THE FUGITIVE STATESMAN, IN REQUITAL FOR THE Perplexed Prince.  
LONDON, Printed by A. Grover, 1683.   

TO THE READER.  
THE Faction, amongst the many Instances they have so frequently given of their Spleen and Hatned to the Government, hardly ever shown their Malice more in any one particular, than in the Business of the Black Box, which furnished a Pretext to a Libel, called The Perplexed Prince; which, tho' but poorly writ, yet the malignity of the Design being to poison People's Minds with an Opinion of some Probability and Truth in that Matter. It was thought fit in Return, to show the World one of their Principal Heroes, in his true Colours. How well soever his Picture may have been drawn by others, yet some Features, Lines perhaps may have escaped their pencils, which are couched here in the Landscape of that Arch Ttaytor's Life. A Mirror of him cannot be too often looked into; that one may avoid falling into the Snare of those wicked, wretched Partisans he has left behind him, who never cease undermining the Foundations of the Government; and are perpetually brewing Sedition, with the highest Ingratitude, after all the Indulgence and repeated Pardons of their Gracious Prince and Sovereign: Tho' they can have now no Hopes, no Prospect of ever bringing about their tugged for Anarchy; yet we still daily see fresh Instances of their restless Endeavours to that End, so that one would think they do not yet despair of effecting their Purposes, notwithstanding they have lost their Patron. But it is to be hoped their good Intentions will be Crowned with the same Fate with that of the wicked Achitophel; and that they now too will be thinking of setting their Houses in Order. It's high time; for they are now become so much the Detestation of all Mankind, that they can expect but little Comfort in this World; and I am afraid, unless they give other Testimonies than they have yet done of their good Nature and Repentance, they are not to expect much Happiness and Felicity in that to come. How pernicious soever they have proved both to Church and State, they would be glad to see they had a due Sense of their former practices; and could they be but prevailed with to ask Forgiveness, they would undoubtedly obtain their Pardon: But it is so much their Nature, and they seem so obstinately bend upon doing Mischief, that there is no probability of their ever being persuaded to forsake their evil ways. And since no Counsels do avail for the reducing them to their duty: nor to court them from destruction, we must even abandon them to their Fate, which undoubtedly at length will do them Justice, and reward them according to their Merits.   

THE Fugitive Statesman.  

THE Land of Judah had never attained to that refinedness in Gallantry, as under the Reign of David; that Prince having overcome all his Enemies both Foreign and Domestic, and established himself by his just and gentle Government, as well in the Hearts of his People, as upon the Throne of Israel, gave up those hours which are so necessary for Refreshment to amorous Designs, and was herein so universally imitated by all his Subjects, that there was none of what Age and Condition soever but had some Intrigue; insomuch that by this general Practice, there was no manner of Artifice, Contrivance, or Stratagem for the well managing an Amour, but what was brought to the highest Perfection, during the time of his swaying the Sceptre.  
During the Wars that were between David and Ishboshe●h for the Crown of Israel, Abner finding not only the Justice of David's Cause, but that it would be likewise impossible for the Hsurper's Son, to withstand the Power and good Fortune of the King of Judah; did privily underhand make Offers of Submission unto his Rightful Prince, with the Forces under his Command which David accepted of, upon Condition of bringing him again Michal his Wife, whom Saul he● Father had given to Phalti: Thi● Treaty was managed by Achitophel, and that with so much Art and Cunning as procured all manner of Success to David, and proved finally destructive to his Enemies.  
Jezabel, Michal's youngest Sister having stayed with her during the late Troubles, was now willing to accompany her to Court; and in the several Conversations that Achitophel had with Jezabel upon that Occasion, he was so captivated with the Wit and Beauty of that Princess, as made him think the highest Felicity consisted in the possession of a Heart adorned with so many Charms; and as her Excellencies inspired him with Amorous Thoughts, so they inflamed him with the Ambition to attempt the insinuating himself into her Favour and Affections.  
This he did not despair of effecting, he knew his own Talents, he knew none more fit than himself for close Designs and crooked Counsels; he was a Man sagacious and bold, had not only all the Arts of a Minister of State, but was as dexterous in the well managing an Amorous Intrigue; he knew that Jezabel was Ambitious, and had had formerly some Kindness for David, which was now turned into a violent Resentment, upon his having preferred Bathsheba before her. All these Circumstances concurring to the flattering his Hopes, he resolved to embark in this Design, notwithstanding he had not all the Advantages of Body as concur to the making a complete and an agreeable Gallant.  
He was not long without finding an Occasion to make known to her his Passion, which he declared in such Terms as were most capable of Persuasion, and fittest for Insinuation: But notwithstanding the Figure he made in the State, and the considerable Interest he had both in Court and elsewhere, he met with more Severity than he expected, and was treated with some sort of Scorn and Disdain, she having that Opinion of her Charms, as to think all Homages unworthy of her Allowance, that were not made by Crowned Heads.  
Nevertheless Achitophel's Flames were too raging to be stifled by this Resistance, and as it was one branch of his Character to undertake difficult Attempts, and to persevere until he had brought to pass his Designs, this Opposition did but the more whet his Desires, and make him set the greater Value upon the Object he adored. Thus he resolved never to desist until he had accomplished his Aim, and for that purpose he besieged her with continual Assiduities, informed her constantly of all the Occurrences in the Cabinet Councils at Court, and secret Cabals in the City, and by these means soothing her intrigueing and asspiring Temper, and so by degrees insinuating himself into her Breast, he became in a short time a very extraordinary Favourite.  
He had now changed his Conduct in the management of this Intrigue, He forbore speaking to her of Love, expressing no Passion but for her Service, and her interest, telling her that no Princess upon the Earth, would so well become a Throne as she, that undoubtedly Providence would one day do her and itself the Justice, as to give her the Crown of all Asia. And when that any great Sovereign's Bed was vacant, he seemed grieved that their Religion would not allow of a Match, that so he might have shown his Zeal for her Advancement, in using his Interest for the bringing it to pass. By such like Discourses as these, did he win upon her haughty Humour, and became to that degree her Bosom Friend, that imagining she could not expect ever to find a Person so proper as Achitophel to make her Confident, nor one more capable of putting in Execution her fatal Designs, she resolved to ease her Heart of those tormenting Thoughts, which she there kept penned up, by making Achitophel's Breast the Repository of them. Thus one day after having acquainted her with the Passages at Court, and entertained her for a long while with the Zeal he had for her Service: My Lord, said she, to Achitophel, I am sensible of your good Intentions, and am glad to find your Love changed into a Passion for my Interests, and to show you how far you have won upon me, by the repeated Instances of your good Will and Favour, I am willing to unbosom to you my most secret Thoughts, and let you know what reason I have to be a Malcontent. You may remember, continued she, how that upon my Sister Michal's Marriage to David, I fell ill of a Fever, and I must own, though not without a Blush, that his good Mien, his Wit, in short, all those advantages he had received both from Art and Nature, had made some Impression upon my Heart, and if I was not flattered I might have expected to have made the like in his; but notwithstanding all my endearing Carriage, I found him insensible to all my Favours, nothing but Michal could he adore. She was the Object of all his Praises, and I of his Scorn and Neglect. Nevertheless, I patiently bore with this Preference, since it was supported and confirmed by the Will of Saul, and since he was wholly ignorant of the Sentiments I entertained, though I had made all the Advances possible to hint to him how favourably his Vows would be heard if paid to me, and told him all such endearing things, as were consistent with the Glory of a Princess of my Rank: But David was so blinded with his Passion for Michal, that he had no Eyes for other Charms. However in a short time you know the Change at Court, David was driven from thence. I know it Madam, interrupted Achitophel, for I am sure, I was the chief occasion of his Exile and Sufferings, but pardon the Interruption, Madam, you shall hear more of that hereafter. You know David was banished the Court, renewed she, you know Michal his Wife was given by Saul to Phal●i, the Son of Laish, and now my Love made me entertain fresh Hopes, I fancied David would never condescend to a Reconciliation with a Person, who had yielded to give herself to another, I had reason to expect David would certainly one day mount the Throne being so universally rooted in the Affections of the People, and I had the Vanity to believe that all the twelve Tribes could not furnish a Person fit to share with him in his Glories than myself. And when accordingly he returned, and you were sent to bring Michal back, my hopes revived more strong than ever; for though I might have apprehended he might have had some inclination still left for her, yet knowing how much she had lost of her former Charms since their last Interview I did not despair of undermining her, and succeeding in her place. This made me the more eager to accompany her to Jerusalem, where I was crew by disappointed of all my Expectations. Michal 'tis true has not that share in David's Assiduities she formerly possessed, 'tis Bathsheba now that is the Mistress of his Affections, she reigns sovereignly in his Breast, I and my Family are daily more neglected and depressed, and all for a Person much beneath my Rank, and, may be, Merits. Here she paused; and the wily Achitophel, reassuming the Discourse, told her that he had been long sensible of the Indignities she suffered, and as long desirous of procuring the means of doing her Justice, and of furnishing her with Occasions to show her Resentment. It is not only the Outrages, pursued he, that are done to all those Charms you possess in so sovereign a Degree, and the Passion I have in all that concerns you, that prompts me to Revenge, I have some Reasons of my own, that might pretend to spur me to it, if yours, Madam, alone were not sufficient to put me upon the Wing. I am neglected too at Court, Hushai's Conusels are preferred before mine, and I am not thought worthy of having that share in the present management of Affairs, that perhaps I am capable of. I am suspected of being still inclined to the Family and Practices of your Father Saul; and they have not yet forgotten the part I had in the several dismal Revolutions. And I must indeed confess, I was never over-well affected to Kingly Government; in Commonwealths, the bravest and wisest have