THe great obligations that I beare unto you, for your many favours, and more especi­ally for the refuge and comfort that I have received from you in the time of my per­secution, will not suffer the sense that I have of the publique calamities that are now upon us, in the losse of our gracious King, now sacrificed to de­struction by the Tyranny of insolent and ungodly men, so wholly to take up all the room of my heart, but that the care of your safety and comfort, must be a partner with it, so far as to set me upon this endeavour to admi­nister some Cordiall unto you, to preserve you from fainting under the burthen of those render thoughts that are in you toward his sacred Majesty. It is the con­dition that God hath allotted unto all Earthly things, that they are all bitter sweets, and have in them a mix­ture of joy and sorrow There is no delight so perfect in this world, but hath some affliction attending upon it. There is pure and sincere happinesse in nothing but in [Page 4]God; that we thay not be so taken with any earthly fe­licity as to give up our hearts unto it. Therefore every Rose that groweth in this garden hath its Thorne, every beauty its blemish, every Splendour its waight. That the one may be a remembrancer unto us, not to doate too much upon the other: That the full bent of our affe­ctions may still be reserved for God. If there were any thing found here of so entire and uniforme a composure of felicity, that there were no other quarell left for the mind of man to entertaine against it, yet this is an inse­parable abatement that sticks upon them all, that they are all fraile and fading and must have an end; and no­thing can make us truly happy, but that wherein happy­nesse is lasting and perpetuall and on the other side. There is nothing that befalleth us in this world, so pure­ly grevious and calamitous, but there is some matter of comfort and consolation to be found in it, which grace can discover and make use of, though some times it is be­yond the wisdome of nature.

There is no Poyson but hath something Medicinable in it, which the art of Pietie may draw forth of it. I con­fesse indeed that the present calamity we are under, the losse of his Sacred Majesty, is an evill of so sad a pre­sence unto an honest and Christian heart, that if we look upon it, with a full view in all the consequences that are like to follow it will not be easily [for ought I know] to think upon any earthly calamity of more universall and perfect sorrow; and yet even in this. There are some cor­ners of refuge for a Christian soule to hide it selfe in, that it may not be swallowed up with discontent; That so good a KING should die, it hath in it matter of emi­nent sorrow. But then that he died so good a KING [Page 5]That hath some recompence of comfort and solace. In the former, our losse calleth for our sighs, but in the latter his gaine alloweth us some breathings of joy. That he should die under the name of a Tyrant, a Mur­therer, and a Traytor, is an object full of lamentation. But that he died indeed a Martyr; A Martyr both of the State and the Church, for the liberties of his Sub­jects, like a good KING; And in the defence of the true Religion, like a good and glorious Christian: This hath joy in it above that sorrow, whilst we see the igno­minies of his death but shaddowes and falsehoods, But the Glories thereof as Substances and Truths, which will enroll him in the golden Catalougues both of faith­full sufferers for his God, and saithfull Patriots and Fa­thers of his Countrey. That he should be trampled on with so much insolence, as I think the like hath ne­ver beene heard of in the World, (and I am sory should have the first president in a Christian Church, and Nation) it is a matter of much sadnesse and griefe, but that he should suffer so much insolence with such admirable courage and Christian patience, the like whereof I think hath scarce bin read of in all the world, this presenteth him unto us as a Conquerour over his enemies and persecutors, and them as the slaves and cap­tives of his Christian triumph, and affordeth us mat­ter of joy and contentment. It is an heavy thing to think on, that he should suffer by his own Iudasses: But a joy­full and glorious thing it is to think on, that he suffered so like his own Iesus, so like him in the manner and cir­cumstances of his sufferings being betrayed by, his owne servants, arraigned before Iewes and Pilate, at the best, reviled, reproached, and they say spit upon by an un­worthy [Page 6]varlet, scorned and contemned, & condemned unto death: so like him in the temper of his sufferings, with so much meeknesse and fortitude, undauntednes of spirit, and submission to the will of God: So like him in the cause of his sufferings (as farre as we may with al re­verence to the infinite and incomparable sufferings of Christ: compare inferiour things with those that are so farre above them) Christ suffered for the good of his of his people, so did he: Christ for the freedome of his people, so doth he for the freedome of his: indeed this difference there is which barres out infinitely any equa­lity between the one and other: Christ he suffered for the whole world, he but for his three Kingdoms: Christ to free his people from an eternall captivity, and the ty­ranny of Sathan: He to free his Kingdoms from a tem­porall captivity and the Tyranny of wicked men: so that though in these things he be farre below his master Christ Iesus, yet so like him, that I think it will be very hard to sinde a nearer parallel in any earthly story: and like him too in the person of the sufferer, Christ was a King and so was he, Christ the supreame and Charles his substitute; Christ a spirituall King, he a tem­porall, whose Kingdome was of this world, and there­fore according to our Saviours Rule, his servants should have fought, that he should not have been delivered to those Iewes.

It is indeed a sad thing to consider, what a distressed Familie and Kingdome hee hath left behind him; But it is a joyfull thing to think on, what a joyfull and a glo­rious Kingdome he hath obtained, where every suffe­ring of his hath as it were its peculiar crown: & his cru­ell death is succeeded with an eternall and immortal life: [Page 7]a Crown that feares no insolent deposers and a life that dreads no inhumane Traytors and murtherers.

To conclude as we find in him so much matter of joy to ballance our sorrows, and such as doth adde much honour to all those that have truly served so good, so gracious, and so pious a Lord and Master, so we have in him likewise great patternes of Patience and Christian resolution, that as he fainted not in his, so we may learn first of Christ, and then of him too, not to faint in our Tryalls, that as he went so patiently and meekly to the suffering of the losse of his Crowns and life, so we may prepare our selves Patiently and meekly to suffer the losse of him, not murmuring against God, or charging him foolishly, but seeing and acknowledging Gods hand even in this, that we may with the holy Psalmist hold our peaces and say nothing (nothing I mean in the way of murmuring and impatience) because it is his doing, but if we say any thing we may say with Eli; It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good, or with holy Iob; The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, that however wicked men have taken upon them, without Commission to be the Iudges of his Substitute, yet we may not take upon us to judge God, or call him to an account for his acti­ons, but rather reverence both his Iustice and mercy therein; his Iustice upon us for our sinnes, and his mer­cy unto his Annointed, in taking him away, from so wicked, cruell, bloody and insulting a Nation, humbling our selves under his mighty hand, and waiting upon him in the wayes of his judgements, and patiently expecting in this also the fulfilling of that gracious promise of his unto his people. That all things shall work together for [Page 8]good to those that love God. In which joyfull promise, I heartily wish you and your worthy Husband, and your family a plentifull share, and in all that good which I hope the Lord will return yet upon the faithful, and loy­all people of this land for the sufferings of his Annoin­ted, whereby he is so much glorifyed. I shall end all with this Prayer unto God: that he will dispose us to submit as we ought unto this and all other afflictions hee shall lay upon us, and give us grace to yeeld him the fruit of them: That he will be gracious to our young King, the afflicted Queen, and the Royall Family, and to the op­pressed and distressed people of the Land. That he will forgive our Enemies, and soften their hearts, and multi­plie his blessings upon us and all our friends. So I rest,