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A49121
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King David's danger and deliverance, or, The conspiracy of Absolon and Achitophel defeated in a sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Exon, on the ninth of September, 1683, being the day of thanksgiving appointed for the discovery of the late fanatical plot / by Thomas Long ...
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Long, Thomas, 1621-1707.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing L2972; ESTC R19771
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31,461
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48
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in the sence of the Law there are no Accessories in the case of Treason But secondly a Secret of such consequence could not be intrusted with all the Faction it was enough that their Principal Guides and Leaders were engaged in it where some performed the Function of the Brain to consult others of the Eyes to search out Opportunities and Advantages others of the Ears and Tongue to listen after and scatter false Reports as so many Fire-brands others of the Hands to execute such traiterous designs the whole Body was certainly engaged and without all peradventure would at least post factum have rejoyced in it as they did of the most detestable Murther of the Royal Martyr when a Representative Body of these Dissenters layed a foundation for such an ungodly Enterprize when they had even buried the King alive and by false Insinuations stoln away the hearts of the People and deprived him of the Comforts and necessary Supports of his Crown and Dignity voting his Guards to be a Grievance and the executing the Penal Laws on Dissenters to be grievous to the Subjects an Encouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom when he was denied to raise Money on his own Revenues and such as should assist him pronounced Enemies to the Peace of the Nation when a considerable part of his Customs were taken from him the Bill for excluding the lawful Successors was resolutely insisted on and a Vote pass'd for restoring the Duke of Monmouth to his Offices for which application was to be made to the King by such Members of Parliament as were of the Kings Privy Council when it was voted that all who should oppose the Bill of Exclusion should be dealt with as Betrayers of the King the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England and Pensioners of France when one pronounced it a favour that the Duke was onely excluded and another would have perswaded him to destroy himself and a third threatned that rather than not exclude him they would exclude the whole Glorious Family of the STUARTS Mr. Hunt when seditious Petitions were promoted and the Thanks of the House voted to be given to a seditious Party of the City for their manifest Loyalty to the King their Care Charge and Vigilancy for the preservation of his Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion when his Majesties Prerogative to call and dismiss his Council was questioned and while they who infused fears and groundless jealousies of the Kings ruling by an Arbitrary power did in an Arbitrary manner fine and imprison divers of his Majesties Loyal Subjects I doubt not to say that though such a petite venemous Insect as Achitophel was sate on the Axle and boasted of his moving all these great Wheels yet there were many more than a few rash and desperate persons engaged in the Commotion And what was the meaning of that Vote That in case the King should die by a violent death they would revenge it on the Papists when the chief Ministers of State the Bishops and all that were eminent for their Loyalty were condemned as being Popishly affected and the Clergy branded as Projectors for a Conjunction with the Church of Rome and had made many steps towards it Nor were these things whispered in a corner by some Malecontents but proclaimed on the house-top they were vox votum Populi When Absolon was sacrificing at Hebron the Conspiracy was strengthened says the Text ch 15. It seems then Absolon had his Levites who set up their Altars at Hebron which signifies a Society or Association in opposition to that at Hierusalem and these were they that strengthened the Rebellion For as every Chieftain had his Levite so every Levite had some hundreds whose Purses and Consciences were at their command and instead of catechising them in the duty of Obedience they preached Satyrs against their Governours and instilled the Doctrine of Resistance Their Texts were usually such as these Ye take too much upon you Moses and Aaron all the congregation is holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Numb 16.3 Curse ye Meroz say these Angels of Light curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to help the Lord against the mighty Judg. 5.23 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully and cursed be he that with-holds his sword from bloud Jer. 48.10 If ye do wickedly ye shall be destroyed both you and your King 1 Sam. 12.25 The kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them but it shall not be so with you Mat. 20.25 He reproved kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm Psal 105.15 Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Mat. 15.9 I hate them that hold lying or superstitious vanities Psal 31.6 Come out of Babylon my people that ye partake not of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Rev. 18.4 The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Joh. 4.23 Why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances Touch not tast not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men Col. 2.20 I thank thee O Father that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11.25 These are the Texts and it is easie to conjecture what Uses and Applications were made to the People For from these the People are instructed in their great Priviledges and Power That there is Idolatry and Superstition in the Church Oppression and Tyranny in the State That they ought to shake off those Yokes of Bondage and vindicate themselves into the glorious liberty of the sons and daughters of God That they may bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron to execute judgment upon them for this honour have all the Saints Psal 149.8 Hence every Idiot thinks he understands the Scriptures better than his Priest or Bishop And the watchmen of Israel may in vain forewarn them of the sin and misery which their false Prophets are leading them to though it be demonstrated that as naturally as the same cause doth produce the same effects so do the same seditious Principles spring up into rebellious Practices which a Prophet of their own was so sensible of that he told those men that they were nati ad bis perdendam Rempub. Anglicanam Born to destroy the English Government a second time But though an Angel from Heaven or one from the dead should perswade them contrary to what their Teachers have infused into them their Understandings are so oblinded and Consciences seared that sooner may a Jew or a Turk be converted