commonly their share: But in a Monarchy all goes generally by Favour and Affection, and a Man cannot be thought a good Subject without being a Slave, and that Servility is in my Mind inconsistent with a generous Temper. Thus my natural Disposition led me to promote and foment the late Troubles, and I found David then, though so young, yet so extraordinarily gifted, that I foresaw he would have but little need of the Ministry of others, and I dispaired of ever having any thing to do in the administration of the Government, unless his Exclusion was obtained. This set me to work, and I found more ease than I expected in my undertaking; People were easily decoyed with Alarms of Invasion of their Properties, and Suppression of their Liberties; we scattered Rumours abroad of the extraordinary Influence the Jebusites had at Court, and of the likelihood there was of their introducing their Religion, if not suddenly prevented and vigorously opposed. These Bats not only took with the silly People but with the whole Sanhedrim, they entered into Covenants, and by United Forces, they at length found the means to deprive the King both of his Crown and Life, and expel the Heir the Kingdom. Yet all we who had first projected this Revolution, were frustrated in our Hopes, for the Army we made use of usurped the Power we had promised ourselves, but than it was too late, we were constrained to submit to the Arbitrary Temper of the Sword, and so brought upon the People what they had so much dreaded, and what many thousands of them had endeavoured to prevent to the loss of their Fortunes, and their Lives, and thus did we occasion all the Calamities that a whole Nation in Combustion can suffer, without any Benefit to ourselves, but we were forced to dissemble, and content ourselves to stand as Ciphers to the Usurper. But he being dead, and silly Ishbosheth upon the Throne, we fell again to contriving how to out him thence, and to place ourselves in his stead. By these means our Party being divided, the People too generally affected to their promised Prince David, and one of our Chief Leaders upon our Backs with an Army, with which he favoured the Kings Return: All these things, I say, concurring to make me despair of my own Advancement, and to see His Restitution unavoidable, I thought it was best to shift for myself betimes, and therefore seemed as Zealous for His Recovery of the Crown, as any of his truest and ancientest Friends; this made some way for the bringing me into Favour, I was crowned with new Honours for my Merits in that great Revolution, had a considerable share in the management of public Affairs, had conferred upon me Offices of Trust, such as were both beneficial and honourable too in the Minds of the Vulgar, but yet I was not satisfied, I could not but still think it servile and slavish to truckle under an other, and did not yet despair of one day attaining to be the Head of all the Tribes of Israel, knowing the Nature of the Jews to be such, as that they shown their Humour more than their Humour more than their Loyalty in calling back David and setting him on the Throne. I knew a Commonwealth was their Golden Calf, and I must confess, I did not expect they would have obeyed so long. I used all the Arts imaginable to raise Jealousies between the Prince and his People; I promoted their giving of Monies, and the raising of Taxes, and then scattered Rumours abroad of the ill management and squandring away the Revenues; finding this to take my Hopes revived, I proceeded on to the giving the Prince such Counsels, as I knew must of necessity lessen him in his People's Affections: That is, I advised the King to join with Pharaoh, against Tyre, I advised the breaking of the Triple Bond, on which the safety of all Asia did depend, I advised the shutting up the Treasury, by which thousands came to suffer want, I advised a Toleration of all Religions, which underhand, I gave out was designed by the Court, to make way for the Religion of the Jebusites, so hated by the generality of the Nation. By these and other Counsels as Destructive, I found I had pretty well furthered my Design: Now, none like me could have effected all these things. I had first supplanted the Just, the Wise and Learned Abethdin, and then David having trusted me with the Principal management of Affairs, I effected all these things, rather by surprise than by the King's Allowance and Consent. But now Prudent David began to suspect my Designs, and having found my Counsels and Measures destructive to the Government, and the Nations Interests, he discarded me the Court, and sent me among my Friends in the City: There I fomented the Flames I had already kindled, I gave out that Solomon the next Heir was a Jebusite, that the Influence he had over the King might be fatal to the Religion of the Jews, and that if he had not already perverted the King, it was to be feared he would in time, or at least, he would not fail when he came to the Crown himself to introduce the Idolatry of the Jebusites, to the downfall of the true Church, and to the destruction of the People's Liberties and Properties; the pampered Jews always inclined to rebel found this Cry too suitable to their Natures not to go along with it, they fell a murmuring, bawling out against Arbitrary Counsels, and a Change of Religion, and the Sanhedrim itself was at length so infected, by the Care I had taken, that such Members should be elected as were inclinable to Sedition, and Abhorrers of Monarchy: The Sanhedrim, I say, itself, grew at length so infected, as to deny the King the necessary Aids for the supporting the Government, and defend his Subjects, and his Allies, against the growing and formidable Power of Pharaoh, for I had poisoned them with an Opinion, that what they should give, how necessary soever, would be employed to their Oppression, and not in their Defence, against the Enemies of the Kingdom. Thus, whenever Armies were raised by their Consent for the common Safety, I spread abroad Rumours that the Court intended to make use of them, for the putting in Execution Arbitrary Designs; Thus were they still cashiered before the Business was effected for which they were raised. This both redoubled the People's Umbrage, and increased their Murmurs against the management at the Helm, being persuaded the Government had decoyed them into the raising of Forces to cut their own Throats. But notwithstanding all the Poison I had scattered, David had still that Influence over the Hearts of his People, that nothing could fasten the least Suspicion upon him. Solomon his Heir indeed received several Outrages in many Encounters. We had worked the Mobile up to a Belief, that he was a Favourer of Arbitrary Designs, that he went full of the Revenge for David's and his Suffering which he would not fail of cruelly executing, whensoever he had an opportunity for so doing, and that he was labouring to restore the Jebusites and their Faction, and out those who were both numerous and considerable, who were in Possession of their Estates. These were terrible Alarms, they knew that this Prince had to Perfection, Wisdom, and Valour, they knew he never undertook any thing without effecting it; so as that they could not think themselves too cautious in securing themselves against all Events. Thus did the whole Land ring with great Complaints of this great and Generous Prince. And pray you, Madam, observe here the blindness of the People, and for how little a while the greatest Virtues are in their esteem; this glorious Prince, had in a thousand Occasions, hazarded his Life, and all in their Defence, against their Enemies, and had got such Victories as will make him admired by all Ages. But his Virtues in Peace, were no less admirable than his Qualifications in War. He was renowned for his Sincerity and Justice; his Gratitude was so great that he was never at rest until he had tenfold rewarded the Service that had been done him. These are only Patterns of his unbounded Merits; yet the silly Multitude were easily wheedled in to a belief that this Prince was a Promoter of their ruin: though he had so often and so prodigally ventured his Blood and all in their Defence. Yet you see, Madam, how easily they were exasperated against a Person they owed so much to, and how a few Arts and incredible Rumours wrought them up to a Ferment, and the highest pitch of Ingratitude. But what those Arts were, Madam, I must take another occasion to acquaint you, having at present to meet Absolom, and some others at a Rendezvous upon Matters of great Moment, which you shall not fail of knowing as soon as ever things are brought to any Ripeness, and I believe that you will not fail too of owning that never any Zeal and Passion could parallel that which I have for your Concerns. Thereupon taking his leave he went to the Rendezvous, where he found Absolom, Zimri, Nadab, Shimei, Corah, Ishban, Belial, Rabsheka, Judas, Phaleg, Ben-Jochanan, Balack, Og and Doeg, with many others of all sorts and Conditions. Some of these were to head, countenance and give renown to the Party, others were to sow and scatter Sedition: Each had a peculiar Talon for the Province that was allotted him, Absolom was a Prince endued with all the Qualities proper to win the Hearts of the People, he was beautiful above all the Men of his Time, had by early Conquests in the Wars of Israel's Neighbours gained mighty Renown and Glory, was David's Son, which was sufficient to entitle him to be the Darling of all the Tribes: Thus the Gracefulness of his Mien, the Benignity of his Temper, the Comeliness of his Person, and the Vastness of his Performances, being Charms capable of insinuating themselves into the Affections of Persons of all Conditions: None so generally adored, none so universally celebrated as was Absalon. By this Prince it was that Achitophel thought most fit to lure and decoy to his Party, if not the generality of all the Tribes, at least, the dissenting Sects of the Jews: Not that this wily Politician designed or intended his Greatness, but for that he knew that having no just Title to the Crown, he must always necessarily depend upon him and his Faction, until that having thus divided and destroyed the Royal Family, by its Domestical Divisions, he might by that means reduce the Monarchy into a Commonwealth, or Democracy. Thus he had been long besieging him with all the Arts of a crafty Statesman, had flattered him with the Dominion he had over the People's Affections, but then represented unto him how highly derogating it was to his Honour, for him to spend his days in Idleness and Ease, after he had begun so glorious a Career, that all his Laurels would tarnish and ●ade away, unless cultivated by new Efforts and Undertake, that his Father David was now in the Declension of his Age, and now lessened too in the Minds of the People, as being suspected of having favoured the late Plot of the Jebusites, Solomon, though a Prince endued with all the Virtues worthy of, and fit to illustrate a Throne, yet being thought a Jebusite, the People did but the more abhor him for his good Qualifications, and thought that they only tended to the rendering him the more capable of introducing that change, which they fancied he designed, and consequently their own Oppression: That he had found the way to estrange People's Hearts from David, and that the general Cry was for Religion, Commonwealth and Liberty, with several other Arguments; as that being set up by the People, they would be the more fond of him as a Creature of their own making, and though his Command were limited, yet in case of ill Success upon any occasion, he might impute it to that Limitation, and to the shortness of his Commission, and then ended his Harangue with new Eulogies upon his former Conduct and Actions.  
Thus Absolom's generous Temper being soothed by Praise and Flattery, and blinded by Ambition, the only Vice of great Souls, was almost ready to yield to the Artifices of this Fox, when for a while the Royal Blood struggling still in him, he replied, that he had no pretext to take up Arms for the public Liberty, that his Father governed with unquestioned right, that he was the delight of Mankind, and the Faith's Defender, that he was acknowledged by all to be Good, Gracious and Just, was never known to have usurped upon the Laws, that his compassionate Nature had induced him to pardon Millions of his Foes, that he distributed Justice impartially to all his Subjects; that he was mild, easy, humble, studious of the public good of his People, that the mildness of his Reign did not suit with the stubborn Nature of the Jews, yet that therefore he was not to turn Rebel, and by encouraging the Wicked, run popularly distracted: That in case he were a Tyrant, oppressed the People's Privileges, changed their Religion, and brought in the Jebusite; yet his part was no more than to mourn and lament, and look upon him as a Scourge from Heaven for their Sins, but that Nature, as well as a Subjects Religious Duty to a Sovereign, would curb and hinder him from entertaining any ill Design against his King and Father. Besides, continued he, what have his Favour and Indulgence left me more to desire? he has always prevented and forestalled my very Wishes; The Crown, then pausing, he pursued, though not without a Sigh, you know justly belongs to a more deserving Person, whom you know is born in the Right Line, whom you know stands possessed of all the Royal Virtues that can endear a Sovereign to the Eyes and Hearts of all Mankind, especially to the brave and good; the Enemies of our Country know his Courage, the King his Loyalty, and the World his Fame, the offending Crowd his Mercy, and his Friends extol and proclaim his Truth. Thus, continued he, I have no reason to complain that Heaven gave me no pretence to a Throne, since what people could be more blest in such a Prince as David, and such a Successor as Solomon? yet I could have wished (said he again with a sigh) that Fate had either raised my Birth higher, or debased my mind lower, that I had been born in a legal way, and that I had got the start of Solomon in the World, for I find my temper too aspiring for the Circumstances of my Birth and Station; I find in me David's Blood too strong and prevailing to be allayed by that of my Mother. In short, I find my Soul perpetually whispering in me, that desire of Greatness in a Godlike Sin.  
When Hell's Minister saw him thus staggering, he plied him with fresh Attacks, and accosted him in this manner. Do you think the alwise and all-bountiful God has imparted all those Prodigious Gifts to you in vain? No undoubtedly, they were destined for a Throne, they were destined to fill the World with Wonders of your Reign, and every action of your Life, and every Argument you have used do confute your Words, second my Wishes, and prove my Asserction. Not that David's Gentle Temper is to be despised, but it is a greater Virtue in a private Person, or an Ecclesiastic than a Sovereign, and a Masculine Soul is certainly fit for a Throne. Has not his easy Nature induced him to make such lavish Grants to his never satisfied Subjects, that now nothing will content them but the Throne itself? Let the Kingdom be now in never so much Peril from the formidable and encroaching Power of Pharaoh, let Israel's Allies be never so much oppressed and ruined for want of assistance from David, yet the Insatiate Sanhedrim will contribute nothing to the public relief without David's lopping off and bestowing on them a limb of his Prerogative. Thus I'll take care by plying him with new Plots or plunging him into some expensive War, to bring him into such necessity as that he shall be forced to sell and give us his best and truest Friends, whom I have already so ordered the business as to look upon as Jebusites and Pharoah's Pensioners. And when we have stripped him of those, our next work shall be to purchase the Successor, whom my contrivances have stigmatised and rendered obnoxious to the State, and have turned all his Virtues like a Battery to his own ruin. Thus we will in time bring David to that extremity, that he shall for want of Moneys be forced to agree to the exclusion of Solomon, and pass your Title into Law: Wherefore your business now will be to urge your Filial Right, the Public Good, a Prevention of Change of Religious Worship, an hindrance to the Usurpation and Oppression of Liberties and Properties; never be  and seduced by a Natural Love, harken to the Universal Call, the eyes of all Mankind are upon you, and by this course you not only study the People's Happiness and fulfil their Wishes, but you likewise secure yourself from ruin; for do you imagine that so severe, so wise, so penetrating a Prince as the next Heir is, does not see through all your Artifices, does not mark the Progress you make in People's Hearts? undoubtedly he does, and takes notice of the least step you take, and will upon occasion resent it, with a Vengeance, which self-defence will prompt him to; for he can never think himself safe and secure, when he is in possession of the Throne, as long as you possess the hearts of the People; wherefore the same self-defence the prime Law of Nature, obliges you to enter into such measures, as may secure your own and your friends Lives, and prevent the dreadful Consequences of a Jebusites Swaying the Sceptre. Wherefore put in practice all the Arts that are necessary for the keeping people up to the ferment they are in, let no occasion slip for the promoting a Rebellion, try your Title while your Father is still living, and give out, that you take up Arms only in the King's Defence; and thus having secured his Person, doubt not of success, for thereby you secure your Cause.  
This Advice was most pleasing to Absalom's mild Disposition; and Ambition had that Ascendant over him, that he could no longer resist the Allurements of a Throne, nor hold from joining with Achitophel in his wicked Designs and Councils. This hellish Minister acquainted him with the Character and Part each Instrument had in the Prosecution of their Conspiracy: Told him, that as he knew Zimri was one of the greatest Wits of the Age; so being a Man discontented with the Court, for that one of his own Creatures, when he was Principal Minister, was now preferred before him, and invested with all those Honours and Offices of Trust, that he thought himself secure in the Enjoyment of. Zimri, continued he, with his Wit and Drolling, now is capable of jesting some People into an ill Opinion of our Antagonists, and wheedling others into favourable Sentiments of us and our Cause. And then for Nadab, said he, never could there have been found a fit man for our Ends: He is ambitious, high Spirited, restless, and in Want; well versed in our Laws, has an indifferent good Pen, and has a peculiar Gift of Canting, which you know takes much with the meaner sort of Jews; so that this Man will do us great Service, both in preaching up, and writing People into Sedition; thus by supplying his Wants, and flattering his Ambition with considerable Preferments, he will prove a Drudge to the Cause, and a great Promoter of our Interests. Ionas famed through the whole Land for his understanding the Statutes, being distasted with the Court, for that he is not advanced to such Places of Trust which he fancies his Merit allows him to lay claim to; will be very serviceable to us in our Undertake, for that he has a particular Talon of wresting the Statutes to mean Rebellion, and of making Treason just and consistent with the Laws of the Land. But a main Engine for the carring on our Plot, will be Shimei: A man, tho' not prodigal of his Money, yet of his Gall and Curses against Monarchy and Kings; and who will be as lavish of his Time and Pains, to undermine the Government, as he is niggardly and sparing of his Pelf to relieve the Poor, secure the Needy, or help the Orphan and Widow. This Man, I'll take care shall be chosen a Magistrate of Jerusalem; and he'll be sure, in case any of opur Friends should fall within the Clutches of the Law, to pack such a Jury of Dissenting Jews, as shall make no Conscience of violating their Oaths, to free our Partisans from the Punishments that are inflicted on Criminals of State. But our Masterpiece is Korah, who tho' a Weaver's Son, yet I doubt not but that his performances in this Business, will make his name live to all Ages. He has been long preparing for the part he is to act. I once made him pretend himself a Jebusite, that so getting Acquaintance with those of that Sect, he might be the more able to varnish with probabilityu the Matters he is to attest. This. Fellow's Livelihood must depend on his Evidence; and he shall not only swear, that the Queen and the next Heir are in the Plot against the King; but that David himself does conspire with them, and the Jebusites against himself: How improbable soever this may seem to thinking persons, yet the Jews are of a temper so greedily to swallow all that provokes and tends to the raising Sedition and Tumult. The next he represented to the ambitious youth, was Ishban, whose trade had long been to cheat the People; but now undertakes to reform the State. This man was rivalled in his Wickedness by Belial, who tho' he had been several times pardoned by his Prince, yet during the time of his Government of Jerusalem, he was perpetually brewing Treason and Rebellion against his Sovereign and the State. Rabsheka too made a considerable figure in the Roll, outwardly a Saint affecting to haunt the Conventicles, but privately the Stews and Bawdy-houses. A Man given to all manner of Debauchery, which he inherited as well as his Seditious Principles from his Father, and to promote a Change he cared not if he squandered away the maintenance of the Orphans, and the Treasure of the City, whereof he was the Keeper, and so he could but contribute to the pulling down Monarchy, he was Death to the Cries of Distressed Widows, and to the Lamentations of Wives and Children, whose Husbands and Fathers groaned under a heavy Captivity amongst the Barbarians, and for whose Redemption the public had trusted him with Moneys, which he lavished away contrary to the design of the Charitable Donours, for the carrying on the Cause. Many more there were of the same Kidney and Malignity of Temper that were Managers and Promoters of this grand Design, whose Names and Characters it is too tedious to rehearse, and this taste of the aforementioned, is sufficient to give a guessat the Nature and Dispositions of the whole Crew. But now it is time that I afford the Reader a sight of Absolom and Achitophel at one of their Cabals, and give him a prospect of their Consults and Debates.   

