THE SUBJECT'S SORROW: OR, LAMENTATIONS Upon the Death of Britain's JOSIAH, KING CHARLES, Most unjustly and cruelly put to Death by His own People, before his Royal Palace White-Hall, Jan. 30. 1648. Expressed in a SERMON upon Lam. 4.20. Therein the Divine and Royal Prerogatives, Personal Virtues, and Theological Graces of His late Majesty are briefly delivered: AND ●●at His Majesty was taken away in God's mercy unto Himself, and for the certain punishment of these Kingdoms, from the Parallel is clearly proved. 2 Chron. 35.24. ●●d all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Isaiah 57.1. ●●e righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart, 〈◊〉 merciful men are taken away, none considering 〈◊〉 the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Euseb. Pamph. vit. Const. m. l. 4. c. 57 ●resanè hunc Honorem adeptus est, ut Dei Volunta●●te, quod eo morte sepultum est, tamen apud homines regnaret. London, Printed in the Year, 1649. LAMENT. 4.20. The breath of our Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen. Public Calamities charge every man with a rate of sorrow proportionable unto the tenure of his Understanding, put him upon a serious enquiry of the Causes and Consequences of them, and exact from him a diligent provision of means to stop, or divert them: Calamity, like the flood, is now lifted up above our Earth, and hath almost covered the highest Hills of our temporal felicity; could our sorrow swell as high, as that the sense of our present and impending miseries would drown us; if we search into the causes of them, we shall find those in ourselves, [our sins] their sad consequences are by so much the superabounding matter of our just fear, by how much they go beyond our knowledge, nay, even conjecture, and all our power to prevent them: such is the inundation of miseries now prevailing over the three Kingdoms: Would you see the head of these overflowing Cataracts? this Text will make the discovery unto you, The breath of our Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen. The Words are the groundwork and foundation on which the Prophet Jeremiah raised the whole sorrowful structure of his Lamentations, composed on the mournful Obsequies of the best of the Kings of Judah, Josiah, 2 Chron. 35.25. (hurried away by a violent and (unto all but himself) untimely death) made a mourning Ordinance for Israel, Calvin. and enjoined as the signal expression of their grief, and deep sense of the future, numerous and unavoidable Calamities would by his death befall them; Judah's sins having provoked God unto so speedy execution of those Judgements formerly denounced against them; that they might not longer plead the privileges of their Prince's piety to reprieve their punishments, 2 Kings 23.25, 26 27. God removes this remora unto his justice (their good King) from them; Lam. 2.6. that he might bring upon them the fierceness of his great wrath, he plucks down their hedge and fence, their devout Prince from them, that he might rush in upon them by unexpected judgements to destroy them: there lies not among all the files of sacred Records an evidence of so exemplary and princely Piety, as King Josiah, Like unto him there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him; yet the sins of his People drew upon him a violent death acknowledged worthy of a longer life; the people's sins put the religious and deserving Prince into the toils of his persecuters, they hunt after his precious life, and he falls into their pits. He who stood in the Gap to hinder the way of the Destroyer, that bulwark that stood betwixt them and the furious batteries of God's wrath, was now torn down; just cause then had the Prophet to fear the sharp assaults of God's judgements, ready to storm the Kingdom of Judah, and to break out into this dolorous Lamentation, (as pointing at the spring and source of their sorrows and calamities) The breath of our Nostrils, etc. How is the happiness of a Kingdom twisted with the welfare of a religious King? how close doth the ruin of a people follow the loss of a pious Prince? A good King is a Rampire and security unto his Kingdom, that being slighted, the destruction thereof is an easy undertaking; yet who so apt to sap and undermine these their own fortifications, as the people themselves? — foelices nimium bona si sua norint, Sufficiently happy if they knew the things which belonged unto their welfare; Sufficiently happy, if they were not so industrious to make themselves unhappy; Josiah was the best of Princes, yet by the sins of his people, pushed into the fatal pits of his Adversaries, and his fall proves the utter destruction and downfall of the people themselves; this Consideration makes them mourn for their deceased King, weep Elegies and lament thus, The breath of our Nostrils, etc. A spreading and thick Cloud, whenee lasting showers of tears might continually descend, That the breath, etc. The words (not to torture them) offer unto us two things, First, God's Letters patents of the royal prerogatives, and beneficial privileges granted unto King Josiah, and that in these 3 eminent and significant expressions: 1. He was the breath of their Nostrils. 2. The Anointed of the Lord. 3. Of whom they said, Under the shadow of his wings they should live among the Heathen. Secondly, there is the Nulling of these letters patents of Josiah, He was taken in their pits, God by a violent death reversed them. The Prophet and people of Judah well knew the sacred and royal prerogatives of their deceased King, yet acknowledge these glorious privileges taken away by his death for their punishment. The breath of our nostrils, an high and emphatique expression, borrowed from the chief and choicest work of the Creation, Man, Gen. 2.7. whom when God form out of the dust of the earth, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living Soul; thus contriving within this trunk of dust and clay the inimitable hability of his own deity, & from him is this significant and effective operation; in an inferior and remiss degree attributed unto his Vicegerent King Josiah; that as in the natural body, Life, and all the animal faculties and principles of action, own their Original unto the infusion of God's breath, the Soul: So a man; a Subject considered in a politic respect, hath the life of his Civil Constitution from the King; and as the rational faculties planted in the Understanding, Memory, and Will, are from the Soul; so the religious actions of men refer their growth unto the Prince, Rom. 13.3 in which respects is it, that the King is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Causab. Exc. 16. the Minister of God; an august denomination, implying him the chief Officer for the exercise of sacred Jurisdiction, great in regard both of the Author thereof, God; and the end thereof, Man's good. This royal Jurisdiction consisting in the Legislative and Executive power of Kings, to make and execute Laws, for regulating the actions of men as well in the outward and religious worship of God, as in civil conversation; that as the Soul is the fountain of corporal motion and rational action; so the Laws, divine and humane, (of which the King is the proper Custos) are the beginning and rule of all civil and religious actions; and as to make Laws is the life of authority, so the execution of them is the life of the Law: Herein a pious Prince being eminently the representer of his God, and may be said, the breath of his Subjects, (as unto their civil and religious life) in making and executing such Laws as may dispose them in order unto God and salvation: But this divinely alluding and cryptick similitude, appropriate unto a pious Prince, (to be the breath of our Nostrils) hath not a more lively feature of divine resemblance, than the vigorous exemplarity of personal piety in the Prince himself; his example giving life, reputation, and lustre unto Religion; in which sense is it, that a King is termed, 2 Sam. 14.17. 2 Sam. 21.17. An Angel of God, the light or Candle of his people: from all these Considerations, good K. Josiah was justly acknowledged, the breath of their Nostrils, he restored the Law even lost, punished & extirpated Idolatry, settled the Church, restored Religion, encouraged the Priests, judiciously ordered the whole service of God's houses and for his personal sanctimony (besides these Acts of royal prudence and zeal) the Holy Ghost affords him this great and gracious testimony, 2. Chro. 34.27. that his heart was tender, and that he did humble himself before God: his chief care & solicitude was to decline those things that would offend God, and preserve his Conscience a clear, and unspotted glass, wherein the glorious Image of divine holiness did show itself transparent in the whole conduct of his actions: yet this great and royal pattern of piety, the life of their Religion and Law was taken in their pits, for the sins of his Subjects he fell into the fatal snares of his Adversaries; yea notwithstanding he bore yet a more visible cognizance, and livery of Gods own divine and supreme Authority, being The Anointed of the Lord, God's Christ, sacred by holy Unction unto God: Unto no material thing hath God fastened such significations of his Graces unto mankind, as unto Oil, the whole influence of God's jurisdiction over man, being (as the most lasting pieces are drawn in Oil) represented unto us by a mysterious application