THere was once a wicked Harangue (for Sermon I dare not call it) delivered from the Pulpit upon these words, whereby both the Holy Text, and that sacred Stool, were desecrated and prophan'd.

A scriptum est, a holy Text, and a damnable Doctrine, hath been one of the Devils Practices, ever since he carried our Saviour into the Wilder­ness to tempt him.

Nor are these days of ours the first, wherein the Precepts of the God of Love, and the Gospel of Peace, have been made use of for a Trumpet of Tumult and Rebellion.

I shall not need to tell you how properly, or with what success, the Holder-forth brought the Text, and his occasion of it together. I wish with all my heart, it were in the power of this discourse in some measure to expiate his fault, and raise as much hatred and detestation in the minds of my Hearers, as he did encouragement in those of his towards that never to be mentioned fact, (were it not to deter Posterity from the like) which gave the sad occasion of this days solemnity.

Wherein we commemorate the unnatural Murder and Martyrdom of our late lawful Sovereign, and the Lords Anointed, Charles the First, of ever bles­sed memory.

And indeed, besides, that I shall right and vin­dicate this Text, which has been so much abus'd, when I consider how little there is between the [Page 3] Prison and the Grave, the Confinement and the Death of Kings; and how sensible his Sacred Majesty was of those wounds, which he received through the sides of his Loyal Nobility, I know none I could have chosen, that might more fully, and fitly, put us in mind of his suffering, s and the Duty of this day.

Which is to humble and afflict our Souls under the sense of those manifold crying Sins and Iniqui­ties, for which God Almighty suffered Rebellion thus to exalt her self, and justifie her Villanies and Murders by the success, neither sparing Innocent, nor Royal Blood; but, To bind our Kings in Chains, and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron.

I will not be over-careful (nor do I think it ne­cessary) to reconcile my Text to the present occasi­on, any further than it may serve for a sad Remem­brancer of this black and fatal day: I will only (in passing) mind you of the disproportion.

Whereas the Kings spoken of here by the Psal­mist, were Heathens that knew not God; The King, whose hard fate we remember this day, was a Christian, and so truly the Defender of the Faith, that, even in the literal sence, he resisted unto Blood.

And whereas, the binders in the Text, were Saints, [Page 4] and Men of Honour; ours were execrable Villains, and the dregs of the People; Though I cannot but observe by the way, that there was a kind of fatality in their calling themselves Saints, and the People of the Lord.

The main Thesis then, or Pillar of my discourse at this time will be, the Sufferings of our Royal Mar­tyr: But because it is impossible to mention them, without some reflections on His Vertue, and His Enemies Malice, these two will make our Topicks, or Common-places, three; to wit,

His Majesties Sufferings,

His Vertues, and

His Enemies malicious wickedness.

His Sufferings were passing great, and (for ought I know, or have ever read, if you will except our Saviours) unparallel [...]d.

His Patience and Vertue, as I shall shew you anon, were such too; And lest any proportion should be wanting in the story, such also was the implacable Malice and Wickedness of his Enemies

A Malice, which, I had almost said, was immor­tal, and notwithstanding any Act of Grace and In­dempnity, seems to have out-liv'd both Pardon and Punishments, and the very Actors themselves.

And, according to the notion of the Philosopher, to have transmigrated and remov'd it self into new Bodies.

I do very well know, that this part of my dis­course (and it may be some other besides) will not please every body; but I am confident I am guilt­less, and they have themselves to thank for it, who, in this late conjuncture, have endeavoured (as far as in them lay) to involve us in the same miseries and calamities again.

So that, to speak freely and boldly at this time, (whatever they would make us believe,) is so far from doing any violence to that his present Maje­sties most Gracious Act of Oblivion, that I do verily believe it were a sin to be silent; and I hope the sea­sonable liberty of all the Pulpits in the Kingdom at this present, may be one means to keep us from being twice Shipwrackt upon the same Rocks; from being undone again, and perishing a second time by the same unhappy method of binding our Kings in Chains, and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron.

I cannot promise you that in this ensuing dis­course, I shall so strictly as it may be you may expect, and so distinctly and severally speak to each of those three Heads or Arguments I have pro­posed.

For, besides that grief (especially such as this) is not easily confin'd in Rules and Methods; the na­ture of my Subject, and the circumstances of the Story, will oblige me to speak of them mixtly and confusedly, and as they shall present and shew themselves upon several occasions and emergencies.

However, that I may observe as much of form and order, as the nature of the thing will bear, I will part the following Tragedy, according to the custom of those bloody entertainments, into these five Sections.

The first will contain His Majesties Sufferings and Troubles before, and to the very time of, the late open Rebellion.

The second will shew us His Misfortunes and ill success, during the time of that Civil War, till he was delivered up by the Scotch Army, and confin'd. The third will consist of the story of His Confine­ment it self.

The fourth, of His Sufferings in the Persons of His Loyal Nobility, and such good Subjects as fol­lowed His Fortunes in that general calamity.

And the fifth and last Act, which is the Catastro­phe, or winding up of the Tragedy, will tell us the sad story of His Death and Martyrdom.

For which this polluted Land, which drank His Royal Blood, mourns to this day under the Judg­ments of a righteous Avenger; and for which, and for our sins, which were the remote cause of it, e­very good man cannot chuse but have his eyes full of tears, and his mouth full of such lamentations.

How are the Mighty fallen? The Crown is fal­len from our Head, and wo unto us that we have sinned, wo unto us that we have sinned, and done so wickedly, as to bind our Kings in Chains, and our Nobles in links of Iron.

Before I enter upon this ungrateful Province, in­stead of a Preface, I will first of all shew you His late Majesty, of blessed memory, in all his, (some­time,) Pomp and Greatness, incircled with all those blessings that may make a Monarch happy, and the care of Governing tolerable.

That so, from those mighty heights and advan­tages, you may have the fairer light, and take a bet­ter view of the humble valley of His Tears and Mi­sery.

