among them which runs ex Traduce from the Father to the Child that they are willing to admit of a Mahumetan Habit rather than a Christian Ceremony and so on for ought we know a Bassa rather than a Lord Mayor a Mufti rather than a Bishop and a True-Protestant Grand Seignior rather than a Christian Prince 3. Next to our Religion to God it greatly belongeth unto our Peace to be very careful of our Loyalty to God's Anointed For our Peace being wrapt up in the welfare of the King and in the prosperity of his Government 't is our Wisdoms to be True to Both and 't is a most Absurd a well as a most wicked course that some have taken who would bear us in hand that to Traduce and Expose Majesty is the way to make His Reign and our own Lives Happy and that the Diminution of his Prerogatives is the way to Support him and that the destruction of his Life another Cursed bout at Lopping is the ready way to preserve Three Kingdoms These are abominable Fallacies put upon the Fickle and Injudicious Populace and Men are greatly Deceived if they do not believe that every ones Interest is lodged in the King 's and that the way to make our selves happy is to make Him happy in the first place To obey him Humbly to Honour him Conscientiously and to Love him Affectionately and Heartily this is at once our Necessary Duty and our Best Interest whereas to cast off that Reverence which he hath a just Right unto to Mis-construe his Actions to Deprave his Counsels to Suspect his Integrity to Defame his Person to render him cheap contemptible and odious and much rather to Conspire against his Life as some very Dainty Tender-Conscience-Christians have done This is a Direct course to tear our Peace and Government and All into pieces and to lay our Jerusalem waste without the help of a Foreign Enemy and though the Romans sit still and stir not a Foot or a Finger against us 4. Farthermore it would be much for our Peace were we but Candid and Kind in our Sentiments of all our Superiours in Church and State and not Factiously Suspicious of them For one Devilish strategem which has been used of Late to bring us first to Confusion and so on to Bloud-shed and Ruine hath been This to Insinuate to the world that our Governours are a Cabal of Conspiratours against our Religion and against our Laws and whatsoever else is dearer unto us than the skin upon our Hearts This is manifestly the design of that Cried-up Libel the Growth of Popery A Treasonable Pamphlet concluded to have been written by a London-Cargillite who in the late Hellish Conspiracy was a Common Agitatour one whose Soul and Principles are of the same Complexion with the Jesuites and whose Name consisteth of just so many syllables and letters as Regicide and Massacre We see now for what end that and other the like Pestilent Libels were handed about namely to doe a piece of Journey-work first for One Ahitophel and then for Six that the King might be destroyed that his Friends might be Butcher'd and that the Government might be Subverted as They hoped upon some Colourable Pretences Now if people be thus wickedly persuaded that our Governours are unfaithfull to our Religion and Liberties it cannot be expected that our day of Peace should last long but the whole Frame of things in Church and State will be in a Tottering condition and Fears and Jealousies which have ever been the Beginning of our sorrows will be so strong and epidemical that at last we shall inherit the portion of Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against him 5. Again it would very much conduce to our Peace if Men were effectually taught to cease from Reproaching all such of us as study to lead Quiet and Peaceable Lives in Godliness and Honesty Herodotus tells us that the old Egyptians were wont to call all that were not of their own Nation Barbarians and thence the Greeks learnt to call All that were not of their own Language Barbarians In like manner 't is Customary now with many rash and evil men among us to call All that are not of their Faction Papists so that let a man be a true Friend to the interest of the Crown and to the Government of the Church and to the Solemnities of God's Worship and though he doth all this pursuant to those Obligations which are laid upon him by the Precepts of Christianity and by the Laws of the Land yet presently forsooth he is Branded and Hated and Marked out against another day among the Men Worthy for a Papist But I remember that when Alexander the Great was moved to have no Allies but the Greeks and to deal with all other People as Enemies his Answer was that a Better way would be to distinguish between Men and Men by their Vertues or their Vices rather than by their Character and Denomination because he had found many Evil and Scurvy men among the Greeks themselves And truly it doth become Vs to take the same Course and Resolution now Considering how abominably Lewd and Vicious Dishonest and Factious many are that pretend Religion and pretend to be the great Patriots of it too we should do well to take measures of men not by the Length of their Tongues but by the Size of their Practices which will infallibly shew what every man is and accordingly in taking the tale of our Protestant Brethren we should fling Villains