THE CHARACTER OF A REBEL.  
A SERMON Preached at Market Harborow, On the 26th of July, 1685.  
Being the day of Thanksgiving Appointed for His Majesty's Victory over the REBELS.  
By THOMAS HEYRICKE, Minister of Market Harborow.  
LONDON: Printed for Samuel Heyricke at Grayes-Inn-gate in Holborn. 1685.   

Ex AEdibus Lambeth. Aug. 22. 1685.  
Imprimatur.  
Jo. Battely R. R. P. Dom. Guil. Archiep. Cantaur. à sacris Domesticis.   

To the Right Honourable EDWARD GRIFFIN, Esq Treasurer of the great Chamber, and Lieutenant Colonel of his Majesty's first Troop of Guards.  
Honourable Sir,  
THere is no inducement in the World could have possibly raised my Ambition so high, as to shelter so mean a Piece under so great a Name, but that I was well assured, the scope and intent of this Discourse, Honesty and Loyalty, would be acceptable; those Gems being always justly valued by you, in whatever rugged Shells they are found. Loyalty is that which you have always kept near your Heart, the mark not only of yourself, but of your Family for many Generations, that Vestal Fire which hath never gone out, but hath cherished an inextinguishable zeal for your King and Country.  
Blessed be God for Victory! we live now in a time when Loyalty is in fashion, it swims quietly down the Stream without any opposition, and every one will venture out to Sea in Halcyon days. But you showed undeniable proof of yours in the greatest Storms of Rage and Fury. Loyalty indeed is a Jewel in all times and persons; 'tis the spirit and life of all Virtues, without which they become hurtful to the owners and the Public; but in ill times it is truly valuable, 'tis then a Diamond that shines best in the dark.  
Such a true ancient uninteressed Loyalty is that which fills your breast, not grounded upon Design and Advantage, but too generous to be warped to Interest; such a Loyalty as stuck close to the side of an injured Prince, stemmed the Tide of popular Fury, scorned the Menaces of the Vulgar, and the feavourish Heat of a misled Parliament, that was undaunted at the madness of the People, and the rage of the Sea; and when that merciless Element threatened to devour that Prince, that had been, and was to be the Darling of Providence, a sacred blessing for our happy Land, was seen touched with no fear but that of your Prince's safety. Such a Loyalty as in a dangerous Intestine Rebellion spared not, for your King and Countries good; an only Son, the sole remaining Branch of a Great and Ancient Family, but exposed his tender years to hardship and danger, and the fury of the worst of men, even those that were below contempt. Such a Loyalty as was not lately took up, as that of others, and aukwardly managed, but was descended from a long series of Ancestors, was elevated and purified by their successive practices, and in you sublimed to the highest pitch; so that what in others is Passion or Interest, in you is your very Essence. And that Loyalty in you might not seem a thing of chance, it is become the Genius of your house, your honourable Lady & hopeful Son have a magnificent proportion. The former, though a tender and indulgent Mother, yet, when the good of her King and Country required it, forgot even Nature, laid aside Affection, and with a generosity and greatness of mind worthy her Illustrious Name & Family with a magnanimity beyond her Sex, not only consented to, but encouraged an only Son to War; a deed beyond the spirit of a Spartan Matron so much renowned in History.  
Nor did the son of two such Parents frustrate the expectation that was justly had of him, but, preferring the duty he owed his King and Country to all other considerations, with a willing and cheerful Loyalty, & a Courage superior to his Age, he took upon him the toil and labour of the Camp, his Country's good being above all other invitations, more attractive than the splendour and glory of the Court, even than the charms of a young beautiful and beloved Bride; he not allowing himself that Privilege which God indulged the Jews, when married, one Year to abstain from Warfare to live with the Wife of their Youth. Such great acts in the early Spring of Age give an hopeful prospect of what the growing Harvest will be. In each there is matter of surprise and wonder, something above Example that enforces Respect and Honour: so that where such a Constellation of Loyal Virtues meet, Loyalty cannot fear to obtain a Patron, which will be looked on as the greatest honour could possibly be conferred on,  
Honourable Sir, Your most Humble Faithful and Obliged Servant, THO. HEYRICK.   
2 SAM. 15. 11. And with Absalon went two hundred men out of jerusalem that were called, and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing. 
