the Batteries and Assaults of her Enemies must be abrogated and the Dissenters humoured with an Act of Comprehension or Coalition those Children of more than Eighty-eight years old so old that King James at the Conference at Hamton-Court with wonder asked them when they would become Men I say these must still be fed with Milk their weak Stomachs cannot digest Ceremonies though few Innocent and Primitive when at the same time they are strong enough to murder their King with his Royal Brother and swallow a Massacre of those that were truly loyal And then how formidable and dangerous must this Conspiracy be if you believe one of the Traytors at his Execution he will tell you that the Poyson had spread it self throughout the vvhole three Kingdoms Too too many of the lower House of our sacred Sanhedrim were infected God grant for the future they may be sensible of their Duty that instead of Heats and Bills of Exclusion instead of Arraigning their fellow Subjects at their Bar because they would not be so impudent as to teach their King how to Rule but submitted the calling of Parliaments to his pleasure to whom it alone belonged instead of rendering the King by their Votes more despicable than the meanest Subject when men forsooth must be accounted betrayers of the liberty of the Subject who should trust the King with any Money I say instead of these and the like proceedings may that House like Judah and Israel after the defeat of Absolom's Conspiracy strive with the upper which of them may plead their interest best by their Service and Loyalty to the King But of all Parts of the Kingdom no place drank deeper of this poysonous Conspiracy than this City of London How have the Factious here for these last years strugled with Authority How did they endeavour to blast those Persons who adhered to the King and were not so tame as to submit the Laws the Government and their own throats too to these wicked men with the infamous Titles of Papists in Masquerade of lovers of Arbitrary Government and I know not what how insolent have they been by their tumultuary Petitions by their riotous choice of Sheriffs that Asylum of theirs to which these wicked Men as of old at Rome might fly and if they were questioned for their Treasons an Ignoramus Jury might bring them off But being baffled and disappointed in these their ways by the great Wisdom with which God hath blessed our King and by the indefatigable Courage of faithful Subjects who durst be as eminently Loyal as these were notoriously wicked they are forced to alter their Measures In these streights and perplexities methinks I hear Ferguson the English or Scotish Korah encouraging the Conspirators after this manner My Lords and Gentlemen Let not your hearts fail you that you have been so often disappointed what we have already done may sufficiently declare that we dare do more and let not our Enemies flatter themselves that they are secure No no our City Charter is not so far lost but it may yet be recovered 'T is true indeed we cannot any longer under the pretence of Law get the upper hand but there is still a way left to crown our Designs a Blunderbuss must effect what the pretence of Law did fail in not to amuse you any longer the King with his Brother must be assassinated Startle not I say the King himself must be taken off and that for the saving the effusion of Christian Blood otherwise you know he will punish whom he will call the Murderers of his Brother When they are taken off nothing can oppose us We have Forces ready with an hundred old Officers who are fleshed with the Blood of the old King who easily vvill slay all our Adversarys when the Loyalists as they call themselves shall have none to Head them or to whom they shall pay their obstinate Allegiance any longer And when the Blow is given how easily may we throw if you please to call it the Murther of the King with the Duke upon the Papists This way and no other is so feasible that I cannot doubt but quickly to see you owned as the Deliverers of our Country Upon this you may imagine the Kings Death with his Brothers is concluded on And another Royal Martyr with his Brother is to be added to the Sacred Calendar the Rye in Hertfordshire is to be the Stage whereon this Tragedy must be acted a place wherein they flattered themselves they could not miss of the Royal Prey a place so convenient for their damnable intent as if it were pointed out unto them by the Father of Darkness Upon the thoughts of this place our Conspirators with the Atheist in the Psalmist might flatter themselves with the designed slaughter as if God could not see them and as if there were no knowledge in the Almighty the not only Protector of Princes in general but be it spoken to Gods Glory and our Comfort in particular of our present King Thus you have a description of a Copy far transcending the Original the Fanatick Conspirators in England far out-doing these wicked men whom my Text mentions Now 2. See whether these Wicked Men be not also consumed in their Sins These Conspirators without doubt longed for the day wherein they might