A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF St. PATRICK'S DUBLIN, On the 5th of November. 1690.  
Before the Right Honourable the LORDS JUSTICE'S of IRELAND.  
By JOHN FINGLAS Prebend of St. Audoens DUBLIN,  
Published by their Lordship's Special Command  
Dublin, Printed by Joseph Ray on Colledg-Green, and are to be sold by the Booksellers in Dublin, 1690.   

To the Right Honourable HENRY Lord SIDNEY Viscount SHEPPY, and THO. CONNINGSBY Esq Lords Justices of IRELAND.  
May it please your Lordships,  
YOur Commands first gave the ensuing Discourse Life, and now Publication; as to the latter, there is so little of my own in it, that I can thereby design not so much the publication of it, as of my obedience; But that there is so little, may I hope be believed, was more out of choice than necessity; for though the notions of a Brain, rufsted and disordered by a violent and tedious Distemper, might fall short of any reasonable performance; yet there is no invention so weak or barren, but might upon such extraordinary occasion, abound with more than ordinary productions. But indeed (considering our present circumstances) I thought nothing more proper for that occasion, then to lay open the Principle of that Church to which we are beholding for the designed Treason of that Day.  
And let their pretences to Loyalty, be what they will, yet they must give me leave to assert, that where the Pope's Supremacy is maintained, there the King loses always so much in a Subject, as his Holiness gains in him.  
I am very far, from the least design of exasperating your Lordships against any of that Profession now amongst us; Your prudent Conduct, (of which they themselves are witnesses) may I hope prove a more successful instrument of their Reformation, than Ruin and Power. Your Lordship's Zeal for the Truth (without making use of either) is already conspicuous enough, and will yet more eminently appear, in Commanding these Sheets (that with so much plainness assert it) to the Press.  
Their dress I must submit to your Lordship's favour, but their truth, to the greatest severity; if in the former, I have been so unhappy as to have done ill, yet (considering my present state) I have the happiness, that Charity may construe I might have done better; Them together with myself, I lay at your Lordship's feet, and beg leave to subscribe myself,  
My Lords Your Lordship's most Faithful and Humble Servant. John Finglass.   

A SERMON, Preached on the 5th of November. 1690.  Psal. 21. latter part of the 11th. verse. They have imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to perform. 
IF we call to mind the Mercy of this Day, we may say of it as the four Lepers surprised with joy at the sudden vanishing and disapearance of the Syrians Army, This day is a day of good Tidings, and we should not do well to hold our Peace. 2 King. 7. 9 Should we hold our Peace, the very Stones (as our Saviour told the Pharisees. troubled at the triumphing of the Disciples) would Immediately cry out; for if ever any People, we, if we for any Deliverance, for this; and if for this, on any day, much more on this day, may well say and sing with the Psalmist, in the words of the Text, They have Imagined a mischievous Device which they are not able to perform.  
Before I come particularly to the Text, method requires, that I disengage it from some connexion: And that may be best done by casting a glance on the foregoing Psalms; It is spent in Prayer for the King; was penned by David, and by him committed to the praesect of his Music, as a form to solicit God with in the troublesome times, and days of Danger.  
And removing your eye from that Psalm to this, you will find this to stand as a Talley to the former, containing a Form of Praise, in return of the Mercies there prayed for; what the Church begged of God, in the foregoing, they bless him for the receipt of in this psalm: They are none of those Orators whom affliction only makes so, who never cry, but under the lash, nor list up their hands to God but when he lays his hand upon them; such as the Prophet tells us of, Ila. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a Prayer when thy chastening hand was upon them: But even now, when God hath remembered them they will not forget him; now they are past danger, they are not past duty, now they are set out of hazard, they set their hearts, and tune their spirits to thanksgiving. To beg of God when we are empty may speak Faith in the Heart, but to bless him when we are full, is the breathing of an excellent Spirit.  
The Text than is a part of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Triumphant Song sung by the Jews in acknowledgement of God's goodness to David their King, and in him to the whole Kingdom, Policy or Common Wealth of Israel; The sum or substance whereof I shall deliver in these two Conclusions.  
First, The Enemies of God's Church and People are of a plotting, devising, and mischievous spirit, and temper, They have imagined a mischievous thing.  
Secondly, Let the wicked design what they will, or plot what they can, they shall not be able to accomplish their desire or design, Which they are not able to perform.  
First the Enemies of God's Church and People are of a Plotting, Designing, Mischievous, spirit and temper.  
