David and Saul: OR, His Majesty's CASE, AND His ENEMIES: PREACHED On the Occasion of the ASSOCIATION.  
By T. B. a Country Minister of the Church of England.  Psal. 89. 22. 
The Enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.  
LONDON, Printed for the Author, and Sold by John Clark at the Bible and Crown in the Old Change. 1696.   
PSAL. 9 16. The Lord is known by the Judgement which he executeth, the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand, Higgaion Selah. 
THis Psalm contains matter both of Prayer and Praise: What might be the Occasion of the composing of this Psalm, is not so clearly manifest. In general, it appears that it was some great Deliverance, that he, and the Church of God with him, had received; tho' from whom, and in what, is not particularly expressed. However it were, his mouth is full of Praises, and the Fall of his Enemies is that which ministered both Occasion and Matter for those Praises. And this Text contains the ground from whence he gathers Matter of Thanksgiving to God: In which Note,  
1. The Persons described, who were his Enemies, viz. The wicked. It is very probable that they might be Saul, and his officious Ministers of his sin, that are here described, as divers passages in the Psalm intimate.  
2. The Condition they were fallen into, viz. They were snared in the work of their own hand, and that which was designed against him fell upon them. It was once advised, that he should be sent against the Philistines, that their hand might be against him, 
1 Sam. 18. 21.  and he might fall by their hand, whose hand Saul felt the weight of, when he fell by them in Mount Gilboa. 
ch. 31. 8.   
3. The Honour that redounded to God hereby, that he was made known to be a righteous and a just God; and that tho' men carry on their Designs in disguise, and in the dark, yet God openly manifesteth himself to be righteous.  
4. The Cause of God's manifestation of his Justice, viz. The wicked Work they had in design to execute. Had their Work been good, it had not snared them; had it been righteous, it had not armed Justice against them; but being wicked, it set the Holiness and Justice of God on work, to bring their violent dealing on their own Heads.  
Hence Note,  

Prop.  That when wicked men's works bring Judgements upon themselves, then is God manifested to be a God of Justice, and giveth cause of Praise to his People.  
Taking it for granted that it was Saul, and his Instruments of evil, whose Works and Reward are here mentioned, and in whose ruinous Fall God glorified his Justice, I shall inquire, (1.) What were those evil Works they committed, and which brought on Judgement. (2.) What colourable Pretences they had for the perpetrating such flagitious acts. (3.) How God manifested his Justice in their Discovery and Punishment. (4.) What ground of Praise this is to the People of God.  

I. Let us inquire what are those wicked works which bring Judgement on the Actors of them. And here we may possibly find something that matcheth our present case.  
1. The subverting and ruining Religion was one: A Crime so evidently practised, that not the Allseeing God only, but all the World might behold it. God at the Institution of Monarchy, took care to secure Religion, and therefore enjoins, That the 
Deut. 17 18, 19  King should write himself a Copy of the Law, and meditate therein, that he might remember to fear the Lord his God. It being impossible to imagine, that God should delegate a power to any Man against himself, or give leave that those who were his chief trusties in the World should contemn him and his Institutions: But we find that all this went for nothing in those days, but as for Religion, it was either neglected, or profaned, or almost ruined. Neglected it was sufficiently, when neither King, Courtiers, nor People so much as enquired at the Ark, 
1 Chron. 13. 3.  during that Reign, nor minded so much as to bring it to the Tabernacle at Shiloh, but it must remain in the House of Abinadab, for them to inquire at that 