and Base Fellows aside and discount for them for if things go on at this rate and men of the most Callous and Brawny Consciences be allowed to pass and shrowd themselves under the common Name of Protestants we must look upon it to be no other than an Old Trick to Ruin the Kingdom once again and to make Eighty three as Infamous an Aera as Forty eight 6. There is another thing yet which mightily belongeth to our Peace and 't is Proper for me to mention it to You who are the Worthy Magistrates of this Honourable City because you are concern'd by your Place and Office to help us to it and you will be justly Blamed if you do not Endeavour to help us to it and it is This that we may be at Vnity among our selves as Jerusalem was in King David's time when she was most Happy Jerusalem said he is built as a City that is Compact together for thither the Tribes go up the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord. Psal 122. 3 4. And at the sixth Verse he exhorted them to pray for a continuance of Jerusalems Peace O pray for the Peace of Jerusalem as if all its Prosperity depended upon that admirable Order Harmony and Vnity in Religion which was then within its Walls For nothing doth so Naturally tend to break the Peace first of the Church and at last of the State
certainly follow the time of her Visitation 2. Whence I proceed to the Second Point That when a Froward and Stubborn Nation do Obstinately refuse to do the things which belong unto their Peace they fall at last under an ineluctable Fate and Ruin themselves by an inevitable kind of Necâ—ssity when Judgment is Ripe and Men are Ripe for it then the Purpose of God concerning the Destruction of a City or a Kingdom in general is a Definite Peremptory and Vnalterable Purpose so that when Gods Time of Striking is fully come there is no possible way to evade or ward off the Blow This is clear from Gods dealing with those People over whom our Saviour Wept now Though they had a Day and a long Day too yet their Light utterly vanish't at the last so that when Titus came with his Army against Jerusalem all her Time of Grace was spent and her Hour of Darkness and Desolation began God would not then be intreated for the Hardened Jews nor was it possible by any means to Reverse the Decree that was gone out against them Josephus the Historian was at that time in the City and when he saw the Blockade about it and how impossible it was for the City to Escape notwithstanding all the various Methods and the Restless endeavours which the foolish Jews used he was plainly sensible that they fought against God and strove against his Irresistible Will and therefore would have perswaded them to Resolutions of Surrendring being fully convinced that Jerusalem at that time was under the same unavoidable Necessity of being taken as it had been under before in the time of Nebuchaddonosor and Antiochus The Scripture sometimes speaks of Mens filling up their Sins and of their filling up the Measure of their Iniquities For such is the Mercy of God that he doth not strike upon every though Just provocation but stays to soe how Far and to what Degree Men will go on in their Impieties in spight of all Means and Calls to the contrary and 'till the Cry of Mens Sins be Great and General God is not wont to bring a Curse upon a Nation so as to Bury it in Ruin Thus speaking of the Amorites how they were to be Extirpated he pointed to the Time when it was to be done viz. in the Fourth Generation not till then for said he the Iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Gen. 15. 16. As King Solomon did set Shimei his Bounds saying that if he passed over the Brook Kidron he should surely dye 1 Kings 2. 37. So does the great Governour of the World deal with Evil Men especially such Men as Shimei was Persidious Wretches and Traytors he gives them their Rope and Tedder but of such a length and scantling and when they come to their Kidrons the next step they take is into Destruction For God cannot but hate all manner of Wickedness especially when 't is a Trade and most of all when 't is a Long and an Old Trade This is enough to wear out the Patience even of a Merciful God and then Men must come to a full reckoning for a Long Indulgence and so many Acts of Grace which they have Abused And would to God we should lay this Consideration to Heart and for the sake of this Poor Nation Transmit it into Practice betimes and not presume too much upon the Divine Clemency as if it would never be Night with us what use soever we make of our Day of Peace 'T is true as the Malice and Designs of our Enemies so have the kindnesses of our God been to us even from the Days of Old and ever since the Day-spring from an high began to Visit us in the Morning of the Reformation Those Acts and Struglings under K. Henry the 8th could not keep the Truth of Religion from breaking out Those Commotions in the Reign of K. Edward the Sixth were not able to hinder the Perfecting of the Work which his Father had begun Those Victims which were off red in the Marian Persecution served only to bring down as it were God upon the Earth to be with his Saints and Mâ—rtyrs in the Flamâ—s In the Days of Q. Elizabeth when in a manner the whole Papal World at Home and Abroad