The Religious Rebel.  
A SERMON PREACHED AT SOUTH-MARSTON NEAR HYWORTH IN WILTSHIRE, On the Ninth of September; BEING The Day of Public Thanksgiving for the Deliverance of His Majesty's Sacred Person, His Royal Brother, and the Government, from the late Hellish Fanatic Conspiracy.  
By CHARLES POWELL, M.A. Sometime Student of Christ-Church in Oxford.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1683.   

TO THE GENEROUS AND PIOUS, ASSERTOR OF LOYALTY And the True PROTESTANT RELIGION, THE HONOURABLE Sir THOMAS CUTLER, One of his Majesty's Deputy Lieutenants, Justice of the Peace and Quorum for the County of Gloucester, and Captain in his Majesty's Royal Citadel at PLYMOUTH, etc.  
Honoured Sir,  
WHat You have so often fought for, and the Church of England has so long prayed for, it has pleased the great King of Kings in Mercy at last to bring to pass, the discovery, and thereby, the disappointment of the Enemies of this Church and State. For which as we are all bound to render our unfeigned Thanks to the Almighty, (who alone gives Victory to Kings, and has once more preserved our Royal David from the hands of Bloodthirsty and deceitful Men.) So have none more reason to rejoice before the Lord, than those that serve at his Altar, and were designed to be Sacrificed upon it. And among those, none more than your poor Servant, whose unfeigned (though useless) Loyalty has been so long counted his Crime, that it can scarce yet render him acceptable to those men, who say to the Ministers of the Gospel, as the Rebellious Jews did to the Prophets of old; Speak unto us smooth things, Prophecy deceits; Get you out of the way; turn aside out of the path: cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from us. But blessed be God, who has preserved the Clergy of the Church of England from the Superstition of Popery, and the Atheistcal Hypocrisy of Fanaticism. To both which, as the whole World can witness your Loyal and Zealous Aversion; so am I bound in Gratitude to acknowledge the great Encouragements I have always received from your Generous Bounty in that narrow Sphere, wherein I move; For which I can only offer up my Prayers to the Great God of Recompenses; That be would still continue you in that true Religion, which you have received from so many Noble, so many Honourable Ancestors, in the deserved Favour of the best of Princes, and the best Judge of Worthy Persons, and in the due Respect and Honour of all Loyal Men, among whom be pleased to admit of the most humble, most grateful Acknowledgements of,  
Sir, Your much Obliged and very Faithful Servant, C. P.   
PSAL. X. 10. 
He falleth down and humbleth himself, that the Congregation of the Poor may fall into the hands of his Captains.  
REbellion (says Samuel) is as the Sin of Witchcrast; Nor need we seek far for proof of his Assertion, since they both betray themselves to be the Offspring of the same Father. Satan first rebelled against the great Monarch of the whole World, and, though his Ambition tumbled him down from the bright Regions of Bliss into eternal Chains of Darkeness, yet his Instruments carry on the same Rebellion still; though the Scene be changed, and the Plot carried on at a distance, the Design is still the same, only that our earthly Rebels are in this the worse Devils, that they dare rebel against God and the King too. Nor do they in any thing more resemble the first Founder of their Society, and the perpetual Precedent of their Dark Cabal, than that all their unsuccessfulness doth rather enhance than abate their Malice, only drive them the more desperately on, though they are convinced that Heaven itself, and all that is called God be armed against them, and all the Powers of Hell and Darkeness not able to protect them from that Fate, which they seem to hug, because they cannot avoid. To search the Records of all backward Ages of the World, and show you this black Spirit working in the Sons of Perdition ever since there was a Monarchy on Earth, which, I am sure, is the Ancientest and, consequently, the best Government in the World, instituted by God himself, the great King of Kings, by whom all King's reign, and from whom alone they derive their Power, as being the only Representatives of the Celestial Polity; (for in Heaven there's no Republic.) This would be as far from the business of the Text, as it is, from my Intentions; let it suffice that I have chosen an instance in the Reign of him, who was not only Anointed by God's immediate command, but in a more especial manner a Type of Gods Anointed, Christ the Lord; persecuted and harassed by that very Brood, whose unhappy Offspring crucified the King of Glory. Holy David (we all know) had troubles more than enough, and the