1 Sam. 7. 1.  had a mind to it: None sacrificed now before it, nor any waited on the Worship of him whom it represented, and whose Name it bore; and herein Religion was much abated. But had this been all, it had been but little, but worse follows, Religion is also Profaned, and that in an high an enormous manner: As we hear nothing of sacrificing on the Altar before the Ark, so we find an Invasion of the Priest's Office, and a Sacrifice offered by one of another Tribe; and this without any Commission, or (for aught appears) any Altar; No, not so much as one of whole stone, which was allowable in necessity; for Saul himself will take that Office upon him, To offer a burnt-offering; 
1 Sam. 13. 9  and as great a Profanation as it was, he can justify it too, that He was forced to it. But 
Ver. 12.  as one sin hardens a Man to the Commission of another, so we find in his rage he will venture farther. Samuel had begun to settle the Priests in their 
1 Chro. 9 22.  set Office, which David after confirmed: Now the Priests being by Divine Direction and Appointment fixed in their Office, they might not descend to inferior Services, though about the Tabernacle. The Gibeonites having forfeited their Liberty by their fraud, were given to the Priests, To be hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for the use of the Tabernacle, that the Sacrifices might be washed and offered, and that the Priests might wash themselves and offer: But Saul will make a blow at Religion, and slay the Gibeonites, and so necessitate 
2 Sam. 21. 1, 2.  the Priests and Levites to break the Order that God had newly placed them in, and do that Drudgery themselves, or else the Worship of God must stand neglected. But still there is worse behind, a most desperate Act he will commit, and murder a whole City of Priests at once, upon the single Evidence of a Godless Informer: Doeg's Word must be taken, being Evidence for the King, 
1 Sam. 22. 17, 18, 19  against all the City of Nob, and the honest and just defence of the accused must stand for nothing; yea, and rather than fail, he will empower a wretched Edomite to butcher them; this was highly wicked; but when it was done, Nob and its Suburbs might serve for a seminary of others, fit for his turn. Now when all this was done against Religion, and so fatal a blow given it, what wonder if God's Jealousy waxed hot against him.  
2. Profaneness and Irreligion was countenanced to the uttermost: It doth not appear that there were any who took care of maintaining true Religion, but whoso would might do in that as he listed. As for Profaneness, what it was, and how great, may be collected by this, that the best were least esteemed, and the worst most set by: Therefore if Honest and Religious Jonathan shall but open his Mouth in the behalf of innocent David, presently he must bear reviling Language for it, and have a javelin let fly at him, to kill him. As for 
1 Sam. 20. 30, 33.  consulting any of God's own Prophets, little care was taken to consult them, that he might be directed by them from the Mouth of God. If one come to him on a Message from God, to send him on a Journey against his Enemies, His voice must 
1 Sam. 15. 18, 19  not be obeyed: But if an Informing Company set him agog against his best Subjects, He blesseth them for it. And thus God stands neglected, his Enemies 
Ch. 23. 19, 20. 21.  spared, his Servants hunted from post to pillar, and feretted out of all lurking Places, in order to their utter ruin: No Crime is so great as theirs, who get Esteem for their Fidelity to their God and Country, in vexing, routing and slaying the Philistines; for though the Land far the better for it, and the People are secured, and Property more quietly enjoyed; yea, God's Honour advanced in the destruction of Idolaters; yea, it vexeth Saul at the heart, that all this should be done by the hands of honest Men, and thereby a Value for the honest Patriots of their Country increased: Doubtless the success against the Lords Enemies, by the hands of those whose Hearts were right towards God, would in time beget an high value for Religion, and set it above the Disadvantages that the Neglect of it and Debauchery had brought it under. This enrages Hell itself, and sets Satan to work to tempt Saul to suppress them, lest his Interest thereby do decline, and he be a Loser: To secure therefore his Interest, he sets him on to neglect the Prophets of God, and also to inquire at his Familiars, and so directly to adore and consult him, and he succeeds 
1 Sam. 28. 14.  accordingly. And this, added to the rest of his wicked and irreligious Life and Practice, is so heinously provoking, that he dyeth for it. 
