Core Redivivus. IN A SERMON PREACHED At Christ-Church Tabernacle in London, upon Sunday, September 9 1683.  
BEING A Day of Public Thanksgiving for the Deliverance of His Sacred Majesty's Person and Government from the late Treasonable Rebellion and Fanatic Conspiracy.  
By WILLIAM BOLTON, one of the Schoolmasters of the .  
LONDON, Printed for James Norris, at the Kings-Arms without Temple-Bar. M.DC.LXXXIV.   

Core Redivivus: A Thanksgiving SERMON, For a Deliverance from a Fanatic Conspiracy.  NUMB. 16. ver. 26. 
And he spoke unto the Congregation, saying, Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked Men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their Sins.  
THE Context runs thus, And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the Congregation, saying, Get ye up from the Tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and the Elders of Israel followed him: and he spoke unto the Congregation, etc.  
The Words are an Exhortation of Moses, the Supreme Magistrate of the Israelites, to his Loyal Subjects, That they should departed from the Ten's of those wicked Conspirators, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with their Associates, lest they should be consumed in their Sins.  
What I have to say upon the Words shall be laid out in this following method.  
1. I shall give you an Historical Narration of this Conspiracy, as the Scripture doth afford Light thereto; with the Punishment of those wicked Men, as the Holy Ghost calls them in my Text: which Particular being spoken to, I shall for my second Part,  
2. Draw this natural Proposition, That all Rebellion, of what kind soever, is not only unlawful, but destructive likewise to Traitors, and that both in this Life and that which is to come.  
3. I shall reflect upon the sinister Practices and Opinions of the Jesuits and Presbyterians, relating to the Matter in hand; I name the latter, because of their so known Opposition to Prelacy, that they seem to draw their Extraction from this famous Triumvirate, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, in this Chapter.  
My last part shall be by way of Application.  

First then, that you may the better understand the History of this Chapter, be pleased to go back two or three Years, and you will find these rebellious Persons, with all the Children of Israel, groaning under the heavy Oppression of the Egyptians. In this their misery they cried unto the Lord, who heard their Complaints, and by a Succession of Miracles, wrought by the hands of Moses and Aaron, was pleased to rescue them from their cruel Taskmasters: Suppose them therefore on the other side of the Red Sea from Egypt, free from their cruel Oppressors, whom they had with Joy seen drowned in the Sea, but yet these men forgot God at the Sea, even at the Red Sea. After this we find them often murmuring against God, and as often punished, though in the midst of Judgement God remembered Mercy; nay, they so provoked the Almighty at one time, that had it not been for the Prayer of this Moses, against whom they conspire in this Chapter, I say had not this Moses then interceded for them, as ungrateful as they now appear, the Lord had utterly rooted them out from the Face of the Earth. These men had often rebelled against the Lord, but they saw it was to their own Ruin; now they will try whether they may not more safely fly out against their Prince and Highpriest whom the Lord had set over them: here they think themselves safe, and that God was not concerned in the Person of Moses their Supreme Magistrate.  
But surely, my beloved, one would rather expect these men to have been strengthening one another against the many Enemies, with whom they were to fight; one would have imagined to have heard these men offering up their Praises to God for the great Mercies past, and imploring the Continuance of his Favours upon his Servants Moses and Aaron; who, as they had been God's great Instruments in freeing this People from an horrid Slavery, so they might likewise settle them in the Promised Land; but instead thereof, we read in this Chapter of nothing in some men but Murmur, but Repine, but Rebellion: the chief Heads whereof are Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who had supplanted from their Loyalty no less than two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly, men of Renown; upon whom, notwithstanding, the Holy Ghost in my Text fastens no other Character than that of Wicked, who are here threatened to be consumed. Dathan and Abiram were descended from the Line of Reuben, the eldest Son of Patriarch Jacob, and therefore reckoned themselves more fitting to receive the Supreme Authority than Moses, who descended from a younger House; and Korah thought himself as much slighted and contemned, in seeing Elizaphan the Son of Uzziel to have been made the Prince of the Kohathites (the principal Family of he Levites next to Gerson) when he himself descended of the elder Brother. You may fancy them therefore in their Cabals and Association, for in vers. 2. we are told, they had no less than 250 Princes of the Assembly, and men too famous. in the Congregation, men of renown that joined with them; I say, you may fancy those men got together in their Tents, and Corah Addressing himself to them in this manner; I intimate