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 — Edition Insights

The Danger of Forced Parallels

Snape opens with a careful disclaimer: while Scripture's innocent blood has often been applied to Charles I, even Christ's passion included, he cautions that only 'faint Approaches' can be made toward that 'great Exemplar.' This rhetorical move allows him to use the Naboth story without claiming exact equivalence. He emphasizes that both cases share 'principal and Master-Strokes'—the use of a fast, the elevation of the victim, and false witnesses. Yet he admits that no two historical events are identical, a concession that subtly acknowledges the limits of typological reading.

The Fruits of Discord

Snape devotes considerable space to the aftermath of the regicide, painting a picture of anarchy and tyranny. He asks a series of rhetorical questions about the Interregnum: 'Did it not cost 'em much dearer to maintain their new Lords in their ill-gotten Tyranny?' He contrasts the imagined liberty with real oppression, claiming that under the Commonwealth, taxes were higher, justice more corrupt, and the people 'chastis'd with real Scorpions.' The sermon's language grows vivid, describing 'Servants on Horseback, whilst Princes walk'd on Foot' and invoking Jotham's parable of the bramble. This section functions as a warning against any future rebellion, grounding its argument in historical memory.

Spiritual Consequences and the Present Danger

Turning to ecclesiastical matters, Snape argues that the rebels failed to establish a stable worship. He notes that their complaints against the hierarchy—'taking too much upon 'em'—were turned back on them, and that 'almost all Religion resolv'd into Hearing.' The sermon then shifts to a more recent threat: the 'imminent Danger' of Popish superstition, which he links to the same spirit of discord. Though the text breaks off, the pattern is clear: the same principles that led to Charles I's death nearly brought back Catholicism. Snape thus ties the past to the present, urging his listeners to see the anniversary as a warning against both rebellion and religious innovation.

Snape's sermon is best read as a political and theological argument embedded in a scriptural frame. The Naboth story provides a structure for discussing false accusation, judicial murder, and divine judgment, but the real weight falls on the historical examples from the 1640s and 1650s. Readers should attend to how Snape uses rhetorical questions and biblical allusions to shape his audience's understanding of recent history, and note the careful balance he strikes between honoring the martyr and avoiding excessive typology.

Snape’s sermon left me thinking about how we inherit stories of loyalty and loss, not as lessons, but as quiet weights we carry. That same lingering ache of reflection finds its echo in Five Minute Sermons, Volume II. For Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year by Priests of the Congregation of St. Paul — Key Ideas to Explore, where each short passage feels like a gentle pause, rather than a push. It stayed with me softly.