the Meetings at Hebron and was a Patron to those mock-Priests which sacrificed there in opposition to the established service of God at Hierusalem Baxter's Dedications to Hambden and in requital as his Father was registred among the Saints in Everlasting Rest so hath he many Memorials dedicated to him by those who incessantly sought the ruine of Jerusalem as their great Patriot and no doubt if he suffer though never so justly for his Conspiracy against David yet shall he be reputed a Martyr for the Good Old Cause The last of the Consult was Amasa whom Absolon made Captain of his Host a person of a turbulent and ambitious spirit who could not be obliged by any favour though infinitly beyond his deserts his design was to have supplanted Joab and to have been made David's General and David had made him a promise ch 19.13 but was willing first to have some proof of his fidelity and ch 20.4 he gave him command to assemble the men of Judah and to pursue Sheba at a set time but he delayed the business and disappointed David yet still he intruded himself and would fain lead the Forces raised by Abishai so that his ambition became so intolerable to Joab that he smote him in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels v. 10. Having seen the Characters of the men We are now in the third Parallel to consider their Communication the matter of Fact the Means and Methods of carrying on the Conspiracy which in v. 2. is described to consist of two parts 1. The secret counsel of the wicked And 2. The insurrection of evil doers The Prophet prays God in the first place Adversus occulta conventicula nocentium hominum as Rudinger interprets it The Assassination of the King which as you have heard was designed by Achitophel but prevented by his own death was now undertaken by a secret Cabal who narrowly watched every step that he made in his going forth and in his coming in in his business and in his recreations at home and abroad but still the wonderful Providence of God frustrated them for as Pallas hid her Aeneas Cernere ne quis eum ne quis contingere possit so did the Almighty hide his David under the shadow of his wings that no son of violence could approach to do him hurt for though they did often commune of laying snares privily v. 5. though for the space of three years together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they deliberated how where and when to surprize him though v. 6. they did search out iniquity and accomplish a diligent search 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as so many Bloud-hounds which being at a fault search every Bush and every Path and compassed Sea and Land to lay hold on an opportunity on the River in his Barge in his Royal Palace where his Father was murthered in the City at the Mayors Feast or the Bull-Feast in his great Council and in his Journey to and from Newmarket and Hampton-Court yet as in 2 Sam. 8.14 God preserved David whithersoever he went Never was a Partridge so hunted from Mountain to Mountain as David was Parties were formed in every City and County to drive him into their toils in Corporations and Conventicles by Nonconformists and Conformists too among whom some accused him of Persecution and pleaded for resistance and dealing with him as a Julian an Infidel and Apostate and omit nothing that the wit of men inspired by the malice of Devils could contrive to perfect this execrable Parricide At length the Monster was come to its birth but by the blessing of God it proved abortive For as David complains Psal 140.5 The proud have laid a snare for me and cords they have spread a net by the way side and set grins for me They were informed that the King was to return from Newmarket on the Saturday and they were ready for the execution on the Friday the way-side was spread not with Cords and Nets but Carts and armed men And now they thought him sure for who say they shall see v. 5. persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him there is no help for him in his God for v. 5. they encouraged one another in this evil matter the Devil was a lying spirit in the mouths of their Prophets though they were transformed into Angels of light perswading the Assassinates that they should do God an acceptable Service in killing his Anointed and be honoured as the deliverers of their Country and do as meritorious a work as the destroying of ravenous Beasts Now what greater encouragement can be given men pretending to Religion and Conscience than when their Guides to whom they have committed the conduct of their Souls shall Prophesie lies in the name of God and urge them to Rebellion by Scripture and Examples And whether it be not a just Judgement of God on those Regicides who for above Thirty years together have shewn no token of repentance for murthering the best of Kings to give them up to the hardness of their own hearts that they may fill up the measure of their iniquities by attempting the barbarous butchering of him that was second to none but his incomparable Father I wish they would consider Besides the Laws of the Land as well as Gods were made a nose of Wax and wrested to the acquitting of the Guilty and condemning the innocent by Ignoramus Juries and suborned Witnesses by Tumults and Riots and being thus possessed by a spirit of obstinacy they are like him in the Gospel whom no Bonds or Chains could restrain from practising the mischief they had imagined no obligations of Laws or Conscience of Fear or Favour of Oaths or Promises could hold them but they mock God himself that they may the more unsuspectedly destroy his Vicegerent Addito Juramento saith Arnobius Witness their profaning the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper which they never took for the sake of Peace and Unity but onely to secure their Worldly Interest or to beget a firmer resolution and engage them to greater secrecy for the effecting of this hellish Design Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Yet this was David's case Ps 102.8 They that are mad upon me are sworn together against me So that probably the Executioners of Charles the Second might have been as unknown as he that executed Charles the First for all this while they are his Majesties most Loyal Subjects and experienced Friends but that experience cost the whole Nation dear yea and intend to make him as glorious as his Father And now they are ready to give another instance of their Loyalty v. 7. Suddenly do they shoot at him and fear nothing There was but a step between death and him that was the breath and life of us all in a moment of time was the beauty of Israel to be vilely cast away It was not a Bow and a Dart a Sling or Javelin that was to do this