A SERMON PREACHED JANUARY XXX. 1684/5. BEING THE FAST FOR The Martyrdom of King Charles I. of Blessed Memory.  
By BENJAMIN WOODROFFE, D. D.  
LONDON: Printed by J. P. for John Blyth, and are to be sold at John Playford's Shop near the Temple-Church. 1685.   

TO THE SACRED MAJESTY OF King JAMES II.  
IT Will need no Excuse, that I should lay any part of my Labours at your Majesty's Feet, where all I can perform is so just a Debt, and but the natural effect of that Duty I own, both as a Subject to the best of Princes, and as a Servant to the best of Masters; nor, I trust, will it be a Presumption in One, who hath had the Honour to stand by Your Majesty in some of those Dangers, where nothing, but that Divine Providence which preserved you for a Crown, could have been your Shield, to presage, that 'tis for some great and extraordinary Blessing to these Kingdoms, that you are now seated on the Throne. And it is most reasonable to expect, that, so much natural Goodness, so great Courage, and Bravery of Mind, so sacred a Reverence for your Word, so tender a regard to your Dependants, so true a Love to your Country, so inviolable Faith, and Allegiance to your Sovereign, all which made you so much admired whilst a Subject, should receive the greatest Lustre from a Royal Diadem; for they are but the same Virtues You have still to exercise in a larger Sphere. If then there was an Allegiance you owed, and so exemplarily paid to your Royal Brother, 'tis what is only exalted in being now immediately due to none but him who is King of Kings; What was then natural Goodness is now Clemency and Mercy; what was then Courage and Bravery of Mind, is now an undaunted Resolution to defend yours and your Subjects Rights; what was then the Reverence you had for your sacred Word, is now the persisting in all your Royal Purposes of Grace to your good Subjects; what was then your tender regard to your Faithful Dependants, is now, as you are the Father of your Country, your equal Indulgence to all your Children; what was then your true Love to your Country, is now advanced into your Royal Care and Protection of it. These are the things that will now fill your Majesty's Thoughts; and these the great things that will hereafter be registered by that Fame which already speaks you so great at home and abroad, and hath by your mighty Actions carried the Glory and Terror of the English Nation to the remotest Parts of the Universe: and I question not, but the nearer Parts of it, France and Spain, and those other your Allies, who have seen or felt your Courage, will dread to awaken it. 'Tis only Treachery (the heinous nature whereof I treat on in this following Discourse) can disturb your Reign: 'tis that which hath done so much Mischief already among us, and threatens more under the new Name of Trimming. God, who hath set you upon the Throne, and advanced your Triumphs by Sea and Land into an Absolute Sovereignty in both, grant that no Storm may from thence arise to infest you in either. Thus Prays,  
Your Majesty's Most Dutiful and Obedient Subject, B Woodroffe.   
JEREMIAH 3. 8. But her Treacherous Sister Judah Feared not. 
I Am afraid I scarce read my Text without Offence to some: so suspicious doth Gild make men, that 'tis hard to choose the plainest piece of Scripture to speak on, on such Occasions as these, but they think 'tis presently Reflection and satire. But however, that ought not to deter the conscientious Preacher; it did not Jeremiah, the Penman of these Words, from his Duty; and I trust it shall not me from mine: which I take in such a day as this is, a day of so great Rebuke, Indignation, and Sorrow, to be that of our present Prophet, Chap. 1. 8. not to be afraid of their Faces. Alas! that is scarce our case, those who are most concerned in the Reproof seldom appearing among us on these sad Solemnities, and let it rest as a Brand of Ignominy, and everlasting Reproach, on their damned Principles and hellish Malice, that they so far still abett the execrable Treason, as not in so many Years, after so many repeated Testimonies of God's Judgements on the Nation, after the Sword, the Plague, and Fire, after (if these are less affecting) such miraculous Discoveries of their new Attempts, their Bands, their Leagues, their Covenants, their Associations, and whatever other their Conspiracies so plainly laid open, they so far countenance the Villainy, as not to be humbled for, or ashamed of it. To these Men 'tis my Text addresses in the name of treacherous Judah, i. e. of those, who under the Covert of the best Religion, against the most manifest Tokens of Divine Vengeance, as I shall by and by have occasion to enlarge, go on obstinately in their wicked Counsels, and harden themselves in Mischief, for that was Judah's Condition, and is the import of the following Meiosis, feared not, would be wrought upon by no Instruction whatever, would not be warned, take any Example, and reform. And the method I shall take in speaking on this Argument, shall be,  
I. To consider the heinous nature of Treachery.  
II. To show what the Treachery of Israel was.  
III. How her Sister Judah exceeded her in her Gild; and then with reference to what is the Subject of this Day's Lamentation.  
iv To draw the Parallel in our own Case; and  
V To sum up all by way of Inference.  
I. Of the heinous nature of Treachery, and that in these ensuing Particulars.  
1. Treachery is a Sin that is most opposite to the Divine Nature, to the very Being and Essence of God himself: for God is Truth and cannot lie, Titus 1. 2. and every degree of Falsehood is a departing and revolting from him, as he is the Author of Being; 'tis so far to unmake his Creation, because to make things to be what they are not; to give another Place, Use, and Signification, than he intended his Creatures: besides, to be treacherous, to be false, to be hypocritical, is, what in the Sinner lies, to take away his Omniscience, because to act as if he had no sense or awe of an allseeing Eye. Which is the reason, why 'tis spoken of in Scripture, as what is so hateful to God, Why his Wisdom, as well as his Truth and Holiness, can neither join with or approve it.  
