to say something of the Reality of those Dangers which we are in some measure delivered from because there are some who have gained such a perfect Mastery of their Consciences that they can believe even a Cheat that serveth their Turn and Dis-believe even a Miracle that wounds their Interest Now Discerning Men have seen for several years last past that our King and Government both were in eminent danger because those very Artifices being imploy'd again which served effectually to destroy the Father we had all the reason to believe that they were intended to destroy the Son too it being impossible but the same Means used in the same manner must tend to the accomplishment of the same Ends. When it was taught for Doctrine that the King is a King by Law and it past so currently for the Protestant-Faith that the Clown hath as much Title to his Cottage as the King hath to his Throne it was manifest enough then that a Mine was preparing to blow the King up and that nothing was wanting but a convenient time to spring it When the Kings Actions were so maliciously mis-interpreted when his Designs were still looked upon to be Insincere when his Counsellors were brandded for Popish Conspirators when His Majesty himself was represented to the People as one that was not to be Trusted and when endeavours were used to reduce him to the mean Condition of an Orphan and a Beggar what could we make of all this but a Devillish Stratagem either to make him once again an Exile abroad or to spoil him of all his Crowns at home and to leave him no more than what they left his Father the Crown of Martyrdom When so many Seditious Libels appeared every week in the World now a Vox Patriae then a Vox Populi now an Appeal then an Advice to the Country now a Treasonable Postscript by a True Protestant and then a whole Treasonable Doleman by a True Jesuit now the Advance and then the Growth of Popery now a Plato and then a Julian Redivivus In a word when we were Plagued with as many Mischievous Pamphelts here as there were almost Locusts in Egypt what could any Reasonable man believe but that Ruin and Desolation would be at the end of all When Faction grew more sturdy and insolent since the Discovery of the Popish Plot than they were before as if they scorn'd to take Quarter and believed that one day it would be at their own pleasure whether they would give any we might well imagine that they thorowly knew what Designs were laid and what Foundation and Bottom they stood upon and hoped in a short time to give us Battel not upon the Level but upon the Highest ground When we have had such Non-conformists-Pleas instead of their Repentance and when they combined together to maintain that Liberty as their Right and Due which before they crouched for as a thing Precarious we might easily see what those Affronts of Authority did mean that now at the last push they would not give over but for their Party-sake and to serve the Interest of the Common Cause against the King and Church they were resolved to Labour hard in their respective Seminaries of Rebellion and never be tempted from their New England Colonies by force of Argument Briefly when for many years we have seen perpetual Endeavours used to pull down that admirable Frame of Government which is by Law settled among us in Church and State and when they who call themselves The True Protestants have imployed all their Wit Power and Malice to make Majesty Odious to expose his Ministers to publick Scorn and Hatred to Reproach and Threaten all his Friends to poyson the World with Rebellious Principles to bespatter the purest Church in the whole Christian World to Revile her whole Government Discipline and Service to Traduce her Clergy of every Rank and Order and to stir up the Fury of an Vngovernable Populace against them it was too too manifest that they intended the utter Destruction of our Laws and Establishments and to bring about their Villanous Ends by some the most violent Methods either by Assassinating his Majesty which some looked upon as the shortest Course or by a General and formed Rebellion which others conceived to be the most Generous and Heroick way These Rogueries were so plain that all men had Reason to mistrust and some had the Confidence to say That while we were in pursuit of the Jesuit an unsuspected Enemy would come behind us and reward us with Joab's Compliment under the fifth Rib. And so it proved in the Issue for while we were afraid of one Enemy we were in danger of another Here was truly a Wheel within a Wheel and while the Papist was at his work the True Protestant so called kick'd him by and took his place That light which a few saw then through a Crevise every man may now behold clearly for now the Window is open and the Conspiracy which we feared is as plain as the Sun We need no further proof hereof than what hath been given us by the Conspirators themselves For if to be Felo de se be an Argument of Guilt we have had too sad an Argument of that kind If to fly from Justice