Deliverance come from the Mercy a Conquest from the Judgment of God 2. A Deliverance is wrought out with the Concurrence of a People a Conquest is gotten against a resisting Nation 3. The end of a Deliverance is Liberty of a Conquest Slavery 4. To deliver an Oppressed People is Heroical to Conquer without provocation is Brutal 2. The second Evil Instrument which is apt to draw down God's Visitation upon a People is Faction by which I mean a narrow self-interested Spirit in those who would engross to themselves all the Favours of the Prince and Advantages of the Government in bart to all others though as Faithful to their Soveraign as Serviceable to his Government and as Useful to the whole Community as themselves Such a Faction as this first discourages then provokes and at last enrages the rest of the Society Where such a Spirit as this is suffer'd Manasseh will be against Ephraim Isa 9.21 and Ephraim against Manasseh and both together shall be against Judah I grant it absolutely necessary that every Government should distinguish the Persons to whose Hands they commit the Administration of Power the Israelites had no reason to entrust themselves to the Philistines because they own'd the Right of their old dispossess'd King and in this Confidence as well as that of his great strength Goliah might defie Saul and his Host 2 Sam 19.43 But when the Men of Israel said We have more right in David than Judah no wonder that soon after we read that The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel Nor was it strange what follow'd 2 Sam. 20.1,2 when Sheba the Son of Bichri blew a Trumpet saying We have no part in David neither have we inheritance in the Son of Jesse every man to his Tents O Israel Here began that Fatal Faction which rent Israel from Judah and for many Years after occasion'd Unnatural Wars between 'em till at last it brought on the Captivity of both Besides this there is another kind of Faction which manifests it self to use St. Paul's words in Envy strife 1. Tim. 6.4 railings evil surmisings and perverse disputings whereby it falls out that an ill Construction shall be put upon those Actions which in their natural tendency are Innocent an ill turn shall be given to a well-meant design and if there shall be any slip any real failure in the Administration that shall be magnify'd by unjust Aggravations No allowance is made for the Difficulties under which Princes labour in Uniting Men of different Parties different Principles and different Interests to contribute to the common Preservation But Men sit down and form Ideas to themselves which their Imaginations represent to them as perfect and such as which all the World must concur in at the first proposing whereas when any one part of these Notions comes to be put in Execution if it be not utterly impracticable yet the difficulties are next to being insuperable and then the Prince is said to be weak and knows not how to Govern or he is Negligent and delivers himself over to Pleasure or he is Arbitrary in his Notions and Affects Absolute Power and all this without a due regard to the Circumstances of the Times and to the Necessity of Affairs which perhaps if duly and equally weigh'd would not only Excuse the Prince but would Merit the Thanks and Praise of those Men who are most forward to condemn without considering how much the Government is weaken'd by these Murmurings and the Honour and Reputation of it broken Such Murmurings as these bewilder'd the Israelites for Forty Years together and delay'd their access to the Land of Canaan 'T was this made the Government lye so heavy upon Moses The Burden which their frequent and unnecessary Complaints laid upon their Prince was as heavy as what they had before born in Egypt and had been insupportable by any other than the Meekest Man upon Earth He was but Forty days absent from them upon the Mount and there too his Business was theirs and was concern'd only in their behalf but behold the Impatience of the People who Gathered themselves together unto Aaron Exod. 32.1 and said unto him Vp make us Gods which shall go before us for as for this Moses who brought us up out of the Land of Egypt we know not what is become of him Upon this Moses 's anger waxed hot ver 9. so that he cast the Tables of the Law out of his Hand and brake them beneath the Mount and at last call'd out the Children of Levi giving them Orders to fall upon the Murmurers which were executed by the Slaughter of Three Thousand Men. ver 27 28. No doubt but the unhappy Israelites of that Generation saw their Errour but 't was then too late the Fact was already committed which their Posterity to this day lament How far the Misfortunes of the Kingdom which we lament this day were owing to this Discontented Temper may be matter for your Reflection Some unhappy Occasions were given to complain nay even to grow importunate But little did the Persons who began those Complaints think what would be the end of those things how far Disputes and Heats and Tumults and War would carry them Little did they foresee the Cruel and Inexcuseable Sentence and Execution which is the Occasion of this Assembly If they had once thought of such a thing if they could have had a prospect of what has follow'd how would they have detested even what was most innocently and most excuseably done And this may be sufficient Caution for the future how we give way to any unreasonable Murmurings because we know not as St. James speaks how great a matter a little fire kindleth James 3.5 Having now endeavour'd to find out those Distempers which have occasion'd the Ruin of Princes and Woes of People I crave leave by way of Application to recommend one Remedy which St. Paul has in these Cases prescrib'd not doubting but that it will prove a certain Cure 1 Cor. 10.24 't is this Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth That is Let no Man pursue his own in barr to another's Interest or let no Party of Men appropriate a Common Interest to themselves the reason is because we are all Members of the same Body useful to the whole and needful to each other 1 Cor. 12.21 so that if the Eye cannot say to the Hand I have no need of thee nor again the Head to the Feet I have no need of you ver 26. 't is but just that there should be no Schism in the Body but that the Members should have the same care one for another Charity which envieth not which seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13.4,5 as it is the Bond of Peace which joins all the Members of Christ's Mystical Body together so is it the only cement and strength of all Civil Societies when Isaiah foretold the Triumphant state of Israel he lays the Foundation of their future Grandeur in their Mutual Charity The envy also of Ephraim shall depart Isa 3.13 and the Adversaries of Judah shall be cut off Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not vex Ephraim Where this Spirit of Charity rules as there could be no Faction in the State so would there be no Flattery in the Court. Of old the highest Compliments of Loyalty were form'd from the deepest Malice witness the Address of the Presidents Governours Princes Counsellors and Captains of Persia to Darius their King importing Dan. 6.6 c. That whosoever shall ask a Petition of any God or Man for thirty days save of thee O King shall be cast into the Den of Lions And whence arose all this Flattery but from the prepense Malice they bare to Daniel Against whom they could find no occasion or fault concerning the Kingdom ver 4. And as Charity obliges the Members in particular to seek each other 's good so it constrains them all together to preserve their Head From which all the Body by Joynts and Bands has nourishment minister'd Col. 2.19 and knit together increaseth with the increase of God A good King is such a Head to his People so that they will also find their Interest inseparable from his Such a one is the Life and Soul of the State be Governs To Rebel against him is to Sin against our own Soul to take from him any of his Rights and Prerogatives is for Children to Rob their Father of that Fund by which he maintains his Family for an Army to Mutiny against those Orders by which their General secures them against the Enemy or to corrupt that Judge who maintains us in our Rights to withdraw Allegiance from such a Soveraign is for Sheep to stray from their Shepherd for a Man to stop the Breath of his own Nostrils or to forsake his God whose greatest Glory is to do him the most important Good To the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS