A SERMON Preached at St. James' Church, Westminster, April 2. 1696.  
UPON THE DISCOVERY of the late Horrid Conspiracy against the PERSON of Our Gracious KING WILLIAM.  
By JAMES SMALWOOD, Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of ROMNEY, etc.  
Published at the Request of the Parish.  
LONDON, Printed for the Author, and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall, 1696.   

A SERMON Preached at St. James' Church.  Matth. XIII. 13. Seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand. 
THese Words are a short Character of the Jewish obstinacy against the clear Light of our Saviour's Gospel, and the undeniable Testimonies that did attend it.  
But I design not at present to Discourse upon that Subject. Certain it is, our Saviour Christ both taught and did such things as none but God, or one acted by a Divine Power, could possibly have taught, or done. And therefore those Men that were Eye Witnesses to all his Miracles, and saw him daily and hourly perform such things as were contrary to the course of Nature, and above the Skill of any Impostor, nay the Power of Angels or Devils to perform, and still would hold out against all those Condescending Demonstrations of his Power. Those Men, I say, were most stupidly perverse, and were deservedly given over as Brute Creatures, beyond Conviction.  
And indeed our Saviour speaks these words out of an Ancient Prophet, as an accomplishment of a Curse fore boded upon that People: In them, says he, is fulfilled 
Ver. 14.  the Prophecy of Esaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.  
And I could hearty wish the Prophecy had been fully completed, and had ended there; it were well if it did not reach down even to our times, and that there were not even amongst us Christians some to be found, that are as obstinately blind as ever the Jews were; Men that will not see even in these their days the things that belong unto their Peace. Tho' God Almighty 
Luke 19 42.  in the distribution both of his Mercies and his Judgements has sufficiently manifested himself to the World; yet seeing, they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.  
The Text being thus brought down, and made applicable to our own Times, I shall first lay down these two Propositions, which seem to be intended by it.  
First, That it is the highest contempt and grossest affront that can be offered to the Divine Majesty, for Men, after the clearest manifestations of God's Power and Wisdom, still to hoodwink their Understandings, and to persist in Blindness.  
Secondly, That it is the heaviest Curse that can befall Men, to have their hearts waxed gross, and their ears dulled, and their eyes closed, 
Mat. 13. 15.  and so to be forsaken of God. And then,  
Thirdly, I shall inquire who they are that may most deservedly be judged to fall under this Curse.  
1. It is a high affront to God, after the clearest demonstrations of his Wisdom and Power, for Men still to persist in Blindness. And the Reason is this; because it is a plain despising of God's two chief Attributes, his Wisdom, and his Power.  
1. It is a contempt of his Wisdom; the Wisdom and Knowledge of God is like himself, Infinite. By this he is able to penetrate into the hidden Thoughts and Contrivances of the Hearts of Men, and to discover all their secret and concealed Designs. Woe unto them, says the Prophet Isaiah, that seek deep to hid their Counsel from the Lord, and their work is in the dark, and they 
Isa. 29. 15.  say, who seethe us? Surely your turning of things upside down, shall be esteemed as the Potter's Clay.  
God knows the whole Bent and Inclinations of Men; for he first endued their Minds with what Faculties and Powers they have: He that made the Heart, surely knows all its Turn and Wind, all its Corners and Labyrinths. Thus holy David argues, He 
Psal. 33. 15.  fashioneth all the hearts of Men; and therefore, he understandeth all their works; that is, the Works acted in their Hearts, in the innermost Closets and Recesses of the Soul; he needs no Spies to inform him of Men's Consultations, all things are naked and open to his Eyes from all Eternity. By virtue of this Infinite Knowledge God is privy to all Plots, be they never so closely laid: How successfully might Men carry on their Plots, if they could be but once assured that no body plotted but themselves! But this is sometimes apt to startle them, and make them less Confident of their Projects, when they have a Suspicion that others are at work too, and such as are every way equal to themselves in Cunning and Conduct. Now in this Particular, God by his Infinite Knowledge has a vast Advantage against all the Policies of Men: As they Plot, so does he too; he has Designs as well as they, and Designs beyond them; he is always present at their Cabals, and Consults, and shifted Meetings, and therefore can trace and observe their Motions. And it's wonderful to consider, what Methods and Instruments God Almighty is sometimes pleased to make use of, to baffle the most Dark and Secret Conspiracies: How he does sometimes employ his very Enemies for the promoting of his own Cause: How he can inspire sometimes some of the very Agents to betray the Villainies of their Fellows: How he can govern and overrule both the Understandings and Wills of Men, as shall best serve his own wise Purposes and Decrees. Let Men design things never so warily, and make them never so secure, even to a Confidence of an Infallibility; let them reckon of it as a Blow that cannot miss, yet after all God can defeat and frustrate them; he can clap in his Arm just between the Dagger and the Body; he can, as the Prophet Isaiah speaks, Put a hook 
Isa. 37. 20.  into the nose, and a bridle into the lips of a proud and insolent Enemy, and can turn him back by the way that he came.  