be the Indication of an Evil Conscience there are many that Undeniably argue themselves to be Criminals If the Voluntary Confessions of Confederates be Testimony sufficient here is the most Pregnant and Unquestionable Evidence that ever was given by some at the very point of Death and by all before the face of the World against whom nothing can be Objected but this which yet is no Objection at all that what they wickedly Consented and were Privy to they Honestly Discovered and some of them too when there was no Hope of saving either Life or so much as an Hair by it And as for those very few scarce enough to makeup a Number who have taken an Improsperous and Impossible Course to Conceal or Palliate their Crimes we may truly say That by their Tacit Confessions and Open Contradictions and Artificial Shifts they have and perhaps beyond the rest Confirmed the Credit of this Horrid Conspiracy when they intended to Stifle or Weaken it For by extenuating and mincing matters they force all Men to conclude that there was some Great thing in hand which needed the utmost of their Art and Skill And indeed they seem Agreed with us upon the main point only their Language is different from ours for what they call Disorders that the Law and We call Treason Now this is no Denial of the Matter but only a different way of expressing it and I am apt to think that had the Conspiracy taken its intended Effect these Men would have Extenuated and Minced it after the same manner and they who now call Rebellion Stirs and Resistance Innocence would then have lessened the Plot so that Cutting of Throats would have been counted only a Scotch-way of Trimming
and the Destruction of Princes to be no more but a Perfecting the History of the Reformation But Blessed be God that the Counsels of Achitophel and the Designs of Sheba and the Persidiousness of a Judas are all hitherto Ineffectual Though we have been Troubled and Afflicted and in extremity of Dangers on every side yet he hath not suffered us to be tempted above what we are able but with the temptation hath now made a way for us to escape and in a great measure hath delivered the Righteous out of their distress For to speak now particularly of this Deliverance he hath first delivered a Righteous Church Righteous in her Cause Righteous in her Principles and Righteous in her Ways When the Villanous Practices of some Romanists were Detected and set the whole Nation in such a Rage we had reason to expect that every English-man professing the Protestant Religion would have lent an helping Hand to preserve that Church which the common Enemy did thrust at with so much Malice and Fury A Church which hath rolled in Blood for her Faith and Loyalty A Church which hath sent into Heaven such Colonies of Confessors and Martyrs for the Truth A Church which hath constantly maintain'd her own Cause and the common cause of all Reformed Churches A Church which hath stock'd all Christendom with Learning and hath obliged even Foreigners to be her Advocates A Church which hath laid the Holy Scriptures so open and hath instructed her Children so in all Literature Divine and Humane that every the meanest Idiot may be able to give a good account of his Faith and Hope In a word a Church which in all her Conflicts hath been so Victorious and successful that 't is generally acknowleg'd by us that she is the only Substantial Bulwark against Popery I say we did justly expect that when this Church was so Beset by Enemies from abroad she might be sure to find none but Friends at home And how did the matter go at last Why instead of Preserving her these Apollyons marked her out for Destruction Every Law which was made for her Support was to be Repealed Every Kennel was to be opened and every Ravenous and Bloud-thirsty Sect was to be let loose against her The whole Body of her Honest and True-hearted Clergy were to be Routed or Sacrific'd Her Government was to be pulled down her Discipline was to be taken away her way of Worship was to be abolished and God alone knoweth whether any Form of Worship at all was to be set up in its room Her Church-doors were to be set wider open tolet in Godly Traytors Sanctified Hypocrites Religious Atheists and Protestant Turks Her Lands were to be Escheated to our Soveraign Lords the People to pay all the Charges of the Plot to reward every Mercenary and Forsworn Sycophant and to mend the Fortunes of every Beggarly Dependant upon the Plot-Office All her Dutiful Children were branded for Papists and by a strange kind of Comprehension were to Communicate in the same Fate with the Papists and if it were once given out that the King was killed by the Papists though Protestants did it All of us without Discrimination were to be Assassinated in our Houses or in the Streets because we were all concluded Papists They would in all haste have Revenged the Kings Death upon us all not so much because the King was killed as because he Lived so long and We would not help to Kill him Thus the poor Church of