony of his question, wherein, he saith, Pilate rather mocks at Christ, then reproacheth the Jews: What? shall I crucify your King? The learned Grotius takes the clause with the Ecce to be in reproach, but of what? not their malice, but their folly. Which may seem to be in favour of Theophylact, who makes a longer speech for Pilate then in my text, to this purpose almost. You that charge this man to have taken upon him the authority of King, where did he do it? whence do you collect it? from the purple robe wherewith the soldiers arrayed him? [some rag of their own, having nothing but the counterfeit of the colour.] From a few th●enes, [gathered out of a hedge by the highway side] and plaited into a diadem to crown him? From a broken reed [taken out of the water] and put into his hand for a sceptre? Ou pánta' autô' eutelê; xaì stole; xaì trophè; xaì' oixos, xaì oudè ' oixos. Are not all things poor and beggarly about him? 
S. Maeth. 9 20.  his raiment? his food? his house? nay' oixos ' oudè ' oixos, his house and no hose? as he said truly. The son of man hath not where to lay his head.  
But I follow interpreters of another strain, such as favour Pilate in his belief, and are not prone to censure him for his words. Or the same rather dissenting from themselves, and fairly altering the ill property of the sense.  
St. Cyrill first, 
S. Matth. 29. 24.  who, upon Pilate's washing his hands from the fact, and persevering in the defence of our Saviour, thinks that at first he gently rebuked them, 
Reverentiae Bilati istud etiam fuit Stgnum Orig. Tract. 35. in 27. Matth.  and suggested to them, that in as bad a condition as they see him, this is he of whom not long since they had a better opinion than they own. Ecce Rex, Behold your King. And that afterward he reproacheth their wicked humour to the purpose. You that professed what words you heard, Never man spoke like this man; You that acknowledged the miracles which he wrought. Behold the dumb speak, the lame walk, the blind see, and the dead are raised unto life. You that upon these &c. justly built the belief you had, 
S. John 7. 46.  that he was the son of David and your King, Is your great Hosanna turned to crncifige? What? shall I crucify your King?  
Theophylact next who, observing Pilate very peremptory in maintaining the title he had caused to be set up on the cross, with a froward answer, 
St. John 19 22.  Quod scripsi, scripsi, What I have writ, I have writ, saith he did it ‛ amunóumenos tous joudáious, in revenge of the Jews, who would give no ear to his Ecce Rex, & Crucisigam Regem? 
‛ Ameinómenos `omoû dé' apologouménos hypèr toû Christoû.  but would persist in their rebellion against their King.  
But let Pilate's faith be what it will about the person of Christ, and his meaning as ambiguous as may be in this his conference with the Jews, his words I am sure must import the sense of the world at that time, and, apprehension they had of the just indemnity of Kings, and exemption from the ignominy of the cross. 
D. Chrys. Hom. 84.  And indeed he that shall recollect with himself the awful expressions dropped from the pens of the Romans, may have enough to reproach any wicked regicide, Jew or Christian, and hiss him out of the communion of men. The Roman Seneca little thought of deposing, much less of murdering Kings, let their actions be what they will, when he made that compendious directory for the subject, 
Lib. 2. De Ir. c. 30.  Rex est, si nocentem punit, cede justitiae, si innocentem, cede fortunae. He is thy King, if he punisheth thee with desert, submit to his justice, if with out, give way to thy fortune, or ill chance, to suffer with out a cause. And what he said in these words, he made good in his practice, when he suffered so patiently, and bathed Nero's fury in his blood. All indeed were not of his mind. Himself makes mention of some King's heads set to public sale, 
Ibid. l. 1. c. 2.  Principum sub civili hasta capita venalia, of others throats cut by their subjects, of some tormented to death upon the cross, but in his stoical language he saith they were mali exempla fati, all examples of a bad fate, he saith not, patterns for bad men.  
But I pass hence to the fourth and last member of my text, the chief Priests cunning evasion, and apology for the Jews rejection of Christ, Loathe they are they should take them for persecutors, much more for murderers of Kings, Habemus Caesarem, they good men have Caesar for their King, to whom they profess subjection and fealty, the mistake or real injury is his, who would impose a new tyranny upon them, and to this they make answer by their priests, Alium non habemus, we have no King but Caesar.  
Wherein are 3. Particulars to be handled. First the persons that were the modellers of the answer, and they were Pontifices, the chief priests. secondly, their caution in a subtle abetting or acknowledging a King, Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar. thirdly, their traytourous rejection of Christ, Alium non habemus, We have no King but Caesar, I begin with the first.  
