Imprimatur,  
C. Alston, R. P. D. Henrico, Episc. Lond. à Sacris. Novemb. 4. 1690.   

A SERMON Preached to the Protestants OF IRELAND IN THE CITY of LONDON, At St. Helen's, Octob. 23. 1690.  
BEING The Day Appointed by Act of Parliament in IRELAND FOR AN Anniversary Thanksgiving For the Deliverance of the Protestants of that Kingdom, from the Bloody Massacre begun by the Irish Papists on the 23d. of October, 1641.  
By RICHARD, Lord Bishop of Killala.  
Printed at the Earnest Request of many of the Gentry of Ireland.  
LONDON: Printed for Robert Clavel, at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1691.   
2 CHRON. xxviii. 9 
Behold, because the Lord God of your Fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hands: and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up to Heaven.  
WHEN the Royal Tribe of Judah did highly offend and displease Almighty God; when the many signal Mercies and Favours which he had bestowed upon them, could not oblige them to obey his Laws, and keep his Commandments, he afflicts them with many, and great Judgements, to see if that could reduce them to Obedience. He had long waited for their Conversion; and sent his Prophet's early and late to admonish and forewarn them of their danger: He courted and allured them with Temporal Blessings; and promised them a perpetual continuance of his Favour. But when all these Methods proved ineffectual, and nothing could work upon them; he then showered down the Vials of his Wrath and Indignation. Beside their great and deserved Sufferings mentioned in other places, this Chapter tells you, that God delivered them into the Hands of a Foreign Prince, who smote them, and carried a vast Multitude of them Prisoners to Damascus.  
This was a very great and a heavy Punishment, to be forced from their plentiful Habitations; to live in Exile and Bondage; poor, and unpitied; groaning with the weight of their uneasy Chains; and languishing in dark and loathsome Dungeons: But when even this could have no influence upon them, he afflicts them with a Domestic and Intestine War: Their own Brethren risen up against them, Verse 6 and cruelly slaughtered a Hundred and twenty Thousand in one day, who were all Valiant Men. A sad and dismal sight, to see so many weltering in their blood! The Greatest and most Honourable Courtiers were then also killed; and Two Hundred Thousand Women and Children were led Captives to Samaria. Thus dangerous and fatal is it to provoke and incense the Lord.  
This Punishment did far exceed the other: The Wounds which we receive from a Friend's Sword, are most painful and tormenting. 
Psal. 55.13.  David says, Had it been an Enemy, I could have born it; but it was thou mine equal and acquaintance.  
The Laws of God and Nature are more violated by Domestic Feuds and Treasons, than by Foreign Quarrels and Invasions: And none more rigid and unmerciful than those of our own House and Country. This was evidently seen in the Cruelties of the Men of Israel; who not only killed such a prodigious number of their Brethren, and took much Spoil from them, Verse 15 but brought away many Thousands of them and their Children naked and barefoot, feeble and wounded, to be their Bondmen and Vassals: And so merciless and severe were they in all respects, that a Prophet is sent to reprove and rebuke them; who, with undaunted Courage stands at the head of their bloody Troops, and cries out, Behold, because the Lord God of your Fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hands; and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up to Heaven: In which you may observe, 

First, God's delivering the men of Judah into the hands of the men of Israel.  
Secondly, The Reason of it: because he was wroth with them.  
Thirdly, The Prophet's Reproof of the Cruelty of the Men of Israel, for slaying their Brethren with a Rage that reached up to Heaven.    
First, God's delivering the Men of Judah into the hands of the Men of Israel. The whole Scripture doth abundantly declare how merciful and gracious God is, how slow to anger, and how unwilling to punish: But when his Mercies are slighted, his Favours rejected, and all his Invitations and Threaten are vilified and contemned, he than exerts his Power, his Veracity and Justice, and makes himself terrible to the Children of Men, by throwing down his Judgements upon them.  
Here you see, the Men of Judah were given up: That Tribe, which was to be eternally famous by our Saviour's Birth, that very Tribe did he suffer to be thus severely punished. Whence, 'tis evident, that God exempts none, but whosoever sins shall be punished. That Nation, or Family that offends God, and runs into open Hostility against him, shall suffer. If he spared not Judah, none must hope for Pardon and Immunity. And if you search the Divine Annals, you'll find, that whenever they wallowed in Sin, and slept in security, than did God rouse them with the noise of War, and brought Devastations and Desolations upon them: He surrounded them with Enemies on every side, and did by them lash them in, when they ran into Rebellion against him.  
And if he used them thus; if he spared not the Natural Branches, take heed lest he spare not you; for thus will he deal with all who will not be reform: He will withdraw his Protection, and leave them to themselves, and let their Enemies invade their Houses, and ruin their Country; of which, the many Conquests in Judea, and the Dispersion of their Tribes over all the Earth, is a remarkable and dreadful Example.  
The Psalmist tells us, 
Psal. 34 7.  The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them: But they who will not fear him, shall have no such ministration and attendance: Their Guardian-Angels remove, as they did from the Temple, before Titus sacked Jerusalem; when (as Josephus and Eusebius tell us) a Voice was heard, Let us departed hence; and they were left to themselves, and lay open to the Assaults of their Enemies, and were then soon ruined and scattered up and down the World, near two Millions of them being destroyed in sour Years; Eleven Hundred Thousand fell in the City, Ninety Seven Thousand were taken Prisoners, and Thirty of them were sold for a Penny. Thus lamentable and dreadful is the Condition of that People who are forsaken of the Lord, who are left void and destitute of his Protection: I will forsake them and hid my face from them, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us? Deut. 31.17.  