sacrifice the Lord 's anointed Their forces are ready in the City so many persons allotted to so many places to follow the Murther of the King and his Royal Brother with an horrid Massacre Nay so sure were they of accomplishing their Designs that they were provided to shift the fact from themselves upon others when alas Good good Men they would no more have destroyed this King than they really murdered his Father Methinks I see these wicked Men upon the thoughts of the murther of the King and his Brother with the following Massacre hugging one another and hear them saying Now now is the time that the Tory's so they were pleased to nick-name all those that were truly Loyal shall pay to the uttermost for all the disappointments they have given us The Lord Keeper shall expiate the Blood of Colledge upon the same Tree the Judges with Sir John Moore shall be flead alive and their skins being stuff'd shall be hung up in Guild-hall The Present Sheriffs shall wish they had never been so fool-hardy as to execute that office and Pilkington's Fine shall be made up with many of their Lives as well as Estates The Bishops in vain shall wish that they had been for the Bill of Exclusion the thorough-pac'd Clergy shall feel what it is to have preach'd up Passive Obedience so long and the Lieutenancy shall rue their so often entertaining the Duke of York and all the Abhorrers of our Proceedings shall to their ruine find what it is to oppose us But the great God of Heaven who had before so often preserved our King laughs now at the Policies of these Monsters he blasts their designs and frustrates their expectations and
Davids General Chap. 20. If you look into the 11 of 2 Kings you will find the reward of Athaliahs Treason She seizeth upon the Crown of Judah and to secure herself in it She as she imagined slew all the Seed-Royal after six years injoyment of the Throne without doubt she supposed herself safe enough when Behol d the King's Son hid in the House of the Lord for six years space is brought forth by the Loyal Jehojada the high Priest and proclaimed King and the Traytoress Athaliah is justly slain vers 16. If from the sacred Writings I should tell you what occurs from Heathen Authors of this Nature time would fail me Rather than Pyrrhus shall be poisoned by his Physitian his very Enemies the Romans shall detect the Treason But what should I ransack Foreign Histories for Examples of this kind Our English Annals do afford us enough since the Norman Conquest Let John usurp the Throne due to Arthur his elder Brother's Son he taught but his Subjects to Rebel against him After he had numbred as many Troubles as dayes of his Reign After he had prostituted the Imperial Throne to the Lust and Power of the Pope After most of his Subjects had sworn Allegiance to a Foreign Prince he is thought to be poysoned by a Monk Edward the Third though otherwise a brave Prince yet because he dispossessed his Father of the Crown shall rue it in his Grand-son his immediate Successor whom Henry the Fourth an Usurper bereaves first of his Throne and a little after of his Life too But Divine Vengeance meets with him likewise in his Posterity for Henry the Sixth his Grand-son though as innocent and harmless a Prince as ever before him enjoyed the Imperial Crown of England hath his own Son stabb'd before his Face and himself some time afterward butchered by the same hand Let Richard the Third murder his innocent Nephews in the Tower let him poyson his own Wife that so he might marry his Niece the only Heiress to the Throne yet God blasts his Designs and blesseth this Nation both with the Tyrant's Death and the happy Union of the York and Lancaster Families in the Persons of Elizabeth and Henry the Seventh which Contest had cost more Blood than twice conquered France which one would think should make all true English men pray for the succession of the Crown in a true lineal Descent From these let us come some what nearer and behold Edward the sixth upon his death Bed that Edward who was made God's happy Instrument in rescuing us from the Superstition and Idolatry of the Roman Church Northumberland a feign'd Protestant for at his Execution he declared himself a Papist works and imposeth upon the dying Prince to declare the Lady Jane Gray his successor The security of the Protestant Religion was then as now pretended to which they knew Mary was averse The King seals the Grant to the Lady Gray most of the Privy Council with all the Judges are won or forced to confirm it After the King's death whether caused by poison from that pretended Abhorrer of Popery Northumberland or otherwise I shall not determine The Lady Gray against her own will is proclaimed Queen in this City and her ambitious Father-in-Law Northumberland thinks all safe as having nothing to oppose him but though a true yet a naked and defenceless Title When no sooner Mary tho a Papist asserts her Right to the Crown but her Subjects though Protestants as one man rise up in Armes to defend the Succession They knew how many thousand lives the dispute about the Crown had cost but a little