Korah, rather than any of the others, because the Conspiracy in Scripture is called the gainsaying of Korah. Suppose therefore Korah speaking to his Associates after this manner: 'Tis true indeed, Moses and Aaron have delivered us from the Hands of the Egyptians; but we had better have continued there than basely to submit ourselves to be Vassals to our Father's Children: We do no longer indeed make Brick of Clay, but then we were not in Subjection to our fellow-Servants: Moses promised that he would bring us into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, and behold he kills us in a Wilderness: If we must have Princes, you my Lords, Dathan and Abiram, are more fitting to rule over us, as being of an elder House than he, and if there be a Necessity of having one Priest above another in place, and power, without Ostentation, the Mitre might sit as well upon my head as that of Aaron: In vain, in vain we are freed from the Yoke of Egypt; to be Slaves to those, whose birth at the best is but equal to our own: As for my part I will not bear it, neither do I think such generous Spirits as yours can submit to such a Servitude any longer. But in this Speech I would not be misunderstood, concerning Succession; for the Jewish Government was then perfectly Theocatical, and God himself was pleased to appoint Governors for his own People; to which Theocracy amongst the Jews, the next of Kin in Blood answers in other Nations; I am sure in this Kingdom; and may it always continue: After such words as these, you may imagine the chief Conspirators confirmed; the People now are to beseduced, and what measures I beseech you are followed? Why, They are flattered with the hopes of an Absolute freedom, with Liberty and Property, Words, I must confess, not expressed, but sufficiently employed in this Chapter, as will appear to any who seriously read the same: They are made to believe that they shall have a Power in sacred Matters, as should both authorise and justify their approaches to the Holy Altar without the intervention of Priest or Prelate: The People being gulled by such Arts as these; the Leaders boldly show themselves against Moses, and Aaron, and impudently tell them to their faces vers. 3. of this Chapter, You take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are Holy, even every one of them, and the Lord is among them; Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the Congregation of the Lord? At the hearing of this, Moses falls upon his face, vers. 4. and tells them that on the morrow, the Lord would show who were his, and then gently rebukes these Sons of Levi, the true Fathers of our Presbyterians; who scorn to acknowledge any Jurisdiction above their own, vers. 9 Seemeth it but a small thing to you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do the Service of the Tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the Congregation, to Minister unto them, and he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy Brethren, the Sons of Levi, and seek ye the Priesthood also? for which cause both thou and all thy Company are gathered together against the Lord; and what is Aaron that ye Murmur against him? As if he should have said, It is not Aaron that hath thrust himself into, or invaded this Office; for he was consecrated unto it by God himself. After such a gentle Rebuke, he condescends to send a Messenger unto them, to call Dathan and Abiram, who vers. 12. impudently return, they will not come unto him; and not only so, but with most upbraiding terms and severest Sarcasms, vers. 13, & 14. endeavoured to expose him to the shame and contumely of the People. Is it a small thing (say they) that thou hast brought us up out of a Land that floweth with Milk and Honey, to kill us in the Wilderness, except thou makest thyself altogether a Prince over us? Moreover thou hast not brought us up into a Land that floweth with Milk and Honey, or given us Inheritance of Fields and Vineyards; wilt thou put out the Eyes of these Men, we will not come up? Moses, though the meekest of men, yet as the following Verse tells us, was wroth, and appeals unto the Lord as a Witness of his Integrity; hear himself speaking, I have not taken one Ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.  
Thus, Beloved, you have an Account of their Conspiracy; now be pleased to take a view of the end of these wicked Men, see whether they are not consumed in their Sins: Their Sin was great, so likewise was their Punishment too; and that all men might be fright'ned and terrified from their levelling Principles, from opposing their lawful Magistrate, and promoting a Party between the Highpriest and Levite, or between the Bishop and Priest now, for I cannot but take the latter in the Christian Church to answer the former in the Jewish. vers. 31. We read, That the Ground clavae asunder that was under them, and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their Houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah, all their Goods, they, and all that appertained unto them, went down alive into the Pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the Congregation. And so I come to my second Proposition; viz.   

2. That all Rebellion, of what kind soever, is not only unlawful, but destructive likewise to Traitors, and that in both Worlds.  