2. Treachery is a Sin that is most opposite to the Interest of Mankind in general, as 'tis what cuts the Nerves of all Society, wholly destroys civil Commerce, undermines all Laws, and subverts the very Foundations on which Government and Order, the Being and Welfare of every Commonwealth, subsists. Treachery is that Sin which gives a Nation one Neck to be beheaded at a blow. Admit this in a State, and what will become of the Rights and Property either of Prince or People? Who can call any thing his own, where Forgery, Subornations, and Perjury, set the price on every honest man's Head and Fortune?  
Admit Treachery in an Army, and what will signify the giving either Word or Colours to be the distinguishing Symbols between them and their Enemies? What the Command or Example of the wisest and most valiant General, if these are only Signals to the Traitor to turn Sword, Pike, Musket, or Canon, upon him? Most uncertain must the Voice of the Trumpet be, if when that sounds a Charge, the false Heart beats a Retreat? What will it avail to raise Forts and lay in Magazines, if those within the Walls undermine all? If it be only to prepare Bulwarks for others to infest us thence?  
Admit Treachery in our Councils, and what can the Wisdom of the most profound Politician profit?  
Admit Treachery into Court, and where is the Safety of a Prince among all his Guards?  
Admit Treachery on the Bench, (Bribery and Partiality are so) and how will Laws themselves be taught to speak Injustice and Oppression? What will become either of the Prerogative of the Prince, or the Property of the Subject, where the mercenary Judge makes private Interest and Advantage the Rule of his Decrees? Or how must this encourage the corrupt Banker, if what is his Crime, the Wealth I mean unjustly detained from the Widow and Orphan, shall be his Protection and Defence.  
Admit Treachery in the Church, and how will Conscience trim to the Overthrow of all its Canons?  
Treachery, wherever 'tis, is like the Plague in the Heart, that is therefore most fatal, because it shows not its self in its natural and outward Tokens. To conclude this Head, If Treachery lurk in the Bowels, what will be all our Care in any State whatever? What our Preparations for Peace or War? What our Wealth and Honour? What all our Stores and Provisions? but like fraughting a goodly Vessel with the richest Merchandise, giving it sufficient Ballast, fitting up tall and stout Masts, spreading abroad the most glorious Sails, with all the finery of Flags and Streamers to set her off, and after all, boring a Hole in her bottom, whereby she must certainly founder before she gain her Port.  
3. Treachery is a Sin that is most contrary too to the Interest of him in particular who is guilty of it; for to none is Treachery more false than to the Contrivers of it: witness the Fate of Absolom, Achitophel, Zimri, Judas, and of the Devil himself. Scarce is there any Instance, in Divine, or Profane Story; but, as you read it in one of the proper Psalms for this Day, He that made a Pit and digged it, falls into the Ditch which he made. 
Psal. 7. 15.  And, to follow the Metaphor I just now made use of, how can he who boreas the Hole in the Vessel hope to escape in the common Shipwreck? Or should he otherwise provide for the present Danger, and get timely to Shore, yet is not the Hand and Heart of every man against such? For he who is once false in his Nature, hath put off his Title to the common Protection due to Mankind; hath outlawed himself, and is become Vulpinum Caput, the Fox, or Wolf's Head, devoted to common Hatred and Ruin.  
Not to say, which is often found upon Experience, that he is the mark of his own Vengeance; for how frequently doth the Traitor's Heart prove most treacherous to itself? how often doth it gall and torment him? And to say truth, how is it the concern of Providence such should be false to themselves, and not with all their Cunning be able to elude the Divine Omniscience, whose care of Mankind, of the World and its Government, they so much defy?  
4 Treachery is a Sin (and that one would think should make it not to be so over charming) that is the very Transcript and Copy of the Devil; for, He is a Liar, and the Father of Lies: He is the Arch-Traitor, who began his Treachery in Heaven, and is still acting it in all the Deceits and Impostures by which he enterprises on the unwary Sinner: he is in this sense most the Prince of Darkness; and the utmost lesser Traitors can boast of all their hidden Plots, is, That they are listing themselves as his Subjects; and where can that Villainy end which goes to Hell for its Example and Authority? I shall scarce need to add, that  
5. Treachery is a Complication of all other Sins and Miseries; which is another Aggravation of the Cheat, that it seldom ends where it gins; that the Gild and Villainy increase in the acting, and he who at the first mention of the horrid Sin is apt to say with Hazael, 2 Kings 8. 13. Am I a Dog that I should do this great thing, is Dog, Wolf, Bear, Lion, every thing to which the Father of Lies can prompt him, before he hath done.  
'Twould be superfluous to mention the Baseness of the Traitor's Mind, how mean and unmanly the Spirit with which he is acted! how apt to stoop to any Drudgery to save that stinking Breath in's Nostrils which already corrupts the Air he lives in, is the great Nuisance and Pest of Humane Society. There's something of Bravery in open Violence; for, 'tis to bid our Enemy stand upon's Guard, to bid him look to, and defend himself: but, to hid the Weapon wherewith we intent to give the Stab, to flatter him to the Face whose Ruin we are then designing, to greet, and at the same time smite under the fifth Rib, to say Hail Master, and betray, are the Acts of a Judas, or a Devil in him.  
This as to our first Head; viz. The heinous nature of Treachery. Our second is,  
II. To show, what the Treachery of Israel was?  
Now that I doubt not in the beginning of it to limit to their Revolt from the House of David, from their Allegiance to their natural Lord and hereditary Sovereign, and (what can scarce be divided) from their Loyalty to God himself; for so we find it in matter of Fact, 1 Kings 12. 16. where Jeroboam and his Accomplices had no sooner answered the King, What portion have we in David? neither have we Inheritance in the Sons of Jesse, but the next News we have is, vers. 26, 27. their cutting themselves off from any Portion in God, from any Inheritance in his established Worship and Religion; And Jeroboam said in his Heart, Now shall the Kingdom return to the House of David, if this People go up to do Sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem: As before, their Obedience to their lawful King, so now, their Duty to God himself is become a Grievance; It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold thy Gods, O Israel, etc.  
