Against Disloyalty, FOUR SERMONS PREACHED IN THE TIMES Of the Late Troubles.  
By BARTEN HOLIDAY D. D.  of Oxford, and Chaplain to His late Majesty CHARLES the First, of Blessed Memory.  
OXFORD, Printed by W. H. for Sam. Pocock. 1661.   

TO The Sacred MAJESTY of CHARLES the Second of England, Scotland, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith; of Sufferings, Innocence and Deliverance the Rare Example; and for all Princely Virtues above Envy and Imitation.  
ROYAL SIR;  
DID not Reason teach, that the Foot is Instrumental to the Head, I should have Judged it not Duty but Intrusion, to present my Service, though most Humble, unto Majesty. But at present seeing Zeal a Mistaking Peace-breaker, I thought it as Necessary, as Seasonable, to set forth the nature of Loyalty and Rebellion; the one from the Gentleness of Nature and the Blessing of Unity; the other from the Arts of Darkness and Subtlety. As Remedies these were Employed in the Late Times, and may now be made more useful, by being made more Public. What Speech can be too Just, what Diligence too much in the defence of our Supreme Father and Country? Was not such the Practice of the Greek Orator against the Insidiating Macedonian? Was not such the Heat of the Roman Orator against the Insolence of Marc Antony? Witness their Immortal Philippiques, the Defence and Evidence of their Loyalty; patterns even to the Christian, though of a Higher Intitution? And a Blessing, a blessing of Peace it were, if these Endeavours for the Amendment of these Times, might prove Christian Philippiques; and, as a wise Glass reflect to some their deformities; or as the sight of a Lacedaemonian servant defiled with Wine, which preserved the Children from the Defilement. And for such as had rather be the Sons of Wisdom, then of Belial, they may purify their Passions by their Judgement, if they will lay aside Persuasions taken up in Ignorance, and not Blush to be Amended. 'Twas the remarkable censure, upon Obstinate Ignorance, of that Great Reporter of our English Cases, 
L Coke. lib. 5. in Caudries case.  Miserable is his case and worthy of Pity, that has been Persuaded before he was Instructed, and now will refuse to be Instructed, because be will not be Persuaded. Has it not been the Outcry of late Zelots, The present Government must be Obeyed? And is not now their Outcry, their Conviction? Do they Obey, what they Profess should be Obeyed? Or, will they make the Royal mercy, by the Increase of it, and their Abuse of it, the Increase of their Gild? When they shall see, what a Prince's Right may Require, and what his Gentleness is ready to mitigate, in the Ceremonies practised even in parest Times of the Church (without which Ceremonies the Worship itself might soon fail, as the fruit without the coat, though but a paring) shall they not acknowledge any remission Favour? when the Bounty of our Forefathers endowd the Church with wealth and Honour, shall any be so unadvised, as to Reject the Piety and Bounty? shall any be more dangerous and vain, than the Old Roman People, that once fell off from their Nobility, for not sharing with them in some Honours in that Commonwealth? And shall they here in a Kingdom be Offered & Despised? Would they have us believe, they are so fare from Pride and Avarice? They must prove it by better testimony, than their Pretence or Actions yet have done. When God commanded his people under the Law to repair on the Sabbath to his Public Worship, or be cut off from his People, shall any under the Gospel dare a Separation, and be Innocent? Or, think the Jew had more reason to serve God, than the Christian? Or, shall we under the Liberty and Light of the Gospel live in a voluntary obscurity, as the Old Christians in a Necessary Secrecy, under the Persecuting Heathen? shall any think they Imitate our Saviour, that Pretend Truth, but seek Corners; after the Mode of Ignorance or Deceit? Or shall any put out the Sun, and Light up a Gandle? Or, be lead into the way of an Ignis Fatuus? Or, shall any believe the Translation of Scripture, & not the Translator? The Prophet said, The lips of the Priest shall preserve knowledge: and shall every one now have an Interest in the Office? May we not see the Turkish Socinian invading Christianity, in the great Doctrines of the Glorious Trinity, of the Grace and Godhead of Christ our Redeemer, of the Godhead of the Holy Ghost our Comforter, of the blessed Sacraments, the Seals of our Salvation, briefly, of all Government and safety amongst men? And is it not then Wisdom and Holiness for Princes with Speed and Zeal to reform such Reformers? When the Dove was sent forth of the Ark, she did return, till the Earth was in part purified: when the Raven went forth, he returned but rather Towards the Ark then into it. The Dove was a clean bird; she found no rest in the Flood: the Raven lighted on the outside of the Ark, and on Carcases floating in the waters, and was content to stay and feed on the carrion. Oh, that all, who have fled from the Ark of the Church, would with the Dove, in a flood of Heresies, return and be taken-in to the Rest, to the Safety to the Joy, to the Miraculous Change, and Just Thankfulness, under your Majesty's Wisdom and Mercy. Would they but see the late Blessed Parliament, the Parliament of Peace, pursuing Peace: Would they but see the General Concord of Your People, the Glory of Your Virtues; then should there not be found in the same breast a heart and a heart. But not to make Duty a Trespass, by too Long an Access, with my Prayers for such men's Change, and for Your Majesty's Unchangeable Goodness and Prosperity, I shall ever rest  
Most Gracious Sovereign, Your Majesty's Old and Faithful Subject, BARTEN HOLIDAY.   

Of Obedience, OR The Royal Plea. A SERMON Preached at Whitehall, March 22, 1639. before King CHARLES the FIRST,  
By BARTEN HOLIDAY Archdeacon of Oxford, and one of His Majesty's Chaplains.  
OXFORD, Printed by W. H. for S. Pocock 1661.  
 
  
EXOD. 20.12. 
Honour thy Father.  
AS There is honour due from the creature to the Creator, so is there likewise from the Child to the Parent: and seeing that Parents are God's deputies, we may say, that the first duty is the cause of the second. As then the Child owes his being unto God absolutely, so secondly to his Father; and as a true glass reflects the face which it receives: so the Parent towards God, so the Son towards the Father, is never destitute whiles not depraved, of gratitude, a reflective goodness. Nor is this true only of the natural Parent, but also of the Civil, the Magistrate; and chief then of the chief Magistrate, the Prince: a King not only being like a Parent, but the first King being a father; nay, therefore a King, because a Father. A lower exposition of which truth, though it were a truth, yet were it but a truth in part, and but an inferior truth. To view it then according to the property, that is, the elevation of this place, we must understand and confess a King to be a Father; a Subject to be a Son, and therefore Honour to be by Nature most due from the natural Subject to the natural King.  
All Dominion of Man over Man is from God, and the first of all was delivered by Generation. Thus Adam had, by the leisure of Birth, a posterity of Subjects; and as in Paradise, though he was debarred one tree, he was allowed all the rest: so afterwards, though paradise was not admitted him for his Court, he was allowed all the world besides. Then was a Family a Kingdom, and Eldership Royalty, except where God for sin prevented the ordinary succession, as in the special case of Cain; who happily might have been Abel's King, had he not been his murderer. He killed his Subject in reversion, staining himself not only with his Brother's blood, but also with indiscretion; and probably did not survive his Father, who lived above nine hundred years. The next derivation of Dominion, if not in Time, yet in congruity, was by choice. Royalty by Birth was the sweetest way of Majesty: a King and a Father compounded into one, being of a temper like unto God, Justice and Mercy. But a King by choice, even the first, though by divine choice, was turned into a punishment. Indeed the people chose the King, but God the Man. They would no longer be content with the invisible Monarchy of God and God dismissed them to the palpable dominion of Saul. And though God's mercy made the next choice, in David, a blessing: yet by a greater blessing, because a surer, he left not Sovereignty to the perilous art of Election, but to the safer Innocency of Birth. The haft way, that is the most remote from purer nature, in deriving Royalty, is by force, a foreign force raised by God's judgement, as in the Assyrian against Israel, which whiles it chastises the persons and destroys their vices, comes like a Father, though with a rod of Iron. Terror there sometimes is, rather than ruin; and whiles not properly ruin, but correction, the mercy that proclaims a Father, claims likewise the obedience due to a Father. Behold with diligence and content the justice of this debt: behold the special moments of Fatherhood in Sovereignty: which though a dazzling eye may mistake to be glory and pleasure, a more fixed discerns to be Care and Danger. Royalty is a duty Towards man, though not To him; being a duty only to God, who alone can command Kings to command: but unto man 'tis only a blessing flowing from that duty. Would you see the parts of this blessing, behold the partakers of it; behold all that faithfully enjoy subjection. Own ye your food to the task of the Husbandman, and own ye not Him to the royal providence? which as truly order Him, as He his Acres? whiles it neither permitts him to neglect them, nor diminish them? Does the Merchant more provide for you the softest raiment, such as they wear in King's houses, than his Sovereign provides for him Safety and Employment? What were the Indies without a Court? The Merchant indeed is employed There; but Here the Merchandise. The Physician cannot preserve the Body, if he be not preserved; The Politic Head is the Sovereign Physician of the Body Natural. What were the Lawyer, nay the Law, without the Lawmaker? And surely Land of Inheritance might without an Earth-qvake be reckoned amongst our movable goods, were it not for a Supreme guardian. If Children were without instruction, might we fitly call them the issue of the body or rather the issue of the mind? and, which were News to the Philosopher, add them to the number of the perturbations? Yet what were their Instructions and all their Rules, without a supreme Rule? And how could their instructers cherish so many tender minds, if a more tender mind did not with wisdom and bounty tender them? Thus is the Pelican ready to empty her own veins to fill her young ones; as if her life consisted not in her blood, but in her Love. Thus then is a Parent in joyed in a King; the Subjects sasety being the effect of His Danger; the Subjects pleasure being the work of his Care. When Jacob in his journey and dream saw Angels ascending and descending between Heaven and Earth, he said when he awaked Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Shall any in this World of troubles have the blessing of Peace, a Heaven on Earth, and we not think on it? And should they not as Jacoh, who did then erect a Pillar, and pour oil on it, should they not raise a like thankful monument of Grace and Peace?  
And as a Father must thus be acknowledged in a King: so Nature and Gratitude must present a Son in a Subject; a Son perfected into a Subject. Does the Son receive a Natural life? The Subject enjoys a Civil one: that's but the matter, this the Form; the Father but prepares; 'tis a King actuates. Does a Son, whiles a Son much differ from a Servant? Maintenance he receives; but in junctions for the use of it: so that it is the matter rather of service then choice. But a Subject a little removed from his Father's charge, enjoys his estate as the argument as much of his wisdom, as of his subjection: and so is no less Honoured than Employed Does the Son learn Action from the Father? yet all his activity is but in the Epicycle of a Family: whereas a Subjects motion is in a larger Orb. Does a Son enjoy defence by a Father? the joy can yet but equal the defence: which being but like the petty danger, ends rather in Quietness, then in Triumph. But the protection of Subjects being an act Royal of goodness, is by the danger advanced in Love and Honour.  
Yet is this more than commandment or desert? And is not the first part of this duty the Priest's to teach it? Nay, should it not be also the joy of a good subject to perform the part of a good subject? And this duty chiefly is obedience; a task for the proportion, as due by the divine will, from the Subject to the King, as by the Divine power from the Angels to God: his own prerogative flowing from his Selfe-Right of creating the world; a King's prerogative flowing from his derived right & care of preserving the subject. But as some of the Angels did scarce sooner receive, then break, the Law of Obedience: so some men by an unhappy imitation of such Angels, are more ready to slander the weight of their yoke, then to bear it; forgetting, that even the most easy yoke may gall only by the struggling in it. Yet such reluctance might peradventure be neglected, if it disturbed not the supreme Revenue & Reputation, that being as the blood, this as the soul. Without the first, there is no strength, without the latter, there is no life; what is it then, to call a King Defender of the faith, if the means be withdrawn, wherewith he should defend it? A son owes help & honour to his father: & is a subject less indebted to his King? Hath not God himself included the duty of Love unto them both under the same commandment? under the same moral, & therefore under the same perpetual Law? Or is there any whose understandanding is so unnatural to deny this truth? If not, why should there be any whose affections should be so unnatural, as not to obey it? Or shall we in an overplus-Charity mistake ourselves into a persuasion, that this duty has not only been Included, but hitherto also hidden in the obedience to a Father? To disadvantage a King then either in Estate or Honour, is it not plainly unnatural? But shall any yet exceed that son of Noah, who though he revealed, yet never feigned an infirmity of his Father? Has any disloyally dared to feign that Religion wavers? they foully mistake; as commonly they do. that are more cunning in other men's lives then in their own; 'tis not Religion wavers, but their Loyalty. Has any feared, that the purity of the Gospel is in hazard? It is indeed, when a professor of it shall stain his profession of it which disobedience. Can such blasphemy against Kings (for so the Apostle calls it, (2 Pet: 2.10.) be called obedience, or rather a Tyranny over Kings? Or shall we say, the Heart's a good subject, when the Tongue's a Rebel? Obedience was anciently figured out by the Ear; and so by the Greeks was instructively called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a submissive attention; and this the Laiety especially from their science of Heraldry, may remember to be aptly employed in the Helmet of a Squire, which is fide-long, as with the ear ready for his Commander, whose arms he carried. Nor is it only attention, but also very considerate; nature having taught, that the scales of the ears are to be rectified by an even judgement. But now obedience seems to have fallen from the ear to the tongue, a member, that does not more easily move, then offend. Yet does it proclaim, that as every Traitor is a fool, so a Traitor in words is a madman; tommiting what is criminal and Revealing it. The Tongue, especially when it is brought as an offering to the Lord, should be seasoned according to the levitical command, (Leu. 2.3.) In all thy offerings thou shalt offer Salt; but many bring either none, or too much; nay, that which was never commanded, only salt; which is very fretting. Besides, they turn the softness of the tongue into the hardness of the teeth; and may persuade us, that the Philosophers speak without a figure, when they tell us, that a man has some dog-teeths in his head. And as of the teeth some affirm, by way of difference from other bones of the body, that in the several ages of man's life they grow; we may conclude it to be true, especially of the dog-teeths. But shall any one think this to be obedience, and not account themselves free, till they are factious? If a Subject be a Son, then ought he to be a staff unto his Father, wherewith not to strike, but to sustain him. But some would deal with Princes, as Adonibezec once did; they would cut off their thumbs and great toes, the principal strength of the hands and feet; that so they might neither with comeliness direct others, nor with sufficiency sustain Themselves. But if these men would admit reason, it might in point of Conscience be demanded, by what authority a private person can extend a personal correction beyond the persons and bounds of his own perambulation? And next may it not be asked, or rather indeed may it be asked at all, whose parishioner a King is? with safety and Truth it may be answered, that the charge of such instruction belongs not to these men, who thus usurp the performance of it. Royalty is still in its own Peculiar. The task of private persons towards Kings is properly (if not by special appointment) not instruction but prayer. Before hand then to censure the heart of a King, which is in the hand of God, and so unsearchable, is by presumption to make themselves like the Devil, whiles by (pretended) foreknowledge they would make themselves like God. Are we thus bold with private men's purposes, or would we have others so bold with ours? How dare then any that are Subjects sit thus as judges over Princes? Even Elihu's conscience could question, (Job. 34.18.) Is it fit to say to a King, thou art wicked? and to Princes, ye are ungodly? Indeed, is not this to pull the Diadem from the Head, and wear it upon some subject part of the body? This was once done by the great Pompey; but this which he accounted glory, was by others accounted treason. Might not such remember the terror of a King, in the Majesty of the Lion: which of all creatures has the sharpest teeth and the firmest, nay, and the firmest heart too? more especially might not some remember the Lion rampant, by which some Majesty is especially expressed; in which posture that victorious creature is said to possess his vigour, being erect with mouth open, and claws extended, as ready to tear the prey; presenting thus not only terror but conquest. They might remember, that, not only the Lion rampant, but rampant guardant, not only courage but also watchfulness; not only these, but also the horn, the strength of the Unicorn, are the supporters and guardians of such united Majesty. But belike these men venture to deal with their Sovereign, as gross sinners deal with God, whose mercy indeed is over all his works; and shall their works be therefore the worse, and deserve no mercy? shall they strive to be as transcendent in their sin as he is in his forgiveness? surely they cannot but remember, that though the risen a royal flower, be of dainty touch, yet if touched rudely, it is deeply felt, but with more speed than ease. The Thistle too, a royal flower, though it has its downy top, yet it wants not its defensive prickles; and God grant, that this our royal Carduus may be for ever Benedictus. And would they would take notice of the virtues of this blessed Thistle, which is so sovereign a medicine against the giddiness of the brain: 'tis this will settle it, and make it as quiet, as if it were mortified. This it is, that makes a good memory; so that if a man forgets his duty, this will prevent and supply the study or a statute-book. This is it, that restores hearing; If the ear be grown dull to hear its duty, this will save the art and whisper of a cane of trunk. This is excellent against a Canker; Malice itself cannot resist the power of its charity. If the body be swollen with the treason of poison, this shall abate it to safety; nay, had one swallowed an adder (unless we shall discredit the Physician) this shall dispossess him, and without the authority of an Exorcism. They might remember the power, the vigour of Majesty in the Eagle, which casts his bill, but renews his age. And if they be at last struck into a wise fear of Majesty, let them be likewise struck into as just a shame with goodness, which so unworthily is abused. Shall a royal vigilance endeavouring on all occasions, so prudently to moderate men's affections, be made a reason of any man's unreasonable jealousy? 'Tis an unnatural paradox in the doctrine of causes, that evil should proceed from goodness; that the gracious actions of a Prince should beget ungracious constructions! 'Tis an essay to treason to talk inquisitively of Royal affairs; much more to talk ill; and is it not a cowardly injustice, to speak ill behind one's back; nay, and of him, that does us good? But is it not the very malignity of Treason, to lay the calamity of a people upon a Prince? as if all the diseases of the body begun in the Head? Marcus Antoninus was of the Roman Emperors the best: His Times, if we measure them by Wars, Earthquakes, Inundations, Plagues, Dearths, the worst; there being in his time almost nothing wanting either to be expressed, or conceived (it is the testimony of Aurelius Victor) quo summis angoribus atteri mortales solent; with whose extreme vexations Mankind uses to be worn-out. But what is the judgement of that Historian, upon those evils? Does he contrive them into an argument against Caesar? No, but to the shame of too many Christians, he tells us, that but for the Emperor, the Empire had sunk. And surely to his own honour, whiles to the Princes he says of him, that he was Aerumnis publicis quasi defensor objectus; so that he makes him the Shield of his people; or, as an atonement between his people and the divine judgement. Shall a Heathen thus plead like a Son by the virtue of Nature, and shall Christians become ungracious, whiles unnatural? Even the Stagirite could say, He that doubts, whether or no he should Honour his Parents, wants not reason, but punishment. And as Nature teaches us this honour to be due, so God teaches the weight of this honour, the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies a weighty glory. And it is but suitable to the weight of glory, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, spoken of by Saint Paul (2 Cor-4. 17.) the reward of such duty. Aptly then does Saint Peter (Epist. 2.2.10.) call Magistrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignities, or glories, and evil speeches against them, Blasphemies. The Apostles words are, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Reverence then is due in Gesture, in Speech, in Obedience, in sustentation. The Rabbins subtly distinguish between our duty to God, and to our Parents, upon occasion of that in the Proverbs (chap. 3. v. 4.) Honour the Lord with thy Substance. The Lord, say they, is to be honoured (they mean with an offering) if thou have something; but thy parents, say they, though thou hast nothing; for than thou must beg for them. How unnatural then were the Times of Henry the Third? wherein that wise, yet unhappy Prince, was compelled to dissolve his Royal Family; and as Paris a Monk of those days says, Cum Abbatibus & Prioribus satis humiliter hospitia quaesivit & prandia. And unhappy Prince, but more unhappy Subjects (shall we call them so) that made him so? Even Seneca, though a Heathen could proclaim it, the happiness of Children, to be able by good turns, to overcome their Parents; Felice's qui vicerint, felices qui vincentur, says he. And does not the Stork, as Saint Ambrose says, cover his Parents with his feathers, when age has devested them of their own? as if he would raise them to a new flight? And does he not bring them food to their nest? nay to their mouth? Where then shall appear such unnatural Sons, such unnatural Subjects, that dare cast an evil eye upon their Father? Their superlative Father? Such a Son, says S. Jerom, deserves blindness, it may be added in another sense, He is blind before he does so, that does so. To sirike one's Father, was death by the Law. (Exod. 21.15.) To Curse one's Father, was death by the Law (Levit. 20.9.) To be disobedient and stubborn to one's Father, was death by the Law. (Deutr. 21.18, 21.) To set light by one's Father, was punished with a heavy Curse, and all the people were to cry, Amen. (Deutr. 27.16.) That was the Truth and the Burden of the Curse! Heavy, by the Generality of it; Just by the Command! The Law then for the Son and Subject being the same; the duty for both being the same; the curse for both being the same; where is Love? where is Fear? where is Wisdom? where is Grace? where is Nature? Are they not all fled from a rebellious breast? Are they not fled as fare, as the Rebel might do, if he considered his guilt?  