It is but too well known, that men in adversity, measure their misfortunes and present evils, by all the steps and degrees of Honour or Riches, that ever they were possest of.

Is but a miserable comfort, to have been happy, to have been rich or honourable, is one of the bitterest circumstances and aggravations, that Affliction is capable of.

And for this reason, says the Son of Sirach, O Death! how bitter is thy remembrance to a man, that lives at ease in his possessions.

Now I must put you in mind, that His Majesty (who furnishes us the Subject of this discourse) was once, it may be, one of the happiest Princes of the World.

He was Royally Born and Related: There was scarce a Crown in Europe, of any great considera­tion, but he had some alliance to it.

His Person and Presence were pleasing and Ma­jestick, and every way becoming His Birth and Quality.

And then for His Soul, it was fair and Princely [Page 9] too, like the Mansion it dwelt in.

He was a Person of a most undaunted Resolution and Constancy, of a present and ready Wit, a pro­found and discerning Judgment, and, in a word, a most universal Knowledge and Learning, witness those excellent, those incomparable Writings of His, the best Legacy (except His great and holy Example) which he could have left to Posterity.

Writings, that are throughly inform'd, not only with the Majesty of a King, but als [...] the Reverence of a Divine. Alas, that so much Worth, and Learning, and Goodness, should be murdered in one man.

To complete his happiness, he married a Wife Great and Virtuous like himself, by whom God gave him a numerous Issue, in some of whom we are (and may we be long so) blest and happy to this very day.

In short; a time there was (and pity it was so good a time had wings) when this mighty Monarch wanted nothing, that [...] or Industry could think [...]f, to [...] Crow [...] [...]; no­thing that might render him considerable, and e­steemed abroad, or honoured and obeyed at home.

Yea Rebellion her self, like the sin of Witchcraft, sought the shadow of the Night, and dwelt in the dark.

She crouch'd and crept into corners. She was both afraid and ashamed of the Light, and as yet durst work no worse effects in the Kingdom, than what she could do with thinking and Imagination.

Till at length, when the number of our sins were fulfilled, and when their Cry had justly provoked God Almighty to anger, he suffered his own, and his anointed [...]s Enemies, like Jesurun, to wax fat, and kick; and from thinking and wishing evil, to fall to murmuring, and running into privare Cabals and Tre [...]sonable Meetings: From murmuring and pri­vate Meetings, to advance as far as undutiful and disloyal discourses upon the Streets, and running together into insolent and unwarrantable Tumults, from Tumults to open Rebellion and Slaughter; thence to the Confinement and Imprisonment of his Majesties Sacred Person; so to the Plundering, Sequestration, and Murdering of His True, and Loyal Subjects; and last of all, to that bloody Murder and Martyrdom of the best of Kings, under the notion of a Traytor and Malefactor, by a pre­tended course of Law and Justice.

By the imperfect touches I have given you of his former prosperity, and comparing them with the subsequent story of his afflictions, you may take [Page 11] some kind of measures, and give some sort of guess at his sufferings and sorrows.

And when we have trac'd him through all the Tumults, Wars, Imprisonments, and Sufferings that befel him in his Life, and added to them the horrid manner and circumstances of his Death, you will believe with me, that next our Saviour, He may pretend the second best Title to the words of the Holy Ghost, Behold now, and see all ye that pass by, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow! Behold, and see a King (once indeed a mighty King) bound in Chains, and his Nobles in Links of Iron

But to begin with his story, according to the order I have proposed.

When His late Majesty, of Blessed Memory, first received the Crown, the too happy King­dom had so long enjoyed an uninterrupted Peace, that it was even grown sick of its own Prosperity, and lost and swallowed up in its own happiness.

We had surfeited of our own plenty, and (like those that had eaten too much Honey) could not relish our own enjoyments.

And, as this is ordinarily the time that men grow wanton and wicked, and forget God; so is it very often a forerunner of Rebellion against his Anointed. [Page 12] And hence is that common observation, both in History and Policy, that the best and most indul­gent Princes, that have the most carefully consulted the Peace and Happiness of their Subjects, have for the most part been worst obeyed

Such was the hard fate of this Good King, whose Fatherly Piety and Tenderness towards his People, made them (as is common in ill Natures) to forget their duty and Allegiance towards him.

The first appearance of this Storm was in that fa­tal unquiet Quarter, the North.

The Cloud arose in Scotland, and was, at first, no bigger than a mans hand, but at last it grew so great, that it covered three Kingdoms, and drench'd almost every corner of them with showers of blood.

The pretence indeed of this disorder was Religi­on, but it appeared by the sad consequences, that the thing design'd and intended (at least by the Ring-leaders and first movers of it) was Violence, and Rapine, and Sacriledge.

They begin first of all with Paper Arms, muti­nous and Treasonable Pamphlets, and insolent and senceless Petitions.

Then the evil Spirit grew so unruly and disorder­ly, that it assaulted the Bishops upon the Streets, nay the very Churches and Pulpits could not secure them from violence.

And at length this heat and insolence broke forth into an open flame of Hostility and Rebellion.

But that which made every good mans apprehen­sions of this mischief the stronger, was, that the Re­bels were conniv'd at, if not favour'd, and encou­raged under hand by a party of their Brethren in England.

For at the same time there were many Seditious Pamphlets scattered about here likewise, which did most impiously reflect both upon the Church and Government, yea which was yet infinitely more into­lerable, several of the Authors, who had been taken into custody and confin'd for them, were afterwards by the House of Commons delivered, and vindica­ted, and commenced the date of their Fame and Popularity (as Herostratu [...] from the burning of Dia­na's Temple) from those a bominable beginnings, and upon those dangerous Foundations erected the [Page 14] structure of their rising Fortunes.

This I say to put you in mind, that sometimes men arrive at strange degrees of honour and esteem, only by the merit of their Crimes: And I am of o­pinion, we have seen but too many examples of the like kind very lately, who to please the people and make a fortune, neither cared what they said, or swore, or did.