Livy compares the multitude to the sea, 
Lib. 28.  which hath very little motion of itself, calm enough and quiet would it be, but when the winds rise the water's rage, some leading gale first swells the minds, and a stronger gust forceth on the madness of the people. Throughout the whole history of the gospel you may easily see how the chief priests were the excitantes Aeoli the windy Gods that raised the storm, and their furious breath the tempest that did shipwreck our Saviour. dêmos' atactos hypò tôn' archónton diephtharménos, saith St. Chry: 
Tom. 7. Hom. 83.  speaking of the Jews. The confusion & disorder, of the people came by the corruption of the priests. No Sooner was he come into the world, but they are the men that must cure Herod of his trouble, & make the discovery where he should be borne: And they said unto him in Beth-leem of Judaea Math. 2. They the men that were sore displeased with this days reverence done him by the people, the children's crying Hosanna in the Temple, and said unto him. Hearest thou what these say St. Matth. 21. The chief of them all, good Caiphas I mean, the first that found out the blessed expedient for one man, 
St. Ioh. 18. 14.  and that man was this King that must die for the people, St. John: 11. The matter being resonted by them all, they hold a consultation about the manner, 
Nihil ausuram plebem principibu: amotis. C. Tacit. An. 1.  and, in order to that, they first covenan, with Judas to sell him. St. Luk. 22. And notwithstanding all the diligence was used, when the design was likely to have fallen to the ground, they take it up in this apology for the people. Pontifices responderunt, The chief priests answered, saith my text. And truly did not the people find such cunning apologists as these, they are neither more praecipitant in enterprizing, nor more violent in prosecuting a bad cause, 
2. Deut. Hopou gàr hoi archontes' emictérizon tì chre peri teû eoinoû pléthous logizesthai; Theophyl. in Luc. 23. Vid. Hug. Grot. De Imper. San Matt. Potest. circ. Sacra.  than they would be facile in deserting the same, when they once find patience to harken to, and shall hear reason to convince them of their error, Nec quicquam facilius quàm in quemlibet affectum mutare populum, saith Qninctilian. But when they have authority to countenance, and subtle sophistry to colour their actions they have a guard both for their wilfulness and ignorance, and can then bid defiance to the world. The great stroke that the Priests had here in the demagogy of the Jews came from the legal eminency of their place, they sitting upon the highest bench of their magistracy, and the chief of them being adequate in power to their principal Judge or justiciary by his office. Sacerdos summus summo Iudice adaequatur, saith one. Which laid to the letter of a penal law, whereby death was ordained for him who was disobedient to the command of the Priest, reverence and fear might very well involve the common lewis in a silent assent to what their chief priests answered in my text, Alium non habemut, We have no King but Caesar, Thus, as St. Chrysostom saith, tês'oletriou miaiphonías `egemónes, xai Strategois, xai paraitioi, 
9 16.  which the prophet Isaiah 5. language translates. The leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are lead of them are destroyed.  
But we'll leave the persons, and come to their answer, which implies their formal subjection to sovereignty in the heat of their process to crucify their King. Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar.  
Two things there are in the soul of man so clearly writ in the fair indelible characters of heaven, that the hand of hell and malice of the devil, with all the works of darkness he can grasp, can never wipe away into a blank, and those are religion to a God, and subjection to a sovereign. 
Exod. 32.  The peevish Israëlites that are angry at Moses because he stays somewhat long in the mount, as hasty as they are, will stay themselves, and not stir a foot till a God be made, be it but a molten calf; to conduct them in the way. They that cast away their portion in David, 
1. King's 12.  and spit out their inheritance in the son of Jesse, will not summon Israël to their tent's till they have designed Jerobóam their captain for their King. And Jerobóam, when he hath snatched away the crown, thinks not of putting down the old religion, the going up to Jerusalem to worship, until he makes Dan and Bethel two stalls for his calves, and proclaims their golden images his Gods. The most stupid Egyptian, that will not think upon the paradise of heaven, 
Gen. 3.  nor hear of him that was walking in Eden in the cool of the day, will as he walks in his own garden pluck up a leek or an onion for his God. I laugh at the foolish Atheist in the Psalmist, who mutters in the secrecy of his heart, but will not tell me plainly with his mouth, 
Ps. 53.  non est Deus, there is no God. And I dare the most traitorous villain in the world what soever he pronounceth so gravely in a public Hall, where he hath his guard of ruffians about him, to retire into his closet a while, take the chair in the Court of his conscience, and then pass sentence upon his King. No, Rebellion and atheism are duo magna mendacia, two imps of the devil the father of lies, begot by him upon the deceitfulness of the heart, in a mist or cloud of pretences and shows, humanity can not own them for its off spring, and Reason discovers them to be a bastard brood when she brings them to conscience, goes about to try them in the light. 