more, because he was Holy (all that will live godly in Christ jesus shall suffer Persecution) whose whole life, though it were but one continued Scene of Afflictions, yet we find his Cross doubled, when he came to the Crown: The outward splendour of which, though it be admired by all, yet is its intrinsic Weight and Burden understood by few, but those that bear it. But of all the Troubles, which like Thorns stuffed his Diadem, and pierced his Sacred Temples, we find none strike so deep, as that which occasioned this Psalm and Text, Viz. a Rebellious Son, and a Perfidious Favourite; The one of whom, as he might reasonably have expected to be the Staff of his Age; so might he justly have hoped, that the other by his Wisdom and Counsel should have guarded his Crown and Dignity, who was exalted to so great Eminency in the State, and admitted to such an Intimacy with his Prince. But alas! we see, (and I wish we had never seen it) that the best of Princes cannot transmit Virtue with their Blood; nor infuse Gratitude, where they bestow their greatest Favours. Let Absolom be never so dearly beloved and caressed by a tender David? yet a little Popular Air shall stifle his Duty to him, who gave him Life; Let Achitophel be raised never so high by the Beams of Majesty; yet the next blazing Comet shall make him forget the benign Influences of that Sun, that exalted him from the Dunghill to set him among the Princes of the People. I hope you do not suspect, that I am going about to draw that Parallel, which is so obvious to every eye, and has already been the task of so many Satirical Pens; I remember I am this day to Preach; and 'tis below the Sacred business of the Pulpit to stab with Goose Quills, or execute Malefactors with Invectives. David tell us, 
Psal. 45.5.  that God's Arrows are sharp in the hearts of the King's Enemies; and we need not add sharpness there, where Conscience daily sets the Edge; 
Eccles. 2, 1.  yet since Solomon tells us, that To every thing there is a Season, and he that would be accounted a Faithful Steward in Christ's Family, 
Math. 24.45.  must give the Household, as their Meat, so in due Season too. I hope the present face of things will justify my choice of the Subject now before us, and if you cannot choose but make the Application yourselves, upon their Heads be it, who gave the Cue. That I may not therefore disappoint you of a Sermon by a tedious Preface, or by making A pologies for my Discourse before hand, (which yet not long since they had need to do, that durst speak Loyalty even in the Pulpit) give me leave to lead you to the Text, by looking a little back on the Context, which will give you the occasion of the Psalm, and the meaning of the words I am to insist on.  
The Psalm therefore in general is a Pathetical complaint of David to Almighty God, of the Pride, Treachery, Malice and Cruelty of wicked Men, who (as his Son, the wisest of Kings, says) seek only Rebellion; and these wicked men (Expositors tell us,) are those whom he had maintained and preferred in his own Court, and therefore were the more wicked, and the more dangerous; Of which very Persons he says: It is not an Open Enemy that hath done me this dishonour, for than I could have born it: Neither was it mine Adversary, that did magnify himself against me: for then (peradventure) I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, even my Companion, my Guide, and mine own Familiar Friend; We took sweet Counsel together, and walked in the House of God as Friends. And this very well agrees with the Character in my Text. For though in the former part of the Psalm, we have the Lion drawn Rampant, roaring out his Cruel and Bloody Intentions, scorning all Resistance, either from God or Man, as if he were sure of his prey, boasting of his hearts desire, and confident that he could not be moved, Vers. 6. Yet, lest this boisterous noise might rouse the Royal Game, and make them provide for their own security; in my Text and the two preceding Verses, we find him in another posture; though he will in no wise forsake his Lionish Freity and Cruelty, yet he will draw on the Fox's Skin to conceal it, and therefore he turns Huntsman, Vers. 8. He sits lurking in the secret places of the Villages, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he lurks among the Rich Farmers and Country men; among those who are most likely to be drawn in by his glozing and specious Pretences, and there he lies secretly as a Lion in his Den, Vers. 9 and there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, futled upon his Nest, wrapped in an Hypocritital garb of Humility and Piety, he falls down, and humbles himself, that the Congregation of the Poor may fall into the hands of his Captains.  