thereof, through Unction therewith, of those unto whom God hath by a deputation conferred the great and chief Places of Trust for the exercise of his supreme power over mankind, as the Kingly, Priestly and Prophetic Offices; they whom God had delegated unto these subservient Offices of Supreme Authority, and constituted his own under-Officers, having the Warrant for the execution of their Places signed by the outward Act of sacred Unction. Euseb. Ecc. Hist. l. 1. c. 3. The Title Anointed, says Eusebius, is of great reverence and glorious, delivering types and symbols of heavenly things, and secret images, and representations, full of mystery. But whereas Priests and Prophets in Scripture are barely called Vncti, Anointed; for Kings the style always runs, Vncti Domini, the Lords Anointed: God having given unto Kings by a more immediate consignation, greater relations, and proportions of his power, than unto either the Priest or the Prophet. Kings were by divine instinct of God, Euseb. ubi supra. unto his Prophet anointed with Oil and made Christ's, or anointed; that they should resemble Christ, because they by themselves resemble the image and figure of regal and principal power, which is seen in the only and true Christ: So Saint Augustine speaking of Saul's Unction, Civ. Dei l. 17. c. 6. which made David fear even to touch him, saith, Oleum illud, etc. mysticè accipiendum & magnum Sacramentum intelligendum est: That Oil with which Saul was anointed, and from that Crisme or Unction was termed Anoinned, is to be understood mystically, and is a great Sacrament, (so the Ancients usually termed the representations of things holy.) When Sylvester the Bishop of Rome anointed Constantine, Consignationem, Spiritus Sancti adhibuit, sancti Chrismatis Vnctione, dicens, signet te Deus sigillo fidei, In nomine, etc. saith the Author. He gave a Consignation of the Holy Ghost, Lib. Vet. Concil. by the Unction of the holy Oil, saying, Almighty God imprint in thee the seal and character of his faith, In the name of the Father, etc. Now the plenitude of the Regal power derived from Unction, is visible in these proportions of similitude: 1. Unction conferred upon them, Vim supereminentis Domini, the power of absolute and supreme Authority; † Oleum magnum aliquid significat, omnibus enim humoribus supereminet, Aug. de verb. D. ser. 23. Eccle. 8.4. 1 Pet. 2.13. Oil denoting Sovereignty, in that being mixed with any Liquor, it maintains a superiority in the supernatation, appearing still uppermost: the Exercise of which supreme Authority consisted in the making and abrogating of Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical, (which in matters indifferent, and not against the clear evidence of God's word) should bind the Conscience; David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Socrat, proae. l. 5. Josiah, ordered the Affairs of the Jewish Church; and Socrates tells us, that after the Emperors became Christians, matters of the Church wholly depended upon them, and that it was by their summons and pleasures that the greatest Counsels were called, and therefore Constantine the Great would usually say unto the Bishops, Vos intra, Euseb. de vit. Const. m. l. 4. c. 24. ego extra Ecclesiam Episcopus à Deo sum constitutus, ye are Bishops within the Church, and without the Church I am a Bishop appointed by God; he was Communis Episcopus, the common and ecumenical Bishop in his Empire. Rom. 13.4. Psal. 47.9. Cont. Faust. Manic. l. 22. c. 75. It gave them power to denounce War, the merum Imperium, and absolute power of the Sword, being his from God. Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodus hoc poscit, ut suscipiendi belli authoritas atque Concilium penes principem sit, even natural order accommodate unto the peace of mankind requiring this, that the power of making War remains wholly in the Prince: which when the people usurped, we see they were punished, Numb. 14.44. 3. To conclude peace and make Confederations and Leagues, as King David and King Solomon did: 2 Sam. 10.19. 1 Kings 4.24. 1 Kings 5.12. 1 Kings 2.5, 6. the Olive from which Oil comes is the Emblem of Peace and Unction, notably insinuates those ready inclinations and endeavours in Kings to procure the peace of their Subjects; and in order unto peace to make Cessations and Truces, which when broken even by David's General, he was sentenced as for murder. 2 Chron. 17.8, 9 4. The free Election of their Servants, and disposition of all Offices in Church and State. 5. To pardon unto Offenders their lives, 2 Sam. 20.4. 1 Kings 3.27. Esth. 3.1. 1 Kings 2. Acts 25.10.1. reprieve or to punish them with death, as in Joab's and Shimei's case. 6. To receive Appeals from all other Judicatures, that absolute submission unto the supreme Magistrate being taught Christians, Euseb. Ecc. Hist. l. 4. c. 14. (as Polycarpus the holy Martyr and Bishop told the Proconsul) which brings no hurt unto the salvation of our Souls and Religion. And from this divine signature of supreme power in Kings by Unction, flows their indemnity and inviolability in word and deed, they are not to be smitten even with the tongue, much less the hand: Against thee only have I sinned, says David: Psal. 5.1. which St. Ambrose expounds by his absolute exemption from humane Judicature: There is no rising up against a King, says Solomon, who may say unto him, what dost thou? Si non habebat Saul sacramenti sanctitatem, quid in eo venerabatur David? Aug. Cont. lit. pet. l. 2. c. 48. David acknowledged the Image of God by holy Unction in the worst of Kings, Saul, insomuch though he were his irreconcilable Adversary, he would not even stretch forth his hand against him; he had not the new way to expound Scriptures unto his own distorting passions, though that course was pressed upon him with the advantage of a Crown, he checks the wrested and carnal application, The Lord forbidden that I should do this thing: 1 Sam. 24.6. yea, when the Son of a stranger, an Amalekite, (who might perhaps plead ignorance of the sacred relations by Unction) although Saul had already received his death's wound; beside that it might be counted a kind of rescue to save him from being taken Prisoner, and come alive into the enemy's hands, and that he might seem also to have merited by preserving the Regalia, David Saulem propter sacro-sanctam Unctionem & honoravit vivum, & vindicavit occisum. Aug. Cont. lit. pet. l. 2. c. 48. In Apol. Ep. l. 2. Ep. 13. Dig. vet. l. 1. tit. 3. H. leg. 30. Tho. Aq. ja. IIae. q. 96. a. 5. ad IIIm. the Crown and royal Habiliaments from the Enemy, and presenting them unto the lawful Successor David, yet he is so awed with the sacred regards conveyed unto King Saul by Unction, that he punisheth him with death for shortening saul's life as for the breach of a known and natural right. How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand against the Lords Anointed? David honoured Saul for his holy Unction living, and revenged him being dead. A King in his Kingdom is solo Deo minor, inferior unto God only, says Tertullian, and then surely above his people: Deo subditus, subject to God only, says St. Ambrose unto Valentinian, Princeps legibus solutus est, that the King is free from the power of the Law (is a Maxim as old as Christianity) that is from the penalties of it, Laws have only a directive, no coercive power over him; though not as a moral man; yet in his politic consideration he is above the Law. Yvo Carnot. Ep. 171. Divino sunt judicio reservandi Rogues, Kings stand or fall unto their own master God; satis est ad poenam, quod Deum habeant ult●rem, it is sufficient that God will punish their Crimes; he is the only Judge, not the people, unto whom our Appeal lies against the injuries of their proceed; in such cases our proper address is unto God's Tribunal: if arbitrary Government, Oppression, Murder, Sacrilege, Demonaick possession, Witchcraft, (of all which sins King Saul was notoriously guilty) could give sufficient warranty unto his punishment by his Subjects, and were the people competent Judges, the people's hate of Saul, and David's merit from them, and sufferings from Saul, might probably lead him to propound the people an High Court of Justice, but informed by a better spirit than that which actuates these times, he puts up his Charge against Saul (even when his life was in his power) unto God (unto whom the judgement of Kings belongs) in these words, 1 Sam. 24.14. The Lord judge between thee and me, and the Lord avenge me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee; yea, afterwards upon saul's continuance of his mortal hatred and bloody persecution of David and his Followers, and that Abishai preached unto David the modern doctrine, the divine and infallible equity of outward Successes, that God had delivered King Saul into his hands, and offered himself a ready Executioner of the fact, David countermands his active and interessed malice (cloaked with usual pretensions of Religion and Liberty) Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless? but he refers for remedy unto the proper Court of Justice against Kings, 1 Sam. 26.9, 10. the Lord shall smite him, or this day shall come to die, or he shall descend in Battle and perish; the Lord forbidden that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anointed. Saul had not Innocency, Saul non habebat Innocentiam, & tamen habebat sanctitatem, non vitae suae sed sacramenti