1 Chron 10. 13.   
3. The destroying of all just Property was another great and heinous sin that was committed: The very Notion of Tribute implieth Property, or else it could not be paid; for those that pay it must have something to call their own, or else they could not pay it, nor be supposed capable of paying it. Certainly in the first peopling of the World, God gave the Earth and its Products to the Children of Men: And however peaceable the first Planters were in making the Division, and however contented they were with a competent portion, yet even then the first possession created a Title, and it was gross Injury to any to be an Incroacher upon his Neighbour. But in the possession of Canaan, the Divisiion was made by Divine Direction, and the Lot determining the possession of each Tribe, and the several Families must be supposed to come by their portions and shares the same way: Therefore when God instituted Monarchy, he set bounds to it, that The King should not greatly multiply silver and gold to himself, 
Deut. 17. 17.  as his own peculiar part, by taking it arbitrarily from the people; and so every Man's own was secured to him, the King having his Due of Tribute and Custom, and the People theirs. But in Saul's Reign this was invaded, and what the People had he would make his own at Will and Pleasure, Taking the best of their fields, and of their Vineyards, etc. 
1 Sam. 8. 14, 15.  and this was by him so ordinarily practised, that he useth this as an Argument to persuade his Followers to steadfastness, because if they should cleave to David, his Reign would be so just, As that he would not give them other men's fields and vineyards, and 
1 Sam. 22. 7.  make them Commanders as he did. It seems, it was not enough for him to take what he would to himself, but to give away what was another's to his Flatterers and Informers, that were over obsequious to his boundless Inclinations: But how much this profitted him, appears by this, that he whose illimited, insatiate appetite, gaped for all, was quickly rejected, and lost all.  
4. The enslaving of Men was another provoking sin: God that challenged the Israelites to be his Servants, and therefore rescued them from being Pharaoh's Slaves, was not willing to have them afterward Bondmen to any: So that if an Hebrew, or an Hebrewess, had sold themselves to any, (through Poverty) they were to serve but to the Sabbatical Year, and then to be set at liberty, and to be liberally furnished also with all necessaries, that they might 
Deut. 15. 14.  set up for themselves upon a probable Fund, the product of which might maintain them, so as not again to be Slaves. And for this reason, when the Jews had made their Servants free, but compelled them again to be Servants, after they were manumitted, God takes it so heinously, that he punisheth their Masters, By proclaiming liberty to them, to the 
Jer. 34. 17.  sword, to the famine, and to the pestilence, and to be slain by all the Nations of the Earth. And so tender a point was this, that even Solomon when he builded the Temple, would make none of the Israelites do any part of the drudgery about it as Captives; but they 
1 Kings 9 22.  were employed in the more generous and liberal part of that work: So that liberty, and a right to Life, Limb and Freedom, was not to be infringed by any arbitrary pretence whatsoever. All this Saul was far from, and he would take whom he pleased to be his Slaves and Drudges in his Business; even their Young Men to ear his Ground, and dress his vineyards, and their Daughters to be Cooks and Confectionaries, 
1 Sam. 8. 11, 12, 13.  etc. and this it seems was familiar with him: But what this cost him, is evident, he had made others slaves to him, and he makes himself a slave to his own Passions; and when all failed, would even pay Homage to the Infernal Spirit, for a little dreadful News of the Event of the Battle he was to fight, and in which he was slain. This was the Reward of Tyranny.  
5. Lastly, The laying snares for the Life of the Innocent, and shedding blood without remorse or pity, is another very heinous sin that will bring on Judgement: No man but hath a right to life and limb, unless upon the breach of some Law he forfeit them; therefore to mutilate, or execute with Death any man unconvicted of the breach of the Law, is Cruelty and Tyranny. But this was Saul's practice, David must be slain in an humour, when his melancholy Devil instigates him, who in a lucid Interval is owned to have done nothing worthy of Death, but in his Humours he must be Assassinated 
1 Sam. 19 11.  by Ruffians, without Trial or Conviction; Nay, even Jonathan, as near as he was to him, and as upright and innocent as he was, must in a rage be slain for speaking the truth, and sheltering an Innocent, whose Blood was hunted after: No matter for a fair Trial, but give Sentence without proof or conviction, execute first, and then try afterwards. It must needs be a doleful case in any state, when the best and honestest must hold their Lives at the Courtesy of greedy Informers, who can swear through stitch, and are sure to be heard; but if any for the accused produce any good Evidence to invalidate their Testimony, they shall presently be secured for Subornation. Thus Saul could destroy a whole Township upon a Foreign Slave's Testimony, who doubtless would have severely handled any that should have attempted to invalidate his Testimony. Thus of the sin that brought the Judgements.   