The Mischievous thing here designed, was the overthrow of David and his People, by the Forces of the Children of Ammon, with the Auxiliaries of Syria, under the Command of their Capt. General Shobach, of which we read 2 Sam: 10. But David's Victory, that this and the foregoing Psalms. refer to, plainly declare, though they imagined a mischievous device, they were not able to perform: It were easy to manifest this truth, either by Scripture, or the History of the Primitive times; I could show you that God's People were no sooner owned to be so but they were soon oppressed; for how did Pharaoh (who processed that he knew not the Lord, nor would hear his voice, nor let the People go) begin his Reign, but by consulting how to keep God's People under by heavy Burdens, and hard Taskmasters: but when that succeeded not, the more they were vexed, the more they increased; he adds to the former cruelty a Charge; that the Midwives should kill all the Males of the Hebrews in their birth; but neither did this prodigious cruelty prove so successful as he desired; For the Text tells us, that the Midwives feared God, and did not as the King Commanded them; but preserved alive the Men Children, Exod: 1. 17. and therefore transported by rage as one that had lost Humanity itself, he makes a more public and general Law, charging all his People that every Man child that was born, they should cast into the River, and Drown if, V 22. With what sury and violence, after he had made them weary of their lives by sundry oppressions, did he pursue them into the very bottom of the Seas? thinking its like, that God had divided the waters for no other end then for him to pitch his Field in, against his own People: It's plain if God had not taken him off, he had never taken his rod off the israelites: If we should after him, look upon Manasses, that wretched Idolater, who did evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abomination of the Heathens, he built the high places which his good Father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected Altars for them, and that in the Courts of the Lord, all which was attended with such Barbarous and despiteful wasting and oppressing of the Church of God, that it is said in the 2 of Kings, 21. 16. that Manasses shed Innocent blood exceeding much, till he replenished Jerusalem from corner to corner We might likewise reflect upon Haman that Idolatrous Tyrant; the Text tells you Est. 3, 6. that being full of wrath against Mordecay for not bowing unto him, he thought it to little to lay hands only on Mordecay, but thought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole Kingdom of Ahasueras, and for this purpose procured letters from the King, which he sent into all the Provinces, to Root out, to Kill, and to Destroy all the Jews, both young and old Children, and Women in one day. Est. 5. 15. I might further instance in Antiochus Epiphanes, that Monster of men, for his horrible Idolatry, and savage Cruelty against the Jews, called Epimanes, in both which he so raged, that never was the like since there began to be a Nation till that time, as the Prophet Daniel tells us in Chap. 12. 1. What shall I speak of the Tyranny and Cruelty of those Heathen Roman Emperors, within the first 300 years after Christ? by whom, not only the Apostles themselves suffered Death, but whosoever made any profession of their Doctrine, were most ignominously tormented; no respect had of Sex, or reverence of Age, so that the History of those times seem to be writ in blood, of which those Monsters of nature in the shape of men, made such effusion; that we read the dead bodies of Men, Women, and Children, old and young together were cast out, and lay naked in the Streets, like the pavement thereof; And indeed that enmity put by God himself between the seed of the Serpent, and the seed of the Woman, seems to intimate as much, which David sound in Psalm. 38. 19, 20. They that render me evil for good are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that God is; this spiteful wrath was kindled in them against him, because of his Religion and Piety, with which their corruption could admit no accord; as Cain slew his brother because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous, so our Saviour tells us in John 7. 7. The world hateth me because I testify of it, that the deeds thereof are evil; and that his Disciples might not be surprised when they meet with the like usage, he forwarns them in John 15. 19 If you were of the world the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world; but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you; and further tells them ye shall be hated of all Nations for my name sake, and therefore informs them, that he sent them forth as Sheep into the midst of the Wolves, which David long before found true, and thereupon complains in Psal. 57 4. My soul is among Lions, and I lie among them that are set on fire, even the Sons of men, whose Teeth are Spears and Arrows, and their Tongue a sharp Sword. It were easy to enlarge upon these and other heads; but upon such occasions as this which are but annually observed amongst us, I have always thought it more proper to stick close to the business of the day, then to expatiate by way of common place, or otherwise upon any of the Truths proposed; and therefore in the next place without any more ado, I shall endeavour to evidence that this Plotting, Contriving, and Mischievous Spirit, is the very Spirit that rules and influences Popery at this day; which Religion (if it deserves so good a name) exceeds all other (the Turkish not excepted) in Barbarous Bloodshed and Cruelty.  