IF we consider the unparallelled deeds of Darkness lately committed in this our Land, we shall have little reason to believe with some of the ancient Heretics, that Sin is by imitation; or in a strict sense to hold even with Solomon, that there is nothing new under the Sun. In deeds of Villainy our Age hath scorned to tread in a beaten path; to go by Precedents and Examples, but can defy the deeds of former Ages, and the invention must be ascribed wholly to themselves. Yet however we cannot deny but as there is a circulation of Times and Seasons, Days and Years, and a periodical motion of Heaven and Earth; so without supposing a Metempsuchosis, there is of humours and tempers of men, and of actions good or bad flowing from them. And though the Histories of former times to a prudent man are a good guide to wisdom, though we are learned from holy Scripture, 1 Cor. 10. 11. that what things happened to others are for our ensamples, and are written for our admonition; the good actions and their Rewards enroled for our Imitation; the evil and their punishment for our Terror. Yet have we some in our times that seem to have been conversant with the Sacred Scripture only to learn how to be conscientiously wicked, and to sin by Pattern, that weed out the worst deeds of men there mentioned to be a Scheme for their practice, and considering the ill use they make of it, (to be tightly and exactly wicked) we have reason to believe it had been well for them had they never seen that holy Book. A pregnant instance of which is the unnatural Rebellion mentioned in this and the subsequent Chapters, and its exact agreement with our times, it seeming to be an History of our days under borrowed names. Yet however I shall not be tempted to draw up the Parallel (it having been done learnedly and Ingeniously by other hands) but some things there are of so great note, and passed by by others, that I cannot pass them without a remark.  
First, That it is the deadly policy of Rebels to revile the Government, and tax the Justice of a Nation. This was Absoloms' practice, 2 Sam. 15. 3. to the people coming for Justice; See thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee. And then presently subjoins what Justice he would do if he was King. There is nothing more conduces to the grandeur and honour of a Prince, and the safety and peace of a People: Nothing more engages Subjects to Allegiance and love to a Prince than the due execution of Justice, it being the Basis upon which the happiness of both is founded; and we in this Land have reason to bless God, that not only from the Constitution of our Government, but from the Temper of our Prince, (a King of Justice, Integrity, and Faithfulness) we are almost the only Nation in the world where Justice and Equity are impartially dispensed, and no man's Right, either by Fear, Flattery, or Bribes, given away. So that if we be not happy, 'tis not the fault of the Government, but of ourselves, since there is nothing doth make a Land more fruitful in Blessings, and aught to make a People more pure from Pollution and Defilement, than when they are watered with the true Dew of Heaven, Justice: When judgement runs down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, Amos 5. 24.  
Yet have we those in our Israel as well as David had in his, that to carry on their mischievous practices, vent all the Scandals that it is possible for venomous Wit and Malice, for men possessed with the Devil (who hath his name (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) from Defamation) to invent, or Tongues set on fire of Hell to vomit out against the Government, we for one Shimei in David's time having a thousand. What viperous Pamphlets have they spread? What poisoned Invectives? things that seem beyond the invention or malice of men, have much of the Fiend in them, and can be nothing but the venom of that old Serpent, by their falsehood showing their Original from him who was a Liar from the beginning. And it is strange to consider after so many visible Mercies of God to our King and Religion, and so many Judgements on Rebellion, with what a brazen Forehead they yet continue their unparallelled Forgeries, which yet visibly shows the weakness of their cause; for as that which is founded on Truth (which is eternal and never altars) is built on an immovable Rock which nothing can shake: So that which is grounded upon falsehood which hath no real existence but in men's imagination, and continually changes, must needs of itself come to ruin.  
So that though nothing of truth can possibly be gathered from their Reports, they being all but the effects of Malice, Discontent, and the spirit of Lying; yet this we may learn, that since the defaming of Government is one chief Artifice of a Rebel, commonly forerunning Sedition, since those are but the flying Troops that scour the way for the gross body of Rebellion that follows, we ought to be very careful of those that invent or spread, or with delight and joy listen to those pestilent reports; they are hidden Rebels, and want only means or opportunity, not will: There is Fire though covered with Ashes, and how dreadful one spark may prove when it hath matter to work upon every one can judge; and what care those that are in Authority should take to suppress them, the meanest capacity can understand.  