But was there nothing but this Revolt that was in the whole time of their continuing to be a People charged upon Israel? Yes, many are the particular Guilts with which the Prophet's load them; but this seems to be the Cause, this the Burden of all the rest, that they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. This was the pulling up the Sluice that let in all the Inundation that afterwards over-flowed them, this so black a Stain, that no length of time, no possession of the Crown, could ever purge it; for so the Holy Ghost tells us, v. 19 That Israel rebelled against the House of David to this day: And the continuing in this Sin, and the fatal consequents of it, was that which at last made them to be cast off by God, delivered into the Hands and Power of the Assyrian, and as to any Account we have of them ever since, lost, from being so much as a People, in that Captivity; for now, as 'tis Hosea 1. 6. they became Lo-Ruchama, and Lo-ammi, v. 9 no more either his beloved or his People; to show them their Sin in the Punishment of it, they, who revolted from their lawful Sovereign, and their God, were to abide many days without a King, without a Prince, and without a Sacrifice, and without an Image, and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim, Hosea 3. 4. Without any established Government, without any the least show, the very counterfeit dress and surface of Religion: and when to be restored, it will be only by returning to their Allegiance to the Posterity of David; as it follows v. 5. and afterward shall the Children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their King.  
But if this be so great a Gild, how comes God to declare, he doth it upon the occasion of Rehoboam's taking Arms to reduce the Rebels, and bring back the Kingdom again to Judah, 1 Kings 12. 21. 24. that the thing was from him?  
I answer, 'Tis one thing for God to approve, another to permit any Action. 1. 'Twas from him, as thereby the House of Solomon was to be punished for their own Rebellion against God, in forsaking him, and worshipping Idols, 1 Kings 11. 33. 'Twas from him, as their not walking in his ways to do that which was right in his eyes, had exposed them to his just Judgements.  
2. 'Twas from him, as by his Providence, as he had purposed to overrule their Sin to his own Glory.  
3. 'Twas from him, and therefore not to be punished by their Sword, as he would take to himself to repay the Vengeance that was due to so notorious a Revolt: as he did by those many Severities inflicted on them, by those many Changes of the Succession, no less than nine or ten times, whilst they continued to be a Kingdom and People, to see if any pouring them from Vessel to Vessel would cleanse them from their Dregs; and when that could not be, by giving them up (the greatest Judgement that can befall any Nation) to that Anarchy and Confusion they so much affected.  
But however, 'twas just in God thus to treat one and the other, to punish Judah by Israel's Rebellion; this will in no case excuse the Actors, no more than it will acquit the Devil of his implacable Malice, that whom he seduces by his Temptations, he is likewise appointed to be the unhappy Instrument ('tis his Doom as well as his Nature) to torment.  
But might not some great Indignity put on Jeroboam, some very signal Disobligation stirring up a Man of public Spirit, justify his utmost Resentments? Might there not be some public Grievances that were necessary to be redressed? Or, Might not Religion be called in to assist in so good a Cause?  
Let us see then what stands upon Record in these Matters; for 'tis the common case of most Traitors, and was theirs who contrived and acted the black Tragedy of this day.  
1. As to the great Indignity put on Jeroboam, the very signal Disobligations he had from the Government, and what moved his public Spirit, you have the History, 1 Kings 11. 26. And Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, Solomon's Servant, even He (that's the Emphasis the Holy Ghost puts on it) He, who stood in so near a Relation of personal Duty, and stricter Attendance to his Master, who was of his constant and daily Guard (as every Domestic to a Prince is) even he lift up his hand against the King. And this was the Cause that he lift up his hand against the King; Solomon built Millo, and repaired the Breaches of the City of David his Father; 'twas a Distaste taken at the Strength and Security of his Prince, the Envy he had at his Greatness and Power; for we find very little Oppression or Injustice charged on Solomon's Reign. Indignities and Disobligations he had received none from Solomon, till he stood in open Defiance and Rebellion. All that Solomon was faulty herein, was, his advancing Jeroboam to that Dignity, whereby he began now to think himself a Match for his Prince, v. 28. He had made him Ruler over all the Charge of the House of Joseph: so dangerous is it to raise men of turbulent and ambitious Minds, that like Lucifer, presently Ascendam, & ero similis altissimo, I will ascend, and be like the most high, is what comes next into their Thoughts; Their Height makes them giddy, and every thing turns round about with them; their Glory only fits them, ('tis the Pattern the Son of the Morning hath left his Followers) to be greater Devils.  
2. As to the public Grievances necessary to be redressed, (for 'tis pity there should not be some colour for so brave an Attempt) what were they? We must again consult the History, as 'tis related, 1 Kings 12. 4. and the whole Complaint summed up in that grievous Yoke Solomon had put upon them; and what that was, you have at large 1 Kings 4. 7. etc. 'Twas only the more regular ordering of his Kingdom and Family; 'twas his settling his Dominion abroad, and securing to them Peace and Plenty at home; 'twas his making Judah and Israel to dwell safely, every man under his Vine and under his Figtree, from Dan even to Beersheba, v. 24. 25. Their great Grievance was, That the Wisdom of God was with him, ch. 3. v. 28. that according to that Wisdom he framed those steady Rules of Policy, which the Sons of Belial, who were for casting off every Yoke, whose dissolute Lives could bear no Restraint, could not withstand.  
And how clamorous and noisy are they presently in their Complaints, how diligent to find a fit Person to head the Faction? and who so fit as a discontented Courtier, a disobliged Favourite; Jeroboam must be called home from Egypt, 1 Kings 12. v. 3. A Fugitive presently adopted into a Patriot, and none so proper to assert the Rights and Liberties of the People, as one, who by his Rebellion had forfeited all his own. These are their intolerable Grievances, and not to be redressed, but by destroying Root and Branch; Rehoboam is the present Oppressor, his Father Solomon made the Yoke, and David's Name too must be brought in to increase the Odium; v. 16. What Portion have we in David? neither have we Inheritance in the Son of Jesse: What good did we ever receive from any of the Line? No, the Succession must be altered, we'll choose our own Prince; Jeroboam is our Man: Solomon was cunning, and would have bribed him by high Offices to have been of's Party, but the Temptation was in vain; he was of a more public Spirit, a truer Patriot, and more a Lover of his Countury, than thus to be taken off. He shall be or General, he our Protector, to thy Tents, O Israel!  
From which, put together, 'tis obvious to note,  
1. That 'tis not the Wisdom of the Prince, the Justice, or Prosperity of his Reign; not the eminent Piety and extraordinary Virtues of those who sit on the Throne, can exempt them from being maligned by Factious, Seditious, and Ambitious Spirits; for then Solomon and David would have been free from such Reflections; or, what is infinitely above any of these Comparisons, than would Heaven, the Kingdom of God, and the Seat of his Glory, have been secured from Treason. But if the Throne of the wisest and best Princes, if the Throne of God himself be not free from Conspiracies, as indeed the more Happiness, the more Peace and Prosperity, the more Holiness any Kingdom enjoys, the more likely is it to be the Mark and Prey of the Traitor, the more maligned and opposed by the Devil and his Instruments, This may serve to lessen our Admiration, though at the same time it ought to heighten the Grief and Repentance of this Day, that both a Solomon and a David fell in so wise, so prosperous, (for what was not the Nation blessed with under his Reign, before those unhappy times) so religious a Prince. As also,  
2. From hence we may note, how impossible 'tis to oblige a Rebel to his Duty. But why should we admire, that Preferment could not retain Jeroboam in his Allegiance, when the highest place in the Court of Heaven could not retain Lucifer (that Spirit who worketh in the Children of Disobedience, Ephes. 2. 2.) in his. But I proceed to the third Enquiry in this matter; viz.  
3. Whether Religion in any sort might not be called in to assist in so good a Cause? 'Twas the Course Jeroboam here took, and is the usual practice of the Rebel; and but requisite to such Designs it should be so, there being nothing that hath a more powerful Influence on the Minds of men, than the being persuaded, that he who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, whose Prerogative 'tis to set up one and pull down another, hath his hand in the Revolution: To this purpose, Divine Authority shall be urged for the Change: There goes a Prophecy of Jeroboam, that he should Reign, 1 Kings 11. 13. etc. and what should he do but hasten the fulfilling of it? Who would not obey a Revelation in such a Case? Who would not concur with Providence to put the Crown on his own head? Or is not the reforming of Religion, ('tis that Jeroboam, good Man, chief aims at) the suiting it to the Nature of that Infinite Being we adore, in appointing him public Worship at Dan and Bethel, a just Plea? Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him, how much less any house Man can build? What is the Glory and Magnificence of the Temple at Jerusalem, to his immense Majesty? What the holiness of any particular place, to him who is every where? Why must we confine the Deity, or restrain his Presence and Blessing to one City, whose Goodness is over all his Works? Is it not his Temple wherever a pious Soul inhabits? his Residence wherever his Grace and Power show themselves? Why is Jerusalem better than Shechem? Why Zion (are not all parts of the World alike his Workmanship?) better than Dan and Bethel? Why must we go up to Jerusalem to Worship, who can reach heaven any where with a devout Prayer? Come, 'tis not the Place, but the Sacrifice; not the Temple, but the Offering God respects, not a long and tedious travelling with the Feet, but the quick and frequent Ascent of the Heart he accepts. To tie all Holiness to the Cathedral of Jerusalem, is but a Trick of the house of David, a Politic Fetch of Solomon and his abused Wisdom, to continue the Succession in his Line, whatever the Person be, how great an Enemy soever to his Country, to our Property, and true Religion; 'tis but to strengthen an Oppressive Kingdom, instead of Whips ('tis what Rehoboam bid us expect) to chastise us with Scorpions: We have had too much already of the Father's Loins, to venture the Trial of the Son's Little-finger, 1 Kings 12. 10. No, this is a Yoke is intolerable to be borne by freeborn Men, those whom God owns for his peculiar People: What! to be denied the Liberty of our Religion? to have our Consciences fettered? not to serve God in any place? to have Jehovah, another piece of Solomon's Cunning, to be no where so much as mentioned, but where they please? Thus to limit the holy One of Israel, who can endure it? What honest-hearted Child of Abraham? Brave, Faithful, Comprehending, Abraham, who set up an Altar wherever he came, can submit to the Tyranny? Jacob, I am sure, thought not so ill of Bethel, Genes. 28. 19 as these highflown, ceremonial Churchmen do: The Promise of the Blessing is to all Nations, and why then must we be thus unreasonably restrained to one pitiful Spot of Ground? No, We have been too long fooled with these sham's and Fopperies; David would fain have been at it, in building a house too, had not God forbidden him; Solomon, the craftier of the two, made a shift, by the Strength of his Navy, (come, 'twas nothing else but his prosperous Piracies) to heap up a little more Wealth than his Neighbours, by his wheadling and drawing in other less wary Princes to assist in the Work, to set up the Idol: but, God be thanked, we are better instructed now in the Reason of Religion, and have Strength, and hands as well as hearts, to defend it; We know our God is a Spirit, and as such he hath so often appeared for us, and as such we will Worship him. Far be it from us who have been formerly rescued from Slavery by so many Miracles, to run into it again; We have a brave and worthy Patriot to be our Captain; Jeroboam, whom Solomon himself durst not but prefer, he well understood the Eminency of his Parts and Valour, and could not even then suppress his growing Merits. 'Tis a Providence, and we ought to lay hold on it, that we have so gallant, so conscientious a Leader, who hath so true a Value for our Rights and Religion, to thy Tents, ('tis a just and noble Cause, the Cause of God and his People) to thy Arms O Israel. For thus may we suppose some bold seditious, blasphemous Ringleader, some Plebeian Orator then inflaming the Mobile; 'tis the method Incendiaries usually take to make Religion serve the Cheat; 'twas the Artifice of our Modern Saints; and how far 'tis apt to prevail on those who cannot distinguish between Noise and Reason, Zeal and Rage, the cursed Villainy of this day doth but too plainly declare.  