Or is Sedition yet so confident, as to increase its confidence? and thinks to disguise it with a Helmet on the head of it? The Church tells us of the noble Army of Martyrs, which praise God; but that Army was Martyrd; and that Army never took up Arms. Indeed, had zeal anciently armed itself against Sovereignty, we had never heard of a Calendar of Saints. But what at this day would this new zeal reform? would it chastise the Creed, and condemn to Hell the Doctrine of our Saviour's Descent into it? Let them take heed, lest they follow him thither, but without a triumph, yet if to descend thither, be but to be buried, then have they bestowed a fair Monument on their own forefathers, professing them to have descended into Hell, and that it is their own hope (if justice altar not the case) to go thither after them. But why is this anger against the Creed? Is it because in our Saviour's death all was finished? and therefore after his death no need of a triumph? Admit all to a Redemption was performed; was therefore a triumph over hell unnecessary? In his death all was finished; yet after his death a resurrection also was not unnecessary; an Ascension also was not unnecessary; and how is then a triumph over hell unnecessary? The Enemy is slain in the field, yet a triumph is not unnecessary, but just and wise. The ancient fathers nearest the Apostolical times left us this doctrine, as agreeable to Scripture; and shall we believe the children of these times, rather than the Fathers of those times? Or because hell sometimes signifies the grave, therefore here? 'tis a lose Logic, that would have such a conclusion. But what else at this day would new zeal reform? Would some as unwillingly bend the knee at the sweet name of Jesus, as at the sacred name of the Lord's Anointed, their anointed Sovereign? The Name is the Remembrance of Adoration, not the Object; a Name for the remembrance of his humiliation for us; for whom he did not abhor the Virgin's womb; and for his humiliation even to the death of the cross this name was advanced to advance his glory. And sure'y in an evil hour should any in these times seek to abolish in any way the divine worship of our Saviour, when as the Socinian would abolish his divine Nature. Let no man scruple then to bow the knee to him, who bowed the head for us, and gave up the Ghost. Or is it the purity of a I innen vesture, which some so fear would defile the purity of the Priest? Surely in the figure and innocency of that dress, Saint John under the times of the Gospel did in revelation behold the Son of God. And by what riddle of change shall that Priestly vesture which was relatively holy in the Master, become offensive in the servant? Or, is it a Cope, which some fear, would diffigure the Christian Humility with Levitical pomp? Yet the wise, the devout Constantine thus did dress the Priests of the Lord, to preserve in the servant the honour of the Master; to preserve the Worshippers of the true God, from the jeering eye of the Worshippers of the false Gods; in brief, thus congruously to express to God their best thanks in his best gifts both inward and outward. Or, is it an Altar, that is become so conspicuous an eye-soar? Or, the bowing at it, which raises such indignation? Or, a Rail, which makes this separation? Alas! and wherefore not an Altar? Shall we fear or correct the language of the first Christian Church? And what more frequent in the ancient Fathers, than the name applied to the Holy Table? Did not the ancient Christians bow down before it? Nay, even the Bishop, did he not kiss it, the Royal, the mystical, the Dominical, the Divine Table, or Altar, as the Fathers call it? Does not our humility then justly express itself at the holy Table to the Lord of the Table? There let us call on the name of the Lord, who there especially waits for us to receive our prayers, that we may receive his especial blessings. Is not our service there an Eucharist? And is not such our Thanksgiving a Sacrifice, (as the Psalmist call it)? Behold then an Evangelical Sacrifice, and an Evangelical Altar. Where is then the fear of Transubstantiation in a Church, that without change condemns such change? And as the Bread and Wine are sepearated from common use, so for its proportion may not the Table too? Though capable it be not of Inherent holiness, yet it is of relative; in vain else had Moses and Joshua been commanded to put off their shoes. And if the ground were holy for the presence of the Lord; is not this truly? Is not this reasonably? A rail then must be granted, or a chancel denied; for what's chancel (cancelli) but a rail? This is the English, of the word; and from the ancient and constant situation of the rail, the place has in all ages and places had the name. Seeing then they allow a chancel, can they deny a rail? For then by the like reason, we might argue against them; by saying they are Men, and yet by saying more, that they are unreasonable creatures. Or, is it a supposed profanation of the Lord's day, that makes some ready to profane Sovereignty? Is it because the Royal devotion has by an increase of devotion, denied all public carriage on that day? Nay, all recreation till the evening of that day? To all that are recusants of our holy rites? To all that are not attendants of our holy rites, both at the morning and evening-off'ring? Will they make up their reckoning by the truth of Arithmetic? Are there not twelve hours in the day, and is not the nineth thehower of prayer? Be that employed then on the soul, & another left for the body's repast, what remains there for recreation, but the few minutes of an hour? But what does this concern these men, who too often either despising, or neglecting public devotions, need not make recreation their fear, it being no part of their allowance. And for the kinds of such refreshment, shall they in reason be defined by fancy or authority? And where is then this outcry of profanation? 'Tis a sad irreverence, without due consideration to look upon the actions of Princes with a prejudicial eye! And are there not other Fathers also, the Bishops of souls, whose prelacy, through the pride of disobedient Sons, makes Envy mask itself with an Humility? Or, are there any Fathers, to whom honour is not due? Or, may not the morality of this Law, in effect entitle them to a prelacy? For, what is prelacy, but the honour of this honour? And what is this honour, but the eminency of providence, acknowledged by duty, acknowledged by love? Witness the stately Cathedrals and Palaces founded by the devotion of our forefathers; after God's honour to the honour of their solemn devotions and consecrated Persons? It were a matter of more trouble, than necessity, to repeat in this quarrel, what has been alleged by the worthies of our Church. I need only add, that singular attestation of Clemens the Roman Bishop and Martyr, who was as near the Apostles in Holiness, as in time, or, as Ruffinus calls him, penè Apostolus. Even then great contention happening among the Christian Corinthians about prelacy, he tells them, in an Epistle, he then written unto them, that the Apostles knowing by our Lord Jesus Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that contention would arise about the title of Episcopacy, did therefore themselves, being endued with perfect foreknowledge, ordain Bishops in their life time. And for the reprehensions he there bestows on those stickling Corinthians, I leave such gainsayers to a secret blush and amendment at the reading of them. We may only sigh out with him, what he adds, your Schism perverts many, dejects many, makes many doubtful, all sorrowful, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and your sedition ceases not. Shall we call him Saint, or Prophet Clemens? Nor is this authority liable to the suspicion of Roman art; the Copy comes from the afflicted innocence of the Greek Church, and from the learned and right worthy Industry of a Loyal Scot But if this question shall be decided rather by experience, then by book, where were Discipline without Prelacy? Can a feeble Presbytery, though perchance swelling enough, correct a wealthy, a potent offender? Perchance a Landlord, or a Patron? We might as soon fell an Oak with a penknife. Nay, who should exclude him from an Interest, and so unhappily a more unavoidable sway in Presbyterial determinations? Is there yet any more scruple to disturb peace? And by private doubts, to make public differences? A moderating there is of the differences about the counsels of the Lord and Man's end: shall this make some Immoderate? A necessary monition it is in the quarrels of Religion, that if the mind can not attain to so much subtlety, as to resolve itself, it much seek to attain so much wisdom, as to temper itself. But in this particular, a restraint there is not of the Doctrine, but of the Interpreters, to preserve it from inconsiderate or unlearned interpretation. Thus licence is taken away; thus liberty, thus truth remains. And has not the Church in former times been driven to the same course in the same cause? Did not King Charles, the Second, of France, about eight hundred years since, interpose his authority, when from the case of Godscalk, the like contention arose between the great Prelates of Rheims and Lions? And would not the Roman providence now rejoice in a settled peace between the Dominicans and his Jesuits? And as authority, so has not the pen amongst them (witness the curious labours of Arriba, Pennot, Dola, and others) endeavourd a composition, though peradventure with more subtlety, than success? But the wisest rule in deciding controversies, is it not to order them by the Scriptures expounded by the most Orthodox of the Fathers; and new doubts by new Concells, as we may learn from the late Instructions of the prudent pen of our most Reverend primate eminent as well for promoting unamimity, as learning? Surely to think, that the Divine wisdom would leave the Church without a Guide, is to make the Divine wisdom inferior to humane, & seems too near either to Schism or folly; whiles it would make the Church subject to as many opinions, as Persons. Wisdom then teaches man, that to fight a battle in the dark, or on a plot of ground not well examined, is never wise, and probably unhappy. Yet such in this obscurity and warfare has been the unhappiness of too many, who not throughly versed in this doubt have ignorantly, or desperately raised strange conclusions. If then a restraint be put upon such exorbitant danger, is it to deny truth, or rather to preserve it; whiles it leaves Instruction, and so Instructers, to the sobriety of the settled article and rule of our Church? But peradventure an unwillingness it is, and a pretended emptiness of purse (next in value, with many, after the soul) that fills some unhappily with undutiful repine. If such there be, I would only remember them in love and prevention, with the Doctrine of the Jews, and the example of the Grecians, both very remarkable. The Jewish Lawyers teach us, that their laiety, what in their Offerings to God, the Priest, and the poor, paid of their yearly estate a full sixth part; that by their payment, one would not take them to be Jews. And, for the Grecians, let Constantinople be a witness, where, by a close-handednesse in an instant war, the Inhabitants confounded their Empire and themselves; The enemy and destruction plainly acknowledging, that a small part of the spoil, if seasonably employed, might, have preserved it from s●oile. Or, do any warrant themselves, by a great mistake of that great rule, Salus populi lex ssuprema? The safety of the people is the Aim of all Law? For, if by the people they intent the Body Politic, and so a Body not without a Head, we grant it to be as true, as ancient. But if it shall signify the people as distinguished from the Prince, though they take it for a truth in Democracy, where all are people, they must know, that, in a Monarchy, it is but Treason. In Monarchy than we must take leave to expound it according to our Saviour's rule, Be ye wise as Serpents, and harmless as Doves. Let them remember themselves, that they be like Doves, without Gall; and we will remember them how they shall be like Serpents; not in venom, but in wisdom. Now of all the Eminencies of the Serpent's wisdom, the chief is in the preservation of his Head; which in case of danger, he wraps about with the many fold of this Body. Indeed, can the Body live without the Head? Thus then on God's name let them as well remember as object, Salus populi, and then be, as they thus should be, Serpents. But for the members of the Body, to rise against the Head, is it not unnatural? is it not frenzy? Nature teaches them to be ordered by the Head; and is it not the way of confusion, to disturb that, by which they should be ordered? But thus it is, when every one will be his own King; for, what is it else, when every one will rule. It has been the question of some curious wits, whether in the World there are more Heads or Feet. For the first, Land and Sea will plead; the waters yielding such a multitude of heads, and scarce a number of feet. For the second, the I and pleads by a double number of feet for heads; nay, we may say, innumerable feet for heads, if we call to witness, the fly, the Emmet, and such minutes of the Creation. In which doubt if any desire resolution, I think it not to be examined by the practice of nature, that is, experience, which in this point admits not a sure scrutiny; but by the wisdom of nature, which by a quicker way of reason, may thus instruct us; that as there are many effects for one cause, and more instruments of execution, then of direction; so surely are there more feet than heads. Let then the Members be content with their situation, with their duty, with their safety; and let their union be for the safety of the head for the honour of the Head; without which their own safety cannot be.  