Secondly, Rebellion is usually carried on with a pretence of Religion, 'tis in itself ugly and detestable, a fearful, hideous, and deformed Monster, and therefore clothes itself in the venerable and Sacred garb of Religion. Thus Absalon, when he had laid the Scheme of his unnatural Rebellion, and every Agent and Instrument was ready, that he might have a fair pretence to leave the Court, he speaks to his Father in the 7th verse of this Chapter, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow which I vowed to the Lord in Hebron. Surely there is no evil act the Devil can put a man on more irreligious or unnatural than Rebellion, more against the Law of Nature, of God, and of Man, and so needs all possible Artifice.  
That it is irreligious we shall easily assent to, if we consider the manifold dehortations in Scripture from it; the character that gives of it, to be as the sin of Witchcraft, and by Moses Law a Witch was not suffered to live, Exod. 22. 18. and that sin which is enmity toward God, is called by that odious name. If we consider the many positive Commands both in the Old and New Testaments, to Obedience, Subjection, and Loyalty, the Principles and Practices of the Primitive Christians, and the Doctrine of the Church of England, which allows of no pretence for Rebellion, and will not that any Interest, Provocation or Oppression, should cancel that eternal Obligation and Bond of Loyalty.  
That Rebellion is no less unnatural than irreligious every one may know, that considers that the whole Nation in a Politic capacity is but one Body, and that Rebellion is an unnatural War between the Members and the Head and that it is the proper action of an Epileptic or raging madman with his own hands to wound, tear, and beat himself: not to recount that the King is the Father of the Country, and Rebelling against him is not only casting off our Allegiance, but of that natural Duty and Affection we own him. And if, according to the Law of Moses, a stubborn Son that would not obey the voice of his Father and Mother was to be stoned by the Congregation, Deut. 21. 18, 21. what can these unnatural Rebels deserve. Rebellion therefore being thus justly odious, (to omit many other aggravating Circumstances) an Enemy to Religion and Reason, to Piety and Policy, the Laws of God and Men. It is no wonder if the mischievous policy of Rebels cloth it in a good garb to make it acceptable: to take away the irreligion they pretend Religion, and upon an odious thing they put a good name; and the unnaturalness of it they mollify and sweeten with the delightful sounds of Liberty and Property, and so carry their Proselytes away with noises, shapes and shadows for realities, shows and Pageants for substantial Blessings; the reason and consideration of the Rabble being not in their Brain, but in their Eyes and Ears.  
Thirdly, All the Nobility and chief of the Land were with David, v. 18. And all his servants passed on before him, and all the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and the Gittites, all the Nobility and men of Military order. And to make it the more remarkable, it is said, they were those that came with him from Gath, the true old Royalists; they were his Companions in banishment, they were after-sharers of his Prosperity, and now again the faithful Attendants of his Adversity; which doth show that true Loyalty is no sudden fit of Passion, took up for Interest, Gain, Honour or Glory, but an eternal Principle, an inherent Virtue, engraven deeply in the Soul, writ like the Laws of the Medes and Persians; not to be softened or melted by Prosperity, nor broken by Adversity, yielding to neither extremes, but scorning the flattery of one, and fury of the other.  
As for Absalon, his company consisted of the meanest of the people; those that he had sordidly cringed and bowed into submission, had kissed out of their Loyalty, and had breathed into them Rebellion; those whom he had flattered out of that inestimable Jewel, their Honesty and Conscience, and deluded with warm hopes of glorious times when he came to reign; men they were of low rank, little fortune, and less sense, neither capable of the impressions of Honour or Reason, Religion or Honesty; for among all that disorderly band we read of no man of note but Amasa a relation of Ioab's, whom Absalon made Captain of the Host, 2 Sam. 17. 25. This seems so true a draught of our Rebellion, that nothing can possibly be more like; ours being an Insurrection of the Peasants, of the Dregs and Lees of the People against the King and Parliament, the Nobility, Gentry, and Clergy: Not unlike the Bellum Servile among the Ancients, and 'tis not improbable it might have been as happily ended as that, had the same methods been used, to have encountered them not with Swords, but with Whips.  
