meerly and simply to transfer the Crown to a better Head Treason Rampant enough But plainly to Chop off that Head that wears it 2 Sam. 17.2 And that this is the Natural Process of successful Rebellion our selves are too well aware 2. Next observe the Terror of the Attempt by the vast Numbers of the Rebells We read of All Israel therein engaged which at the least implies a very Great part of the Ten Tribes Judah onely which includeth Benjamin continuing intirely Loyal Nay * Antiq. Jud. l. 7. c. 9. Josephus tells us That Davids Army had but about Four thousand in it And the Text assures us That * 2 Sam. 18.7 Twenty thousand of the Rebels lost their Lives in the Battel What a frightful advantage had they therefore in their Number But Lastly The King is Saved his Enemies Destroyed 3. and both by the hand of God Thou hast given me the necks of mine Enemies thou hast delivered me from the strivings of my people 't is God that avengeth me and bringeth down the people under me saith the King and upon this account as well as any other 2 Sam. 22. And note it because David was the Lords Anointed he thus became the care of Providence As may be seen in the same Song at Psal 18.50 Great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy unto his Anointed unto David c. Next for an Heathen Prince An Heathen What a special Providence was it toward Ahasuerus when Two Great Courtiers and his Chamberlains who Treasonably had conspir'd against his Life and had so fair and many opportunities to effect their Villanies were notwithstanding bar'd the Execution of it And how more remarkable was the care of God concerning him in that poor Mordecai no Natural Subject but a Stranger and a Captive taken in War should first come to have notice of the Treason and then have an heart to adventure the discovery of it Was it not dangerous for a man in his Circumstances to Impeach Two such Great Personages whose powerful Interest might well threaten to turn the blow upon his own head and make him the Traytor And what an abatement to his Zeal would it be apt to prove That this very Prince intended to be Destroyed was in a kind the Destroyer of his Native Country and all that was dear unto him in it Far less rebukes than these have too often hindred many from discharge of Duty But God that taketh special care of Princes carries him through all difficulties The Treason is detected the Traytors Punish'd and the King sav'd Esth 2. Lastly A Christian The Christian King Constantine the Great how he was delivered from Treacheries at home preserv'd and prosper'd in the day of Battle abroad and what signal care the Divine Providence continually took of him is declared largely to us with special Remarks of the manifest hand of God frequently stretch'd out for him by the Church Historian Eusebius in vita Constantini But we need not stay longer here for our next Proposition which goes no further than our own doors will put the matter past all doubt Onely Remember That if Gods placing Kings in his own room on Earth charging their people in Thought Word and Deed to be their Votaries And Lastly doing Wonders for them himself suffice to shew the peculiar care of Providence over them then our Second Proposition may be discharged as fully proved And so we come to the 3. 3. Propos Proposition which is Our Present Soveraign is a signal Instance of the Care God takes of Kings For the especial concern of Divine Providence for Royal safety is plainly manifested in His Sacred Majesty who hath obtain'd such frequent and so eminent Salvations from the God of all Salvation And under the same Indulgent care may he live for ever My business is not to give a large account of His Majesties Life with the various Passages of the greatest Jeopardy which by the Heavenly Conduct he hath passed through It shall suffice to point at Three or Four such great Deliverances of him as may convince an Enemy and an Atheist That the hand of God was with him in them and will therefore more confirm our belief of the special Care God takes of Kings and also stir us up to greater Thankfulness for his mercy towards our own The First Deliverance I shall recommend unto you 1 Deliverance shall be that of His Majesties strange but safe escape from Worcester Not to insist upon the Extreamest hazard wherewith his Royal Person was environ'd in that fatal Fight when so many of his Loyal Subjects fell on his Right hand and on his Left before him and behind is it not Evident by this very glance already taken that his Life was precious in the sight of God and that he covered his Head in that day of Battle But after that when all was lost to consider seriously his hardest shifts and greatest dangers but his Preservation still and safe Deliverance at the last must make us say This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes What was it think you for a necessity to lye upon so great a Potentate to change Majestick Robes See Boscobel for a Peasants Weeds To turn his Garter George of