But to see then whither there be any weight in this sort of arguing; and,  
1. As to the Prophecy that went of Jeroboam, that he should Reign; (I the more willingly take notice of this, because too we have had our Revelation-men, those who never wanted a Vision, a Prediction, an Euthusiasm, to colour the Rebellion) If God's foreseeing and predicting any Event must justify it, what Action is there, ever so heinous, what Crime, ever so vile, will be left unjustified? Doth his Omniscience, who sees what is future as if present, purge the Gild? then would the oppressing of the Children of Israel by the Egyptians, the Murders of Hazael, the Madness of Jehu, the Treason of Judas, the coming of Antichrist and false Prophets, of the Man of Sin, and Son of Perdition, 2 Thes. 2, 3. be all hallowed by the Oracle. For what is there of these or any other Villainies, that comes not within the compass of his Knowledge? But to assert them therefore to be the Effects of his Will and good Pleasure, to be what he approves and allows, (which is what those would insinuate who make use of this Argument) is to forget, that he hath as well predicted a Day of Judgement wherein to arraign, and a Hell to punish such Offenders. There's a vast Difference between foretelling an Event, either good or bad, that shall be; and revealing or commanding a Duty that ought to be done. God never intended a Prophecy, as such, to be a Rule; nor will it any more absolve the Traitor that his Wickedness is foretold, than 'twill those of whom the Apostle speaks, 2 Thes. 2. 11, 12. to whom God sends strong Delusions (they whose case it is would do well to consider, what should be the cause of so heavy a Judgement on them) that they should believe a Lie, that they might be damned. This as to the Prophecy of Jeroboam's Reigning, and the Insufficiency of arguing any Right from thence: 'Twas the Case of David before him, but so, that he stayed God's time for the fulfilling of it; left it to him who foretold it, to take his own method, and use his own means, to verify the Prediction. Let us see, whether  
2. The Pretence of Religion in any sort, or the new modelling thereof (it shall be called reforming by the Usurper) to serve the Revolt, be any better Plea? There's no doubt, as I before observed, but the Name of Religion is a very powerful persuasive: the bringing God into the Party is what must beget an Awe and Reverence for whatever shall be acted. But why should a Jew (for I would confine myself to the merits of the Cause before us) be imposed upon to think that God, who hath given his own Name and Authority to Princes (Exodus 22. 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods) who hath not only required that the outward Actions of the Subject, their Words and Language, be dutiful; but (as if he would share with them his own Prerogative of taking Cognizance of the Heart and its Motions) that they pay them the Reverence of their very Thoughts, (for so it runs, Eccles. 10. 20. Curse not the King, no not in thy Thought.) That God, who hath entailed so great Temporal Blessings on the Obedience paid to him, ('tis by all agreed to be one meaning of the Fifth Commandment,) who hath so immediately entrusted them with the Care of his Laws and Worship, hath so well qualified them for the discharging that great Trust, who gave Wisdom to Solomon, Piety and Courage to David, promised his Presence and Blessing to them all, (2 Sam. 14, 15, etc. 29.) made their Persons sacred, and anointed them for his own? Why, I say, should a Jew be imposed upon to think, That God, who hath so far joined his own Interest, Honour, and Authority, with that of his Vicegerents, so far imprinted his own Sovereignty and Character upon them, should so forget all this, as to conspire with any Usurper against them? should encourage or approve the Revolt, which, as 'tis declared in the Case of Corah and his Accomplices rising up against Moses and Aaron, is no other, than gathering together against himself.  
And as the present Religion of the Jew, however by the Mutinous falsely glossed upon, could be no Plea, so much less ought any new Model thereof (Reforming as the Usurper will style it) be contrived to serve the Revolt: for what though God be every where, must he not therefore have any Place set apart for his more solemn Worship? Or is not the appointing it at Dan and Bethel (were that the true state of the Question) as much a limiting the Holy One of Israel, as 'twas at Jerusalem? If there must be no distinction of Place in his Service because he fills all places by his Essence, why don't they as well level Heaven and Earth, and make his Throne and his Footstool the same? Or is it not at the Choice of God himself, to put his Name, promise his Presence, and manifest his Glory, more in one Place than another? Besides, 'tis not to limit himself, who is immense and infinite, but his Worshippers; 'tis to secure a public and certain Homage from them in some place, who if left to themselves, would be apt to pay it in none. I meddle not with the Typical and Mystical Reasons, why Jerusalem is preferred before all other Places, but only frame the Objection for the mutinous Jew, as it might likewise suit the Pretences of our Reformers, who upon just as good Grounds set up their separate Meetings, their seditious Conventicles and Congregations, as Jeroboam did his Calves at Dan and Bethel, in Opposition to the established Order and Decency of our Church, till they disturbed the Peace of it, (for that's the import of its Name) of our Jerusalem. Which, to sum up the Argument for both, is no more than this, (and let it be spoken to the Confusion of their Cause) That what the Rebel attempts, is not to be justified, but by corrupting the Religion he pretends for it, by debauching its Principles and renouncing its Precepts; that only Schism and Idolatry are proper Advocates for Rebellion: and, to speak truly, 'tis the same Anarchy in the Church that brings in Schism and Idolatry there, (for Idolatry, the setting up more or other Gods is a Commonwealth and Populacy in Religion) as 'tis, that brings in Faction and Sedition in the State: Both are from Republican, i. e. Atheistical Principles: And 'tis no wonder, (let them take to themselves for once the Honour of their free Philosophy) 'tis not wonder, I say, that Commonwealths are observed equally to cherish all Religions; i e. to govern (whatever they talk to the Prejudice of Monarchy) to extort from, and oppress their Subjects, rather their Slaves and Vassals, as if they believed none.  
