Imprimatur,  
Febr. 1. 1678/ 9. Guil. skill, R. P. D. Henr. Episc. land. a Sac. Dom.   

A SERMON PREACHED On the Thirtieth of January, 1678/ 9. BEING THE ANNIVERSARY Of the MARTYRDOM of King CHARLES the First, of Blessed Memory, AND Published at the Request of some Friends.  
BY EDWARD PELLING, Rector of S. Martyns Ludgate.  
LONDON, Printed for Jonathan Edwin, at the Three Roses in Ludgate-Street. 1679.   

A SERMON PREACHED On the Thirtieth of January, 1678/ 9.  Prov. VIII. 15. By me Kings reign. 
WERE not the Annals of the Late Times written in the Memories of the generality of Men; or were not a fresh Generation sufficiently informed touching that Execrable Murder, whereof their Parents were guilty this Day, it would be necessary for me to give you an account of the sad Occasion of our meeting now. But the Clamour of the World about our ears, the Judgments of God that have alarmed us even at our doors, that Reproach and Infamy which this Nation lieth under, those Miseries we have felt, and those we fore-see; but above all the Consciences in our breasts, cannot but storm us into a Confession, that this day the Anointed of the Lord was cut off, the Honour of Christians, the Wonder of Ages, the mirror of Kings, the Noblest of Martyrs, and the best of Men. This day that mighty Man fell, by the hands of his own Subjects he fell, by the merciless Ax he fell, before the face of the Sun, and at his own doors he fell; and with him the breath of our Nostrils was taken away, the Joy of the Earth, the Beauty of Sion, the Fountain of Law, and the Father of the Church; and all Order, Peace, and Religion followed him, and was butted with him in the same Grave. Be astonished, O ye Heavens, and let the Earth put on her Weeds of mourning; let rhetoric be silent, and our Thoughts be confounded with horror; let Christianity hid her Face, and let the Thrones of Princes be covered with Sack-cloth; let the Voice of Loyalty be still, and let all Faces gather blackness; for this was a thing never seen, never heard of before; the Tongue of Men and Angels is not able to express the black Circumstances of it; that Majesty should be accused for Disloyalty to the People, that Subjects should oppress their Sovereign by such pompous and solemn Artifices of Cruelty; that Christians, who are commanded to Obey for Conscience sake, should for Conscience sake rebel, for Conscience sake turn the whole Land into an Aceldama, a Field of Blood, and at last be so bold as to cut off, not the Skirt of his Garment, but the very Head of the Lords Anointed, and that for Conscience sake too; that they should be so profligate and prodigiously wicked, as to stamp upon all these unnatural Proceedings the sacred Names of Justice and Religion: This is such a Mystery of Iniquity as no Age can parallel; no History cometh near it, but that which tells us of the Selling and Arraigning, and Condemning and Executing of the Son of God himself.  
But as long as the Fifth of November and the Thirtieth of January stand in our Calendar in read Letters, we shall never want occasion of informing the World( if it be not informed enough already) of the bloody Attempts of the Romish, and the Reformed jesuit, the Devil with a Crucifix and a Legend, and the Devil with a Bible and Samuel's Mantle. I join them together, because like Sampson's Foxes, they set all on Fire, though they are turned tail to tail, and their Faces look two contrary ways.  
The Argument which has been used by many men to prove the Papacy to be Antichrist, is this, that the Pope exalteth himself above all that is called God, that is( as some Divines understand it) above the Kings of the Earth, arrogating to himself a Power over them in things Spiritual, and in Temporal matters too, in ordine ad Spiritualia. If this be true, I know not how They can rub the mark of the Beast out of Their Foreheads, who pretending to be Reformers, have claimed the same Power over Kings, whom they are pleased to call Tyrants, as the Pope doth over those whom he is pleased to call heretics. Sure I am, 'tis an Antichristian Principle which was never held till these last days, when men of debauched Consciences have counted it a great piece of Religion to be Traytors. And into the bargain, 'tis a Principle so seditious, that I am not afraid to say, 'twas the Trumpet that sounded a Battalia in 1642. And the Ax that cut off the Kings head in 1648.  