Diamonds and other Princely Ornaments into the course Accoutrements of meaner Rusticks For a Crowned Head and Royal Face to be deformed and sullyed so as to Represent a Countrey Slovenly Swain That he should take upon him the place and business of an ordinary inferiour Servant who was the Rightful Lord and Master of Three large Kingdoms And that a Person accustom'd to the choicest Delicacies and greatest Varieties with most noble Attendance suitable to his Imperial State and Dignity should be constrein'd to wait his time and then content his Hunger with courser Fare and sometimes too of his own Cooking To be so put to it that wet Stockins gravel'd Shooes and galled Feet must be born with patience by Him Nay Skulking in a Barn Hiding in Holes Sheltring in Woods and Lodging on a Tree become good shifts And with all these Distresses to be infested frequently with the Alarms of many Blood-thirsty Enemies and Jealousies of some seeming Friends and disappointments of most promising Hopes And as the last and perhaps the worst of such a Throng of Evils To have a Price set on his Head which far out bad the reward of Judas's Treason and so the more powerful temptation to a Traytor Yet that after such Great Difficulties and Dangers spun out unto full Six Weeks abating but one day after Travelling up and down near Three hundred Miles always in the Midst of Foes often through his Armed Enemies Quarters and when the whole Country was filled with Watches for the seizing of him it should be possible for our King to get to Sea and be Imbarqued with privacy and safety Escaping all Mischiefs though in the very Mouthes of them Who is there
dare to let loose our Minds to other Methods For then adiew the fear and reverence that we owe them The Holy Preacher means this very thing when he forbids to Curse the King so much as in our thoughts Eccles 10.20 Every evil and unworthy and indecent Conception of him is to be utterly banished But alas have we not in the present Age too many secret Shimei's at the least Whose pleasure 't is to frame the worst Idea's of their Governours and their Actions in their own minds and are then in travel to be deliver'd of them to their Neighbours on the first opportunity Yet Holy Scriptures teach us no such Doctrine but the contrary And as we have heard what the Precept here instructs us in so we shall find the Prehibition added doth confirm it Meddle not with them that are given to change Whence we plainly learn both That Irreverence towards a Soveraign hath a tendency to Subversion of his Government and especially that for the preservation of our due respect unto him we ought to shun the Conversation of Dissaffected Persons to the Present Lawful Establishment To be given to change is commendable in nothing because it argues want of Reason's Ballast and betrays the levity of a fickle Mind but is utterly to be condemn'd when it tends to a removal of what God hath Establish'd Novelty 't is true is but too grateful unto Humane Nature It was so in its Innocency But the issue thereof was horrible mischief A desire to change involv'd our First Parents and all their Posterity in lamentable Woe Hence is sprung up our degeneracy from that Primitive Purity wherein we were made And this great Itch of Novelty is not the least part of our Degeneracy But what vast expences of Treasure and Lives besides mens dearest Consciences it hath put the World to in the several States and Kingdoms thereof I need not insist on For who can forget to what a dismal Pass Three Realms of our own were thereby lately brought And much more doth it therefore concern us to regard the good caution from Heaven to have nothing to do with Novelists not to meddle with them that are given to change Of old the Good and old way went both together Jer. 6.16 To be sure where God hath set up his Landmark 't is an horrible Trespass to attempt its plucking down And Kingship we hear is God's own Establishment If then we will fear the Lord we must next unto him fear the King likewise That is maintain the greatest reverence and best opinion of him in our Mind And this is the first part of God's charge on People towards their Soveraigns to shew the peculiar care he taketh of them The Second and next is 2. Mouthes That our Mouth be managed suitable to our Mind We must be always ready to speak as well as think the best of Princes We may by no means dare to utter any thing reproachful of them And this is also part of God's Charge upon us concerning them For Exod. 22.28 'T is Written Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evil of the Rulers of thy people Their very Title of being Gods should lay an awe on men toward them and God's command requires most Reverend Speeches of them Railings and Reproaches of our Equals or Inferiours are Unchristian Practices and condemned in the Holy Gospel But to serve Superiors at that rate a Soveraign especially is much more hamous and to be abhorr'd even to Hell from whence it comes Those men then