If therefore God be of that Infinite Knowledge, as to be always present to Men's most retired Thoughts; if he sees from all Eternity every little Occurrence that can either further or prevent their Designs, how plainly do those Men contemn and vilify God's Omniscience, that perceiving all this, will still be driving on their foolish Plots, and will not comply with the present Government of Affairs, tho' they know God governs all: Which brings me to the Second Attribute of God, which these Headstrong Men by their conceited Devices do plainly affront, and that is his Power.  
2. The Power of God is almighty, irrisistible, and : 'Twas he that made the Heavens and the Earth; and then we may well make the Prophet Jeremy's Conclusion from it, that nothing is too hard for 
Jer. 32. 17.  him: He that with a Word made this great Fabric of the World, may surely with the turn of his Hand manage every thing in it so as to be subservient to his Will.  
But not to insist upon that wide and extensive part of God's Power, which must be acknowledged in the Government of the World, let us consider it only as it can govern the Hearts and Minds of Men, that so those Men that will run blindly in an Error, and will shut up their Eyes against the plainest Convictions, may, if they please to abate a little of the Heat of their Tempers, and to mitigate their Passions, return once to a better mind, and forsake that Jewish Stomachfulness, which is directly opposite to the gentle and mild Genius of the Gospel.  
That God therefore has a Sovereign Power over the Hearts and Passions of Men, as well as any other part of his Creation, is as certainly true, as that he himself was the first framer of them. He that can set bounds to the Sea, saying hitherto shalt thou go, and no further, can also quiet and subdue the most swelling Thoughts and disorderly Affections of weak Man; he can let them lose, like the Winds, when he pleases, and for Reasons best known to his Wisdom, to bluster and make disturbances in the World a while, and when they have finished the work that he designed, he can call them back again, compose and quiet them in an instant. Dicto citius tumida aequora placeat, 
Virg. Mat. 8. 26.  he can rebuke the Winds and the Seas, and make the black Cloud that was charged with Thunder, and ready to burst upon us, pass gently away into Smoke and Vapour.  
Therefore, not only the Wisdom but the Power also of God appearing evidently to be thus great, and irresistible, what Notions of God must we suppose those Men to have, who will not submit to His Government, and that which is so signally appointed by him? What sort of Spirit must influence the Minds of these Men, to make them so resty and untractable under a meek and merciful Master? What makes them, as the Jews of old, to rebel against Moses, whom the Lord has, as a Guide and Ruler, set over them, and who has safely conducted them through many Dangers and Difficulties, and long for some Foreign Egyptian Pharaoh to bring Slavery and Bondage upon them, and to blacken the Face of their Religion, and drown the Light of the Gospel in a thick Darkness? Nothing certainly can be said of these Men, but that they are perfectly infatuated, and wilfully in the wrong.  
II. And this leads me to the Second General, namely, That it is the heaviest Curse that can befall Men, to have their Hearts thus waxed gross, and their Eyes dulled.  