II. Let us now inquire what might be the Pretences that were used, and under colour of which they were drawn to proceed in their Wickedness.  
1. A Claim to Arbitrary Power and absolute Prerogative, was one main pretence to support this wickedness: There was this plausible Apology for their notorious Crimes, that the People had chosen a King without Limitation, and that there was no other tye, but that he come in, and go out before them, and fight their battles: On these terms they presume to do what they list, and tho' for a while Saul give a deference to Samuel, yet at last he shakes him off, and rules at his own pleasure. Being thus broke lose from all Restraints and Limitations on the People's part, and having no one who having been a Judge, and neither dead nor deposed by God, might still arbitrate betwixt him and the People, he runs a full career into all Excesses, and Innocency was now the weakest shelter that might be. Indeed Flatterers of Princes, and Men of Debauched and Irreligious, or Superstitious Consciences, will ring in their Ears the Power they are invested with, to spur them on to be Tools to their Profit or Revenge, that when Innocents' fall they may gain by it.  
2. Another pretence was, That the People were so tied to subjection and obedience, as that on no pretence whatsoever they might withdraw it, or deliberate about what was enjoined; but with all readiness submit to what was enjoined, and obey all Precepts whatsoever, without reserve: And for this unnatural Maxim there was this Colour, that at the first erecting of the Monarchy there was an absolute surrender of all to Will and Pleasure. However this pretence carried it, both Prince and People should so mind God's Institution, and have remembered, that when he instituted Monarchy, he reserved Liberty as well as Religion and Property, and would not have the King so lifted up in heart 
Deut. 17. 20.  by his Power, as to forget that the people were his brethren. And however Saul and the Israelites might overlook this, yet when Liberty and Property were surrendered, and no care taken for Religion by the People, God refuseth to stand to that Agreement, because, saith he, They have rejected me, that I 
1 Sam. 8. 7.  should not reign over them. Certainly there was a stipulation intended by God for the security of these things, and if the People blindly gave them away, or the Prince ambitiously and arbitarily assumed them, the People gave, and the Prince took more than was by God allowed to either. God never so far gave away his right to rule, as that Life, Liberty, Estate and Religion, should be held at the Pleasure and Courtesy of any Monarch: Nay, rather his Aim was at Public Good and Safety, that the Prince should with all tender justice carry them as a Nursing Father doth his sucking 
Numb. 11. 12.  Child in his bosom: But this being wholly neglected, God takes notice of it, and rewards it. Thus of the false Pretences, which drew on their wicked Works, and under colour of which they acted them.   