Beware then of driving God away from you; where he withdraws and absents himself, no good thing can continue: While we are his People, he will be our God, but no longer. If we renounce our Allegiance to a Mortal Prince, he'll soon withhold his Favours from us, and Correct us according to the nature of our Crimes: And shall we expect to go free, when we violate our Loyalty and Homage to Almighty God? That were inconsistent with his Justice; for being a just Judge, he must Punish and give Sentence, Amos 3.2. And he declares his Resolutions of punishing them this way, Leu. 26.17. Ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when none pursue.  
Many other such grievous Comminations are in his Word, which were exactly fulfilled; God making them a Prey to their Enemies, and scattering them up and down the Earth. And still you may observe, the Scripture says, God gave them up: God caused them to be smitten: As in the Text you are told, God delivered Judah into the hands of the Israelites; which teacheth us two things:  
First, That without God's permission, our Enemies can have no power over us. 'Tis when he forsakes, when he delivers us up, that our Enemies overcome us; till he consent, they cannot move: till by sin we forfeit our Right to his Protection, we need not fear; which shows us our comfort and security, and may arm us against dissidence and distrust; for though they long to destroy us, though they gnash at us with their Teeth, and thirst after our Blood, they cannot hurt us, till God permit them. He restrains them by his power, and keeps us under the hollow of his hand.  
Secondly, It shows us, that whatever Judgements happen to a People, God sends, or permits them: 
Isa. 45.7. Grot. Pisc.  'Tis he that makes peace, and creates our evil; our Calamities of War, Pestilence, or Famine, as Interpreters render it. And the Psalmist tells us, 
Psal. 46.8.  'Tis he that makes desolations in the earth. And what Judgements fall upon us, come from him, as a just Retribution of our Wickedness. He makes use of several Rods to Correct us; now Foreign Invasions, then Domestic Rebellions; he suffers our Neighbours to rise up, and destroy us; and owns himself the Avenger of Iniquity, 
Rom. 12.19.  nor will he lose the Glory of the greatest Executions; for Vengeance is his, and he will repay it.  
Such Acts are the outward signs and demonstrations of his Justice and Omniscience; and our sighs and groans in Adversity contribute to his Honour, as well as our Praises and Thanksgivings in Prosperity. The shrieks and cries of the Damned in Hell bring Glory to him, as well as the Anthems and Hallelujahs of the Saints in Heaven: 
Gen. 18.25.  for shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? His Justice should be conspicuous to all the World, and the most punitive effects thereof, are for his Honour, and tend to our benefit and advantage. They make us acknowledge his Power, and fear his Wrath; and own, with the Psalmist, that there is a God which judgeth in the earth, Psal. 58.11. They make us turn to him with Sorrow and Repentance, with Reformation and Amendment: 
Isa. 26.9.  And when his Judgements are in the earth, we will learn Righteousness. Nunquam Dei meminerint, nisi dum in malis fuerint, says Lactantius. We seldom remember God as we ought, but when his hand lies heavy upon us, and presses us down sore; so that for the vindication of his own Honour, and for our good, 'tis necessary we should be punished and chastised.  
'Tis true, all his Corrections are not out of Anger, some proceed from his Love, and are sent as Antidotes to prevent sin, and improve our Graces; to draw us nearer to him, and increase our dependence upon him; to know him and ourselves better; to discern our Frailties and Weakness, to wean our hearts from this vain and transitory World, to give us a clear sight and sense of our Offences; to make us Precedents of Courage and Constancy unto others, and to manifest his own Glory in our Deliverance.  
And such, I hope, are those which we now suffer: And therefore beware how you censure those who groan under the sharpest Trials, and most grievous Calamities; for in all Ages of the World, the holiest Persons have gone through much Tribulation to the Kingdom of Heaven. Not to mention the Sufferings of the Patriarches and Prophets, do but see what happened to the Disciples and Followers of the Holy Jesus. Was not St. Matthew Martyred in Aethiopia, St. Mark burnt, St. Luke hanged, and St. John thrown into a Cauldron of Oil? Was not St. Peter crucified, and St. Paul beheaded? And were not the rest put to various and cruel Deaths? And it would grate your Ears, and make your Hearts tremble to hear the Tortures of Christians in the Ten Persecutions. They slew them in a rage that reached up to Heaven. Severus ordered that none of them should be left alive in all his Territories: And Nicephorus tells us, we may as well count the Grains of Sand, as the Names of all that were Martyred under the Inhuman Decius: And in all Ages since, the best Christians have undergone great Trials and Afflictions.  
So that you must be very cautious how you judge of the Sufferings of Kingdoms, of Families, and Individual Persons: You must not think their Calamities are always sent for the Punishment of some grievous sin; and that the greatest Sufferers are the greatest Offenders: God having many other Ends and Reasons for visiting us with Afflictions; and they are Marks and Tokens of his Love, his Fatherly Care and Protection, and of our Filiation and Adoption, as well as of his Wrath and Displeasure: 
Heb. 12.6.  For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth.  
But we must also know, that Judgements do often proceed from his Wrath, and are the just Punishments of sin: and therefore in public or private Calamities, we should search and examine our own Hearts, and see, with Job, why God contendeth with us; and repent and bewail our sins, and resolve upon uniform Obedience for the future: We should give Glory to God, and take shame and confusion of face to ourselves, and own our Sufferings to be far less than we deserve, and say, 
Psal. 145.17.  The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.  