1. Pet. 2. 17.  fear God, and Honour the King, were commands not made but revived by St. Peter, they had their first impress in the first borne of Adam, and in the native habit stick, as close as a worse business, original sin to the souls of the rest, all though they often deny them in their practice.  
The sovereign majesty of God in heaven, and of his vicegerent on earth, in spite of all the rebellious Indepedent crew in the world, will preserve a seat for itself in the acts, or words, or thoughts, of Christian, of Pagan, of Jew. In the heat of their rejection of Christ you see they lay hold, in profession at least, of a Heathen Emperor for their King; Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar. But let us look a little as well into the actions as words of Caesar's good subjects in my text, and see whether they do as they speak, whether they give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and by their practic obedience own him for their sovereign. I shall not need to tell you they were the sons of them that for a long time had the best of Kings, 
1. Sam. 12. 12.  for 'tis said the Lord himself was their King, and they were the worst subjects in the world. How doth the Prophet isaiah cry out, hear o heavens, and give ear o earth, for the Lord hath spooken, I have nourished & brought up children, & they have rebelled against me? Ch. 1. How doth he prefer before them the ox and the ass, the one for knowing his owner and the other his Master's crib? And for such of them as should have been wiser than the rest, Principes populi, the very representatives of the people they were rebellious and companions of thieves. Vers. 23. Their Prophets were conspirators, and their Priests violators of the law. Ezech. 22. And yet I'll warrant you this dutiful crew had the confidence at that time to profess, Grotius tells us they did it very solemnly in their Talmud, Habemus Deum, We have God for our King.  
But to let their stubborn ancestors alone. aetes' parentum pejor avis tulit hos nequiores, 
Act. 7. 51.  St. Steven saith of these good men in my text, that they were Sclerotráchelois &' aperíptmetoi, stffienecked and uncircumcized in heart. That they did pneúmati' antipíptein, we translate it resist, but the word is more emphatical and signifies to fall forward or press against the holy Ghost. 
Act. 2. 2.  Now they that did thus on purpose with stand the rushing wind of the Spirit of God, were very unlikely to be fairly guided by the breath in the nostrils of their King. No, it was their malice to Christ that made them pretend such subjection to Caesar, Quem tyrannum & hostem reputabant, profitentur Regem ut Iesu crucisixionem obtineaent, saith Cajetan. And if we look into the history of those times, we shall find this one people of the Jews make more work for the Roman Emperors and their Vice-Roys then all the rest throughout their dominions in the world. 
Baron. An. 4.  No sooner came Pilate to his charge, to succeed Gratus the president of jury, but bringing certain images of Caesar; as others say golden bucklers to dedicate at Jerusalem, all our good subjects are in an uproar, and never leave bringing tumults to his doors, till he translates them and his solemnity, to Caesarea. Not long after he borowes but a little of their corba their holy treasure, to employ about the making of a conduit, our good people fall to their old trade, petition him to lay his building aside but they humbly speak it o'er gladii, in the most dutiful expression of the sword In Claudius' time they were such dutiful subjects, 
An. 51. An. 315.  that he was fain to banish them all out of Rome. And in Vespasians so loyal-hearted at Jerusalem, that he sent Titus his son to besiege them, who put 110000. of them to the sword. 
D. Chrysost. Hom. 2. in Ind.  And so observant were they of the good Christian Emperor Constantine's commands, that, to keep them in awe, he was fain either to cut off their ears, or stigmatize them otherwise in their bodies, and so mark them for slaves that would not keep the impression of subjects in their hearts.  
And thus have you a short essay of them, their fathers, their children, who would soothe up Pilate so handsomely in my text with Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar for our King.  
There remains now nought but the last particle of all, the last of the chief priests answer to Pilate, being the Jews final rejection of Christ, Alium non habemus, We have none but Caesar for our King.  
