him some no doubt out of hopes to gratify their Revenge others their Covetousness and others their Ambition some to repair some to make their Fortunes this Party expecting Liberty of Conscience that Freedom from Taxes all to have every thing to their own minds till at length they all united in a Formidable Army that alarm'd the Fears and threatned the Ruine of the King and Kingdom An Action very Unaccountable in it self but 't will appear stranger yet if after we have considered the Author we proceed Secondly To consider the Impudence of the Rebellion which was indeed so Exceeding Great in the whole Management of the thing that it had then no Parallel in all the preceding Annals of Time all the Rebels in Hell having never been able in two thousand nine hundred years and more to bring any of their Disciples upon Earth to any thing like it For besides that 't was begun as you have partly heard already with a pretence of Religion under tâ—e Colour of * Chap. 15.7 8 12. paying a Vow and offering an Eucharistical Sacrifice at Hebron which by the way was contrary to Law and made a perfect Conventicle of the Assembly * Levit. 17.3 4 5 6. Deut. 12.4 5 6 2. God having positively forbid his People to offer either Sacrifice or Vow in any place whatsoever but where he should chuse to put his Name where the Ark or the Tabernacle were which was now at Jerusalem I say beside this tho' the Rebel Proclaimed himself King upon the place he had no more Pretence or Title to the Crown than any of the rest that were in the Association For David was actually settled in the Throne and had all the Right to the Kingdom that a King could have And moreover as Absalom had himself an * 2 Sam. 3.3 Elder Brother so God had particularly Chosen * 2 Sam. 7.12 13. Compared with 2 Sam. 12.24 25. 1 Chron. 22.7 11. 1. Chron. 28.5 6 7. Salomon of all the Sons of David to succeed him in the Throne and that long before this Trayterous Association was set on Foot by Achitophel So that if David had been dead Absalom had had no pretence to the Crown much less could he have any during Davids Life From whence 't is plain that he rebelled against his Lawful and Undoubted Soveraign and one that he was bound by the Laws of God and by the Laws of the Land to yeild Faith and Allegiance to Add to this that the Laws of Gratitude had tied him in the same Bond the King having laid all the Obligations upon him that a King could lay while he was fit or capable to be Obliged He had conferred upon him great Favours he had pardoned him great Crimes he had given him great Assurances of suture Kindnesses notwithstanding his past Misdemeanors Nor had he only obliged this Rebel but the whole Jewish state He had often ventured even his own Life in defence of the Nation and that with good success too against the most implacable and bitter Enemies of its Peace He was really the Defender of their Faith of their Religion of their Liberties and Rights A Prince beloved of God and Man of exemplary Piety of undaunted Courage of Impartial Justice one that governed according to Law and under whose Government they were or might have been if they would themselves as easie as happy as safe as any People under Heaven They had the free Liberty of Professing and of making a publick Profession of the True Religion They were permitted to live a quiet and a peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty They were permitted a quiet and peaceable Enjoyment of their Properties and Estates They had all the Privileges and Immunities that one would have thought their Hearts could wish sate every Man under his own Vine and his own Fig tree and what others could not called what they had their own so that they had all the reason in the World to praise God for his Government and to pray to God for his Life having nothing to disturb 'em but themselves and their own senseless Fears and Jealousies Yet even against such a Prince and in such circumstances as these was this Rebellion both raised and carried on to the infinite dishonour of God to the horrid scandal of Religion to their own eternal shame to the wonder and amazement of all the World in contradiction to their bounden Duty to their solemn Vows in affront to Divine and Humane Authority in defiance of Heaven and Earth with that audacious Virulence with that Virulent and envenomed rage as if his Gracious Majesty had been the worst of Tyrants and the worst of Men or as if the impudent Rebel had had at once the fairest Title and the foulest usage in the world For having most unjustly taken up Arms against his Majesty's Person Crown and Dignity to fill up the measure of their Impudence they threw Stones they threw Dirt in his Face And they that ought not * Eccl 10.20 to have cursed the King so much as in their thoughts presumed to curse him openly both in Words and Actions And when David came to Bahurim behold there came out a man whose name was Shimei