So that my Text is the Character of a Religious Rebel, a Villain; for so it will easily appear, if we look on the words, either as a part of the foregoing Metaphor, or as a description of him, who was the occasion of this querulous Psalm, viz. the Rebellious Ahsolom, who humbly beg's leave to go to Hebron; not to pay his Vow to the Lord, 
2 Sam: 15, 7  as he falsely pretended, but to prepare a Rebellion against his King; not out of any regard to Religion, but to serve his own Ambition; not to serve God, but his own Interest; where he falls down indeed, and seems to humble himself to God, but in the same posture Courts the People; and all this, that the Congregation of the Poor, the Caetus Inopum, the Multitude of Poor helpless People, that knew not his Drifts, nor were prepared to resist him, might fall into the hands and power of his voracious Followers, or as it is according to the 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that himself may Lord it over the Poor.  
Divisions are of late so dangerous, that I shall not dare so much as to divide my Text, and therefore shall only raise from it one Proposition, which I hope to prove more infallible, than ever proceeded either from the Roman Chair, or the Geneva Classis: And that is this, That it is no new thing for the Worst of men to make use of the Sacred Name of Religion, to palliate the most abominable Undertake. Bloodshed, the Murder of the Fathers and Defenders of Religion, pious Kings and Princes, destruction and Massacre of their fellow Subjects, pulling down and overturning of all Order and Polity in the world, must be all usherd in (as we see it this day) with the Lamblike, harmless voice of Religion: And though in these Glorious times of the Gospel they cannot possibly think so, yet they will pretend, that in all this they do God service; so true is that of our Saviour; 
Math. 7.15.  They come to us in Sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening Wolves.  
My Proposition has been so often, and so sadly proved, even among ourselves, that to go about to confirm it by Arguments or Precedents, were to light you with a Lantern in the Sunshine, or to persuade you that you are wounded, when you are roaring under the smart and anguish of the blow. Yet, since the Sincerity of our Religion, and the Justice of our Nation will not suffer us to pass Sentence upon any thing without full proof, let me beg your patience, while I call an Evidence or two out of the Record of Scripture, and the Chronicles of former Ages; which, though they do not speak (viuà voce,) as Witnesses in Temporal Courts use and aught to do, yet since their Evidence is handed down to us by the Infallible Spirit of God, who neither will deceive, nor can be deceived; I hope we need not fear an Ingnoramus on the Bill; for if Men believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe, though one arose from the Dead, to testify his Knowledge of the thing.  
That I may not therefore instance in matters of Private Concerns (in which also wicked Men palliate their Evil Designs with the show of Piety and Religion) I shall confine myself to that which is more properly the Business of the Day, viz. Rebellion against Lawful Kings and Princes; Of which the First that offers itself to us in Holy Writ, is that remarkable one of Corah and his Company against Moses, the meekest Man upon all the Earth, and therefore the most likely to have retained the Love and Allegiance of his People, had he not been to deal with a Stiffnecked and Rebellious Generation, of whom God himself says by his Prophet, that they were Rebellious from their Youth up; even in the Infancy of their Government they began to be Rebellious. And this Rebellion we find ushered in with the pretext of Religion. For though Moses and Aaron governed them by Laws both Temporal and Spiritual, which were dictated by God himself; yet in the Pride of their Hearts they thought themselves already so perfect in what they could teach them, that they were become a Law to themselves, and therefore counted it a piece of Usurpation, an Invasion of their Privileges, for the Prince to command, or the Priest to presume to teach those, who now thought themselves fit to be Teachers of others, and therefore say they, Ye take too much upon you, you Moses and Aaron; are not all the Congregation Holy as well as ye? and must we still submit to your Magisterial Commands? No, we have Princes of the Congregation, that will vindicate our Liberties, and force a Toleration for us, that every Man may do, what seems good in his own eyes; we all know, as well as you, how to Serve and Worship God, and therefore will not any longer be restrained by Human Authority. You have no Power over our Consciences; that is God's Prerogative; we have our Charter from him; and rather than part with that, we will burst your bonds asunder, and cast away your Cords from us. And had not God's Providence and Care of future Ages Signalised this Primitive Rebellion with a Notorious and Miraculous Punishment, I am afraid, our Age would have argued it as a Precedent, and from thence have pleaded the Lawfulness of Rebelling for Liberty of Conscience. For ever therefore blessed be the great King of Kings, who has set forth their Punishment as a Landmark for others to avoid the same Rock; And thrice blessed be his Glorious Name, who has so Graciously delivered our meek Moses and our Pious Aaron's from the Bloody Zeal of those Sons of Rebellion, who with the false Name of Religion would this Day have extirpated the best Government and the Purest Religion in the World; Even so let all thine Enemies perish, O Lord, but let those that love him be as the Sun when he goeth forth in his Might!  