The place of their Rendezvouz, was commonly in some public house in the City of Jerusalem, for this Reason, that the flocking thither of several great Men of their Party, might give Renown to the Cause, and especially so contrived by Achitophel, that Absolom might be publicly seen, for that his Looks, Words, and Behaviour, carried with them that Charm, as insensibly to insinuate themselves into the Hearts of the People, who no sooner saw him than they were inspired with affection and wonder. The Company being now met, Achitophel finding Abjalom still wavering, making a Conscience of taking up Arms against his King and Sovereign, fearing too it might be the Destruction of the whole Realm, and the Death of the King himself, and moreover jealous, lest the pretence of public good,▪ which they made use of, should be practised against himself, and with more reason too, since he had no lawful Title; to which that Wily Minister replied, with a kind of scornful Air; that he thought he had removed and destroyed all those vain boggling of Conscience, and jealousies of Consequences; that he was already advanced too far to retreat now with safery, that what would be his security if he pursued his Career, would be his downfall if he made a Retreat, which was his Popularity and the Ascendant he had over the People's Affections. That interest ought to be his only Idol, that if he did not consult his own safety, he ought at least to consider how many friends there present, and others that were absent had already engaged themselves so far, that they exposed their Fortunes, their Relations, their Lives, their All for his advancement; and should he now abandon them and give himself and them up a Sacrifice to the resentment and revenge of an highly injured enemy, would not only be madness to himself, but ingratitude to his generous Partisans. This reflection of his Friends sufferings and ruin in case he desisted, joining with his ambition and the love of Glory, which he fancied shined no where so bright as on a Throne, determined him to comply with their Instances and Importunities, and made him resolve vigorously to prosecute the measure they had taken. Whereupon they began to concert matters for the well managing and prosecuting their Design. It was resolved in that Meeting, that Absalon should take a Progress through the Land, well knowing that the Charms and Popularity of that Prince would invite many to their Party, be a means of sounding people's Affections, and of distinguishing their Friends from their Enemies. Whereupon Absalon set forth with all the Splendour and Magnificence imaginable, was saluted in all places with the Shouts and Acclamations of the People; what by his winning Personage and Carriage, what by the specious Pretexts of Love and Duty to his Sovereign, and due regard to Religion; and redress of Grievances, with his many Glorious performances in the Wars abroad, the whole Land rung with his Praises, and the people thought they could never sufficiently admire and extol a Prince adorned with so many perfections. In all places where he passed, the Jews flocked in great Numbers to him, expressing the Joy and Satisfaction they took in the sight of such a Prince; and he in return, cajoled them with all the foftest Words that Tongue can utter, telling them, that he had been a banished man for their dear sakes; that his endeavours to prevent their Oppression by Arbitrary Government, had been the Occasion of his having been cut off from the Succession to the Crown, and had made him incur his Father's Displeasure and Resentment; that now all their Liberties were to be trodden under Foot by a Despotic Power; that their Trade was intercepted and invaded by the Egyptians and Syrians, and the Jebusites were bringing in their Idolatry and Abominations. That for his part, he did not in the least regret his Loss, how considerable soever it was, since his Sufferings only proceeded from his having stood up in their Defence and Behalf: But that he could not but mourn the sad condition they were in, since his Father, continued he, with a Sigh, being now in the Declension of his Age, and doting on the Charms of an Egyptian Princess, was grown careless of his Glory, suffered all his Councils to be influenced by his Successor, who exalted David's Enemies, and disoouraged and outed all his Friends. These are Grievances, prusued he, of such a Nature as cannot be too much lamented, and as he feared, were countenanced and supported by Bribes and Sums of Foreign Coin: That he had hazarded his All, and had already lost his Offices and Favor for their Redress: But that he did not repine at David's having given his Right away; but that he could not without Tears reflect at his having squandered away theirs and his own, to the Dishonour of the Jewish Name, to his own Downfall, and their Slavery.  
Such were his usual Words and Caresses to the People, who were thus wheedled into a belief, that they could not afford him too much of their pity and compassion. These Blandishments prepared the way for Achitophel to work what he had been long contriving. This cunning indefatigable Minister was not idle at Jerusalem during these Occurrences in the Country. As he had alarumed and filled the whole Land with Terror and Consternation, by having suborned Corah to swear the Queen and Solomon into the Plot with the Jebusites in Conjunction with the Egyptians, were said to have upon the Government; so now finding by the Pulse of the Nation which way they were inclined, he contrived, set on foot, and promoted an Association, being the same thing under an other Name, as the Covenant, which had formerly been made use of for the excluding and keeping David out. Then he fell to stir up the People to Petition for a Meeting of the Sanhedrim, and yet underhand took care that such Members should be generally chosen as were Dissenters from the Established Religion of the Jews and Dissaffected to the Government. These he knew would never give David the Supplies necessary for the Support and Defence of the State, but would embroil matters so, as would render the unhinging of the Government an undertaking the more easy to effect. Besides, he had other Prospects in setting on foot the Association and these Petitions, how directly contrary soever they were to Law. For by these means he numbered and listed his Party, and moreover, made them seem more strong and numerous to the World than they really were. And having thus engaged the Malcontents and Dissenters in a Conspiracy, he knew they could not go back, but must vigorously push it on, unless they had a mind to fall under the severe Penalties and Inflictions of the Law. He likewise gave out that there was a certain Instrument preserved in a Black Box, being the Contract of Marriage between David and Absolom's Mother, and a settlement of the Crown upon the Issue he might have by that Lady. Notwithstanding the improbability of this Rumour, and David's protesting publicly the groundlessness and falseness of it, yet it was very serviceable to Achitophel's Designs, since the people believing what they ardently wished for, would by no means be persuaded of the contrary, and this seconding their former Measures and Paces, they thought now all their irregular proceed supported and countenanced by Law. Now they began to redouble their Clamours for the convening of the Sanhedrim, who were no sooner met than they fell to voting that all those who were Loyal and Zealous for the support of David and the Crown, were Traitors and Enemies to the King and Kingdom, that all those who contributed to the relief of the necessities of the State, were the same. In short, all things, Actions, and Persons, that stood up in and tended to the maintenance and preservation of the Monarchy, were thus tumultuously voted and declared Illegal, Treasonable, and Arbitrary. Thus were all the King's Faithful Ministers to be banished from His Person, His Successor was voted a Jebusite, yet without any proof made of his being so, or without any desire of his declaring himself upon that point; but they did not stop there, they drew up a Bill of Exclusion of the next Heir from the Crown, which they importuned the King to sign and pass; declaring it the only means of securing the State. But meeting with a just opposition in this so horribly unjust request, they declared, notwithstanding the King offered to comply with any other Expedient, they again declared, I say, that there was no other way to prevent any change of the Established Religion, the Subversion of their Liberties and Properties, and an Inundation of Arbitrary Government and Tyranny. The King in the mean while repeated again and again his Instances for the bringing to trial such of the Lords as were accused to have a hand in the Jebusites Plot, but all to no purpose, the Sanhedrim was Death to wholesome Counsels, and rushed on upon matters out of their Province. The Wise and Prudent David foreseeing the mischievous Consequences and confusion these Excesses and Irregularities of that great Body must necessarily be attended with, thought fitting for prevention of those Calamities and sad Revolutions which in all probability would follow in case they were suffered to go on at that rate, to dissolve them, and issue out Orders for the choosing a new Sanhedrim. But all to no purpose, he found in them the same heats and ferments, so as that they now seemed to be become resolute, tumultuary, Debauchees; thus was he constrained again to send them home, and order a new Election, convening them to meet at Baharim, in hopes that the change of air might have some effect upon their temper, and that being no longer pampered and poisoned by the seditious rout of Jerusalem, their Debates and Resolves might proceed with more deliberation and tend more to the public good. But still he found himself disappointed in his Expectations and pious intentions. He found true, what their Speaker declared at the opening of the Assembly, that they were not given to change, which is to be meant of their Seditious Practices and Principles. Nay, they came thither so attended, each Member with such a Guard as surpassed the King's own, and burst into such rash and destructive Resolves, that David having intimation too underhand of a Conspiracy to seize upon his Person, and that many of the Members came thither so numerously and so strongly attended for that purpose, he was again forced for his own and the Kingdom's security to Dissolve the Sanhedrim, and return in all haste to Jerusalem, by which means the Seditionaries were frustrated in their Designs upon His Person. But nevertheless, this did not make them discontinue their treasonable Practices, and they scattered abroad Clamours more than ever, fomenting Jealousies amongst the Subjects, declaiming against the King's Governments, as if the next Heir and the Jebusites had the whole Ascendant over his Counsels, they had their Incendiaries in all parts of the Kingdom, both for the Preaching up Sedition and scattering about Libels for to alienate the hearts of the King's Subjects, and to bring all into Anarchy and Confusion. Some of these Instruments were catcht and hanged up for their pains, which was the least they deserved, having Libels found about them of so horrible a nature, as was capable of poisoning and infecting the soundest part of the People.  
Hereupon David thought it fitting and seasonable for the preventing the Malice of his Enemies from producing its effect to issue out a Gracious Declaration, wherein he condescended to give his Subjects an account of his Conduct, and the Reasons he had to Dissolve the late Sanhedrims, justly checking them therein for their Irregular Proceed, and assuring his Subjects of his constant Resolution to maintain the Established Religion, the Government as settled by Law, and that the Law should be the constant Rule he would govern by. This produced the good effect he designed; the People remembered the Calamities they groaned under in the time of the late Troubles and Usurpation, they easily perceived the same humours were fomenting and nourishing the same Designs, they saw the same Methods and Measures taken and pursued, and several of the truly Loyal Jews had newly had a taste by the exorbitant Resolves of the Sanhedrim, what a bitter Entertainment they were to expect, in case they were allowed to pursue blindly their Career, to their own and the Nations Ruin and Destruction. These Considerations (I say) made the Truly Loyal Israelites bless God for having bestowed upon them so Wise and Prudent a Sovereign, and who was so watchful for their good and happiness here, and their future felicity, by taking care no Innovation should be made in the Divine Worship, nor no Usurpation upon their Properties and Estates.  
Thus the Loyal flock from all parts of Israel with Praise and Thanks to the King for his Indefatigable Labour and Vigilance for their safety and Repose; declaring, that notwithstanding all the Noise, and Clamours, and endeavours of the Enemies of the Public Peace, they would continue Loyal to him to the last Gasp, and Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes in defence of his Person and Dignity, and the Succession in the Right Line,  
Notwithstanding that the Loyalists by these means showed themselves to be much stronger and far more numerous and considerable for Estates, and the Figure they made in the Nation, than the Malcontents and Seditionaries, yet these last did not desist from their Devilish Practices.  