formed their Designs and put thâ—mselves in Arms against One Woman God stood by this Church so that no hidden Conspiracies nor open Force proved Effective of those Ends which the Romanists aimed at with so much Confidence The Treason of this Day in the time of K. James what did it do else but Blow up the Interest of the Popish Cause and Kindle such a Zeal against that Sanguinary Religion as Burneth yet in our Breasts and we hope will be Warm in the Veins of our Posterity to the Worlds End Nay to go on a little farther to the Reign of that Incomparable Prince and in the End Royal Martyr K. Charls the First when a Domestick Enemy undertook the Quarrel of a Foreign one and Votes and Ordinances Roar'd Louder than Bulls though a Cromwell was a more Prosperous Devil than a Catesbie or a Garnet and the Consistory was a more Mischievous Legion than the Conclave yet God was so Merciful to our Sins that he suffered not this Nation ro be quite eaten up of the Vermine that it bred but after a long Aegyptian Plague of Lice made us whole and Sound again if happily we would be taught by that Severe Judgment to Sin no more These Great and Continual Deliverances 't is necessary for me to mention and for us All to be thankful for that we may set forth the Honour of Gods Name and the Glory of his Mercy which from Age to Age he hath so abundantly shew'd to this our Sion as if he had said of it as he did once of Jerusalem Here will I dwell for I have a Delight therein But yet 't is a most Impolitick and Dangerous Course for us to lean still upon the Goodness of God if we be not careful to Answer the great Ends of all his Longanimity and Compassion For his Spirit mill not always be striving with Men there is a Time when he will give overall further Luctations with an Incorrigible People And I Pray God we may not be made a fearful Instance to demonstrate to the World the Truth of this But if our Consciences are not Seared we cannot but be Sensible how near our Ingratitude hath lately brought us again to the Edge of the Praecipice and to the very Margin of that Gulph which would for ever hath Swallowed us all up had not our God after a most Providential manner opened our Eyes and discovered unto us the Depths of Satan Though our Nation hath for some time past been troubled and Giddy with a Meagram yet now we may have our Senses at Command we may clearly discern the Wolf under the Lamb-Skin and if we be not willfully Blind we have Light enough to discover those who are Protestants by Profession but as
as Schism and Faction and Division doth It was the very thing which hastned Jerusalems ruin at last and which was the direct Instrument of its Fate when its day of Peace was spent So that had not Titus struck a stroke the Jews themselves by their Domestick Feuds and Animosities would have made utter havock of each other and the very Romans under the Walls though they were Enemies yet being a People of Manly and Generous minds could not but Pity the Monstrous Follies of those Miserable men And O that we would know even we at least in this our day this one thing which so visibly belongeth to our Peace You cannot but discern where the Seminaries of Sedition and Rebellion do lye and who are the Labourers in them You cannot but know that all Schismatical Assemblies are of themselves a Breach of the Peace And you have reason to believe that People are drawn thither to be taught by degrees how to be Rioters and Traytors under pretence of Religion Is the Nation ready to be on a Flame It is There that the Fire it Kindled Is the King and his Government Bespattered 'T is There that the Dirt is gathered up Are the Laws Desied and Disobedience Pleaded for It is Thence that Arguments are fetcht Is the Populace tainted with any Evil Principle It is Thence that the Sowr Leaven comes Are any Seditious men to be Nominated for a Publick Office or any Friendly Jobb to be done for the Good Did Cause 'T is There that Measures are taken and Instructions given and now the Separation is grounded not upon point of Conscience to teach men to be Pious and Honest but upon point of Policy to uphold and encourage a Party against the Government and the Laws 'T is plain that as the Jesuite and Presbyterian came into the World much about the same time so they have been Kind to each other like Brethren ever since and both are Sworn Enemies to this Monarchy and Church You have seen enough of their Pranks already and you must not expect to see more unless you will stand still and look on till you see your selves and the whole Kingdom Vndone 7. To prevent which it is necessary for you also by all possible means to hinder the Spreading of those Leud and Antimonarchical Doctrines which for these Five years past have made the whole Nation to Shake As That the King hath not his Authority immediately from God which yet was the Apostles Doctrine but that the People are the Fountain of all Authority that He is Their Trustee and that they have Reserved to themselves so much of their Power that they can call a Prince to an Account and dispose of his Crown These are Principles which to give them that Honour which is due for their Extraction and Kindred were first Begotten by the Jesuit the Father of Ravilliacs then Nursed up by