Fourthly, All the Priests and Levites were with David, v. 24. And lo Zadock also and all the Levites were with him bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God. That a rude disorderly multitude should rise against David, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the Gittites, and all the men of might, was a thing that sufficiently showed their madness and the mist that Ambition casts before men's eyes; but that they went without God, not one Priest or Levite with them, without, nay against the Ark of the Covenant of God, evidently shows their Impiety. To the Priests was entrusted the Oracles of the living God, and the Priests Lips preserve knowledge; and it was that Religion, of which they were professors, that taught them, as it doth us, Loyalty and Fidelity to our Prince. From whence we may gather, that the truest and most unalterable Loyalty is that which flows from Religion, and is grounded on the Commands of God, God having fixed the Thrones of Princes upon the same Basis that he hath his own; Fear God, and Honour the King going hand in hand. Hence also we learn, that no Religion, or pretence of it, can patronise Rebellion, since it is absolutely contrary to it: and that that Religion that upon any pretence whatsoever doth allow Rebellion, is false, and the tenet damnable.  
In which we may see the Primitive Piety, and Apostolical Truth of the Church of England, which hath stood unshaken in its Loyalty among all the storms of Fury, and Paroxisms of Madness which have seized our Nation; for neither the rage of the Heathen, nor madness of the people that imagined a vain thing; not the fears and rumours of Innovations in Religion, dressed up with all the amazing circumstances of horror; not secret undermine and open Batteries; not the force of threatening, nor power of persuasion; nor all other stratagems of rebellious Minds could ever draw off one true Son of the Church from his Allegiance and Loyalty. Loyalty being the badge of the Church and Clergy of England; and there being no truer Shibboleth to distinguish her true Sons from those that are spurious and pretended ones; they, obeying not for wrath, but for Conscience sake. Not for fear of the Laws, but the fear of God. An eternal Obligation, which will last, when all the low designs of Interest and advantage, of fear and dread (which vanish with their causes) will perish and die. And this brings me to consider the particulars in my Text.  
And there went with Absalon, etc.  
I shall not speak of the ingratitude of Absalon, or tenderness of David; or of jerusalem from whence, or Hebron whither Absalon went; or show how near the Two hundred men that went with Absalon come to the number of those with which our Absalon invaded this flourishing Kingdom. In the words I shall consider,  
1. That Rebels use many ways, insinuations and arts to draw men from their Allegiance: They were called, enticed.  
2. Men may be drawn by insensible degrees into Rebellion, and never perceive it or intent it; They went in their simplicity.  
3. That Rebels never lay open their villainous intents to common view, but with great care and art hid them, covering them over with pleasing pretences; They knew not any thing.  
4. Therefore it is every one's duty to be very careful how they are blindly led into wickedness.  
First, Rebels use many ways and allurements to entice men from their Loyalty to join with them in Rebellion. Divines tell us, there is not one humour in the body which is predominant, not one faculty of the Soul, or inclination of the Mind which is strong, or custom that is inveterate; not one part of our Soul which is weak, or Conscience which is feared, to which the Devil doth not lay continual siege, by temptations made up with exquisite art, adapted and fitted to betray, and all levelled to the reach and capacity of the sinner. And as Rebellion had its original from the Devil, so the Rebel hath not only his Ambition, Pride, and Malice from him, but his Diligence too, going about like a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour: There being not any corruption in Manners, or Heresy in Religion; no Disease in State, or Corruption in the Church; no Interest, Humour, Passion, Discontent, Malice or Rage, which he doth not make, ferment again, and add new Poison to it.  
To the fearful he applies rumours, jealousies, Armies in the air, Barrels of Daggers, and Instruments of cruelty, till he hath turned their fear to desperation: The Conscientious or seemingly so, he buzzes with Visions, Apparitions, Prophecies, and alteration of Religion: The Covetous he debauches with promises of Wealth: The ambitious, of Honour; The revengeful, of Blood and Proscriptions; and considering how many profligate wretches that have no sense of God, were among them, we have reason to suspect they were drawn in, as the young Nobility of Rome were by Catiline, by making Stews of his House: The Moon hath not more various faces than a Rebel, nor the first Matter more capable of receiving any form; he can in one moment be an Angel of Light and of Darkness; now be in Blood and Slaughter, and soon in Revels and Jollity; true to nothing but Villainy, attempting every thing but Honesty, and can put on any thing but Sincerity.  
