in conscience to alarm them and the whole Nation with a little Tract called The Beacon fired which was very ill resented and bitterly answered by the Ringleaders of the Faction But it would be endless to insist upon particulars of this nature It 's certain that as they were no Enemies to Popery so they were no Friends to Religion onely they had learnt Machivel's Principle to own the shew but not the substance of it For their Solemn League and Covenant taken by themselves rigorously and unconscionably prest upon others in the taking whereof there were so many Solemnities used so much seeming Zeal Reverence and Devotion expressed this very Covenant when it crost their designe was laid aside like an old Almanack out of date and a useless thing Base Hypocrites thus to prophane the sacred Name of the great God by Religious Mockeries And of this their vile Hypocrisie their own actions were a clear demonstration when they pluck'd off the Vizard from their faces and were not ashamed to discover the ugliness of their complexions to the whole World For when these zealous Reformers had gotten the Power into their own hands and when they had stoln the Peoples hearts heads hands and all and engaged them in their Party what Havock did they make what Oppression what Cruelty did they exercise towards their fellow-subjects What Violence Psal 55.9 what Strife what Mischief what Wickedness what Deceit or Guile did they omit to support their new-erected Tyranny Is it not lamentable to consider that so much Treasure should be spent so much Christian Bloud spilt so many Subjects lives lost not to speak of the dangerous condition of their Souls who died in actual Rebellion against God and their King Rom. 13.2 and were drawn in by the subtilty of those Bloud-thirsty men and all this to mount an infamous Faction made up mostly of the Dregs of the Nation to the highest pitch of Power and Dominion Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum But the great God made them know to their smart that he ruleth in Jacob and to the ends of the earth Psal 59.13 that he is King be the people never so impatient that he sitteth between the cherubims Psal 99.1 Old Translat be the earth never so unquiet that he who sits in Heaven sees and derides the bold attempts of such daring mortals Psal 2.4 that he to whom vengeance belongeth will shew himself that the Judge of all the earth will render a reward to the proud that the wicked shall not always triumph nor the workers of iniquity boast themselves nor break in pieces his people and afflict his heritage and slay the widow and murther the fatherless Psal 94.1 Sera sed certa venit vindicta At last God arose and fcattered his enemies Psal 68.1 blew up their Plots subverted their Councils and turned all their mischief upon their own pates A fire not blown consumed them Job 20.26 A strange and unexpected Judgment sent from Gods immediate hand like a fire that arises of it self no man knows how seized upon them when they were at the highest of their hopes and confidences and fancied with the Psalmist an immovable and setled prosperity Psal 30.6 and cast them down into destruction brought them into desolation as in a moment and utterly consumed them with terrours Psal 73.15 c. And is it not sad to consider that notwithstanding all this there should be some of the same Litter still lurking in the Nation who though they have seen the mighty hand of God in the destruction of their Party and the miraculous reduction of his present Majesty do yet long to be at it again and still hope for the day when they shall cry once more against Church and State as the Edomites did against Jerusalem Psal 137.7 Raze it raze it even to the foundation thereof * Isai 26.11 When thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed of their envy at the people Is War so sweet to these men Dulce bellum inexpertis that they should stand on tiptoe to leap into a new Rebellion to act over the old Part upon a new Stage and under a new disguise to revive the Good Old Cause to the confusion of King Church and Kingdom and in order to this to endeavour by a new knack of an Ignoramus to pervert all Law and Justice and let loose the Reins to the greatest Villanies to plot and act all manner of mischief impunè even to the murther of the King himself For what Justice can we expect to be done upon those who are to be tried by their fellow-Delinquents And is it not yet to be feared that Absalom and Achitophel are still at work amongst us and hope by their secret machinations and subtile insinuations of strange fears and jealousies to prevail with the giddy Multitude the Rabble of Towns and Rout of Country-bumkins to beat not their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Isai 2.4 that is a Prophesie of Gospel-times and that Peace and Concord which should reign amongst Christians but their Plow-shares into Swords and their