can have no conscience towards God that make no conscience to revile the Gods For they have no regard to the Word of God which doth so expresly forbid this wickedness Let them beware whose filthy Mouthes trade in traducing and defaming the Persons and Proceedings of their Lawful Governours 'T is very observable That when St. Paul had by surprizal onely less decently and when unjustly used rebuked his Superiour but one much Inferiour to a Soveraign Prince he doth not onely Apologize for that miscarriage with a plausible excuse That it was his ignorance thrust him on so doing upon his own long absence from Jerusalem and their great confusion in the choice of Officers we must understand but he is honestly plain in professing That such behaviour is not to be justified but Condemn'd Acts 23.3 5. And he quotes the very Text of Exodus which you last heard of to that purpose Now how unlike that holy man and how inexcusable with all good men are Those too many of this present Age who without regard to Truth or falshood or any good manners in the World and to be sure against all Christian Reverence to the Word of God and their Lawful Governours make it their business to fill their own Minds and then the Ears of others with jealousies and suspitions nay with Male-interpretations plain slanders and Reproaches of the Highest Powers How any such Persons though they would be counted Christ's Disciples and perhaps esteem themselves of the Highest Form among them can reconcile such Practices with Gospel Principles is never to be shewed We are certain of this and I pray God they may consider it as they ought That those people have the blackest Brand put on them who Despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities both in 2 Pet. 2.10 and Jude 8. Another and Second Instance to the former purpose Last of all 3. Lives our lives must give an Attestation to our Minds and Mouthes God doth require that we should be Internally and Externally All of a piece towards our Princes 1. Obey their Laws We must be ready to obey their Laws and support their State Touching the Former should it so happen that the command of an Earthly King should cross the command of the King of Heaven then such command is ipso facto superseded and hath no Obligation on us For that we ought to obey God rather than man is the Christian Doctine Act. 5.29 But withal take notice That when we cannot be active in Obeying we must be Passive in submitting And there is none allowance but an utter Condemnation of all Resistance and Rebellion in the case and by the self same Doctrine of our Religion St. Paul injoyneth That every soul be subject to the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 There is none excepted be he Prophet Apostle Bishop or of any other Order of Men whatsoever There is no Priviledge or Exemption of any The Pope of Rome indeed refuseth his Obedience to the Emperour and at Pleasure will discharge his Clergy or Laity from their Duty to their Natural Princes But the Apostle Paul and Apostate Pope are of Two Minds you see they are contrary one to the other Therefore that is one reason of the Apostles marking him for the Man of Sin in that he doth exalt himself above what is called God on Earth as well as Heaven 2 Thess 2.4 But whosoever will be St. Paul's Disciples and not the Popes must love Obedience and
from Or that our Dear Religion and the Gospel would have been by such Confusions cast upon their Death-bed if ever they had recovered thence There is no man knoweth whose very Life should have been given him as a Prey How frightful are the thoughts of these things But how abominable to God and all Good Men must be the Authors of them But thanks be unto God Our King is safe and we together with him Wherein those Men of Mischief dealt proudly indeed cruelly the Almighty was above them Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us a Prey unto their teeth The snare is broken and we are escaped Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Psal 124.6 7 8. Thus is our King a Signal Instance of God's peculiar Care of Princes which fairly leads us unto the Fourth 4. Propos and Last Proposition This is just occasion for His Mafesties and his Peoples great joy and thankfulness unto God All Mercies bring with them just matter of Rejoyceing in and giving Thanks for unto God that gives them But the more signal any Blessing is the greater is the Obligation thereby laid upon us to enlarge our Hearts in joyful gratitude 'T was a great fault in King Hezekiah though a good Man otherwise That he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him 2 Chron. 