In the mean while Achitophel what by his incensing Speeches in the Sanhednim, what by his other Contrivances for the working the People up to a Tumult, as by burning the Golden Calf, and the like, having laid his Designs but too open to the eyes of all Mankind, and being likewise accused of Treason, he was taken into Custody, and committed to close Imprisonment. Amongst other things, a Daughter of the Association was found amongst his Papers, which though a matter of High Treason, and that several points of the like nature were attested and sworn against him by several Credible Witnesses, yet the Dissenting Jews having then in their power the impanelling of Juries, they packed up such a number, as whose Consciences would suffer 'em to see their Sovereign's Life, and the whole frame of the Government in danger of being destroyed, rather than put their Seducer Achitophel to the hazard of being brought to a fair Trial, shown in his own Colours, and so rewarded according to his Deserts. But are they to blame for this? Were not they themselves as well engaged as he in the Conspiracy? And no Law obliges a Man to accuse himself, they knew their own Preservation consisted in his Acquitment, and it was unreasonable to expect they should pass Sentence upon themselves, which they fancied they should have done, had they allowed of the Justice of his Impeachment. And people of their Mould and Principles always make Conscience, give way, and submit to Self-Prefervation and Interest. And besides, they thought perhaps, no Man more capable of putting his House in order than himself. Thus was the Arch-traitor again set at Liberty, and Canting Nadab too notwithstanding all the Proofs that were brought against them. Several other Dissenters too were released, maugre the notoriousness of their Crimes, upon a Law the Seditionaries had taken care to have passed some time before the breaking out of the Plot, by this Law in case of Bail offered, no Man could be detained in Prison, and the Faction would never suffer their Partisans to want that upon any Occasion. Thus Law and Justice were perverted in these wicked Men's hands, the Cause was their Golden Calf, and they thought it no Crime to Sacrifice their Consciences, their Repute, nay, the Honour of the Nation (since it bred almost a Detestation of the Jews in Foreigners, in that it was capable of Producing and Breeding such a pack of Monsters; so that they could but compass their Ends, and bring about their long desired and tugged for Revolution. They still had in mind the sweetness they had tasted in the Sequestration of the Loyal Jews Estates, they longed to be again at pillaging and plundering, and they cared not what Desolations soever they might bring upon the Realm, so they but attained their Insatiate Lust of Power and Arbitrary Executions, this was the scope of all their Wishes, this they drove at in all their Consults and Cabals, and this they had effected, had not the Prudent and Most Vigilant Prince that ever God placed at any Helm by an unparalelled Conduct disappointed their Execrable Designs.  
These Proceed still more alarumned and awakened the Truly Loyal Jews, and they unanimously found no means so conducing to the safety of their Prince, their Religion, and their Country, then to enter into an Anti-Association against the Mutineers and Seditionaries. All the Towns, all the Provinces of the Land of Judah and Israel rung with Acclamations of David's Prudent Conduct, offered up their Praises to God for bestowing on them so good, and so Gracious a Prince, and poured forth their Thanks and Acknowledgements to him, for his Pious and Indefatigable Care and Vigilance for their Safety and Preservation here from all Usurpations of their Fellow Subjects, and for their Eternal Happiness hereafter, by hindering their being perverted and seduced by any Innovations in their Religious Rights and Worship. Thus David began again to recover and establish himself in the Affections of his Subjects, all that Malignity wherewith the Faction had endeavoured to poison People's Minds, began to purge away of its self, their Eyes began to open and see clear, and they perceived the Bait, the Lure that was laid to draw them into the same snares, the same Desolation they had formerly so miserably suffered by the same means. Then they began to be ashamed of, and detest the Torrent which they had so blindly gone along with before, and their Breasts were not sufficient to contain the Abhorrence they had of these Traitorous Courses, but they expressed it to one another, they humbly declared it to their Prince, offering their Fortunes and Lives a Sacrifice for his safety upon all ocafion to put a stop to the restless endeavours of the Faction to destroy the Peace and Tranquillity of the Nation, and to involve it in Anarchy and Confusion. These Offerings were received by David with his accustomed goodness; and now seeing the sound part and generality of the Nation undeceived of the injurious Surmises they had entertained, he thought it now seasonable to recall back the Suffering Heir from Hebron, where his Conduct had been such as to quell and destroy that Spirit of Sedition and Discord so natural to that People, and found the means to bring plenty into the Land and reduce it to a greater Calm and Tranquillity than it had for many Ages enjoyed. But the Hebronites were not they who alone enjoyed the good Effects of his prudent management of Affairs in that Country, the Jews themselves were by it secured from a Torrent and Inundation of Misery and Confusion: That upon all Tempestuous Junctures, used to break in from Hebron, upon the Land of Judah.  
These fresh and repeated Instances of Solomon's wise and zealous Application for the Good and Welfare of the Jews, made them thirst again for a Sight of the Heir of the Crown: Whereupon they renewed their humble Acknowledgement to David, upon his Resolution of calling him back from Hebron, and grew jealous, and envied the Hebronites the Happiness of having enjoyed his Presence, and the benign Influence of his Wisdom for so long a time.  
Then began the Conscious Faction to fall into Despair: They perceived all their Wiles, all their Artifices for the working up People to a Civil War, proved abortive, through David's wise Government, and Solomon's prudent Councils. They found the Friends of David to be so many, so great, and so illustrious, that all their Arts and Contrivances, could not in the least balance, or come in comparison with their Zeal and Virtues. Barcellai had long flourished in the Roll of Fame for his constant Loyalty to the Crown, had once sacrificed his vast Fortune and his Ease in its Defence; and was no less celebrated for his Virtues and his Learning, than for his Performances in War, and his Conquests over David's Enemies. Glorious too he was in a Son, who had filled the World with wonder at his Conduct and Valour in Naval Combats, and by Land had put a Stop to Pharoah's dreadful Power, and impetuous Progresses lower Israel's Confederates. Zadock the High Priest, had been constantly watchful since his promotion to that high Office, to preserve the Ark from Schisms and Innovations. David knowing his Zeal and Worth, had advanced him to that high Dignity, notwithstanding he had carefully shunned all Power and Grandeur. The Zogan too of Jerusalem, who descended of a noble Race, did as nobly assert the Rights of the Church and State against all Factious and turbulent Invaders; and the Prophet's Sons being led on by such Examples, were bred up in Loyalty, Learning, Religion and Virtue. Hushai a constant Friend of David in all Storms and Tempests of State: his Native Excellencies were polished in his very Youth, by Foreign Treaties and Negotiations; and David found by his Management of those Matters he then entrusted him withal, his great Capacity for the performing and officiating those high Offices he bestowed upon him at home. Neither was he deceived in his Expectations: For his frugal Care supplied the Necessities of the State, when the Treasury was at the lowest Ebb. Jotham, a Man of vast Copiousness, and penetration of Wit, gifted beyond Comparison by Nature, and formed by Arts and Learnings, to persuade and prevail over the Hearts and Affections of Assemblies. Bezaliel, whose Command was over the Kenites Rocky Province: Him Nature had so abundantly stocked with all Advantages in its Disposal, that Education and Learning found him complete and in no need of their Conjunction to render him perfect. He had all the Virtues, without any of the Vanities which usually attend them, and had the Happiness too to see all his Glories copied in his Son. Abdael adorned with all his Father's perfections, who had restored David to the Crown without so much as the loss of one sole Israelite. Abdael the Head and Governor over the Prophet's School, pursued his Father's Footsteps, and by his undauntted perseverance in his Fidelity to his Prince, made the Faction conscious how impossible it was to bring about their Ends as long as the Crown was surrounded, and supported by Friends of such a temper. Eliab, who had long wandered and partaked with his Royal Master in all his Sufferings abroad, and had been firm to him in all those sad and doleful Persecutions of Fortune: For which, and several other Services he was rewarded with the Charge of the Royal Household, and had his only Heiress decked with all the Pride and Beauties of Nature, united to young Othriel, David's Son, and the Illustrions' restorer of his Father's youth, and likewise was celebrated by the Principal among Foreign Authors for one of the greatest Ministers of his Age. Helon, though tempted by Pharaoh, with all Glories, Allurements and Grandeur of his Court; and though an Egyptian too by Birth, yet he abandoned his Country, refused the tempting Offers of Pharaoh, and slighted his Idols to give himself to David, bringing with him such a Virtue, that neither Profit or Example could seduce or betray. Sheva, than whom none was more Loyal and watchful to defend the Prerogatives of the Crown, to render Sedition and Turbulence odious and in their true Colours, to undeceive the People of those sham's and Frauds that were palm'd upon them by the Factious Scribes, and to purge away those venomous and seditious Humours and Distempers which the Faction were always infecting the Tribes with. Asaph, who in Charming Numbers sung the People into Loyalty; and by as keen Satyrs made those who obstinately persevere in their Evil Practices, ashamed of their Do, and exposed them to the and Detestation of others, These were the principal of those who stood in the Breach, and dared the Fury of the Seditionaries, when their hopes of Success were at the highest, and they thought themselves in a fair way to bring about their mischievous and wicked Contrivances. The Faction was sensible how difficult a Task it would be to make way to the Crown through so brave a Band: And therefore to remove this Guard, they voted many of them in the Sanhedrim Enemies to the King and Kingdom, and addressed to David to have them discarded from their Attendance upon his Person, and banished from their places in his Council; but David was too well acquainted with their Worth and their Zeal, for his and their countries' Welfare and Service, to give them up a Sacrifice to the insatiate Rage of a mutinous and rebellious Multitude. He knew that as long as his Throne stood upon such a Foundation as their Loyalty and Affections, the Enemies not only to Monarchy, but to all Government and Order, would never, notwithstanding all their Malice, be able to undermine it.  