Buchanan the Father of Rebels and at last Adopted by the Leviathan the Father of Atheists And it is impossible there should be any Firm Peace or Lasting Safety either for Prince or Subject in any Kingdom where these Doctrines prevail which have been all along Designed and Maintained to Ruin Kings and all Hereditary Monarchies These Principles made way for the Treason of This Day And you may observe that These were the Principles which Bradshaw and the rest of That Cursed Association went upon when they Arraigned and Murthered the Best Christian Prince that ever was made of Flesh and Bloud You may read them throughout that Sad Trial and we may be sure that They who of Late have borrowed of the Jesuit the Same Principles borrowed them for the Same Purpose and would have acted upon them such another Tragedy had not the God of Peace by his Immediate and Special Providence rescued our Sovereign and all of us out of the Claws of those pretending Protestants whose Creed is at St. Omers whose Consciences are in their Chests whose Hearts and Souls are in the Field and whose Honesty is No where Honourable and Beloved I have humbly offered these things to your Consideration not only because your Example is such as Influenceth the whole Nation but also because your Loyalty is such that you have given a Noble Example to all others and we doubt not are still ready to follow after the things which make for Peace That we now Sit every man under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree is a Blessing which we owe next to the Providence of God and the Vigilance of the King to the Wise and Excellent Conduct of those Loyal and Heroick Spirits in This City who have ventured so hardly and have waded so resolutely through so many Difficulties and Dangers to Stop the Torrent when a Raging Inundation was just breaking in upon us This is to your Eternal Honour and God forbid that ever you should be rob'd of any part of it by taking any Wrong and Unhappy Measures and by Suffering your selves to be Supplanted or Over-born by those who Envy you the Name of the Loyal Citizens of London the Restorers of our Peace For the maintenance of this Great Character no more is needful for you but to add still to your Fidelity Diligence and Courage to your Wisdom How Crafty are the Children of this World in Laying their Designs And how Zealous are they in the Management and Prosecution of their Interest So it commonly happens that the Worst Cause is Best Sollicated But as this is Folly in our Private Concernments so in Publick Tranfactions it is a Crime especially when the Life of a Prince and the very Being of a Church and the Prosperity of a whole Kingdom are all in danger This I speak the rather because it has been generally observed that some Honest Designs how Prudently soever Laid have nevertheless Miscarried and proved Vnsuccesful for want of Diligence and Care and joynt Resolution In the Name of God let mâ— beseech you to carry a most Watchful Eye upon those who are Enemies to Peace remembring what a Reproach was brought upon this Great City by a predominant Faction in the Last Age which nothing could ever have Attoned for but the Faithfulness and Bravery of some Generous and Right-worthy Citizens in This Age. Your selves have Exposed both with Shame and Indignation the Villanies that were acted here at Common-Halls and Common-Councils in the former times and I have sufficient Authority of your own to observe briefly unto you some of those Horrid Practices which a Factious Party then used here First to Destroy one Prince and then to Keep out another The Late Loyal Act of Common-Council hath given us to Understand out of the City-Records that 't was here that a Rebellion was promoted in Forty One That here great Treasures of Money and Plate were expended in carrying the Rebellion on in Forty Two That here New Sums and Forces against the King were raised in Forty Three That here Royalists were Punisht and their Estates taken away
in Forty Four That here a Treasonable Oath and Covenant was Administred in Forty Five That here a Thanksgiving was appointed for several Victories over the King in Forty Six That here Resolutions were taken to stand and fall with a Rebellious House of Commons in Forty Seven That here a Petition was Voted for Justice upon all Capital Actors in the War from the Highest to the Lowest and but a few Days before the King was Murder'd in Forty Eight That here a Petition was drawn for Altering the Laws in Forty Nine That here a Solemn Fast was held for the good Success of a Rebel-Army in Fifty That here 't was Resolved to Adventure Lives and Estates against the King of Scotland in Fifty One That here a Publick Thanksgiving was Celebrated for the Defeat of the King and his Forces at Worcester in Fifty Two That here Cromwel the Usurper was Carest and Treated in Fifty Three That here Thanks were given him for his great Care of the Peace in Fifty Four That here Monies were issued out for a Disloyal Militia in Fifty Five and Fifty Six That here Subjection to the Vsurper was Acknowledged in Fifty Seven That here his Death was Condoled and his Successor Congratulated in Fifty Eight And that here the Parliament so called the Council of State and the Officers of the