III. Let us now see how God manifesteth his Justice, in the Discovery and Punishment of these nefarious Crimes. The Methods are these:  
1. God leaves them to themselves: They had some general Assistance and Support, till Wickedness grew to that monstruous height, that Patience could bear no longer: But when once they prided it in their wretchedness, and thought forbearance to be an Approbation of their Wickedness, than he leaves them, and is pleased no more providentially to concur with their Erterprises. If Nahash invade and besiege Jubesh-gilead, he shall have so much help as to gain an Honourable Victory, especially when he follows the Conduct and Advice of Samuel, and Acts in conjunction with him: If the Philistines invade, and muster all their Forces in the Valley of Elah, and refer the matter to single Combatants to be decided, the Victory shall fall to him, whilst one that relieth on the God of Israel is his Champion: But when Samuel is grieved and alienated, and his Life sought for David's sake, 
1 Sam. 19 20.  but preserved by extraordinary providence; and David is hunted about, and good Jonathan reviled and hated, than things prosper no longer: He hath now cast off God, and God leaves him to himself, nor will any more raise up any extraordinary Prophet to direct and instruct him; he may at his peril try the skill of his Wizards, Genethliacks, Astrologers, yet shall not their Schemes or Spectres boad him any thing that is good, but he must fall into that sore Distress, as to tell the Infernal Spirit, That God hath forsaken him, and answereth him 
1 Sam. 28. 15.  no more: And this was an high expression of Divine Justice.  
2. God shows his Justice in the frustration of their Purposes and Designs: Great things were designed to be done, David must be assassinated, or if he escape that, he shall never arrive at the Throne, and sit there in quiet and at rest: It must be buzzed into the Ears of all the credulous and easy vulgar, that he is but the King's Son-in-law, and hath but a cracked Title to the Throne, and this must be Argument good enough to engage all willing Desperadoes to attempt his ruin. And to make them the more ready to comply with this Design, a plausible Argument might have been fetched from the charge, that the reparation of Religion, and the Defence of it, would amount to. If the Ark remained where it was, and the Altar and Tabernacle were left still at Shiloh, the matter would do well enough, these were the essentials of the Old Religion, and might suffice well enough to Salvation; but if a Temple must be prepared for it, it would cost many Millions, and the Land would pay dear for their New Religion: A frightful Argument this would seem to them that loved Money more than God or their Souls; but this shall not be successful. As to the Person of David, such Arguments shall not prevail, the People shall own him, and obey him, because Promotion cometh not from the east, nor 
Psal. 75. 6, 7.  from the west, nor from the south, but God pulleth down one, and setteth up another. Nor shall it hinder the Reformation of Religion, for the People will fetch up the Ark with joy, and fix it in a lawful Tabernacle, till a Temple can be builded.  
3. God shows his Justice in discovering their wickedness, and laying it open before the Sun, that the horror of it may convince and deter all. While sins are carried on in the dark, and disguises are found to cover them, Men sin securely, and conclude, that because the World doth not see, God will not. But when their sins are discovered, and the heinousness of them laid before the World, to their shame, than they find, That there is a God that judgeth 
Psal. 58. 11.  in the earth: They may plot against the righteous, and gnash on them with their teeth, but God shall laugh 
Psal. 37. 12, 13.  at them, as foreseeing that their day is coming. Little thought Saul to hear of his sparing idolatrous and persecuting Amalek by a Witches Familiar, but he hath it told him with a vengeance, and Satan could tell him too, that as little as he thought of it, God would set David on the Throne, and establish him in it. This was heavy Tidings, and the sense of God's being departed from him, and refusing to answer him, and the reproach of Hell itself for his former Enormities, strike him at the Heart, and he falls into a fainting swoon out of mere anguish.  