Nevertheless, the Seditious maugre the little Prospect they had of Success, left not off intriguing and caballing against the State, trying by all possible Means to embroil Affairs, seduce Peoples Affections, and raise in them a Jealousy and Umbrage of the Government. For that purpose Ben-Jochanan the Levite was set to work. This Man being of mean Birth, and brought into Want by a Marriage, or a Wife out of the Dregs of the people, though indeed suitable to his own Extraction, turned Renegado, and became a violent Incendiary and Promoter of Sedition. The Faction taking hold of his Want, and the Sordidness of his Temper, picked him out for an Instrument; and his Business was to frame a parallel between the Illustrious Heir, and that Grand Apostate, who first seduced the people to fall down and worship the Golden Calf. This piece having been long and painfully worked up by him, did, before it was sent abroad, pass the Test and Scrutiny of the principal Hands of the Faction. His main Scope and Design was to breed a Jealousy in the people of the Governments being inclined to favour a Change of Religious Rites and Worship, and to bring in the Ancient Superstitions and Idolatries of the Jebusites: And then it proceeded to assert, that in case of such a Change and Innovation, it was lawful for the people to oppose and divert by main Force of Arms, all Paces and Efforts that tended thereunto; and if by any Circumstances it could be surmised, that the Government persevered in such a Design or Resolution, that then it was lawful for the People to depose and kill such a Prince, and alter the Government be it what it will.   

This piece nicking the Juncture, was mightily cried up by the Party, though all Men of Sense and Reason, detested its Doctrine and Abhorred the Parallel and Draught. Besides, the thing itself was but shallow and no Bugbear, and not over fit for the purpose they designed it, notwithstanding all the care that had been taken to make it a Prodigy of a Book. For it was rather a Panegyric upon the Apostate, and a defence of Apostasy, than a satire against those who abandon the true Religion. But perhaps this is the only instance that the Author or the Faction ever gave of Modesty. And indeed, with what face could they declaim against Apostasy, when they themselves were guilty of it in the highest Degree, for they were not only Apostles to their Sovereign, to their Nation and their Government, but also to their Religion and their God. And therefore it is no wonder if they endeavoured to maintain and scatter abroad such detestable and abominable Tenets as were not only destructive to Monarchy, but to all Government and order in the World. But People's Eyes being too well opened and their Affections to the Government too strong, to be ensnared by such course Stratagems and such thin nets, they haunted about for new Contrivances, endeavouring by all the means imaginable to get such Magistrates chosen in all great Towns and especially in Jerusalem, as were affected to their Party, and hinking by that course to fetter up the Course of Justice, and thereby to prevent a just revenge upon all their Crimes. But the Loyal Jews were now grown so sensible of the Destructive Machinations of the Faction, and so fearful and apprehensive of falling again into the same Ruin and Calamities, they had but so lately groaned under, by the same Men, who made use of the same Pretences and the same Colours to decoy them into Misery and Destruction. I say, being warned by their past Sufferings and Desolations, they vigorously stood up in defence of the Government, insomuch, That notwithstanding all the Hellish cunning and Contrivances of their Cabals, notwithstanding, all the Zeal and Spirit of the Party, who were reduced to that Extremity, as to be in danger of being brought to condign punishments, in case they failed of having such Officers and Magistrates elected as were of their own Leaven, yet they were disappointed of their hopes and Expectations, the Loyal Jews found out and exposed their Forgeries and Illegal Proceed, rendered them odious to the sound part of the Nation, and procured such Officers to be chosen, as were zealous for the True Religion as then Established, Asserters of Monarchy and the Government, Impartial Lovers of Justice, and wholly devoted to the good and interest of their Country. This heightened the Factions Despair, they were now at a terrible plunge, and knew not well what Course to take, but the rancour they had sowed had taken such deep root, that a great part of the Mobile of Jerusalem had still so much of the Infection left in them, that they were ready upon all occasions to fall upon such Officers of Justice, who came to put the Laws in Execution upon such Criminals as were of their Party, and had incurred Penalties by their Mis-behaviour and their Transgressions. By these means several were rescued from Justice, and the Laws hindered from being put in Execution. But though they foresaw that this could not long secure them, they still continued to use all manner of means to endeavour to alienate the People's Hearts and Affections from the King and his Heirs. There had formerly appeared in the World a Book, Entitled, The Growth of the Superstitions of the Jebusites, Written by an Ingenious though a disaffected Jew. This same piece had met with a favourable Reception amongst the Jewish Malcontents, and a Continuation of it was at this time thought proper to revive the Umbrages of the People; amongst other things it endeavoured to persuade, that there had long been a Secret League and Treaty between Pharaoh and the Monarch of Jerusalem, whereby David was obliged amongst other Articles to introduce the Worship of the Jebusites, and that for that purpose Pharaoh should assist him with Men and Money, and likewise, to make himself absolute over the Lives and Estates of his Subjects. A mad, ridiculous shame and invention. For it was a thing impossible ever to bring in and establish the Jebusites without wholly destroying the Jews, and certainly never any Prince out of an Affection to some few particular Men, and a Sect destructive to Monarchy, and Dependant on a Foreign Head would destroy the main Body of the Nation, and leave himself without Subjects and Support. And as for the Jebusites being brought in by the Consent of the Jews, is a thing never to be supposed, since their very Habitations were the Ancient Possessions of the Jebusites, and the Jews would certainly never allow of their Return, whom they had deprived of their Inheritance, well knowing they would never be content until they were reinstated in them again, and that Baal not only claimed their Conscience, but their Lands too. And as for Pharoah's contributing his aid and secure to the King of Judah, for the resetling them and Tyranny, it is well known he has always been too great a Slave to his Interests and Grandeur to commit such a Solecism in Politics, as to put Arms into such a hand as of all Asia, was alone capable of putting a stop to his Prodigious and dreadful Career. He knew the temper of the Jewish People, the Constitution of their Government, with the Infatuation the Sanhedrim lay under, to be such that they would give no Supplies to the Crown, though in the greatest Exigencies and necessities of State, out of a frantic and groundless fear, that they might be employed to their own Oppression. He knew too that the settled Revenues on the Crown were too short and inconsiderable to suffice either supporting the Crown itself, upon occasion, or defending and relieving the Allies and Confederates of Israel, against the spreading and overflowing Arms of Egypt; though his Wealth and Revenues were vast, he employed them such ways as more contributed to his Grandeur and the Enlargement of his Empire. He bribed and made Pensioners of a vast number of Jews, who pretending Zeal and Friendship to the State and Government, yet at the same time maliciously insinuated into the People, that there were Designs on foot at Court to Usurp their Sacred Rites and Properties, that the Royal Family were inclinable to Baal's Superstitions and Idolatry, that with it Tyranny and Arbitrary Power was to be introduced. By such like Wiles and Artifices as these were the Chosen People seduced to entertain an ill Opinion of their Governors and upright Patriots, and to cry up, and extol those Traitors to their Country, who by such Courses created those Divisions amongst the Hebrews as weakened them and rendered them uncapable of opposing the Growth of Egypt's King. They were the Persons who endeavoured to sell and bring upon their Country Slavery, and Idolatry, notwithstanding their exclaiming against the Government, as usurping upon their Privileges and Charters. They were the occasion of Israel's Confederates being oppressed and overrun. They by brooding such Jealousies and Divisions, laid open the only door that could let in the Jebusite. All the Gracious Declarations of David, all his Assurances to maintain their Privileges and defend their Religion by Law Established, were not satisfactory to this Insatiate Party, for that Religion and Privilege were only the Ingredients they made use of, to work the People into a Ferment, and then by a continual Application of Fears and Jealousies, to screw 'em up into a Rage and Fury, the Consequences whereof they knew would be Confusion and Anarchy: This they looked upon as the readiest way to build their Fortunes, which if they could attain to, they cared not though it were upon their Father's Ruin and Destruction. They longed to be Lording and Domineering again over their Fellow Subjects: They had not forgotten the Sweets they enjoyed in the Sequestrations of the Loyalists Estates, and such as remained faithful to David in his late Troubles. This was sport they itched to be at again; and therefore all Persons and things that opposed their destructive Designs, and tended to the preservation and safety of the People and Government, these Traitors traduced as Enemies to the Kingdom, and exclaimed against them as Arbitrary Tools. Yet these very People were the only Persons who aimed and exercised Arbitrary Power.  
In the several late Sessions of the Sanhedrim, the Seditionaries having got by Surprise and Illegal Elections several of their Faction to be chosen Members, all their Resolves savoured of and tended to Tyranny, they sent for up into Custody from all the parts of the Land of Judah, such Persons as upon occasion testified their Zeal for the Crown, imprisoned them without any Cause given: And then they voted, That the next Heir being a Jebufite, and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown, hath given the greatest Countenance and Encouragement to the present Designs and Conspiracies against the King and Protestant Religion. Thus they voted the next Heir a Jebusite, which was more than any Man living could tell but himself; but in case he were, the Wisemen of the Jews, were of Opinion, that the most Prudent and most Pious course, would have been to have employed all imaginable Care and Art for the reducing him to the True Church, whereas this way of proceeding of theirs could but the more enrage and irritate him against the Professors and Doctrine of the True Religion. Besides that Branch of the Vote that affirms, That the next Heirs being a Jebusite was what gave the greatest Countenance to those Designs that were then on foot against the King, the Government, and the Jewish Religion, was contrary to what Corah had laid down in his Depositions, who said, that the Jebusites had declared their Apprehensions, that he would not allow of their Designs, and therefore after the Blow was given, they must have been forced to have constrained him to give his consent to the Assassination of the King his Father, Massacre of his true Jewish Subjects, firing of his Towns, etc. by pardoning of the Assassins', Murderers and Incendiaries, that then he also be poisoned and destroyed, after they for some time had abused his Name and Title to strengthen in their Plot. All which and several other Passages in Corah's and other of the Evidences Narratives of the Plots, do show they had no Reliance on the next Heir; but that on the contrary, his Affection and Tenderness towards the King, would render all their Designs abortive.  
