In order to _Naboth_'s Murder there was a _Fast Proclaim'd_, _a solemn Assembly call'd_, a formal Accusation forg'd, and suborn'd Witnesses produc'd. The principally intended Wickedness was thus usher'd in with a preparatory Combination of other Crimes; thus closely was the Train of Mischeif laid, by the Contrivance of wicked _Jezebel_; that _Hypocrisy_, _Perjury_ and _false Judgment_ should be the Prelude and Introduction to _Murder_. And was not this exactly the Case of our _Royal Sufferer_? Was there not a Day of _Humiliation_ appointed? Was not the nefarious Business in Agitation dignified with the specious Title of _the Lord's Work_? Did not the cheif Authors of that Cruelty pretend to be _seeking the Lord_, whilst their Instruments were embruing their Hands in the Blood of the _Lord's Anointed_. How horribly did they profane the Name of God, whilst they invok'd him, as Accessary to their Bloody Machinations, and besought him to strengthen their Hands in that diabolical Work! How wretchedly did they pervert his Word, which teaches all Obedience and Reverence to Princes; whilst even from those sacred Writings they would pretend to justify not only the highest Insolence and Contempt, but even the actual Murder of his _Lawful Vice-gerent_! To how base Purposes were the Ordinances of Religion prostituted, whilst they fasted for the Success of that impious Act, which it requires a perpetual Fast to deprecate the Guilt of: And _made long Prayers_ only _for a Pretense_, when they were making a Royal Widow, and devouring Houses and Lands, stately Palaces, and Princely Revenues with insatiable Greediness! How ill did it accord with their profest Purity and Godliness, after they had strain'd at so many Gnats, to swallow such a Camel! Could they, in Reality, have been held by any Religious Ties, they would have paid some Regard, if not to the general Precepts of Obedience, if not to the former Oaths of Allegiance they had taken; yet at least to their own _Solemn League and Covenant_, that precious Test of Disloyalty, they so eagerly contended for, and which they had contriv'd as a Snare for others, whilst, thro' the Deadness of their Consciences, they were unrestrain'd themselves. Even _that Engagement_, rebellious as it was, provided for the Security of the King's Person, which they were bound, by all that was Sacred, to protect and defend; and consequently the putting him to Death, besides all the other bad Circumstances, was an Act of the most _deliberate Perjury_ that ever was committed. But as if something was still wanting to fill up the Measure of their complicated Impiety; they added Hypocrisy to the rest, gave a Religious Turn to their execrable Proceedings, and in the Depth of all this Mischeif, pretended a Zeal for God's Glory, and to have nothing so much at Heart, as promoting the Purity of his Worship.