Imprimatur.  
Feb. 1. 1678. Guil. Jane, R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. à sacris domesticis.   

A SERMON ON THE Gunpowder Treason, WITH REFLECTIONS ON THE LATE PLOT.  
BY THOMAS WILSON Rector of Arrow in Warwickshire.  
LONDON: Printed for Henry Brome, at the Gun in S. Paul's Churchyard. MDCLXXIX.   

A SERMON ON PSALM cxxiv. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, etc. to the end.  
NO notice is given what was the particular occasion of the penning of this Psalm; but we see in general it was some eminent deliverance; which the Psalmist commemorates, acknowledging God to be the Author of it, and exciting Israel to bless his holy name for it. The whole is suitable to our present business of celebrating our deliverance from Popish Conspiracy. The which I wish we may do with the devotion and hearty affection of this holy man, for this will be acceptable to God, who delights to hear his People speaking of his mercies, and showing forth his power and wonderful acts, and singing of his righteousness cordially and reverently. And it will be obligatory to him to follow us still with his goodness, and to heap more benefits upon us: and pleasant will it be to our Souls, when in a sensible manner we remember how the God of Heaven owned and favoured us, and mightily wrought for our deliverance. And finally it will be profitable to us, our hearts upon the due consideration of his love and bounty, and power and marvellous doing, being excited both to serve and trust in him the more at all times, and to the end.  
In the Psalm there are these things to be observed, every one suitable to our present Solemnity, which therefore I shall accordingly apply: viz.  

I. A Danger.  
II. A Deliverance.  
III. A Thanksgiving.  
IV. A Confidence in God.   
I. The Danger. It is variously expressed, and with great emphasis: First, it is said, Men rose up against us. Which I judge rather means an open insurrection, than a secret combination: and herein indeed there is some difference betwixt Israel's case and ours. But yet our danger was not the less for this, but rather the greater. For open enemies we may either hide ourselves from, or else make preparation against: whereas there is no defence, neither escape (unless heaven assist) when men work under Ground, and lay in Barrels of Powder, which kindles in a moment, and as suddenly destroys. And there is something in the Psalm suitable to this. It is this expression (which again shows the Danger:) If the Lord had not been on our side, they had swallowed us up quick. Like as when the Earth opened and swallowed up Korah and his Company: or like as when Fire fell down from Heaven suddenly upon Sodom, and consumed the Inhabitants: or like as when an hungry Lion tears his prey, or rather when a Whale swallows a Man alive: or like as when a Deluge overflows, or a violent Torrent snatches us away, or the raging Waves of the Sea involve us. And so is it said, Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our Soul: then the proud waves had gone over our Soul. And no more mercy in our Adversaries than in those Creatures, either the Lion or the Whale, or Fire, or Water, or the Earth when it cleaves asunder and sinks under our Feet: and I may add, no more mercy than in the Devil. For his Children they were, acted by his Spirit, and his work they undertook, which is to destroy: we have had experience of their bloody hands and cruel nature; 
* 
Usser. de Eccles. success. cap. 9 10. Temple 's Irish Rebellion.  
Fox 's Acts. Clark 's Martyrol.   who have slain thousands of those they call Heretics, and have racked and tortured and mangled their bodies, burned them alive at the stake, bored out their eyes, ripped up their bellies, held their hands in the flames of candles and their feet in boiling oil, and in such cruel manner have tormented and killed, as only infernal furies could invent: and there is something in the Psalm that signifies this (which we are further to take notice of, as that which expresses the Danger:) for it is said, Their wrath were kindled against us.  
And truly not a little did our Enemy's rage, but even like the fire of a furnace, or like the fire of hell itself: and they rage so still, for they have been long vexed that they have lost their precious things, and are spoiled of their glory; that their wealth is departed from them, and masses and indulgences, and their trumpery of beads and girdles, candles and oil, and such like stuff is undervalved and will not sell at the old rate: and that which hath vexed them as much as any thing, is that light is broken forth which reproves their deeds of darkness and discovers their shame and nakedness, and that holiness is advanced, which troubles their sore and evil eyes. For Cain hated his Brother for no other reason but because 
* 1 joh. three 12.  his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous. And the wicked ever since the beginning of the world have persecuted the just out of mere enmity of nature. And then as our Romish Adversaries have been long vexed, so have they as long hoped for a day of vengeance wherein they might satiate their fury. And no question it would be like hungry dogs, or like lions that have been long tied up without meat, by devouring; as they have often made it manifest enough by showing their teeth and barking, by howling and roaring, by their hellish conspiracies and bloody attempts. And remember we again (as it is here said) that if the Lord had not been on our side, we had been swallowed up. As we were near perishing, so we had perished, if he the Almighty and Gracious God had not stretched out his hand and saved: For as for us we knew not the matter, till he by his Providence discovered it; and therefore could do nothing for our delivery. There is yet something more in the Psalm which expresses the Danger; and that is the saying, Our Soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers.  