The most wilful answer that ever was rendered by men pretenders to gravity and judgement, the most incongruous to Pilate's demand For had Christ's kingdom entrenched upon Caesar's, he that was his Provincial Substitute durst not doubtless at the same time own his place and his desire to preserve the life of him to the ruin of his Master. But Pilate was well satisfied in the point by the discourse that passed between our Saviour and him, and so in all likelihood were the chief priests too, if their malice had not more perverted their will, than ignorance blinded their understanding hereof. For the Common people who are not the best masters of reason, and the very worst moderators of passion, upon slender grounds to raise a tumult for their Patriots advantage, to sell a little breath for a sixpence, cry Tolle, Crucifige, Away with him, crucify him, is no great deviation of nature, their earthy souls incline them to the centre of profit, and their servile spirits make them not only ready at hand to fetch and carry, but, mastivelike, with open mouth furiously to assail, if commanded only by the eye or the finger: But for the chief men the Rulers of the people, no less than the States of the Parliament of the Jews, which Maldonate saith consisted of the chief Priests, Elders, and Scribes, as it is in the 50. of isaiah. Not only to kindle a fire, and compass themselves about with the sparks, and walk in the light of their own fire; But hope to smother their guilt in the smoke; For them to profess subjection to Caesar, and thence to vouch their rejection of Christ, 
S. Ioh. 19 12.  for them to tell Pilate to his face that he can be no friend to Caesar unless he become a murderer of Christ; this is very wilfully to walk in the way of the froward, 
Prov. 22.  wherein the Wiseman tells us are thorns and snares they can not but prick their feet as they go, they can not but be taken in the net.  
When our Saviour strictly commands them to pay tribute, they pretend, that at the same time he prohibits paying duty to Caesar. When he tells them his kingdom is not of this world, 
S. Ioh. 18. 36.  they are zealous to show their subjection is. Habemus Caesarem, they have Caesar, and none but Caesar for their King. Whereas well they might know, and were bound to take notice of what St. Cyrill of Alexandria saith he evidenced to them in speech. `óti tês toû Kaísaros basileias' oue' estì polémiot, that Christ and Caesar are no such inconsistents in government, the very same subjects may they have and yet be no corrivals in duty. The chief priests might have said, Habemus Caesarem, We have Caesar indeed, and yet Habemus alium, we may have, another, We may have Christ for our King. But ‛ ap'' eláctizen 'en roútois `o `egapémenos Israèl, xaì tês pròs Teòn philias' anaphandòn' exálletai, most elegantly saith Chrysostom. In these words beloved Israël kicks away Christ with the heel, and in public view leaps out of her friendship with God. But they that kicked against, and leapt from this relation to God, and, as I showed you even now, leapt in, were very desultorie, very uncertain in their subjection to Caesar, have been justly since kicked away and rejected by both, continuing still in that forlorn condition, wherein 1400. years since and more, I say again 1400. years since, that you may see how soon, and that you may see how long revenge follows rebellion at the heels, 
Apol. c. 21.  Tertullian very sadly described them, dispersi, palabundi, & coeli sui extorres, vagantes per orbem, sine homine, sine Deo Rege, dispersed vagrants, banished from Christ's kingdom in heaven, and from jury, than Caesar's, now the Turks province on earth, wandering up and down in the world, having neither God nor man for their King.  
Desino, & hoc infigo. Thus have I done with Pilate, the Jews, and the chief priests in the letter, 
Epinan.  as they bear a part in the history of the gospel. Yet some others there are very nearly concerned, if not in the doctrine, I am sure in the use and due application of my text deuteroi judâioi, such as deserve the name of second Jews better than the Paulian heretics that had it. And there is déuteroes xritès, a second Judge, I shall not do him the honour to say a second Pilate, he acted very little of his part, not any that I know but passing an ugly sentence upon his King. And there are déuteroi hiereis, second priests, and those chief ones too, even they of the assembly and Sanhedrin itself, who, as silent & uninteressed as they seemed when that traytourous charge was brought into the Court, have, for above 7. years together, made the pulpits ring, and the press groan with the strength of their cry, and weight of their books, (I say not of their arguments) to give notice to the world, that with out covenanting (you know who said it) against reason, 
K. Ch. 1. Eix. Basil.  conscience, honour, oath; reforming the reformation itself against Scripture and Apostolic institution, so many hundred years precedential practice; and undeniable Catholic profession, Non habebimus hunc, We will not have CHARLES for our King. And there is déuterot Christos, a second Christ, an anointed of God, that came as near as ever King did to our Saviour in his life, and I dare say never any so near in the similitude of his death. And there is déuteros joúdas, a second Judas, not as the first only with a band of men, and a few pike-staved officers at his heels; but not many years since in the head of a cursed numerous army, and cursed be the memory of that man unless blessed with repentance before his death, that so perfidiously sold and betrayed him. And here you have set in your view persons enough for a second tragedy. Quinto productior actu, one that would admit of a sixt act, surpassing several circumstances of the other, if your grief would give the patience to hear it or had I just abilities to compose it. Instead whereof I shall crave your favour to repeat my text with some short allusive paraphrase upon the words. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King.  