But as to men of various tempers, various temptations must be laid, so the Rabble, of which most Rebellions consists, lies liable to all, the Rich being above Bribes, the Wise above Shapes, the Generous above Flattery, the Courageous above Fear, but the common Rout subject to them all. For, whether it be their want of Judgement which makes them headlong and furious, or whether their natural envy to Greatness & Excellency, of which they have no notion; or their credulity and easiness to believe and spread false Reports, and smother the true, willingly conducing to betray themselves; or whether it be a natural desire of Novelty and Change; or that they desire stirs, having nothing to lose, and hoping to gain, their mean Souls preferring a little private gain to a Kingdom's safety; or that they are fit to mutiny and rebel, but not to fight; (and miserable are those that rely on them) which one of these, or whether all conduce to make them so restless, is not now to be decided: This is sure, Blow but up a Trumpet, and say, Absolom reigns in Hebron, and all the Sons of Belial will presently be with him.  
Secondly, Men may be drawn insensibly into evil courses, and at last into Rebellion, if they set not a Guard upon themselves. The progress in sin is unaccountable, the motion invisible, and the Chains by which habits fasten on us are never to be explained. The tract and path of Nature in many of its motions is very hard to follow, but none so mysterious as our course in sin. We grow up from Infancy to Youth, from Youth to Manhood by insensible degrees, nor can we by all our watching perceive when any one Limb increases, or any one Member swells bigger: The Sun keeps his daily and yearly course, yet cannot the most piercing eye with all possible watchfulness discern any one step that it takes, or how it steals on its unwearied course from East to West. Yet though we cannot perceive the manner how we grow, or the Sun doth move, yet we perceive the matter of fact, that we do grow, and that the Sun doth move. But in our course of sin there is even an ignorance of the fact; we not only know not by what degrees we degenerate, but we are not sensible we do so. Though we grow from good to bad, and from bad to worse, we perceive not the change, but think ourselves as good as ever; sin having that faculty, that as it conquers it stupifies, and as it is a contradicton to reason and sense, so it takes them away; yet if God in his Mercy or Grace makes a man look back in his course in sin, his going will seem like a man's descending a pleasant Hill, who when he turns back is amazed to see how low he is got before he perceive it. Many men are affrighted and tremble at the very thought of those sins which in a little time become familiar, and lose all their dread; and as the Fox in the Fable is said at first sight of the Lion to be almost dead, at the next to abate of his fear, and after to grow so impudent to take him by the Beard; so men by seeing sin acted often, or often ruminating on it, grow reconciled to it; from a great sin it becomes a small one, from a small one to be none; and so not only to be acted, and that with delight, but to be vindicated, nay even gloried in as a perfection: but above all, very remarkable is the progress of men in Sedition and Rebellion. How many men (not to name other ways and means) though the name of it is odious to them, have been drawn into Rebellion by a spice of ill Nature, or an itching Ear; for most men being naturally more delighted with the defamation than the praise of another, (Praise being a tacit reprehension of themselves that merit not so much) and there being too many ready to gratify them in it, among diversity of discourse the Government cannot scape free, and those in Authority have their share: So that some things being heard for Mirth and Laughter, others with cruel delight in hatred to the person, others with enmity to Dignity and Power, they insensibly are infected, they are poisoned even with what they hate, staggered even with what they do not believe, till by continual reiteration, like so many several Batteries, their Principles of Loyalty at last sink; they begin to suspect and doubt, then to whisper their fears, and continually pushed on, (man's depraved nature being always ready to aggravate) they become Mutinous, Seditious, and at last Rebellious.  
The best way therefore to prevent this Evil, is to be very cautious what converse we keep. There will something stick behind according to our society; for as a man grows insensibly wicked (though naturally inclined to good) that herds with evil men, so he will suck in principles of Loyalty, Worth, and Integrity by conversing with Loyal persons: he will rectify his Mistakes, improve his Judgement, and fortify his good Sentiments and Resolutions by Example and Encouragement.  