And that Curse God sends upon them for Two very good Reasons:  

1. Because they will not consider the Judgements of God.  
2. Because they will not consider his Mercies.   
1. It is a great Curse not to consider the Judgements of God. King Pharaoh was an eminent Sufferer under God's Wrath upon this Account: For we read, the longer that he resisted the Judgements of God, the more was his wicked Heart hardened, till at last he arrived at a monstrous degree of Hardness, having been, as the Text tells us, hardened under Ten Plagues. And the whole Nation of the Jews have a long time been, and still are, a lively Instance of God's Indignation for this Sin of Obstinacy, after many and great Judgements, for their Correction, sent upon them.  
2. It is a great Curse not to consider the Mercies of God; and this we find charged as the highest piece of ingratitude upon the People of Israel, that they remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their Enemies, neither showed they kindness to Gideon, who had been their 
Judg. 3. 34.  Deliverer, according to all the goodness he had showed Israel. God resented it highly that they were ungrateful to Gideon, whom he had made the Instrument of their Deliverance; Gideon that Mighty Man of Valour that demolished the Idolatrous Altars of 
Judas 6. 12. 6. 27. 9 17.  Baal, that often hazarded his own Person in Battle against their Enemies, and at last Conquered and Subdued them. And yet for all these his good Services, that they should make such unkind and unworthy returns to him, God we read was very much displeased at them, and as a token of his great displeasure, we may read afterwards what a Curse God laid upon them; for not long after they became a Prey to their Enemies.  
And that which aggravates this sort of Sin, and provokes God's anger against it, is chief, that it is committed against our own Knowledge; we see and feel God's Mercies and Judgements, and yet we are still so perverse and incorrigible as not to be prevailed upon by them; neither the Afflictions that God exercises us with, nor the Deliverances that he works for us, make any impression upon us. We, I am sure, of this Nation, have often been tried by both; God has used all means both to sweeten our Blood by gentle Lenitives, and to purge it by sharper Remedies; and if there still are found amongst us Men that will not be Converted, and be Healed, they must be 
Mat. 13. 15.  given over as Men in a desperate Condition, and beyond Cure; which brings me to the third General, and that is,  
III. To inquire who those Men are that may deservedly be thought to fall under this Censure? And there are two sorts that I think most justly do, and those I shall not scruple openly to name; one is the downright professed Papist, and the other is he that affects to be called a Jacobite; Men tho' of different names, yet both embarked in the same Cause, and both full of the same turbulent Spirit.  
1. What Spirit the former of these are of, not only their Actions all along, but numbers even of their own Books do inform us. It is a Spirit that does not only thwart the orderly and peaceable Principles of Christianity, but is contrary to Humanity itself. These Men by Plots and Conspiracies, by Fire, and Sword, and by Subverting the Peace and Order of the World, have always endeavoured to promote and advance their Religion; nay, they value not the Sacrificing of Kings and Princes to the accomplishing their Wicked Ends and Purposes; as if the God whom the Christians Worship, were not a God of Order, but Confusion; and Kingdoms and Societies of Men were formed for no other end, but to be a Victim and Burnt-Sacrifice when ever any warm Zealot or bigoted Priest should so think fit. But what a scandal must this be all this while to the Christian Religion? what exact representations of Christian Love and Charity here are? how far more honourable apprehensions of the Divine Nature had even the Heathens themselves, than these Men? Dii Immortales ad usum hominum fabrefacti paenè videantur, says Tully, the Nature of the Gods seems to be exactly framed for the use and benefit of Mankind.  
But when Religion once comes to supplant Moral Honesty, and to prescribe Rules contrary both to the Natural Compassion of Mankind, and the peaceable Laws of the Gospel; when it once teaches the absurdest and most dangerous Maxims; as, that Equivocation in some Cases may be used, that Men may tell Lies upon some Accounts; or that to kill a Man for God's sake, is no Crime, when it serves to no other use but to inflame the Tempers of Men, and set a sharper edge upon their Spirits, and so to make them ten times more the Children of Wrath than they were by Nature; then surely Religion loses its Nature, and ceases to be what it pretends: For what is Religion good for, but to reform the Manners and Dispositions of Men, to restrain Humane Nature from Violence and Cruelty, from Falsehood and Treachery, from Sedition and Treason. It were a great deal better for the peace and quiet of Mankind that there were no such thing as Religion, and that Humane Nature were left to the conduct of its own Inclinations, which in a great many Men are mild, and merciful, than to be acted by a Religion which inspires Men with so wild a Fury, and prompts them to commit such Outrages.  