Which He in the moral is our mock-judge, but no rightful successor of that relenting Pilate in my text, because he went not about to stop the people's cry, by moving their pity, reproaching their insolence, saying, Ecce Rex, Behold your King, He exposed him to their cruelty and scorn, revived their calling for justice, justice, saying, like a miscreant as he was, Ecce carcer, Behold there the prisonor at your bar. Never any President in the world took more pains than Pilate did to deliver guiltless innocency from death; Nor any more than our unjust Judge employed industrious malice to condemn it. To that purpose, as in the 6. of Amos, Turning judgement into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock, that he might be sure to give majesty its bane. Lactantius and St. Chrysostom are of opinion that Pilate did not positively pass sentence upon Christ, but gave only permission to the Jews to execute, as before he had to judge, when he said. Take ye him, and judge him, according to your law. But ours I believe durst not trust the people with the liberty of that power, I rather think if his hand had been as strong as his heart cruel, he would have saved the State the charges of a vizard, by becoming the barefaced executioner himself. Pilate much affected to discourse with our Saviour, propounds quaestions, is attentive to answers, seems very solicitous about his kingdom and truth, And thou a King then? and what is truth? both in the 18. Chapter of St. John: but our furious Rhadamant breathes out nothing but brimstone and fire, he takes the sponge himself and dips it in the sharpness of his speech, stops the mouth of condemned sovereignty, indulgeth not the liberty of a word. Will you hear me a word SIR? a strange request to be made by a King to a rebel, a stranger to be denied by a subject to his sovereign. We'll take Seneca's divination for the reason, 
Lib. 3. De Ira. c. 19  Timuit ne quam liberiorem vocem extremus dolour mitteret, ne quid quod nollet audiret, afraid he was he should hear what he little desired, lest the last breath of a dying man, an innocent King designed for murder, should cast a cloud of horror on his soul.  
But to keep near to the words of my text. Wherein our president failed of the parallel with Pilate, I believe the conscience of every Jew did supply. I believe it called upon him often enough, saying, Ecce Rex, Behold my King. Behold that King who in compliance with my wilful and unreasonable demands, ‛ exénosen heautòn, as 'twas said of our Saviour, 
Philip. 2. 7.  hath evacuated himself, and is become almost equal to his subjects; hath suffered a diminution of majesty, is devested of much of his just legal dignity and power, customs, Courts, Monopolies, Taxes, Militia, Bishops, all pretended grievances, I could make are either taken away, or limited to my purpose. But than conscience lays the other Ecce at his doors. Ecce Homo, Behold the man. Behold I am that man that set my hand to that rebellious remonstrance, and my heart to have it thrown into his coach. I that man who by seditious tumults affrighted him and his from their palace; I that persecuted him in my purse or my person, and hunted him like a partridge in the wilderness. I that at such or such a battle leveled many a piece at his quarter sent many a curse to his Royal Person with the shot; I that bid fair to corrupt his governor and lay him in his garrison; I that, when the bargain would not hold, inveigled him out in a strange disguise by many specious promises to protect him. I that when I had him in my hands Judas like kissed him and betrayed him into his prison. And then, as in the 34. of Job, There is no darkness nor shadow of death where these workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Their own guilt is a perpetual thunderclap in their ears, and a fixed flash of lightning in their faces. No promise of mercy can clear their jealousy, No act of oblivion settle their fear; despair turns Regnare nolumus to Nolumus vivere, They that cried before, We will not have this man to reign, cry ten times louder, We will not, We dare not suffer this man to live. And what then remains, but Tolle crucifige, Away with him, Away with him, crucify him. And Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King?  