I find those who were good Christians, and Loyal Subjects, opposing this Principle throughout the late Troubles,( when Goodwin and Bridges, and the rest of those Rebels defended it in Print,) particularly, the Judicious and Excellent Dr. Hammond did learnedly confute it in that Treatise of his — Of Resisting the Lawful Magistrate, which was written in the Heat of the War; And afterwards in his Address to the Lord Fairfax and his Council of War, when they had the King in their Clutches. The Sober World saw, that nothing could promote, or justify a Rebellion, nor erect first a Tribunal for the King's Arraigment, and then a Scaffold for his Execution, but this Bloody and desperate Doctrine, that The Magistrate hath his Authority from the People, and that they may re-assume the Authority to themselves, and both Try and Sentence Him, in case of default.  
A man might wonder, that since God hath brought a Calm upon this Land by the Happy Restauration of an exiled Prince, the same boisterous Euroclydon should rise again upon our Coasts, to sink this Kingdom deeper than ever in a gulf of miseries; But such is the temper of men who love to swim upon the top, like mire in troubled Waters, that nothing is a greater Eye-sore to them, than a lasting Peace. We know, that some pretending to wit and Policy( I wish I may say Christianity too) have declared to this purpose, that The King is King by Law, that Government is not Jure Divino, but that the Country-Swain hath as good a Title to his Cottage as the King hath to his Crown. And I confess, if St. Hobbs, or St. Machiavil, be as authentic as St. Paul, if once the Scriptures come to be degraded into the same Classis with Magna Charta, and the Voice of the People be made as Authoritative as the Word of God; so it is.  
But let them put upon it the best Gloss they can, to make it popular and pleasing to the Rabble, it is destructive of all Government, and may be compared to the Locusts, Rev. 8. which though they had comely faces like men, yet were their shapes like unto Horses prepared unto battle, and had tails like unto Scorpions. We have found by woeful experience, that it hath involved this Kingdom in One Unnatural War already, and he that is not so quick-sighted as Lynceus, may yet easily fore-see, that when ever it shall be radicated in the Consciences of a Tumultuous Rout( and there be many aching Teeth among us) it will ruin it in another.  
For these Reasons, I hope it will not seem either unseasonable; or unnecessary, if to answer those Obligations, which Religion and Allegiance both have laid upon me, I discourse at this time touching the Chief Magistrates Authority; and for my Subject, I have made choice of these words of Wisdom, that is, the Son of God, the Wisdom of the Father; By him Kings Reign; by his Power and Authority; though they are appointed for the Peoples good, yet are they not the Peoples Creatures; they receive not their Commission from any thing under Heaven; nor is their Power a Derivative, from any Consent, or Suffrage of men, or human Law; but from his Appointment who is the Original of all Power, and whose Trustees, and Representatives, and immediate Deputies they are. By me Kings Reign.  
I know some have looked upon this Position, as somewhat too much and too lofty to be granted, and would fain have it pass as a piece of Courtship and Flattery brought into Request of late by some Prelates of this Church, by one especially, whose Head was more worth than the Noblest Dathan's that ever followed Corah in his Conspiracy. And therefore for the clearing of this matter, I shall endeavour to make it good by Scripture, and Reason, and the Testimonies of the Ancients; which I hope will be enough to satisfy any man but an Atheist, but an Unreasonable Machiavillian, but Haughty and Insolent Innovators, who are given to Changes, and fear neither God nor the King: as our Solomon intimates, Prov. 24. 21.  