Whence is it then that any Son of Nebat dares make Israel sin against the God and King of Israel. Is it not from the great sin of pride, that would advance itself? that makes men look more upon their appetite, than their duty? But let them remember, that though the Hill may yield the more prospect, yet 'tis the valley yields the more fruit. Let them remember that inferiors should with modesty and diligence attend their own charge; the state of themselves is but in part committed to them, the state of a Kingdom is not committed to them; And as it is no part of their charge, ●oit shall be no part of their account. Let them remember the breach of Israel, which did first wilfully departed from their Sovereign; and afterwards unwillingly, whiles perforce, from their Country: and that afterwards in two hundred years, they had both many more and worse Kings, than Judah had; and were at last seized on by the divine judgement; to others instruction, but their own Ruin. Let them remember the blessing of Unity; and under God in his work and glory, our late renowned Peacemaker James the great. Whom God then has joined, let no man put asunder: whom God has joined into one Nation, let neither foreign envy, nor homebred malignity, put asunder. Unity is a precious diamond, whose grains as they double, twice double in their value: so that by the quick art of the jeweller, though a spark of one grain, be worth but six crowns, so many pounds is but the value of two grains in the same stone; such is the fruitful Arithmetic of Unity. Let them remember former Times, and states, especially the smaller, and they shall constantly find that by division, they have been diminished, if not destroyed; and at the last, made but the Appurtenances of Empires; and more usually drained, then defended. What were the Greeks', though once they flourished in Wealth and Wit? Though they withstood the Persians Insolence, yet were they subdued by the Roman Wisdom, and quite enslaved by the Turkish Fury. But were they not divided, before they were destroyed? Did not their Distractions unite their enemies to Art and Victory? Let them remember the design of Unity in the Conveniency of defence. Let the Roman Provinces be a witness; which though at first they did a little struggle for mistaken Liberty, yet did not usually their subjection become their purchase? Fear was before still at the door; and afterwards Safety; their terror, a Potent enemy, by a rare felicity, being turned to their defence. Let them remember the blessings of our Canaan; would they see Solomon's days, in his Peace, in his Wisdom? can they behold it more eminently, then in his Temple and his Fleet? And may they not see here high degrees of such Devotion and Wisdom, for God's glory, and our Country's safety? And is it not the first, if not the greatest Act of Wisdom to preserve itself? Let no Son then become so unwise, so unhallowed, so unnatural, as to ●●t up the hand against his Father. When Kings are likened unto God, is it not occasionally as well for their justice, as for their mercy? They bear not the Sword in vain. And if God's wrath, as his mercy; should be a pattern for Kings, had not all need to remember, with what exaltation of phrase the Almighty has expressed the exaltation of his wrath, If I whet my glittering Sword, and my hand take hold on Judgement, I will render vengeance to my adversaries, and will reward them that hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my Sword shall devour flesh? But Oh, let the softness of nature, the justice of Duty, the Promise of this Commandment, (which is the first Commandment with promise; (Ephes. 6.2.) bend the heart and knee of every Israëlite unto their Lord, their Sovereign Lord, their Sovereign Father; That so they may enjoy the Commandment in the Promise, by living long in the Land, which the Lord their God has given them. And let the Anointed of the Lord, the Father of our Israel, march with the thousands of his people, and with the protection of our God. Let him be clad with the whole armour of God. Let his Loins be girt about with Truth, having on the breastplate of Righteousness; Let his feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Let him take the shield of Faith, wherewith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Let him take the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of God's Spirit. Let him march clad with the prayers of his People; and let all his enemies perish, O Lord. But let thine Anointed return in Safety, in Peace, in Honour, to the Honour of thy Name, and the Peace of this thy Israel, Amen, Amen.   

Of Unity, A SERMON Preached before KING CHARLES the FIRST, At Christ-Church in Oxford, on Whit-Sunday, May 21. 1643.  
By BARTEN HOLIDAY D. D.  of Oxford, and one of His Majesty's Chaplains.  
OXFORD, Printed by W. H. for S. Pocock 1661.   
Ephes. 4.3. 
Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace.  
NO Times have, more than These, Pretended the Unity of the Spirit. no Times have more than these violated the unity of the Spirit. Which Spirit as on this day vouchsafing to descend to us, we may by the figure and nearness not unhappily understand it, and most happily keep it. We may by the Art of this day's Miracle see this Spirit, though a Spirit; the virtue of it, whiles the resemblance of it; A Resemblance not presented to the mistake of Sleep or Fancy, but to the Inquisition and Loyalty of the Fie. Was not the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace, when this blessed Spirit did abide in the Society of the Apostles? And may not such a blessing win us to an endeavour, and such an Endeavour advantage us to keep such a Blessing? That therefore we may perfect This Task, and by this Ourselves, we may with as much Hope as Desire, of success, behold this Unity, a better than that of the Soul and body, a Unity of Spirits, the Spirits of Men united by the Spirit of God. We may behold this Spirit; which, though it informs not the Body, informs the Soul, not by Nature but by Holiness. We may behold this Peace, whose perfection passes all understanding: whose comfort yet is in part apprehended by the Sense, We may behold this Bond, which does not Gird, though Encompass us; nay, whiles it Binds us, gives us perfect Freedom. We may behold the blessing of keeping this blessing: both being received from the Love and Instruction of this Spirit. We may lastly behold this Endeavour, a greater Wisdom than a Labour, and be always found either Rejoicing or Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  
The Highest Unity is God's property; Inferior Unity is his work; a work of wisdom being a Unity in a Multitude; a work of goodness, being the preservation of a Multitude. Which blessing yet is more frequently found in the inferior creatures, then in Man; through the defection of the Will from the Understanding, as afterwards through the defection of both from God. Which degree of Disunion being once made, Unity, which should have been a comfort to man, became his Task; so that now he must endeavour to be what he should be and what he was, at Unity as a Creature with the Creator and with the Creatures. In which work he may Learn Unity from the Creatures, they being unto him always instruction and sometimes shame, so wisely preserving themselves into flocks and herds, as if they would advance the Unity of Instinct above the Unity of Reason. He may learn it from the Body; whose several parts unite and submit their services to the Safety and Majesty of the Head. He may learn it from the first Integrity and Abilities of his own Soul: whose several powers of Motion, Sense, Appetite and Will, were so united in their obedience to Reason, that they seemed to improve themselves, from the servants, into the Associates of it. To attain which Unity, as it is Happiness, so to Desire it, is Wisdom, the way to Happiness. And to attain it, Nature raises Families, Families Cities, City's Kingdoms; as Faith erects the Church, and all these make up the World. Take Unity then out of the World, and it dissolves into a Chaös, in which Nature itself can not find itself, whiles it can find neither End nor Way. Yet even this Chaös will be worse than the first; there being in that the materials of a World, but in this the Ruins; That was God's work, but This Man's. Take Unity out of the Church, and Religion becomes Schism, excluding Love, and so leaving the Deity without a Sacrifice; which since man's creation being relatives, as they can not be divided without the injury of the Spirit, so can they not be joined without the Unity of it. Take Unity out of a Kingdom, and it remains a Body rather large, then sound; nay, which sometimes falls into such a diseased state, that the unwilling & Sovereign cure, as the Chymiques prescribe is a mummy made of its own tainted blood. Take Unity out of a City, and it is sooner conquered, then besieged, the surest and first triumph being not over the walls, but the men. 'tis discord makes the Battery, the Canon but reports it; and easily must they fall by an Enemy, that fall without him. Take Unity out of a Family, and Divorce soon enters; which is the unhappy palsy of marriage, deading the one side, and grieving the other. Unity then is that, which should be kept: yet as we must keep it, so we must not mistake it, the only Unity which we must keep, being the only Unity, the Unity of the Spirit.  
There is a Spirit that rules in the air: but this Spirit is but an unruly one, only working an unhappy Obedience in the Children of Disobedience. And sometimes it so works, that it may rather seem Flesh then Spirit, swelling man into a tympany of Ambition; which at last discovers itself to be not fruitfulness, but disease. Sometimes it works by such potent suggestions, that, as if it disdaigned to inform a single natural body, it dares venture to animate a People, a whole body politic, unnaturally striving to make it an unnatural body, a body either without a head, or weary of it. Sometimes This Spirit works most potently by possession, as it dealt with the madman in the Gospel, that toar off his clothes and lay amongst the tombs; a madman indeed, that cast away so much as a winding sheet, being so near a grave? And yet may there be no other Found as unhappy, if not more unhappy; who though they tear not their raiment, yet esteem not a whole skin, calling danger glory, and peace sloth? But unhappy Spirits they are, that are more the Enemies, than the companions of their own bodies! as if they gave them life, only to lead them to more infamy of death? Unhappy Spirits, that would leave no body behind them to remember them, or not so much to remember them, as to disclaim them! Unhappy Spirits, whose union is conspiracy; and whose strength is Outrage! As then the unity of the Spirit must be kept, so must it be a true unity of Spirit, and therefore of the true Spirit, that is, the unity of the Spirit of unity This is that Spirit, whose wisdom teaches us, that though we can not decide many things, we must not differ in many things; nay, because we cannot decide them, that therefore we must not differ; not differ beyond opinion, the difference being but from opinion. This is that Spirit whose perfection teaches us, that we can here no more attain to a perfection of knowledge, then of Holiness: that some ignorance in the arguments of Religion implies not an imperfection in Religion, but a perfection in God: that the Divine Law has indeed God for the Author; yet various man will be an outward Interpreter. This is that Spirit, whose providence teaches us, that the Government of the World is like the structure of it, it being founded upon imparities; the natural creatures having a Local subordination, the rational having a political, and sometimes a sacred: which differences as it it the Divine will to appoint, so is it the Divine power to Compose. This is that Spirit, whose love teaches us, that though he once appeared in the likeness of fiery Tongues, yet that th●y took not their flame from the fire of Hell, but of Charity: that, though they were divided, it was not to Preach division, but a Gospel: that love is the soul of the soul, uniting, though not the parts of the natural body, yet the many bodies, as so many parts, of the mystical body of the Church. If then we would find the true subject of this Spirit, we must seek the true nature of this Spirit. Where then we find wisdom withdrawing the will from the quarrels of the understanding, and more esteeming of Peace, then of opinion, there is this Spirit; where we find perfection rather Endeavourd, then pretended, and the Divine Law unanimously expounded not by Children, but by Fathers, there is this Spirit. Where we find providence, that does as willingly maintain, as easily distinguish just imparities, not more readily acknowledging a diversity in the Lights of Heaven, then in the lights of the Church, and making those differ in honour, whom God has made to differ in gifts, there is this Spirit. Where we find love, more tender than the eye it sees with, looking upon Wife and Children, as on the Instructive and deputy pledges of God himself; looking on its Country, as on a feat, though not as pleasant, yet as dear, as Paradise, being a place not of choice but lot, and so made sweet by the hand of the Patron; looking upon the Church, as on the type of Heaven, and studying the Peace of the City of God, the God of Peace, there is this Spirit; there is the Unity of this Spirit.  
This Unity then of the Spirit can not be preserved with a violation of the Spirit: the Unity of the Spirit must not be preserved with the breach of Peace. We may not do evil, though good might come there 〈◊〉 may not do evil, that good may 〈◊〉 there of. Not only carnal good from evil does not justify; but no good, no not a purposed good can make evil good. Royalty then must not down for the advancement of Religion: Nay, the violation of that is always the violation of this; in being not glory, but blasphemy for a Rebel to enstyle himself Defender of the Faith. The old truth was, object ingratitude and ye object all crimes: and is it not as old a truth, is it not a higher truth, object Rebellion, and ye object all crimes? It being, in effect, nearer to a flout, than a truth, to call a Rebel a Christian. Is not Christ our Lord the Prince of Peace? And can men of blood, the Children of Disobedience, be the Subjects of that Prince? Shall Christ give the Name, and Mariana the Heart? Shall Christ Character the forehead, and Junius Brutus the Brain? He is of a bad profession, and so but a bad Professor, whose profession is Disobedience. The Pharisee was the precisest Artist in the Devotion of the Jews; his pretence was the mastering of his passion, his practice was the mastering of his Prince. Let Saint Paul describe such, & he will call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a most exact sect; such a sect, as made Paul a Sectary, nay a Persecuutor, till he was Persecuted. Let Hegesippus describe them, and he will call them a sort of Men zealous, subtle, busy, covetous. Let their wise Josephus describe them, and he will tell us, that their authority with the people was so great, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that if they spoke any thing against the King or the High Priest, it was presently believed. And he will tell us, that they were Enemies to Kings, that they were of power to disturb their Kings, to raise war, to do mischief, that is to be peace-breakers with extreme devotion. And he will tell us, how they perplexed their King Hircanus; how they broke his Son King Alexander; how they awed his Widow Queen Alexandre: who was glad to be ruled by them, that so she might seem to rule others; how they occasioned quarrel about the Crown between his Sons: who to end their difference but to begin their misery, choosing the Roman for their Judge, found him become their King; and their Country at once with their Kingdom unexpectedly laid prostrate into a Province. This was the work and reward of notorious zeal: They sound the power, but the Roman found the plot. Nay, these were they, who not only thus entrhalled their Jerusalem, but at last destroyed it; whiles they would acknowledge no Lord but the Lord of Lords, the Almighty: professing that they never feared the destruction of Their City the destruction of God's City! Yet the World now sees that neither they, nor their Jerusalem is to be seen, except the ruins of them as a witness! And that whiles by Rebellion they laboured to save their City for God; God has abandoned both it and them to His Enemy, to Their Enemy, Mahomet. There is no art but must be allowed some Principles, which must be the groundwork of superstructions: so that the ground of art is not art but nature. And surely in the Art, in the high wisdom of Monarchy, no more sure, no more necessary, that is, no more natural foundation can be laid, than this, the sword may not be drawn nor sheathed without supreme command. And where shall such supremacy be found, but in a King? Shall persons not anointed be above or equal to the Lord's anointed? Behold Royalty in the Originals of Nature; Is it not the power of a Father enlarged? For some then to affirm, that a King, though greater than his Subjects divided, is less than they, when they are Unised, what is it but to say, that the Patriarch Jacob had indeed Authority over his twelve Sons considered single, but that they when United had Authority over Him? A most unnatural assertion, and as full of vanity, as of falsehood? Belike, such new Vtopians would have a Round of Government (as some the like in the Church) not unlike the motion of a Wheel, in which every spoke becomes uppermost in his turn. But have we not learned, that a King is the Head, and the People the Body politic? And has not Nature committed the Peace, & so the safety of the Body, to the wisdom of the Head, without whose direction, the motion of the parts is but commotion? Number, which with order is a cause of Peace, is without it too sure an argument of error; when a people runs into a tumult, may it be called an Assembly, or a great misrule? Which degree of disorder, as it commonly gins not without much mistake, so does it go on with much more mischief. Such was the sedition of the Jews against Paul, when they cried out, away with such a fellow from the Earth. The mischief was, they violated his Person: the mistake was, they thought he had violated the Temple; supposing he had brought certain Greeks into it, and so polluted it. On which supposal for a while the upvoare was so loud, that the accusation itself could not be heard: as if the outcry of the tumult had strived to exceed the malice of it; and did continue with such outrage, that authority armed with the Soldier was fain to be the violent Peacemaker. Indeed that is usually the unhappy and necessary conclusion of sedition. Thus Ephraim, who would not be pacified by words, so provoked Jephtha, that almost a whole Tribe became the example, as of the fin, so of the punishment. Thus Absalon provoked & suffered the justice of a Father: whose tenderness, Alas, bewailed his own Victory and his peace! So that it fares with such firebrands of a Kingdom, as it did with those, that cast the innocents' into Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace, they being the surest fuel of those flames! Peace then must be kept, the Bond of Peace, and the Unity of the Spirit in that bond. Is not this, in the best extent of this blessing, the Church in the Commonwealth, as some phrase it? Compare Peace with Unity, and is not Peace the Larger? Is it not the Bond? We must not then make this bond too short.  