But let me tell you by the way, that such at­tempts and practices as these, are for the most part very unfortunate in the end, and when the Peoples eyes are opened, they that before cryed Hail Ma­ster, will then cry Crucifie him, Crucifie him; and they that to day cry Hosanna, will to morrow cry Away with him to Golgotha.

But I came not here to Prophesie.

The Male-contents in England, after the example of their rebellious Neighbours, begin to cry out a­loud for Liberty, and Religion, and a thorow Reformation.

Hereupon his Majesty, thinking it the most pro­per remedy for these Agonies and Convulsions of State, calls a Parliament.

And this, as it happened afterwards, proved a remedy worse than the Disease it self: For instead of healing and composing differences and grievances, [Page 15] they made it their business to aggravate, and make them worse.

They themselves immediately begin to complain of Bishops and the whole Hierarchy of Ecclesiasti­cal Officers in the Church; and of evil Counsellors in the State, and about his Majesties Person.

Nay they begin to descend to particulars. His Grace the Lord Arch-Bishop is Impeached, and af­terwards Executed for high-Treason; nor can the Reverence of his Office, nor the Integrity of his Manners, secure him. About the same time, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, of whose Innocence his Majesty, and all the World (not excepting his very Enemies, who took care that his case should be no president for Posterity) were very well satisfied, was also Committed to the Tower, Condemned, and Executed upon the like accusation.

All this while his Majesty was but a helpless looker on, for the Common People upon his oc­casion, ran together in such Multitudes and clamo­rous Tumults, as endangered not only the Servant, but the Master.

A hard case and a pitiful, that a King whose the Laws are, could not deliver an innocent Person from being Condemned, and suffering Death contrary [Page 16] to Law, and a sad presage of his own misfortunes.

In the mean time, the Parliament is plyed with Petitions from all sorts of men and women too (ex­cept the good) and Grievances, and Fears, and Jea­lousies of I know not how many kinds.

But the main common places were Religion and Liberty.

Alas! what Religion do they dream of, that strike at the very roots and foundations of it? Or what Liberty can the Subjects expect, when the King himself is not free.

However they and the Parliament mutually en­courage one another, and strengthen one anothers hands in wickedness. The clamours of the Peo­ple make the Parliament bold, and the boldness of the Parliament makes the People clamorous.

All this while his Majesty, to shew how much he tendered the peace and quiet of his Subjects, and to satisfie them all, if it were possible, at their im­portunity, recedes in some things from his Right and Prerogative.

He passes a Bill for the Triennial Parliaments, and afterwards settled this during the pleasure of the two Houses.

A wonderful condescention and goodness in a [Page 17] King, the like of which we have never met with in all our English Chronicles.

And now let us see how they requite him.

About this time, his Majesty charged some of the Members of the House of Commons, and not with­out just cause, with High-Treason, and demanded them in the House himself in Person.

But this they exclaim of as a high breach of Pri­viledge, and the accused Members, who were for the present fain to abscond, were in a little time af­terward brought again to sit in the House, and vin­dicated without Tryal.

Thus finding the ground they had got of his Ma­jesty, their demands grow every day louder and more unreasonable: They do not blush to demand the power of the Militia, the Command of the Na­vy, the Government of all the Strengths and Garri­sons in the Kingdom.

So that Royalty was now to be strips of all her Ornaments, and Soveraignty to be

And now what is become of our old English Loyalty and Honesty, when our King shall, by his own Parliament, be divested of all the Ensigns of his Honour and Majesty, and the Father of his Coun­try become a Slave to his Subjects?

About this time did the Natives of the Kingdom of Ireland, encouraged by the example of the Scots, and the attempts of this Parliament upon the Crown, cast off the Yoke of their Allegiance, and run into open Rebellion, and made such a Massacre of his Majesties Protestant Subjects, as never was heard of before in the three Kingdoms.

And here notwithstanding his Majesties continual solliciting and importuning the Parliament, for the reducing and settling that Kingdom; it is very ob­servable, that they still declin'd it: And some men were so barbarously scandalous and so unreasonably malicious, as to object the cause of that Rebellion to his Majesty himself, and intimate to the World that it was secretly begun and favoured by his Au­thority and Commission.

Thus did the three Kingdoms, as if they had made a secret League and Agreement among themselves, almost at one time fall into Rebellion against their Natural Prince: A Prince who was so ready to [Page 19] grant them any reasonable request, that we may say of him as it was once said of the good Roman Emperor, ‘Neminem unquam a se tristem demisit.’ He never let any man depart out of his presence sorrowful or dejected, if his Petition could be grant­ed with honour.

But the Parliaments Addresses are not such, they spend whole Reams in Petitions, Remonstrances, Declarations, and a great many such like Paper fire­works, all very strange and unreasonable.

And still the more his Majesty grants, the more they still demand; for they are resolv'd that nothing shall satisfie them but all.

They will have the very Fundamentals of Go­vernment altered, both in Church and State, and because his Majesty cannot agree to this, the Rabble associate themselves in tumults and dangerous up­roars, insomuch that he is forced to send away his Queen into Holland, for fear of violence from his own Subjects, in the head City of his Kingdom, and in his own Palace.

Nay at last he was fain himself to retreat from [Page 20] his own House, and take an unwilling leave of the City, for fear his People, in their mutinies and tu­mults, (than which there can be no greater omens or presages of approaching misery to a State) should have stretcht forth their hands to destroy the Lords Anointed.

And because he is now out of their reach, the Parliament do actually seize upon the Militia, the Tower, and all other Garrisons of the Kingdom, they put the command of the Navy into hands of their own chusing, and their own Creatures into all Offices of Trust in the Kingdom.

In short, having made all the preparations that the time would admit, they put themselves into a posture of War, and to let the world see that they were in good earnest; his Majesty is absolutely de­nyed entrance into one of his own Towns, and the Parliament avow the Deed.

And this, I think; was one of the first acts of open Hostility and Defiance.