1. For Scripture. I would fain know what Article of Faith is more plainly, and more expressly asserted in the word of God, than this thing. Consult the place in Rom. 13. 1, 2. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers, for there is no Power but of God, the Powers that be, are ordained of God: whosoever therefore resisteth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of God. And at the Fourth ver. the Apostle tells us, twice in a Breath, that the Mgistrate is the Minister of God. Where he confuteth two very gross mistakes, the one on the Christians part, the other on the Heathens. There were some lately converted from judaisme to Christianity, who did greatly question whether the Roman Government they lived under then was from God, as that was under the Kings of Israel. The Pharisees once put the Case to our Saviour, Whether it were lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar or not, Mat. 22. 17. Though they were forced of Necessity to submit to the Roman Yoke, yet they did not think that it was laid upon their necks by the hand of God. And therefore that Speech of theirs, We have no King but Caesar, Joh. 19. was spoken only to curry-favour with Pilate. For their frequent Rebellions, and endeavours to set themselves free from the Heathen's power, were a plain Argument of their persuasion, that their Jurisdiction over them was an Illegal Usurpation; and Grotius fetcheth it out of the Talmud, that they were wont to say, We have no King but God. Now this opinion, that the Romans were not their Lawful Governours, continued still in the breasts of some Converts: and for the correcting thereof, St. Paul lays down that plain Proposition, There is no Power but of God. Again, there was another mistake on the Heathen's part, who, among other Calumnies, did cast this Reproach upon the Christians, that they were disloyal, and seditious; and the pretence for their malicious Accusation was this, because they cried up their Liberty, and refused to Sacrifice to Pagan Deities, and would not swear by the Emperour's Genius, and the like. Therefore, to stop the mouth of Slander, and to tie up the hands of Disobedience, the Apostle lays down this short Proposition, as an undoubted maxim of Christianity, that the Powers that be are Ordained of God; and when St. Paul wrote this, the Power was in the hands of Nero, who was as great a Monster as ever the World bread, excepting cronwell. Add to this, that of Daniel, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for Wisdom and Might are his; and He changeth the times and seasons, He removeth Kings, and setteth up Kings, Dan. 2. 20. That of the Psalmist, I have said, ye are Gods, that is, in His place, and his Delegates, Ps. 82. 7. That of our Saviour to Pilate, Thou couldst have no power, unless it were given thee from Above, Joh. 19. 11. That, Subjection is required of us not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake, over which none but God alone hath an immediate power; that, he who Rebelleth is not only a traitor against the Laws of men, but a Sinner in grain against the Laws of God; and that, as the Wages of sin in general is Death, so the reward of this sin in particular is Damnation; Nothing can add light to these words, that are as clear, and bright as the Sun: and the Result of them plainly is this, That the Supreme Power is of Divine Right, because it is set up, not only by Gods Permission, but by his Institution and Appointment; by his Warrant and Ordinance Imperial do Kings reign: so that he that lifteth up his hand against the Lords Anointed, striketh at the Face of God himself; as he  told Samuel, that the Jews had rejected Him,( the Lord of Life himself) that He should not Reign over them, 1 Sam. 8. 7.  
2. If now in the second place we argue from Reason: It is impossible to show by the strength of any Philosophy, that Government can be derived but from God alone. For questionless, the World was not created to be nothing else but a huge Wilderness; neither were men sent into it only to beat and devour one another like savage Beasts. God did ever design, that we should live godly, righteous, and sober Lives; and our Passions being so various and turbulent, and our Wills being so perverse, we cannot imagine how there should be among us any Order without Rule; nor any Rule without Law-Makers; and therefore a governor is of God's Appointment, who never decreeth the End, without decreeing the Means first.  