Yet has it been the Wit and Mistake of some to make the Church a House, and the Commonwealth the Hang, which ought to be fitted to the House. But this similitude seems to be fitted more to their Aim then to the Truth. And surely we may admire, that such Authors, the Authors of this comparison, such overseers, as the overseers of this building, would be so overseen, as to make that which is narrower, contain that which is larger! Themselves making the Church to contain only the Good; but the Commonwealth to contain both Good and Bad! More congruous it had been, though not exact, to have made the Commonwealth the Outside of the Church; for that had been to grant it to be of more Capacity than the Church, and to be, what it is intended to be, the Defence of the Church: the Outside of a building being contrived by art, to make void the violence of storm and Age. Yet this comparison were not exact; the outside receiving its form from the house itself: where as the Church does not give form to the Commonwealth, but receives from it a devout Defence. Otherwise the Commonwealth should still vary, as the Church: whereas we see in a long experience, that the Jewish Church and the Christian, though so different, have yet in their several ages, subsisted and flourished under the like Outward rule, Monarchique Government. To settle the Church then, as some now would, upon the flat of a Presbytery, and then to affirm, that it must give form to the Commonwealth, what is it from such premises, but dangerously and unjustly to infer the degrading of Monarchy into Popular Government? We may then more obviously, yet truly liken the Civil State to Bulwarks, and the Church to a City; for as when the fortifications are won, the City is soon lost, so when the Bond of Peace, the Laws of a Nation, are broken, the Unity of the Spirit, the Doctrine of Religion will be quickly dissolved. But surely the bond of Peace should be made surer: and though by Practice some have somewhat weakened it; yet have some by Doctrine somewhat weakened their own practice. Conscience is a new Edition of Man's works and words, usually presenting them corrected and amended. What the zeal of Knox was, that is, what his lise was, let his Life witness: What Doctrine his Death preached, let his friends tell us, who writ his Life: and they will tell us, that but a little before his death, making an exhortation to his brethren of the Ministry (and such Sermons should like death make deep impression) he bade them beware of such (and many such, he told them, there were there) as had not only denied the Royal Authority, but also fallen from the truth, which they professed: to whom, if they repent not into the way, whence they had erred, he denounced the destruction of body and soul. A speech that sets forth the just end of such unjust ways & error: and that justly claims of us a fidelity of memory, being expressed in the fidelity of Death. What the zeal of Rollocke was, let his Life witness: what his candour of Loyalty, let his Death witness: who in an exhortation likewise to his Brethren of the Ministry, did with Vehemency of Spirit in a dying body, move them to Peace and Obedience to their Prince; magnifying the felicity of their Times and King, and seriously advising them to beware, that they cast not down the Church from its height of happiness. This was the Wisdom and Loyalty of Death; that a man almost in the point of his own dissolution, should endeavour to keep others in the Bond of Peace. These men's examples, are to men in some things precepts: and would they would make these precepts in death their sure examples in their Life. Then would not the Bond of Peace be so easily broken, or would as easily be united. In the days of Alexander the Second, King of Scotland there was a marvellous breach of this holy Bond in an outrage of the multitude, no less Mad than Cruel, committed upon one Adam than Bishop of Cathnes, whom inhumanely they burned alive in his own house. A fire of wrath, alas, too cruel! yet not so cruel, as sometime the fire of zeal! The circuit of that flame was but domestic; but this sometimes over-runnes a Country. Yet the Motive to this extraordinary act, was not Episcopacy, his Eminent Order in the Church; but an Ordinary act of it, his Excommunicating some, for their Contempt and Obstinacy in not paying their Tithes! They showed themselves to be as destitute of mercy, as of Justice! They first robbed God, and then killed his Priest? A very congruous and graceless Method? In which fact, had not their fury been blind, they might have seen the promise, which they lost in the dishonour and cruelty toward their Spiritual Father; even long Life in the Land, which the Lord had given them; and so whiles they had longer paid the Tithes of their estates, they had longer with duty & sound policy kept their estates. But as this was a marvelous breach of the bond of peace, so as marvelous was the repair of it; there being no less a number executed for this crime, than four hundred persons! A number subtly (as may be suspected) concealed by Buchanan, but faithfully mentioned by Boëthius. And such was then the Justice and devotion of Scots upon Scots in behalf of a Bishop! And surely it was well, that the greater part was the wiser: though the worse was too great, being enough to undo the bound of peace and themselves. And as the fire of wrath is thus wild, so zeal sometimes yields a worse wildfire. But as in the fire which amongst the Jews descended and burned up the Sacrifices, that were accepted, the face of a Lion (as the Rabbins tell us) did appear: which (not to question the truth of the relation) may usefully seem to have implied the acceptance of all Sacrifices, by the Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah: So may we not as truly say, when in the Fires of armed subjects zeal, the face of the Lion, the countenance of the Prince does not appear, can such be acceptable flames? Can such be acceptable sacrifices? Obedience is better than such sacrifice!  
The Bond of Peace than is like a just man's promise (it is indeed his duty) it must be kept. To get and Enlarge are probably Acts of Wisdom and power: but to keep what is gotten and enlarged, implies some accession of Happiness. Inheritance, though it comes by nature, yet in best Tempers it comes with wisdom, and does as well Instruct, as Enrich: whiles the mind prevented in the wisdom of Purchase, employs itself in the wise happiness of preservation. It was the task of Caesar, to draw the sword: it was the task of Augustus, to Sheath it: the first was the work of power; the last, of Wisdom: which more diligently studied how to Bond the Empire, than posterity did to Enlarge it. And surely though under Trajan (yet happy then also) it was of greater extent, yet was it under Augustus of greater Happiness: This bringing it to a Height, the other to a precipice; whence if it moved forward, it was with Ruin, if backward, with shame. Trajan's felicity than was rather of the Man, then of the Empire: of Earthly happiness That being the Truest, which we do as well Bequeath, as Enjoy; good men counting it their best felicity, to make Succession rather the Partaker of their felicity, than the Admirer. A wisdom which should as effectually incline a people, as a Prince, to desires of Peace. And this was that, which in Story, if we will look so fare bacl, has so renowned the Assyrian Monarchy; which triumphed in power Thirteen Hundred years, and since in Fame about Twice so long: the length of their felicity supplying the defects of their story. And this was that in a nearer example, which unto this age has added such glory to the Scottish Monarchy: which, if story be not Poetical in Antiquities, has fare outlived the Assyrian date, being now almost two thousand years old! To which rare age that Body of people never attained by the calenture of Rebellion, but by the sound constitution of obedience. Obedience indeed was the beginning of their glory; they swearing Obedience to their first King Fergusius and to his Successors: for so speaks Buchanan, for all his Dialogue; Fergusio victore domum reverso Scoti ei posterisque ejus regnum jurejurando confirmarunt. This was a Covenant no less wise, then large; Obedience being a subtle Victory over Kings; the art of duty having been ever more powerful than an unreverent sword: This may sometimes get: but That only can keep. Now getting without keeping is but the prosperity of Melancholy; the beginning of it being but in a false joy, but the end of it being in a true sorrow. As then the wise hand, which knows as well how to keep, as get, is of such moment and praise in civil life; so needs must it be attended with success and glory in the business of the Church, Which, if it keep but an Ontward Unity, becomes Glorious; as, if it keeps an inward Unity, the Unity of the Spirit, it becomes happy. Unity indeed is the Health of the soudest body, yet uniformity is the beauty of it: which is always the aim, though not always the success of an exact statuary. Knots, or Crosse-veines may make the stuff sometimes less obedient to the Edge and Wisdom of the chisel; and sometimes unhappily ready to cracke-off in the working: yet conformity of the parts is still in itself the Art and Improvement of Perfection. If we behold the Church of Rome, shall we deny in it wit and Success? When as, though it has almost been utterly dissolved by some tedious Schisms; the mere recovery to a Union and continuance, has made it become Famous, and seem Happy. O then let us learn that Special wisdom, which is to learn wisdom of an Adversary. Let us diligently Imitate, yet wisely Inverte the Roman Practice; Let us become happy, and seem Famous; yea, let us become happy, though we seem not Famous. And seeing that in a private estate, the best purchase is of Fee simple, whereby one does at once, with the best skill of Thrift, both get and keep; Let the Art of Unity be made the Study of Conscience.  
Indeed without Study this Art is not attained, not fit to be attained. Whiles then the Apostle moves us to Unity, and moves us also to an Endeavour to it, he bestows upon us as well a Discovery, as an Exhortation, showing us not only the End, but also the means. Endeavour then is that without which, Unity is rather Desired, then Attained; And therefore the Grecians, to show their wisdom in their Endeavour, bound themselves to true Unity, to concord by an Oath, and bound themselves to such an Oath by a Law; endeavouring to preserve Peace by a double bond upon the Soul and upon the Body. The Romans used a like wise Endeavour, and whiles in a Higher, in a wiser strain, making Concord a Deity; thus seeking Peace not by an Oath, but by Prayer: an Oath importing their Own best strength; but Prayer implying the Aid of Heaven. And even thus wise, that is, thus peaceable were very Heathen; thus peaceable among themselves, though without grace; thus peaceable by wise Nature very like grace; striving to make their Peace and their Country of a like circuit. Who then would not study the nature of Endeavour? Who would not study the Art of Endeavour? Diligence there must be as in a Right Archer, that makes his arrow as intentive as his eye. Strength there must be either of Love or War, even such contrary ways leading to the same Unity: which though in itself impli s Love, yet in the attaining of it, is especially like Heaven, which is sometimes taken by violence. Speed there must be: when the Bond of Peace is in danger to slip, what hand will not be quick, what hand can be too quick to repair it? Skill there must be; a reciprocal skill! 'Tis not enough felicity for the most wise hand to direct the ball, if by the hand that should receive it, it be either neglected or diverted. That therefore Diligence, strength, speed and skill may prosper, the Roman deity must be rectified into Truth, concord into God: whose goodness is ready to make an exchange with us, to give us Peace for Prayer. The Sabine Women armed only with Love and Intercession conquered two armies, getting a Victory more famous, than the Sword can win, and more sure than any, but the Victory of Prayer. Pray then we must for Peace, peace, to Advantage Prayer, not corrupt it; peace no less holy, then firm, nor more attended with gladness, then with Innocence. Which if our first parents had not lost, they had rightly Dressed, and so kept their Paradise; nor had that instant terror & expression of war, a fiery sword, driven Man from God Indeed the mercy of the Judgement drove him to the Fear of God, whiles from the Fruition of him; and so at last drove him from Paradise to God But the Divine mercy preserve us from this way of mercy, from this way of Unity, by preserving us in our Paradise, and in a Unity with God and ourselves. Preserve us in the Spirit; by which, whiles we cry, Abba Father, we may remember to make Brotherly Love a part of our Care, as it is of our Inheritance. Preserve us in peace; so preserve us in peace, that war may be always more Odious to us, then Necessary. Preserve us in the Bond of Peace; a bond that may holily encompass both Priest and people; a bond that may happily encompass and Unite Nations. Preserve us in the wisdom of keeping Unity; that neither desperate malignity may precipitate any, nor mistaking devotion slide any, into destruction. Preserve us in the Endeavour of this wisdom, the wisdom of preserving our British Union: which being the happiest Bridge, that was ever raised over Tweed; so may it prove as perpetual as the stream, which it embraces. And that this our Endeavour may prosper, let it Employ and Improve itself by Imitation. Let us either imitate the blessed tongues, which as on this day appeared, by a holy Silence (for they were not heard to speak any thing, though the tongues of Others spoke by Them) or let us imitate the tongues of the Apostles by holy Language. Let the Light of these wonderful tongues, teach us to speak with knowledge; remembering, that though Joel foretold, that in the later days the Spirit should be poured upon all flesh, Saint Peter in the Story of the Apostles Acts, has told us, it was performed in This day's wonder; so that now the ability of instruction is not to be expected from Miracle, but from Industry. Let the fire likewise of these tongues, teach us Charity; and therefore that we never Preach Libel, instead of Reformation. More especially in Peace let every one for his proportion practise a good Imitation of the good Constantine; who cast the hand-writings of Complaints into the fire, quenching so with natural flames, the unnatural flames of contentions. In War, let the Loyal Example of our Forefathers go forth with all our Forces, Providence being the Bite Wing; the left, Power; and Unity, the Body of the Army. So shall Treachery, the false Son of Zeal, be as shameful in its Fall, as in its Rise; and so shall Loyalty, the true Son of Zeal, at last Triumph in the just defence of the just Defender of the Faith. Which grant we beseech thee O Lord of Hosts, for thy son's sake the Prince of Peace, and effect it by the power and Unity of Thy Spirit. To which Blessed and Eternal Trinity in Unity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be for ever ascribed the Glory & Comfort of Victory and Peace.   

OF Rebellion, A SERMON Preached before the Right-Honourable, the Members of Parliament assembled at Oxford, At Saint Macis', May 19 1644.  
By BARTEN HOLIDAY D. D.  of Oxford, and one of His Majesty's Chaplains.  
OXFORD, Printed by W. H. for S. Pocock 1661.   
1 Sam 15.23. 
Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft.  
IT was no less Truth than fancy in the Philosopher that said, could virtue be seen, it would Beget Love and Advance it not only into Admiration, but Rapture: as if for a time it would deprive the soul of its Happiness, by transporting it beyond the apprehension of its happiness. A truth which teaches us a like truth; That Vice, could it be seen, would by the Eye startle the soul to a sacred detestation, whereby it would choose rather to fly the Society of the Body, than not to fly the corruptions of it, which wisdom, though taught by Reason, is Delivered also and confirmed by grace: which, intending to set forth the foulness of disobedience, setts-forth Rebellions the foulest disobedience, expressing it by a Comparison not odious, though of that which is most odious, Witchcraft. The occasion of the Instruction was a Disobedience in omission, by an Earthly King's Neglect of the King of Heaven; by Fearing the People more than God; by displeasing God to please the people. But the Bounty of the instruction is more Chatholique, extending to Active, All active Disobedience, intimating this Theological Truth of proportion, that since He that owes obedience only to God, becomes so guilty only by omission, more guilty must they be, and by Active disobedience, that own obedience to God and Man. So that Rebellion will be as the sin of Witchcraft; this being a Treason against God, by a commerce with his Enemy; that being a Treason against him, whiles against his Anointed. View them in their Certainty, in their Motives, in their Practice, in their Success; and we must acknowledge by the Fitness and Truth, that this Instruction is not only True but Divine.  