Dei quod in malis hominibus sanctum est. ubi supra. and yet he had Sanctity, not of Life but of the Unction, which even in wicked men is holy, saith Saint Augustine. The first and best Christians continued their practice towards their most refractory and imperious Emperors; when Valentinian the Younger dispossessed the Orthodox of their Churches in Milan, and gave them unto the Arians; Saint Ambrose the Bishop only offered up his supplications unto God to alter the Emperor's purposes, Adversus Arma, Amb. Ep. l. 2. Ep. 13 Lacrymae meae Arma sunt, against Arms, tears are my defensive weapons; aliter nec debeo, nec possum repugnare, no other way ought I, or can I resist, saith he: the carriage of the Citizens of Milan was the same, exhibiting their Petition unto the Emperor, they all cry out, Rogamus, non pugnamus, We humbly entreat you oh Emperor, we fight not against you. The testimony of Plynius secundus, given unto Trajan, that the Primitive Christians practised nothing against the received Laws, and were ready rather to suffer then oppose, procured them not only a respite from their bloody persecution, Euse. Hist. Ecc. l. 3. c. 27. Theod. l. 3. f. 19 but also the free exercise of their Religion. Tears and Prayers unto God, and humble supplications unto Princes, the ancient Christians held the only powerful means to divert their miscarriages; Quod debitum non reddiderunt in quo Christiani non sunt terrenis regibus obsequi. Aug. Con. 31. in Psal. 118. In Ps. 114. they never denied them any duty of Subjection. Saint Austustine witnesseth, that this was the behaviour of the Christian Soldiers, even under Julian the Apostata an Idolater. When Maximus entered Italy with a great Army, under pretence of restoring the Orthodox, ejected by Valentinian, who patronised the Arrians; he was held by the Orthodox but for a Tyrant, and was so far from receiving assistance from them, that they overthrew him, Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 13, 14. and established Valentinian. And as Unction is the divine seal of supreme power, Indemnity, & Inviolability unto Kings, so doth it likewise suggest unto them, the duty of the Regal Administration towards their Subjects; That as Oil is of a spreading & diffusive quality; Psal. 133.2. Leu. 19.15. So in the Prince is required Impartiality and Justice equally distributive unto all. Luk. 10 34. Isa. 3.7. As Oil likewise hath in it a lenitive and healing virtue: So should the Supreme Magistrate be an Healer, and binder up of the wounds, and sores of his Subjects. Oil hath in it also an especial virtue to comfort and strengthen the parts unto which it is applied: So is a King the Minister of good unto his Subjects for good: he is to cherish virtue, to esteem honest and commendable Action: in which sense are Kings styled by our Saviour, Rom. 13.4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Benefactors, Luke 22.25. Add hereunto, that Oil is of a nourishing and cheering quality, Psal. 104.15. and taken as sustenance; is of easy & fine distribution, causing a good and wholesome nutriment, therefore it is reckoned among the principal blessings of a land; so is the Grace and Countenance of a King, of a nourishing, and improving operation; The King's favour is like the dew upon the grass, Prov. 19.12. in which respect God promiseth unto the Christian Church, that Kings should be nursing Fathers, and Queens the nursing Mothers thereof, Isa. 49.23. Thus we see the many sacred Impressions of Divine Jurisdiction imposed by God himself on Kings through holy Unction, whereby his Dominion over Mankind, is delegated unto Kings, the Lords Anointed; God by this Symbol, and outward sign agreeable and connatural unto man, consigning the ordinary exercise of his Government over Mankind unto them; so that the holy Oil thus employed is no longer bare and common Oil, Cyril. Cat. 3. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the gift of Grace; which (however vilified by Enthusiastiques and Solifidians) betokens the Grace of Christ unto Kings; and prescribes necessary submission and duty unto their Subjects: We are not (whatever fantastic men may presume) so spiritual in this life, but that we stand in need of outward representations to carry on our faith and hope unto things spiritual, the greatest favours unto lapsed mankind are the Sacraments, where the visible and corporeal Elements are the means to convey by faith spiritual graces and the whole benefit of Christ's sufferings unto us: the sublimated and metaphysical Professors of our times endeavour too irreverent a close with Almighty God, they will have no King but Christ, no Unction but that of the Spirit, which is not that sober & peaceable Spirit that leadeth into all truth, but the Spirit of giddiness; Job 32.18. Elihu's spirit, the spirit of their belly which leadeth into all error, Carnal interests constraining them to shake off God's Government in Princes; to effect which, the most compendious way is, to throw all Ceremony (which is unto Religion as the Scabbard unto the Sword, to preserve it from the rust of contempt, Cont. Faust. Ma●. l. 12. c. 11. ) (as Saint Augustine speaks.) The sacred regards of Unction, of King, of Priest, of Prophet, of Churches, of Tithes, stand betwixt them and their sacrilegious ends, they must be removed, no rails or bounds must be set unto them, they will up into the Mount and run the hazard if not of temporal flames, Exod. 19.23. yet certainly (without hearty repentance) of the Everlasting burn: These men who will be solely swayed by the guidance of their own spirit, (which being as various as the several tempers of the Continents it inhabits) will make Religion full of uncertainties, merely imaginary and wholly depending upon the doubtful Insufficiencies of men's weak Conceptions, so that hereby the essential truths of Religion must needs daily decay, the substance thereof be reduced into the smoke of every man's unbounded Fancy; and the Christian faith will die by degrees. But Unction puts God's Dominion into the King's hands, that must not be resisted; for it is the resisting of God himself: It is the very language of the Holy Ghost unto the ten revolted Tribes, 2 Chron. 13.8. Antiq. l. 9 c. 14. that they resisted the Kingdom of God in the hands of the Sons of David: and Josephus assigns this the Cause of the subversion of them (no memory of them being left.) The sedition (saith he) that they moved against Rehoboam, establishing his Servant for their King, was the original of their mischiefs: Ammon was a most wicked and idolatrous Prince, yet God punished the Treason of his Servants against him, 2 Kings 21.23, 24. because he was Gods Anointed: Many sacred regards are by Unction conveyed from God unto Princes: great cause then had the Prophet and people of Judah to lament the death of their good King Josiah, The Anointed of the Lord, That he was fallen into their pits. 3. Of whom we said, Under the shadow of his wings we shall live among the Heathen: King Josiah his regal prerogatives and personal virtues were a protection unto his people, he was the fountain of their liberty and safety; The happiness of Subjects depends upon the well being of their Kings, and the preservation of the Regal dignity is a sure pledge of God's goodness, & the continuance of his favour unto a people; for this cause is it that when the Apostle had exhorted that prayers should be made for all men, 1 Tim. 2.1. as though this precept were too universal, he reduceth it, v. 2. unto Kings, and adds the reason, that ye may lead a quiet and peaceable life, and for the same cause did the Prophet command the Israelites to pray for the King of Babylon, Jer. 29. Nabuchadnezzar: This consideration also made David's Subjects apprice his life at so high a rate, is not now thy life worth ten thousand of ours? 2 Sam. 18.3. 1 Sam. 15.17. The King is the Head of the people, there is a sacred and near relation betwixt them, a disease or pain in the Head causeth a dyscrasy in the whole body, an indisposition throughout all the members: So the calamity and sufferings of the King affecteth every conscientious man in his Kingdom; this honest zeal and pious sympathy between the Head & the Members, the King and the people, made our Prophet and the men of Judah so passionately bewail the loss of their good King Josiah: they promised unto themselves a lasting security in this life, Of whom we said, Under the shadow of his wings we shall live among the Heathen. Gods grant of Regal prerogatives unto Josiah, afforded not only protection (as the Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings, our Saviour's allusion) to defend them from the Birds of prey, but a strength also and vigorous warmth to make them grow up unto an ability to guard themselves and dwell with safety among the Heathen, the known Enemies of their Nation and profession; when then this Royal Oak was cut down, and they deprived of the thriving benefits of its shelter, their sorrows must needs plentifully spring up from the sense of so great and irreparable a loss, and the fear of those storms which now threatened to overturn their felicity: But the depth of this sorrow was not to be fathomed, when they found the bottomless Abyss of their own sins the head thereof, that notwithstanding the great privileges of Josiah's Regal dignity and piety, that the fierceness of God's greater wrath was so kindled against Judah, that the Lord said, I will remove Judah out of my sight, 2 Chron. 