35.25 And our Saviour makes a just complaint against the Nine Lepers That they returned not to give God glory for his Mercy to them Luk. 17.17 18. As for our Soveraign so many remarkable Circumstances in that Deliverance this day acknowledg'd concur to commend and advance the singular kindness of the Almighty towards him that they cannot but influence his Royal Soul to joyful Thanksgiving As First A Design in its Nature so horrid and feral to be disapointed The very Life of Himself and Dearest Brother with such Cruelty and Inhumanity to be ravish'd from them And by his own Subjects and Servants that ought with alacrity to have lay'd down their Lives for his sake So many Principal Ministers if not all his Loyal Subjects and Three whole Kingdoms lying at stake together Again To escape such a Plot that was unsuspected For though the King knew no doubt of a Discontented Party Nothing is more probable than that he was secure of any such vile and villanous Attempt And truly the thing is so uncouth and monstrous so aliene from and adverse to Humane Nature to say nothing of Christian Religion which damns the very Seeds and Principles thereof that an innocent honest and well-meaning man but for such clear Evidence that shines like the Sun at noon-day would be apt in this Case to take up the words of Nicodemus in an other How can these things be But so plain is the proof that now for one to deny it seems if not to Confess he is in it at least to signifie good wishes to it Yet further an horrible mischief to be blasted That was so easie to have been effected His Majesty though not without need we clearly perceive being always provided of a meet Defence for his Sacred Person yet at this time and place out of Confidence we may suppose of the Loyalty and Love of his People seeming to neglect his wonted Guards at least to be satisfied with a less number than usual encourag'd the Villany and threatned less danger to the vile Undertakers Besides The unexpectedness of the Providence that defeated the Treason adds much to the mercy of scaping it The burning down of his Majesties Town kept up the Tabernacle of his Majesties Body New-Market Fire though it were not likely to quench those Traytors thirst for his Sacred Blood yet it choak'd them from drinking it For that so sad an Accident there was made the occasion of great gladness elsewhere in causing the removal of the King before his intended and their expected Season Lastly That a Confederate in the Villany as deep and as forward as any of the vilest should be smitten so with the Horror of the Fact as himself doth confess that the Feaver and Convulsion of his own mind would give him no rest till he made the Discovery These are all such Circumstances that severally would do much but joyned as they are do mightily enhance the price of God's Care for the King's Preservation And accordingly they have prevailed upon him for the most Solemn and Publick Acknowledgment thereof Which past all doubt is very well and most Religiously done That as Mordecai called his People to a day of Publick Gladness and Rejoycing for his Own and Their Deliverance from Haman's Rage and Cruelty So on a much like occasion our Soveraign should invite his Subjects to such a Solemnity of Publick and joyful Thanksgiving as at this day both on his own behalf and ours For it must be remembred as 't was told us before That we likewise are concer'd in duty herein It must be our business as well as our Kings To rejoyce and bless God for this great Salvation And were there none other reason we were oblig'd hereto solely for the sake of our Soveraign The Holy Scriptures have told you already That Prayers and Praises besides are owing for Kings and All in Authoriiy And what is more reasonable and just Doth not He Protect us under God in our Lives and Liberties and Estates Nay which is yet more Is not He the Defender of the Faith and a Preserver of the Gospel amongst us You know He 's our Governour our Father and our Head How great is our Concernment therefore in His Safety and Happiness Is there any of us that can honestly grudge to say to our King as David's good Subjects once said unto him Thou art worth ten thousand of us And if God's Church of Old bewailed the loss of their King as loosing the breath of their nostrils Lam. 4.20 Should not a Christian Church have an Equal Value for their King now Nay verily if God had permitted this Dreadful Design to have prosper'd we should have had but too much cause to have taken up their mournful Dialect and in the Utmost Extent of its sense too For I beseech you consider into what a dismal Chaos Matters had presently been trun'd What frights and spoils what havocks and slaughters must have instantly followed When the White Flag of Peace had been dip'd a Blood-colour and the ravenous Sword like an hunger-bit Lyon at his Prey were tearing and devouring our Flesh whither then could we fly for Refuge Say that some of us might have scaped with our Lives where had our Liberties been Must not our Ears have been bored and We sealed an Indenture of perpetual Slavery to the Prevailing Party What would have become of Religion Posterity and Numberless Souls God onely knows The Prevention whereof gives us just reason to say This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad therein But this will have its more proper place in