Behold the Art, behold the confidence of witches. Is it not a part of their cunning to Deny their cunning? A part of their wickedness to deny their wickedness! Proving their Gild, whiles they Deny it, by Bewitching some to be their Patroness, that yet would Blush to be their Disciples? Have not some of learning and gravity thought themselves wise, in thinking Witchcraft rather a Mistake, than a Crime? And the Black Honour to have been only miscalled the Black Art? Have they not removed the Residence of this sin from the Will to the Fancy? And made it a work fit for the Poet, than the Judge? Have they not at least made it so, under the Time of the Gospel, thinking This light no more to permit, then Allow, such work of Darkness? Have they not endeavoured to remove it as fare from the Censure of the Law, as from the Time of the Law? Have they not Eluded Divine Testimony, rather than Received it, against this Practice, which is a Craft, and would be a Mystery? But do we not know by the Divine word, that Witchcraft is? And by the Divine Justice, that it is condemned? Is not the Law, as well as Ender, a witness of such commerce? A witness against such commerce? And do we not know, that under the times of the Gospel, Man is of the same Frailty, and Satan of the same Malice? And do we not not know, that Temptation is not like the Law of Ceremonies, that was to be Abolished; but like the Law moral, by which both Temptation and sin shall always be attended? And is not this the unhappiness and vanity of Rebellion? Have not some Artists made it a businisse rather of Invention, then of State, bestowing upon every man a Natural supremacy, which might have said Caesar the toil to have Fought for a Monarchy? Shall not every man in his Family, thus become a King Adam? And every Son now by a supernatural Devise become an Elder Brother? A Philosophical Empire, when Individuation shall be Royalty! When men shall be Kings by the Pole! when to have a Head, is by the Riddle of Independency, sufficient Right to claim a Crown! What, will not some bolder Novilist say? Is not my Soul, nay, is not my Body Perfect, being the Work of the most perfect? and shall I betray my native Absoluteness, to the Infamy of Relation, to Dependency? Or, if a Fall in our forefathers must be acknowledged, must it not be acknowledged in All? and so, do I not still retain, though not the old Supremacy, yet an Equality? As if Nature had made every man a Caesar, who could endure no Superior; though not a Pompey, who could endure no Equal. If, say they, men associate themselves into a People, is it not more for safety then for servitude? and so rather Wisdom, than Duty? Or, if they Humble themselves into a People, and are content to be the Neck and Shoulders to sustain a Head, is it not for the Direction and Nourishment of the Body? Who, say they, is the Author, what the End of Government? Does it not Begin, does it not End in the People? Begin in their Will? End in their Well fare? What then shall be Rebellion? shall it be more than a Topical sin, found indeed under some Monarchical Meridian's? shall it be more than a Conditional sin, a sin but of one's own making, whiles but by one's own Consent? Thus Inconsiderate is their subtle Boldness. What's the Efficient cause of a King? surely a acquaint Question? yet a question, that has been moved; and such a question, as will find divers answers. Ask of a Conclave-man, and he will tell you, the Roman Prelate, attributing to the Triple Crown the Sovereignty over All Crowns. Ask of the Disciplinarian, and in substance he will tell you, the People, making Them the Alpha and Omega of Dominion. Ask of the moderete Protestant, and he will tell you, God: who sometimes conveys Royalty by Nature, sometimes indeed by Choice, as sometimes by the Sword. Again they will ask, what's the Final cause of a King? and they will answer, the People's welfare. Certainly a True Answer; and as certainly an Imperfect one. The People's good is an Inferior purpose of Majesty: the Representation of the Divine Majesty is the Highest purpose of Humane Majesty. Hear God's Majesty will be seen; though here but as in a glass; yet so God in a King. The principal use of the Glass is in the principal object seen Through the Glass, seen beyond the glass. A King is a Servant for the People: but he is God's servant. Does not the Law of our Liturgy teach us to teach thus? That He knowing whose Minister He is, may above all things seek thy Honour and Glory. And does not the same Law teach us, That we his Subjects duly considering whose Authority he hath, may faithfully serve honour and humbly obey him? And whose Authority has he, that should thus Humble us? Our own, or Gods? A Minister he is for the People, but also over the People, whiles also for God. Let none then Discourse themselves, let none Devote themselves, mock themselves, out of their Liturgy and Loyalty! And then we shall be not so bewitched, as to deny the certainty of Witchcraft; nor yet so seduced to a Rebellion against Reason, as to deny the unhappy certainty of Rebellion. But unreasonable subtlety will still seem to be reasoning; and at least will Question, when it cannot answer. And ask it will since there is witchcraft, and therefore a Witch, what a witch is, and how as seriously to be convicted, as Punished. That a witch is one, that has power over the Devil, is as Ridiculous, as False; and is not only an Error, but has been also the cause of Error. That a Righteous man has power over the Devil, is not naturally true; it is spiritually true. His victory over the Devil is remotely obtained by the power of prayer, but immediately by God's power. Humane power is naturally less than Angelical; and thus the Devil is naturally greater than the Witch, yet the Exercise of this power is not only by Nature, but also permission. And by permission the evil Spirit can possess a living body; can form in the air a Shape of bodily creatures, can delude & satifty the Eye, the Far, the touch. He than that has a Friendship a sensible Commerce, with this Spirit of Hell, is an Enemy to Heaven; This is a Witch. And this conversation being evident to sense, the sense of the Witch, is therefore possibly and occasionally evident also to the sense of the Witness. Had not this way of Evidence been possible, then had the Law been void: and had it not been sufficient, then had the Law been unjust. But witnesses there were for This condemnation, and therefore Evidence from sense for the Condemnation. Confession also is Legal Conviction; unless Reason Persuades, that it proceeds not from Conscience, but Disease. And is not this the state of a Rebel? Who is not one that has power over the Devil; Alas, he is not his Lord, but his slave! Is he not one, that by the Bondage of Covenant is more subtly united to the Spirit of Division? Some Difference there is indeed; but the more difference the more danger. With the Witch the Devil uses more sensible conversation; with the Rebel, Intellectual; with the witch he deals in some domestic shape, as if he were manageable to a Tameness. With the Rebel he used artificial Instruments; as the tongue of the pleader, the brain of the statist, the devotion of the Priest, the diligence of the Citizen, the wealth of the Merchant, or the pretence of the Diviner; when he would act somewhat of no less Fame, the mischief; then is he certainly to be suspected, when he uses creatures most to be suspected. When he employed the Serpent, he intended not only an Eve or an Adam; it was not a Person, but a generation was his aim. When he uses a Rebel of malignity, an old Serpent, it is not a Man, no not a Monarch, but it is Monarchy and a People that he would Venom to Destruction. Indeed the Serpent is naturally so subtle, that he may seem not to Imitate, but Surpass the Devil, and as the more expert, to have given him his name; the Serpent being not usually called a Devil; but the Devil being usually and aptly called the Serpent. He than that has Commerce with the Spirit of Rebellion is a Rebel; whose properties the Law as well Discovers as Condemns. And such a one is he, that seeks to destroy a settled Monarchy; by an attempt of as much guilt, as subtlety; a guilt which the known Law as well makes known, as Detests: that seeks to destroy fundamental Laws on which it is settled; thus Aiming at destruction and deserving it; Fundamental Laws; which preserve the Liberty of the Subject, without which the people are not in Peace; which also preserve the Prerogative of the Prince, without which a Prince can not be at Peace. These indeed are foundation-stones in the structure of Government; things that should neither be removed, nor moved. And as these Laws are Excellent, so also are they Eminent. Laws are like Foundations, and therefore in some things not like. Similitude there is between them, not Identity. Thus are they like Foundations, as they Bear up Government; they are yet not like them, as Foundations are things, which no body can see. Binding Law must be known Law: promulgation is of the Essence of Law. When Rome first wondered at a parricide, they consulted upon a Law for his punishment. They were almost as near a mistake, as a Consultation, and proved more innocent by chance, then by Intent. They made indeed a Law, or rather enlarged one, whereby he was condemned to the Culeus: but their Old Law for Murder appointed him to the last punishment; the Addition by their new Law was not Death, but Circumstance; The wave, or, the Axe; the keeping in of Breath, or the letting out of Blood, was not Death; it was but the Fashion of Death. Thus all Treason is known by Law that is known. Revelation could not work upon Man, had he not Reason, wherewith to acknowledge Revelation to be Above Reason. Thus Witchcraft and Rebellion are alike in their Certainty and conviction; and not unfitly, being alike from the beginning, in the place of their beginning; not Hell, but Heaven: There was the first witch, there the first Rebel; only with this difference; that there they were not alike, but the same; the first witch there being the first Rebel the abused Excellency of an Angel of Light bewitching him into the Darkness of Rebellion and Hell.  
A like they are in their Motives in respect of God and of Themselves. Sinnes they are all ways when we look upon Man; punishments they are also, when we look upon God. When man too unhappily Loves that which God hates, God sometimes lets him most unhappily love him that hates him, and, by the worst of mistakes, to take the Devil for his God; and thus to be so fare bewitched, as to be a witch. When man likewise too perseveringly Rebel's against God, God sometimes lets him as perseveringly Rebel against Man, against the Man anointed by God; his obstinacy against God being Exposed and punished in his obstinacy against a King. If yet we should wonder, what seeming good can make Man so verily evil as to become a witch; as the Law tells us what he is; so observation may tell us, why he is what he is: And indeed we may see him somewhat moved by his Humour: which though absolutely, being but Natural, it makes him not guilty, inclines him to the way and fashion of his guilt. Sometimes Melancholy corrupts into Curiosity, Curiosity into superstition, as the observation of things rather ridiculous then ominous; which superstition at last turns into Witchcraft; the mind thus becoming first vane, and then wicked. Sometimes Phlegm putrifies into sottishness; sottishness into an Innorance or Negelect of all Religion: which Implety likewise at last is wretchedly perfected into Witchcraft. Sometimes the Blood is Overheated into lust or Ambition, the false delights of the Body and mind; for the attaining whereof, with no less Folly than guilt, it mistakes itself into Witchcraft. Sometimes choler is so whetted by Poverty, or worse sharpened by desire of Revenge; that choosing rather what is worst of all, than nothing at all, and sillily less fearing an Immortal Enemy, than a mortal, takes for its help Witchcraft instead of God. And are not these the preparatives, is not this the Disposition of the Rebel? Is there not the Melancholy Rebel, that growing curious, would fain have a taste of Sovereignty? Like our first parents, that would needs have knowledge of Good and Evil? though indeed it proved the knowledge of Good and the Practice of Evil! And does not his curiosity sometimes grow Superstitious; making the Ephemerideses or a Prognostique Rhyme the Scripture of his fancy? With exact ignorance pointing out the Rising and setting as well of Kings, as of Stars? Thus changing vanity into Crime? Is there not the Plegmatique Rebel, whose Sottishness changing into Irreligion, makes him as careless almost of an Earthly King, as of the King of Heaven! And foolishly think, that he has cast off Subjection, when he has but changed it; nay, instead of being the Subject to a King, become the Slave of a Rebel? Is there not the Oversanguine Rebel, whom Riot makes an Enemy to Justice, as well as to Temperance? Whom Ambition so blinds, that it sets him in the wrong way to Honour which he seeks, by seeking to the Devil for it, when as it is only in the Disposal of God and the King? Is there not the Choleric Rebel, whom want of means moves into want of Duty, striving to make a King, as wretched as himself, when he can not make himself as virtuous, as a King? And is not also sometimes Revenge of more force with him; then Sovereignty? Is it not sweeter to him, than Obedience, or the blessing of Obedience, long Life? Or, the best blessing of that blessing, a good conscience?  
View their Practice, and you must needs view their likeness. The practice of the witch, whether subtle or gross! For, neither knowledge nor sex Excuses nor morally varies their commerce. Does not the Conjurer undertake and abuse the knowledge of things on earth, and in Heaven? Is not his pretence a Government of Spirits, is not his Practice a servitude? Has he not his Circle, his Fasts, his Prayer? Has he not his Earthen Pot full of presumed fire, his book, his Sword? Has he not his frightening Apparitions, his Seals of Servesy, his Binding of Spirits? Has he not his distinction of Operations, of Purposes, of Days? Would he obtain Treasure, Before know Events, get the Victory in Battle, does he not then consult his Mercurial Spirits? Would he Repair the Decays of Learning, Advance the poor, cast down the mighty, does he not then consult his Mercurial Spirits? As for other purposes other Spirits? And do these Mercurial Spirits sometimes appear like a Bear, or a Dog, or a changeable coloured vesture? And is not the motion of them as the motion of a glift'ring, or Silver cloud? View the Ruder witch the Conjurer by Roat, and has she not store of Ignorance, and Zeal of mischief? Does she not Learn to do Evil, and would she not yet sometimes seem to teach the Devil to do good? Is she not one that has only wit enough, and conscience enough to Damn herself? And is not this the Condition and variety of Rebellion? Is there not the Seducing and the Seduced Rebel? The one sort full of wit, and both of wilfulness? Do they not profane the knowledge of things Natural and Divine, making the Stars the servants of their Art and malice? Do they not Calculate and Attempt the Periods of Kingdoms? And whiles they would seem to become Rulers, do they not make themselves unruly Servants? Have they not their Circuit of Activity and Intelligence? Have they not a Devotion, that sometimes looks like Fasting and Prayer, Exercises not of Sanctity but of Pretence, if the Body be not Humbled by them, and the Soul Advanced? If they look as pale with Envy, as with Fasting? If they rise not so high by Prayer, as by Ambition? Would any invite us to see their Humility? Would any invite God to see their humility, with what Humility they come into his presence, if they spare not to tread upon the Crown and Mitre? Is this the Holy Trampling under foot the Lion and the Dragon? Have not such their Earthen Vessel too full of fire? Perfumed indeed, but with the Incense of Sulphur; making a sinner like his own Helli, a Habitation of Fire and Brimstone? Have they not their Book, which they make theirs more by mistake, then by understanding? Being ignorant commonly of the Language, and too commonly of the sense? A book whose Mystery poses them, and whose Letter condemns them? whiles they Hate their Enemies, whom, if not truly Enemies, Nature bids them Love; if truly Enemies, Grace bids them Love. Have they not a Sword, whose best Commendations were to be Rusty, so it were not with Blood? Have they not their apparitions, as monstrous as Jealousy? Have they not their close counsels, as much removed from the eye of the People, as the China Monarch? As much removed from their understanding, as the Table of Isis? The Delphian Oracle compared with This, was but an Essay of the devil's wit? Have they not the Art of Binding of Spirits? Their Familiar Spirits? Making them more readily forth coming by commitment, then by Covenant? Have they not their diversity of Works, sometimes by Flattery, sometimes by Cruelty, always by pretence? Their diversity of Plots, still varied according to the News and Degrees of Success? Their diversity of times, more distinguishing the Calendar by Prophecies, then by Months? Have they not their Mercurial Spirits, for the obtaining of Wealth. Fore knowledge, Victory? Things that are only disposed by God, though sometimes to the ungodly? So that they always show the Error of their way, even when they attain the End of their way! Have they not their Projecting Spirits, for the Repair of Learning, whiles they destroy the Learned, that should repair it? Mistaking Zeal for knowledge, and so the affections for the understanding? Their projecting Spirits for the advancing of the Poor, whiles they compel Hospitals to become Benefactors to Rebellion! Leav'ning them only to their New Endowment, Hunger and Cursing? Their Projectors for the casting down of the mighty, though against the Command of the Almighty, making themselves under God, what God has made a King, Supreme Governors? And are not these Spirits sometimes like a Bear, for Cruelty, for Craft, for unquietness? The Bear, that tears the Prey, and when pursued, lest he become a prey, goes backward into his den that the Hunter rather mistaks, them finds the way of his paw? The Bear, whose head or feet are always in motion? And are not these Spirits sometimes like a Dog? Whose common distempers are Bloodthirstiness and madness? A creature that is the sire of blind whelps, which (as some observe) the more they are, the longer it is e'er they see! And are not these Spirits sometimes like a changeable-coloured vesture, which by the Art of Mixture pleases and cheats the Eye? View it one way, it is Azure, not unlike Heaven; you'd take it for a Robe of purity and Peace: View it another way, you'll judge it a full Sanguine, a garment rolled and delighted in blood! And are not these Spirits sometimes like a Silver cloud? A cloud indeed of more show than moisture; a cloud that is more ready to bestow his drops upon the Sea, then on the Land? Less profitably and less naturally upon the Sea, when as it owes itself unto the Land! View the under-Rebel, the Rebel by Implicit Disobedience, and is he not solemnly Ignorant, and Devoutly mischievous? Does he not Break All Laws, whiles he would have some made; seeking indeed to make Law rather than preserve it? Does he not lose true liberty in the pursuit of mistaken Liberty? Does he not endeavour to Purify the Church by Sacrilege, counting it not holy, till it be Poor? Is he not one of so cunning a Conscience, as to convey himself into Slavery and Damnation? Surely Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft!  