Long it were to recite, and almost incredible to believe those Horrible slaughters, which might be induced to prove this part, for there is neither Writer that can be so diligent, nor Writing so exact, as to make a sufficient Relation of the barbarous usages offered to the Saints by these Enemies of the Truth, verifying that Prophecy, Rev. 17. 6. where it is affirmed, that that Woman, with whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication, was drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus. By this Woman, the Jesuits themselves are forced to confess, is meant their Rome; but old Rome (say they) such as it was under the Heathen Emperors; But let them consider the other circumstances in the foregoing part of the Chap. and then dec lare (if they can) how this can agree with old Rome, for where are those arrayed in Scarlet colour, but in their new Rome: In whose forehead is the Name MYSTERY written but in the present Romish Babylon: The Heathen Emperors Proclaimed open War against Christianity, and carried not their enmity in secret, and in a mystery they exercised their Cruelty to aper to mart, as we say, wherein either warning to Prepare, or Entreaty, or Truce, or Flight, might have satisfied or prevented the Enemy, and saved the lives of those that were exposed; but these Romanists carry on their Plots and their Mischiefs with such secrecy and such mystery, that it is almost as imposable to make any league with them as it is with Hell itself: insomuch that (according to most Writers) the Syrian Antiochus Epiphanes, was a lively Type of the Romish Antiochus, who was to come after him, and is now in the world, and the Author of no less misery to the Church than he was; for see how Daniel describes him, His power shall be mighty, but not in his strength; he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the Holy People And by his Policy shall cause Craft to Prosper in his hand He shall magnify himself in his heart; and by Peace shall destroy many. Dan: 8. 24, 25. A lively description of the Romish Antiochus, of that Beast rising out of the Sea, of which we Read, Rev: 13. 11. having as well the horns of the Lamb, as the speech of the Dragon, that is professing the Meckness, and Inocency of Christ, but exercising the Force and Power of the Dragon▪ intruding himself as the head and husband of the Church, while he Robs and Spoils it; Possessing himself a servant of servants while he sets himself above all Kings and Princes; as Boniface the Eighth in the year 1300 before a great concourse, at one of their Jubilies, shown himself one day in his Priestly Pontisicals with the Cross carried before him; the next day in an Emperor's Robes with a Sword carried before him, and his Title proclaimed ego sum pentifex et imperator terrestre. et Caeleste Imperium habeo, all this is mine and to whomsoever I will, I give it. So Pope Adrian the 4th. caused the Emperor Fredrick, to hold his Stirup, and quarrelled with him, for taking the Left instead of the Right; but the next Pope, Alexander the third, trod upon His neck, when he stooped to kiss his Holinesses Foot, using those Words, in the 91. Psal. Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder, the Young Lion and Dragon, thou shalt trample under foot; and when the Emperor replied, Non tibi sed Petro, not to thee, but to Peter, do I this Submission; the Pope treading on him again, said, et mihi & Petro, both to Me and Peter. So Pope Celestine the third Crowned the Emperor Henry the 6th. with his Foot, and after he had Crowned him, cast down the Crown to the ground, thereby signifying that he had Power to cast Him down from the Empire (if he deserved it) which Baronius highly commendeth: But his Successor Innocent the 3d exceeded him; For he Excommunicated John King of England, deposed Him, Absolved his Subjects from their Allegiance to Him, and did cast an Interdict upon the Kingdom, which lasted six years, giving it to Philip of France? If he could take it, which made his Subjects to despise Him, the Clergy to Revile Him, the Barons to rise in War against Him, and the French King, to fall upon Him, and thereby reduced him to such extremity, that, (to purchase his Peace,) He was glad to give the Kingdom to the Pope, and in the end a Monk Poisoned Him. It were endless to recite their deal this way, whereby it would appear that a great part of their Religion is but a Mystery of Iniquity, a bundle of Policy, which hath brought, and held most Kingdoms and Countries in Europe within the snare and Bondage of a silly Friar; and that by the pretended Sanctity, lying Miracles, false Donations, forged Writings, and the like. What Potentate could ever lay the Foundation of Obedience in Conscience? or could overcome his Enemy without War by a Parchment Bull? or maintain himself and his pomp, at all men's costs and devotions? or conquer opposite Princes, by their own Subjects? or establish himself by Dispensing with unlawful Marriages, or lawful Oaths, or maintain so many Intelligences by Consossions? or Pleasure all Men in their humours, by Wealth, Poverty, Austerity, Volumptuousness? What a notable Combination of mischievous devices is there in that Religion, where all those things and many more, are most eminent and most usual? and that they are all in this will easily appear if we consider either their Positions or Disposions; their Principles, or Practices.  
First their Principles; and herein, I shall be so just, as not to deliver one syllable, but what I have from their own Authors; So that if any of them herd me, I may (if possible) undeceave them; for I have Charity enough, to believe many of them Pious, and Devout in their own way, and if they really understood their own Doctrine as now refined by the Friary Wits of late Jesuits, and Priests, they would soon renounce Communion with them.  
1. Neighbours of Heriticks (meaning thereby Protestants) may lawfully be spoilt of their goods, though indeed it were better (say they) to do it, by the Authority of the Judge.  
2, Men are not bound to restore what they have received, or to satisfy their Creditors that are tainted with Heresy.  