And let us never imagine they fall upon us by mere Accident, 
Job 5.6.  or Chance: For affliction ariseth not out of the dust, nor trouble out of the mire. We cannot perish but by his knowledge, consent, or permission: His Judgements are the just and usual effects and consequents of our sin, and are generally sent either to punish us for it, or to keep us from committing it: And therefore in National or particular Judgements, let us still look at that great Hand from whence they come, and humble ourselves under it, and be dumb because God does it. The Text tells you, He delivered Judah into the Hands of their Enemies: If he had not done so, they could not have destroyed them: And it also gives you the Reason of it, which is the second thing to be considered.  
Secondly, He was wroth with them: Because he was angry with them, he delivered them to their Tormentors. The Israelites could not arrogate this Victory to themselves: It was not their Innocency, or their Merit which obtained it, for they were sinners as well as the men of Judah, as the Prophet tells them in the next Verse; Verse 6 but they were the sins of the men of Judah which occasioned it; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers, Pekah slew in one day an hundred and twenty thousand. It was their sin of forsaking God which gave their Enemies that mighty Conquest and Success: 'Twas that which enabled them to subdue so many stout men at one time.  
Whence observe, That neither Courage nor Conduct, Strength nor Magnanimity, can withstand the Power and Will of God; there is no resisting his Almighty Arm, when he is provoked by our sins. 'Tis said, When the Lion roars, all the Beasts of the Forest tremble: And well may poor Mortals quake when God is angry. A due consideration of his Power and our own Gild, may fill the stoutest Heart with Dread and Terror. 
Psal. 119.120.  David, though a man of invincible Courage, cries out, My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy Judgements. He knew God could afflict him with Spiritual, Temporal, and Eternal Judgements; the apprehension of which did so terrify him, that he could neither sleep nor speak. Psal. 77.4. Thou keepest me waking, and I am astonished; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. And he gives the Reason of this in the next Verse; I have considered the days of Old, the years of ancient times: or the eternal years, as the Septuagint renders it.  
'Tis a dangerous thing to provoke a God who is armed and invested with such Power; it is not safe to stir up his Anger and Wrath: For as David tells you, 
Psal. 90.11.  Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. And the Epithets, Hot, Great, Fierce Burning, and Smoking, are generally added to the Anger of God in Scripture, to show the great danger of exciting his wrath, and the difficulty of resisting it, and defending ourselves against the fatal consequences of it, when 'tis once kindled: It being, as the Apostle says, 
Heb. 10.31.  a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  
What vast Armies have been defeated, what flourishing Cities have been consumed, what Noble Countries have been laid waste in his Anger, you may at large see in Scripture. All the Elements are at his Command, and can destroy us when he pleases. The Earth, the Sea, and even Hell itself have opened their voracious mouths, and swallowed down numbers in his wrath. Angels have come from Heaven, and slain whole Armies at a time. If one of those powerful Spirits could slay 185000 in a Night, (as one did in the Army of Sennacherib) what can the whole Host of Heaven do, when God is enraged against us?  
Observe therefore the Advice of Moses, 
Deut. 6.13.  and fear the Lord thy God, and serve him; lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. How soon did he make it open, and swallow down Corah and his Confederates? And did he not rain down Fire and Brimstone from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrha? Which with many other sudden Judgements in Holy Writ, may terrify us from incurring his Indignation. Remember also what he did to his own People of Israel, whom he brought through the Red Sea, and fed with Manna in the Wilderness; and dread the like Executions of his Vengeance, and seriously conclude, That except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.  
Compare your sins with theirs, and you will soon find that you have reason to fear as great, and as heavy strokes; for sin was never more openly committed, and all sorts of Impiety did never more abound, than they have done of late years in these Nations. The Records of God's former Punishments have had little Operation upon these Kingdoms. And we, alas! who are now met together, may with shame and sorrow confess, that the dreadful Judgement, which we this day commemorate, did not Reform us: And therefore God hath justly punished us again, in delivering us into the hands of our Enemies; who, but for the Terror of the English Arms, would, in all probability, have slain us, as the Israelites did the men of Judah, with a rage that would have reached up to Heaven: Which is the Third thing in the Text to be discoursed on.  
Thirdly, Their cruel usage of the men of Judah, in slaying them with a rage that reached up to Heaven.  
When once God gives up a People to be punished, the Devil instigates the Executioners to do it with all possible Malice and Inveteracy. They gratify their revengeful Appetite at such times; their Ambition and Rigour increase with their Power: They throw off all sentiments of Humanity, and are pleased with those Tragical Spectacles, which Nature shrinks at, and abhors. Thus did Adonibezek cut off the Thumbs and great Toes of seventy Kings, and made then feed at his feet, and eat the crumbs which fell from his Table. Sesostris, King of Egypt, was of the same cruel Temper: He delighted to hear the Kings whom he had conquered, groan as they drew his Chariot. And did not Lysimachus laugh to see Telesphorus, whose Ears and Nose, and Lips he had cut off, bemoan himself in his tormenting Cage? in which he barbarously exposed him to be seen, as some strange Creature. The like might I tell you of Cyrus and Cambyses, of Nero and Caligula, of Domitian and Decius: But how remarkably did God punish these, and many other cruel Men? Did not Cambyses, who murdered his Wife and his Brother, and slaughtered his Nobility for nothing; and cut off all the Syrians Noses, fall by his own Sword, and his merciless Army eat one another in Aethiopia?  