I am sorry I have been forced to be so particular in this first part of his late Majesties Sufferings, but I have done it not only to put you in mind of those steps and advances, whereby the late Civil Wa [...] [...] ­gan, but also to let you see how near we were, in [Page 21] this late conjuncture of affairs, to tread the [...]me paths, and make our selves miserable once more by the same means.

And here I desire that no body may take that for Reproach and Affront, which I intend only for Reproof and Instruction

We began now just [...]we did then; after a long Fit of Ease, and Plenty, to be weary of our Rest, and sick of our Happiness.

And, to secure the Success, the Design is begun with the very [...] method, whereby [...] had once prevailed.

Secret Murmurings, Private Cabals, Treasonable Pamphlets, Lewd Petitions, Complaints against the Church, and Her Discipline, Indignities to Her Bishops, Crying out against Evill Counsellors, lessening His Ma­jesty in the esteem of His People, and filling their Heads with frantick Fears, and Jealousies where no Fear was.

This I [...], though I could wish it were not. And, had [...] His Majesty, and His Council, seen the [...] Consequences of these things once before, [...]nd all probability we had been min'd, and un [...]one by Whe [...] [...]ow, and the whole Nation [...] in a Bloudy Ci­vil War

Brother might been fighting against Brother, the Father against the Son, and the Son against the Fa­ther; and a Man's Enemies might have been those of his own House.

And this puts me in mind of the second Section in my method; wherein I promis'd to speak of His Majesty's Sufferings and Misfortunes, during the time of the late Civil War, till he was deliver d up by the Scots into the hands of His Enemies, and Imprison'd.

And now, you may imagine the War already be­gun; English-men marching, and fighting against Eng­lish-men; the Air filled with the noise of Drums and Trumpets, and darkened with the smoak of Can­nons and Musquets; the Fields cover'd with the Carcasses of the Dead; and the Rivers colour'd with the Bloud of the Slain.

In the midst of this Confusion, and clattering of Arms, the Laws are utterly silent, and each man's Possession is his only Title.

With what eyes, and with what heart, do you think so good a King could behold the various Suc­cesses and Events of the War [...] wherein, whoever were the Conquerours, He was still sure to lose His Subjects, and always to bear a sorrowful part, both in Doing and Suffering.

How contrary this War was to His Majesty's In­tentions, (that I may use his own words, in his in­comparable [...]) will appear in his total unpreparedness for it. His sonner Concessions shew how willingly he would have prevented it; and his frequent Messages for Peace sufficiently te­stifie that he delighted not in War.

Whereas, all the Overtures of Peace that his Enemies ever made, were still accompanied with such Articles and Clauses, as they knew beforehand could never be condescended to; either by a King, or a Good Man.

Witness the Nineteen Propositions with the Additi­on; The Treaty at Uxbridge; and all other their Mediations, wherein it is evident, even to ordinary Capacities, that they design'd nothing but War, well understanding, and wisely considering, that a [...]om of Machiav [...], He that draws his Sword against his Prince must throw away the Scabb [...]rd.

This indeed they kept to themselves.

But there were other [...] of their own Po­licy, I could tell you of, which they ob [...]led upon the People, to the eternal shame of o [...] English Nation be it spoken.

As, the distinction between His Majesty [...]s Pri­vate [Page 24] and [...] a­gainst Himself, by H [...] Authority; Killing his Sub­jects, to Defend [...] [...] ­belling our [...]

I know [...] they worthy upon [...] they imposed these notions but I am cer­tain the Impartial [...] Swords and Bullets could never be taugh [...] [...]

[...] in [...] Confu­sion and Calamity, it should go well with the Church, when it was so ill with her Sons.

The Reverend Bishops are some of [...] from their Se [...].

An Ordinance is made against the Book Common Prayer; [...] the very Creed and Lord's prayer [...] and some of the [...] form [...] of [...] ha [...] [...]

[...]

Th [...] Pulpits [...] [Page 25] Stools of Sedition, and Treason; and because there were not enough of them, the Shop-bulks, Tables, Chairs, Tubs, Trees, and almost every co [...]er of the Streets, are prest to supply the defect.

The Learned and Orthodox Divines are slighted, and persecuted; and the bold, and ignorant, Guif­ted-men, (as they call'd them) are favour'd and ad­vanc'd.

No wonder then if all manner of Sects, Errours, and Heresies (like Leprous and Infectious Disea­ses) spread themselves almost into all places of the Kingdom.

And now the Scots are called in, as Auxiliaries, to their Brethren; but they are men not to be hir'd upon any easie, or ordinary terms.

They bring a Solemn League and Covenant along with them; and unless their Brethren in England will take it, they are resolv'd not to strike a stroke in their Quarrel. How this Covenant obtained a­mongst us, and how it was received in this King­dom, I shall not need to tell you.

Let me only say this, (and the truth of it) That it was only made use of here as a trick of State, for the R [...]ner of the Church, and the Extirpation of her Discipline.

I had like to have added, the Damming of mens Souls; for it was directly contrary to the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance; so that he that took both Them, and the Covenant, must of necessity be Per­jur'd; and whereas they called it, A Solemn League and Covenant with God: I dare boldly say, in the Prophets Phrase, Isa. 28.15. It was a Covenant with Death, and an agreement with Hell.

But to return to the War.

This War was managed on His Majesties side with the greatest disadvantages imaginable; for the Parliament had seized upon His own Revenues, sequester'd His Friends, and to keep His Subjects from serving him out of Love, and Loyalty, they maliciously spread abroad false and scandalous Re­ports of His Person.

Thus, by the permission of God Almighty, (who sometimes in Judgment lets the Wicked prosper) His Majesties Army, by several considerable Los­ses, being extremely reduced and weakened; and Money (which is the strength and sinews of War) being wanting to recruit them, He resolves to give over the War, and betake Himself to the Scotch Ar­my, which lay then before Newark, and did so, ha­ving this only comfort in the world, (besides that [Page 27] of a good Conscience) that the Event never states the Justice of a Cause.