before Neither could they find any motive then no more than we can now in the Church of England that gave any Encouragement against the lawful Heir Persecution they might dread but they would commit that cause to God and they had rather under go the flames of Martyrdom than be stigmatized with the Brand of Rebellion Upon this the Conspirators were defeated and that without a Battel taken and executed I might tell you of Wyat's Conspiracy in the same Queen's time and of many others in her most glorious Sister's Reign To these I might add the Conspiracy of the Papists in King James's time and every where you will find God's miraculous deliverance of Kings and the wicked Traytors still consumed in their Sins But further Treason is dangerous to the Actors thereof in the World to come I am sure St. Paul tells us so Rom. 13. ver 2. They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation A very small encouragement God knows for Traytors and Conspirators to rise up against their lawful Governours For though we should grant which seldom happens that many Traitors might so far prosper here as to secure themselves from the hands of Justice yet there is a King of Kings from whom no power can shelter Conspirators And this Damnation in the Close of all will prove a sad prize of the most fortunate Treason whatsoever And so I come to my third particular viz. To reflect upon the sinister practices as well as absur'd Opinions of the Roman and Geneva Chair or of the Jesuits and Presbiterians relating to this Subject And good Christians I think I cannot be blamed for naming both these together seeing that both of them were setled in the World in the same unhappy year viz 1541. The one by Ignatius Loyola at Rome The other by Mr. Calvin at Geneva and all their practice ever since hath been like Simeon and Levi svvorn Brethren in Iniquity to plot and conspire the death and ruine of Princes The Jesuit ever since that Society plagued the World hath out numbred its years with Plots and Conspiracies I might give you several Instances concerning their Disobedience to Princes from their most approved and signal Authors I shall name two of them joyning to them the Pope himself with his full Consistory Mariana the Jesuit in several Places doth not only allovv of but urgeth the Necessity of Killing and murdering Princes vvho are Enemies to the Catholick Religion as they are pleased to phrase it Anno 1594 John Castel a Scholar of the Jesuits vvith a knife vvounded Henry the fourth of France and struck out one of his teeth intending to have murdered him upon vvhich Castel vvas condemned to suffer Franzois Verone undertakes the Vindication of the Villain and is eloquent upon it declaring that it vvas a generous heroick and vertuous Act and comparable to the most renovvned and great Deeds of the Ancients either in sacred or profane History and concludes that he dyed a Martyr But what should I trouble you vvith such mean Authors as Defenders of the Murderers of Princes since Pope Sixtus himself in a full Consistory of Cardinals spake a long Oration in Commendation of the Murther of Henry third of France And let them not cheat us vvith the idle distinction of a Prince's being killed by a private or publick hand for the Question is not vvhether a
suffers no hands of violence to hurt his Anointed A Fire at New-market like the Angel that hastened Lot out of Sodom forceth the King with his Royal Brother to come back to White-hall sooner than he intended and so were the Conspirators disappointed Thus God brings him safely back again that so he might be now looked upon by his Subjects not only as Gods Ordinance but his Gift as the Ingenious as well as Pious Compilers of this Service express it Upon this one of the Conspirators could not but see the finger of God and that it was in vain to design any hurt to him who had God for his Protector thereupon he discovers the Plot and many others confess the same every one as they were more or less engaged in it Four of them have been Tryed found Guilty and received the usual as vvell as just vvages of Rebellion Several of them are in prison for the same Crime one arraigns himself at the Bar of his ovvn Conscience and proves his ovvn Judge and Executioner too vvhilest the greatest Traytor of them dyes I grant in his Bed but I pray God vvhat the last Lord Chancellour vvhen Attorney General said of some of the Murderers of the old King it be not the vvorse for him that he dyed in Peace and that he did not in some manner in this World expiate his Treason vvith his Blood The other Traytors vvander up and dovvn like Cain bearing a mark in their foreheads and fearing every one they see Thus Beloved you have seen our vvicked Conspirators consumed in their sins and novv vvhat gratitude vvhat thanks do vve ovve to Almighty God for this signal Mercy vve novv commemorate If the deliverance of the King vvith his Royal Brother If the putting a stop to the Massacre of those vvho adhered to their Prince in these perillous times If the preservation of our Religion from the Imposture of Presbytery and I knovv not