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
some modern Historians report did also to cut off all hopes of a Reconciliation between the Father and Son perswade Absolon to go in to his Fathers Concubines and that in the sight of all Israel than which as Sanctius says the Devil himself could not have given a more pernicious Counsel nor if he had been incarnate done a viler act And by this time the Devil was entred into the heart of Achitophel and drove him furiously to destruction and quod facis fac cito his design of rising suddenly that very night with his twelve thousand Brisk Boys and falling on David while he was weak and weary to seize his person and smite him onely knowing that in him who was the breath and life of all his Loyal People they would all be as the King was but dead men 2 Sam. 17.2 and 3. This designe I say when it was brought to the birth though at first it pleased Absolon and all the Elders of Israel v. 4. yet on second thoughts they all abhorred the bloudiness of that execrable designe and God heard the Prayer of David and the Supplications which were incessantly made for him and confounded that devilish device turning the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness who being deserted of all his Confederates deserts himself too and foreseeing that Absolon would be defeated and all his own evil Arts and Impostures laid open his suborning false Witnesses his encouraging seditious Petitions his lying Slanders against the Lords Anointed his obstructing the execution of Justice and acting arbitrarily against the Loyal Party he becomes desperate and thinks of nothing but going with Judas to his own place as the Text says he went home and hanged himself Morbus ob nimiam Animi tristitiam But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Suffocatus est he was suffocated and so the Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and R. Elias says he was strangulatus ab Angina he died of a Squinzy in his Throat His own Choler his gross and indigested Lyes and Perjuries were instead of an Halter So that though he escaped the hands of David's Executioners the Vengeance of God pursued him and suffered him not to live Qui ejusmodi ingenii sunt quodvis libentius subeunt quam ignominiam dedecus Yea his own Malice did destroy him quia non aliquâ nocuisset mortuus est the overflowing of his gall and his venomous spirit consumed his Vitals and eat up his Flesh Thus died our Achitophel and thus let all the Kings implacable Enemies perish but upon himself let the Crown flourish Achitophel is dead but his Malice survives he had sown those Serpents teeth that sprung up into armed men but he never shewed more of his Serpentine subtilty than in chusing apt and active Instruments and managing them to the best advantage for the perfecting of his execrable designes His first great Engine was the debauching of Absolon one of the Royal Bloud a person too well qualified for such an unnatural designe who being of a bloudy and ambitious spirit was not satisfied with the death of Amnon his eldest Brother but sought his Fathers life too Achitophel having baited the Hook with the present hopes of the Crown the possession whereof would expiate the greatest Villanies as his Polititian had informed him was easily insnared Him our Achitophel took into his tuition and too great a Proficient he was in all the evil Arts of his Tutor by whose Methods he courted the People so successfully as in a short time he was the Idol of the People for the Vulgar are led by Sense and Raree Shows a flattering Tongue and beautiful Aspect for all which there was none like Absolon 2 Sam. 14.25 As for beauty multum egregio decus enitet ore in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absolon from the soal of whose foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish And as his Beauty was attractive of Love so the symmetry strength and activity of body fitted him for Arms and Action and of his personal Valour and daring Spirit he had given the people sufficient proof his natural Advantages and Abilities were polished and set off with all imaginable arts of Courtship and indefatigable Industry For he rose up early and stood by the way of the gate where Judgment was to be given to meet and encourage such Petitioners as Achitophel sent thither with Complaints And it was so when any came to the King for judgment Absolon called them to him and without more ado said Thy matters are good and right but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee O that I were made judge in the land that every man that hath any suit or cause might come to me and I would do him justice 2 Sam. 15.2,3,4 But he did not onely verba dare but omnia serviter pro imperio If any did him obeisance he returned the complement threefold he put forth his hand and embraced them in his bosom and kissed them too v. 5. and as if he would breathe his very Soul into theirs he whispers to them his sence of their Grievances and promises Redress He condoles the defects of his Fathers Government who through old Age and new Delights was wholly indisposed for the government of so great a People which was now devolved on corrupt Magistrates and a carnal Priesthood by whom judgment is turned into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock Amos 6.12 yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey Isai 59.15 Inest omni populo malignum quid querulum adversus Imperatores These were placentia to the People who are never better pleased than when they hear well of themselves and ill of their Governours And now Absolon is more the Peoples Darling than ever he was his Fathers he and his Adherents are the Patriots and Saviours of their Country all the foundations are out of course and they alone bear up the pillars of it His Fame is ecchoed now from Dan to Beersheba He hath his Friends and Confidents in every corner of the Country who proclaim Absolon's Graces and Perfections for which his Soul was more beautiful than his Body and that he was the Hope of Israel that was oppressed and ready to expire through the growth of Tyranny and Idolatry And now look to thy self David the hearts of thy People are stollen from thee and it is no difficult matter to employ their hands to take the Crown from thy head These Alarms awaken David's Spirit and put him into a great streight between his Fatherly affection to Absolon and his own preservation in which that of his People was bound up and this later prevails against the former Absolon is banished for the space of tw years from the presence and Dominions of his Father 2 Sam. 14.28 during which time he saw not his fathers face but by the mediation of Joab David's General