3. By the Heresy of the Parent, a Child is freed from his Obedience; and Symancha gives us this instance, If a Priest returning into England finds his Father to be a Protestant, he may deny him to be his Father: meaning (saith he) that he is not such a one as he ought to acknowledge for his Father.  
4. Heriticks may not be termed, either Children, or Kindred, but according to the old Law, thy hand must be upon them, to spill their Blood.  
5. It is not Lawful for Christians to Tolerate an Heretical King: that is a Protestant, they may Expel him, Depose him, yea Murder him; and this they say is agreeable to the Apostolic Doctrine.  
6. It is Lawful for Catholic Princes to make League with Protestants, only for their own advantage; as for Example, to dispatch some business, which hinders them from falling on Protestants with all their Forces.  
By these and the like Positions which they maintain, we plainly see how they dissolve all Bands of humane Fellowship, and strangle the very Vitals of all Society; But amongst many, many more, there is one yet remaining, the most pestilential of all, to wit, that no Faith is to be kept with Heretics, and that all Protestants are Heretics, being condemned by the Pope and Council of Trent as such, and so are fallen from the Faith, and forfeit all privileges where keeping of Faith with them, might stead them or oblige others. I confess indeed I have seen a little Book written by one of them, who denieth this, affirming that Papists esteem themselves Obliged to keep Faith even with Insidels; but this is an ordinary Stratagem of theirs, to profess to abhor Jesuitical Tenets to lull us asleep, to get their Wickedness acted with less Suspicion. Amongst many Instances that might be given, I shall give one in Queen Elizabeth's time, so soon as the Pope perceived, that She intended in earnest, to shake off the Romish Yoke, and that all his slattery, and smooth dealing, could not reduce Her to his Obedience, (She refusing to permit his Nuncio to enter Her Kingdom) he falls to his old courses, and in the Year. 1569: Pope Pius the 5th. Excomunicates Her, Absolving all her Subjects from their Obedience; Cursing all that should any longer submit to Her, giving Her Kingdom, to his Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain, and sends over his Bull against into England, which some Seminary Priests there, admired, and Extolled, and Blasphemously asserted, that it was Indicted by the Holy Ghost; yet presently after they set out a Book on purpose, to lull the Queen and State asleep and to admonish the Papists of England, not to practise any mischief upon the Queen, because Catholics might use no other Arms but Prayers, Tears, Watching, and Fast against their Adversaries; And yet in the mean time, these very Men, never rested Plotting one Treason after another; and Watson with other Priests, who writ against this Book, were the desperate Propounders and Ringleaders, of that Treason against King James and Prince Henry, at his first coming into England, for which he with Clerk suffered the reward of Traitors; So that they are not to be believed, for they will say any thing, maintain any Assertion, that may tend to the advancement of their Cause.  
But for your farther satisfaction to prove the truth of this, and show you that their practice is suitable to this principle (let them asert what they will) who knows not that John Hus and Jerom of Prague, upon the Emperor's promise, and Letters of safe Conduct appeared before the Council of Constance; and yet notwithstanding, when they had them there, they Condemned them to the fire, and accordingly burnt them, which the Emperor highly resenting, the Council declared; He was not obliged to keep his promise to them: Because no Faith is to be kept with Heretics. In Queen mary's time in England, our own Chronicles tells us, the Suffolk men did aid, assist, and advance Her to the Crown; She swearing to them, that they should enjoy the Liberty of the Protestant Religion. But this Principle, That Faith is not to be kept with Heretics, made Her not only, to break Her promise, but also to Imprison some of them for minding Her o' it. How many fair promises did Katherine de Medicis Queen of France, and her Son Charles the 9th make to the Protestants? and yet this hellish Principle induced them, not only, to violate their promises, but also, (under the greatest pretence of Friendship) to Massacre them all at Paris Anno. 1572. Nor is this all; But let them swear never so solemnly, whether, for performance of Fidelity to their Prince, or of keeping Covenant, or bargain with their Neighbour, yet the Pope, (they hold) may dissolve that Oath, and free them from the obligation thereof; I shall give you but one instance to prove this: After the He●●●sh Treason of this Day King James appointed that all Papists should swear the Oath of Allegiance, but hear how the Paschenius in answer to the King's Monitory Epistle scoffed at it as Dr. Usher citeth him, in his Sermon before the House of Commons 1620, vide in tanta astutia quanta sit simplicitas; see, saith he, in so great craft, hue great simplicity doth bewray itself: When he had placed all his security in that Oath; he thought he had found such a manner of Oath, knit with so many circumstances. that it could not with safety of Conscience) by any means be dissolved by any man: but he could not see, that if the Pope dissolve that Oath, all the tiings of it whither of performing Fidelity to the King, or of admitting no dispensation, would be dissolved together, yea (says he) I will say another thing that is more admirable. You know that an unjust Oath if it be evidently known, or openly declared to be such, bindeth no man, but is void ipso facto; that the King's Oath is unjust, hath been sufficiently declared by the Pastor of the Church himself; ye see therefore that the obligation thereof is vanished in smoke, so that the bond which was thought by so many wise men, to be of Iron, is become less then of Straw: Hence we may see what Trust and Credit to give to their pretences to Loyalty, and their taking the Oath of Allegiance, for let them pretend never so much moderation, yet they acknowledge the Pope as Supreme in all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters, and profess obedience to him, before all the world in things of that nature, and when occasion serves, he can relieve them from all obligations of God, or Conscience, of Nature and Nations, so that when he is pleased, to enjoin either Treason or Rebellion, a Papist (being a Papist) must either cast off his Allegiance, or incur the Pope's Curse, and consequently (according to them) run on into certain Damnation.  