I know what can be said as to this; viz. That every man is born a Free-man by the Charter of Nature; that he comes into the world invested naturally with a Title to it, and with Liberty in it, and so no Man can take his Inheritance from him, without his own suffrage and consent. Let this be believed, that every one hath power over his Goods, whether to keep or alienate them: that he has a power over his Liberty, to divest himself of it or no. 'tis granted, that in Elective States men do voluntarily put their power into the hands of the Chief Magistrate; and 'tis reasonable they should do so, that by these Advantages he may be enabled the better to protect them. But when this is done, all is done that is in the power of Man to do. There is something else which is the richest Jewel in the Governour's Crown, namely a Power of Life and Death; he must bear a Sword in his hand to execute Capital Punishment upon Malefactors in Cases Criminal; or else it cannot be that a Kingdom should stand. Now, this Power can be given him by none but God himself, whose Vicegerent and Representative he is. For none hath an Original Right to our Lives but He that formed us. Whatever some Heathens have thought, yet it was never granted by any Christian, that a man hath any power to kill himself. He may sell his Estate; he may give away his Liberty, chain himself to an Oar as a Galley-Slave, as a Jew had liberty by the boring of his Ear through, to become a Servant all his days. He may open a Vein, or amputate a Member for the preservation of the rest; but kill himself he cannot, without being felo de se, guilty of his own blood: Now, what he is not able to do himself, how can he empower another to do it for him? How can I communicate that to him which I have no Right to myself? Since no man is Lord of his own life, no man hath liberty to rob himself of it, nor power to warrant a second Person to do it. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord: It is Gods Sword wherewith the Magistrate strikes; and by Him he is Ordained to be an Avenger: By whomsoever he is Chosen, by God alone he Reigneth; his Crown and sceptre, his Prerogatives and Royalties he holdeth of Him, and of none besides. Take the World distributively or collectively, either Man by Man, or by whole Communities, the King owns no superior or Enfranchiser( much less may he be invaded by an Usurper) here below.  
All the fear is, that by this grant a Monarch's Power will be unlimited: An idle Dream, which some Demagogues have held out as a Flambeau, to set the World on Fire: For though he be not under the fear of Law, being exempt from all manner of Penalty, yet it is confessed by all Divines and Lawyers, that the directive power of Laws doth oblige him. Who knoweth not, that God hath bound him to the respects of public Honesty, though he hath not made him liable to a public Rod? Who knoweth not, that the Laws of Nature and Religion do oblige him as he is a Man, and much more as he is Prince? Who knows not, that he is under the Municipal Laws of his Kingdom, such as is the Petition of Right here with us? To these he hath bound himself by his Own Consent: And who knows not, that a Promise or an Oath obligeth him too? and that sometimes he is more careful to keep it than his very Subjects are? But yet, if a Prince will abuse his Power, and the Law too, he is not subject to any manner of Compulsion, being accountable only unto God, who alone hath sealed his Commission. It is a violation of the Laws of God and Nature both, to drag a Supreme Magistrate into a Court of Judicature; and I never red but of two that were ever haled so since the World stood, the King of Israel before Pilate, and the King of England before Bradshaw, who was by far the greater Knave of the two, because of his Malicious and Bloody Intention. For, Pilate moved on our Saviours behalf, and sought to deliver him; but This Son of Belial contrived and intended our Soveraign's destruction, and thirsted for his Blood, and therefore his was the greater Sin.  
3. But the time spends, and therefore I must touch a little upon the next Argument, concerning the sense of the Ancients about the Divine Authority of the Supreme Magistrate. And here I might fill a whole Volume with a Cloud of Witnesses; I, out of the Heathens themselves, who had no Candle to guide them but the light of Nature; and yet {αβγδ}, saith Homer, Kings are from God. We look so upon our Governours( saith Seneca) as if we saw the immortal Gods themselves; and divers more have said, that Kings are God's Representatives, & à Deo secundi, next of all unto him. 2. Out of the Book of wisdom, which though it be Apocryphal, yet is very Ancient, Power is given you from the Lord, and Sovereignty from the Highest, Chap. 6. 3. 3. And if you inquire of the Primitive Christians; Clement in his Constitutions will tell you? That the King is, {αβγδ}. The Ordinance of God. Irenaeus will tell you, that by whose Command men are born, by his Command Kings are appointed. Tertullian will assure you, that the Emperour is from him, from whom the Man was before he was Emperour. That he hath received his Power from his hand, of whom he received his Soul. Chrysostome will inform you, that 'tis the work of Divine wisdom, that some Rule, and others are in subjection. And Epiphanius, that the Civil Power is Ordained of God, who alone hath put the Sword of Vengeance into his hand. And Augustine is positive, that he who enthroned Augustus, enthroned Nero too; that he who made Vespatian made also Domitian an Emperour; and that he, who set up Constantine the Christian, did set up also Julian the Apostate. What shall I speak of after Ages, which have all along spoken to the same effect? And what hath been said to this purpose, must be understood with relation to Lawful Magistrates only.  