Thirdly, Rebels never lay open their villainous intents to common sight, but carry on their Proselytes with specious pretences. I am apt to believe no one takes off the Vizard from Rebellion and shows her naked to open view; it would be an astonishing spectacle, and few would strive to be in the embraces of the Monster. Few faithfully tell them the Murders, Robberies, Sacrileges, Rapes, Proscriptions, and innumerable mischiefs of an unnatural Rebellion: few lay before their eyes the mangled dismembered Bodies of those Thousands that were blindly led to death, the Son triumphing in the death of his Father, and the Father of the Son: few sound in their ears the cries and groans of the Fatherless and Widow made so by that unnatural War: few draw a Scheme of a flourishing Kingdom in desolation, of Cities in ashes, and of Religion bleeding to death wounded by her regardless Children. These things and many more, though they are the natural effects of an unnatural War, they artificially conceal and bear up the Spirits and Courages of their followers with dreams of honour, riches and pleasure, and such airy notions. The Devil never told Eve if she eat of the forbidden Tree, she should forfeit Paradise, and entail upon herself and miserable Offspring misery and death not to be reversed, but pleased her with ravishing expectations of being as God and knowing good and evil; it being one of the chief pieces of Policy of the Devil and the Rebel to cover the danger, to blind men from seeing the Precipice, and strew the Pitfal with Flowers and Delights. And this brings me to the fourth thing, which is the care we all of us should take lest we be led in our simplicity to sin and wickedness: In order to which give me leave to lay down these particulars.  
First, Let us beware how we listen to ill counsel, especially such as tends to Sedition and Rebellion. There is a venomous quality in some men's Discourse, and some have Adders Poison under their Lips; nor is there any Sense that more or sooner affects the Brain than Hearing, there being a nearer way of Communication by that Organ than any other. Objects may much affect our Fancy or Imagination by the eye, the touch, and other Senses; but there is nothing so effectual to stir us up to good or bad actions as pointed and stabbing Sentences that strike deep, and enter even into the inward Soul: the enchanted Songs of the Sirens being as fatal as the Cups of Circe; the wondrous effects of Eloquence have been well known to the elder Ages of the world. When an Orator hath stirred up the people to rage, as a Tempest doth the Sea, and presently made them smooth as glass again; the power of it is unaccountable, and able to shake the foundations of a State. As therefore the power of words is so great in good things, (for Faith comes by hearing) so it is proportionably bad in evil things, and most pernicious and fatal in Seditions. If any one's discourse therefore tends to Sedition or Faction; let us stop our ears to it, and be as wise as the deaf Adder charm he never so plausibly: If we would be safe let us fly; that City seldom holds out long that admits of a Parley; have no communication, there is deadly Poison near, and whatever the pretence is, there is death in the Pot. The Basilisk kills by the sight, many Poisons by the taste and touch, but this by the Ear; 'tis a venomous air, which when once entered into the Brain, it breeds Serpents and Scorpions, till after much pain (as Jupiter was) they are delivered of an armed Pallas.  
I wish there were not too many in our days that have been industrious to mix and give this Cup of Enchantment and deadly draught of Sedition. We read that many of the ancient Heretics were men of deep Learning, and of exemplary Life and Sobriety, and spoke upon many points well and Orthodoxly, but still they were infusing their pestilent Opinions when ever the Subject would bear it. I wish the Nonconformist Preachers of our times were more guilty of their Learning and Piety, and not so much of venting their pernicious Principles, dangerous to Church and State; and I hope now their unreasonable cry of Persecution will cease, (their Conventicles being forbid as Seditious) since the Egg is visibly broke out into a Scorpion. These give Poison in a draught of pleasure; they infuse Principles which naturally tend to Sedition yet conceal the Name; these lay the Train, kindle the Match which they know will take and blow up the State, and yet all the while plead Ignorance; they wind up the Spring, set the time when the Alarm of Rebellion shall beat, and yet all the while cry Innocence. And since there is so much mischief in ill Converse, in the Name of God I charge all Dissenters from the Church, all deluded and bewildered Souls, all that have been drawn away, if not to act or abet Rebellion, yet to wish well to the Cause; if they have any love for their Native Soil, any value for the Protestant Religion, (so much scandalised by their evil Practices) or any care of their own Souls, that whenever hereafter they shall hear any discourse that tends to Sedition, that they would start back as if they had trod upon a Serpent; for be they well assured, who ever they be, whatever the pretence is, they are joabs', though they proffer to embrace they will smite under the fifth Rib and kill; they have a real design against their peace and quiet, their Religion and Honesty. And since in the old Law, Deut. 13. whoever enticed to Idolatry though the nearest Relation, though thy brother the son of thy mother, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend which is as thy own Soul, entice thee to serve other Gods, thou shalt not spare him, etc. Surely then Rebellion breaks all ties of Nature, Love, and Friendship; forfeits all Privileges, nor ought we to spare him that would draw us from our God and King, our Religion and Loyalty.  