The next Instance we have of this, is that of Absolom, who is now grown so stolen a Theme, that you cannot but think it Superfluous, though not impertinent, to mention him. We all know his pretended Zeal to Religion and Justice, the one of which was not pure enough for his Tender Conscience at Court, but he must to Hebron to perform his Vow there; and the Other (as he falsely and Traitorously pretended) either perverted, or so slackly administered, that he gets him to the Gate, where in an Humble posture he proffers himself to the Rabble (who had need, I confess, of Severity of Justice to curb their Insolences) and there he falls down and Humbles himself before them; When any Man came nigh unto him, to do him Obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him, and kissed him; and in the next Verse 'tis said, So Absolom stole the hearts of the Men of Israel: But it is not long before we hear the paying of his Vow in Hebron, and his performance of Justice in the Gate; the Congregation of the Poor are fallen into the hands of his Captains, and his King and Father forced to save his life by an Ignominious Flight. But once more and for ever praised be the great Jehovah, who delivered David his Servant from a Rebellious Son, and Ungrateful, and Perfidious Counsellor, who hung up that Trophy of his Justice, that Posterity and future Ages might, see, and do no more so wickedly! And let us pray, that all the Enemies of our Royal David, and all that rise up against him to do him hurt, may be as that Young Man is.  
It would be too tedious now to display Jeroboam's Religious Stratagem to move the People to a Rebellion, by pretending to ease them of the Burden of that Worship which was established by Law at Jerusalem, and therefore inviting them to his own way of Worship, in places as remote, as he could, from the Royal City and Mother-Church, that so they might not be won by the Loyalty and Uniformity, which they should see there, either to their Allegiance to the House of David, or to David's Religion. I shall not trouble you with a Transcript of Josephus, or Eusebius, concerning Theudas the Sorcerer (of whom St. Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles) who, that he might stir up the Jews to a Rebellion, called himself a Prophet, and told them, that for their Deliverance out of the hands of the Enemies of their Religion, he would work Wonders for them, make Jordan divide itself as for their Forefathers of old, that they might escape out of the Idolatries of Egypt. Nor shall I mention Judas the Galilean, who, as Eusebius tells us out of Josephus, seduced the People of that Region to Rebellion, telling them that they ought not to suffer Humane Authority to rule over their Consciences, or to prescribe Laws in matter of Religion. Still it is in Nomine Domini, the Sacred Name of God is brought in to palliate their Rebellion; and how many cold Blasts of this Doctrine we have had from the Scotch-Horn, who under the Pretexts of Religion and Reformation have permitted so few of our Sacred King's Ancestors to go in Peace to their Graves is fit for Authority to remember, than for me to mention. Nor need I do it, since at this very day we see, that a Conspiracy against the Life and covernment of the best of Kings, cannot be carried on without a Religious (I mean a Scotish) Agitator. I shall not trouble you therefore with more Witnesses (though they be almost innumerable) to prove the Truth of my Assertion, but shall conclude my Evidence with a Maxim of the wisest of Kings, Prov. 17.11. An evil Man seeks only Rebellion, therefore a Cruel Messenger shall be sent against him.  