And to make them the surer, the Jesuits are obliged to inculcate their Principles of Treason, into their Profelites, and to stir them up, upon all occasions, to act it: As will be evident to any, who will but read the Rules of Ignatius Loyala the Father of the Jesuits; and how far do they extend their Vow of biind Obedience? even to the kill of Kings, and raising of Treasons and Rebellions, where ever they can have access? In order to which, their great work is to corrupt the Judgements of their followers, and Instruments of Assassination and Treason, with poisonous Positions, touching the nature of such Arts; and bribe their Consciences, with strong baits of Reward and Glory, proposed to all that will undertake such desperate Attempts, which is a strong incentive to them; for Men that are either sensible of Religion, or desirous of Glory, will easily be induced to any Attempts, which is pronounced, not only Lawful, but Noble and Meritorious too, especially if it be for the advancement of their Religion. And their Church-mens persuasions, are the more forcible, by reason of the great Influence they have over Papists of both Sexes, and the Power they exercise over their Consciences, and the esteem and honour they have among them, which makes them more apt to drink down any poisonous Principle that they infuse; and so under pretence of Religion, they at their pleasure, involve them in desperate Treason; for whether will they not lead them? by Advancing the Pope's Authority over all, inordine ad Spiritualia? and by telling them, that the Protestants, are a pack of Excommunicate and damnable Heretics, which all Catholics are to look upon as such, and aught to prosecute them, as the Pope shall Command, and Direct.  
It would be too redious, to show, how often, and with what arguments they have excited their Followers, to Treasons and Rebellion; for what Rewards have been promised to Traitors, if they do the deed, and what Glory of Martyrdom they purchase in Heaven, in case they miscarry, is better known, than I can declare, I shall only mind you of that Renowned and never to be forgotten, William-Prince of Orange, the Grandfather of Ours, (and the best of Kings) It pleased God to make use of Him (as his Grandson amongst us) to deliver the Netherlands from the Spanish Tyranny, and Popish Idolatry; For which the Popish Faction bearing him an implacable hatred, they instigate and stir up, one Joanvile to kill him, and for encouraging him in this devilish attempt, a Friar persuaded him, that he should go invisible, and to that purpose, gave him some Characters in Paper, and little Frogs bones and other conjurations, wherewith the desperate wretch being encouraged, he watched his opportunity, and shot the Prince through the throat; but through God's goodness, recovering of this wound, they never rested till they persuaded one Gerard to make a second attempt upon him, who shot him through the breast, so that he presently died.  
But we need not rove abroad, for Foreign instances, nor for practices, suitable to these Principles, need we go any farther, than the horrid Matchless, and Bloody Design of this Day, such a Mischievous thing as the present age may well admire, the future age will hardly belive, and no former age can parallel a Treason and Cruelty so matchless, as no name can fit it; a Plot so odious, a Tragedy so direful, a Wickedness so incomparable; nay such a piece of Devilishness itself in the abstract; that the actors (if it had been effected) would not have owned it, but as Nero, after he had set Rome on fire, fathered it on the Christians, so had they prepared a Proclamation, to cast it on the Puritans, under which title they would have revenged it, by the Massacre of all the Protestants in the Land, within their reach.  
I shall not long trouble you, with a particular Narrative of this dark Conspiracy, nor say much to the obscure manner of its discovery, which Bellarmin himself acknowledged not to have been without a Miracle; only those of you, that are yet ignorant of this contrivance, may know;  
That the Pope finding that the several Plots and Conspiracies, devised against Queen Elizabeth, being to no purpose, a little before the end of Her Reign, Pope Clement the Eighth issues two Bulls, one to the Catholic Nobility and Gentry of England, the other to Father Garnet Provincial of the Jesuits there, in which the Catholics in England. were commanded, that however the Right of Succession, did entitle any man to the Crown, yet if he were not a Catholic, that is a Papist, they should not own nor receive him, but with all their power, hinder his coming in.  