With what killing thoughts, and terrible appre­hension [...] do we think His Majesty threw Himself into the power of these perfideous Men, of whom he himself said, after they had sold him, That they were just in this, that they had not deceived him?

How lamentable was his condition, when, upon mature deliberation, he thought it his greatest safe­ty to trust those, in whom he knew there was no Trust?

Immediately after his arrival there, he issues out his Warrants to all the Governours of Towns, and other Officers in his Army, to capitulate with his Enemies, make such Conditions as their circum­stances would admit, and surrender.

And certainly, it could not chuse but be a very great affliction to so large and noble a Soul as that of his, to think that at last so many Brave and Loy­al men must leave his Service, without any Reward, but that of Heaven, and be expos'd to the Fury of those wicked men, whose very tender Mercies, he knew, were Cruel.

The News of His Majesties putting himself in­to the protection of the Scots (you may think) quick­ly [Page 28] arriv'd at the Parliament, who immediately a­gree with them about his Price, (I must not say Ransom) and so he is bought and sold, and deli­ver'd into the hands of his Implacable [...]nemies, conducted to Holm [...]y, and confin'd.

And this brings to the third Section of His Maje­sties Sufferings; to wit, During His Imprisonment; which part of his affliction comes nearest the literal sense of the Text, To bind your Kings in Chains.

I shall need to say little (especially in this Audi­ence) of the pressures and difficulties of a Prison to the very meanest, and most vulgar of men. But, that a King should be bound in Chains; the Assert or of the Peoples Liberties confin'd; a Sovereign Prince, so Great, so Good, so Just, Imprison'd by his own Subjects, in his own Kingdom, may chal­lenge the wonder and amazement of this age, and perhaps exceed the belief of some of those that are to come.

The boldness and malice of his Enemies was a wonder; so also was His Majesties Virtue and Pa­tience: And certainly, had not his Spirit been buoy'd up, and wonderfully confirm'd, by the sweet and comfortable Influences of God Almigh­ty's, his restraint would have deluded their last Re­venge, [Page 29] and put an end to his miserable Life before the day.

Immediately after, his Enemies, that their malice and bitterness might want no aggravation, com­mand his Guardians to retrench both the Expences of his entertainment, and his Retinue; The Coun­trey-people that flock'd thither to be cur'd of that Disease which we commonly call the King's Evil, are not admitted to his Presence, but repell'd with Scorn and Reproaches. But that which was the most Prodigious and Inhumane of all their Cruel­ties, and hard usage, was, that (as if, like the Devil, they had envy'd the well-fare of his Soul) notwith­standing all his Sollicitations in this Extremity, they refus d him the attendance of his Chaplains; a greater Rigour and Barbarity than is ever used a­mongst Christians to the meanest Prisoners, and greatest Malefactors.

By the first, they might think to lessen the Qua­lity of his Person; By the second, to diminish his Credit and Esteem among the People; But, by the last, I know not what they could intend; unless it were to hedge up his way to Heaven, and, if it were possible, murder his Immortal Soul.

I will not adventure to tell you how his Majesty [Page 30] resented this passage, I refer you to his own Book.

A while afterwards, some mis-understanding a­rising between the Parliament and the Army, the General sends a Party of Horse, seizes his Majesties Person, and carries him from one place to another, till at last he is committed Prisoner to the Isle of Wight.

And here the Parliament send their Commissio­ners to Treat with him again; where they find his Concessions such, that they tell him they doubt not but that the Peace will suddenly be concluded, and all differences between Him and his People adjusted and determined.

Upon their return to London, the Army (wherein, it is probable, there were many Cains and Judass's, who thought their sins too great for Pardon) puts for [...]h a Remonstrance, wherein they demand, That Justice may be done upon all the Actors and Contrivers of the late Civil War; and particularly upon his Majesty, as the Author and Beginner of that Calamity.

Hereupon his Majesty is committed close Priso­ner, his Servants dismiss'd, and he himself a while after brought to Windsor, and so to London, with a strong Guard; where the usual Respect, and cere­mony of the Knee, is quite wav'd, and omitted by [Page 31] most of those that are about his Person; nay there were some that would scarce vouchsafe him the Hat.

And now, to add the last complement to their Iniquity, which is, to Establish it by Law: the House of Commons declare, That, by the Fundamen­tal Laws of the Realm, it is Treason in the King of Eng­land, to levy War against the Parliament, and Kingdom. That the Legislative Power is in the People. That the Commons assembled in Parliament are the Supreme Autho­rity of the Nation That all the People of the Nation are included in the Parliament, although the King and House of Peers do not consent thereunto. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament, and therefore is Guilty of all the Bloud-shed in the late Civil War; and that he ought to expiate the Crime with his own Bloud.

Notwithstanding this, the Ordinance for his Ma­jesties Tryal is refused by the Lords; whereupon the House of Commons pass it alone, and by them­selves cause a Charge of High Treason to be drawn up against him, in order to his Tryal, in the Name of the Commons of England, and immediate­ly make Proclamation, That they that could Accuse the King, should present themselves before the Commissio­ners appointed for his Tryal, and they should be heard.

I will not trouble you with Remarques upon these several passages; the bare Relation does manifestly shew us both the Rebels Malice, his Majesties Suf­ferings, and admirable Patience and Resignation; whereof himself hath given us the best draught, in his own incomparable Book.

We will therefore leave him a while to his De­vout Prayers, and Holy Meditations; and before we bring him to act his last Part upon this Bloudy Stage, according to the order of our method, speak a word upon His Sufferings in the Persons of his Loy­al Nobility, and such good Subjects as stood and fell with his Majesty, in that Good Cause.

We commonly say, The King is the Fountain of Honour; and when the Fountain is troubled, you know the Rivulets, and little Streams, must needs run muddy.

The King is like the great Luminary of the world, the Sun; from which (as some Natural Philosophers conceive) both the Moon, and many of the lesser Lights of Heaven, borrow their shine and splendour.