Secondly, Consider how dangerous it is to follow the unlawful ambition of Rebellious spirits; a vice not only fatal to all those that are infected with it, but all those that depend upon them, it being a precipitous slippery path which few pass safe, the dangers of which would deter any one whose Eyes were not fixed above, and dazzled with the rays of Honour, and the ruins of those that have fallen down the Precipice, affright any one that could look so low; but much more fatal is it to those that are led in that fearful passage by their inconsiderate guides: Caesar will be great, but it must be at the expense of a Million of Gauls; and to satisfy the thirst of one restless Alexander, Rivers of Blood must be shed, and the peace and quiet of the whole world disturbed.  
Sure the eyes of common people will at last be open and see that it is not them, but their Ambition, that rebellious Spirits court; that they scorn and despise them only for their ends, they being only Tools with which they work: So that if Absalon kiss them, 'tis judas-like to betray them: if he bow to them 'tis on their Necks to tread and ascend; and if he smile, 'tis for contempt, not Love. If they could consider they would know 'tis folly to believe, that that man that for his Ambition tramples on all the bonds of Nature, the obligation of Allegiance, and ties of Religion, that throws away all Honour and Honesty, and comes with cruel Arms to tear open the Bosom of his Mother, and disturb the settled peace of his native Soil, can ever be true to them or have any real love for those whom he in his secret thoughts doth scorn and despise. And how miserable are those that for his cause sell their Religion, Allegiance, and Faith for an inconsiderable reward. And how dreadful must their state be that die in actual Rebellion against their lawful Prince (a sin of a deep dye) without possible Repentance. And let us make this use of it, henceforth to shun the Stratagems of ambitious Rebels, and know when any one courts the Rabble and bows down to the common people (since there is no worth in them to merit love) that Interest is intended, and that Snares and Traps, Plots and Treachery is laid against our Religion or Liberty: When any one visibly designs Popularity (the worst itch of greatness) beware an Absalon is there. A wise Italian will draw his Sword at that man that shows him more than ordinary kindness without a visible cause.  
Thirdly, Consider how dangerous it is to go against the Laws of the Land on what pretence soever. Laws in general are the preservation of the world: the Laws of God are our guides in Religion, those of the Land in Society; and take away these, all divine Worship, all Morality, all Civility and Society fall to the ground, confusion and destruction cover all, and a wide door is open to all manner of mischief. If once we take the liberty to break the Laws of the Land, which are the Sinews of a Kingdom, the same pride or obstinacy, conceit or wilfulness that runs us upon that will not stay there, nor keep us within the bounds of Religion; let us therefore not allow ourselves in the least, particular to wander from our duty; a little error in our first setting out proves a great mistake in the end, many mischiefs proceeding from despicable causes; one little breach in a Sea-bank being enough to drown a Country. It is scarce credible in two Lines drawn from the same Centre, how the distance between them increases the farther they go, and were they drawn out to infinity they would still be wider.  
Fourthly, Let us take heed how we be induced to sin upon any design or pretence, or for any reward; the world hath been too long imposed upon, and made to believe that some unlawful things at some times may lawfully be done; and that even Rebellion in some cases is meritorious; and this men were chief persuaded to by having a good name put upon an odious thing, (evil men being glad of any pretence to sin) thus fight against the King was fight the Lords Battles. Plundering the Royalists was spoiling the Egyptians: Sequestering men's Estates, was doing themselves Justice, they being Saints and the Earth belonging to them, and many other such abominable Tenets. But surely if sin be of that virulent and poisonous nature that nothing could atone for it but the Blood of Christ, not Rivers of Oil, or thousands of Bullocks or Rams could qualify it; surely no design can hollow it, no pretence can take away its nature: though it may be coloured and palliated, the essence of it remains still; the Poison is Poison though took in a Cordial; and since Kingdoms cannot buy off Iniquity, nor Empires be a Sacrifice for Transgression; surely the argument is very strong, that then sin should not be committed for the greatest gain, for the highest interest: For what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Sure then Rebellion a sin of an high nature should not be entered into, though the pretence was saving a Kingdom, though our Property, our Liberty, our Lives, our Religion lay at stake.  