This Bull if not the Author, yet was the main encourager of Catesby, and more than probably of the rest to engage in the Powder Plot, the Hellish Treason of this Day, for he and others of them, having at first some scruples of the lawfulness of it; consult Father Carnet, and others of their Ghostly Fathers, who all pronounce it lawful, and full of merit, and encouraged them in it; and for their further satisiaction, Garnet offers to send to Rome, to know the Pope's express pleasure in the business, but Catesby saved him the trouble, by telling him he doubted not at all the Pope's mind, but that he who commanded our endeavours to hinder the Kings coming in, is willing enough we should throw him out; and if he might then lawfully be kept out, he may now as lawfully be thrust out: Pope Clement enjoined the former, therefore we may do the latter: And thus armed with poisonous Divinity, he and his followers resolve most desperately to go on in their wicked design, which (the better to effect) they sow up their lips, swear silence, and back that oath with the Sacrament, Catelines immanity and inhumanity now need be no wonder; he the better to strengthen his Conspiracy, and carry on his design, made his Soldiers pledge each other in a draught of man's blood, but these drink the blood of God, and (as they conceive materially, that they may strengthen their hands in their bloody design; Paul's Enemies vowed, neither to eat nor drink natural food, till they had slain him, these eat and drink sacramental food, to speed the slaughter of thousands, and among the rest, of him that was more than ten thousands of us.  
And in order to this, a considerable time before the sitting of the Parliament, they hired a Cellar adjoining to the Parliament house, and breaking through the wall of that, they digged a great Vault, and thereby undermined the house; in that Vault were laid 36 Barrels of Gunpowder, upon the Gunpowder, were laid great heaps of Billets, Faggots, huge Stones, Iron Crows, pickaxes, great Hammer heads, enough to blow up or tear in pieces (by relation) the strongest Fort in Christendom; and with these our adversaries, thought to have blown up England's strongest Fort of Religion and Justice, in the destruction of the King, Queen, Prince, Arch Bishops, Bishops, Nobles, Judges, and Commons, who were to have met (as on this Day) in the house of Parliament, and no sooner come and gathered there, but should have been blown up with Gunpowder, all of them to be as an Holocaust, a whole burnt offering unto the Moloch of Rome: Creation never saw any thing like it! and indeed they missed not much of their hopes; all things were in a readiness, the Match was lighted, and laid, and there wanted nothing, but the solemn Convention of all the States the next day, for them to give fire, and so destroy Head and Taile, Root and Branch, as the Prophet speaks, which had the Prince of Darkness, and these Hellish miners been able to have brought to pass the surviving persons thereabouts, had seen the dreadful Image, of that last and Terrible day, when the Son of man shall come in flaming fire to revenge on such wicked Conspirators, the contempt of his gospel. Then might they have heard louder Cries, Screeching, Howling, and Lamentations; then were the mournings of Hadadrimon in the valley of Megidda; Then likewise might they have heard (not Rachel mourning for her Children) but all the Children of England mourning for their Fathers, or the Chiefs of their Countries, by no means to be comforted, because they were not: Then should Sovereign Majesty, Ecclesiastical and Civil Authority, public Justice, and all the honour and Power of the Kingdom, been laid in the Dust, or Hover in the Air; Then should the Pope's Bulls, have been fixed on the Gates, of our chiefest Cities, to expose the Lives and Estates of all that had not the mark of the Beast on their forehead, to Spoil, Rapine, and Destruction. Good God what an horrid and dismal time of Confusion had that been, when they, who alone could have preserved Order in such a hurly burly, should have been all of a sudden, swept away themselves.  
But what was it, that could possibly have provoked them to such a devilish and bloody attempt? was it any hard usage, offered by the King or State; were they hurried to the fire, as in Queen Mary's days? or was there a new Inquisition, erected after the manner of Spain, with Racks, and Tortures to rectify them? no, so far from this, that they were tolerated to enjoy their Liberties and Possessions, graced with Titles of Honour, living securely under the protection of the King's Laws, without any the least violence offered to any of them, and yet all this, and more than this was too little to oblige them, when the good of the Catholic 'Cause came in competition; strange! that any thing that's called Religion, should be made a Cloak for such Bloody, Treacherous, and Atheistical Practices; and yet saith Faux, it was merely, and only for Religion, and he was bound in Conscience to do it, because the King was an Heretic; And so much for the first thing, they imagined a mischievous device.  
The second follows, but they are not able to perform, which in other words we have delivered thus.  