It sufficeth for the close of this matter, that it is, and ever hath been, the plain and honest Doctrine of the Church of England, and I should have wondered, how any Wise man should not see it in the Homily against Rebellion, but that I do consider, that that Homily is a Looking-glass; wherein those, who have been Traytors, cannot but see their own guilt and deformity, and therefore do not care to look at all into it.  
You see by this time that the King is not by the laws of men, but by the Power and Appointment of God. By him Kings reign. The inferences now from this are very obvious.  
1. If by Him Kings reign, then for his sake we are bound to Obey them. It is St. Paul's Conclusion. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers, for this Reason, because there is no Power but of God. It is an Act of common Justice to be subject to him under whose Government and Protection we live: For why should that man have any benefit from that Ordinance, which he will not submit to? Nay it is a Prime Act of Religion too to be obedient to the Magistrate, who beareth the stamp and image of God; and that, not only as he is a man, but chiefly as he is a Magistrate.  
I know there are some who make nothing of this Command, though the breach of it be attended with no less then Damnation; they can despise Government, and speak evil of Dignities, and pull them down from their Thrones, and take their Crowns from their Heads, and their Heads from their Shoulders, and yet think they are very Godly men too, and perhaps the more Godly for that. But whatever men may pretend, Godliness cannot be without Obedience; the fearing of God, and the honouring of the King must go together, because the King hath no less than God's Authority, and such Religion as is not clothed with Subjection is plainly nothing else, but the cloak of an Hypocrite. According to this Rule the best Christians have carried themselves before Religion came to be Sophisticated. Witness the whole Company of the old Apologists; Tertullian in particular, who boasted with great confidence, that Nunquam nec Albiniani, nec Nigriani, nec Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani; that is, never was a true Christian found to be a Traitor to his Prince( though some in these latter dayes could have wished that that passage could have never been found in the Writings of Tertullian.) I cannot but take notice here of an ungodly and scandalous Evasion, which has been used by some who have come among us, partly from tiber, and partly from the Lemain Lake; and like Herod and Pilate have consented together to do mischief. Bellarmine and Parsons, and other Jesuits, have given this Reason, why the Primitive Christians rebelled not, Quia deerant vires, Because they wanted strength And we cannot but lament when we consider that they, who have so bitterly declaimed against the Papist's, have yet licked up their principles, and prosecuted their design. But 'tis well known that Buchanan and Knox long ago, and Goodwin and his fry since; and( within these eight years) the Author of that Expedient, which was the fore-runner of the General Indulgence, have said the very same thing. But, not to speak of the quiter contrary Testimonies of Cyprian; nor of the Thebanlegion, consisting of above 6000. in the Reign of Dioclesian, who suffered themselves to be cut in pieces rather than they would rebel; Tertullian himself said, that they wanted not forces to revenge themselves, seeing all places were filled with great numbers of Christians; Cities and Islands, Towns and Castles, nay the very Senate, Court and Camp swarming with men of the Christian Profession; and 'tis well known that Julian the Apostate's Army consisted of Christians for the most part, who though they had the Sword in their hands, yet could not lift them up, but in Prayer to God, that he would divert the Emperour's most wicked designs. Religion is so far from disturbing the public peace, that it settles the King's Throne upon the surest Basis: And as Guiccardine tells us how it passed for a Proverb, that Proprium est Ecclesiae Romanae odisse Caesares, it is Natural to the Church of Rome to hate Princes: So the World can bear witness of the Sons of this Church, that they did ever love and honour, and dutifully obey them; and an ingenious and good man, who hath of late excellently written upon our Liturgy, observes, that whereas we pray in our litany, that God would deliver us from all Sedition, privy Conspiracy, and Rebellion, nothing to that purpose can be found in any of the Roman Missals: It is a Glory belonging to this Church, that as all her doctrines are pure, so all her practices, and prayers are loyal.  