This is the Spirit of the former sort of Men, which I speak not out of any virulency or rancour against them, but what may be justified out of hundreds of their 
* Lessius. Molina. Escobar. ●iliutius, &c  own Authors. And truly, if my Text may be justly applied to any sort of Men in the World, it may certainly to this; Men who will not open their Eyes to the light of the Gospel, but cast all the mists and shadows before it they can devise, to hinder both themselves and others from being enlightened, and convinced by it. These Men, and the Images they Worship are both alike, and we have them very well described in the 115th Psalm. Eyes have they, but they see not, ears have they, but they hear not, etc. they that make them, are like unto them, and so are all they that put their trust in them. So much for the former sort.  
Secondly, And truly the latter sort of Men, they that love to distinguish themselves by a Name, are as much to be Condemned as the former. The Jesuit, and the Jacobite, are equally well wishers to the present Government; but one thing may be said of both of them, they neither of them do their Masters; from whom they take their Name, much Service. 'Tis true, I have so much Charity for the latter, as to think their Principles are not so much tinctured with Blood as those of the former are: I cannot think that all their Obedience, and Long-Suffering, and Passiveness, and Submission, are already changed, and quite gone over into the other Extremes of Cruelty, and Treachery, and Murder; Vice has its Degrees and Progresses as well as Virtue; and as no Man can by one single Act of Piety, or Charity, or any other Virtue, nay not by a few repeated one's, deservedly arrive at the Character of a perfect good Man; so neither do I think that a Man can all on the sudden, tho' some of the Schoolmen Teach otherwise, become an Accomplished and Completed Villain. However, if we may judge of these latter sort of Men from this late Barbarous Conspiracy, wherein, upon invincible Testimonies, we are assured some of them were engaged; we have all the Reason in the World to put no fair Construction either on their Actions or Intentions. But I would gladly know what Reasons these Men can give for their mighty uneasiness under, and their endeavourings to subvert the present Government? I cannot conceive any, unless these Three may serve for some; either,  

I. They are dissatisfied with the present King; Or,  
II. They long for their former Master. Or,  
III. They have some Pressures of Conscience laid upon them.   
1. As for the first, How can any Reasonable Man be dissatisfied with our present King? If they dispute his Right, was he not called in by the Voice of the People, which is the same with that of God? Was not the Kingdom just running into Anarchy and Confusion? Our holy Religion prostituted and left defenceless? The Laws of the Land made of no Force or Activity? and all occasioned by the Vacancy of the Throne? And who, I would know, when the Helm of the Government was thus shamefully left and deserted, had a more rightful and lawful Title to step in and save our sinking Ship, than our present King? He wss no Subject, therefore no Usurper; He was a Prince wholly independent of the Power of England, and so nearly related to the Throne, that he was rightly and justly concerned to see it filled, and the Government kept upon its ancient Bottom (if it may be said to have had then any Bottom at all, when it was so unfaithfully undermined) This was an honourable and just Action, and what Men of all Principles, I mean all Protestants, were then very well satisfied with; and why they should not be much more so now, unless it were the Novelty that then pleased them, I cannot imagine. Indeed, I rather think that we have much more Reason now to be satisfied than before; for now a long time his Authority has been confirmed and ratified by the Estates of the Nation, with whose Determinations all private Subjects are bound to acquiesce; this makes him our Rightful and Lawful King. But what should equally engage the Hearts of his Subjects to him, is the Goodness and the Prudence of his Reign over us, His exemplary Courage abroad against his open Enemy, and his sedate Conduct at Home amongst some ungrateful and untractable People: Indeed, all his Virtues do sufficiently recommend him to the Love of his People. And if after this indisputable Right to the Crown, and those good Qualifications of a Governor, there are still those Men amongst us, that, like the ancient Israelites, will murmur against God and his Servant Moses, if they will plot against, and maliciously conspire the Destruction of our good Deliverer, they must expect to have the same Vengeance fall upon them, as did upon them; God will rule in the midst of his Enemies, and if they will not bow to his gentle Sceptre, he can take up a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces. It is a Saying of a King represented to us by our Saviour in the Gospel, Those 
Luke 19 27.  mine Enemies that would not I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.  