View them in their Success, and you must needs again view their likeness. What's the Success of Both? Is is not Sorrow? Sorrow to see their foolish loss of Innocence, and their Just loss of safety? Is it not Poverty? Poverty, that is sometimes a punishment for great sins, and often a Provocation to them? Is it not shame, which no veil can cover, nor Impudence can Neglect? Is it not Death? Death, which in most cases is the End of misery, but in these rather the beginning? Surely Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft! Can any man else Delight in sorrow? Confidently embrace fears! Leave poverty to his heirs as the surest Inheritance, which indeed can neither be plundered nor Forfeited? Make shame his Heraldry; shame; which unhappily is as perpetual as glory! and after Death lead a life mixed with Death, by the riddle of misery? Yet has not this been the common Reward and deceit of this sin? Whatsoever has been the Pretence, has not this been commonly the Reward? Did not the Nobles under Henry the Third pretend the protection of of the People? Did they not under King John, calling themselves the Army of God, pretend the Protection of Royalty, though not of the King himself who (as some sillily tell us) had given away his Royalty and People to the Pope? Did they not under Edward the Second pretend the protection of virtue itself? And did not Wyatt among others pretend the protection of Religion itself? Yet did all these pretended protections of Royalty, of People, of virtue, of Religion, protect them from the common Fate and Merit of Pretenders? Can then Rebellion still prevail on reason, were it not a Witchcraft? Behold its success in picture, that is, in its Desolations; and can the News so much affect, as the Sorrow disaffect? Behold Desolations in the City, the late Royal City; does it not send out its People, brought up in Peace, to the Sword? Does it not woefully empty itself of sins by emptying itself of sinners? Are not its Palaces defamed into Jails? Places of Honour and liberty changed into places of shame and Restraint? Are not its Churches, where formerly was sounded the Gospel of Peace, filled with the clamours though not of Law, yet of War? Are not their streets, where once Joy and Freedom triumphed, scarce free for a Loyal whisper or a sigh? Are not her Inhabitants Stripped, though not by Israelites, yet as Egyptians? Have they not lost their Jewels with their Peace? And could Rebellion thus prevail, were it not a Witchcraft? Behold desolations in the Country! Is not the Horse almost grown a stranger to the Blow, and more acquainted with the Music of the Pistol, then of the whip? The Ox more familiar with the Shambles, then with the york? Has not the flame licked, if not devoured beautiful habitations? Is not the whole year become an Autumn, wherein Trees, by unhappy necessity, seem as carelessly to fall, as formerly leaves? Is not almost every where Baldness instead of Beauty? As if War meant not to leave felling, till there were no timber left to helve an Axe! And could Rebellion thus prevail, were it not a Witchcraft? Behold Desolations in the Universities! Do not the Arts mourn, as if their former Blacks had not been a token of civility, but of prophecy? May not Grammar forget congruity in such an Age of Irregularity? Is not Rhetoric a Solecism, betraying its decay of Art, if it bestows words on that sorrow, which is best expressed by silence? Poetry, though it have rather Argument than Leafure, may yet fear to be no less posed then Employed, Invention being prevented and outgone by Action! Logic, cannot well retain its Reason, being so over set with Disloyalty and strife? Arithmetrique, that was once not tired in numbering the stars and Sands, now taints with Melancholy in reckoning the slain and captives? Geometry, that was acquainted and delighted with Holy Architecture, finds now employment but in the Trench and Bulwark! Astronomy has more Galilaeans still gazing at the effects of her last Comet, then at all her Stars! The Optics, as if Injuriously hindered, weep, that now scarce any thing is seen but by Refraction; which yet may be increased by our just tears! Masique is so fled or changed, that Harmony, like Obedience, may only be found in Heaven, or the Heavenly! The Earth, the Water, the Air, the Fire, are even so Tainted, that Philosophy knows not its own Elements! and so divided, as if they ' would scarce agree to farther composition? Morality! Looks it not like an old piece of chivalry? The Virtues and vices being taken for Wanderers and Fancy, for Vtopians Errand? Oeconomie, may it not fear a famine, and implore your Honourable mercy? If the Blow cease the Grinders must cease; and the Mourners, if there shall be any, and they able to go, may go about the Streets! Policy is become of more Practice than Success, and very like the Italian Masters, of that Craft; being commonly as Bad and unhappy as Macchiavel and his Borgia! The Physician has not lost his Art, but Tired it, in the discovery of disease, in the recory of Health; which always was held Imperfect, and now Feigned! The Law sees the old Enmity of Man; but not the old Remedy! Divinity is become like profaned Majesty! It had once Prerogative; now Subsistence is denied! It seemed once to have its part, whiles on Earth, in Heaven: and surely now it seems to have no part in Earth! 'Twas once the Rule of Reason and Wisdom: it is now the Servant of Ignorance and Outrage! The Priest had once a part in most Sacrifices: the Priest himself is now become the Sacrifice! And could Rebellion thus Prevail, were it not a Witchcraft? Behold desolations in the Field, a great Aceldama a field of Blood, a field of Battle! Where destruction is an Art! Where to deface the workmanship of God in Man is glory! Where Phlebotomy is not Cure, but mischief! The Blood so flowing, as if the Body were all Vein! Where the Horse and his Rider strive as much to surpass one an other, as to surpass the Enemy, whiles in a superexaltation of courage, they seem as greedy of death, as of Victory! Where the Sword and the Spear, the Instroments of Destruction are destroyed! Where the Roaring of the Canon, and the Groans of the Wounded are a Representation and mixture of the most obstinate Terrors Thunder and Hell! And could Rebellion thus prevail, were it not a Witchcraft? A like then they are, unhappily a like; both Pernicious, both Diffusive! plagues that invade Countries and People! Our Neighbour France; if the Confession of a Witch may be believed, had in it at one time, as B●dine tells us, above a hundred thousand Witches! A half quarter of the Number had been wonder and plague enough! And has it not had also thousands of Rebels? Diseases these are, that in our own Country have over spread Man and Ages! The Records of each Country can witness against Witchcraft: the Records of our Nation can witness against Rebellion. Peruse our story for almost six Ages, from the Invasive Arms of the Norman to these present Intestine, and you shall scarce find the Reign of any Prince free from the Distress of Treason or War! Not the Cruelty of the Conqueror, the Prosperity of Henry the Second, the Victories of Edward the Third, nor the cunning of Henry the Fourth; Not the magnanimity of Henry the Fift, the Simplicity of Henry the sixth the Prudence of Henry the Seaventh, nor the confidence of Henry the Eight; Not the Innocency of Edward the Sixth, the devotion of Queen Mary, the Justice of Queen Elizabeth, nor the mercy, nor the Manifold Excellencies of our late & present Sovereigns, have yet preserved them from the Distress of Treason or War! As if the Wisdom of the Divine Majesty would in this Life temper the felicity of Humane Majesty with some distempers! And teach a People, if they be His people, that they are not only the People of his pasture, but also the Sheep of his hand; that he does not only Feed them, but Examine them; that when they come into his hand, it usually is to be Fleeced or Cured, and so is usually not without loss or pain.  
But shall we now more nearly see the Provocations to permit Rebellion, in respect of God? Religion and Conscience will find out sins! Sins in the City; behold pride of wealth, though often got by a servile hand! Envy at Nobility, though the proper right of Birth or virtue! Gluttony, a vice in a great Fortune, a Curse in a small. Deceit in Trade, a secret Theft: Extortion, an Impudent Theft! Libertinisme; an Independency, proper to the devil's Corporation, being never granted by God or Prince! Sins in the Country; behold pride also there; the Inferior swelling not towards the worth of his superior, but the vanity! Behold also there a Lay-Non-Residency of the Rich, which in times of peace, too much neglecting their Habitations, may seem to have provoked God to Neglect them: and as they have deprived the Country of Exemplary virtue and of its Native wealth, by carrying up their wealth and appetites to the great City, their gold, by the Alchemy of Sin, returns exchanged in Lead and Steel, to lay waste their dwellings! Behold also their malice, the melancholy of Sin, corrupting the opportunity of blessed contemplation. into the Curse of Imagining mischief! Sins shall we find also in the Residences of the Muses? Alas, they have more need of Comfort, than accusation; yet some would there espy out pride. But can we suppose it in an estate founded upon piety? it Were against Justice. Can we suppose it in an estate founded upon Worth? it Were against wisdom; worth being most Humble, when it is most! Some would espy out sloth; which there were rather an Impropriety, than a vice, being contrary to the nature of Learning, which, like virtue, delights in Action. But can any eye espy out covetousness, being inconsistent with the Liberal Arts? Sins shall we find also in an Army? Yet there in some behold Rapine, that makes pretence Title and violence possession! Behold drink and lust, by which valour is wounded without a bullet, and shamed without Flight! Behold the Day of Divine worship; and happy were it, if the Body of that worship were at least attended with the due shadow of it. Behold the injury offered to God's Honour in his Name, a sin that is most Familiar, and should be most strange to a profession, that stands so much upon point of Honour. The great Satirist called a Soldier a Sacrament, or Oath, because a sworn Man, or one that had taken the Oath of Fidelity to the Roman General. Yet without figure he did intent, it should be understood Not without Figure. But now we must desire, that an Oath and a Soldier may not become the same Thing, and so unhappily lose a very good Figure! And are there not yet other provocations, Entravagant both for their Subject and Degree? Is not the understanding sometimes too Audacious, swelling into Heresy, as against even the Godhead of our Saviour? For which Rebellions against God, does not God often suffer Rebellions amongst Men? Did not Posa the Jesuit within a Ten year's Remembrance, raise even the Spanish devotion, though so Saturnine, in too many, and too great ones, unto Opinions not only against the Schoolmaster of their Church, Aquinas, and the Fathers of the Church, but with a precise Impiety against the Apostles creed? Has not their own Vargas (whither under a Name of Truth, or of Fiction and Safety) discovered the dancer with as great Zeal, as the Iberian statists have endeavoured to cover it with Wisdom? And yet may we not suspect such Tumult in Religion, to be Represented, if not rewarded in their Catalonian Tumults? Which without a Fleet may seem to have brought the Netherlands into Spain? And is not the understanding sometimes too Humble, falling to an Adoration of humane Wisdom, thereby showing its humane folly, whiles it would make Men, what God will not make them, Infallible? The Council of the Amphictyones, that long saved Greece from dissolution, could not at last save itself from it! It proved Finite, both in the Degree of the wisdom and the continuance; though it continued sixteen Hundred years. The great Council of God's own people, were so deserted of God, that they condemned the Son of God of Blaphemy against God To overvalew Humane power is likewise an argument of humane weakness. Whiles our Seas and Cliffs have made us swell with pride, and stand-high with scorn of a foreign Enemy, have we not forgetfully divided ourselves against our selves becoming like the Waves and Cliffs, which we would needs be like, one dreadfully dashing against the other? And are not the affections sometimes dangerously Fixed on the defence of an old plunder? Nay, the attempt of a New? Impropriations are the outcry of many; but are they the Care of many? Or is their Restitution wished with as due Charity, as Zeal? Outcry for the Church must not deserve an Outcry against the Church. Are the Possessors of them more indebted to the Church, than other Christians, when they receive no more benefit, than other Christians? Are they held of the Church, or of the Law? And shall the Highest Assurance, Law, by which they are held, make the purchase just; and shall the Highest Assurance, Law, make the possession unjust? As than Religion tells us, that the blessing of the restitution concerns a People; so Justice tells us, so Charity not only towards the people, whom this Spiritually concerns; but also towards the particular Possessors, whom this temporally concerns, require the Charge of the restitution, of the people that are partakers of the Blessing? a blessing doubtless, no less possible, then Admirable? Admit in some latitude of reckoning, the Number of Impropriations were Four thousand; admit their value were thrice four subsidies; Wisdom, and Peace, and Time, can contrive the redemption; and inviting God to bestow on our Nation Pardon and Fame, Eternize This for the Great, the Holy Council; and This people for the Holy People! But are there not some more ready to take away, or exchange, what is left? As if they would teach the living to make a New will for the Dead? Nay, for the living God? Who has by his own Authority freely annexed tithe to the Priesthood of Melchizedec, and therefore made it as perpetual, and so as unchangeable, as that Priesthood. And are not the affections sometimes dangerously changeable, preferring Innovation and Hope before experience and Safety? Did not this overthrow the Athenians, though Proud and Subtle! Did they not Obey and Enjoy for almost five hundred years a Free Monarchy? Did they not afterwards impair their Government and Happiness, by making their Princes, though Perpetual, subject yet to Account and Censure? And though Fear checked them from farther vanity for some hundreds of years, yet by new changes to Decennial Principality, then to Democracy, then to Oligarchy, were they not first deceived and at last undone? Did not their Trust choose and mistake a Council of Four Hundred? whom neither Number nor Modesty could restrain from Tyranny? Did it not afterwards mistake Thirty, whose number indeed was less, but not their Injustice? did they not at last, against the Judgement and Spirit of their Best Orator, acknowledge the petty Macedonian for their Master, who would not endure the Renowned Persian for their Lord? Nay, when as they had indifferently escaped the subtlety of Philip, and the power of Alexander?  
Let every one then be Freely subject, be wisely subject to that Advice of the wise King, Meddle not with them, that are given to Change. A change it is and a wonder, that Sense should Rule, should Enforce Reason; That the Body should rule the Head! When in all causes a King is next under God Supreme Governor, how can a people whether single or united, be the Governor of That Governor? A great Council may be the Adviser of a Prince; but as the Statute-Law of our Prayer Binds us to Confess before God, it is God that is the only Ruler of Princes. That Council than is truly Great, that is as Great in Loyalty, as in Advice; A Council, that writes its story and Honour in its Loyalty; a Council, that meddles not with them, that are given to Change. And yet there are two Changes Lawful; whereof the one will always be desired, and the other Ought to be; one is a Change in a deliverance from distress; Nature teaches This to be Lawful; Grace farther teaches, that the means must be Lawful. We must not remove Temporal Evils by Spiritual Evils, misery by Disloyalty; no, not Spiritual Evils by Spiritual Evils. We must help ourselves not by a violence, against man, but by a holy violence the force of Prayer, with God. Then will he make the Christian yoke perfectly Christian, that is, an easy yoke. God's Wisdom and Justice so order the World, that generally People under Paganism or Mahometanisme are under Tyrannies; as if the state of their Bodies Imitated and Expressed the state of their souls. Indeed they are a People and only by Force: but they that are ordered by the Gentleness of Grace, generally enjoy the Government of Grace and Peace. If then even Christians feel grievous miseries, they must in a Justifying of God's Justice, acknowledge grievous Sins; and if miseries without amendment, their sins also to be without due amendment. Which moves to a second change, which ought to be desired, Deliverance from sin. And if we compare these deliverances, we shall find the first to be the effect of the second; the Outward of the Inward; God making the Soul the best Physician of the Body. Against the Mischiefs of Witchcraft, some relate, that the Toadstone is of Power: but more wisely, because more naturally, they avouch, that it is excellently powerful to drive poison from the Heart, as also to cure Fiery Swell. A sad, yet an Instructive emblem of a State; and no less strange in story, then in Virtue. Crusius the Suevian Annalist tells of one, that by a River's side discovered a prodigious heap of venomous creatures, which for the terror of their noise and number, might, it seems, have exercised as well a man's Saving faith as his Historical; and that on the Third day, before which they did not disperse themselves, there remained only a Snake on a mass of Slime, a dead Toad, and, near the Place, a precious stone, which being brought away and cleansed appeared afterward to be the Effect and Remedy of rank Poison. A strange experiment of the Divine Love; which out of a Consultation of Venoms, could produce Health; as out of Corrupt Manners wholesome Laws; and by Divine Art change Viper into Restorative! O let us then by the Art of Misery, the Art of Prayer, attempt the like happy, the like wise Wonder! Let us from Sin, whether our own or Others, grow Holy; from the Degree of Sin, more Holy! Let the beginning of Grace beget Peace: Let the Progress of it beget Love. Let us Conjure-downe the Witchcraft of Rebellion, not by Exorcism but Repentance. Let us more tremble at Sin, then at the Sword; nay, let us so fear God, that we may fear only God. So will the Lord of Hosts become unto us the Prince of Peace, and bestow upon us the Peace of God: which though in its excellency it passes all understanding, yet shall its Comforts affect our Affections and Sense. Which Blessings, O Lord, bestow upon us, that in Unity we may bless Thee, the blessed Trinity; to which Three Persons and One God, be ascribed the Glory of Power and Peace, World without end.  
FINIS.   

OF Absaloms' Ambition, A SERMON Preached before the PRINCE His Highness, at Christ-Church in OXFORD, November 10. 1644.  
By BARTEN HOLIDAY D. D.  of Oxford, and one of His Majestics Chaplains.  
OXFORD, Printed by W. H. for S. Pocock 1661.   
2 SAM. 15.4. 
Absalon said moreover, O that I were made Judge in the Land, that every Man which hath any Suit or Cause, might come unto me, and I would do him Justice.  
While the most excellent Angel was content with his own excellency, he retained it: but when he aimed at Another's excellency, he lost his own; and thus by the strange imposition of mistake, became a Devil, when he thought to become a God. Which unhappiness of the most happy Angel, that should have been unto man an example of Terror, is become unto him an example of imitation: and man, rather than he will not be like an Angel in the Height of his Attempt, will be like him in the misery of his Fall. And so like unto him he is in the misery of his Fall, that this Great Sin looked like a defilement rather of the Spirit, then of the Body. He would needs in Excellency be like even unto God, by which desire he became unlike him; and aiming to become more than Man, he became less than Man; this was a second Adam of his own making. This mere Man thought it no Robbery to be Equal to God; and made his desire no less Food then Wicked; it being as much without possibility, as without Reverence. And as this Adam did not die without Issue, no more did his Appetite; an Appetite to attain Glory without Goodness; like that of a deceiving and a deceived Beauty; which fetches Complexion not from the Blood, but from the Bone. And this false Appetite to false Glory, as in former times it descended to a Lamech or a Nimrod, men devoted to Kill or Tame Mankind; so in aftertimes to an Absalon, who was as verily the son of Adam, as of David. Like David he Fell, but not like David risen again. Like Adam he fell: the Tree was a Mischief to them both; to the one by the Fruit: to the other by the Bough; and though Adam's fall was a greater Mischief to Others, Absaloms was probably a Greater mischief to Himself. Yet since Ruin is Instructive, affording as well Wisdom, as Melancholy, we may with safety and Delight view the Person, this Person, Absalon; as singular for his Variety, as for his Crime. We may view his Diligence, in the promoting of his Plot, though not of Himself. Much had he done, much had he said; yet more he Does, and more he says; He said Moreover. We may view his Ambition, yea his Heart, which is at his Mouth, before his Words; they were ushered with a Sigh, O, that I were made Judge in the Lad. A very fit one in his Own Judgement, and therefore probably the less Fit. We may view the Extent of his Ambition, which with more impudence than isufficiency, desires that Every man, which has any Suit or Cause, might come unto Him. This Judge would be a Judge of Judges, a Supreme One. We may view the Pretence of his Ambition; He would do a Royal wonder; he would please God and Man; He would do Justice. O the Devotion of Treason! the Justice of Injustice! that would wrong a King, by seeming to Right a People! This is the way of Absalon, the Person to be viewed; whose Folly, by the Art of Example, may make Others wise, Behold Absalon.  