Yet upon groundless Surmises they proceeded to bring in a Bill of Exclusion, notwithstanding that they well knew, that the Crown of Judah was an Hereditary Kingdom or Monarchy, which devolved upon the next Heirs of the Blood Royal, without any Election, or Consent of the People, otherwise than by acknowledging their Lawful Right, derived from God, by their Blood to them; and as undoubtedly their Hereditary Monarchy was set up at first, so it was afterwards upheld and maintained by the Providence of God; from which we cannot but infer this Conclusion, That whoever shall attempt to alter such a right of Succession without a manifest Revelation, is a notorious Usurper upon the Right of the Person who is to succeed, be the pretence for it what it will; and a Rebel against that Providence which gave him that Right. Nor could the former Rebellious Ufurpations and Disorders be Precedents to justify those who should begin them again: So that no Humane Power can bar and prevent the next Heir his Succession; but by encroaching upon his Right, and by rebelling against the Divine Providence that gave it him. So that be the Inconveniencies that shall follow upon such a Succession what they will or can be, the Jews were obliged to submit to them upon pain of Rebellion, both against God and his anointed. And then let any Man be Judge, if it be not better to fall into the Hands of a Jebusitish Prince, than into the Hands of an angry God, who is a consuming Fire; and who is not bound by any Act of a Sanhedrim from afflicting a sinful and rebellious People.  
Not but that the Loyal Jews, and even those that were stigmatised with the Name of Jebusites, did acknowledge that it would be a great Affliction for them to fall into the Hands of a Jebusitish Prince; because of the great and implacable Malice which the Jebusites, their whole Sect and Tribe have ever born to the Jews and their Religion, which was more easily defended against them than any other Religion whatsoever, as being founded upon greater Antiquity, derived immediately from God himself, and more conformable to the Doctrines of the Prophes. Wherefore Baal and the Jebusites had left no Stone unturned to re-establish in Jerusalem, their Suerstitions, and root out the Jews and the true Religion; and sticking neither at Perjury, Treason, nor any other Villainy that they thought might conduce to that end. And when God by his Gracious Providence had defeated all their damnable Projects, they transformed themselves into the Shapes of the Dissenting Jews; and so promoted a Rebellion, which ended in the seeming Ruin of the Religion and Government, to their mighty Content and Satisfaction: But though David at his Return, re-settled the Church, yet they did not give over; but by a Toleration, by spreading Pamphlets and Libels, written in the Style of the Dissenting Jews, and so very acceptable to them, by discouraging all that opposed the intestine Divisions; and a Multitude of such other Frauds, they did in twenty Years time so shake the Foundations of the Jewish Church again, that David with all his Prudence and Piety could hardly preserve and uphold her against the Jebusitish Party on the one hand, and the Dissenters on the other.  
So that if this poor persecuted Church, should have fallen into the hands of a Prince of their Communion, she was to have expected whatever the most enraged Malice, armed with his Authority could inflict upon her; and she had all the reason in the World to expect the Dissenters would join with them to afflict and ruin her. Not out of any Kindness to Baalism; but out of an implacable hatred they both have conceived against her: So that the Ark had all the reason in the World to dread that day that should put her into such Hands.  
But still with this Limitation, notwithstanding that by avoiding one Mischief, she should not plunge herself into a greater; that is, by flying Persecution from Men, to fall into a Rebellion against her God, by whose Providence Kings and Princes, of what Religion soever they be, rule; and by whom they have in all Ages been so ordered, disposed and governed, as he in his Divine and Holy Wisdom saw most expedient for the Prosperity or Chastisement of his Church, to the greater Increase of her Glory, and her Happiness in the World to come.  
So that the Sanhedrim could not have proceeded on to the disinheriting the next Heir, by passing a Bill of Exclusion upon him, without doing an Act contrary to natural Justice, by running headlong to Condemnation before Conviction: Besides, it was before they had heard the Party, or examined any Witness about him, at lest none in his Defence. And all this without any Law or Precedent, is without doubt very severe. Moreover the Kings of Judah had their Right from God alone, and no Power upon Earth could deprive them of it. So that the Proceed of the Sanehedrim in this matter, were precisely contrary, not only to the Law of God, but the Law of the Land too: For if this Bill had passed, it would have changed the very Essence of the Monarchy, and have made the Crown elective: For so the same reason that the Sanhedrim might have disinherited that Prince upon mere Surmises of his difference from them in Religion, other Sanhedrims might have disinherited another, upon some other Pretence which they might suggest; and so consequently by such Exclusions elect whom they please. Besides, this Bill of Exclusion was contrary to those Oaths which all such Jews as were in Office, and made any Figure in the State, were bound to take, and had taken, to be faithful and Loyal to their Kings and Successors. Neither was this the right Course to prevent those Calamities they so much dreaded; on the contrary, it was the ready way to ascertain them at David's Death with the Addition of a Civil War; and in all likelihood bring it upon them before that time too: For so soon as ever the Bill should have passed, the next Heir would have had a Right to have made War upon the Land of Judah, even in David's Life time; and what the Event of that would have been, God only knows. However, to have prevented a Surprise, there must have been a Standing Army, or an Association kept up so long as the next Heir lived; and what the Consequences of them might have been was no difficult matter to foresee; the first ruining the Liberties of the People, and the second endangering the Prerogatives of the Crown: And both of them in the divided Condition Judah was then in, in point of Religion, tending to raise such Fears and Jealousies, as would have been almost as uneasy and unsafe as a Jebusitish Successor; and all this brought upon them immediately by their rash and inconsiderate Do: Whereas the other was only future and contingent: So that Doeg in his Infamous Libel, called The Character of a Jebusitish Successor, has drawn up the Case after a false and impious manner; but what could otherwise be expected from such a Fellow as would sell his God for a Meals Meat; and who was only the Arch-traitor Achitophel's Copist in the Business? But allow the Case to be so as it is stated in that Libel, it would not have justified the excluding such a Successor as he hath described by Force and Arms, against his Right, and their Oaths to the contrary, tho' they were never so certain to succeed in the Attempt; but then that wicked Man has most falsely represented things to the World; and so as it is impossible they should ever have proved in the Event, if the Jews did not give occasion for it, by an improsperous Rebellion.  
For first it was agreed on by all the World, that there were ten Jews for one Jebusite, through all the Dominions of the Land of Judah and Israel: so that if such a Successor should attempt to extirpate them, the bare refusing to aid and assist him in such an Enterprise would render it impossible.  
Secondly, All their Laws were in Favour of that Religion which was established, and which could never be repealed but by the Sanhedrim; and it's morally impossible to have a Sanhedrim, the Major part of which Will not be of the true Jewish Religion, as established, who will never consent to ruin themselves.  
Thirdly, The Revenue of such a Prince could not bear the Charge of so great an Army, as would have been necessary to have reduced the People to a Religion so generally hated and detested as that was.  
To all which indeed the Faction made Answer, That he might have had Foreign Aids; and Secondly, that he would have had the means to have alured, deterred, and perverted many from the Jewish Religion to his own.  
As to Foreign Assistances, no Prince will dare to have so many as shall totally overpower his own People, because than they will be able to ruin him; and he may be sure they will do it, self-Interest being the Idol of all the World; so that this was a ridiculous Supposition in a Prince of their own Nation, who had no other Dominions but those.  
As to any Number of People he might have been able to have brought over to his own Religion, they would have been very inconsiderable in Proportion to those who would not have been brought over, tho' the Number were supposed to have been greater than was likely to be: For that some Men have got a Way of reproaching all they hate, with the Name of Jebusites, because there was none more hated than that; yet even for that Case the Number must have been too small, being very unwilling to List themselves in a hated Party, except they might have had great Advantages by it; which are not to be afforded to many (in proportion to the rest) in one King's Reign, in so small a Kingdom as that of Judah.  
Thirdly, the very Attempting of this with force and violence, would have driven so many People out of the Nation; as would have destroyed both the Prince's Revenue and Security, which according to all Appearances of Reason, no Man would have done for his own sake.  
To this might be added, that it was three to one whether ever the Jews should have had such a Prince: For who but God could tell whether Solomon should have survived David? But if he did, whether his Interest, the Grace of God, and Man's Humane Inconstancy, would not have worked upon him to return to that Religion he was first principled in, and for which, David and the whole Royal Family had so gloriously suffered.  
And after all this, supposing he should have succeeded and have been zealous for his Religion, and suppose that to be Baalism; there was no necessity that he must have acted all the worst Principles of Baalism to the utmost Degree. It is certain it is not usual so to do, though the difficulty be not so great as here it would have been.  
And after all, Doth not the Providence of God govern the Jebusitish as well as the Jewish Princes? Is the Arm of the Almighty shortened, that he can neither deliver nor support his Ark? Or had he forsaken her in her Old Age, who preserved her with so much Care and Power in her Infancy under Heathen Princes? Do we believe the Prophets? Do we believe the Jewish Religion is acceptable to him? Are the far greatest part of them that profess it, sincere or false in their pretences? If all this be answered one way, they have something more to rely upon, than the Faith and Religion of Princes? If in the other, it would have been but folly to pretend to secure by humane Arts, that which God was resolved to destroy.  