4. The Justice of God is seen, in being an Enemy to Wicked Workers, and fight against them: It is not to be expected that God should be an Enemy to their Enemies, and an Adversary to their Adversaries, who forsake his Commandments, and practise the contrary. Would Men have him on their side, they must be steadfast on his; For God is 
2 Chron. 15. 2.  with us whilst we are with him, but if we forsake him, he will cast us off for ever: Whilst Saul acts by Samuel's Direction, matters go pretty well with him, but when he stands upon his own Legs, he reels and totters, his Spirit is in an hurry, betwixt anger and fear, and he is tossed with his own misgiving Imaginations; no honourable Exploit adorns his Government, but all goes on quite contrary, and at last he disgracefully falls upon his own Sword out of mere Despair. Behold now the Anguish he is in! He hath no Anchorhold, nor any Expectation of the favour of God, but a sad Indication of the contrary; the sound of a shaking leaf terrifieth him, and tho' his Army on Gilboa are Men resolved to fight, yet Many of them deserting, and going 
1 Chro. 12. 20.  to David; and the rest having God against them, his Heart fails him, and a detestable Amalekite, whose country he had partly spared, doth him the last desired Office, to let out his despairing Soul out of his dying Body. And thus God manifested himself to be a God of Justice, and that so eminently that all might see it. Perhaps some Pretenders to Religion may blind their own Eyes, and when God's hand is lifted up will not see, 
Isa. 26. 10.  but God may so far convince them, as to make them see, and be ashamed for their envy against his people, whom he delivers by their fall, whatever others will do is no great matter, all good Men are bound to take Notice of his Deal, and to adore him accordingly. And this brings me to the last thing to be enquired into.   

iv Let us now see, how God by his Justice on wicked Men, giveth cause of Praise to his faithful Servants. Now this is manifest these Ways,  
1. By God's executing Justice on wicked Men, and by the return of their Wickedness upon their own Heads, makes way for the peace and security of his people, which is matter of Admiration and Praise. Upon the fall of Saul we hear no more of the encouraging of Informers, nor any under an hazard for their adherence to God and his Ways: There is now all possible Encouragement given to those that will cleave to God, and none have any cause to complain of Grievances for Religion's sake; only they who were Idolaters, or Apostates, find small Encouragement; but as for them, if they will complain, because they are straitened in their Desires, and fail of their Wishes, of having Idolatry promoted, let them grumble on: If God will rescue his from the Iron Hands of Persecutors, they have cause of Praise and thanksgiving to him. When Constantinus Chlorus reigned, and gave ease to the Christians in this our Nation, who lately suffered the most horrid torments under Dioclesian, how do the delivered Christians rejoice, That they were not thought Criminals for Religion, and that their 
Euseb. lib. 8. cap. 12.  Churches were not defaced, nor they themselves persecuted: But when his Son Constantine the Great reigned, and slew both Maxentius and Licinius, than they triumphed and rejoiced greatly; and that which administered cause of Joy, was, that they were at liberty, Religion in safety, and that God had glorified his Justice on the most bloody Persecutors.  
2. It is matter of Joy, That now a way is made for the propagation of Religion, and the further spreading of it in the world. When David was arrived at the Throne, he had indeed many Foreign Enemies, and very bloody but victorious Wars, but this made many become Proselytes to the Jews, and some Foreign Potentates became his Confederates. And certainly those that did so, did it not out of fear of his Conquering Arms, or to prevent being the next Morsel to his Ambition, but to confederate with him as the Captain of God's peculiar People: And that this is highly probable, Hirams granting so much Cedar, and so many Work men to the building of the Temple, because he was ever a lover of David, is a clear demonstration. And others also were not wanting to send him great Presents, which he dedicated towards 
2 Sam. 10. 11.  the building of the Temple: So that Religion spread further and further, and David's Government was an Enlargement to it. When Constantine the Great had conquered the Pagan Emperors, than the Kingdoms of the Earth became the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ: Then was the Church farther propagated, and Christianity was the Religion of the Empire; and though Satan by Divisions, Ambition and Heresies, did much hinder its Purity and Progress, yet it got above all, and spread farther still, till it had eaten out the heart of Paganism itself. I cannot say what will be for the future, but that the fall of wicked Men, and the Peace of Protestants, may be the Conviction of its blind Adversaries, and the occasion of re-establishing the persecuted Reformed Churches abroad, is my hearty and earnest Prayer.  