1. It is unlawful; (but I shall only speak two or three Words of this, as supposing it a Subject that hath been often handled, especially at this time, by more learned men) I shall only say this, That to oppose our lawful Magistrates is against the Sense and Practice of Christ's Church in all Ages, even under the severest Persecutions, I say in all Ages, even under the severest Persecutions of Heathen. Emperors, nay, under Julian the Apostate; for never, never were the Primitive Fathers brought in, and wracked to patronise Rebellion till these last Years, calculated without doubt for the Meridian of this Conspiracy; though how much the Fathers were wronged, the Confutation of what hath been alleged hath sufficiently declared: But then,  
2. Rebellion is not only unlawful, but destructive likewise to Traitors, in both Worlds.  
Give me leave to dwell somewhat long upon this Particular; I say then, Treason is pernicious and destructive to Traitors.  
Good Christians, If we shall reflect upon the judicial Proceed of God Almighty in this kind, you will find him so jealous of his own, as not to suffer in his Deputy's Honour, and therefore by a secret and irresistible Power he hath still countermanded the deepest projects of T raytors, he hath split their Councils, and struck their most refined Policies with Frustration and a Curse. Histories, both sacred and profane, are full of Instances of this nature. You have heard how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, amongst the Jews, suffered both in themselves and Accomplices, for their Mutiny against Moses. But because people are more won by Examples than any other way of Discourse, I shall mention several out of the Sacred Bible and our English Annals.  
1. Out of the Bible. Let Absolom steal the Hearts of Israel from David, both his King and Father; let ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel acknowledge and proclaim him King in Hebron; let him be backed with all the Policy of Achitophel; let the distressed David fly from his Royal Seat, and let his ungrateful and rebellious Son possess Jerusalem; let a Tent be spread upon the top of the House, and Absolom go in unto his Father's Concubines in the sight of all Israel, so that all the Conspirators may know, that he never expected to be reconciled to his Father; Let Achitopbel give Absolom advice to pursue David, and his Followers, who were weary and faint, and in no likelihood of escaping, had not God been on his side when wicked men thus risen up against him; A very formidable Conspiracy, this, you will say, but behold the Issue of it! the Council of Achitophel is turned into folly, insomuch that he is forced to lay violent hands upon himself; and though the too indulgent Father gives command to the Army to spare this his unnatural Son; yet rather than Absolom shall prosper in his Treason, his ●wn beloved Hair shall serve for an Halter to execute him; you may read the whole Conspiracy at your leisure in Sam. 2. from Chap. 15. to the 19  
Let Sheba the Son of Bichri make aparty in Israel against David, let him secure himself in the strong City of Abel, a Woman shall persuade his own followers to cut off his Head, and present it unto Joab, David's 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' enjoyment 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 Physician, 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 numbered as many Troubles as days 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 poisoned 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 Grandson, 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 Grandson, though as innocent and harmless a Prince as ever before him enjoyed the Imperial Crown of England, hath his own Son stabbed 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 poison 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 feigned Protestant (for at his Execution he declared himself a Papist) works and imposeth upon the dying Prince to declare the Lady Jane Grace 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 Grace, 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 Grace 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, though a Papist, asserts her Right to the Crown, but her Subjects, though Protestants, as one man, rise up in Arms 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 stigmatised with the Brand of Rebellion. Upon this the Conspirators were defeated, (and that without a Battle,) 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' time, and every where you will find God's miraculous deliverance of Kings, and the wicked Traitors 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 Traitors and Conspirators to rise up against their lawful Governors. 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 absurd 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 settled 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, sworn Brethren in Iniquity, to plot and conspire the death and ruin of Princes. The Jesuit (ever since that Society plagued the World) hath out numbered 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, joining to them the Pope himself, with his full Consistory. Mariana the Jesuit in several Places, doth not only allow of, but urgeth the Necessity of Killing and murdering Princes who are Enemies to the Catholic Religion, as they are pleased to phrase it: Anno 1594, John castle, a Scholar of the Jesuits, with a knife wounded Henry the fourth of France, and struck out one of his teeth, intending to have murdered him, upon which castle was condemned to suffer; Franzois Verone undertakes the Vindication of the Villain, and is eloquent upon it, declaring that it was a generous, heroic and virtuous Act, and comparable to the most renowned and great Deeds of the Ancients, either in sacred or