hovv many other Factions If the security of our Liberty and Property under our Lavvful Prince If these have any weight as sure they must with all honest and Loyal Men Why then let us send up our Addresses to Almighty God that he will still protect his Anointed and keep him under the shadow of his Wings Let no Aristodemuses no Murmurers or Repiners appear amongst us But if there be any amongst us who instead of giving Glory to God for the discovery of this Fanatical and Hellish Plot do play the Israelites in this 16th Chapter and seem to be grieved for the punishment of Traytors I wish to God they would seriously advert and consider the 49th verse of this Chapter where they will find that no less than 14700 were destroyed because they maliciously cryed out against Moses and Aaron that they had killed the people of the Lord and what people were they why even the Blessed Conspirators Korah and his Accomplices Good God that any should be so bold or foolish to call these whom the Holy Ghost in my Text brands with the Character of Wicked Men the People of the Lord No no they never were nor can be the People of the Lord who resist lawful Authority What shall I say of those who would assassinate Princes Let us O let us therefore assent to the advice of my Text let us with the Elders here of Israel follow our English Moses and depart as he commands us by his Laws from the Tents or Conventicles of those wicked men let us not meddle with those who are given to change but abandon all those Doctrines whether vented by the Jesuit or Presbyterian that shall any ways withdraw or seduce us from our Loyalty Let our thoughts of God's so often preserving our King render him the more dear unto us and let us strive to be as dutiful to him as he hath been gracious to us in his Government Let the Remembrance of Gods consuming wicked Conspirators in my Text and his constant appearance in the rescuing of his anointed ones especially our King from the hands of Violence not only deterr Wicked Men from their disloyalty but spur on and encourage Obedient Subjects in the prosecution of their Duties to their Sovereign If any hereafter offer to seduce any of you from your obedience to your Ruler tell such an one that God Almighty still protects Princes especially this present King Tell him that Traytors and Conspirators are still consumed in their sins in this World and if that will not throw off the Tempter tell him That you dare not be eternally damned For Conclusion of all let me speak a word or two by way of Exhortation to those that have been or now being convinced of their errours do desire to shew themselves Loyal to the King Wouldst thou O Subject have the King preserved and long and happily reign over his people why then let me as Samuel said in the like case to the Israelites advise you to be Religious towards God Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good do Justice love Mercy and walk humbly with God If ye do well said Samuel ye and your King shall live Never O never flatter thy self that thou canst truly honour the King unless thou fearest God for as there is no such thing as a Rebellious people of the Lord so neither can there be a wicked Loyalist Do not O do not pretend to be Loyal to your Prince if you be disobedient to God Every vain Oath that you swear may prove a Dagger every Whoredome or Adultery every Oppression of the Poor c. may prove a Blunderbuss to your King and not only so but destructive to your Bodies and Souls eternally Therefore for your King's sake nay for your own Bodies and Souls sake eternally if you have followed sin hitherto break from it now Let us repent us of our evil ways and put on firm Resolutions never to commit the same Crimes again This if we do both our King and we shall live Which God grant through the Merit and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen There are some few faults escap'd which the Reader is desir'd to amend thus pag. 4. l. 8. read Theocratical p. 8. l. 1. read endeavour p. 8. l. 24. read Parity p. 20. l. 25. read Troublers FINIS Books Printed for and sold by James Norris at the King's Arms without Temple-Barr 1. MAssinello or a Satyr against the Association and the Guild-Hall Riot 4 to 2. Eromena or the Noble Stranger A curious Novel Octavo 3. Tractatus adversus Reprobationis absolutae decretum Nova Methodo succentisimo Compendio adornatus in duos Libros digestus Octavo 4. An Idea of Happiness in a Letter to a Friend enquiring wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by man in this Life does consist Quarto 5. A Murnival of Knaves or Whiggism plainly display'd and if not grown shameless Burlesqu'd out of Countenance Quarto 6. Haec Hic or the Feminine Gender more worthy than the Masculine being a Vindication of that ingenious and innocent Sex from the biting Sarcasms bitter Satyrs and opprobrious Calumnies wherewith they are daily tho undeservedly aspers'd by the Virulent Tongues and Pens of malevolent men Twelves 7. Patria Parricida or the History of the horrid Conspiracy of Catiline against the Common-wealth of Rome in English Octavo