Pruning-hooks into Spears as it is in Joel 3.10 to convert all into Arms and Ammunition as men use to do in the calamitous times of War A time most suitable to the spirits of bold furious fiery and bloudy-minded men But God hath hitherto dash'd their designes so that though they intended evil and imagined a mischievous device against King and Kingdom yet they are not able to perform it Psal 21.11 God I say hath hitherto prevented their Malice and out of the ashes of that Phoenix the best of Princes a Non-such indeed but not in the sence of those Miscreants hath raised up another our most gracious Soveraign now reigning whom God long preserve maugre all the Plots and devices the spite and malignity of all his open and secret Enemies I shall conclude with Jacob's exprobation of Simeon and Levi for some of both Tribes had a hand in the innocent bloud that was shed this day and his Apostrophe to himself by way of detestation of their bloudy fact and I hope every good Christian and loyal Subject will joyn with me Simeon and Levi are brethren Gen. 49.5 c. instruments of cruelty are in their habitations O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be thou not united for in their anger they slew a man and in their self-will they digged down a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel FINIS
open force probably he had never prevailed so far therefore he lays the foundation of his Plot in secret fraud and makes use of the Foxes case to prepare a way for his after-appearance in the Lions skin III. Thirdly Let us enquire whose hearts Absalom stole The hearts of the men of Israel who were 1. The peculiar people of God solemnly dedicated to him and his service in covenant with him and highly prized by him Now to draw them into so foul an Apostacy so fatal a Conspiracy against the Lord and his Anointed was a great aggravation of his damned Impiety 2. But this is not all The men whose hearts he stole were David's Subjects tyed not onely by the Bonds of natural Allegiance to their Prince but with the most sacred Tyes of Religion a Solemn League and Covenant made before the Lord in Hebron 2 Sam. 5.3 So that he drew them not onely into Rebellion but Perjury such near affinity there is between sins of this nature 3. Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel not barely from their King but a King of Gods own immediate choice and appointment Psal 89.20 I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my servant as it were by diligent search and enquiry after some excellent and heroick person with my holy oyl have I anointed him And 2 Chron. 6.6 I have chosen Jerusalem that my Name might be there and have chosen David to rule over my people Israel that under his government they might enjoy the greater felicity 4. He stole their hearts from a King whom they received with the greatest expressions of joy 1 Chron. 12.40 and not without cause if you consider how well he deserved of them by their own acknowledgment 2 Sam. 5.2 Also in time past when Saul was King over us thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel c. 2 Sam. 19.9 The King saved us out of the hand of our enemies and delivered us out of the hand of the Philistins c. In a word one that had conquered their enemies enlarged their Territories but above all reformed their Religion according to the purity of Gods Law And yet these are the men whose hearts were stoln from their confessedly-deserving Soveraign by the crafty insinuations of complemental Absalom So mutable are the opinions and affections of the giddy Multitude IV. Fourthly This will appear more clearly if we consider the next circumstance from whom the hearts of the men of Israel were stoln from no common person but a King from no foreign King but their own no unworthy dastardly Prince but an heroical magnanimous and renowned one for his Valour Wisdom Piety c. chosen of God to be the Ruler of his people as you heard before A man after Gods own heart 1 Sam. 13.14 one that did judgment and justice to all his people 2 Sam. 8.15 whatsoever the Rebel suggested to the contrary ruled them prudently with all his power fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands Psal 78.72 This is the King whose Subjects hearts were stoln by an ungrateful Son and infamous Rebel So blind is Ambition in the Plotters and a brutish Itch after novelty in the Abettors of rebellious projects and practices against the best of Princes How much then doth it concern Princes to carry a jealous eye over that beast with many heads to suspect the fickle and unconstant disposition of the Multitude especially if poysoned with principles of Rebellion under pretences of Religion who are apt enough of themselves to grow weary of the present Government if at least it be charged true or false they never examine by their graceless Ringleaders with any irregularities or defects though such as probably