Now, when the Sun it self is Eclipsed, the Moon, and all those other Planets, must needs fade, and lose their brightness.

When the King [...] we th [...] [...] Loyal [...]bles should enjoy their reflected Honours and Liberties.

Thi [...] was the state of [...] time.

[...], was D [...]' [...] [...] the measures of his Suffering this Fai [...] [...] were likewise Plunder'd, [...], and many of [...]

So exactly were those [...] ap­plicable to this sad occasion, The Servant is not grea­ter then his Masters, And [...] things in the Green Tree, what will they do to the D [...]?

I will not pretend to give you a just Bill of the Mortality of those da [...]s; But since I am so far engag'd, I will [...] to say something, and be sure to keep [...] bounds of truth and modesty.

There were on his Majesties part above Twenty Earls and Lords slain and [...] a pre­tended Court of Just [...]; [...] and Knights; above an Hundred [...] Lieut [...] [...], and Serjeant [...] Four hundred [...], and other inferiour Com­mission Officers; and then, for the meaner Sub­jects, [Page 34] and [...] you to guess; I will say nothing of [...] [...]hers, but pray to God, th [...] their Bloud [...] ever [...]tise up in Judg­ment against [...]

[...], or Ten [...], overture would [...] Oak, and goodly [...]ars, but destroy d [...] crush'd the very Sh [...] [...]

There was fear scarce [...] were only thought, [...] to be so) though his Qu [...]l ioy were never so mean, but felt the Insolence and Violences of th [...] [...] [...]ful Conquerours.

Yea, some [...] [...] a Crime only to live in a Loyal Neighbourhood, and to relieve or shew mercy to such as were persecuted for [...] Loyalty, was the [...]ady way to follow the [...] [...], and share in the [...]

Nay more, their malice often times [...] [...] ­scended all bounds, that they did mischief where they were not [...] to themselves; on­ly [...] they took in doing it: Burning [...] Goods, destroying Books; E [...] ­ [...]s, and Publick Records, to the prejudice of Posterity, the disturbance of Possessions, the obstru­ction of Justice, the impairing of Learning, only to make themselves sport.

Nay, I believe there is scarce a Cathedral in the Kingdom, which does not bea [...] the Livery of their madness, and some markes of their rage, unto this very day.

Nor do I wonder, that the Houses of God were prophan'd and defac'd, when I consider that the Priests themselves, who serv'd at his Altar, were either sacrific'd to the fury of his Enemies, or at least depriv'd of their Benefices, and expos'd to the wide world; which was one of their tender Mer­cies.

But what do I speak of their persecuting of the living, who envy'd the very rest and quiet of the dead; breaking in pieces their Monuments, and violating the Ashes of those Bodies, whose Souls are in [...]eaven, out of their reach, long ago?

How monstrous and disproportionable is it in these men, to pretend themselves. Servants of the Living God, who in their practices [...] [...]ich a mortal ha [...]ed to the places where his [...] dwells? Or how can we think that they have any Religion, who have even divested themselves of all Huma­nity.

I will pass from this unpleasant Argument, with praying for those of them that are yet alive, [Page 36] in the words wherewith St. Stephen (the blessed Proto Martyr pray'd for those that ston'd him, Lord lay not this S [...] to the [...] Charge.

I will only put you in mind, that when you have added the Sufferings of the Nobility, to those of his late Majesty, you have the compleat figure, and substance of the Text; A King in Chai [...]e [...], and his Nobles in Feet [...] of Iron.

But there is yet no end of this sorrowful story.

What I have hitherto said, are all but flourishes and preliminaries; The great slaughter of the fifth Act, the last and bloudiest section of my method, is yet to come; and that is, the Murder and Mar­tyrdom of the best of Kings, by the hands of his own Rebellious Subjects.

An action, that (all circumstances consider'd) can find no parallel in time past, and God forbid it should in time to come; to which Posterity shall for eve [...] [...]ay an annual Tribute of Tears, and the solemnity [...] Penetential Commemoration.

An action, that surpasses all the savage and in­humane Barbarities of those Countreys, whose Cruelty is gone into a Proverb, and which, among other Nations, has branded, and stigmatiz'd this of ours, with an eternal Infamy.

The Rebels bring their Lawful Sovereign to a formal Tryal, in a Court of their own erecting: In vindication of whose Authority, when questio­ned by his Majesty, as they had nothing to answer, so could they not produce the least colour of Law, or pretence of Reason for trying him, who was un­accountable to [...]y. [...] upon Earth, and according to that antient ma [...] [...] the Law, can do no wrong.

But their Po [...] [...]st pass for Justice, and their Wills are a Law: And he might as well demand an account of their Proceedings, as an Innocent Tra­veller might of violence offer'd him by a desperate knot of Banditti, or Highway-men.

All this while (as the Jews did at the Tryal of our Saviour) the insolent Souldiers, according to their Instructions, (not to mention their more than Barbarous and Inhumane affronts and uncivilities) cry out aloud for Justice against the Prisoner at the Bar.

The President of that High Court of Justice (as they called it) in the mean while, with a torrent of im­perious and insolent words, urges him to plead, while he only persists (as well be might) to deny the Authority of the Court.

There are several days spent in the same manner; [Page 38] after which, as Judges use to treat Malefactors, that have not the fear of God before their Eyes, the President begins a grave Harrangne, (nor will he be interrup­ted by a King) wherein he asserts the Authority of Parliaments, aggrevates his Majesties contumacy, and the horrour of his Crimes wilfull [...] mistaking light for darkness, and darkness for [...]; Innocence for Guilt, and Guilt for Innocenc [...] [...] so proceeds to Sentence of Death, by seve [...]g his Head from his Body.

This (says he, after the Sentence read) is the Act, Sentence, Judgement and Resolution of the whole Court; whereupon they that sate as Judges (being in num­ber Seventy eight persons) stood up, and shewed their assent, by holding up their hands; never consi­dering, with what heavy hearts, and dejected eyes, they should one day bold up their hands again for the same. Fact, before the dreadful Tribunal of the Righteous Judge of all the world.