24.26, 27. as I have removed Israel, and therefore that his fury without obstruction or let might be poured out upon them, God suffers the breath of their Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord, of whom they said, Under the shadow of his wings they should live among the Heathen: Good King Josiah, the life of their Religion, Law; he who was empowered by God with the Supreme Authority, had a divine grant of humane Indemnity and Inviolability, their righteous Justicer, their Physician, their nursing Father, their Protector, and the great Conservator of their Liberty and Safety. To fall into their pits, to die by the hands of his Adversaries: being the second consideration in the Text. 2. The breath of our Nostrils, etc. was taken in their pits. Here is the nulling of God's letters patents, and the grant of Regal prerogatives, and beneficial privileges made unto King Josiah, by a violent death. God for the punishment of the people of Judah's sins, takes away their pious Prince by the power of his Enemies: The force of the relation betwixt the head and the members, the King and the People, is the true reason why God punisheth the best of Kings with temporal judgements for the offences of his Subjects, (as here in Josiah) The anger of the Lord was moved against Israel, and he moved David to number the people, 2 Sam. 24.1. The divine Justice vindicated that sin of the King upon the people; for whose transgressions he was suffered to sin: Ep. l 2. ep. 6 Justus Jadex peccantis vitium ex ipsorum animadversione corripuit, ex quorum causa peccavit. Divinely holy Gregory, secundum meritum plebium disponuntur Corda Rectorum, According unto the deserts of the People, the hearts of the Governors are disposed; the just Judge punished the fault of the Offender, upon them who had caused him to offend. What an impious absurdity is it to fly in the face of our Prince for those errors, which receive their birth & strength from our own native corruptions! Job 19.28 we should rather say (as job tells his supercilious Reprovers) why persecute we him, since the ground of the matter is found in me? Where the Prince is vicious, the accusation properly lies against the Subjects, whose sins make him so: for, as the prosperity of the King is the sure earnest of God's favour unto a people, 1 Kings 10.9. (as Saba shows the Israelites from the glory of King salomon's Court) so is the oppression and misery even of the worst of Kings an infallible mark of God's anger resting upon a people, as in King Saul: Josiah's single default (fight with Pharaoh Necho without God's allowance) brings the punishment of a violent death upon him, for that only registered error into which the people's sin; had pushed him, their sins were now ripe for punishment by his one offence, for whose punishment he was suffered even then to offend, that so their judgements might commence from his death, whose guilt permitted not unto him a longer life. He fell into their pits, (a speech taken from Hunters, who waylay those Beasts they chase, setting snares and toils for them in those paths and places they run unto for refuge) that they might know, that since God had divested Josiah their sacred head of all Regal Prerogatives, and let him fall by the practices and power of his cruel Foes, they could no longer urge a respite from the execution of those judgements given against their former transgressions, but acknowledge and bewail this sad and evil occurrent, (the violent death of their King) the fatal consequence of their own sins, for which there was now a recession of God (in his Government by Josiah) from them, and an abandoning them up into the hands of Strangers and Usurpers, from whom they could not but expect all the wearisome traverses of Tyranny, the heavy weight of a continued Oppression, and all those not to be reckoned unhappy inconveniences which attend upon a Government obtained by conquest, supported by force, and maintained and actuated by the Law of the sword: so that even this violent death appears an absolute assurance of God's mercy and goodness unto King Josiah, to take him out of this life, that he might not behold those woeful and thronging miseries which were ready to rush in upon and beat down the present (for his sake only) happy condition of his Subjects, which would have procured unto him more anxiety, than the consideration of undergoing ten thousand violent deaths; a good Prince having so strong a sympathy with his Subjects sufferings, that he feels every pricking pang and painful touch of their troubles, in which respect this violent death was an incomparable favour unto him, and (which at first sight procures our wonder) proves his greatest temporal blessing, and the gracious reward of his eminent piety, and so much the Holy Ghost tells us, 2 Chron. 34.27, 28. Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy Fathers in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same: So that as the Prophet Isaiah speaks we may Lay it to heart, Isa. 57 1. that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come: Hezekiah's piety likewise found this divine favour a respite from the sight of those judgements his people's sins had contracted, 2 Chron. 20.19. that there should be peace and truth in his days, and he thankfully and humbly acknowledgeth the greatness of that mercy. These sad Considerations quickly pull up all the sluices of sorrow, and let in floods of tears to overwhelm them, they lament and mourn with a great and grievous mourning, 2 Chron. 35.24. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah: a mourning wherein the whole Kingdom wore the blacks of sorrow, a mourning renowned for the universal and sad solemnity thereof, a mourning made the highest prescription of mourning the utmost bounds and confines of sorrow, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Zech. 11.1 valley of Megiddo, where every family of the whole Kingdom distinguished themselves by the variety and solitariness of their sorrow, every family mourning apart, the Princes of the blood apart, the Priests apart, the People by their several Families apart, and all their Wives apart, every part of every Family having a several share in this general sorrow? and a particular part in this common sadness and Lamentation for Josiah: the Priest and Prophet Jeremiah he is the chief Mourner, composeth Josiah's Funeral Elegies (this Book of the Lamentations) gives them unto the skilful Choir to chant forth, he gins the first sad Note, the Singing-men and Singing-women consort with him in the doleful plaints, and all Judah and Jerusalem make up the sad Chorus in this general sorrow. Just cause had every man in Judah and Jerusalem to mourn for Josiah's death, since every man's sin had made way by a several wound to take away Josiah's life, and so must needs bear a share in the crying guilt of his blood, which nothing but a flood of penitent tears could wash away: This makes every man's particular sorrow as several lines, meet in the centre of the Text, the common cause of their teeming grief, The breath of our Nostails, the Anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen. From these sacred Truths naturally flow these divinely informing Conclusions. That a good Prince is the life of Religion, Law, and civil Conversation. That Kings by holy Unction, as by God's visible deed and conveyance, are invested with the supreme Authority, Inviolability and Indemnity; and therefore to think reverently of them, consecrated with so many mysterious regards, and relations, the characters of Gods supreme jurisdiction over man. That Unction suggests unto Kings that duty they stand obliged in unto their Subjects, in the impartial distribution of justice to heal them, to comfort them, to nourish them. That a good King is designed by God a Protector of his Subjects, and the Conservator of their Liberty, Safety and Peace. That the best King may be punished with the greatest temporal punishment for the sins of his Subjects. That the Errors of Kings take their rise from their Subjects sins. That God first taketh away a good King before he will bring judgements upon his Subjects. That Gods violent taking away a good King from a People is an evidence of his heavy displeasure, and a certain Prognostique of the many miseries he will bring upon them. That a violent death proves a temporal blessing unto a King, when it takes from him the sight and sense of his Subjects sufferings. That a violent death may justly be reputed a departing in peace, compared with a continuance of the sense of troubles and durable calamity. That all men are strictly and deeply engaged unto the most solemn sorrow for the calamity of their King, as caused by their sins, and ushering in their approaching miseries. Let us see whether our Kingdoms may not truly calculate their griefs by the Ephemerideses of Judah's sorrow; we have had a British Josiah, whose Graces and Prerogatives fully answered the proportion and size of their pattern: Can Judah's sins snatch away their pious King JOSIAH from them, and do not we conceive that our sins have hurried our Religious King CHARLES from us? Was King Josiah's death the Inlet of Judah's miseries, and do not we suppose that King Charles his life may be the period of our temporal happiness, and his death the first act of that tragical Woe which is to be