Now because the End of all Sermons is Instruction, and the best Instruction is that which tends most to Practice; give me leave to draw down those Practical Inferences, which are most Natural from the Text, and most Useful for ourselves upon this Occasion.  
The first Inference therefore will be; That we have a care how we harken to those men, that make the greatest Noise about Religion, which is not a thing of Talk and Noise and Tumult, but a Quiet, Calm, Peaceable thing. The Author of it was the Lamb of God, who neither stirred up the Jews to Rebel against the Roman Heathen Caesar, nor did he ever make use of any Sinister, or Violent Means to escape the hands of his Bloody Persecutors and Crucifiers, who envied him for nothing more than his Religion which he came on Purpose to plant among them, and which was to be watered with his own Blood, and brought to perfection by his own Death. But he was oppressed, and he was afiicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter, & as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb, so opened he not his mouth. Isa. 53.7. As for Corruption in Religion, it was never so general among the Jews, as at his coming into the World; Yet in all his Sermons and Discourses to them, (though some times he was forced to pronounce a Woe to the Hypocritical Professors, and Lewd livers among them) yet he never did (as he might have done) in the least excite the Romans their Governors to persecute or destroy them, but himself submitted to them, that they might not take any Occasion from his Practice to deal hardly with his Countrymen and Brethren according to the Flesh, and exhorted all his Hearers to do so likewise, that they might not Pull down Vengeance on themselves. In all his Actions in the whole Course of his Life, he was a Pattern to them of Meekness, Gentleness, Peaceableness and Subjection. And truly, I am afraid, those men, who make such an Hurry and Clutter about Religion, are not his Disciples, nor did they ever learn it from the King of Righteousness and the Prince of Peace, especially when they make Religion the Argument of Public Commotions and Disturbances. And therefore it will nearly concern us to take St. John's Advice, 1 Ep. 4 ch. 1. v. not to believe every Spirit, but to try the Spirits, whether they be of God; not to follow every Teacher, that pretends to be inspired, but to make Trial of all, that shall so pretend, by the Rules afforded them both by Moses and Christ. For certainly there is no thing doth more trush and hinder us in our Journey to the heavenly Canaan, than to stand still, and listen to every Whisper, to every one that shall pull us by the Sleeve, and talk to us on the Road.  
Do you meet any then, that says, 'tis true, your Aim is good, your Design pious in the Voyage you have undertaken toward Heaven and Happiness; but are you sure your Guide is faithful, that he will not Hand you about, or bring you into a wrong way, which will never bring you, at least not safely, to your Journeys end? I am your Friend, (says he) and I speak this out of Kindness to you, and in the Fear of the Lord, 'tis dangerous to trust those guides, that are imposed on you by Human Authority, Since God himself has chalked you out a Way so Plain, that you cannot miss it, and you have Eyes in your Head, and can see as well as those, that call themselves Seers in Israel. Have a care of such a Man; Either he is out of the way himself, and out of a Blind Zeal endeavours to seduce other into the same Mazes and Labarynths, (for even Error itself desires Company, and loves not to be alone:) Two is better than one, is a Maxim that all men, bad as well as good, grant and acknowledge;) or else he is Proud and Ambitious, and thinks himself fit to Judge and Censure others; and would have you throw off, and disown your spiritual Guides, pretending, that he himself has greater Sanctity and ability for those very Offices, which he would decry in others. Remember that God led his People of old by the hands of Moses and Aaron, and their slighting of those Guides made them wander so long in the Wilderness, and so few of them to enter into the promised Land. And remember also, that it was God, and not Man, who gave some Apostles, some Prophets, and some Evangelists, 