England was to be rewarded at last for all her Faith for all her Integrity for all her Merits and Care of Souls and even for her daily Prayers for her Enemies and Persecutors Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce and their Wrath for it was cruel and except the Lord himself had been on our side when they rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick when their Wrath was so kindled against us But Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey unto their Teeth Our Soul is escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and we are as yet delivered 2. Together with this Deliverance wrought for our Righteous Church God hath wrought a Deliverance for our Righteous Prince too We little dreamt that this King was to be Murder'd also and that too when the Bloud of Charles the First cryed yet for Vengeance and within a few years after Charles the Second was Restored to us by a Miracle being risen as it were from the Dead and received by us with all Publick and Triumphant Hosanna's and Acclamations Who could imagine that after so many Frotestations and Professions of Sorrow for former Miscarriages after so many Vows of Loyalty and Hearty Obedience for the future after so many Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy repeated over the whole Nation after such Acts of Indemnity granted even to Monsters of Rebels after such Profuseness of Royal Bounty whereby Villains were enriched and grew fat after so many Expressions of Goodness Tenderness and Clemency enough to soften any Devils but Fanaticks after such pretended Fears lest his Majesty should be destroyed by the Papists after so many Professions of the most sollicitous care for the Preservation of his Sacred Life after so many Specious Addresses said to be presented by his most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects and after so many formal Petitions to the King that he would be careful of his own Person I say who could imagine that after all this any such Men should be found among us as would time after time Conspire to Murder his Majesty in his Coach and as if all his Favours had been Injuries to make Reprisals upon his Life But I remember what a Character Josephus gives of the Pharisees those great Pretenders to Religion of old that they were a Bold and Arrogant Sect that would not Antiq. l. 17. cap. 3. Swear Allegiance unto Caesar but were inveterate Enemies to Kings and would not stick upon occasion to make Attempts upon Kings and do them Mischief And may not this be the Character of the Sectaries among us Truly it may be question'd whether there be any difference between them in their Morals but this That the Pharisees in that Nation were Jewish Fanaticks and the Fanaticks in this Nation are Christian Jews Did not the Pharisees continually way-lay the Son of God to Stone him Why even so did some of these Conspire to way-lay the Anointed of God to Assassinate him as if in every Age the Good Old Cause so called must be Consecrated by shedding a Princes Blood Azorius the Jesuite endeavouring to prove the Lawfulness of Deposing Kings urgeth several Presidents for it and among other Examples which he mentioneth he saith That it was a common Practice in Scotland The very same Argument is used by Buchanan the Scotch Presbyterian I could reckon up saith he Twelve of our Kings or more who have been either thrust into Prison or forced into
their while or consideration to Fore-cast Where the Traytors of the Late Times were Defective and Overseen there these Rebels would have been very Circumspect and Wary so that they would have left us no tolerable Hopes of ever seeing the Royal Family and our Ancient Legal Government restored again And what infinite Havock and Destruction would not this have cost For had these men prevailed which was not possible for them without the Expence of many thousands of Lives besides the sacred Life of Him who is an whole Kingdom unto Vs but had their Villany prospered they could not have been secure long if but a Remnant was left of such as are faithful Friends to the Crown and Church So that they could not propose to themselves any other probable ways of setling themselves in that Power they longed for but by the utter Ruine of Loyalty and by a total destruction of every Honest Family from the Father to the Child in all parts of the Nation And what then would the sum of all have been why I will give it you in the words of a zealous Writer in the Late Dr. Gaâ—den 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Times We should have left us a Kingdom without a King Government without Authority Magistrates without Power People without Laws a Body without an Head Sheep without a Shepherd Christians without Christ Churches without Ministers or Ministers without maintenance and a Nation without Faith and let me add too a Land without any Peace Armies without any end Oppressions without any Mercy Protestants without any Religion and an Associated Heard of the most Savage and Vnclean