I have said what I intended concerning Israel's Treachery, with the Remarks thereon I thought necessary to the present Subject we are on:  
III. How her Sister Judah exceeded her in her Gild, comes now to be spoken to: Which I pretend not to apply to the same Gild in Specie; for Judah had not revolted from their Allegiance to their Prince, but what was of a much higher nature, from their Faith and Allegiance to their God; and on that account their sin was the greater, as 'twould have been had their Crimes been otherwise the same, the Gild of Judah would have been the more notorious of the two: because, as I before touched it, heightened by these following Aggravations: viz.  
1. That what Judah did, was under the Covert of the true Religion; 'Twas against the clearest Revelation of their Duty, the most sensible Demonstrations of the Divine Power and Goodness, the Presence of God himself with, and his peculiar Providence still presiding over them; in a word, against those great and distinguishing Privileges which no other part of Mankind could pretend to.  
2. That what Judah did, was not only against so great Mercies, but against as great Judgements too; those manifest Warnings of that good Providence, I mean, which had so tenderly dealt with her, as to make her Sister Israel the sad Example of that Vengeance, he would thereby have deterred her from; 'tis the Argument of the Context, and the Emphasis of the Text, yet her treacherous Sister Judah feared not. And for the true Religion to prostitute itself to that Sin it so expressly prohibits, for those who could not be ignorant of their Duty to make their extraordinary Knowledge only serve to instruct them in greater Impiety; those who could not but be sensible of the singular Favours of Heaven towards them, to improve all to the dishonour of their great Benefactor, and turn his Grace into Wantonness. For those who had before their Eyes such a Spectacle of what their Sin must end in, if not forsaken and amended, as that of forlorn rejected Israel; for them to make the Law, to administer to their Gild, the Promises or Threats therein contained to promote their Impiety, such signal and miraculous, whether Mercies or Judgements, only drudge to Sin and Hell, that's the Aggravation, that's the Horror. And now I come with reference to what is the Subject of this Days Lamentation,  
iv To draw the Parallel in our own Case; for we have our Israel and Judah too; give me leave so to express it, those, on the one hand of a corrupt and superstitious, and on the other, as they give themselves the Style, of the true Protestant and best reformed Religion, both deeply concerned in the heinous Gild of Treachery, and that, as I shown it in the Case of Jeroboam and his Complotters, as it extends to a joint Revolt from God and the King, to the undermining the Government in Church and State, both highly guilty in this matter, but the latter the more inexcusable of the two.  
As to the Gild of the former, i. e. of the Church of Rome, whom in the Parallel I here call Israel, will not their usurped Primacy, so contrary to the Doctrine of Christ, Matth. 20. 25. and afterwards their pretended Infallibility, the only Prerogative of Heaven's Crown, taken in to justify that and every other Usurpation whatever, too nearly resemble the Apostasy of Israel? And what have these Calves of Dan and Bethel, (to follow the Allusion) ever since bleated out, but the Excommunicating, Deposing, and Extirpating of Princes, and Hell and Damnation to all who would not join with them in the Holy Cheat. The ill Consequences whereof, have been felt no where more than in these Kingdoms whereof we are; witness the Slavery in which Prince and People, for so many Ages together, were held by it; and when the Yoke was cast off, What Plots, Conspiracies, and Treasons, were still hatching by those of that Communion? So notorious, so hateful were their Practices, till at length whatever Mischief befell the Nation, was suspected to arise from thence: So general was the Odium of that Name, that like a common Thief, every Felony, by whomsoever committed, is charged upon them: and it hath been the common Craft of every Party almost, to raise the Suspicion upon the Papist, and send the Hue and Cry after them, that so themselves might pass unapprehended, and wholly fly from Justice. How far they had a share in contriving or acting the Tragedy of this Day, (for that too hath been charged upon them) God who knows the Secrets of all Hearts, can best tell; and there will be a day of Revelation of all things: How far in l ae r Conspiracies, they would do well to look to, who pretend so much to abhor and detest their Corruptions. For this I cannot but on this Occasion take notice of, That  
1. The Jesuits, those great Plotters of that Religion, and private Presbyteries, came first into England about the same time.  
2. That they both behaved themselves, in their several (if several) Designs by the same Model; the one in indicting Councils, summoning Synods, enacting and reversing Orders, and exercising of all manner of Papal Jurisdiction; the other, in appointing Meetings both Classical and Synodical, in setting down Decrees, in reversing Orders, in electing Ministers, exacting Subscriptions, executing Censures of Suspension and Excommunication, where they thought good, writing exactly by the same Copy.  
3. That the Principles on which they proceeded to these Enormities, were, and are still the same. What those of the Romish Communion do by virtue of the Power pretended to be lodged in the Church, and absolute Jurisdiction, Christ, as they would persuade their Disciples, hath given to his Vicar over all the World; That the Brethren (for so they styled themselves) arrogating to their Presbyteries, as they are the chief Ministers of the Kingdom of Christ, are to uphold his Throne, to wield God's Sceptre, and manage his holy Yoke (for so they phrase it) which is their Discipline.  