one of the chief of the Rebels and 't is not to be thought he was alone he came forth and cursed still as he came and he cast stones at David and at all the Servants of King David in contempt both of Majesty and Loyalty he curst still as he went and threw stones and cast dust or as 't is in the marginal Translation dusted him with dust chap. 16.5 6 13. gave him as ill names and accused him of as ill things as were possible to affront his person to sully his Reputation to render him and his Government odious to the world It seems Stones and Dirt hard Speeches and foul Language were great part of their Ammunition as indeed they are always a great part of the Artillery of a Rebel and they discharged all they had they shot out their Arrows even bitter words as well against the King himself as against those that had Loyalty that had honestly enough to adhere to his Person or to assert his Cause In all these Commotions 't is observable that the Church as indeed 't was fit it should be was always Loyal and eminently Faithful to the Crown Lo Zadok the Priest and Abiathar and all the Levites were with David bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God chap. 15.24 that is all the regular conforming Clergy for there were a sort of Dissenters too among the Jews and there is no doubt but Absalom when he went to sacrifie at Hebron had certain Priests there that were of his own i. e. of no Religion that were for his own Turn and after his own Heart that blew the Trumpets of Sedition and so sacrificed to Devils and not to God which to be sure it was not Lawful for 'em to do But I say the
as bad an End A Man whom the King was himself once so Fond of even beyond his Deserts that had he kept within the Bounds of his Duty he might have been as happy a Prince as 't was fit for a Subject to be or as any Subject under Heaven But such was his Folly he soon forfeited his Majesty's Favour by his Crimes and by his Crimes even forced Indulgence it self to banish him both the Court and Kingdom for a Time and when afterwards restored to the King's Favour by his Pardon which ought at once to have restored him to his Duty was by that very Pardon encouraged contrary to all Gratitude to all Reason to commit greater Crimes than what before he was banish'd for to side with the Faction against his Father and Benefactor to abuse the Mercy to traduce the Government to asperse the Actions to attempt the Ruin of his Soveraign to raise a Rebellion in the Land and to disturb the Peace of the King and Kingdom We have had the Rebel after the Example of Absalom with the same Foolhardiness and with the same Number of Men with about 200 at his first Entrance upon the Rebellion to Proclaim himself King and to require People upon their Allegiance i. e. quite contrary to their Allegiance to assist him in his Unrighteous Cause But this being done near the Seat of Achitophel and where Achitophel's and his own Interest lay in the most Factious Part of the Kingdom We have had likewise the mock-Mock-King in a very little time attended and followed by thousands some out of Fear some out of Hope some in hopes of one thing some another till he came to terrifie a Mighty Nation and to give Battle to a Mighty Prince And surely the Rebellion was in all Respects as Impudent as ever his Brother Absalom's was begun and carried on with the like Hypocritical Pretence to assert the Purity of Religion and the Properties of the Subject and to redress Grievances in truth abundantly less than those they caused And this too with no more Pretence of Title to the Crown than his Achitophel or his Amasa nay than the veryest Peasant among his fellow Rebels might have as justly claimed and yet against a King that had all the right and title in the World against a King that he had himself all the obligations in Nature Personal Civil and Religious to be subject to against a King that has obliged if any thing would oblâ—ge the whole Nation as well as him that has as David did for his people often venâ—ured his Life for us and to whose Grace and Mercy under God we owe our own Lives our Liberties our Properties and Estates to whose protection we are indebted that we can call any thing our own and by whose favour we enjoy all the Privileges and Immuniâ—ies we can in reason desire or expect against a King that has often engaged his Royal Word and Sacred Promise for the defence for the support of our Church and our Religion and under whose Government we have Liberty we have publick Liberty to worship God in a way suitable to his Nature and agreeable to his Will a way the most primitive the most Apostolical of any that we know of upon the Earth that is under whose Government we are cerrainly at this day or might be it we would our selves the happiest people under Heaven Yet against a Prince of that Clemency and Goodness that Justice and Veracity that Magnanimity and Courage that Honour