A man so excellent, that you may find in him all excellencies, except Sovereignty and Grace. Would you see the Glory of Birth? In this he did as much surpass his Brethren, as Saul in stature surpassed the People. Even Solomon, his brother, was but a younger brother, and in Birth meaner. He was indeed the Son of a King, but Absalon was the Son and Nephew. Israel and Geshur conspired to ennoble this conspirator. Solomon's Mother was the Wife of a King, Absalom's Mother was the Wife and Daughter of a King, which doubled Blood doubled his Spirits, and made the Pulse of his Ambition beat High. Would you see the Glory of Comeliness? Behold this delicate Imposture of Nature; framed by Nature, as it were by Art, to Deceive and Please, From the Sole of the Foot even to the crown of the Head he was without blemish; he was an Absalon. Had Virtue been to be pictured, it might have been made like Absalon, who was destitute of that, which he was most like. Would you see the Glory of Age? He was about the Midst and strength of Man's Time. He wanted nothing to the felicity of years but the Date of a Coronation. Of this defect indeed in a sound Body his mind fell sick; which cast him into some convulsions of Treason. He was mature for Government, had he not been more ready to rule others, than Himself. Will you see the Glory of Subtlety? He was such a Master in the Politics, that he seemed to master the Master of them, Ahithophel: whose Oracle was at His command and Censure. He knew Ahithophel's infirmity, as well as his Wisdom; his desire of Honour and Revenge He knew, that a reverend Counsellor might in a possible frailty hooe to have his Wisdom more admired under a Young, then under an Aged master. He knew Ahithophel had been wronged in his Niece Bathsheba; though the loss of her Good name was partly recompensed by a Great. And thus he made him venture to repay sin with sin, Murder with Treason; and by a new Master to revenge himself on an Old. Would you see the Glory of Courage? 'Twas Absalon durst revenge his injured Sister, making blood the price of Lust, redressing a Great sin by a greater. 'Twas Absalon durst revenge himself on Warlique Joab; to make him remember that he forgot him. He knew him to be a warrior, and dealt with him in a military way; he fired his field of Corn; to let him know, that he had but changed his flame of Love into the flame of revenge; inviting kim thus by a discourtesy, to do him a Courtesy with the King. Would you see the Glory of Hope? He was in the Eye and Heart of the People: he was the Eye and Heart of the people; their Delight and Life. Their Love to David was grown old like David; and liking any Innovation, so of their own choice, they would by a kind Treason, obey his Son, counting it not a Loss, but a Change of Loialty. And shall we now wonder if such a multitude of excellencies be attended by the Multitude? If the Glory of Birth, of Comeliness, of Age; if the Glory of Subtlety, of Courage, of Hope, so daze the eyes of the People, that with Civil Idolatry they mistake and adore a Rebel for a King? And yet though they would not see, they might have Remembered the Faults of Absalon, as well as of David, They might at least have remembered, the Vanity of his Pillar, which indeed he erected to his Memory; a remembrance rather of folly then of Worth. Absalon having no Son, a monument of Nature, to preserve his Name, thought to supply it by a monument of Art, like the Rhodian folly of the Colossus; which though it was twelve years in Erecting,  five times twelve was demolished in the moment of an Earthquake, in Dispatch, Quick; in Fame, Perpetual! Trajan's Pillar was more happy; being after its fall raised again. Shall we say it seems more happy than Trajan? Whiles of the Memorial of a Heathen, it is made the Pedestal, of a Christian memorial, the Cross? But Absalom's Pillar has not by Industry won a more lasting memory, than the King's dale in which it stood; or then the Heap of stones over his traitorous Carcase, and that without Expense or Care. The first Age too, we hear, had pillars, intended Monuments of Arts and Skill; secured by their constitution of Brick and Stone against Flood and Fire; but, alas, they fell like those that raised them, though not so soon. Their Cement was but frail against Time and the Pickaxe. Indeed, what is Fame without Virtue, being committed to the ridiculous Eternity of Air or Earth? to the breath of Report, or to the corruptible materials of Books, monuments commonly but of rags and gall. And what were Absaloms' Abilities, but the Occasions and Companions of Treason; with which they were at a Peace of Consent to raise a War.  
Behold his Diligence, in his, Preparation; which he makes so visible, that you must needs behold it. Behold his Chariots and his Horses, which by the Ear command the Eye to attend them; the Wheel and Hoose seeming as furious, as the Chariotier and Ambition. Behold his fifty slaves, though not his Subjects, running before him, occasioning others to run to see them. He would have the Glory of Majesty, though he had not the Right. He risen early: Gild is unnaturally watchful, as Innocency is commonly too Secure. He stood beside the way of the Gate: He was nearer to the Seat of Justice, then to Justice. He waited on the People as they came; but it was that they might come and wait on Him. His Enquiry seemed Love, being about their Cities and Causes. Indeed all their Cities, that is a Kingdom, was his Aim; and the Main Cause, which he intended, was his Own. He bids them see, that their matters were Right; when as his Heart could rightly tell him, that his own were wrong. He flaunderd his Sovereign of Injustice & Sloth; as that he would not do Justice, no not by a Deputy. Nor does he here rest; his Tongue could no more rest, than his Heart. And yet he spoke not in Vanity, but Cunning. This Great Artist knew both the Rule and Use of silence, When his Revenge intended the death of his brother A●n non, he spoke neither good, nor bad to him; as if his brother had been dead already. Yet when his Plot prompted his Tongue, he could work a Politic Miracle upon Himself, and speak. Silence and Speech are like the Tongue, to which they belong; which by the Ancients was held Sacred to Mercury, with them a Deity and a Planet; good with the good and bad with the bad; and such is the Tongue with a Good or a Bad Heart. Silence, that Hides a Mischief, is a Mischief; and Speech, that Promotes a Mischief, is a greater Mischief; and such was the Silence and Speech of Absalon: whose Silence was Murder, and his Speech Treason. He moved the People to remove David: he moved the people to Settle Himself in the Throne; even in that Throne from which his Merits should have expected rather Judgement, than Honour. Full was his Heart, and neither Nature nor Ambition would let it break. Speak therefore he Must, and he Does Speak, that which his own subtlety knew to be Folly, had he not spoken it to the People. To these indeed his Treason, nay his Confession of Treason, seemed Reformation. Let his own mouth judge him, whiles his Desire says moreover, O, that I were made Judge in the Land.  
The Desire of things needful is natural: the desire of things pleasant is sometimes lawful, most commonly dangerous: which latter as we must always suspect, so must we never corrupt the former. We must not corrupt just desires by unjust means to effect our desires. A sigh then for that which we may not desire, deserves a sigh. Yet such is the sorrow of ambition: which though it implies a love of one's self, implies as certainly a vexation of one's self: which yet a sigh seems to mitigate, though not satisfy; as if the desire and the sigh would be lost together. But surely ambition is unhappily more constant: And though it be a vanity, yet in the pursure of its object is rather swift then fickle. Thus Absalom's tongue is as ready as his brain; & since he cannot conceal his treason, he must vary it. A King he would be: He says, He would be a Judge. His expression is like his intention, nearer to cunning then to Justice. To wish to be a King, had seemed to aim at the glory of Royalty: to wish to be a Judge seemed to aim at the virtue. This modest Traitor would therefore seems to desire to be rather a Deliverer, than a Lord. And yet he would have his Judicature & the whole Land have the same bounds; His ambition would not yet discover itself to be boundless. Yet a King he would be: but how shall he be, what he would be? were he a King he should command; but as yet he can but entreat, that he may command. A King he would be; but of whose making would he be? Not of God's making; for he had made David: whom though he afflicted, he loved; nay, therefore loved, because he but afflicted him. Nor could he be of David's making: who neither could undervalue Royalty, being God's favour; Nor neglect a People, being his charge. A King than he could be made only by the People & the Devil; whiles by the People & Treason; whiles against the consent of God & David. But have we not now some that would plead for Absalon? not that they would show their love, but their power, to make a King. Have we not some, that tell us, that power is originally inherent in the people? This seems indeed a profound doctrine; and surely it is as deep as Hell: yet is it as possible, as useful to discover the danger of this darkness. This doctrine excludes all Kings from original power giving it so unto the people: when even as naturally they may plead, that all power is originally in the body, not in the head. For they conceive a people, as without a King; when as Nature teaches us, that the chief strength, the directive strength, is originally in the Head; Reason and Sense being thence derived. Nay, what Power at all the Body has, can not be learned at all of the Body; it must be taught by the Head: which not proudly, but truly teaches us, that the members cannot be directed into a wise Society without the Head. Strength there may be in the Blind: but Strength requires the Eye, and so the Head, for Direction. The Wisdom of the Head has a natural Supremacy over the Members; Thus Society is not only a Number of Men, but also an Order. And the best Order is not where a member is exalted into a head; this is rather monster, than order. The true head in order of natural birth is elder than all the members. But have we not some, that make man the voluntary author of Dominion? the Law the Instrument, and God but the establisher of both? See the acuteness of this humane wisdom, but see also the oversight of it! If man be the author of Government, then surely, Government being such a height of wisdom, must needs have a wise man for the author of it; And which is that most like to be, a King or a Subject? A King by Government has an acknowledged: Power and Wisdom: a Subject has thus by his Supposed Choice a Necessary Obedience. Now can a man supposed so wise, as to be able to choose a King, and so Free, as to owe Subjection to no man, freely make a Law against his own Freedom? Surely then, if man shall be the Author of Government, he must not be a Subject but a King; a King made by the Power of his Wisdom, before he was made by the power of the People; so that he was a King, before he was chosen to be a King; and rather Declared to be such, then made such. But these men intent the People for the Author, as the Law for the Instrument; Since then the People are a Party to the Deed, who shall be Judge, if Doubt arise? shall such wisdom as is able to Choose a King oversee such an Inconvenience, as great, as Endless? Or shall God be the Judge, whom these make the Establisher? Surely if God shall by man be admitted, to be as well the Judge, as the witness of the Deed, when doubt arises how shall his Judgement appear? Shall we expect a vote from a Sinai-Cloud, or from an Angel, or Prophet, as formely among the Jews? This were not to consult God, but to Tempt him. Unless then Royalty be from a Greater Authority, than the People, all difference between a King and People must necessarily be as much without an End, as without a Judge. Royalty then is Internally from God, the God of Nature, deriving it to man most graciously, whiles most quietly, by birth. Externally, it may be attributed to the Law, which does declare the inward Right. So that, the Authority is from God, the Declaration of it is also from the King, whiles from the Law. For what is the Law? Is it not Graciously the work of a King? To desire, and so to Accommodate a Law, is the Act of the People, but absolutely to Grant a Law is the Act of a King; In which the People's Advise is included not to weaken Regal Right (the Grant implying Right and Love;) but to set forth as well the People's Duty, as their Benefit, sweetening and Ensuring Obedience by their Consent, as first by their Desire. Vainly then do some say, what they but say, that the Fountain of Power is the People, and that in Princes it is but Derivative. True it is, it is but Derivative in respect of God; but in respect of Man, that it always is so, or naturally so at all, is no less ridiculous, then Untrue. That nature begun Government is Undeniable: which is most purely preserved in Hereditary Monarchy: so that all other Government is either Unnatural, or Preternatural; and therefore to derive Government from the People to the King, is as to derive Authority from the Son to the Father, or to make the River feed the Spring. Yet do not some now say more than Absalon could either know or use, that Government amongst Christians is nothing but an Agreement of Politic Corporations? But can Christians without shame, since not without untruth, teach thus amongst Christians? Does the doctrine of Christ alter the Right of Kings? This is a new secret of new State! but no plot for Conversion of the Great Turk. Does a King, becoming a Christian, forfeit his Kingdom to his People? or, from a Lord become a Tenant at will? Christ himself taught other doctrine, when he said, give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's; he did not add, Till he become a Christian. And surely Constantine lost nothing by such a Change, his new Christian Subjects did not make their Sovereign their Slave by fettering him with Covenants. He was indeed God's Officer, but their Ruler. But Absalom's aim is not Right; 'tis Glory; though his Humble Cunning will be at their Command, till it can command: which that he may do, he speaks his desire, an extent of desire; That every man, which hath any suit or Cause may come unto Him.  
Was not this conspirator as void of wisdom, as he was full of subtlety, that would express his desire in that very form, that would Condemn it? Desires he not that Authority, which Conscience and Allegieance taught both Him and the People, to be due only to the King? In all Causes and over all Persons Supreme Government? Love, the Love of Beauty, as the old truth teaches us, is Blind, in not examining the Imperfections of itself. What Absolom desired, was an Excellency beyond all the excellencies, which he had without his desire! And as it was without duty, so was it without modesty. Was it not to challenge to himself as well so much ability, as so much honour? royalty sometimes passes by Choice, but not by a selfe-Choise; Nature not allowing a Cause to be its own Effect. When Moses had, what Absalon but desired, he desired to be eased of a great Part of the Honour. He was the Chief Judge; but not the only Judge; nay, in Inferior Judgements not at all the Immediate Judge: To attend a fly, is rather the business of a Domitian, then of an Emperor. Nature, that has given the Eagle so excellent a Sight, has given it the wisdom in some things to neglect the Use of it. What in Natural Knowledge is Perfection, the Knowledge of the Hyssop, as well as of the Cedar, is in Civil Actions a Weakness; being to grant a Power and Retain the Use of it. But This Judge would have no Deputy; Every man should come unto him. He would be so Humble, that he would Judge the Poor: he would be so Able, that he would Judge the Judge. The Layman in point of Equity should be as sacred to him as the Priest; and the Priest as sacred, as the Sacrifice. Nor would he thus descend to the Person, but to the Business; to any suit, though but for Injury in Words: to any suit, thoug but for Injury in some Deeds less than some Words. And as his Justice would thus Descend, so would his understanding Ascend to the Highest Cause. He promises such Skill and Motion in the Orb of Government, that it seems natural to him to know the Perigee and Apogee of Royalty. Does the Cause concern Inheritance? His skilful diligence will both Supply and Surpass the counsellor and Survayer. Conveyance and Measure are within His Compass. Does the Cause concern the loss of Goods? He will, without Errecting a Figure, give Judgement, and never Consult with Heaven, or seem to consult with Hell in the business. Does it concern a Maim or Dislocation? He will without thr Ceremonies of Oribasius his tools, supplie Surgery by Compensation. Does it concern Life itself? He will make the Defence of his own, but the Remembrance of the Defence of theirs. He will make the Malefactor more deeply suffer by Infamy, than by Execution. He only requires the repair of all their Petitions unto Him; who will comfort them no less with Dispatch, than than with Justice. But must All come to him! why then this very Traitor is not the veriest traitonr. His Reason is corrupt: it is not Lost. Though Hell were his Tutor, yet he hates Anarchy; he cannot find it There; there is a Prince of Darkness; and so there are Superior and Inferior Devils: which, though they are unruly, are yet under Rule. He hates Democracy; his humane wisdom knows it to be Folly, to n●t the Sword of Authority into a Madmans' hand. Though he was Graceless, he was not witless. He was Unnatural, but not a Natural, nor so unnatural. He thought it monstrous to make the People a King: to make the Horse, in whom there is no understanding, to become the Rider. He hares Aristocracy; He knows that many, though Great, yea become Great, are nearer to Ruin by Emulation, than to safety by Counsel; Frailty being more common to man than Virtue: so that not only his Pride but his Judgement approves Monarchy; which is the best Government and the Highest. Indeed, has it not Precedency by Divine Right, whiles it does imitate Divine perfection? Regal power being in Virtue, not only as much, but more than Many? Many stars making but a Night, whereas one Sun makes a Day. But Absalon, that does justly prefer Monarchy, does unjustly desire to prefer Himself to it. Yet to Attain it he uses Eloquence and pretends to use Justice. If they will be favourable to Him, He will be favourable to Them; he says indeed he will be Just to them. But he invites them to give him the Power (which is not in their Power) and He undertakes to perfect it into the Performance of doing Right. They have the Word of a Reformer for it, & I will do him Justice.  