4. That if the Motto of the one be (so some tell us the Jesuits is) Woe to Princes, the Republican Humour and rebellious Attempts of the other may serve for a Comment on it. I shall give but one Instance of this thorough Accord of these Brethren in Iniquity, and 'tis a very eminent one: 'tis what I find in two several Authors about the same time, when these Innovations were bringing in among us, the one a Calvinist, the other a Romanist, both publishing their Books,  
1. Under the same Title, De jure Magistratuum in subditos, & Officio subditorum erga Magistratus.  
2. Using the same Arguments, & mutatis mutandis, the very same words, only such Alterations made as might serve their several Hypotheses; and  
3. Concluding in the lawfulness of resisting, deposing, and extirpating Supreme Powers. The several Authors are Johannes Baptista Ficklerus of the Romish Persuasion, and an Anonymous Disciple of John Calvin; and the later of the two hath the Honour to be first on the Argument: Their Books were published between the Years of 1576 and 1578, both within the time of Buchanan's Writing and Publishing his De jure Regni apud Scotos; all which, i e. the first coming of the Jesuits into England, the settling of private Presbyteries by the Brethren, and the writing of these several Books, one in France, another in Germany, a third in Scotland, to which I might add the many most virulent Pamphlets than sent abroad at home, such as Goodman, True Obedience, Martin Mar-prelate, the Demonstration of the Discipline set out by Penry and Udal, Ministers, by Job Throckmorton, Knightly, Wigston, Laics, in 1588. the same Year when the Queen was deposed by Sixtus Quintus his Bull, and the King of Spain came with his Armado to seize the forfeited Crown: and all this just about the time when Subscription was in England first required to the Book of Articles, so much the dread of all Innovators both in Church and State, because so much for the Stability of both; Ab uno disce omnes.  
But, because how near Brethren soever they are in Iniquity, yet there is nothing in which they are so uneasy as to be thought such; let us a little more distinctly see what the Gild of the one is in this Affair, and how the others is aggravated beyond it.  
'Tis Gild, very enormous Gild, to be those, who like Jeroboam the Son of Nebat make Israel to sin, who corrupt and adulterate the Principles of Religion. This, in the first Instance of it, certainly is a Gild of the most heinous Nature, and horrid Consequence imaginable. But these are not the Circumstances of the present Comparison between Israel and Judah; for 'tis Israel (as I asked leave to express those of the Romish Persuasion) under the unhappiness of their being seduced, and led out of the way; Revolted Israel, Israel under the Prejudice of false and corrupted Principles, under a kind of Necessity of being deceived, we are speaking of; Israel too, made the Subject of the greatest judgements. For what Hatred, what Scorn, what Disgrace and Punishment, have been thought too much for such Offenders? Our Annals are full of their Story, our Laws most strict and severe against them. And between such, and Judah, i. e. those who still own the Purity of Religion, and the Principles thereof, those who have seen what hath been done to such Criminals, what they have suffered for their Wickedness, and yet make those Principles a Covert for their Falsehood, those Sufferings an Encouragement for themselves to act greater Villainies; between such I say, and Judah, hangs the Scale, and on these Accounts must turn on her Side. For what will aggravate Sin if not its being committed against the general Principles, as of all Religion, so of what Men particularly profess, and the highest Professions and Protestations to the contrary? What more expose to more dreadful Judgements than the hardening themselves against so manifest and just an hand of God? as they have seen upon others in the like Gild, and have felt upon themselves, (an Example, one would think, that might work on them) in having their own so miraculously detected, and in some measure already punished. I speak it not with Respect to Israel, those of a corrupt and adulterated Religion, but, to give our modern Saints still the Honour of the Comparison, with respect to Judah; I speak it too in vindication of the reformed Religion, the glorious stile whereof they so unjustly usurp, and are so great a Scandal to. What, I say, will aggravate Sin, if not the continuing in it under such Circumstances? 'Twas the Horror of their Case in the Text, and so God himself enforces it, And I saw, when for all the Causes, whereby back-sliding Israel committed Adultery, I had put her away, and given her a Bill of Divorce, yet her treacherous Sister Judah feared not.  
What remains, is, that  
5. We sum up all by way of Inference.  
Use 1. From hence it appears, why in Scripture Treason and Rebellion are represented under so black a Character; as being a Sin which equals the worst of Murders, supposes the same Rancour of Mind, arises from the same Passions of Avarice or Ambition, and in the fatal Consequence of it, must end in Ruin, and that such as carries the immediate marks of Divine Vengeance along with it; for with reference to all these St. Judas denounces the Woe, v. 11. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward, and perished in the Gainsaying of Core: And long before Samuel had told Saul ('twas in his particular Case of Disobedience, and that upon the most specious Pretence of Piety and high Devotion, out of a seeming Zeal for God's Honour, that he who gave him the Victory might himself by Sacrifice share in the Spoil; 1 Sam. 15. 15. The People spared the best of the Sheep and of the Oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord) but applicable to the same Sin wherever 'tis found: Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft, and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry; and that will carry in it these several Aggravations.  
1. 'Tis a Sin that in its exciting Cause usually springs from Pride and Discontent; the very Sin of the Devil in Heaven itself.  
2. 'Tis a Sin that supposes the renouncing of God and his Religion. Whatever we may pretend otherwise, 'tis the very unchristning the Man, the drawing him off from his very Vow of Baptism, whereby he professes to renounce the Devil and all his Works, the Pomp's and Vanities of this wicked World; from the Obedience he then professed to Christ his Lord and General; 'tis the being ashamed of his Cross, and what the sad consequence thereof is.  