As they did to others, so did God requite them: He abhors their Tyranny, and insatiable thirst after Blood: And his permitting them to punish others, will not acquit their Spite and Malice, their Rancour and Spleen, their Rage and Cruelty in doing of it. These are sins which proceed from their own corrupt Nature, their perverse Will and free Choice, and not from any inevitable Necessity, or irresistible Force imposed upon them by Almighty God. He tempteth not any man to sin, 
James 1.13:  saith St. James. He being Holy, Just, and Perfect, cannot seduce man to that which is sinful, and concur in the evil of his Actions. He withdraws his Grace, which softens and restrains the Heart; and for want thereof, the Heart is hardened, as the Earth is by the Sun, when its softening moisture is exhaled and drawn up by it: And leaving Man to himself thus hardened, he is then drawn away with his own Lusts, and chooses, wills, and commits sin, for which he is justly accountable. And such men's malicious and revengeful Acts are highly offensive and displeasing unto God, for which he does often most severely punish them. They are contrary to his Nature, 
Lam. 3.33.  who doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the Children of men. He never strikes but when he is forced; and therefore all delight in Cruelty must be most odious unto him.  
If an Executioner, instead of striking off a man's Head, should cut and mangle all his Body, and put him to much greater pain and torture than the Judge decreed, he is justly blamed and punished. Here the just Judge of Heaven is angry with the bloody Israelites, for their severe usage of poor Judah, and sends his Prophet to acquaint them with his Resentments of their Barbarity, who undauntedly tells them of their sin, and denounces the fierce wrath of the Lord against them. He did not fear what they could do unto him, neither must we dread any in publishing the Commands of God: We must cry aloud, and spare not, and imitate this zealous Prophet, in reproving the Tyranny and Oppression of bloody Men. He did not lessen their Outrages, but upbraids them for exceeding their Commission, in slaying them with a Rage that reached up to Heaven. Ad Coelos pertigit, inde in se vindictam excitans. 
Mas.  Their great and unreasonable Rage which they executed with so much severity and delight, cried loud in Heaven, and made God punish them afterward. They should not have been so severe to their own Brethren, nor took such pleasure and satisfaction in their Punishment. God in Judgement remembers Mercy; and though he would humble his own People, and bring them low, he would not have them quite destroyed.  
But so fierce and outrageous are the Enemies of his Children, that instead of going, they run to destroy them; they thirst after their Blood, and, like the Horseleech, burst ere they are satisfied. No less than an Ocean of Blood could sale the greedy Appetite of these Devourers; a hundred and twenty Thousand Victims must be Sacrificed to their Malice.  
By which you see what a heavy Judgement it is to fall into the hands of inveterate Adversaries. Well did David choose, when he sinned in Numbering the People, to receive his Punishment from God's own hand: For, as Solomon tells you, the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Nothing but the height of Rage and Fury can be expected from them.  
Of this all Ages have given us many and sad Examples: but none more than that in which this monstrous and unparallelled Cruelty was acted, which we this day are commanded by the Law of our Nation to commemorate. For when God was wroth with us for our sins, he suffered the Irish Papists to rise up against us, and slay many Thousands in a Rage that reached up to Heaven. Which horrid Fact, seeing they are grown so impudent and audacious to deny, and in their Pamphlets pretend there was only a little Commotion, and but some few killed; and that the Protestants were the first Aggressors: I shall (as I have been desired) to undeceive you that are strangers, and for the just Vindication of the English, take the usual Liberty allowed to Preachers on these Occasions, and show you how their Rebellion began, who chief contrived it, and what cruel Actions they committed; by which you will soon perceive that they imitated these men in my Text, and slew their Brethren in a Rage that reached up to Heaven.  
The unhappy Natives of that Country having lived long in a blind Obedience and Vassalage to the Church of Rome; and believing the Pope Infallible, would not doubt the truth of what his Janissaries, the Jesuits, did suggest unto them. Whatever any of their Clergy affirms Lawful, did then, and does still pass among the Vulgar for Catholic Doctrine; and no Oracle more unquestionable than their Assertions. Sic credit Ecclesia weighs down the Balance of Religion and Loyalty, let the Doctrine be never so contrary to the Laws of God and Nature.  
Being thus ignorant and credulous, and wholly devoted to follow the Advice of their Clergy, they ran into Rebellion in the Year 1641. being instigated thereunto by their Churchmen, who having plotted the Mischief abroad, came over in Shoals the Year before, as was well known to Men of Wisdom and Observation then living, and very apparent from the Intelligence King Charles the First than had from his Ambassadors in Spain, and other Countries; of which he gave timely Notice to his Justices.  
These grand Incendiaries dispersing themselves throughout the Kingdom, and removing the Native Clergy of the Pale into remoter Parts of the Land, and placing men out of Ulster and Connaught, of more fierce and bloody Principles there, they blew up the Trumpet every where to rise in Arms; branding us and our Religion with the blackest Calumnies, and most falsely telling the People, they were a Free Nation, and had no dependence upon England, and should therefore strive to recover their Ancient Rights, and be no longer Subject to an Heretical Prince. I say, most falsely did they suggest, that Ireland was a Free Nation, when they cannot but own that it was Conquered some hundreds of Years since. In which case Grotius tells us, 
De jure be●● lib. 3. c. 6.  Jure Gentium non tantum is qui ex justâ causâ bellum gerit, sed & quivis in bello solenni, & sine fine, modoque Dominus fit eorum quoe ex Hoste eripit. Not only he that wages War in a Just Cause, but every Man in a Solemn War, is Lord and owner of what he takes from the Enemy. Xenophon calls it an Everlasting Law with all Men. And Aristotle says, The Law of Nations, as by an Universal Agreement, had ordained, That the Conqueror should enjoy what he Conquers; it being a general Rule, Quoe ex Hostibus capiuntur, Jure Gentium, statim capientium fiunt. Whatever is taken from the Enemy, is, by the Law of Nations, his who takes it.  