And now I have dispatched these four Inquiries, what remains for me to do, but to apply this to our present Occasion; which I shall do thus,  
1. This requires us to give God the Glory of his Mercy to us: Of his Mercy, I say, who hath preserved our Dear and Dread Sovereign from Impending Mischief; who hath preserved our Religion, which was instituted by himself, preserved by his miraculous handiwork, confirmed by the Blood of Martyrs, conserved by the steadfastness of its hearty followers, and beloved of all that fear God: Who hath kept us from being Slaves to the worst of Masters, and set us in a state of Liberty, under the security of our own Laws: Who hath kept us still (as for many Ages we have been) an independent Kingdom, in which we are in bondage to none, but may sit under our Vines and Figtrees in safety, under the Protection of our own righteous Laws and Sovereign: Who hath prevented our anxious care for Posterity, and our fears, lest they should be enthralled by idolatrous and cruel Lords: In a word, who hath so far manifested himself to be our God, as that all the World must needs own, That underneath are the everlasting 
Deut. 33. 27.  arms; though the Enemy hath pushed sore at us, yet hath he not prevailed; so that we may say, The Lord of 
Psal. 46. 7.  Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge.  
2. Let us give Glory to God, who hath so eminently discovered and brought to light the hidden things of darkness, and hath (as we hope and pray) brought the wickedness of the wicked to an end: That the Wheel is turned upon our Adversaries, and that the Mischief designed is fallen upon their own Heads. Were it barely to triumph over the miserable, I would forbear what I have here just cause to enlarge upon: But lest they should seem innocent, because but gently handled, and least silence in this case give them occasion to think themselves in the right; and lest the artificial Speech of one of the Criminals (whither his own, or the composure of a Party, let the concerned answer) should ensnare the compassionate or weak Mind of any, I will venture beyond my first intention, to say something farther; God's Justice being essential to him, and deserving our Observation and Praise for the manifestation of it, hath most eminently showed itself at this time, and in this affair, of which there are these visible Footsteps.  
1. In punishing The most unnatural Conspiracy that could be: Had this succeeded, we had been an Aceldama, but by the prevention of it we enjoy all we have. It was always held the highest Act of Perfidy, to betray whole Kingdoms, and those who were Enemies to their Native Country were held the worst of Monsters. That Foreigners should gape for our Good Land, and wish to partake of its abundance, is no wonder; but that Natives, who have been nursed and bred in it, and have been protected by its Laws, and preserved by its Arms and Valour, should for an Humour betray it, is abhorred of all, even the most barbarous. God hath blest Men that would show themselves valiant for their Country; for even Joab, who was none of the best Men, yet playing the man 
2 Sam. 10. 12.  for his People, and the Cities of his God, was blest with an entire Victory. But so hateful a sin is theirs, who would expose their Native Country to slaughter or slavery, that God always curseth it, and in his Justice exposeth such to be a public Victim to his Anger, that the whole may be preserved.  
2. Their wickedness designed against Men's Souls, is highly detested and punished: Had their Project succeeded, many Souls must have been exposed to the Danger of Damnation. For, as for the Adult, they would have been put to the Trial, whether they would have revolted to Idolatry or not; and for Infants, and tender young ones, they must have been bred up in Ignorance and Idolatry, without the true Knowledge of God: And if any had made a demur for a time, they would quickly have been cudgeled out of their Lives, or into Conformity: The profane and lose Protestants (who own a Religion, whose Principles are powerful enough to reform them) should have been exposed to Temptations too strong for their Ability to resist, and meeting with a Religion which would promise them Heaven, and a Life of Sin too, would soon have yielded; and thus a Door must have been opened to let in the Devil, to try what his Rage or Subtlety could do, and fair leave given him by these Men to take what Souls he could catch, and themselves too, rather than fail of their Project: And all this must be done on the score and pretence of Loyalty, as if Loyalty to Man (when yet there was none) superseded Duty to God, and gave leave to, yea, consecrated a Devotion to Hell itself. Certainly a power to damn Souls, or to expose them to Damnation, is frightful, and yet such would these Men, on the pretence of their false Loyalty, set up, in defiance to God, and their Allegiance to him: But Justice could not bear this, and therefore pity to the endangered hath secured them, and the wicked have drunk the dregs of the Cup they mingled. I add,  