2. The Second Reason, why some Men are dissatisfied with the present Government, may be their Long after their ancient Master. Why truly, this carries a fair and a specious Face outwardly with it; there are some Allowances to be made for Humanity and Compassion; and the Afflictions of a Friend or a Neighbour, and much more of a Prince, do naturally touch the Bowels and Affections of Mankind. But if you will either recollect the Unhappinesses of the last Reign, or consider how great our Miseries might probably have been, if the late King should have happened to be brought in by the help of a Foreign Power, no reasonable Man, I am sure no true Son of the Church of England, aught to be discontented with matters as they now stand.  
1. If you will recollect the Unhappinesses of the last Reign: In what a Condition was both the Church and State like then to have been? How did Idolatry creep into the Worship of the one, and Arbitrary Power invade the Privileges of the other? The Laws of our Land were infringed and trampled upon, the Governors of our Church were imprisoned, our Universities were poisoned with Errors; indeed, God Almighty was pleased to let all their Designs be carried on so far, as if he were resolved to bring us just to the Mouth of Destruction, that so his Goodness and Omnipotence might appear the plainer in our Rescue.  
2. Let us consider the Miseries we might probably have fallen into, if the late King should have happened to be brought in by a Foreign Power. The Principles and cruel Designs of Popery may plainly be understood by any who have a mind to it; we have had Trial and Experience enough of them in this Nation, especially now lately we have had a dismal and horrid View, tho' (blessed be God) it was but a transient View of the true Spirit and Temper of that Religion: But then to consider the Tenets of that Religion, joined with a natural Implacableness of a Man's own Temper, and that exasperated not only by the Instigations of vile Men about him, but likewise by the irksome and vexatious remembrances of his own Losses. All this, I say, put together, what could be expected from the Success of such a Design as this? Good God to what a height of Barbarity would their Insolence and Rage have driven them, if their Plots had taken effect? There is no expecting Grapes of Thorns, or Figs of Thistles. 
Mat. 7. 1●  The Foundation of this true Romish Attempt, like that of ancient Rome, was to be laid in Royal Blood; and what After-works were to be expected from such Beginnings?  
And now, since by the undeserved Mercy of God to us, we have escaped their Rage and Fury, can any Member of our Church have any Adherency to the Maintainers of these bloody Principles? Can any Professors of the true and peaceable Faith of Christ have any Affection for the Defenders of such a Faith as This? In short, to use the words of Ezra, Seeing that thou our God hast punished 
Ezra 9 13, 14.  us less than our Iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a Deliverance as this, should we again break thy Commandments, and join in Affinity with the People of These Abominations, wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?  
But it was not only Popery that was coming in upon us, but a Foreign Power. When God threatens his People with the severest sort of Foes, he adds this as the most aggravating Circumstance, I will bring a Nation 
Jer. 5. 15.  upon you from far; a Nation whose Language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Nor was it only a Foreign Power that was coming, but a Power that has hitherto exercised the greatest Inhumanities', a Power that has disturbed the Peace of Christendom, a Power that, were not the Power of God greater than it, would overrun all the Bounds of Right and Wrong, and would swallow the whole World without Remorse, and make the very Church of Christ a Prey to its Insatiableness. I would therefore have those Men that are Wellwishers to their Old Master, as they term him, consider, they cannot have him without this Power we have been describing: And how small Gainers either their Master or themselves would be by this Power, if it should prevail, may easily be guessed from the many wonderful Lovingkindnesses and Mercies it has hitherto been guilty of in all its Conquests.  
Thirdly, The third Reason why some Men will not comply with the Government may be some pressures of Conscience they may pretend to be laid upon them; but what those pressures are, who can tell? Sure I am, a great many are taken off; here are no Persecutions now for Conscience sake, no Imprisonments for bare Non-compliances; nothing that is heavy or grievous to the Subject, but what the misfortune of a War makes unavoidable. But one thing there is that lies heavy at the bottom of some men's Stomaches, and that is some Oaths and Obligations, and Subscriptions, which the Wise and Great Council of the Nation think proper to be taken, and entered into. And when the Government has thus determined them to be proper, I think it no offence to any any Man's Conscience to comply with them.  