If so, then certainly Ireland belongs to the Crown of England. For, not to insist upon King Arthur's Claim, when he summoned their Petit Princes to appear before him here, and own their Subjection to him. 
Cambden.  Or upon King Edgar's Conquest, who subdued Dublin, and the greatest part of the Kingdom, and made them acknowledge his Sovereignty over them. 
Giral. Cambr.  We all know that King Henry the Second reduced them to Obedience above Five Hundred Years ago; and Charters of Submission to him were voluntarily signed and delivered by the seven Kings of the Country, 
They submitted to Henry the Second, to King John, to Richard the Second, and to Henry the Eight, and their Submissions were sworn to, signed, and recorded; yet did they still Rebel as soon as they had Opportunity. And though Oneal did in his Letters style Richard the Second his King, and perpetual Lord of Ireland, and in the Instrument of his Submission used these words; Ego Nelanus Oneal, tam pro meipso, quam pro filiis meis, & tota Natione mea, & pro omnibus subditis meis, devenio Ligeus homo vester, etc. Yet did he run into Rebellion again, and committed great slaughters. By which they in those days, and their Posterity since, have verified the Prophecy which Giral. Cambr. mentions, That after the first Invasion of the English, they should spend many Ages in frequent Conflicts, Battles, and Murders, and that almost all the English should be driven out of Ireland, etc.  and transmitted to Rome, which were confirmed by a Bull from Pope Adrian, and by the delivery of a Ring, in token of his Investiture; to which both Clergy and Laity did consent, and swore Homage and Fealty to him in a Public Convention at 
* Mat. Paris. Giral. Cambr.  Lismore, where the Laws of England were also thankfully received, and they all sworn to observe them: and afterward he gave it to his Son John, and the Pope confirmed it. And in the Synod at Cashell, they did unanimously, before Christianus, Precedent thereof, acknowledge the King's Ancient Right to Ireland; and enjoined all to be subject unto him. And there, and at another General Synod held at Armagh, they ordered and decreed, That the Church of Ireland should observe all Divine Offices that the Church of England did; and there also was the King's lawful Right again confessed, and submitted unto: and for Four hundred years after it was called the King's Land of Ireland; and, by many Acts of Parliament, 
Collodion of Statutes.  declared to be appending and belonging, and knit unto England.  
So was it in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, when, by the States of the Realm, he was declared King thereof. And 11 of Queen Eliz. her Title to that Kingdom is recognised in Parliament, and declared to be very Ancient, and derived from Gurmund (Son of Belin, King of Britain) Lord of Bayon in Spain: some of whose Subjects he permitted to live in that Island, and sent Guides with them to settle them in it; who, with their Posterity, ought therefore to be subject unto England, as the Inhabitants of the English Plantations in America now are.  
But though the Title of England to that Kingdom be so clear, so very ancient and just, yet they have openly rebelled five times in less than fourscore years, beginning in the Year 1567. Two other Rebellions were also contrived and resolved on within that space, to which they had Promises of Foreign Aid; but were, by God's Providence, discovered and prevented: beside that intended, and begun by three of their Principal Cities in the beginning of King James' Reign. So very prone and apt they have always been to Rebel upon the Accession of Princes to the Throne; or when England was engaged in Wars, either Domestic or Foreign.  
And the like opportunity they made use of in the late unhappy War, violating all Laws of God, Nature, and Nations; and throwing off their Allegiance to their undoubted Sovereign, as soon as the Troubles began in this Kingdom. To which Wickedness their Clergy, of all sorts, did then seduce them, telling them, That Faith was not to be kept with Heretics; That the Pope, being God's Vicar, Prodeus, as Mart. Azpilcueta calls him, had Power to depose Heretical Princes; and that they would do God and the Church good Service in kill Heretics. Upon which they ran furiously to commit those horrid Acts which they thought meritorious. And so cunningly did they draw Arguments from Religion, Honour, and Profit, that they made the English Pale break out, which neither the Pope's Bulls, nor the Declarations of the Divines of Salamanca and Valedolid could instigate them unto in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.  
But now they had better digested the Romish Tenets; and the Priests appeared every where in the Head of their Troops, and in sharp and bloody Oratory animated them to go on.  
What the Jesuits had wrote was become Canonical; and the Actions of others were now to be imitated. Why should not they be as blindly Zealous, as any of their Religion had been? They knew the Merindolians and Calabrians were murdered for their Aversion to the Romish Religion: that Alphonsus Diazius came, in great Zeal from Rome, and killed his own Brother in Germany, for being a Protestant. They had heard how many had been martyred here, in the Reign of Queen Mary; and what numbers the Duke de Alva had executed in the Netherlands. The Massacre of Paris was fresh in their memory; where, and in other parts of France, the French King boasted in his Letters to the Pope, that he had cut off 70000 Heretics; for which there were solemn Processions at Rome, and a Jubilee granted to all Christendom by the Pope; who, by Cardinal Vrsinus, gave thanks to the French King for that good Service, and desired him to go on, and extirpate Heresy out of his Kingdoms. They knew the many Plots and Confederacies against Queen Elizabeth and King James; and how some of those monstrous Parricides gloried in their Sin, at their Execution.  
And beside these bloody Examples, they had the Authority of their Learned Writers for the lawfulness of such Actions. 
De Reg. l. 6. c. 6.  Mariana had told them, That if the Prince want be advised, they may take up Arms against him; and if nothing else will do, they may kill him. And Emanuel Sa had said, When once he is Excommunicated, the People, who have sworn Allegiance to him, may depose him; and any one may be his Executioner. 