cannot be avoided in the best of Governments or by the best of Governours but Absalom furatus est cor c. i. e. as one descans upon the Text excordem reddidit amentem populum he made the people stark mad by his intoxicating Allurements and Inchantments V. Fifthly By what means he stole the hearts of the men of Israel By the most vile and sordid that Hell it self could suggest and yet such as are usually practised by Rebels in their method of undermining Kingdoms as Fraud Flattery Lying Hypocrisie palpable and malicious slandering his Fathers Person and Government This obsequious Gallant puts forth his hand embraces and kisses every one that comes to him to do him obeisance 2 Sam. 15.5 Et omnia serviliter pro dominatione as Tacitus said of Otho He kissed them not out of love but designe as Judas did our blessed Lord and Saviour Mat. 26.48 not to salute but betray him We read John 12.4 and 5. how sollicitous the Hypocrite seemed to be for the good of the poor not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief So this Traytor puts on the Cloak of feigned Humility and Humanity Holiness and Charity not that he regarded any of those or minded the happiness of the people but because he was a Thief and aimed at the Crown For what probability was there that he who was so prodigal of the bloud of his own Brother Amnon should be tender of the lives of his Subjects or that he should make conscience of preserving the Rights and Priviledges of his People who endeavoured to deprive his Prince and Father of his Regal Prerogatives or that he should consult the Peace of the Nation that wilfully involved it in an unnatural and bloudy War onely to satisfie his own ambitious Lust And yet how passionately doth the Hypocrite breath out O that I were made a judge in the land that every man that hath suit on cause might come unto me and I would do him justice How zealous would the good man be for the Peoples Welfare * Occultum insidiosum malum est perfidia cujus efficasissimae vires sunt mentiri fallere Val. Max. Prov. 10.18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth a slander is a fool for says he thy matters are good and right but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee As if he should have said Neither the King nor any of his Officers have any regard to Justice or the Publick Good a brazen-fac'd lye and shameless slander of a graceless wretch Yet with this Art he woes and wins the hearts of the men of Israel But the grand Engine to advance his hellish designe was the Traytors hypocrisie and pretence of Religion the painted Vizard that the vilest Rebels use to hide the deformity of their mischievous Plots with Religion must be a Cloak for his Rebellion a Vow must be paid in Hebron the place where his Father was first crowned King and as 't is probable where himself was born and bred amongst his Relations and Acquaintance and at some distance from the Court that he might act his part with the less suspition
such persons firm to their Loyalty might be made evident by a multitude of Instances amongst our selves To apply this to our present occasion This day fell the best of Princes by the bloudy and barbarous hands of his own Subjects There were many Absaloms and Achitophels proud ambitious covetous subtle malicious wretches that conspired to shed his innocent Bloud and to this end stole the hearts of his beguiled Subjects and by plausible pretences decoy'd them into a Rebellion against their lawful and gracious Soveraign that so they might rob him both of his Crown and Life at once Unnatural Miscreants whom no reverence to his sacred Person no fear of that great God whose Vicegerent he was no sense of their own Duty nor shame of the World could restrain from the open impudent impious and villanous shedding his Royal and Sacred Bloud What Morsters were these that durst deal so barbarously with a King their own King who offered them all the pledges of his Love all possible security for their Lives Liberties Laws Religion or whatsoever was dear to or might abundantly satisfie all good and loyal Subjects * This the King grievously complains of in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I had formerly declared to sober and moderate minds how desirous I was to give all just content when I agreed to so many Bills which had been enough to secure and satisfie all if some mens hydropick insatiableness had not learnt to thirst the more by how much the more they drank Chap. 6. A King famous for his Parts Piety Patience Devotion and all other Christian Graces which will make him admired to all Generations when the name of these wicked ones shall rot Prov. â—0 7 and stink in the nostrils of all those that have any sparks of Ingenuity or Humanity left in them But what assurances could satisfie those that were resolved not to be satisfied with any thing but his Crown and Life and therefore wretchedly staved