presented upon the Theatre of this Kingdom, likely to continue longer than the nowliving Spectators? We have had as great an Ebb of Felicity in the loss of our King Charles, as Judah had in her Josiahs; should not the Tide then of our sorrows run as high as theirs? Surely the parallel considerations of the Virtues and Prerogatives of both these pious Kings, of the causes of their Calamities, and the sad consequences attending them, will command an equality of ours with Judah's sorrow; we will a little invert the method: Begin with King Charles his divine and regal Prerogatives, next show his personal Virtues and Graces, than his Sufferings, point at their Causes, and conclude with our own constrained Sorrows. Vicarius Dei estis in regno vestro. Antiq. brit. p. 5 Rex Vicarius summi Regis. Leg. Ed. Reg. c. 17. Lamb. England in her best and loudest language, the Law, hath largely declared the sacred sovereignty of her Kings, spoke them Gods Vicars, assigned unto them the fullness of Regal power, laid forth their jurisdiction by as large bounds as the Scripture doth King Josiah's, or any other Kings of Israel or Judah: Are not these legal, registered and public acknowledgements, That every man is under the King, and he under God only. That he is not inferior unto his Subjects, even collectively considered. That he is a mixed person, and capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction through holy Unction. That he is the fountain of Honour, hath the sole power to pardon and punish Offenders; to levy War, to make Peace, to constitute Officers. That he can do no wrong? Do not these expressions amount unto, The breath of our Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord, etc. And these are the Regal peculiars of the Kings of England inseparably annexed unto their Crown and Dignity, which he that runneth may read, being written in those large and known characters of the Law: Certainly these significant delineations of the sacred and regal power of the Kings of England were copied out of the holy Scriptures, See Jud. Jenk. Lex Terrae. which those that now wrest them, (and make that fair Face of the Holy Ghost a vizard alterable unto the disguise of their personated piety and hypocritical practice) seeing, will not see. Doubtless the Crown of England was held from the Lord paramount of Dominion, God, by as free, noble and regal a tenure, as any under Heaven: And from him by a lineal and unquestionable right of succession, had King Charles the investure thereof, and grant of all these royal acknowledged Prerogatives until (without any divine of humane warrant) He was violently disseized of them, and taken in their pits: These were his sacred and regal Prerogatives. Let us now look into that spacious field of His personal Virtues, a fragrant tract, having the sweet smell of A field which the Lord hath blessed; and since time will not permit the perusal of every pleasant walk of grace, and the delightful Ambits of his virtues, let us as Moses from Mount Nebo take a general and distant survey of this blessed circuit flowing with milk and honey, King Charles his Celestial gifts and graces, As Jove principium— His religious piety renders itself glorious in his great love, fear and honour of God; His zeal and devout frequency in prayer, receiving the Sacraments, and reading the holy Scriptures, his reverence in God's House, his attention unto God's word preached, the esteem he had of God's Messengers, his hatred of Heresy, and the zealous care he had (as it was consistent with charity) to propagate the true worship of God, the Protestant Religion; this in the purity thereof he established by his Laws, enlarged with his Regal Authority, cleansed from that Rust it had contracted through the Atheism and ignorance of the Times, by the contemptibleness of the outward worship, adorned with Decency and Order in the public service, and with cost upon the places dedicate unto that service; but chief he beautified it with the glorious example of his holy life, and encouragement of the Officers thereof, whom he rewarded with the rewards of Honour and Maintenance: His Royal Palace (as Theodosius Juniors) was a constant Receipt for learned and pious Prelates, whom he entertained and cherished as the Servants of the great God, Socrat. l. 7. c. 22. and Dispenser's of the mysteries and means of Grace; which as it was an especial and infallible mark of the sincerity of his humble piety, so through the supercilious irreligion of the times, did that (which should have most endeared him unto Christians) draw neglect and contempt upon him, from them (and those Great ones too) who love nothing of Christianity but the naked name: he knew that Church-maintenance was the best Nurse of Religion, and therefore no weight of difficulties could so press upon him, to alien God's portion the Patrimony of the Church; to preserve which from the sacrilegious invasion of the first movers of these Troubles (who thought the best way to shake off Government was to destroy Religion, and the most effectual and quick course to destroy Religion to take away Church-maintenance) He tendered the sale of so much Crown-land as would amount unto the value of the Churchland. That great and strict care he took to keep the Throne and Kingdom of God in his Soul (His Conscience) inviolable, shows that although he made his abode among Men, yet his Conversation was in Heaven: The continual acknowledged remorse he was seized with, for consenting (against the dictate of his Conscience) unto the Earl of Strafford's death; speaks him another David, and A Man after Gods own heart, such were the tender impressions that Act ever left in him, 1 Kings 1.1. as David when he cut off the skirt of saul's garment, his heart smote him, and indeed his Majesty found that fate which the Rabbins assign unto David's fact, that he found no heat in his afterwards: So His Majesty found not that comforting warmth in the advices of others, which he did in the solid Counsels of that ever to be honoured Earl. How many invincible Arguments have we of his Majesty's singular sanctimony? How in that his great Trial of his afflictions, did the abundance of his joy, the riches of his graces, and the absolute and complete contentation of piety shine forth in all his speeches, and actions? as that first great Patron of Christianity, Constantine the Great, would have his Effigies kneeling engraven on his Coin, Euseb. vit. Const. m. l. 4. c. 15. with his hands spread, and his eyes advanced towards Heaven, the posture of an humble suppliant at the Throne of Grace; so did our late most Religious KING desire that unto that his Golden Manual might be prefixed his Representation kneeling, contemning a Temporal, holding our blessed Saviour's Crown of Thorns, and aspiring unto an eternal Crown of Happiness; which clears unto us, that his large Soul was not possessed with narrow and temporal considerations, but with the regards of lasting and eternal Interests; so that of all the Christian Kings of this Isle, he may be positively said the most Christian. From his piety let us pass over unto his prudence, which although it be fairly measured out unto us in his great piety; (the practice whereof is the supreme prudence and best evidence of a good Understanding) yet morally considered, as it is an habit acting in humane affairs by the ordered rules of Reason, we shall find his Majesty nobly accomplished with this Virtue, furnished with a strong memory of things past, with a sound judgement in their reference and relation unto things present, with a clear and quick apprehension to discern the operations and tendencies of Occurrents, and with a singular providence and wise disposition of things fit to attain unto his ends, which were ever honourable and worthy of so great a Prince; who ever judged a Christian simplicity the best policy: With the gravest Nation of Europe, the Spaniard, he gained in his younger years the reputation of A sober, grave, wise Prince; which will fully appear if we look upon him in his particular relations, His Majesty was a most kind Husband, religiously observant of the holy ties of Wedlock, a tender and indulgent Father unto his Children, unto whom he paid the due of Paternal care in their religious and royal Education: His Kingly bounty unto his Servants show him a liberal and good Master, and his good affection unto his People (whose welfare he ever prized above his own; and unto the last minute was much more afflicted from the sense of theirs than his own sufferings) show him a most gracious Sovereign. And however he was by those who long since took away his Civil life, and destroyed his royal reputation with his Subjects (to set up themselves; and drive on their own ends) represented a Prince of mean and contemptible endowments, and unfit for Government; the whole World now sees their gross falsehood, and their Confessions give the Lie unto their loud and lewd Calumnies; for since his solitary and close Confinement, when he could have no Counsel but what he fetched from Heaven, all rational and unprejudiced men see, His sober, wise, satisfactory and resolute Answers, unto all their arrogant, dull, destructive, dissolute Propositions; so that it is a positive and measured judgement (made from the whole carriage of his transactions with this Parliament) that he was incomparably the wisest Prince in Christendom, and better understood the