And as Israel was like a bird in the snare, so were we: the net was cast about us, and there wanted only the drawing of it (which a small force could do) and the fowlers were hastening to the slaughter: the train was laid and instruments of death prepared, and there remained nothing but putting the lighted match to the powder: so near were we unto death. And the expression, Our Soul is escaped, invites me to observe that our Souls as well as our Bodies were in this eminent danger. For their design was to introduce their abominable doctrines and idolatrous worship, which are as dangerous as poison itself, and of a worse consequence than their fire and faggots; tending to kill eternally, the Soul in the other world, as their cruel hands kill the body in this: and let me tell you, when Government is altered, and a false Worship commanded and established, and upheld by supreme Authority; then alas poor Souls are easily seduced, and some through fear, some through flattery, some for worldly gain, some by example, and some through custom and education fall away, and multitudes by one means or other turn about presently, though to their own destruction. And therefore let me insert here my earnest request and exhortation in the Lord, that all Protestants pray for our Protestant Governors and Government.  
Now considering all this, the secrecy of the Plot, and the rage and malice, and power and bloodiness of our enemies, and their abominable doctrines and worship, and the near approach of the execution of their intended villainy, we cannot but be sensible that our Danger was exceeding great.  
Reflecting upon what hath been said, I cannot but demand your judgement in one particular before I proceed; and that is this, whether these men that are so conversant in plots and conspiracies; that plot and conspire the death and ruin of others; that plot and conspire against their Prince, and the supreme Council of the land; that plot and conspire after such a bloody and devilish manner; that kill and destroy, and exercise such barbarous and inhuman cruelties; and all this against peaceable and quiet people, and such as are more sound in the faith, and more holy in their lives than themselves: whether I say these men have the spirit of God and the power of holiness in their hearts? whether they are Ministers of jesus Christ, Priests of God, Priests of Righteousness? whether their Head and Father the Pope that abets them in these practices and stirs them up to them, be the Successor of Saint Peter? whether Christ's Holy Vicar? It seems to me, and it is altogether true without contradiction, that they are like the Beast in the Apocalypse that kills those that will not receive his mark in their foreheads, nor worship his Image: And that they are like that Babylon (if not the very same) the great Whore, whom St. john seeing things to follow afterward in the Church, saw drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus. 
* Rev. xi. 15, 16, 17, & 17.6.  For I see them not so cruel to any as to Saints, as to those that fear God and worship him purely according to his plain truth, as it is recorded in the Scriptures. I demand again, whether these men (like good Christians) do according to St. Paul's admonition, 
† 1 Thes. iv. 11. Rom. xii. 18.  Study to be quiet, and as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all. And whether they observe his other like injunction, 
* Eph. iv. 3.  Endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. And whether they are like our Saviour that came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them: and that 
† Luke ix. 53, 54, 55, 56.  rebuked his Disciples for desiring him that they might Command fire to come down from Heaven and consume the Samaritans, because they did not receive him. And in a word, whether Bloody jesuits and merciful jesus are alike.  
II. The Deliverance, which we have set down in these words, Our Soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Alas the strength of a bird is as nothing to the breaking of the fowler's net; so that if she get out thence and fly away, it is a strange accident: And no more was our strength to the extricating of ourselves out of the net and gin and trap, all the subtle devices and complicated entanglements and kill instruments of our enemies. That we escaped then was a wonder, and that the snare was broken whereby we did escape, was the work of Gods own hand: and is it not his doing, when (according as it is said again) proud waves did not swallow us up; when waters and a stream coming upon us, did not overwhelm and drown us: when kindled wrath did not consume us: And in these words also we are showed our Deliverance and whence it was, The Lord did not give us as a prey to their teeth. For he could have delivered us up into their hands, and he might have done so with justice enough, because of our sins: and therefore as it was his Power, so it was his Goodness that saved us. And seeing that the combination was secret and the plot carried on with all subtlety, we discern again that it was his Eye (to which nothing is hid) that discovered it. And add we, that the Deliverance was from death and murder, from war and confusion, from Popery, which is stuffed with all that is naught, with pride and avarice and luxury, with lies and feigned miracles, with wicked craft and treachery and dissimulation, with rebellion and horrid cruelty, with superstitions innumerable, and abominable Idolatry. And that the deliverance was of King and Parliament and a whole Realm, and of those that deserved no such thing at their hands as they intended. And finally that it was the deliverance of Gods own people, that have abandoned the corruption of his Religion, and that have embraced the truth as it was delivered to the World by his Servants the Prophets and Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ, and that desire to live in his fear, and to serve him acceptably with pure worship according to his own will, not man's, that their Souls may be saved. Considering all this, I say, the deliverance was wonderful, and a good work, and from God it came. So that upon the whole we may justly say with the Psalmist, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, they had swallowed us up quick. Our help was in the Name of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth. And therefore unto him is due Praise and Blessing, and Glory and Thanksgiving: which is our next particular.  
