A
SERMON
PREACH'D
Before the Right Honourable
THE
LORD-MAYOR,
THE
Aldermen and Citizens of London,
AT THE
CATHEDRAL Church of St. Paul,
On Monday the 30th of Jan. 1709/10.

BEING
The Anniversary Fast for the Martyrdom
of King Charles the First.

By ANDREW SNAPE, D. D.
Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset,
and Rector of St. Mary at Hill.

LONDON: Printed for Jonah Bowyer, at
the Sign of the Rose in Ludgate-Street. 1710.

Garrard, Mayor.

Martis vii. die Februarii, 1709. Annoq; Regni Reginæ Annæ, Magnæ Britanniæ, &c. Octavo.

This Court doth desire Dr. Snape to Print his Sermon, Preach'd at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, before the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of this City, on Monday the Thirtieth of January last, being the Day of Humiliation for the Martyrdom of King Charles the First.

GIBSON.

1 KINGS, XXI. 9, 10.

There is scarce any one Instance of the shedding innocent Blood recorded in Holy Scripture which has not at some time or other been apply'd to the Occasion of this Day's Solemnity, even that of our blessed Saviour not excepted, whose Steps we have with one Voice declar'd in the Service of the Church the blessed Martyr cheerfully to have follow'd. [Note: 2d Collect for the day.] But here indeed it concerns us to tread warily. We can only affirm of the greatest Saints and brightest Luminaries of the Church that they have made some faint Approaches toward that great Exemplar, without

presuming to equal either the Merits or the Sufferings of any meer Man to those of our crucify'd Redeemer: in all other Parallels there is less Danger of Excess, since most of 'em will be found, in many Circumstances, to fall short of the Fact committed on this Day.

Now altho' in such a comparative way of arguing, where we single out some remarkable Passage from the Records of past Ages, and adapt it, as far as it will naturally bear, to some After-Occurrence that has fall'n out nearer our own Times, it cannot be expected that both the Cases should be in all Respects exactly the same, without the least Variation, yet when we can point out some of the principal and Master-Strokes of each of 'em which have a near Resemblance of one another, when the Methods and Ways of Acting, the Motives and Inducements to it, with other concurrent Circumstances, are the same; this may be enough to justify the Choice of the Subject, and make it serve at least as a fair Introduction to the Matter in Debate.

I mention this, because of one remarkable Disagreement, which you must needs have been before-hand with me in observing, between the Case of Naboth, and that of this Day's Royal Sufferer, who as he had Liv'd the Ornament, so Died the Martyr of the English Church and Monarchy: And that is, that in the former of 'em,

an innocent Subject was Murder'd by a wicked King (or at least by his Instruments and Agents, not without his Approbation and Consent, as appear'd by his subsequent Behaviour, in seizing his Inheritance, as well as by his own Confession, when he submitted to the Prophet's Charge, and humbled himself for it) whereas in the latter, a just and pious King was depriv'd at once of his Crown and Life by wicked and rebellious Subjects. But there are other Resemblances between 'em, that will make Amends for this Disparity. And therefore I shall proceed.

I. I am to draw a Parallel between the two Cases, and show what is common to 'em both. Here then we may observe, that the Persons compar'd were both good Men: Both were Murder'd with a pretended Show of Justice, and with Religious Solemnities: Both for the same Cause, because they would not part with the Inheritance of their Fathers: Neither of 'em

suffer'd singly; but the Enemies of each extended their Malice to the whole Race of 'em.

First I say they were both good Men. That Naboth was so, we may very fairly conjecture from his Behaviour in the Matter of the Vineyard; and from the Severity of God's Wrath toward Ahab and his Family, for unjustly putting him to Death. For altho' the Murder even of a wicked Man, either by false Accusation, or secret Treachery, is a very heinous and detestable Thing; (and that Life that is Forfeited to Justice by a thousand real Crimes, yet if innocent quoad hoc, and taken away by wicked Subornation, on weak and insufficient Evidence, for that which is not a Crime, or which was not committed, will derive a Sentence of Blood-guiltiness, nay of the Shedding innocent Blood, on the Contrivers and Actors in such an Execution;) yet we cannot suppose, that this is, in so excessive a Degree, provoking, or that it entails the Divine Vengeance on so many Generations, as when the Person Condemn'd is eminent for Piety and Vertue.

If indeed we were to judge of Things by their first Appearance, the Carriage of Naboth toward Ahab, in denying him his Vineyard, might seem to have been very Churlish and Undutiful, especially when offer'd a better Vineyard in Exchange for it, or an equivolent in Mony. And the Kings condescending way of Address, when

he thus expresses himself, If it shall seem good to thee, and if it please thee; might be thought to have deserv'd a better Answer than, I will not give thee my Vineyard.

But we must consider on the other Hand, that the Thing which the King desir'd, was absolutely Unlawful, and expressly forbid by the Command of God; the smallest Ceremony of whose Appointment could not be dispens'd with. We may learn from Lev. 25. and Num. 36. how straitly the Jews were enjoyn'd to look upon the Inheritance of their Fathers as Sacred: The very numerical Lands and Possessions were to be continually preserv'd in the respective Families to which they were allotted, and the present Occupants had no Power of totally alienating 'em, but only till they could be redeem'd by one of their Kin, and not so long as that, if a Year of Jubilee should first happen, when all Things were to be restor'd as at the beginning: And even that temporary Alienation was not to be made, but under the Pressure of extreme Necessity, which it seems was not Naboth's Case. So that he look'd on the Proposal, as a Thing he could not with a safe