and Renown have our Daring Rebels had the forehead to take up Arms and that too against more positive Laws both Human and Divine against clearer Revelations and stricter Oaths than ever Absalom or Israel were obliged by Nor have they only taken up Arms but also carried along with 'em as Rebels always do their more Dreadful their more Fatal Artillery of Slanders Lies and Curses and even out-done Achitophel and Shimei in their own way with a Trayterous design to murther the Reputation or at least to wound the credit of the King and the Church and indeed of all that are Loyal to the one or Faithful to the other So notoriously has the Impudence of our Rebellion parallel'd that in my Text. And I wish I could not say that the Parallel held likewise in its Consequences and Effects But that it really does 't were really as easy as 't is sad to shew you Only I confess I am unwilling to enter upon this task I am unwilling upon a Thanksgiving Day upon a Day of rejoycing to interrupt your Gratitude or to lessen your Joy by reminding you of the Miseries or Sorrows of the West 'T is now too sad and too Melancholy a subject to reflect upon the Violence the Rapine the Desolation the Plunders the Rapes the Frights the Profanations the Murthers or the Blood that through these sons of Corah these Sons of Belial the Land has miserably suffered and been defiled by Nor have I a mind upon this happy and glad Solemnity to consider how much sadder mischiefs how much greater sorrows would have been the unhappy Consequences of their success what Confusion and Anarchy what War what Blood we must necessarily have been involved in what our Religion our Church our Nation our Posterity or We must unavoidably have Endured what Tyranny what Slavery what Heresies what Schisms what Atheism what Popery pety we had been over-run and overwlielmed with what Dishonour had been done to God what Scandal had been brought upon the Protestant name what Villainies had been Canonized for Vertues what Calamitiâ—s of all sorts would have ensued had not God of his Mercy heard the Prayers of our most Holy Church and abated the Pride and asswaged the Malice and confounded the Devices of our Enemies But the greater the Calamities the more calamitous the Consequences of this infamous Rebellion either have or would have been the greater and the more signal has been the goodness of God toward us in giving us so absolute so signal a Victory over the Rebels For God be Blessed our Rebels too have had an Entire and a Speedy and a Wonderful Defeat a Defeat tâ—at in every respect equa's that in my Text and runs as exactly Parallel with it as the Rebe lion it self does Our Rebels too were defeated in the very first Battle and notoriously routed beyond a possibility of recruit Rill'd in great Numbers upon the Place and in great Numbers forced to fly and to fly likewise into the Fields and Woods like Natural Brute Beasts 'T is the expression of an * 2 Peter 2.12 Apostle to be destroyed or taken there Thither also fled our Absalom our Amasa having forsook their Conquered Army themselves forsaken of God and Man and there too were they taken and the one immediately brought to Justice as the other yet lest to the mercy of the King I could tell you moreover of our Achitophel's Dying as some say for Indignation that his Counsel was not so speedily followed as he
such was the Fools Vanity and Vain Glâ—ry he thinks to vie Splendor with the Court lives at an Extravagant rate gets him a mighty Retinue * Chap. 15.1 Prepares him Chariots and Horses and has no less thâ—n 50 Men to run before him Now he thinks himself a Prince and so he was and might have been as happy a Prince as any was in the World if he had not aspired to a Crown Bâ—t nothing less than a Crown will gratify his Ambition and to gratify that like a Vile Traytor he applies himself to dishonourable and disingenuous Arts to sordid and ignoble Practices unworthy of his Education unworthy of his Birth unworthy the Son of such a Father Immediately he strikes in with the Faction to libel and traduce the Government represents it as Arbitrary Tyrannical Illegal and Unjustâ— is as forward as they that were most to tax the Corruptions of the Court and to talk of the Grievances oâ— the Subject As if their Liberty and Property their Privileges and Immunities were all at Stake and there were no hopes nor prospect of good Times till the Evil Councellors or the King or both were removed * Chap. 15.2 7. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the Gate to shew his zeal for the People and the Peoples good he gets him very early to the Palace or to the Courts of Justice and other publick Conventions and if any man came to have a Grievance redressed he takes him aside privately and tells him without any more ado there was no good to be done See says he Thy Matters are Good and Right thou hast a just Cause and 't is pity but thou shouldest have Justice done thee But alas here 's no Justice no Equity no Religion at Court There 's nothing but Bribery and Corruption among 'em from the highest to the lowest There is no man deputed of the King to hear thee or as you will find it rendred in the Margin of their Bibles None will hear you from the King downward Neither the King nor any that are about him They are all alike and alike corrupt Oh that I were made Judge in the Land my self that the Government were in my hands that every man which has any Suit on Cause might come to me and I would do him Justice Then all should â—e reformed and all manner of Grievances redressed And so it was that when any one came night to him to do him Obeysance to kiss his Hand and to acknowledge his Princely Goodness and Favour toward him He put forth his hand and took him and kissed him embraced and hugged him with all the sweetness and Condescension imaginable and without any respect of Persons As if he good man had no other Design in aspiring to be King but to serve the People and 't were the height of his Ambition to oblige his Friends to free 'em from Illegal Taxes and Impositions and to maintain their just Rights On this manner did Absalâ—m to all Israel that came to the King foâ— Judgment and so Absalom stole the hearts of the Men of Israel as you will find in the former part of the 15 Chapter of this Book So Absalom stole the Hearts of the People to himself not doubting but when he had done that he should be able to steal the Crown too from the head of the King So easily and by such little Arts did he delude and cheat the easy Multitude and by thus slyly insinuating himself into their Affections as 't were Pilfer their Duty and Allegiance from 'em which was their Soveraigns Undoubted and Legal Right Thus he studied as he affected Popularity and courted the People only to be courted by them And he had his ends in a great measure beyond the good Kings or any honest Mans expectation For tho' at this very time he were guilty and they knew him to be guilty of the Highest Crimes in Nature as if his aspiring Genius had aim'd at a kind of Supremacy in Vice as well as Government tho they knew him to be guilty of no less than * Chap. 13.24 30. Murther Premeditated Murther and Drunkenness and Treachery and Revenge as he was afterwards during the Rebellion of * Chap. 16.22 Adultery and Incest to that Degree of Impudence that perhaps no Man ever was before or since and all along of the most intolerable Perfidiousness to God and Man that the Devil could tempt or Man be tempted to yet even these were Venial they were small Sins in so great a Saint in so Gracious an Assertor of their Liberties and their Religion as he was now become His Godly Pretences and his pretended zeal for the Good Old Cause were enough to sanctisy or at least to atone for all his Faults and did in the â—ssue so far recommend him to the Factious Party that by the Advice of the great Idol * Chap. 15.12 Achitophel whose Counsel tho' suggested by the Devil was always so highly Oracular among the People that the Text tells us * Chap. 16. ult 't was as if one had enquired aâ— the Oracle of God they soon determined to betake themselves to Arms under his Conduct and by venturing upon an Insurrection which in effect was venturing their Lives to damn their Souls to put things to a push Accordingly with a very * Chap. 15 7 8 9. Religious pretence he sets out for Hebron a place not far from Giloh the * Chap. 15.12 Seat of that Arch-Traytor Achitophel and so the most Factious part of the Kingdom where he had most Interest and Acquaintance and where that old Fox had by himself and by his Agents pretty well prepared People for the Design You must think he was very secure and confident of the Parties coming in to his Assistance especially from Giloh and the Places thereabouts where his own Acquaintance and where Achitophel's Interest and Estate lay For when he came to Hebron * Chap. 15.11 he brought but 200 Men with him A small Army to defy so Warlike and so Great a Prince as David was that had so much a better Cause and so much greater Power to defend it But the Rebel was so Fool-hardy that he fear'd not God nor Man Tho' he had brought but these 200 with him he ventures to * Chap. 15.10.19.10 Proclaim himself King and then sets up his Standard and requires the Country upon their Allegiance to stand by him And the giddy Multitude had no more Sense of Duty to God or his Vicegerent than to submit to this Sham-Prince and to venture their Lives and Fortunes their Souls and Consciences in his Defence against their Rightful and Natural Soveraign whom Heaven had by a Miracle of Providence placed upon the Throne For now the Conspiracy was strong and the People increased continually with Absalom Chap. 15.12 His Gracious Promises and fair Speeches drew abundance of the Discontented and the Poor and the Ignorant and the Ill-affected after