The Execution was not long respited. There were but two days between that of his Sentence, and that of his Death; which he spent in such De­vout and Pious Exercises, as become a dying Chri­stian.

He receiv'd the Holy Sacrament, Bless'd and [Page 39] Instructed those his Children that were with him; pray'd for the Peace of the Nation, for the Hap­piness of his Friends, and the Repentance of his Enemies.

The black and dismal day of his Execution be­ing come, he is brought to the Place, which (as if it were design'd to add to his affliction, if possible) was, a Scaffold erected just before his own Palace.

The spectators were amaz'd to see him enter upon that Bloudy Stage with so much meekness and leuity, so much serenity and chearfulness in his looks.

Nothing daunted, or surpriz'd with the sad spe­ctacle of the Instruments, and Circumstances of his Death; In a short Speech, he first declares his Inno­cence; laments the publick Calamity of the King­dom; heartily pardons, and prays for his Enemies; Then, making an open Profession, that He dy'd in the Christian Faith, according to the Profession of the Church of England, and kneeling down, his last breath dissolves in a meek, and holy Prayer.

And, in assurance of God Almighty's Mercy, and his own Innocence, I go (says he) from a Cor­ruptible, to an Incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, but Peace, and Joy for evermore.

Then, lifting up his eyes and hands to Heaven, mildly praying to himself, he stooped down to the Block, and humbly bow'd down his Royal Head to God, to be cut off by the Vizarded Executioner, which was suddenly done, and one blow.

Thus fell that Mighty Monarch, and Miracle of Goodness, CHARLES I. of ever blessed memory, a Martyr for his God, and a Sacrifice for his Sub­jects; the Grief, and Glory of the English Nation; lamented not only by his Friends, but even by those very men (though too late) that had assisted in bringing him to the Block.

Thus fell the Beauty of our Israel, in the High-places. How are the Mighty fallen?

Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in Askalon; lest the Daughters of the Philistines rejoyce; lest the Daugh­ters of the Uncircumcised triumph.

Tell it not among our Neighbours abroad, pub­lish it not in Foreign Kingdoms, lest our Enemies rejoyce, lest we become a reproach to our Neigh­bours, a scorn and decision to them that are round about us.

Ye Mountains of Gilboah, let there be no Dew, nei­ther let there be Rain upon you, nor Fields of Offerings; for there the Shield of the Mighty is vilely cast away, the [Page 41] Shield of Saul, as though he had not be anointed with Oyl.

Let the fatal Time and Circumstances never be forgotten, wherein the Shield of our Defence was vilely cast away, wherein the Scepter fell from his Hand, and the Crown from his Head, as if he had not been anointed with Oyl.

Ye Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in Scarlet, with other Delights; who put on Orna­ments of Gold upon your Apparel.

Weep, O ye Loyal Subjects, over your Mur­der'd Prince, under whose shadow ye once enjoy'd all the Blessings of a happy Peace.

How are the Mighty fallen, and the Weapons of War perished?

Nor did the malice of his Enemies expire with his Life; they pursue and follow the Royal Mar­tyr into the very shades of Death, like the Philistines that fastned the dead body of Saul to the Walls of Bethshan.

They raise false and scandalous Reports of his Religion; they erect him a Statue, with that con­tumelious Inscription, Exit Tyrannus; and, in de­spight of his Name and Posterity, pass an Act for the utter abolishing of Monarchy it self. [Page 42] And thus I have given you a brief account of his late Majesties grievous Sufferings, both in his Life, and Death.

I come now, for Conclusion, to tell you what Use or Improvement we ought to make of the story.

And that will either respect the time past, or time to come.

As to the time past, we should with sorrow, and bitterness of Spirit, remember, and repent of those crying Sins, and Offences, which provok'd God Almighty to suffer his Anointed, our late Sovereign, (of happy memory) to drink so deep of the Cup of his Wrath, and humbly deprecate those Judg­ments, which we have reason to fear that Innocent Bloud may yet bring upon us. And this is the duty of this day.

As to the time to come, we must use our utmost care and diligence to prevent the like, by yielding all due Homage and Fealty to our Kings, and Re­spect and Obedience to all that are in Authority under them, both in Church and State. And this is the duty of our whole lives.

And, that we may herein acquit our selves, like good Christians, and Loyal Subjects, we must first [Page 43] of all most industriously avoid those things which have the very least tendency to Disloyalty, and the very first steps that lead to Rebellion.

Of this sort are, Murmuring, and repining against the Government; and so are Tumults, and Unlawful Conventions; and therefore equally to be shun'd and avoided.

I say, we must beware of Murmuring, and re­pining against the Government.

This is become so common, and ordinary at this day, that I dare say there are many men scarce believe it to be a Sin.

Unhandsom Reflections upon His Majesty, the Church, the State, the Court, the Council, and the Laws too, are the ordinary entertainments of some mens Conversation.

Every Mechanick now adays pretends to give you an exact account of all the distempers and mistakes in the Government, and their proper helps, and remedies besides; so that to hear him talk, you would think he had serv'd his Time to a Privy-Counsellour.

Nor is this a practice but of yesterday; it hath been so in all ages, and amongst all people.

Omni populo inest aliquod malignum & querulum in Imperantes, says Plutarch, in one of his Tracts.

Men are generally malignant and querulous against their Governours.

And though a Prince do nothing that may de­serve it, yet he is sure to have the hatred of some. The most exalted Piety and Goodness, could never yet boast of every mans Love; nor the most un­spotted Innocence, secure it self against the poyson of Tongues.

And here I might add that Tetter, or Scab of the Commonwealth, the Publishing of Scurrilous, and Seditious Pamphlets; which, in my mind, is a kind of undermining the Government; But let the Au­thors take heed it do not at last fall upon their heads, and oppress them; For though the heels of Justice be of Lead, yet her hands are of Iron.