Fifthly, If none of the former considerations can avail, I would desire factious Spirits to consider the end of Rebellion, which as it is founded on the ruins of Piety and Religion, so it ends in infamy, death, and destruction, which the late blessings of God to this Land do evidently demonstrate. The Devil was the first Rebel, and it cost him dear, his Heaven and happiness, and there is little hope any Rebel should enter that blessed place, when the first Rebel (after he was so) was not suffered to stay one moment in it: and though God sometimes for the sins of a Nation doth suffer Rebellion a while to prosper, and makes evil instruments his rod of Correction; as the Jews, Gods own people, were punished by the Idolatrous Philistines and Chaldeans; yet when God by them had brought his sacred purposes to pass, he swept even them away too with the Besom of destruction. So though God for the manifold provocations of this Land gave up a pious King (the Mirror of Princes) to the fury and unparallelled villainy of Miscreants and Regicides, as he did his beloved Son to the Jews: yet there seems to be as visible a Curse on those Regicides and their Posterity, as there was on that cursed Nation that cried, His blood be upon us and on our children; both of them abhorred of God and men. And as the greatest of Judgements both seem to be given up to Impenitency and hardness of heart; for as the Jews that murdered our Saviour do yet continue to blaspheme him; so those that murdered the Father (as if they had no sense of the sin) have since attempted on one Son by private Conspiracy, and the other by open force, so that it may appear no needless piece of charity to pray for them in that Collect of our Church for the conversion of Jews, Turks, and Infidels (to be read on Good Friday) if yet there be a door open for Repentance.  
Having thus considered the branches of my Text, the mercies we have received at the hand of God cry aloud to us for Thanksgiving, and that we may rise to a due pitch it would be needful for us to look back upon those dangers we have escaped. But what mind is there so piercing, or fancy so luxuriant that can possibly number those Devastations, Ruins, Massacres: the desolations of Houses, Families, and Cities that would have followed. What pity could have been expected from that rude Multitude, the worst of men, of whom the Rebel's Army consisted, natural enemies to Nobility and greatness, Eminence and Excellence too visible enemies to the Church, and mortal foes of Decency and Order: How would all the true Sons of the Church of England, for their Loyalty to their Prince, have been branded with the Imputation of Papists, and killed tumultuously by a Vote of the Commons. And who can sum up those Hydra's heads of Schism and Faction, those nests of Vermin that would have overspread our Israel, those innumerable Sects, a worse plague than the Egyptians felt under their Frogs or Lice; what praise can be enough to God for our deliverance from all these.  
And that the Rebels themselves may not complain that they want their share in this days Solemnity. I entreat all those that were either publicly or privately so, to consider that had God given Victory to their unlawful Arms, they would have missed those advantages they expected, and they have reason to praise God for their disappointment: For what concord could there have been among that disorderly Rabble, the sink of so many Sects in Church, and Designs in State, which no sooner was their common Enemy the Church of England destroyed, but they would have crumbled into innumerable Sects and Factions, and been like the armed Brothers sprung of Cadmus' Serpent's teeth. What settlement in Church or State, when one party in the West of England was for Monarchy, those in Scotland for Aristocracy, and no doubt the Rabble for Democracy? What rule, what safety could there be for the Subject? and how miserable a life would that Prince have led that was to humour so many Factions? All must have been confusion, and who knows where the uncertain Ball of Contention would have rested, tossed from one Sect to another, to the utter ruin of a flourishing Kingdom.  
And let me in the Name of God desire all those whose Hearts were with the Rebels, and we have too much reason to believe many were by that visible Joy that was in their faces upon any of their Successes: Let me entreat all such to bless God that delivered them from their unlawful desires and wishes; let them bless God who kept them safe against their wills, that gave them not opportunity, means, or power, when they had given themselves will, to be Traitors and Rebels. And may the miserable fall of their Brethren be a lasting Memorial for them; may it learn them more Piety and Wisdom than to meddle with those that are given to Change. And may they, repenting of their sins, and acknowledging them to God and man by future Loyalty, agree with us (though they will else in nothing) in offering up Praise and Thanksgiving to God for delivering us from them, and them from themselves.  
FINIS.