And here I must again tell the, our Judge is nothing like that Pilate in my text, because he did not put it to the question, saying, Shall I crucify? but, when he entered first into the Judgement Hall gave good assurance to his clamorous Jews, saying in effect, Crucifigam, I will crucify your King. You therefore that have got the best estates by plunder and pillage, the highest places by supplanting, sequestering, the greatest names by rebelling and murdering. You that have stuck malice at the point of your sword, and wreaked it in the bowels, of your brother; You that have broke the bars of Religion, run away with the reigns of government and law; You that have drawn all kind of iniquity with cords, and all sin as it were with a cart-rope. You that, as it follows in the 5. of isaiah, say, Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it; fear nothing, Have patience a while, I will but gull ignorance with a form, take the stool of wickedness, wherein to do justice, imagine mischief for law, and then your wish you shall have, for Crucifigam Regem, I will crucify your King.  
It remains in the words of my text. And the chief priests answered, We have no King but Caesar But our Pilate, as I told you, not putting it to the question, Our priests have saved the labour of this answer, which is not withstanding in part taken up by their forward disciples, who render this account of their 7. years' instruction by the new light, to have monarchy crucified as well their King, enacting, and boldly proclaiming to the world, Habebimus nullum, We will not have any one for our King. I could yet go on in the antiparallel, aggravate their malice and transcendent cruelty, as otherwise, so from the place which they chose wherein to murder their innocent King, which was no Golgotha, a sad place of dead men's skulls, but a place for the living to rejoice and banquet, as if Cannibal like, they meant to feast on his flesh, and carouse it in the cup of deadly wine (for so I believe they and their posterity will find it) the blood of their sovereign.  
I shall only take notice of Pilate's last courtesy to Christ, who, when he could not prevail for his life, set a crown upon his head at his death for such, 
Tom. 7. Hom. 84.  saith Origen, was that title he writ, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the jewet. St. Chrysostom saith he erected it for a trophy, hosper' epì tropaíou tinos, houto tà grámmata etheke, lampràn' aphiénta phonen, kaì tèn níken deloûnta, kaì tèn basileian' anakerytonta. But our Judge and his Jews in stead of giving crowns pull down Kigdomes, hide them as deep in oblivion as they can, that they may lay the firmer foundation for their new modelled government in a state. 
St. Matth. 7. 26.  But if he that built his house upon sand was likely to find such an uncertain foundation, how slippery will his be who undertakes to erect a republic on blood? If there be a woe for him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong, (and there is that woe jeremy 22.) what is there for him, that frameth his new fabric by murder? The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer. And what this cry and answer shall be the Prophet Habakuk tells you the second of his prophecy 12. Vaeilli. Woe unto him that buildeth a town by blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity.  
But to conclude all. Maugre the wicked policy of our Jews, in racing his name, altering his stamp, burning his papers (and leprous may that arm be that brings such precious fuel to the fire) I say for all this their politic malice, our Royal martyr hath not only (no thanks to his Judge) the crown and trophy of a title, but the everlasting stupendious monument of a book, raised higher than the Pyramids of Egypt in the strength of language, 
Eikòn Básilic.  and well proportioned spiring expression, built with out an hyperbole to heaven in divine meditations, and raptures, to which the Babel of other men's thoughts fall down, and lies like an heap of confused useless rubbish upon the earth.  
It is recorded of St. Paul; That when his head was struck off, there issued no blood, but pure milk out of every orifice of his veins. 
Serm. 68  Nec mirum saith St. Ambrose, Abundâsse lacte nutricium Ecclesiae. And no wonder is it that abundance of milk should come from the nurse of the Church. Never Church had such a kingly nursing father as this in his life, and never Saint gave better milk at his death. So sweet is the relish of his words, such a miraculous meekness in his speech, as if he had as well been fed with his saviour's food in the infancy of his life, as he tasted the bitter cup of passion at his death. Of whom you know it was Prophesied of old. butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.  
And may our hopeful Jonathan, our gracious sougraigne, with his father's blessing not Saul's curse, break his fast every day in this honey, and thereby let his eyes be enlightened as Jonathan's were, 1. Sam. 14. That he may every day more and more see and avoid the enemies of his peace. Let him every day take one drop at least thereof upon the top of his rod. Let that sweeten his rod of affliction to him. And let his other rod, his rod of revenge, dipped in this honey, chastise gently his enemies for him. And may he grow up in the strength of this food to all the moral virtue's fortitude, temperance, magnanimity, and the rest; to all the divine graces of his father, till having reigned with as much righteousness, honour, and much more peace after him here, he may, by no other than the hand of heaven be translated, in the fullness of time, to reign with him in glory hereafter. Amen, Amen.  
Glory be to God.