3. 'Tis a Sin that puts us out of God's Protection; out of the Care of his Wisdom and Providence; and no wonder, that being abandoned to ourselves and the Devil  
4. We should be still hurried (another fatal Attendant of this Gild) from one degree of Wickedness to another, that we should be seduced by its bewitching Charms (such as the High Out-cries for Liberty, Property, or Religion, (whether there be any reason for it or no) led on by Fears and Jealousies (the proper Symptoms of those who deal with the Devil) to all manner of Impieties. And so the latter Clause of that foremention'd 1 Sam. 15. 15. imports, which tells us, that Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry: Iniquity, as it opposes whatsoever is just and equal in the Laws of Men; Idolatry, as it sets up the Imagination of the Fool, the fine Model and Platform he bewitches himself with, the Idol of his own creating, in the place of God.  
5. 'Tis a Sin, Witchcraft is, (and if Rebellion be such it must take the same Fate) that must never hope for Success; Witchcraft puts the Wretch out of the Protection of Heaven, and cannot expect its Blessing. And this alone, one would think, should be enough to disparage the mad Attempts of the Rebel, that as Gowry is said to have made his Remark, when he was hatching his Treason, that no Conspiracy was ever so formed amongst all that he had met with, as not to be defective in one Circumstance or other, (and therefore he would take care to outdo them all) and needs it must be so; for it can never take God into the Counsel, never have the Help of his Wisdom and Providence to accomplish it: a shrewd Defect indeed, and such a Circumstance, as might serve to recover Men to their Wits, if any thing were sufficient to recover him who is so bewitched with his own Pride, Malice, or Revenge, some of the necessary Ingredients in this Sorcery: and what is still more dreadful than all this,  
6. 'Tis a Sin that shall be eternally punished with that Despair in Hell, with which 'tis begun, and prosecuted on Earth.  
Use 2. From hence see the many and great Reasons we have to detest the execrable Treason of this Day. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in Askelon: That ever Religion should be prostituted to serve so great a Villainy! That the Holy Name of God should be made use of to countenance the Murdering of his own Vicegerent. 'Twas David's Question to the Amalekite, who might have pleaded the Royal Command of Saul, and but a sort of Allegiance paid to him in his Anguish, to stand upon him and slay him, 2 Sam. 1. 14. How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's Anointed? Is it nothing to have the Divine Character effaced? Nothing to be guilty of Royal Blood? To behead the Nation at a Blow, and then bring him by whom Kings reign, into the Conspiracy? Blessed Saviour! Was this thy meaning when thou commandedst to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's? Was this the Reason of thy submitting to Civil Powers, that thy Disciples must presently construe it, to signify their Right to depose them? Or, was it for this Thou inspired'st good St. Paul to tell us, We must needs be subject not only for Wrath but Conscience sake, Rom. 13. 5. that for Conscience sake we should Rebel against them? I might farther aggravate the Fact, from the Excellency of the Person, his Clemency, his Justice, his Temperance, his Chastity, his exemplary Piety and Patience; but 'tis too stupifying an Argument to dwell on; and therefore shall only add this, that the only way not to make all this horrid Gild ours, is that which God predicts, as what must lead to the Recovery of Israel from that Captivity their Rebellion brought upon them; which shall be my last Use; viz.  
Use 3. A turning to God, and (for they must go together) to our King; so 'tis Hosea 3. 5. Afterward shall the Children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King. There is a sort of Allegiance, there is a Duty we can still pay to the Royal Martyr; what was wanting to his Person let us pay to his Memory, rather let us pay to what of him survives, our Dear Sovereign; for He too suffered in and with him. Let us consider, who 'twas that set either Father or Son on the Throne, and let us not forget to pay all Duty and Allegiance there: 'tis the only Method left us to redeem the Nation, and make the Stain of the Gild not public still. Let us above all disclaim the Principles on which 'twas acted: let neither Israel nor Judah, Religion under any Name whatever, so unhallow itself, as to justify the least Degree of Treason 'Tis a Debt we all own to the Honour of our great Master's Name, which hath so much suffered on either hand, as to take care that that be no longer thus reproached; for thus to dishonour him and his Gospel, certainly is more than to crucify him afresh; 'tis to make him the very Malefactor on the Cross, to make him the Barrabas, the Author of Sedition and Murder; in the greatest Detestation and Abhorrence whereof, give me leave to conclude with the Words of the Apostle, Wherefore you must needs be subject. 'Tis the Duty, as Christians, we own to that Holy Name; 'tis the truest Honour you can do the Gospel, to free it from those Abuses to which turbulent and seditious Men prostitute that Holy, Heavenly, and Peaceable Doctrine. You are those who yourselves expect Crowns, ('tis the Name under which the future Glory you hope for is expressed) and is the Rebel fit to be advanced to that Dignity? you expect an everlasting Kingdom, think not a little Patience and Subjection too much to pay for it: you look after Eternal Joy, let not Repining and Murmuring be the Preparatives for it! Submit to those whom the Lord hath set over you; 'Tis your undoubted Duty, and 'tis your Reward: your Reward here, in that Peace, that Quiet, that Content, (and what doth not that Name contain?) which such a Temper leads to, and enjoys at present; and 'twill be your Reward hereafter in that State of everlasting and unalterable Obedience to the King of Kings, in which Heaven and its Happiness will consist.  Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only Wise God, be Honour and Glory for ever, and ever, Amen. 
FINIS.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
☞ England's Black Tribunal: Containing the Trial of the Blessed Martyr-King Charles I. with the Dying Speeches and Behaviour of many of the Nobility and Gentry who suffered Death for their Loyalty by the then Rebels. Sold by Henry Playford near the Temple-Church. 8o. Price bound 2 s.