Beasts without any God That this is not our present Condition we must ascribe it wholly to the great Goodness of God whose Mercies and Compassions never fail And that we may now make some use of this whole matter 1. The Consideration both of our Dangers and of our Deliverance serveth First To Justifie the Zeal of those who for these several years have given the World warning of the Dangers we were in and have vigorously appeared for the interest of the King and the Church Though the generality of Men have been strangely Blinded and Mis-led by the Artifices of those who made use of Mens Fears of Popery to promote their own Fanatick and Republican Interests yet there were many who would not be wrought upon to bow down their Knees to Baal nor suffer themselves to be cheated of their Consciences but told men plainly That Factious and Antimonarchical Designes were carrying on and that Ruin would be at the end of all if they did not take heed in time For how could it otherwise be without the help of Gods special Providence but that men would fall into the same Pit again when they drave on so furiously in the very same Broad ways which led us to Destruction before Yet these Faithful and Plain-dealing not to say Prophetick Monitors were then either laugh'd at for a sort of rash and impolitick Fools or stigmatiz'd for Men of Hot Heads for talking so much of Forty One and of an Intemperate Zeal for Arbitrary Power and Popery And in this respect the honest Clergy some in the Country divers about the City of London have suffered in a very great measure being oftentimes pubickly and in Print exposed to the Fury of a mad Rabble not only as weak and undiscerning men but also as direct Betrayers of the Nations Liberties and Religion But there is a time when Wisdom will be justified of her Children and now all well-meaning nay even the moderate men so called must own that there was too great cause for us to act and say as we did Did not the Faction every day grow not in numbers onely but in insolence too beyond all Comparison And when they had so much Strength Malice and Authority on their side what did they want but our Pulpits Had the Alarm been but given there the Sword had been presently drawn and such another Rebellion had followed as was once proclaimed with a Curse ye Meroz and was Sanctified in so many Churches as the Cause and Quarrel of God Indeed I cannot vouch for every Pulpit especially since it is Discovered that Three famous Non-conforming Preachers have baen zealous Promoters of this Horrid Conspiracy and time must shew us how many more of them have been holding forth the Armatum Evangelium the same Gospel of War which was once before covered with Buff and sprinkled with the Blood of a Scotch-Covenant but 't is very suspicious that more than an Ecclesiastical Council of six have been beating the Drum though God be blessed it was only a dead sound in a Corner and the generality of Men have hitherto been out of the hearing of the Beat. 2. I have not said this for the Honest Clergy of our Church for I except a Judas and a Julian out of any Principle of Vanity or with a Design to insinuate that we are any more than mean and poor Instruments in the hand of God No it is the great Bishop of the Church and of our Souls the Lord of Glory and Power to whom we owe this and all other our wonderful Deliverances to and who with his own right hand and with his holy arm hath gotten himself the Victory And therefore Secondly The sense of this Deliverance should make such a deep Impression upon all our Hearts as will bring us to a thorow Repentance from all dead Works and to an Vniversal Obedience to his Heavenly Will And this not only as the best Expression of Thankfulness for this Mercy hitherto but also as the best and only means to incline the Divine Goodness still to perfect that good work which he hath of himself begun among us Lord how near were we to Destruction Upon the very brink and edge of it so that to all Humane appearance had his Sacred Majesty staid at New-market but two days longer of necessity we must have been all Buried before now in a Common Ruin Blessed be God the God that doth wondrous things that he hath given us this one opportunity more to praise his Name and to declare the Works that he doth even for the unthankful children of men But this is not all our Business to offer up unto him the Sacrifices of our Mouth and the Calves of our Lips for unless we be careful to direct our Lives and to order our Conversation as it becometh Saints we shall come very short of our Duty and for ought I know may still come short of our Deliverance Remember what Samuel said to those willful and ungrateful People 1 Sam. 12. 25. If ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King We all pretend great Honour and Affections for his Majesty and a most tender care for his Safety and Preservation Why I will tell you a short and a ready way how he may be safe and happy and continue a long Blessing to us and to our Children Let