profane History; and concludes that he died a Martyr: But what should I trouble you with such mean Authors as Defenders of the Murderers of Princes? since Pope Sixtus himself, in a full Consistory of Cardinals, spoke a long Oration in Commendation of the Murder of Henry third of France. And let them not cheat us with the idle distinction of a Prince's being killed by a private or public hand; for the Question is not, whether a Prince may be killed this way or that way, but whether any way at all? For it was as unlawful to murder Charles the first by a pretended High Court of Justice, as to endeavour the Assassinatiof his Son (our gracious Sovereign, whom God long preserve) by a Blunderbuss. Neither doth the Jesuit only lie under this Censure of Encouraging disobedience to their supreme Governor; But likewise their Contemporaries the Presbyterians. I shall easily grant, that Mr. Calvin, the Founder of the last Sect, hath in his Institutes as much pressed the Duty of Subjects towards their Princes, as any Author whatsoever, yet in the unhappy distinction of a Public or private Subject, and so making of Princes to be accountable to the Three Estates, hath been as destructive an opinion as could be broached; I am sure this Nation hath had woeful experience of it. But beloved, who could expect better fruit from Presbytery, which was begot by Rebellion and Treason; expelling from Geneva their lawful Magistrate? And though Mr. Calvin was not then at Geneva, when the Prince was excluded by Farellus and Viretus, yet his Comprobavi suffragio meo, his approving of what was done by them, makes him too, too guilty. Beza, his Successor in the same Chair, in his 24th Epistle says as much: And if he were the Author of the Book called Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, as many think, there hath been no Rebellion, says my Author, which may not fairly be supposed to receive encouragement from it. Consult Mr. Knox, and he will tell you, 'tis not Birth or propinquity of Blood that makes a King Lawful: And what mischief Buchanan's Book De jure Regni apud Scotos, hath done, will appear, when the traitorous pretended High Court of Justice against King Charles the First, drew most of their Pleas out of it. Paraeus' Comment upon the Romans for encouraging these Doctrines of resisting the lawful Magistrate, in King James' his time, was publicly and solemnly burnt at Oxon; and I cannot but bless God for the same Universities Prudence at this time for condemning several Seditious and Factious Books, and prohibiting her Members the reading of such Books. But the late Rebellion against the Father, and the now designed Assassination of his Sons, sufficiently declare their Disobedience to Princes, and those that are set in Authority over them. And thus, my Beloved, I have spoken to the particulars I promised to treat of; I shall now proceed to Application, and I have done.   

First therefore, Did these wicked men in my Text, after a succession of Miracles, in their deliverance from the Egyptian thraldom; Did they, I say, conspire against their lawful Magistrate, and that Magistrate too, who had been God's great Instrument in rescuing them from the hands of their cruel Taskmasters? Oh! how may we condole and lament, that the greatest Favours and Indulgence of the meekest Princes, cannot oblige some ungrateful Subjects! Our Israel too is a sufficient Evidence; for we likewise groaned under a most severe slavery: our King's Father, the anointed of the Lord, the Breath of our Nostrils, was taken in the nets of wicked Men, and barbarously murdered at his own Palace; our Loyal Nobles were either put to death or banished, the best reformed Religion in the World discountenanced, and cried down, whilst the Calves of Dan and Bethel were erected in the Room: Our Liberty, the Glory of our English Nation, was fettered and shackled, and instead of one good King we were forced to submit to more than 500 Tyrants: The Son of this Royal Martyr, our now gracious Sovereign, after a miraculous escape from Worcester was forced to shelter himself amongst foreign Princes. This, and more deplorable than this, was the Condition of our Israel, when God, pitying our Calamities, restored our Moses, and in him our Religion, and our Liberty; and there was this difference between theirs and our Moses; that ours did not pass through a Sea of blood to his Kingdoms, but came to the Harbour of rest by peaceable Measures. His Restauration was as miraculous as his former Deliverances, and he that was forced from his home by a whirlwind of Rebellion, came back in the still voice of Peace and Mercy: an happy Presage how he would Govern. And these 23 or 24 years since his Return, might sufficiently assure us of his meek Temper, by whom his very Enemies (as the worst of them once truly said) must acknowledge they fall gently: How have all his Subjects sat under their own Vines, enjoyed peace and quietness, whilst all Christendom besides hath been harassed with all the plagues of War? And now my Beloved, one would think, nothing but Praises to God for Mercies past, and Prayers for the preservation of our gracious King, should be heard in this our Zion; But instead of Grapes, behold nothing in some men but Thorns, instead of Figs, Thistles and Brambles, for Praises to God for Mercies past, we have Murmurers, and Repiners, instead of Prayers to God for the preservation of this our King; Blunderbusses are provided by Men of the old Leven to destroy his Person, with his Royal Brother: Plenty hath turned men into Wantonness, and our Troubles, like Jesurun, when fat, mutiny and raise Forces, not to support but to demolish and ruin the Government: The Israelites grumbled, though fed with the food of Angels, and our Malcontents are repining and talk of slavery, which cannot be dreaded from any