off all offers of Accommodation for Peace †Or else offered such unreasonable terms as he could neither in Honour Reason or Conscience yield to Witness the 19 Propositions the Treaty at Vxbridge which proved unsuccessful says the King in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the treacherous obstinacy of those men with whom it was a grand Maxime to ask something which in reason and honour must be denied that they might have some colour to refuse all that was in other things granted ch 18. For these Miscreants had a bloudy Tragedy to act an execrable designe contrived which they were resolved to carry on against all Laws of Scripture Nature Nations against their own publick Declarations against their solemn Oaths Vows Covenants and I am perswaded the checks of their own Consciences too unless they had as wilfully seared them as they had impudently brazened their faces to act such a prodigious Villany in the face of the Sun and view of the whole World who stood amazed to behold the impudence and impiety of those graceless wretches who had made such publick and frequent Professions and those confirmed by sacred and solemn Oaths of their Loyalty to that innocent and excellent Prince whose Bloud afterwards they so barbarously spilt If we enquire into the Means and Methods by which they effected this monstrous Villany we shall find that they traced exactly the steps of this bloudy Absalom in their Fraud Hypocrisie Calumny false and impudent Slanders cast upon that Kings Person and Government as appears by that Remonstrance set forth in 1641. pretended to be for the information of the People but intended by some at least for their seduction and indeed proved the source of all our ensuing Miseries and the prologue to that woful Tragedy acted on this day As also by their frequent and false Declarations wherein they wrest all his Expressions and Concessions to the worst sence charging him with the Irish Rebellion and the guilt of all the Bloud that was spilt in the three Nations * The tenderness and regret I find in my soul for having had any hand that very unwillingly God knows in shedding one mans bloud unjustly c. may I hope be some evidence before God and man to all posterity that I am far from bearing justly the vast load and guilt of all the bloud which was spilt in this unhappy War which some men will needs charge on me to ease their own fouls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 2. Of the Irish Rebellion see chap. 12. Though themselves had no ground for the raising that bloudy War but their own pretended and groundless fears and jealousies and offering the highest indignities to his Royal Person and Family Their usual Expressions were Blacken him blacken him i. e. load him with Reproaches defame him amongst the People make him odious by false Accusations malicious Slanders infamous Libels c. †Those foul and false Aspersions were secret Engines at first employed against the love of my People towards me that undermining their value of me mine Enemies and theirs too might at once blow up their Affections and batter down their Loyalty Chap. 15. And so they did Some of them spit their hellish Venome upon his Name as others in imitation of their Forefathers the Jews Mark 14.65 did their aspish Poyson in his face a Barbarism unheard-of in token of their greatest Contempt and Abhorrence But his Name like a pretious Oyntment will yield a sweet savour Eccl. 7.1 when their Memorial shall perish with them or if any thing remain of it it shall be noted with a black mark Nigro carbone fit onely to be fixed upon men famous for infamy and render them an hissing a by-word and an astonishment to all succeeding Ages * I am well assured that as my Innocency is clear before God so my Reputation shall like the Sun after Owls and Bats have had freedom in the night and darker times rise and recover it self to such a degree of Splendour as these feral Birds shall be grieved to behold and unable to bear Chap. 15. But the grand Cheat lay in the pretence of Religion and Reformation Popery was coming in upon us like a Floud Popery a terrible word and which of late hath been made use of by some subtile Underminers of Monarchy as a Bugbear to affright silly people out of their wits But were they really such Enemies to Popery as they pretended who connived at least at the most infamous Hereticks and Heresies that ever started out of Hell or else Mr. Edwards belyes them in his Gangrene And Mr. Prynn in his perfect Narrative undertakes to demonstrate to them that their new Commonwealth or Good Old Cause they are his own words was originally projected by the Jesuits and other Romish Emissaries To destroy our Protestant Religion Church King Kingdom Parliament Laws Liberties c. And Papists and Popish books were grown so numerous and audacious under their government that the Stationers of London thought themselves bound