2. If by him Kings reign: Then beware we of those deceitful workers, who, like Rats that gnaw in the dark, do privily go about to undermine Government, by such poisonous Doctrines as these, that Kings may be deposed. For if all the powers on the Earth cannot give a King his Authority and Prerogative, neither can all the powers on the Earth take them away. We know whose Creed it is, that the Pope is Head of the Church; that Princes hold their Crownes of him; that by his command their kingdoms may be taken from them; that a dispensation absolveth men from all manner of Oaths, and an Excommunication doth discharge them from their Allegiance; that, if Subjects cannot depose their King but by War, then they may raise an Army, and proclaim him a common Enemy, and at last take away his life: nay, that though sentence be not formally pronounced against him Ex Cathedrâ, yet a Prince his being guilty of heresy doth ipso facto deprive him of all his Royalties, and any private person whatsoever may lawfuly kill him. Hence it was that chilperic of France was dethroned; that Francis Dandalus of Venice was bound with chains, and fed like a dog with scraps and bones; that Henry the third was murdered by Clement, and Henry the fourth by Ravaillac. These are such deep stains in his Holiness's Sleeve, that all the waters of Tiber will not wash them out. Indeed some of his flatterers have used this device as Fullers-soap to take it off, if possible; that these were only the Doctrines of the Canonists, and a few more; and the practices of some private men; and therefore they take it ill that they should charge it upon their whole Church: But 'tis observable what we find in the Controversial Letters, that when Blackwell, the Arch-Priest, advised the English Recusants to take the Oath of Allegiance, the Pope sent over a Breve, and forbade the Oath: and Bellarmine reprehended Blackwell for an Apostate from the catholic Faith. And in the dayes of King Charles, our blessed Martyr, Anno 47. when there were hopes that all parties would agree, the Papists subscribing to some Articles which tended to the confirmation of our Government, the Old man at Rome checked them, and made some do pennance for it. And since this Kings happy Restauration, when the Irish Remonstrance came out with hopes of gaining a Toleration, by the renouncing of some pestilent Doctrines, Peter welsh the Contriver of it was censured for his disobedience to the infallible Sea. To these I shall add but one observation more, that when Henry the third of France was murdered, the jesuits wrote a Book de justâ abdicatione Henrici tertii, wherein they affirm that it is lawful for any man to kill a Tyrant; and that Book was allowed at Rome; my witness for this is Father Watson the Seminary Priest( in his Quodlibets;) and yet that very man, who accused the jesuits, was afterwards executed for Treason himself. And now let the impartial world judge how it concerneth all States to spew those villains out of their land, who do not only like the Egyptian Frogs croak in Kings Chambers, but like so many Leviathan's are ready to devour them.  
But we must not think, that disloyalty and treason do lurk onely under a Friers Cool: it had been well for us, if it had not found shelter under the schismatics Cloak. We look upon the jesuits as the very worst of Papists; because no other Sect is such an enemy to civil Government, as they. And what a sad consideration is it, that they, who have called themselves the purest Protestants, should choose no principles to espouse and pursue, but the jesuits? Let impartial men consider what seditious practices King James charged some Reformers with in the conference at Hampton Court; that, in the Geneva Translation of the Bible, the Marginal Note upon the 2 Chron. 15. 16. taxeth Asa for deposing his Mother only, and not killing her: that Salmasius hath marked a sort of men in England with as black a coal as ever the Art of man could find; that the two great Apostles of the North did teach, that if Princes were Tyrants, their Subjects were free from all bonds of Allegiance, that it was as lawful to kill them as Wolves and Bears, and that it is Blasphemy to say,( though Paul and the old Fathers said) that we must obey Kings, be they good or bad. Let us consider that a Book formerly written against the Supreme Civil Magistrate( whereof Ficlerus a Papist was thought to be the Author) was proved to have been written by a Dissenter; and that, in the very year when King charles was beheaded, another book was Printed( and as some say, licenced by the Fag-end of the house of Commons) bearing this Title, Several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the power of Parliament to proceed against their King, which was found to have been the same with the seditious Pamphlet of Parsons the Jesuit, of Succession to the Crown. I say, whoso shall consider these things rightly( that I may not mention any new instances, since the discovery of the late devilish Plot) must needs see, that many great Pretenders among us have been plain jesuits, and we may say of them, as was once said of one of their Fraternity, that they preached such a Gospel as was clad in armor. From such Preachers as these, Good Lord deliver us.  