Lib. 6. c. 3. & 6.  And Suarez had encouraged them to it likewise; telling them, If Subjects were once absolved from their Oaths, they might rise up against their Natural Prince, and kill him. And their great Cardinal Bellarmin left them also many rebellious Instructions, 
De Cler. lib. 1. c. 29.  too tedious to relate; and said, That all agree, that if the King be Tyrannical, or Heretical, he may, and aught to de deprived of his Kingdom: Nay, he adds, to prevent an Objection, Si hoc minus factum sit priscis temporibus, causa est, quia deerant vires: 
De Pont. l. 3. c. 7.  though he could not but know that Tertullian and St. Austin tell us the quite contrary.  
But these Modern Authors having said otherwise, their Authority did soon prevail; and having both Precedents and Commands for such horrid Acts, they took up Arms, and committed the most execrable Villainies that ever any Mortal read, or heard of: Some of their chief Prelates and greatest Clergymen being their Officers and Commanders; and others writing and preaching in defence of their Wickedness. I might name many; but shall only tell you, that their Bishop of Ferns calls it a just War; 
Bleeding Iphigenia.  and says, They were forced to take Arms to avoid their own Destruction, and in the necessary Defence of their Estates and Religion. And how much he, and the rest of their Bishops, opposed the Cessation, is notoriously known: and did not Father Molief cause them (contrary to the Law of Arms) to tear the Herald's Coat, who proclaimed the Peace at Lymerick; for which he had Thanks from the Nuncio, and the Apostolic Benediction? And were not all Excommunicated who adhered to that Peace? I could trace them from place to place, and show you how vigorous and active they were in all parts of the Kingdom: But I hasten.  
You see, by their Books and Practices, they hold it lawful to extirpate Protestant Kings and their Subjects: and, while they retain such Principles, what Safety can we expect? What Protestant Prince and Country is not in danger? What may they not fear, when the Fathers of their Church, who should restrain them from such horrid Murders, do, by Precept and Example, prompt them unto them, and justify them by Religious Arguments?  
And if their People may be absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance, as the Duke of Suevia was by Gregory the Seventh from his Oath to the Emperor Henry the Fourth, and the English, by Pope Pius, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, how can Princes be secure? And while they allow of Equivocating and Mental Reservations in taking of Oaths, to what purpose are they administered? And while they hold that the Commands of their Superiors must be observed, as the Command and Will of God, there is little likelihood of Peace hereafter: Nor need we wonder at former Conspiracies, the Clergy having such power over their Consciences, and holding such Principles, and approving of such Actions; on both which I might abundantly enlarge. But having showed you how this Rebellion began, upon what Principles, and at whose Instigation, what could follow, but the greatest Cruelty that could be committed? Of which you expect some Relation and particular Instances also this Day.  
But alas! what Heart can think of it; what Tongue can express it without great Emotion and Concern? The very remembrance of it strikes Dread and Terror into my Soul. For being thus instructed, and enraged by the Jesuits, Priests, and Friars, (as the Act of Parliament for the Observation of this Day tells you,) they began a most cruel, bloody, and unnatural Rebellion, resolving to destroy both Church and State, and cut off all the Protestants that would not join with them in their Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship. To effect which, they risen this day in all Parts of the Nation, running, like Furies, up and down, breathing forth nothing but Death, and finding no delight but in Slaughter; their Hands reeking with Blood, and their Swords and Skeins dulled and rebated with hewing Christians in pieces; their Zeal hurrying them into the greatest Violations of Religion and Humanity that ever the Sun beheld.  
They fully verified this Text in the greatness of their Rage, and spared but few whom they could kill. Grey hairs were no protection to the Aged; neither could Beauty or Youth find any Mercy from them; and even Innocency itself could not save the sucking Infants from being tossed on their Pikes, and hung on Tenterhooks. It was Crime enough in those poor Souls to be born of Protestant Parents. Some tender Virgins fled in Frost and Snow to the Woods and Deserts; and when sharp Hunger drove them out of those doleful Solitudes, they were catched, and made a Prey to their Bestial Desires; their Shrieks and Tears could no way move them to pity; and when by force they had satisfied their Lust, they murdered the very Persons they had embraced.  
Hanging and drowning were Acts of Mercy among them; for they killed Men by degrees, as the Tyrant Caligula did, 
In the Castle of Moroghan.  that they might feel themselves die, tying one naked to a Table, and giving him a Gash at every Health they drank, until his whole Body was one continued wound. Nor were their Women less cruel to their own Sex, 
Bp. Maxwel's Examination.  barbarously killing the Protestant Women; and even their Children (as if they had sucked in freity with their Milk) murdering the Protestants Children. 
Examination of Adam Clover.  And a Youth, not above fourteen years of Age, slew fifteen men, being disarmed, and in the Stocks: and another, about twelve, killed two Women and one Man at the Siege of Agher.  
They broke the Backbone of a young man, 
Bp. Maxwel's Examination.  and would not kill him, but removed him from place to place, to eat the Grass of the Field; and roasted Mr. Watson alive, after they had cut off some pieces of his flesh. 
Exam. of Phil. Taylor and John Wisdom.  They ripped up the Bellies of Women, and cast their Children to the Swine, who eat them; and some were delivered of Children while they were hanging. They made a man drunk, 
Exam. of Alex. Creighton, Ch. campbel, and Geo Cottingham Clerk.  and then hanged him. They forced others to Mass, gave them the Sacrament, and then murdered them; saying, It was no sin to kill Protestants, for they were all damned already.  
Nay, 
Bp. Maxwel's Examination.  their Cruelty did extend to the very cattle of the English, cutting pieces out of them alive; in which Torment they lived some days, roaring about the Fields.  