Let the wicked Design what they will, and Plot what they can; yet they shall not be able to accomplish their desire, or design; and to go no farther than ourselves; have not we ever since the Reformation found it so? have any of their wicked Projects, or Plots, which since that time have been continually forging, taken any expected success, have any of their Armadas, or Powder Plots, any of their Bulls, or Curses, any of their late and great endeavours attained the end they sought after? if God, (as one observes) hath always defeated their malicious designs. and shown by his Judgements on the Actors how much he detests such wicked practices, they might well gather, that their courses are not warrantable, or as some of them in indignation have blundred out, that the Judge of all the world is become a Lutheran.  
If we are (as the same Author expostulates) such damnable Heretics as they would make us, how comes it to pass that God so takes our part?  
Is it possible that their Doctrine, that is so Catholic, or those Catholics that are guided by an Infallible Head, should venture so far, and attain so little, profess such Infallibility and be so often deceived; sure if they were not given up to a spirit of delusion such palpable tokers of God's Judgements against their proceed, and such manifestations of his Mercy towards us, might breed at least a suspicion in them that something is a miss, and force them to a serious Examination to know where the cause lieth.  
They call much for a Judge of Controversies between them and us, but why take they not notice, how God hath time after time, shown himself a Righteous Judge pleading our cause, and preventing their Plots; but never more than in the preservation of our Religion and ourselves on this day, for never was Wickedness nearer being acted, nor more strangely discovered, nor effectually defeated, than this was, so that the Pit they have dug for others, they have fallen into themselves.  
How near this work of darkness was to have been brought to a fiery light, judge you, it was not according to Ionas Prophecy, forty days, nor four days, nor scarce so many hours one night betwixt; and but a part of that neither ere the Terrible blow had been given, and we destroyed; the hand of wickedness was ready to have done the work before it was known to be lifted up; the snare on our heels before it was discovered to be laid: we might well say had we known it, there was but a step between death and us, all things were so ready, and we so near being undone, that these wretched Conspirators applaud themselves in their pregnant hopes and believe all their own: The Letter said, God and man was agreed to punish the wickedness of the times, but stay man was agreed, God was not, blessed be his Name, he was at, but not of their Council, he who is a present refuge stepped in, trapping them in their own snare, and discovered his Justice, in detecting their Malice; and indeed none but he could do it, not man but the Devil devised it, not man, but God defeated it, so that in this if in any thing the Lord was known as a just Judge Do but trace the several steps of the discovery and you will plainly see it was not, it could not be any other but God himself that snared them in their work; and so brought it about by his wonderful providence, that he makes these very Traitors to be the betrayers of themselves.  
For the discovery was made but the night before, by the delivery of a monitory Letter written in an obscure stile, and given by a Lackey (crossing the street) to the Lord Monteagle, son and Heir to the Lord Morley, wherein he is desired to Retire into the Country, where he might expect the event with safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow in this Parliament, and the danger is passed so soon as you have burnt the Letter; which Letter my Lord Salisbury (who first carried it to the King) concluded to be an Idle Paper, designed only to amuse the Lord to whom it was written, or to make him the subject of some mirth, if upon it he should absent himself from the Parliament, the Principal words were, the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the Letter; this might seem a slight danger indeed, and not worth the warning, if it had not been merely to amuse one, but the King on the contrary from this very sentence, devin'd the whole Truth of the matter, interpreting it thus: That the danger or blow intended to the Parliament, should be past as soon, or as quickly, and in as short a time as that Paper should be blazing in the fire: So concluding it to be something of Powder, the Rooms under the Parliament were searched, and the whole Villainy discovered and prevented, and that by as signal a Providence as is to be found in the Records of any Nation, and which is such a mark of the Divine favour to us, and to our Church and Religion as can never be too much praised and admired by us, in our Annual Thanksgivings.  
Now I beseech you consider, what was it that extorted the means of revealing this from his Pen, whose Tongue had sworn Concealments, that made him who was Plotting the ruin of many, to consult for the preservation of one? not any innate pity in the Traitor, but the overruling Sovereignty of God.  
What was it that inclined the heart of that noble Lord, who affected their Religion, to communicate the Letter (which detected the Treason) to the King? not Popery, or carnal policy, but the all disposing Providence of God: What was it that inspired (I can call it no less) the breast of that Royal King, otherwise free from Jealousy, as a badge of Tyranny to suspect the danger, and by a violent unnatural construction of a phrase to find out the violent unnatural destruction that was hatching? not so much his own prudence (though otherwise great) but the wisdom of the Almighty; What was it that infatuated the Traitors who while the Plot was but suspected, had opportunity to escape that they should try the utmost, and afterwards sharpened the edge of all men's spirits against them, to kill some and surprise the rest, even before a Proclamation could overtake them, but that just severity of God: So that all the attributes of God were concentred and met together in this days deliverance, and therefore not unto us, not unto us O Lord, but to thy name, be the glory of this and all our deliverances. for it is of the Lords Mercies that we were not consumed: because his compassions failed not: Lam. 3. 22. For if the Lord had not been in our side may we now well say, if the Lord had not been in our side, when men risen up against us, the had blewn us up quick, when their wrath and their match was kindled against us. Psal. 124, 1, 2, 3,  
O let the Lords Mercy, and their Cruelty never be forgotten.  