Ephise. 4.11.  and some Pastors and Teachers, for the prefecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry for the Edifying of the Body of Christ; And they that set light by those, and will have Guides of their own setting up, Rebel against God, by whom they are sent, and can entitle themselves to no other Leader, but to him, who is called Abaddon and Apallyon, the King of Locusts, and the Destroyer of all Grace and Goodness. In a word, Dan and Bethel may have Temples, or rather Conventicles, outwardly pargitted with the show of Reverence and Religion, Holiness to the Lord may be written on the walls, but the gods within (to which Men fall down and humble themselves) are but the Calves of the People, to whose service they consecrate their Earrings and Jewels, while Jeroboam sets up his Tyranny, and swallows their Estates. Jerusalem only is a City that is at Unity within herself, where is that Mount Zion, in which is the Temple of the Lord, which he has chosen to be an Habitation for himself: of which he has said This shall be my Rest for ever, here will I dwell, 
Psal. 11.21. v. 15.  for I have a delight therein. And that the poor may not be enveigled with the pretences of wealthy Hypocrites, or be moved to transgress for a piece of Bread, and (as Solomon says in another case) V. 16. of that Psalm he says, I will bless her Victuals with Increase, and will satisie her Poor with Bread. And that the Priests may not be staggered in their service, nor desert their Station in the House of God, v. 17. he says, I will deck her Priests with health, and her Saints shall rejoice and sing. And that David also may not be discouraged in waiting upon his God (though perhaps an Absalon, or Jeroboam may with glittering shows, and glaring false Pretences at once seduce and make the People to Sin) he says, v. 18, 19 There will I make the Horn of David to flourish, I have ordained a Lantern for mine Anointed; As for his Enemies, I shall  them with shame, but upon himself shall his Grown flourish.  
Again, Doth any one come to you in samuel's Mantle, in the garb and posture of a Prophet? and in that Sacred Disguise falsely whisper to you, what that Apparition said truly to Saul; That God is departed from the King, and become his Enemy (for such Sprights also there are now abroad in the World, and those in black too) have a care now, and stand upon your Guard! Look diligently about you, are ye not got into Endor  you are ware? Is not the Witch and the Devil at work now instead of Samuel, tempting you to ill Thoughts of him, whom that more sure Word of Prophecy, the Word of God tells you, ye shall not dare so much as to think irreverently of? Remember that Apparition was an Extraordinary thing, never permitted but once, a thing that frighted the Witch herself, and not likely to be repeated again for every Fantastic mans-sake, that would pretend to Inspiration. 'Tis true indeed, there are such Spirits in the World, but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Wicked Spirits, Spirits of Rebellion and Mischief and Murder, as St. Paul prophecies of, 2 Tim. 3. v. 4. Traitorous, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. Such as St. Judas describes, v. 8. who despise Dominion, speak evil of Dignities; and these St. Paul tells us in the forementioned place to Timothy, have a form of Godliness; they appear like Lucifer himself, when he is transformed into an Angel of Light, all clad with the bright and glorious Rays of pretended Sanctity, as if they were Sons of the Morning, some of the Corpse du Guard to the great King of Heaven: But then have a Care, Mulier formosa superne Desinit in Piscem. Beware of the Cloven foot under the Robes of Light; for though they have the Form of Godliness, yet you may be sure they deny the power of it, who endeavour to lessen and vilify those Persons in your Opinion, who bear the Image and Stamp of Him, from whom they derive their Authority; and while they command nothing but what is in their Commission, are no less to be Obeyed, than he that sent them, and set them over us, however are not in any case to be Resisted; for whosoever Resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation, Rom. 13.2. I need not tell you the seasonableness of this Caution, the practice of the men of our Age has saved me that labour. We too well know what they were doing, when under a Pretext of defending Religion, they endeavoured the repealing of those Laws, which are the only Hedge and Mound for its preservation, and under the vizor of Zeal to protect his Sacred Majesty from Popish Cruelty, they went about to destroy him with a fanatical Rebellion. But, O my Soul, come not thou into their Secret, 
Gen. 49.6.  unto their Assembly mine honour, be not thou united! who speak friendly to their Neighbours but imagine Mischief in their Hearts; Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, 
Ps. 28.3.  and the way of Peace have they not known.  