They compelled some to tread on the Holy Bible, cursing it in a horrid manner, and saying, 
Exam. of Ed. Slack, Rog. Holland, and Mr. Dean.  It had bred all the quarrel. They also burned some Bibles, and said, It was Hell-fire that burned; and wished they had all the Bibles in Christendom to burn with them. And they triumphed and rejoiced in the numbers they had killed, saying, 
Exam. of John Wisdom, Phil. Taylor, and Marg. Stoakes.  The Devil was beholding to them for sending him so many Souls to Hell.  
But their Rage against the Clergy was such, 
Mr Harcourt's Martyrology.  as I am not able to relate, nor could you, without Horror and Amazement, hear it. And the barbarous usage of one of their Wives is not to be named among Christians. 
Mrs. Smithson.  They drowned and burnt great numbers, and laughed at their Cries and Lamentations; and took pleasure to hear Men speak, as they buried them alive in Ditches. 
Exam. of Antho. Stratford. Abstract of Irish Massacres.  They tried whether a Man's Guts or a Dogs were longest; and made Candles of a Man's grease in the County of Tyrone, and did many other things which Nature loathes, and Humanity abhors: as may be at large seen in the Examinations taken upon Oath, 
Bp. of Meath.  by a late eminent and learned Prelate, with seven other Reverend Divines, 
Dr. Jones ' Remonstrance. Mr. Harcourt's Remonstrance Sir John Temple's Hist. Dr. Borlases Hist.  and in other Books writ on this Tragical Subject, to which I refer you: and in them you will see, that Piso's Head never afforded more pleasure to the inhuman Otho, than the dead Carcases of Protestants did to those men. A quick death was the only favour, and the greatest Act of Humanity to be expected at their Hands: but alas! even that was sometimes denied, though most earnestly desired by those whom they had grievously wounded.  
The whole Kingdom was an Aceldema, and nothing but Sighs and Groans were heard throughout the Land. When Titus saw Jerusalem in flames, and Marcellus beheld Syracuse burning, their Words and Tears did testify their trouble and concern, though Enemies, for the destruction of those Noble Places; but these men sung, with Nero, while they burned our Cities, demolished our Churches, and buried those Sacred Fabrics in their own Ruins, because they had been used by Heretics.  
All the Country was in a flame. The Towns were filled with the Blood of the Inhabitants; and the Bodies left in many places to be devoured by the Fowls of the Air. Nay, 
Exam. of Mar. Woods, Tho. Hewetson, and Rob. Collis.  they violated the very Sepulchers of the Dead, dug up their Bodies, and threw them into the Sea, or into the Fields, as unworthy to be interred among them.  
Naturalists tell us, the fiercest Lions covet Honour more than Revenge; they are appeased when they see their Enemy on the Ground, and give Life to that which yields the Victory: but that could not satisfy these Men. To see the British poor and miserable, was not enough; 'twas their Blood alone could quench the thirst of such Cannibals. I might give you numerous Examples of their Rage and Fury, but I shall end, the whole Day being little enough to give you a full account of their Villainies, which were so great and savage, so barbarous and inhuman, that no Epithet can reach them, no History can parallel them. For proof of which, you have the undeniable Testimony of the whole Parliament of Ireland, who, with one Voice, tell you in their Act for the keeping this Anniversary, That it was a Conspiracy so generally inhuman, barbarous, and cruel, as the like before was never heard off in any Age or Kingdom.  
Which Act, we need not wonder they would Repeal, it being the united Evidence of those, who were met in Parliament, from all parts of the Nation, and had fully enquired into their Actions, and had also many among them who had been Eye-witnesses of their Cruelties; to smother which; the Irish had used all the Art and Industry imaginable: and to terrify all from any farther search into them, did most barbarously murder archdeacon Bysse, who was appointed by Authority to take Examinations of their Rapines and Murders; which, in a word, were so many, and so spitefully acted, that the most compendious Writer could scarce comprise them in a Volume, and the sharpest Satirist represent them in their just Characters.  
Such was their Rage; thus excessive and immoderate was their Fury, that we may say of it, 
Gen. 49.6, 7.  as Jacob did of the Rage of his Sons, O my Soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, mine Honour, be not thou united; for in their Anger they slew a man. Cursed be their Anger, for it was fierce, and their Wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. By which pathetical Apostrophe, he shows his great and zealous detestation of their Outrage, curses their sin, and foretells their punishment: which was accordingly fulfilled, when their Union in Evil was punished with a Division and Scattering among the Ten Tribes.  
Neither did these bloody men long escape, Vengeance did pursue them close at the Heels. None values the Executioner when the work is done. Alexander was raised to punish the Pride of the Persians; and Caesar and Pompey the Lust and Luxury of the Romans: But when God had done his work with them, they came to sudden and untimely ends. And so did our just God deal with the merciless Irish; for beside vast numbers which were slain in the War, great Plagues and sharp Famines came among them, so very great, that they did eat one another in some places. The Wrath of God fell heavy upon them, as it did on the Israelites, and they were most grievously punished for the Blood which they had spilt.  
Which might well have terrified them from committing the like wickedness any more: but alas! so inveterate were they against us, that there is no expectation of Peace among them longer than they are kept under. Their Religion altars their very Morals, sours their Nature, and imbitters their Spirits: And all the Favours and kindness we can show them, prove ineffectual. For was not the last Rebellion begun when they enjoyed their Estates, and had the free Exercise of their Religion? When they were Members of Parliament, and Magistrates of Corporations? When their Lawyers (who were then, and are now the contrivers of our Ruin) did Practice in our Courts? And when they had all the other Privileges they could reasonably desire? And now the whole Government of the Nation, and both Civil and Military Employments could not satisfy them. They have a Natural Aversion and Antipathy to us: And have resolved (as the Jesuit Campian declared here) to be our Enemies for ever. And I fear they think themselves obliged (as O Mahon, 
Disput. Apolog.  another of that Order, says they are) to join unanimously in the extirpation of Heretics: and then undoubtedly, when they have the Power in their hands, we must expect all the Mischief they can do us.  