3. If it be by God that Kings reign, then we may well ask the Question, by whom it is that Kings are murdered? By God's permission, no doubt. He may hold his hand, and not interpose his Omnipotence, to rescue an innocent man from violence, but let things go on in vengeance for a peoples sins: So he suffered Abel to be murdered, and his own Son to be murdered; and 'tis no wonder that in wrath to this Nation he suffered our Good King to be murdered. But all this will not excuse either Cain, or the Jews, or the high Court of Injustice, which outvyed Both in their boldness and wickedness. 'twas by God's permission that all this was done, but yet by the Contrivance and Instigation of him, who worketh in the children of disobedience. Ephes. 2. 2. Before Judas betrayed Christ the Text saith Emphatically, that the Devil entered into him. Had not the Devil been in him, he could not have betrayed his Master: But considering all the circumstances of that horrible Act committed at this time, it was so diabolical, so transcendently and eminently Diabolical, that the devil never shewed himself to be an Absolute Prince and Ruler until now. Shall I crucify your King? says Pilate. The Heathen could not but speak it with indignation and horror. What? crucify your King? 'tis such a Base as well as Barbarous Act, as every one, who as but the face of a man, though he be never so great a Villain cannot, methinks, but blushy at the very thoughts of it. The Jews were an inhuman, and bloodthirsty people; They killed the Prophets, and stoned them which were sent unto them, and yet when Pilate put it to the Vote, whether he should crucify their King, they seemed to detest and abhor it; they said we have no King but Caesar; intimating, that had they been satisfied that Jesus was their King, they would not by any means have his blood  shed, or so much as lift up a finger against him. To confirm this, our Saviour himself upon the across pleaded their Ignorance. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. It was ignorantia Facti, ignorance of the fact, not of the Law. They knew, by the Laws of God and nature, they ought not to murder any, much less their King; but they were not convinced that that man was He. But those sordid and degenerous Traitors, who executed their Malice upon this holy Martyr, they knew him to be their King, they confess't he was so at his trial. They had Sworn Allegiance to him, nay they swore it in a Solemn Covenant of their own, in which little was good or tolerable but that very clause; and to let the world see how little they regarded, either Humanity or Religion, Promises or Oaths; to convince us that they feared neither Man, nor God, nor the devil himself, they kept that Covenant where they should have broken it, and forswore it where they should have kept it.  
I cannot but wonder at the monstrous hypocrisy of those Times, when the Glory of God was set in the Frontispiece of every dismal Tragedy. I have red of Pompey the Great, that he erected a Theatre for Digladiators to fence and kill one another in, and, as if intended to sanctify his horrible Design, he built a Temple over it, and dedicated it to Venus: so did these cursed Miscreants( whose Religion was of the same size with their Loyalty) act all along under the vizor of Religion( Their Father Lucifer is often transformed into an Angel of light) they perjured themselves in the name of the Lord, entered into a wicked League in the name of the Lord; levied and carried on a Rebellion in the name of the Lord; proclaimed a Fast before the Execution day,( as Jezebel did when she sought Naboth's blood,) in the name of the Lord; in the name of the Lord they cut off the head of his Vice-gerent; and did such wonderful works, as the Sun never saw before, since 'twas created. Religion, that tieth the hearts of men in a bond of love; Religion, which is a Preservative of Government and obedience; Religion, which assigneth an apartment in hell to every Rebel, and, I believe, the lowest Dungeon in hell to every Regicide; that, it seems, did bring the good King to the block, which should have upheld him in his throne. Is this the Glorious King they promised to make us? Is this the Holy Reformation which they cried up to the skies? Holy did I say? This One act will make the memory of it odious, and detestable to all eternity; however some make a shift to wipe their mouths at last, with the Whore in the Proverbs, as if they had done no wickedness.  
And shall the blood of Charles the first be forgotten Thus? However it was spilled upon the Earth, yet the cry of it is gone up to Heaven, and hath returned upon our Heads, in Plagues and Wars, and many dismal Fires by Sea and Land: and if we repent not of it seriously and hearty, it is to be feared that God will enter into Judgement further with us yet. The guilt of that Innocent and Sacred blood, is not so easily washed off, as an Act of Indemnity is made.  