Therefore, Curse not the King, no, not in thy thought; for a Bird of the Air shall carry the voyce, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

It is the wisest of Kings, and the best of Preachers Counsel. Eccles. 10.20.

2dly. The second step or advance towards Re­bellion, are Tumults, and Unlawful Conventions; and from these we should abstain, as we would from [Page 45] the Infection of a Pest-house; for there is Nothing (to use his late Majesties own words) portends more the displeasure of God towards a Nation, than when he suffers the confluence and clamours of the vulgar to pass all boundaries of Laws, and reverence to Autho­rity.

And that which should the more oblige us in this case to stand upon our Guard, is the fatal preva­lence, and insinuation of example.

For there is nothing more common, than for men to follow a multitude to do Evil; and like Beasts march on with the Herd, without ever en­quiring whither they go.

And besides, in such intemperate Heats, and Mutinies, men are apt to do those things all toge­ther, which singly the very worst of them would be asham'd of; for every man fancies himself shel­ter'd in the Croud, and a great fault divided into many pieces, they think will be but every one a little.

To Tumults I added all other Unlawful Meetings and Conventicles whatsoever, yea, though they be under pretence of Religion it self.

For besides that those are for the most part Schools of Sedition, and Nurseries of Schism, the [Page 46] very act of Meeting, and Convening it self, is a viola­tion, and breach of the Law, and therefore by all means to be avoided.

Of both these, to wit, Mutinying against their Prince, and Invading the Priests Office, Korah and his Company stand a sad (but fatally pertinent) Example unto all Posterity.

Their story is Numb. 16. In verse 3. you have their Sin. And they gathered themselves together against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you.

Their Punishment you have in the 31, 32, 33. And it came to pass, as Moses had made an end of spea­king all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them,

And the Earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their Houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah; and all their Goods.

They, and all that appertained to them, went down a­live into the Pit; and the Earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the Congregation.

And I know not what better Counsel I can give you, either in regard of Tumults, or Unlawful Con­ventions, than that which Moses gave the Children of Israel, upon that occasion of the Rebellion of Ko­rah, [Page 47] in the 26. verse of the same Chapter: Depart, I pray you, from the Tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their Sins.

And, as we must avoid those Things, so must we also avoid those Persons, which lead towards Rebellion.

I mean, we must have a care of the Designs and Insinuations of those covetous and ambitious men, who are always making a Party against the Go­verrnment; and that for no other reason, but only to gratifie their own infatiable and boundless desires of Riches and Honour.

The Tools which these State-wrights commonly work with; the Baits which cover their Hooks, are for the most part, the Preservation of Religion, and the Vindication of Liberty.

With these two specious pretences they draw in not only the wicked and profligate Desperado's of their own Principles; but also the simple, short-sighted, well-meaning Multitude, who, ten to one, never know where they are, till there is no room left them them to retreat; Nor understand rightly what they are doing, till 'tis too late to retract.

And this was the very case of a great part of the Kingdom, in the late Civil Wars.

They cry'd so long upon Religion, that at last they conjur'd her up in so many shapes, and there appeared so many New Lights, that the undiscer­ning multitude could not tell easily which was the Old.

They were affraid of the Re-establishing of Super­stition, and Popery; and look'd upon our Churches decent and useful Ceremonies, as Dangerous Inno­vations, and Introductions to Idolatry.

And in the State, the fancy'd endeavours of an Arbitrary Government, and advancing a Boundless Prerogative, even to the despoyling the Subject, and robbing him of his Birth-Right, the benefit of the Laws.

And, to free themselves of these Fears and Jea­lousies, they ran out into an open Rebellion; whereby, instead of settling and confirming, they ruine and overthrow the very Foundations of both Religion and Liberty.

Alass! their Ignorance in both.

One would think that the Excellency of our Re­ligion, and the great Prudence and Sincerity us'd in the Reformation, might have satisfied any conside­ring [Page 49] man, that there was no danger of our returning to the Communion of the Church of Rome; Or, if nothing else would, yet (methinks) the inconsistence of the Interest of our Kings with subjection to that See, might have perswaded any man in his wits, that they would never submit themselves again to that Yoke, which neither we, nor our Fore-fathers, have been able to bear.

And again, for Liberty, it can never be for the Publick Good, to assert it by Subjects taking up Arms against their Prince, because some ambitious design­ning men are always sure in such cases to make the abused People their own Slaves.

This truth was well known to some at the begin­ning of our Troubles, though their endeavours to infuse it into the distemper'd peoples minds, had the fate of Cassandra's Predictions, To hit the Truth, but want Belief, till a costly, and too late experience, had vouch'd it.

So that, upon the upshot, it appeared, that all the fair pretences of their Leading-men, were but a miserable masque and cover of a Damnable Re­bellion; and their towering, high-flown Religion, nothing but down-right Hypocrisie, and deep Dissi­mulation.

This was but too plain to every body, upon their refusal of His Majesty's large Concessions, in the last Treaty he had with them.

Every mans eyes were then opened, and they saw manifestly, that the great designers and managers of that Rebllion, aim'd at nothing but his Crown and Dignity; and that the People had all this while been deluded with appearances, and cheated with Golden Dreams. So true is that of the Prophet, even in this sense, 1 Sam. 15.23. Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft.

God deliver us from her Enchantments, and accept the Bloud of his dear Son Jesus Christ, as a perfect attonement for that Royal Innocent Bloud, wherewith our Land was, as this day, stain'd and polluted; Bless the Kings Majesty with a long and prosperous Reign; Grant us Peace and Truth in these our days, both in Church and State; Give us all one Loyal and Obedient heart; Compose all our Unnatural Heats and Divisions; Deliver us out of the hands of all our Enemies; and grant, that those Evils which the craft and subtilty of the Devil or Man worketh against us, be brought to nought; and by the providence of his Goodness they may be dispersed, that we his Servants, being hurt by no Persecutions, may ever [Page 50] more give thanks unto him in his Holy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord: To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost the Comforter, be all Honour and Glory, now and evermore,

Amen.