But than should we grant that the hopes of the next Heir's coming a Jebusite to the Crown, had really given the greatest encouragement to the Jebusites Plot, would the Disinheriting him have defeated those hopes? No, But it would rather have whetted them on to do their utmost to Murder the King, to prevent or revenge that injury to the next Heir and their longed for Successor.  
So that if any Man would but in cold blood consider on all the Proceed of the Sanhedrim; he must necessarily conclude, That if ever Faction, Anger, and Ill-Designs were entertained by so great a Body of Men as the major part of that Assembly was, it is apparent they were here. Of which it will not be unseasonable to instance, but in some few Particulars.  
Can ever any Man produce either Precedent or Law to justify the Imprisonment of those Generous and Loyal Jews, who publicly declared their Abhorrence of the Irregular, Tumultuous and Traitorous Proceed of the Faction? Had the meanest sort of people of all the twelve Tribes a Right to Petition the King against his Express Command, in a thing of which he was the sole Judge by all the Laws of the Land? and might not such as represented the King's Person, or otherwise officiated in the Government, oppose them, or which is less, disown those Irregular Proceed? But suppose they did more than they ought in this their Opposition, was it fit to Imprison them before they were allowed to defend themselves, and urge what they had to plead in their Justification? But being it served those Gentleman's turn at that time, they made use of it, without considering, that it might one day be turned against them themselves, and then how severe a Task it would be to brook it. The Towns and Corporations of the Land of Judah did send generally the principal of their Tribes and Hundreds, but if this Precedent had once been allowed of, and established, they might have laid them by when they pleased; and have sent Mechanics, Tradesmen, Shopkeepers, and how would their high Spirits have brooked to have been sent for into Custody, and made to kneel, without being suffered to speak, and only for doing their Duties to such Men, and to be sent home again? Certainly none of the Heads of the Tribes could have brooked such Indignities, but with such inward Resentments as befit the generosity and temper of that Nation, or otherwise they must be thought to have been prepared for Slavery: And all that manly Courage that had made those People renowned in all Countries in the World, was degenerated into the most shameful effeminacy and Cowardice. Only in this case Religion and Loyalty made them yield, even to Injustice and Oppression. As long as Godlike David thought fit to suffer it, they submitted, but with such Thoughts as would have taught the Faction more Justice and Moderation, if this had not been in the Case.  
Besides, their styling all those Generous Jews who were brought into the Commissions of the Peace, in the room of some others displaced, Men of Arbitrary Principles, and Countenancers of Jebusites and Baalism; and if the Faction could have invented more odious Names and Words than these, they might with as much truth and ingenuity have bestowed them upon them. Was it a Privilege of the Sanhedrim to vote a Man a Philistine or an Egyptian, or that those who they thought fit were the Men, who occasioned the Breach before David and his Sanhedrim, and consequently the occasion of all his former Troubles? If it were so, there was no more to be said, but only to beg their pardon, and to kneel down at the Bar of the Sanhedrim with the same submission as if one had believed the Speaker Infallible, and every Member an Angel. But if their Votes were bound to be not only consonant to Law, but agreeable to the truth of things, than that Passage was hastily and passionately written, and not well considered; and will be an admonishment to them that they take such care for the future as to write more cautiously, and speak and vote like men, that had a little respect to their Places.  
Was ever any thing so extravagant as their Vote concerning David's Revenues and his borrowing of Money upon them? Might not a Loyal Jew have lent the King a Talon or two without their leave, and not incur the danger of being reputed an Enemy to the meeting and sitting of Sanhedrims? Suppose the Egyptians or the Philistines should have made an Invasion into the Land of Israel or Judah, or the Jebusites, or Dissenting Jews have risen, and David have wanted Money to have suppressed the One, or have driven out the Other, must the Loyal Jews have hazarded His or their own Ruin, rather than supply him by a Loan in the intervals of the Sanhedrim, had not they a Property in what was their own, and might not they use it as they saw Cause, without breach of Privilege of Sanhedrims?  
They Voted too, That the Prosecution of the Dissenting Jews upon the Penal Laws, Was at that time grievous to the Subject, a weakening of the Jewish Interest, an Encouragement to Baalism, and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom: And this Vote is as incomprehensible as any of the rest. Why was it made? To what Subject is it grievous? To the Dissenters? why then let them leave their Dissenting to the Ark and all will be well. What Jewish Interest doth it weaken? Doth it weaken the Jewish Interest that is settled by Law? Then why did they not say so? But how it encouraged Baalism, or endangered the Peace of the Nation, was yet harder to be understood? But suppose it did; What then? They might repeal the Bills they had on Foot, that would have repealed them, if they might but have passed; but they were to be Adjourned, and had not time to finish them: And did they think to have laid them asleep by their single Vote, without the Consent of the Elders, or of the King? They should have done well then to have told the Nation that they had the Legislative Power in their own hands, and that it was contrary to Law for any Man to act against a Vote of the Sanhedrim, tho' in obedience to the Laws of the Land.  
Now if they had carried these few points in this Session.  
First, Not only to deny the King any Supply, but to make it Criminal for any Man to lend him Money upon his Revenues, they might then in another Session have gone further, and have made it punishable for any Man to have paid him his just, settled, legal Deuce; and that would have made them able to have forced the King or his Successors to whatever they had pleased.  
Secondly, They might have proceeded to imprison David's Subjects in an illegal and Arbitrary way, for Matters that had no Relation to Privileges of Sanhedrim, they might afterwards have extended this to as many persons and things as they had pleased; and so no man would have dared to have stood by David against a Sanhedrim, tho' they had attempted to depose him. Nor would David in a short time have been able to have protected his Subjects against any Injury that they, or any of them had been pleased to have done them; which would infallibly have subverted the Monarchy, and have introduced a Commonwealth.  
Thirdly, If they had got that great Branch of the Legislative Power into their Hands, of suspending the Execution of Laws by their Votes, they might have driven it as far as they pleased, and so have outed the King and the Elders as a former Sanhedrim did by the same means.  
These and a thousand other Circumstances concurring to make all  and understanding People suspect, nay, believe, that there was a Plot of the Dissenting Jews upon the Government and Religion, as by Law established: the loyalists began to rouse up, and by their vigorous Zeal and Vigilance to support the Throne and State, defeated the Designs of the Faction, whose Weakness and Emptiness they exposed, and made appear their own Strength and Numbers, to exceed beyond all Comparison those of the Seditionaries, who now having lost all Hopes of retrieving their Cause, began to shift for themselves, lest a longer Stay might have exposed them to the just Fury and Resentment of the Law.  
Amongst all those Sculkers and Fugitives, none had more reason to look out be time for a safe Retreat from a just revenge than the wicked Achitophel: He had been the hellish Contriver of all those Devilish Machinations against the Peace, Welfare, and Tranquillity of the State: But how heinous soever the Sins of the People were, Heaven out of its abundant goodness, thought not fit to punish them so severely, and to suffer them to be the second time plunged into the dreadful Calamities of a Civil War, as they had like to have been by that Impostor of a Patriot.  
Thus all Prospect of Success, in his Designs being vanished, the People irritated and enraged against him for the Desolations they had like to have fallen under by his means, & justice gaping after Revenge for so many direful Effects of his Diabolical Contrivances, he resolved for Tyre, where several of his Tools were gone before out of the same Motive of Self-Security, and to prepare for his Reception.  
Yet first he was to take his Leave of haughty Jezabel. Being come to her for that purpose, he let her know, both by his Looks and Words the Torment and Anguish he lay under, for having been so disappointed in his Designs and Endeavours to pull down Monarchy, and set up his and her Creatures in its Stead. He told her, he had risqued not only Life, Body and Soul for that purpose; but that he had moreover inveigled his Friends into the same Perils and Dangers, and had hazarded the utter ruin of the Jewish Nation for her Interests. She let him know how sensible she was of his good intention, that she was well acquainted that he had used all the tricks and Stratagems of Policy, for the promoting her end, and that since he had done all that lay in the Power and Art of Man, they had only to complain of their Destiny for the disappointment, and that he should find in her all the acknowledgement his good endeavours deserved. That she approved of his design of taking Refuge at Tyre, where she knew he would be most welcome to a little Sister she had there, who had been always his Darling, and she always mindful of his good Offices for her Promotion. That Tyre was the only place of safe retreat for him, since her other Sister at Hebron was become an Apostate to their Cause and Blood, being by the Charms of David's Reign deluded into a fondness and good Opinion of Kingly Government. And as for her other little Sisters they were not in a Capacity to shelter him from the just resentment of an incensed Prince, that she herself would only stay till she had settled her Affairs, and then would follow him to his Sanctuary, where he should receive from her such returns as corresponded more with his Endeavours, than the Issue of his Designs. Thus after many other such like kind and tender Expressions and Assurances, he took his leave and departed for Tyre.  
But at his Arrival there, he found himself again disappointed in his Expectations, for the little Sister instead of receiving him with those Caresses and Blandishments, she usually welcomed People with of his Temper and Kidney, gave him but a cold and poor entertainment. She still remembered the Persecutions and Calamities she had suffered by the means of his Counsels, she still remembered his Speech in the Sanhedrim, pressing her ruin, and which indeed brought her to the Brink of Destruction, so that it was unreasonable to expect she could look favourably upon a Man whom she had so many Reasons to hate and detest, and who was so far from any true affection to any one, or any Society soever, that he has always proved the very best of humane kind, only for the carrying on his own designs and Interests. Thus she made him sensible that she still bore him a grudge, which went so to his heart, with the displeasure to find all his Devilish Wiles and Practices displayed and exposed to the eyes of all People, to find he was become the abomination of all the sound and honest part of mankind, Achitophel laying all these things to heart, I say, put an end to his loathed Life in such wise as the World well knows.   
FINIS.