Constitution and affairs of his Kingdoms than any man now living: Neither may we here (as the constant Attendant and sworn Servant unto his princely prudence) but with wonder reflect upon his Kingly Eloquence, his flowing and (as Tacitus speaks of Augustus) King-becoming stile, sweet, pure, accurate, perspicuous, grave, full of copious facility, and elegant felicity, without strained affectation, or servile and forced imitation; so that had he not some natural difficulties in Pronunciation, he would have been approved the best Orator and perfect Master of Language (as he was of Reason) that ever Britain yet bred; but who ever with more judgement bethought those things that were to be spoken? or who ever fitted his Consult thoughts with a more handsome and clean apparel of speech, and maturity of weighed words? This Age shows not a man able to take up his Princely pen, his style may well be the object of men's wishes, never of their imitation, unto an equality of like perfection. This his princely prudence receives likewise further illustrations from his Justice, in the free and equal administration thereof unto all; some surreptions and corruptions in particular Officers of State, as they are not to be defended, so (whilst men are men) they will hardly be avoided: but the sweet influence of His Majesty's justice upon all appears, in the Peace of His Kingdoms, the serenity of His people, the tranquillity of Public affairs, the increase of Trade, the growing riches of His Subjects, and the universal happiness of His Government; these three Kingdoms being thrice happy until the Helm of Government was wrested out of His sacred hands; and now we see since these State-emperiques have practised upon the body politic, with what strong convulsions and mortal maladies it is affected: The best experienced Physician under Heaven, and He only who could have cured England from the diseases of her distemper, without opening her veins, is taken away from her; she lies now in the hands of young and desperate Practitioners, it is to be feared, unless God prevent their violent administrations and corrosive potions, with Antidotes of mercy, in stead of mending her, they will end her health, life, and liberty. Look upon this true Christian fortitude, in the magnanimity of his carrying on with Constancy of Resolution his weightiest Affairs even in their greatest difficulties, in his confidence with God's assistance to overcome them; in his exceeding patience, in a tolerance (free from despondency) in the greatest molestations and pressures to compose them; and in his matchless and Kingly perseverance, even in the furnace of affliction, and hottest flames of adversity, (as Gods Cause) to maintain them; He went unto the Scaffold, tanquam Apis ad Alveare, as a Bee unto his Hive, with our Saviour, as a Lamb unto the slaughter, and cheerfully undressed himself unto his spiritual repose. Observe his great temperance, his exemplary chastity, (so rare a virtue in a Prince of so active & firm a constitution) so fare free from uncleanness, that it had a refined purity from all lasciviousness of either gesture or speech: his abstinence in his feeding gave unto him constancy in health, and readiness unto action, and his sobriety in drinking (whom the Sun, nor all the Sons of Men ever saw overcome or disguised by ingurgitations of strong Liquors) made him unconquerable by Wine or Women. His divine clemency even in the heat and cruelty of the bloody rage of his Adversaries, is a contemplation will raise us up unto the very top of admiration: whose life (after they had butchered his dearest and nearest Servants) did he take away? how many of his most active & resolved Enemies in his power, did he dismiss with our Saviour's caveat unto the blind man, Sin no more? His Majesty in this divine clemency (which yet some interpreted a cruelty unto Himself) imitating the Father of mercies, who maketh the Sun of his favour equally to shine upon the just and unjust, being so fare from procuring or desiring the death of his Enemies, (unto which he wanted not inciting animosities from others) that he often wished that he could recover those that were already dead. Neither are there wanting egregious Monuments of his Kingly munificence and liberality; the great acquisitions of his Servants under him show it, from many of whom notwithstanding, he had the unhappy returns of ingratitude, desertion, and disloyalty. And as unto his own Servants he was munificent, so especially unto those who were set apart for the service of God, whom (with those religious Kings, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Constantine) he encouraged by giving the portion of God, and our pious Ancestors, unto them, to recover which out of the hands of sacrilegious persons, he used many pious endeavours, and propounded Compensations which would only have entrenched upon his own profit: when former Grants from the Crown of Impropriations for years determined, His Majesty always restored them unto the Church, conceiving his best and most royal right unto the Goods of the Church (which he was otherwise by the Laws of this Realm invested of) to be that of Patronage and Disposition; and from this Princely munificence do I, with all the devotion of an humble and hearty thankfulness, acknowledge to have received a particular encouragement in my profession; the Rectory of Sligo This nursing Father of the Church, knew the best way to support that, was by Church maintenance: so that by his bounty, the Churches in the three Kingdoms were lifted up out of the mire of contemptible poverty, and Clergymen of noted piety and greatest abilities of learning, daily increased; so that setting aside some few, either illiterate, wand'ring, cockbrained, discontented or unconscionable Levites, who were in the great reserve of the sacrilegious and rebellious Jeroboams of our time, (to secure those two Calves of their Government and Worship which they fought for) no Kingdoms of the World were beautified with so many Lights of learning and piety as these Kingdoms. Observe the divine graces of this glorious King, the unmoveable stability of his faith, a firm Rock; which no storms of popular rage, no swelling surges of the multitude, nor all the proud billows of his insulting Adversaries, could alter or unsettle in his pious purpose to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Laws of this Realm: how great was the intention of his sacred hope? and of what exceeding latitude was his charity, which included and enclosed his fiercest and most mortal Enemies: But the lively features, and fair lineaments of his graces and virtues are best and more largely drawn out by his own Pencil, His works praise him in the Gate, his writings present unto us the heavenly pourtraicture of his divine, large, and grasping Soul; these (what they are wanting in volume, recompensing an hundred fold in worth) are the Repertory of all his Actions, and the truest Index of his virtues: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Book is the quintessence of knowing zeal▪ the store-house of the ripe & choice fruits of Christian piety: there are the principles of Religion perfectly digested into holy practice: there is the true Princely Image of King Charles that Golden Manual, being a stately building of Meditations, Consultations, Essays, Debates, and Devotions, raised upon emergent occasions, with such judicious artifice of grace, adorned with so rich furniture of piety, enlarged with so many fair rooms and convenient receipts for grace, that it shows his Body was the Temple of the Holy Ghost, that there was no corner or vacuity in his great and glorious Soul. I doubt not (without the height of an Hyperbole) to affirm, that in what we have of this holy King's draught, we are abundantly repaired in the loss of Solomon's physic's, for here is a shop full of heavenly medicines for all the maladies of the soul: by so much then is their sin the greater, whose malice hath deprived us of those other later pieces of His Majesty. What already we have is the greatest monument of piety of any Kings (after theirs whose writings become authentic from God, as being Penmen of his own divine dictates) since the Creation, and shall have continual and unwearied travails made unto it in all Languages and Kingdoms, by all Men and Women, who know, love, and honour piety, prudence, and all divine and moral graces and virtues, every of which hath its several achievement and particular Trophy erected in this one work, which will be as long lived as Time. I conclude this short and general survey of His Majesty's personal virtues (worthy of a just Volume, and exceeding the limits of a Sermon) with that Eulogy and Honour of Praise given unto Constantine the Great by Eusebius, De vit. Const. l. 1. c. 1. he was most dear unto God, and proposed by him a great and excellent example of an holy and religious life for all men's imitations. The memory of his piety and glorious reputation of his virtues shall be for ever precious; Hugh Peter. 