Well, it is time to Conclude. Those black and gloomy days are gone, and God grant we may never see them more. What I have said, was not intended to ease me of my Choler, or to provoke mens Passions( unless it be that of sorrow) or onely to ripp open an Old Ulcer to enrage the Patient: But to lay before you the Grand Impiety of the Fact, which indeed this Solemnity doth require of us in some measure, that out of a deep Sense of this Nations guilt, we may be stirred up( All of us) to be Humbled truly and Sincerely for so foul a Crime, and from the bottom of the most penitent hearts to beg of God, not to lay this Sin, this grievous and horrid Sin, to our charge. And in this Duty there are two sorts Concerned.  
1. Those old, and Grey-headed Rebels, who did either assist, or encourage, or countenance the Murder, and have lived to see the fearful Consequences thereof: I wish they may have lived to repent and be ashamed of the sin too. But how many are there, who will not own themselves to have had an hand in it, but lay it rather at the jesuits door, or some where else; far enough, to be sure, from their own Threshold? One would think, that men who have been so horribly disloyal to the Father, if they were sensible of it indeed, and convinced in their Consciences that they sinned, would long ago( as one fruit of their Repentance) have shown the most Dubtiful submission and obedience unto the Son. But 'tis sad to consider, that instead of a sincere Amendment, they are not yet come so far as to Judas his Remorse. For he Repented himself, saith the Text, and acknowledged that 'twas Innocent Blood, which had been betrayed, and that he himself had betrayed it, and that he had sinned in betraying it: I have sinned, said he, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood, Mat. 27. 4. Here was a very great sorrow, and that which made him refund the thirty pieces of Silver, and at last to go and hang himself too. I do not wish the men, I now speak of, Judas's end; but I hearty wish that they were so sorrowful as to confess their guilt; and so honest, as to make some Restitution of the Price of Blood; and moreover, that they were such friends to themselves, and so just to the whole Nation, as to bring forth such fruits of Righteousness, Peace, and Obedience, as are meet for Repentance. For if they would consider it, 'tis an Eternal reproach( besides many other mischiefs) which they have brought upon Religion by the Sin of this day; and for it's kind, greater, then what the Romanists themselves have hitherto occasioned. They have murdered Kings privately with poison; they have assassinated Princes openly with Knives and Ponyards: but they never yet brought a Monarch to the Block by a semblance of Judicial proceedings, daring the Majesty of Heaven by their Superlative villainy. The jesuit has been but a Puny, in comparison of these Regicides; and yet I wish there were no Room for the Prophets complaint, I harkened and heard, but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, what have I done, Jer. 8. 6.  
2. But even we also are concerned in the Duty of the Day, who were not concerned as Actors in the Sin. There are thousands of us, that either were then unborn, or had not power so much as to make an attempt to rescue Innocence: and there are many more in this kingdom, who were so far from helping to cut off the Kings head, that they did not help to drive him to his Scaffold, or to hold him by the Hair, but disowned and declared against those inhuman, unnatural, and barbarous Proceedings. But this notwithstanding, we are all of us concerned to be thoroughly humbled for that, which was acted by other hands. For that sin hath redounded to the detriment of the whole Nation: And that blood is still clamorous against us in the language of those Soul's under the Altar, Rev. 6. 10. How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth? and though Vengeance hath been coming upon us with a slow place, yet if we repent not in time of our evil courses, God will reckon with us at last, and reckon with us severely too, we have already smarted for this sin in a high degree; and as the Jews were wont to say: that in every of their Visitations there were some drams of the Golden Calf, so we have Reason to believe, that in every of our Visitations there have been some drops of that Sacred blood, and yet the Anger of God is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, either to Correct, or to dash us in pieces. God of his Mercy grant us first sincere and Universal Repentance, and then Peace and a lasting Prosperity, for Christ Jesus his sake, whose blood speaketh better things, than the Sacrifices of Abel. Amen.  
FINIS.