And I will do him Justice? Hope and Silliness are as Commodious for a conspirator to work upon, as Malice and Zeal. But the Union of them is the most desperate Preparative to Division. Can Greatness want Attendants? Can Justice then the Greatness of Greatness, though but in Promise, want Attendants? Will they not pressin like Hopes and Injuries? Justice makes a King in Virtue like God: it makes a Subject in Happiness like a King. It makes a man mistake himself to be out of the world, before he is out of it. It makes him differ from the Angels rather in Place, than in Condition: bestowing on him whiles on Earth, a Portion of Heaven, content and Safety. Justice is sweeter than Revenge; delighting Nature without Ruder passion, It makes humane Felicity like Justice, Unchangeable; and, though it Prevents not Complaint, it satisfies it. Justice is the Cure of Slander; helping the Infamy of the Innocent, by the Infamy of the Guilty. It is the Cure of Oppression; whiles it makes the Oppressed if not by Restitution, yet by Comparison in better state than the Oppressor; depriving him of his wealth, the Joy of his Oppression. It is the Cure of Murder, making the slain Live in the Fame of his Innocency, and the Content of his Friends, whiles they see the Murderer not so happy, as to be forgotten. But will Absalon do Justice? why than he will Rule according to Law: he will by Law rule Others, if not Himself. He will then neither Cunningly Pretend a Law, nor Dangerously Change a Law. He is so Subtle if not so Honest, as Equally to disclaim Forgery and Innovation. Where there is no Law, there is no Sin, which is a breach of Law. They shall have the Law therefore as much in their Eye, as in their Heart: and so to take off the Envy from himself, be sooner condemned, if Guilty, by Conscience, than by him. And though by his Rebellion he might seem to dishonour his Father, he does pretend to honour his Forefathers, whiles he pretends to honour their Laws. It seems, he thought the Preservation of Old Laws, to be of more moment, than the making of New; and the Preservation of Laws to be of more moment than the making of them. Indeed, is it not Folly, that Innovation in Religion should be counted folly, but Innovation in State should be counted Wisdom! as if Humane Wisdom and Divine were rather Contrary then Subordinate! Zaleucus the wisest Locrian made it by Law the hazard of Life, to Propose a New Law, if it proved not as well to be approved as proposed; whereby they knew but one New Law in Two Hundred years. 'twas certainly an argument of as much wisdom as Constancy! And as the Natural Body, so the Politic, lasts longest, that is Lest Tempered with. To honour one's Parents; has a Promise of Long Life: to honour our Forefathers in Honouring their Laws, cannot want the blessing of Continuance to a Nation; Heaven more delighting to be bountitiful to many, than to Few, where the Divine wisdom does not specially restrain: God's Jealousy delighting in Glory, which being the Lustre of his Goodness, is in itself as boundless as his Goodness. Since the beginning of the World the Divine Wisdom never made but one Eminent Change in the Church; the Ateration of the Jewish Service into the Christian: the Mosaical Worship not Abrogating, but Perfecting and Enlarging the Patriarchal. And for the Christian Service, it has not so properly suffered an Innovation, as a Renovation; rather a Purification, than a Change: having the same Primitive Metal, though Refined. Since then the Divine Wisdom makes so rare a Change in so Vast a Time, Humane Wisdom may well fear in a fare less time to make Any at all. Yet if New Laws are to be made, story and Use might present to our Consideration, if not to our Choice, some Acts the Monuments of Ancient Law. Such was that Lycian Law, whereby in their Great Council Votes were differenced according to the difference of men's Interests in the State. So that a Person, a Town, a City, a County, and consequently an Order of Men, were not only not forgotten, but proportioned. By which Happiness of Equity, every one was a Able and wary to preserve Freedom, that Optimacy could not creep in under the device of Close-Conveighance, audaciously to enthraule a Government and People. Such was that Theban Law, which excluded Artificers, and Merchants as unprepared for Government, unless for Ten years' space they had left their trade; thinking them else fit for Bargain than for Counsel, and so below the right Splendour and Experience of State. Such was the Cretian Law, which forbidden all Young men to Censure the Laws of their Country; as the business not of their Search, but of their Reverence, and thought them to be excluded as much by their Age, as by the Law. But Absalon will not abrogate established Law, though he Violate it. Justice he will Do: but will he do it in his own Person? It seems not then either Novelty or Injustice for a King where he excludes not himself, to be as well the Judge, as the King, of his People; a Superior Agent being Eased, not suspended, by an Inferior; no more than the Divine Presence is excluded from a Place, by the Inferior Presence and Employment of an Angel. Moses did not Lose his Authority to his Assistants; but Imparted it. The Sun gives Light, though he enables the Moon to Give Light, and sometimes appears with it in the same Hemisphere, the Moonlight being not Exstinguished, though Exceeded. Solomon, when he gave Judgement about the doubtful Child, did neither what was Unjust, nor unjustly; and showed as True Wisdom, though not as Rare in being the Judge, as in the Manner of the Judgement. When Jehosaphat set Judges in the Cities of Judah, his Right was not Diminished, but Diffused; and if we look back upon the Kings of our Land, we may, by the easy prospective of an Antiquary, see them often sitting on the Throne of Judgement. Indeed, though not in respect of the Kind of the Pleas, yet in respect of Judicature, we may without Injury or Impropriety, say that every Seat of Justice is the King's Bench. When therefore a King does by a Law strengthen the Sentence of a Judge, does he disclaim his Power, or rather Proclaim his Integrity? Whiles he binds himself to Judge according to Law, does he bind himself from Judging? Has not Nature made a Father the Judge of his Family? If then sometimes he makes a Son a Judge between troublesome Brethren, does he thereby make himself not the Judge of the Family? A Deputation is rather a Proof of superior Right, than a Destruction. And therefore they observe not their own oversight, that in effect would have us observe, Royalty and Judicature to be Inconsistent, as if Contrary, when as sometimes, as in a King, they are not so much as Subordinate. Is not God, that is the King of the World? the Judge of the World? And is not a King of Humane Judges the Supreme Judge? But will Absalon do them Justice? What needs He do it? Will not David do it? Or, is David's blood become not Royal, because Vriah's was Innocent? Or, does Vriah's blood cry louder in the ears of Israel, than in the ears of the God of Israel? Can his blood cry louder than to Heaven? Or is David's Adultery rather Aggravated, than Excused, by his After Marriage? Are his sins so Hellish, that his Humiliation cannot Ascend High enough, to fetch a Pardon for them? Or shall the People make an Absalon and themselves His Judge, whom God has made Theirs? Or, shall we suppose a New Devise to have been an Old Devise, to Separate a King from his Person; and so, that Absalon intended to take away David, but to Preserve the King, by Exchange of David into Absalon? A King indeed and his Person may be Distinguished, according to Natural and Political respects; but a King and his Person cannot be Divided. Will ye hear in this point the judgement of very traitors, who in this point may be happily just Judges, though they seem less fit? Hear then the Judgement of those Great Ones, that durst take-up Arms against our Second Edward. Even They, as our Statutes testify, made it treason in the Spencers, to make this division. And this their just Condemnation of such Doctrine, has since the beginning of Our Great Council been by Published command approved by our Great Council No Treason then Can, though it Would, be so Mathematical, as to separate a King from his Person. But yet would Absalon do them Justice? Might not some Ifraëlite, that had not too unwarily voted himself to the folly of Treason, and that had as much Observed as Attended him, till his Expulsion and Persecution of his Father, and, by Ahitophel's shameless counsel, till his abusing of his Father's Concubines, thus have argued himself into Safety and a Flight? Shall we from Absalon expect the protection of our Goods? who destroyed Joab's, with no less Boldness, than Wrong? and with as much Ingratitude as Boldness? making a Proclamation, in Fire, of his Impudence and Revenge? Shall we from Absalon expect the Protection of our Wives, when as he has committed Incest, more in Spite than Lust, making his Father's Women the Riddle as well as the Subject, of Treason and Filthiness? which he so acted in the sight of all Isrël, as if he would have all men believe, that it were not a work of Darkness! Shall we from Absalon expect the protection of our Lives; when as he betrayed the life of his Brother, whose blood was the Joy, though not the Wine of the Feast? Shall we from Absalon expect the protection of our Fame, when as he revived the shame of his Father, by Imitation? when with a like Malice and Cunning, he Forgot or Concealed his Father's Virtues? Justice he may Pretend, Intent it he cannot: nay, when he Pretended Best, he intended Worst. When he pretended a sheep-shearing? 'twas not a Fleece, but a Life he intended; when he pretended a salutation of the Lip, he Intended but Flattery, the Treachery of the Lip; when he pretended a Sacrifice at Hebron, he Intended to offer-up a King and a Father. Though then he pretend never so great, so many, so subtle Followers, they rather Discover his Conspiracy, than Disguise it. Might not some Israëlite thus have made his Meditation his Safety? and, by Arming himself with Loyalty, saved himself, though not from the Danger, yet from the Gild of an Army of Rebels?  
But will you see the Way and End of this Absalon and his Multitude, which he scorns to Fellow; which he Leads to Evil. See his first Success, his success in Counsel; slighting Ahithophel, he does not only Lose him, but Want him: nor does Ahithophel only lose Absalon, but himself. He loses at once his Wisdom and his Life; and he, that in his life would not be Ordered by the Law, was not ordered by it in his Death: in which, by the worst Curse of Death, he was both the Malefactor and the Executioner. See his next success, his success in his March: in which, by Delay, he was not so wicked, as he would have been. His Father, though heavy with Grief, yet made light by Fear, did in his flight get respite of Distance, and by distance, Counsel, and by Counsel Courage: by which, Collecting his Army, as well as his Mind, he Prepares for flight, being not more dejected at his Ascent of Mount Olivet, than he was raised in Spirit by the field of Ephraim. There he was a Penitent, here a Warrior; and so ready to fight, that they would not Let him fight. They only borrow his Spirit, Letting his Body rest. See then Absolom's last success, his success in Battle. Having rather Persecuted his Father, than Followed him, he overtakes two enemies, David's Innocency and God's Justice: That overthrew his Conscience: This his Army. He joins Battle, an unnatural Union, though in Blood! A Son with a Father! Sin with Sanctity! So fought the Devil with Saint Michael, who proved as much the Superior in Power, as in Habitation. Absalom's multitude became quickly not a multitude; not that they grew much wiser, but Fewer; an Army of their Army, many thousands being slain. Joab and Victory followed the Chase; Blood and Noise Overfilled the Country! The Coward Traitor is met with though in a Wood: no darkness but Hell could be able to hid him: but this shelter discovered him, though it covered him. He thinks to Fly from Justice, and Provokes it. Justice is where God is: and Absolom finds it in a Tree, between whose boughs his beast leaves him embraced and hanged by his restless head, which was now stayed; When the News first, and then the News-bearer brought Joab to the sight. The Conspiracy was already wounded in the People: but now he has Opportunity to strike it to the Heart. Into the Midst of him then he strikes three darts. Does not the Divine Justice punish in Number and Measure? Do they not pierce as deep, as his Conscience should have done? Was there not One for Amnon? One for David? One for the violated Women? A judgement for Murder! a judgement for Treason! and a judgement for Lust? For fear of reviving he is left to the Soldiers, to whom it is Life, to take away a rebel's Life: and not for honour, but surety, they not only kill him, but bury him. Into a great pit they cast him, as near Hell, as they could, and over his carcase threw a very great Heap of stones, the Remembrance and Merit of a very Disobedient Son. The trumpet sounds a retreat from the Labour of slaughter: and all return to the joy of Victory or Pardon. Only good David mourns in the midst of good News. He shows as much sorrow for the death of Absalon as Absalon should have showed for his sin.  
And thus we may see, that the felicity of the most Holy, of the most Courageous, of the most beloved of Kings, the David of Kings, is either not perpetual, or not certainly perpetual. He that at his Anointing had all Israël for his Attendants, did he not now fly with a few? was he not as wretched as Adam, who was driven out of Paradise? Did not David fly out of Zion the Joy of the whole earth? was he not more wretched than Adam? He indeed had a Sword set against him, to keep him out: but David was driven out, and the sword followed him! He that before had expressed his passion in the melody of the voice, does he not now express it in the waters of the eye? Did not those feet now choose nakedness and pain, that once danced cheerfully before the Ark and the Lord? He that once slew his terrible enemies, the Giant and the Lion, was he now afraid of what he Loved, his Absalon? And thus may we not see, that the graces of an Absalon may be consistent with the want of Grace? That the Excellency of a Rebel is but Ambition and Pretence? That his best offering, which looks like Divine worship is but the Idolatry of himself? That Ambition uses Flattery and Hates it; not for the Gild of it, but the dejection: it being like Humility, though not it! Ambition indeed is like a Builder, who in Laying his foundation is feign to stoop, though afterwards he rises by the Scaffold and the Ladder. And thus may we not also see the Inconstancy of a Multitude preferring Change before Peace, a New Government before a Good? May we not see the Ingratitude of a Multitude, showing their Memory to be as bad as their Understanding; yet indeed serving David but as they served God, Letting his Benefits slip out of their Mind? May we not see the Outrage of a Multitude; which does Few things that are Good, but Nothing Well: which does Nothing Wisely, and some things Madly? Yet even thus Ungodly was the people, that called themselves God's people. Now Israël became the Heathen raging against the Lord, and against his Anointed. They now forgot God, whiles the King; whiles they forgot God concerning the King; who said, Touch not mine Anointed: so that whom the Oil has touched the people may not touch. They neglected Gods command concerning David, as Joab chose to neglect David's command concerning Absalon: and were as fierce to kill a King, as Joab was to kill a Rebel. Such was the inconstancy, the ingratitude, the outrage of old Jsrael: as if they would be prophets, whiles they persecute a prophet! They would commit a typical treason, & seem to perform God's will, whiles they violate it, by serving David as their posterity should our Saviour, changing Hosanna into crucify him, crucify him. But O let not our Jsrael become Jewish! Let it not be a murmuring Jsrael. We are not in a wilderness, unless we make ourselves the beasts. we are in a holy Land if we will not profane it: in a Land, that naturally hath more honey, than gall; in a Land that hath no Aloës but by commerce. Our hemlock, as some hold is not mortal; O let not then our passion, be worse than our weed! If any root shall be pulled up, let the first be the Root of bitterness. If any branch is to be cast away, let it never be the Rod, the branch of Aaron: which deserved double honour, both for the Fruitfulness, and for the Wonder! Let not our Israël become worse than Jewish; let it not become Heathenish, nay worse than Heathenish. Pilate though a Heathen, seemed to have been willing to be Christ's friend, but that he feared he should not then be counted Caesar's friend. But here we cannot fear such a division: nay, here we cannot admit such a Division. We cannot be Caesar's friends, if we be not Christ's: we cannot be Christ's friends, if we be not Caesar's. Since than our God has blest our Israël with a David, a David not for his faults but for his Virtues and his Troubles; since he has blessed, us from an Absalon though not from an Ahithophel; since he has blest us with the most gracious Son of a most Gracious Father, a father as much by Judgement as Virtue above vanity; since he has blessed our Land with a People famous even in the Midst of our miseries, for Number and Courage; Let us add Wisdom, and by Wisdom Obedience, and by Obedience Peace, and by Peace Justice; Justice not from an Absalon, or an Ahithophel, but from our David, and so from our God, by whom David reigns. To which God of Peace and Lord of Hosts, Three Persons and One God, be for ever ascribed Victory and Mercy.  
THE END.   

Emendations.  
PAge 14. line 17. for or, read of. l. 20, f. of r. or. p. 22. l. 4. f. call, r. calls. p. 30. l. 23. f. o it, r. so it. p. 32. l. 4. f design, r. blessing. p. 42. l. 12. f. carnal, r. casual. p. 43. l. 27, r. Queen Alexandra. p. 46. l, 12. r. uproar. p. 61. l. 17. r. Rebellion l. 19 r. Witchcraft. p. 62. l. 23. f. Honour r. Humour. p. 63. l. 15. deal, not. p. 65. l. 14. r. moderate. p. 66. l. 29. r. is not. p. 67. l. 11. r. satisfy. p. 68 l. 9 r. uses. p. 72. l. 24. r. Phlegmatic. p. 74. l. 3. r. Secrecy. l. 12. r. And do not. p. 77. l. 7. r. leaving. p. 98. l. 4. f. Bone, r. Box. p. 108. l. 14. r. an acknowledged power. p. 113. l. 26. r. then with. p. 114. l. 14. r. because. l. 24. r. Alteration. p. 118. l. 16. was so able. p. 119. l. 10. r. more then. p. 122. l. 25. f. of the, r. of his.