2 Sam. 16.9. and whatever Dogs bark against it, always remain a fixed and shining Star of the greatest magnitude in the firmament of Honour. And thou carnal Prophet who walkest by the light of thine own eyes, and callest thy darkness light, thou who (as the Jews unto our Saviour) didst reach the Vinegar and Gall unto Gods Anointed in the Agony of his sufferings, offered'st that false, furious, Isa. 14.18, 19, & 20. and forced application of Scriptures, which thy counsels must fill up with an interpretation, (as the event shows) know that there is a lying and seducing Spirit in thee, Acts 13.10. that thou wrestest the Scripture unto thine own damnation: thou Sorcerer and chief Witch of these times, full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the Devil, thou Enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Thy Epicurean and sublunary Divinity cannot admit that a violent death should be a singular testimony of God's favour, yet here thou seest it in Josiah; wilt thou have all temporal judgements to be punishments due unto sin? will not thy triumphant wickedness let thee know, that some afflictions are for Trials, and the additions of grace and glory unto God's Children, Rev. 2.10. and therefore the chief marks of God's favour: As in our gracious King Charles, Dan. 12.10. who was also taken away from the evil to come, in God's mercy unto him; which thou even thou, unto the shame and confusion of thy face (although thou hast hardened it) shalt see in the approaching day of England's calamity, which in a great part is procured and hastened by thy infernal counsels; thou needst not to have given that Scripture such a violent stretch so to strain it as to make it reach from Assyria unto England, or to travail so fare for a reason why His Majesty should not have a royal interment with His Ancestors; the causes were nearer thee, Let me assign them: First, it had been a Condemnation of yourselves to have allowed him solemn and Kingly Funerals, unto whom you gave so unjust and cruel a death, that were to build up what you were resolved to destroy. Next, you could not but know, that the neighbourhood of his sacred earthly remains must needs refricate the scarce skinned sorrows of London; when they should have such a standing and still present Monument of their former happiness, in His Majesty's peaceable Government; and of their new misery in your Tyranny, which would serve also (this being the place of the greatest confluence) to recrude the grief of the whole Kingdom, and probably beget such compunction and reluctancy in both City and Kingdom, as would testify itself, by their attempt to cast you down headlong from your new and wickedly acquired Dominion. Another reason was, lest the nearness of his Body whom you murdered, might too frequently offer unto you the horror of your Gild, and redouble unto you those inward cheques and lashings of your Consciences (which you cannot be without) and so impede and trouble your Counsels. Theod. l. 3. c. 9 The Devil at the Oracle of Apollo of Daphne could not give his Answers unto Julian the Apostate, who sent to consult him about his undertake against the Persians, so long as the body of the Martyr Babylas lay by him; so it is to be presumed that the same Spirit (which the Apostle saith, Eph. 2.2. powerfully worketh in the Children of disobedience) might be hindered in his cooperation and influence upon those unto whom he hath consigned the chief exercise of his power in our English world, if King Charles his sacred relics were lodged so nigh unto them as Westminster, and therefore Windsor was near enough. But from the view of His Majesty's undeniable matchless Virtues, let us pass on unto that of His sufferings: Sinful envy never fails to give a malicious attendance upon virtue, which by how much the more it is illustrious, with so much the greater rancour doth she dog and persecute it, and therefore many are the troubles of the righteous; and no (mere) man had ever more, then righteous King Charles: behold and see if any sorrows and sufferings were like unto His. See one of the most potent Monarches of Europe, loved at home, and feared abroad, most injuriously and strictly Imprisoned, debarred from the most dear society of the most virtuous and best Wife, from the converse and sight of his most sweet & hopeful Children, from the attendance of his most faithful Servants, from God's house, from God's public worship, & all God's Servants, forced to cohabite with Beasts, brutish, savage, and wicked Men, & these to be made the Instruments of their cruelty unto him, who were his sworn Subjects and Servants, upon whom all civil and divine obligations of duty and affection unto His Majesty rested, and that upon pretensions of Religion and liberty, of which He was the truest and most undoubted Defender; to lie under the weight and wounds of so many scandals, reproaches, wants, and miseries; besides the most grievous sense of the sufferings of his Kingdoms and best Subjects, to be daily tortured with so many iterated, unreasonable Propositions, and insolent Demands, to be racked out of his undoubted Royal Rights, to make so many Concessions & such great Condescensions in his propensness unto peace, which notwithstanding his Enemies never meant; to be tormented (if it were possible) unto perjury, sacrilege, and Atheism; and to have no other Conditions propounded for the Enjoyment of his Crowns and Kingdoms, then that which the Devil made unto our Saviour, All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me; to offer his own (that which never was theirs) to deny God, which God gave them him to acknowledge and worship him: These must needs be sorrows and sufferings as beyond expression, so above our conception; most terrible tests, and trials of all his virtues; certainly no man had ever more, and more strict examinations of God's graces in him, all which he fully answered with a learned and invincible piety; for in all these who ever heard him murmur, repine, or charge God foolishly? who ever heard him accuse, rail at, or threaten his most confirmed Foes? with Job, Job 16.20. his eyes still poured out tears unto God, whose justice in their greatest injustice he acknowledged, and although he vindicated his own Innocency, (having wherewith to justify homselfes before man) from theirs; yet not before God, he cleared the equity of his judgement upon him, for acting against his Conscience in the Earl of strafford's death. But it was the great and crying guilt of these Nations sins (England's principally) which made this righteous man fall into the pits of his Adversaries, to ripen God's judgement upon this Nation, by that great addition of guilt [the shedding of his innocent blood] who had so many characters of Gods supreme power and spiritual graces upon him, as must needs make this Crime committed against God, & draw his speedy and unavoidable vengeance upon them for it. God usually punisheth one sin by suffering Sinners to fall into others, and those customary sins accompanied with senslessnesse and impenitency, which fills up the measure of sin brimful for judgement to take it off: so that this pious Prince fell in the very corruption of Christianity, which is of fare more malign aspect, and hath a more malicious influence of impiety upon the actions of men than Atheism it self, for then men profess that they know God, yet in their works they deny him; using the name of God and Religion, as Conjurers in their Incantations to perpetrate those things are most contrary unto God, and destructive unto Religion; for as the Devil never doth more hurt than when he appears in the likeness of an Angel of light; so are men never so mischievous, as when they drive on wicked designs under the show of Godliness. England's former sins which caused this Gods just dereliction, & the abandoning them up unto greater, were their exceeding luxury, in turning the grace of God (temporal favours) into wantonness, the long continuance of their peace, the increase of their Trade, riches, and plenty, begot in them a general insolency and pride, so that when they waxed fat, like Jesurun, they kicked against God, in the Authority and regard due unto his principal Officers, the Prince, and the Priest: Hence the people of England (in their generality) became selfwilled, heady, highminded, and incorrigible, they slandered the footsteps of Gods Anointed, smote him with the tongue, contended with God's Priests; and usurped that sacred Jurisdiction which God had delegated unto them, as those Conspirators did (Ye take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi, since all the people of the Lord are holy) under pretence of the Ambition of the Clergy; and being like Elihu's new bottles, ready to burst, with that liquor of flatuous and superficial knowledge instilled into them by the giddy preachments, and undigested, swelling, and tedious prayers of their Lecturers, (who reduced all Religion unto lip-worship, and canting Scriptures.) Hence came it to pass that contemning the old paths, the truth of the reformation in the Protestant Religion they contended unto blood to corrupt by their fanatic Alterations, the pure Doctrine & Evangelical discipline established in the Church of England, to effect which with the more ease, they adventure upon sacrilege, to carry on that, they must pull down Episcopacy, (the fence of the Church) and here, the King, as a nursing Father interposing, they render Him unable by encroaching upon his Prerogatives, quarrelling him, seize upon his Strenghs, Arm, fight against him, imprison, and then Murder Him; which last Act of Rebellion, though the greatest part of the first Engagers may be thought never to have intended, yet they may see the first violation of their Obedience due unto His Majesty