Army were all Publickly and Splendidly entertained at the Cities Charge in Fifty Nine Such a Chargeable and Costly Rebellion was here for Eighteen years together that it is no wonder if your Publick Bank hath been rob'd not of its Treasure only but in a manner of the very Bags Beloved I am apt to deal Plainly with All men and if I deal so with You now it is not with any the least Design either to Vpbraid this Honourable Assembly or to Reflect upon the Memory of your Loyal and True-Hearted Predecessors but that you may see what great Reasons you have for your Best endeavours to follow the things which make for Peace and to put an Early stop to the Growth of a Faction who when they forsake their Duty forsake all Modesty and good Manners and by ceasing to be Governed become the most Imperious and Heady Governours the most Insolent and Outragious Villains in the World Every Good man ought to be very Careful at least in this our day that he do not Herd or Concur with those Spirits which but the other day as it were to shut out all Arbitrary Power brought it in and to prevent Popery laid aside all True Religion and the Fear of God But this Care especially belongeth unto You the Honourable Governours of this Great Body and your Timely Zeal for the Interest of the King of the Church and of the whole Nation will not only be Effâ—ctual to the Establishment of such a Peace as by the Blessing of God will be transmitted to Posterity but 't will also render your Names Great and Precious for being the Happy Instruments to Recover the Ancient Honour of this Renowned City The Story is well known of Tylers Formidable Rebellion who had the Confidence to say in the Reign of King Richard the Second that there should be no Law in England but what came out of his Mouth His Conspiracy was designed to destroy the See Slow and Speed in Râ—â— 2. King the Nobles the Ministers of State and the whole Body of the Clergy saving the Begging Friars who had noâ—hing to Lose That Truly Honourable Person Sir William Walworth was the Lord Mayor of London that year and that Excellent Man with the help of some of his Brethren ventur'd so Resolutely that the Rebellion failed of Success For being himself in 〈◊〉 of danger he Cryed out Ye good Citizens help your King that is to be Murther'd and succour Me your Mayor or if you will not succour Me yet leave not your King destitute This so animated the Loyal Citizens that in a very short space Sir William brought the Traytor 's head to the King upon the point of his Sword To Reward this great Service the King gave Honours and Estates to the Mayor and his faithful Brethren and to set a particular Mark of his Kindness upon the whole City and to perpetuate the Honour of that day and the Memory of such Signal Loyalty some Historians tell us that the King order'd the Sword to be put in the Dexter Canton of the City-Arms Here is a Noble Pattern of Fidelity and Fortitude for every Honest Magistrate to follow in These days for who is not convinced of the Truth of a Conspiracy now Though God be Blessed we have not yet the Alarm in our Streets yet we have many Tylers that are ready to destroy our Laws and to cut our Throats and many Straws too if you will forgive the Expression that are ready to Stuff our Skins also but we have our Walworths too and as our Comfort is that we are now Bless'd with another Walworth so our Wishes are that men of such Zeal Conduct and True Gallantry may bear the Sword here to the Worlds end When Treasons are Hatched against a most Gracious Prince and the Common Peace is in danger 't is Happy that the Sword is in the hands of Such as will not turn the point of it towards the bowels of that Authority which gives it When Religion is made the Visor of a Faction 't is Happy that the Magistrate is such as will not be favourable to those who go to School to the Atheist and Truck with the Jesuit and the Devil himself to make Spoil of the best Constituted Government in the whole World When this poor distressed Church the Envy of Rome and the Glory of all Christendom is in danger of being torn in pieces by the Lion on This hand and the Bear on That it is Happy for us that the Magistrate is such as will think himself obliged for Conscience and for Gods sake to Rescue the Spouse of Christ from the Jaws of the One and from the Paws of the Other And things being thus well provided it is the part of every one of us to Study to be Quiet and to do his own Business and so in well-doing to commit our selves into the hands of that good God whose Providence careth for us All. It is by means of that Good Providence that we are Assembled this day to praise his Name for our Wonderful Deliverances hitherto and if we our selves be but carefull to Mind the things which belong unto our Peace we need not doubt but the same Providence will deliver us still though Extremity of danger should threaten us yet once again For commonly Gods time of stepping in between Men and Ruin is then when Dangers are come to that Hedd and Crisis that without present help from above there is no Visible way of Escaping Thus the Providence of God interposed on This day when the Bloud-thirsty Papists had laid their Designs so Closely so Opportunely and so Luckily as They thought even