but themselves, and are not satisfied in a good Land flowing with all Plenty; where there is no want, but of grateful Hearts to acknowledge it: Upon this a Conspiracy is form in our Israel, our wicked men have their Cabals and Associations, words indeed not expressed in this 16 Chap. but sufficiently employed too. Our Conspirators follow the same path, as their forefather's in this Chap. but there is this difference between this Conspiracy of theirs, and our wicked men, that of theirs was a Single, whilst this of ours is a Complication of many Conspiracies in one, you may call it Legion: and though there be a manifest Antipathy between the Presbyterian and the Independent with other Sects, yet all of them, like Herod and Pontius Pilate, though at never so great variance before, yet when Christ is to be crucified, or when Christ's Church is to be destroyed, and the nursing Father thereof, Gods anointed, to be assaulted, and a Dispute about the Crown to be raised, become Friends and are reconciled: Ferguson supplies the place of Korah, and three Lords with three Commoners serve instead of Dathan and Abiram and On, the Conspirators mentioned in vers. 1. Nay, you may find other Conspirators in our wicked men; who are represented by Absolom and Achitophel, the most ignorant can tell: The People too are to be alured by the same Arts as formerly: the Bishops here, as Aaron in this Chap. are cried down, with, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the Congregation is Holy, even every one of them: The thirty fifth of Elizabeth, that strong bulwark of our English Church against all 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 Stomaches 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 Traitors at his Execution, he will tell you that the Poison had spread itself throughout the whole 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 proceed, 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 poisonous Conspiracy than this City of London: How have the Factious here for these last years struggled 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 straits 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. 'Tis 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 will slay all our Adversaries, 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 Murder 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 King's 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 God's Glory and our Comfort) in particular, of our present King. Thus you have a description of a Copy far transcending the Original; the Fanatic Conspirators in England far outdoing 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 Murder 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 murder 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 nickname 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 College upon the same Tree; the Judges, with Sir John Moor, shall be flayed alive, and their skins being stuffed, shall be hung up in Guildhall. The Present Sheriffs shall wish they had never been so foolhardy 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-paced Clergy shall feel what it is to have preached up Passive Obedience so long, and the Lieutenancy shall rue their so often entertaining the Duke of York, and all the Abhorrers of our Proceed, shall to their ruin 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 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 Whitehall 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 God's 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 Tried, found Guilty, and received the usual, as well as just wages of Rebellion: Several of them are in prison for the same Crime; one arraigns himself at the Bar of his own Conscience, and proves his own Judge and Executioner too; whilst the greatest Traitor of them dies, I grant in his Bed, but I pray God (what the last Lord Chancellor, when Attorney General, said of some of the Murderers of the old King) it be not the worse for him that he died in Peace, and that he did not in some manner in this World expiate his Treason with his Blood. The other Traitors wander up and down like Cain, bearing a mark in their foreheads, and fearing every one they see.  
Thus, Beloved, you have seen our wicked Conspirators consumed in their sins; and now what gratitude, what thanks do we own to Almighty God for this signal Mercy we now commemorate? If the deliverance of the King, with his Royal Brother: If the putting a stop to the Massacre of those who adhered to their Prince in these perilous times: If the preservation of our Religion from the Imposture of Presbytery, and I know not how many other Factions: If the security of our Liberty and Property under our Lawful 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 Traitors, 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 cried 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 departed, 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 deter 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 Traitors 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 errors, do desire to show 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 thyself 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 Whoredom, or Adultery, every Oppression of the Poor, etc. 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 escaped, which the Reader is desired 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 satire 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 displayed, and (if not grown shameless) Burlesqued 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 (though undeservedly) aspersed by the Virulent Tongues and Pens of malevolent men. Twelve.  
7. Patria Parricida: or the History of the horrid Conspiracy of Catiline against the Commonwealth of Rome, in English. Octavo.