punished, by a guilt (thus fare) of his Innocent blood, that that power which they raised, spilt it; So dangerous it is to vary from a Christian Principle, or to do evil that good may come of it, God only having power to direct, limit, and determine any evil action: so that look over the pedigree of England's sins through the several descents thereof, and you will find it thus, Peace begot wealth, that plenty, that pride, that vanity, that curiosity, that contention, that hate of the Clergy, that Sacrilege, that the downfall of Bishops, that the contempt of the KING, that War, that imprisonment, and that the murder of the King, a murder, the most horrid murder that ever the Sun saw, for Subjects to take away their King's life, without the prescription of a single example, or a law; nay, even against all laws divine and humane, to Try him after the form of a Judiciary proceeding, this is to entitle God unto the greatest sin; to establish iniquity by a Law, Joh. 19.7. and to make God such as themselves: Thus the Jews dealt with our Saviour, We have a Law, and by that Law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God, although there was no such Law; but a newmade Law, a Juncto-law, strafford's law, Canterbury's law, the King's law (consequent Laws; Laws without names or cognizance) made because he was KING. Neither doth their power any more prove the equity of this Fact (the great scandal of the Christian name, and height of Anabaptistical fury) than the Devil's power (which is from God) doth justify his malice (which is from himself.) They have now indeed made King Charles a glorious King, proved him glorious in his personal Virtues, glorious in his divine Graces, but most glorious in the Christian Constancy of his glorious Sufferings for God's Cause, the true Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of the three Kingdoms: thus hath God extorted a truth from them; for this spoke they not of themselves, but (God forcing their testimony) they prophesied. As we have seen His Majesty's sufferings and their causes, our sins, so let us reflect upon their punishments; as the Springs from which our sorrows should arise. The exceeding avarice and hypocrisy (too noted Court-sins with which the greatest Christian Prince Constantine was abused) of the State-Grandees, Vit. Const. l. 4. c. 29. the deep pits wherein they laid the fatal snares into which pious King CHARLES fell, will be visibly punished, for God will not be mocked. The pride, vanity, sacrilege, rebellion, and the cruel murder of His Majesty will have particular judgements levelled against these sins; every man's sin even of those who have fought for His Majesty, who have yet fought against him by their sins, hath given force unto this great stroke and wound given unto these Kingdoms in His Majesty's death; and therefore ought every man to proportion his sorrow unto his sins. As King Josiah from Judah, so the strong Baricado King Charles is taken away betwixt God's judgements, and this Kingdom, the great and wide Inlet of all misery is made by his death, could our sorrows answer them, like a Torrent, it would overflow all the banks of Reason, and grow too big to be carried away by the channels of our senses: behold every spring of Jeremiah and Judah's sorrow open, to send forth these flowing streams of affliction upon us, and all arise from the same head, The breath of our Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen. Those heavy judgements which the Prophet Jeremiah foresaw impending, and after came to pass by King Josiahs' death, are in a great part by King Charles his death already come upon us. God's House, his beautiful house, is laid waste, Lam. 1.10 & 2.7. the Heathen have entered into the Sanctuary, they have made a noise in the House of the Lord as in the day of a solemn Feast: So that they who in the beginning pretended God, Religion, the Church, [their Cause] have dealt with us as that Faction among the Jews, Jos. Bell. Jud. l. 2. C●● 2. who called themselves The Zealous, in the war with Titus did under pretence of defending Religion and the Law they possessed themselves of the Temple, yet were themselves the first who put fire with their own hands into the holy places. How hath the avarice and carnal interests of the Teachers of these times corrupted the purity of our Religion, as Judah's, so England's only Prophets have seen vain and foolish things for her, Lam. 2.14. 4.13. and they have not discovered her iniquity, to turn away her captivity, but have seen for her false burdens and causes of banishment; they have shed the blood of the just (K. Charles) in the midst of her England's greatest Adversaries are chief, 1.5. and her Enemies prosper; 5.8. Servants do bear rule over us, and there is none to deliver us out of their hand. 4.5. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets, they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 5.12. Princes are hanged by their hands, and the faces of the Elders are not honoured. War, desolation and famine, with their sad effects, foretold in these Lamentations, appear in our Horizon already like Elihu's little Cloud, which will shortly overspread our whole English firmament; and all these calamities have and will fall upon us, because the Crown is fallen from our Head; the British Josiah, 5.16. King Charles is taken from us, 1.9. and we have no comforter; and how great and just causes of our sorrows are all these Calamities? But let this sorrow have the full advantage in its fall, (to add motion unto all the turning wheels of our afflicting griefs) the fall from our great happiness in his Majesty's Government: Let London, let England, let Scotland, let Ireland, let every of them Remember (as Jerusalem did) in the days of her afflictions and her miseries, 1.7. all the pleasant things that she had in the days of old. All the pleasant things they had in the blessed days of King Charles his blessed Reign, the glory and truth of her Religion, the just execution of her Laws, her peace, her riches, her plenty, her liberty at home, and her protection and honour abroad. 2.15. England was the perfection of beauty, and the joy of the whole earth. The Kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the Adversary and Enemy should have entered into the Gates of (our) Jerusalem, London, that Churches should be turned into stables, Gods Houses made Courts of Guards, the Royal Palaces made Garrisons, the Tithes (the portion of God's Ministers) made the Soldier's salary, that the Law should be turned into wormwood, our Religion and Liberty measured out unto us by the Pikes length, the decisions of the Sword become the Principles of Faith, and that (which is the cause of all this) mechanic persons, Tradesmen (who will certainly mar, never can mend, so great concernments, they never before handled or were acquainted with) the sole Moderators of Public affairs, and the chief Princes and Potentates of our Kingdom. But now The glory is departed from (our) Israel, 1.1. the Ark of God is taken, and how is England become a Widow? made a prey unto cruel people, and skilful to destroy, who daily force and prostitute her unto their wicked purposes: for these things let England (and every truehearted Englishman) say, I weep, 1.16. mine eye, mine eye runneth down with wa●er, because the Comforter (King CHARLES) that should relieve my soul is far from me. The breath of our Nestrils, the Anointed of the Lord, etc. The life of our Religion, of our Laws, of our Liberties, is taken from us; the Image of God's power in supreme Authority, Indemnity, & Inviolability, is taken from us; our Physician, our nursing Father, our Comforter, our Protector, is taken from us, & for our sins was taken in their pits, so that now we want the wings of his protection among these Heathen among whom we live; we are now made very Slaves unto the worst of Heathen, a people without God, without Faith, without Law, without Rule, without Reason, without Humanity, without all these, and whose unruly will only, is unto them all these. These calamities are all fallen upon us, because The breath of our Nostrils, etc. pious King Charles is taken from us like Elias in a fiery Chariot, Vi. Const. l. 4. c. 73. (or as Constantine the Great after his death was impressed on a Coin plucked up by a divine hand) into Heaven, that his eyes might not see, nor his righteous soul be afflicted with all the evil which is come upon us to consume us; woe unto us for we have sinned. These are but the contracted heads of those miseries, which we shall all read over in the vast Volumes of our approaching woes; and justly bespeaks such sorrows as might transform us into Niobes, make our heads Rivers of sorrows, and our eyes Fountains for continual tears. The Lord in mercy look upon us, and wipe away these tears from our eyes, and their causes, our sins from our souls; and since the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church, in mercy unto his Church restore the seed of his Martyr King Charles the First unto the Government of these Kingdoms, that Religion, Peace and Liberty may be restored unto us: I conclude these ours, as the Prophet doth his Lamentations, Turn thou unto us, O Lord, Lam. 5.21, 22. and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old, if thou hast not utterly dejected us: Hear our prayers, O Lord, for thy Son's sake, unto whom with the Holy Ghost be ascribed, etc. FINIS.