The Israelites had their Pascha, and Purim holiday, set apart for the acknowledgement of their grand deliverance from Pharaoh, and Hamon's Treason; so let this days solemnity be continued with everlasting thankfulness, for the miraculous discovery of the Powder Plot; let the People learn from our Pulpits, and our Children understand in our streets, the barbarousness of this design, the profession of the Actors, the danger that would have fallen on their innocent heads, if the Lord in judgement to the contrivers, and in mercy to us, had not prevented it, and ensnared the wicked in the work of their own hands; and let us return all possible Praise and Thanksgiving, to him who on this day mercifully declared himself both the Protector of Zion, and a Detector of her Enemies. Who should we praise if not God? and for what, if not for this? I may use St. Augustine's words quisquis non videt caecus est, quisquis videt et non gaudet ingratus est, whosoever beholds not both the mercy and severity of God in this, is grossly blind; whosoever beholds and rejoiceth not is ingratefully dumb.  
O happy fifth of November! wherein our Sun had been turned into blood, wherein our name had been changed into Ichabod, wherein had been set up again the abomination of desolation, but God for his own name sake hath turned it into a glorious day, a Day of Joy and Gladness to all true hearted Protestants  
Had this Monster which was come to the birth been brought forth, England's Funeral had been with them a new Festival; how had this Fact been extolled at Rome, and Registered in the Pope's Calendar, as one of the most glorious exploits that ever was attempted? How should we then instead of this pure worship, these blessed opportunities we now enjoy, either have been plunged into gross Superstition, as adoring Images, turning over Beads, mumbling to Saints, wand'ring in Pilgrimages, or else have been dragged to the Rack or Stake, the proper Engines of that Romish Cruelty.  
But that God who still brings to light, the hidden things of darkness, and who hath from time to time delivered us from all the Malicious, Merciless, and Restless attempts of our Adversaries, hath likewise blasted this bloody design, so, that though they imagined a mischievous device, yet they were not able to perform.  
To conclude all: Let us beware of that Church, whose Principles and Practices are such as you have now heard, and from whose growing and cruel Usurpations, we have been so lately and providentially delivered.  
What shall we say, or what can we do to manifest our gratitude to him, who next (under God) was the Author of our deliverance; who so generously exposed himself to preserve us; and not only to him but to his Royal Consort, our gracious Queen, to whom we are originally beholding for our miraculous escape from an inundation of Slavery and Popery, but under the auspicious conduct of a Sovereign truly meriting the Noble and Ancient Title, of King of men, and Shepherd of the People, and the yet more dignified addition, of Defender of the Faith, and (which is beyond that) amongst us the restorer of it too: For had it not been for them, I verily believe that neither we, nor possibly this place, especially in this decorum and lustre, had been standing here this day.  
That Zion's stones had been pitied, and any have favoured the dust thereof, so that she did not sink into eternal, and irrecove rabble Ruins. Psal: 102. 14.  
That our Church is not sitting solitary like that Widow in the Lamentations, bemoaning her miseries, and begging pity of Passengers. Is it nothing to you all you that pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger. Lam: 1. 12.  
That we have no leading into Captivity, no complaining in our Streets, but our eyes see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a Tabernacle that shall not be taken down.  
That the Designs, and Contrivances of unreasonable men are discovered; their Purposes disappointed, and their Arm broken.  
That our Necks are not under persecution, and we labouring without rest, Servants ruling over us, while there is none to deliver us out of their hands. Lam: Changed 5. 5. 8.  
In a word, that we are not incomparably wretched, as miserable as error and wickedness, as malice, or a misguided Zeal can make us, is soelly and wholly (next under God, by and from them: To whom likewise (next under him,) we own not only our Estates, our Quiet, our Plenty, our Liberty, but our very lives, I could not forbear enlarging upon this? but that I must not anticipate the day 
* being the 16th of this month appointed, a Day of Solemn Thanksgiving for our deliverance  which is at hand, and purposely designed for it: But while then, and always let us admire them, as the generous Redeemers of the true Reformed Religion, as the truly indulging Father and Mother of our Church and Country, and respect them as the Israelites did David, the light of our Israel, and as they did Josiah the breath of our Nostrils, the serious acknowledgement whereof, will not suffer us to be wanting in all submissive obedience to them; whom God long continue over us, and let all that love the Peace, and happiness of Church or State say Amen, Amen.  
FINIS.