3. Let us in Thankfulness to God unite together with Heart and Hand to serve him, and to preserve the Nation and Government, and ourselves from their Attempts for the future. I am not ignorant what plausible Pretences are on foot at this day, to hinder our Union: But for you, (my Beloved Auditors) you know that I have not been wanting on all fit Occasions, to confirm you against those That think to withstand the Kingdom of the Lord, in the hands of the Sons of David: 
2 Chro 13 8.  That I shall not say any thing now on that account, nor do I need it: Only because our present Union and Association is of so important consequence, and because, if we should not unite, we give the Enemy the most desired Advantages; and because some have Doubts cast in their way to stumble them, and others are stunned with the Noise of a Victorious Monarch to terrify them, I will here answer their Objections:  
1. It is said, that the Allegiance sworn to the Late King is still Obligatory, and so we cannot lawfully Associate: To this it may be truly said, that the Design of that Oath was to assert an Independency in this Kingdom on any Foreign Power, Civil or Ecclesiastical, and to abjure Popery in its Foundation, viz. The Supremacy of the Pope, both which our Association designs and intends; and so the end of imposing that Oath at the first is answered in what we do now; and for the Person to whom it is said we made it, if the Oath be personal, we all know that he discharged it, and would not have it imposed for Popery's sake, and so disclaimed his own right in it: He subverted a Fundamental Article of our Settlement in discharging it, and we prosecute the greatest and best ends of it in what we do now. Nor can we by that Oath be obliged to admit the late King again, who refused to rule us himself, but stepped over to France to fetch Fetters thence, to enslave us to the boundless Tyranny of that Monstrous Prince.  
2. Others stumble at the term Revenge, used in this our Association: Upon what reason they do it, whether out of mere Scruple of Conscience, or else to evade the performance of what is there under our Hands stipulated, they must answer. Certainly that term here used, neither means the usurping the Magistrate's Power, nor the personal Revenge of malicious Men; but only that as Subjects of the Government, and as Citizens of the Commonwealth, we will to our power do all we can, to bring to Punishment all those Malefactors that shall labour to destroy our present Settlement. We must expound that term from the occasion of using it, viz. The greatest of Treasons, and worst of Conspiracies that was ever plotted against this Government and Nation; and then we shall be easily able to see, that this imports no more, than that we will lend our Hands to the Magistrate, to suppress Traitors and Invaders, this being the way to deter them from attempting the like for the future; and all this the Law of God, Nature, and the Nation binds us to, whether we Associate or not.  
I will now add something to enforce our Union, and so conclude.  
I say then, That none can stand bound in Conscience to any Prince, to comply with a Religion contrary to the Bible; nor will any personal Oath bind us to him who disclaims the very Oath itself, and by dispensing with it dischargeth it. None is in Conscience engaged to enthrall his Country, or surrender it to Foreign, Cruel Lords; none is obliged to enslave Posterity, and deliver them up to perpetual Bondage, and for our uniting for common preservation and sustaining our present Government, 'tis no more than what at this time is highly necessary. The Example of the best Men in Scripture-times may well be followed: And we read that tho' Saul was alive, and David but his Son-in-law, yet because Saul had destroyed Religion, Liberty and Property, many thousands associated and went to David; some when he was at Ziklag, a year at least before Saul's Death; 
1 Chron 12. 1. v. 8.  some when he was in the strong-hold in the Wilderness; and some when he returned from Achish, before the Battle on Gilboa, as he was going to Ziklag; 
v. 20.  and as they fell to him, so they associated with him against all his Enemies; for thus they say, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, 
v. 18.  peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy Helpers, for thy God helpeth thee: And if this were warrantable in them, our Circumstances will make it not only not culpable, but necessary.   
FINIS.