Secondly, Therefore how great Cause have we to bless God, who has in mercy to us discovered these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
〈◊〉. 6.11.  these wiles and contrivances of the Devil and his Accomplices, who in mercy, mere mercy to this Sinful and Rebellious Nation has delivered David his Servant from the peril of the sword, and from the hand of Strange Children, whose mouth talketh of vanity and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity, who has preserved him from the Bloodthirsty, and deceitful Man, from the Bloody Romanist, and from the deceitful Enthusiast, 
Ps. 5. v. 6.  both whom the Soul of God abhorreth. A King so dear to heaven, that it has shown as many Miracles in his preservation, as Hell hath produced Plots even to a Miracle for his Destruction. I need not tell you of the Star at his Birth, which though some men will not admit to be either new or Miraculous, yet I am sure was very strange and unusual, and was set there by that hand, which as it never did any thing in vain, so did it never bestow such Signal Remarks, but upon Extraordinary Persons, and upon Extraordinary Occasions. Nor need I refresh your Memories with a rehearsal of the wonderful Acts of Heaven in his whole Life, which though it has had its black lines of Affliction, more perhaps than any other King we read of, in the Murder of that Glorious Saint his Royal Father, the Exile of Himself, and the whole Royal Family, in which he suffered more than I can relate, or he would have born, had he not been sustained by the Right Hand of the Most High (while he was, 
2 Cor. 11.26.27.  what St. Paul says of himself, In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own Countrymen, in perils by the Heathen, in perils in the City, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the Sea, in perils among false Brethren: In weariness, in painfulness, in watch often, in hunger and thirst, in fassting often, in Cold and nakedness; besides those things, that are without, that which came upon him daily, the Care of the Church of God: witness that fierce Assault of Militiere, which he so piously sustained, and as generously repelled and vanquished. Nor shall I insist upon his stupendous and Miraculous Restauration, which we all ought gratefully to admire, though we can never reach that, which is past finding out. And above all, with him, the Restauration of our Religion, which went away and returned with him, as if there were no God, while there was no King in Israel, and we could not serve and worship the one, as we ought to do, unless we performed our Homage and Allegiance to the other. And all this in mere Mercy to us; for I can scarce call it any to him, who seems to be restored only to new Afflictions, by the Ingratitude and repeated Rebellions and Conspiracies of a stiffnecked and Hipocritical Generation, who repay all those Blessings that by him are conveyed to us, not only by reproachful and contumelious language, 
Exod. 22.28.  which Moses calls Reviling of the Gods, (which has been the frequent and too known practice of many in their Seditious Clubs, and Traitorous Cabals, even of those persons, who would seem to be Religious;) but by Atheistically, Sacrilegiously and Rebelliously plotting and contriving his Death, to whose Mercy and Godlike Act of Oblivion, so many among us own those Lives, which they would yet once more Sacrifice to the God of Rebellion, whom they have so long served. But God, who alone gives Victory to Kings, has once more delivered David his Servant from the peril of the sword, And why? because the King putteth his Trust in the Lord, and in the Mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry. O Let us rejoice therefore, and triumph in the Name of the Lord our God This is the day, which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, even in the presence of all those, that have an evil will at Zion. And I hope I need not urge many Argument to excite your Praise and Gratitude in this Day of our Salvation, only let our Joy be such, as becomes good Christians and good Protestants; let us in the Words of our Orthodox and Loyal Mother the Church of England, show forth our Joy, not only with our Lips, but in our Lives, that the due Sense of this great Mercy and Deliverance may move us all to walk more uprightly, and more sincerely before God, and make us for the future more Loyal to our King; that we may not any longer deal Hypocritically with the one, or Rebelliously with the other, but That with well doing we may put to silence the Ignorance of foolish men. That God may once more speak Peace unto his People, and to his Saints, that they turn not again; that God may delight to dwell among us, and glory may dwell in our Land; that we may once more go into the House of God as Friends, and worship God in the Beauty of Holiness; that there may be no more Heart-burnings among us, but that we may with one Mind, and one Mouth Glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom, etc.  
FINIS.