Of which we have lately had another fatal Instance; the whole Nation rising again in Arms, seizing our Houses, plundering us of our Goods, and driving us into Exile and Banishment, when we had lived Peaceably, Hospitably, and most Obligingly among them. But God in Judgement remembered Mercy; he delivered us from their Rage, he preserved us in our sudden Flight, and when no Ships could be had, he brought some of us in Open Boats to this Charitable and Compassionate Nation; where we have been kindly received, and many thousands have been Charitably relieved; which with all gratitude and thankfulness must be for ever remembered.  
And God has raised us up a Glorious Deliverer, who has exposed himself to as great dangers as ever any Prince did, to restore us to our Country again. He succeeds his Illustrious Ancestors in their Hereditary Zeal for the Reformed Religion, as he does in their Valour; and rescues us from Popish Tyranny and Slavery, as they did the Netherlands in the last Century. And by his Wisdom, Conduct, and Courage, he has obtained a Victory which is the Admiration of this, and will be the Wonder of future Ages: By which, the Metropolis of our Nation, and many other great Towns are preserved from Flames; and the Lives of many Thousands of Protestants are saved, and the whole Kingdom in a happy way of being reduced; and we, who were forced to fly, have now a joyful Prospect of returning home.  
For which, let us pay him all Duty and Honour, all Fidelity and Allegiance. Let him be as dear to us, as David was to the Israelites; and as Titus and Constantine were to the Romans. Let us love him as the Father of our Country, and the Defender of our Faith. Let us pray that his Arm may be strong, and his Sword Victorious: And may the God of Battles Crown him with Success in all his Engagements for the Protestant Religion.  
And let us this day praise and adore our God for that, and all other Blessings and Deliverances. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his Name together; for his anger endureth but a moment. He hath turned our mourning into dancing, and girded us with gladness. They are brought down, and fallen; but we are risen, and stand upright. Let our mouth speak the praises of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his Holy Name for ever and ever.  
And now let his Mercies, and his Judgements have their due Influence upon us. Let us not defeat their gracious Design and Intention; but let us grow better under our Sufferings, and return with Resolutions of entire Obedience, and universal Amendment. Let us humble ourselves, and bewail those sins which brought these Punishments upon us; and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto us. And while we live, let us bless the Lord, who has delivered us from our merciless Enemies. Let us live up to the Mercies we have received, and walk answerable to the Favours he hath bestowed upon us and our Forefathers, in discovering the Plots and Contrivances of our Adversaries, and preserving us on this day from their intended Cruelties.  
We may well conclude by their murdering so many, they would have done the like to all, had not God detected their Designs, restrained their Malice, and made a way for us to escape. He did not quite cast off his People, nor forsake his Inheritance: But was, as David calls him, a present help in the time of trouble. For when we were surrounded with bloody Men, when the Snare was laid, and the Pit was dug, and we were just falling into them, he pulled us back, and rescued us from them, as he did the Jews from Haman's Conspiracy. For which, this our Feast of Purim is to be kept with all Thankfulness and Devotion. For now may our Israel say, If the Lord had not been on our side when men risen up against us, they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Or, in the words of my Text, They had slain us with a rage that would have reached up to Heaven.  
Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a Prey unto their Teeth. Our Soul is escaped, as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler; and we are yet living Monuments of his Mercy. And let us conclude, in the words of the Collect: It was his Goodness, not our Merit; it was his Mercy, not our Foresight, that any were left alive when they risen up against us. To him therefore, on this day of Mercy, and all the days of our Life, and in all Generations to come, be ascribed, as is most due, all Honour and Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.   

BOOKS Printed for, and are to be sold by Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard.  
A Sermon preached before the Court of Aldermen and Citizens of London, at Guildhall Chappel, on Sunday September the 16. 1688.  
The Golden Rule, or Royal Law of Equity Explained. Both by J. Goodman, D.D.  
An Account of the Transactions of the late K. James in Ireland, wherein is contained the Act of Attainder passed at Dublin in May 1689. As also the Proclamation for Raising Twenty thousand pounds per Mensem, without an Act of Parliament, with other Proclamations and Acts made there.  
A List of such of the Names of the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty of England and Ireland (amongst whom are several Women and Children) who are all by an Act of a pretended Parliament assembled in Dublin on the 7th of May 1689. before the late K. James, Attainted of High Treason. Both Licenced by the Command of his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State.  
Seasonable Reflections on a late Pamphlet, Entitled, A History of Passive Obedience since the Reformation, where the true Notion of Passive Obedience is settled and secured from the malicious Interpretations of designing Men.  
Obedience and Submission to the present Government, demonstrated from Bishop Overal's Convocation Book.  
A Letter of Advice to a young Gentleman of an Honourable Family, now in his Travels beyond Seas, for his more safe and profitable Conduct in the Three great Instances of Study, Moral Deportment, and Religion.  
The Life of the Right Reverend Father in God Ed. Rainbow, D. D. late Lord Bishop of Carlisle. To which is added a Sermon preached at his Funeral by Mr. Tho. Tully his Lordship's Chaplain, and Chancellor of the said Diocese of Carlisle, at Dalstone, April the 1st, 1690.