The Throne became vacant by Session, or Desertion, and the next Heir by Rightful Succession was placed in it by the hand of God, and the consent of the People; which was solemnly confirmed by the Three Estates of the Government. Then forms of Oaths of Fidelity were Composed and Tendered to the People, and undoubtedly with the greatest Prudence, and Wisdom; for Men are apt to sit lose in their Obedience, without the restraints and ties of Conscience, and then nothing but Power can keep the wavering parts of such a Government together. The People are a fluid Body, like the Sea, and every Wind puts them into a Disturbance, and Commotion, therefore Oaths are of great use in a Government, to fix and settle the Subjects of it.  
But the most preposterous Creature of all is, he that can take the Oaths, and yet speak and act against the Government, that can deliberately in a Court of Judicature Swear Fidelity to a Prince, and with the next Glass of Wine mix his Confusion. It is indeed a thing much to be lamented, that Men can thus trifle with their Consciences, and I could hearty wish the Church of England could not be taxed with the having of some of this stamp in her bosom. Indeed they would make far fit Members for the Church of Rome, where Equivocation, and the palliating of a Man's Conscience is as much Tolerated, as speaking of Truth is Commanded in the true Church of Christ.  
I have now done with the two sorts of Men which my Text seemed directly to point at, the Men that seeing, will not see, nor hearing, will not hear, neither will they understand. And I will now make use of the same Inference from these words to you, that our Saviour did to his Disciples, but blessed are your eyes, for you see, and your ears, for you hear.  
I hope there is no body here but what is fully convinced of the continual Endeavours of the Romish Party against us, how close they are in their Contrivances, how eager they are in their Pursuits, and how Barbarous they would be in their Executions. Not to recount all their Plots and Conspiracies since the Reformation, let us but thoroughly look into this last contrived against us: How deep was it laid, and how far was it carried on? What Preparations of War did, as out of the Clouds, on the sudden appear to us from afar? And how secretly were their Combinations carried on here at Home? And yet, by the merciful Providence of God how happily and how strangely was it prevented, even when it was just upon the point of Execution!  
Plots and Conspiracies against the Church of Christ and Lawful Governments, prove often to be of the same Nature in the Political Body, as Boils and Tumours are in a Man's Natural Body; all the ill Blood gathers together, and there it frets and ferments for some time, and is very angry and peevish, till it digests and grows ripe, and then it is either lanced and probed to the bottom, or it often breaks of itself, and let's out the Corruption, and afterwards the whole Body is much the better for it.  
Indeed we have great Reason to thank Almighty God for his Critical Discovery of this black Conspiracy that was now laid against the Person of our Sacred King and all his good Subjects at once: It was truly come to a full Head and Ripeness; and the Design, as it was Cruel and Tragical, so certainly would the Execution of it have been Universal, it had broke in like Wildfire amongst us, and none would have escaped its Wrath and Fury: And God, we cannot but confess, might have justly stood aloof from us in the Day of our Distress, and might have said to us as he once did to the Children of Israel, So often have I delivered you from the hands of your enemies, but ye have still provoked me more and more, wherefore I will deliver you no more. But his tender Mercies have been far greater unto us.  
And now what may God justly expect from us in return for this his Goodness to us?  
1. That we should glorify him by off ring him Praise and Thanksgiving, and by ordering our Conversation aright, that he may still delight to show us his Salvation.  
2. That we should live quietly and peaceably under Him that he has placed over us as our Lawful Governor, praying to Almighty God that he would defend and protect him both against all open Violence, and against all secret Attempts; that he would guide his Counsels at home, and prosper his Arms abroad; that he would give Him a long and happy Reign over us, and keep Us in humble and due Obedience to him. Lastly, That he would  all his Enemies with shame, but upon himself let his Crown, flourish. And this we beg for Jesus Christ his Sake. Amen.  
FINIS.