SERM, every thing but a good Caufe, and a
I. good Confcience; when deftitute of

all Hopes of Succour from his Friends,
or of Mercy from his Enemies: Then,
even then, did he poffefs his Soul in
Peace, and patiently expect the Event,
without the least outward Sign of
Dejection or Difcompofure. He re-
member'd himself to be a King, when
all the World befide feem'd to have
forgotten it; when his Inferiors treat-
ed him with Infolence, and his E-
quals with Indifference; when he was
brought before that infamous Tribu-
nal, where his own Subjects fat as his
Judges; and even when he came to
die by their Sentence. In all thefe
fad Circumstances, on all these trying
Occafions, he fpake, he did nothing,
which mis-became the high Character
he bore, and will always bear, of a
great King, and one of the best of
Chriftians. And this Mixture of un-
affected Greatness and Goodness, in
the Extremity of Mifery, was, I fay,
his peculiar and distinguishing Excel-
lence:

I.

lence: Other Royal Qualities, that SERM. adorn Profperity, he shared in common with others of his Rank: But in the decent and kingly Exercise of these Paffive Graces, he had, among the Lift of Princes, no Superior, no Equal, no Rival.

Indeed, the laft Scene of his Sufferings was very dismal ; and fuch, from which meer Human Nature, unfupported by extraordinary Degrees of Grace, mufts need have fhrunk back a little Affrighted, and feem'd defirous of Declining. But those Succours were not wanting to him; for he went even through this last Tryal, unfhaken; and submitted his Royal Head to the Stroke of the Executioner, with as much Tranquillity and Meekness, as he had borne leffer Barbarities. Paffage through this Red Sea was bloody, but short; a divine Hand ftrengthened him in it, and conducted him through it; and he foon reached the Shore of Blifs and Immortality.

The

He

SERM.

I.

He is now at Reft in those Manfi

ons, where Tears are wiped from Wall Eyes, where there is neither Death,

nor Pain, nor Crying, and from whence Sorrow and Sighs do flee away. Wherefore, Let us not mourn, refusing to be comforted; but let us rather (as those early Chriftians did on the like Occafions) rejoice with exceeding Joy: Rendring to God our Thanks, that he hath been pleased in these last and most degenerate Times, to afford us fuch an illuftrious Pattern of Vertue and Goodness, as even the pureft Ages of Chriftianity would have look'd up to with Reverence; that, by this Means, he hath given to loofe and prophane Men an Instance of the great Power of thofe Religious Principles, which did, and which only could fupport the Mind of this pious Prince, under all the Indignities and Miseries that befell him.

What an Honour is it to that Church at whofe Breaft he first fuck'd thefe Principles, to have been inftrumental

mental in sowing the firft Seeds, from SERM, whence fuch excellent Fruits after- I. wards fprang! How ought fhe to boast and triumph in this Thought, That a Prince, who excell'd as much in the Knowledge, as in the Practice of Religion, fhould be fo firm and unmoveable an Affertor of her Doctrine, and Discipline, and Worship! Which he therefore valued highly, because he understood them thoroughly: That he fhould go on to maintain Her Caufe, even long after he despair'd of maintaining his Own, or of being able to retrieve his loft Crown and Dignity! and that, after he had thus defended her Faith, during his Life, he fhould recommend it still more at his Death, by dying in it, and for it.

But the more Excellent the Character of this Prince was, the more barbarous and brutal was the Rage by which he fell: Every Confideration which heightens his matchlefs Vertues, and endears his Memory to us, ferves alfo to enhance the Wickedness

of

I.

SERM, of those Sons of Belial, who were the Inftruments of his Ruin, and embrued their Hands in his Blood. And, therefore, though we have no Occafion to weep for him, yet have we great Reason to weep for our felves, and for our Children; for the Guilt which the Nation contracted, and the Infamy it underwent, by Reason of that inhuman Deed, and for the other fatal Confequences, which then did, and which (as we have juft Reason to fear) may ftill attend it. And this is the fecond Point, upon which I proposed to enlarge :

II. That Nations, as Nations, are liable to Guilt, and confequently to Punishment; that fuch Punishments must be inflicted in this Life, in which alone thofe Nations and Communities subsist, and cannot be extended to another World, where all Kingdoms and People are to be swallowed up in the Kingdom of the Lamb, and to be come one Fold under one Shepherd;

and