But before I enter upon it, let me put in here one thing which is worthy of the Observation both of us and our adversaries: and that is, that as God hath delivered us, so he will deliver us still, if we still hold his Truth without corruption, and keep ourselves in innocence; renounce error and false worship, and live soberly, righteously, and godly. For he will maintain his own Doctrine, and defend them that profess it, and that withal fear his Name; and he will punish his Enemies, and bring to nought their devices, and dissolve the attempts of deceivers and bloody-minded men. He is the Tower and strong Castle, and the Rock and Mount of Israel: he is their shield and defence. We have seen by long experience that God hath defended his Saints and true worshippers, every Age from the beginning of the world affording numerous instances hereof. And not only so, but we have his promise written down, and an hundred times repeated in his Book, that he will defend them. Read a little: Prov. xi. 3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them, V. 6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. V. 20, 21. They that are of a froward heart, are an abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way, are his delight. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. And Chap. xii. 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. V. 7. The wicked are overthrown and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand. V. 13. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble. And seeing that this is so, it is without cause that we fear what evil men can do, whilst we do not make ourselves like unto them, turning aside from God into crooked paths, and provoking him by the like offences against ourselves: and it is also but a vain thing, mere folly and madness, for our adversaries to attempt any thing against us, and to think to establish themselves by wicked enterprises, though carried on with the greatest subtlety and adjutant power. For do they think to kill, and so to flourish? to rebel against the Lords Anointed, and the Higher Powers which he hath ordained, and so to prosper? to drink the blood of Saints, and so to grow fat? Blood hath a cry, and a loud cry, and it will be heard: and right dear to God is the blood of his Saints. And jezebel, (such an one that had little sense of holy things, and indeed little knowledge of God's ways and works) could ask the question, 
* 2 King. ix. 31.  Had Zimri peace who slew his Master? As having observed this, that such slayers are slain themselves, are pursued with troubles, and commonly come to a fearful end: as there are many instances of this nature recorded in the History of the judges and Kings of Israel and judah. And this woman might have reflected upon her own action, and have said to herself in like manner, Shall Jezebel have peace who slew Naboth? And the same indeed was verified in her: 
† Vers. 32. etc.  for as soon almost as she had spoken the word, she was cast out of the window of her Chamber, and dashed upon the ground and trodden to pieces by Iehu's horses. Wherefore the only way for our Adversaries to prosper is to keep themselves in the ways of Righteousness: and let them do so as much as they please, and effect against us what they can: for we know that then they will not have the heart to hurt us, and not only will forbear to lay axes and faggots, and such tormenting things upon us, but will not so much as press us with an heavy hand. But as for Iniquity, they will never establish themselves by that; and their unrighteous machinations and actions are but like making ropes of sand to pull down a Tower, and like the Thief's twisting of Cords to hang himself. For David hath told us from his experience and observation, that 
* Psal. ix. 16.  the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands. And not only so, but he hath delivered it unto us from the mouth of the Lord as an established truth, that so it shall be; that 
† Psal. seven. 16. & xxxvii. 14, 15.  their mischief shall return upon their own heads, and their violent dealing shall come down upon their own pates; and that their swords which they have drawn out to slay the upright, shall enter into their own hearts; and their bows which they have bend against the poor, shall be broken. Only in this one thing may our adversaries be feared, namely in their enticing of us to sin; as Balaam taught Balak to draw Israel to fornication and Idolatry, for which cause (they yielding thereunto) the wrath of God fell upon them, and they were destroyed by a Plague. 
* Rev. two. 14. Num. xxxi. 16.  And therefore in this matter let us take good heed to ourselves: for their temptation, and this kind of smooth and soft dealing is more to be feared than their plots and menaces, and murdering instruments: their Fornication and Idolatry, if we harken to their charms, and betake ourselves to these abominations, will do us more injury than their gunpowder and knives, and bills and swords. But yet though by this means they may bring down judgements from Heaven upon us, yet shall they not hereby establish themselves, but shall be punished with us for the same wickedness, and for their Temptation. And so it fell out both to the Midianites that tempted and defiled Israel, and to Balaam that gave the Counsel. For God said thus, Vex the Midianites and smite them: for they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor. Num. xxxv. 17.18. And so it was done, as we read Chap xxxi. 7. etc. They warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses: and they slew all the males; and they slew the Kings of Midian; Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the Children of Israel took all the women of Midian Captives, and their little ones. And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the Children of Israel through the counsel of Balaam to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a Plague among the Congregation of the Lord. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. So that by no wicked way, neither by temptation, nor by conspiracy, can our adversaries prosper. Flourish they may for a time; but then they shall wither as the grass: and lay their hands and rods upon our backs they may; but they shall not always abide there, for the Lord will deliver his people out of the hand of the oppressor and the unrighteous man. And so speaks David, with whose eminent and comfortable words I conclude this matter: Psalm xxxvii. 24. to the end, The good man though he fall, shall not utterly be cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. The Lord loveth judgement, and forsaketh not his Saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself, etc.  
III. The Thanksgiving. We have it in these words, Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. And considering that if we had fallen into the power of Romanists, they would have used us as hungry and ravenous beasts do their prey, tearing it in pieces and devouring, we must acknowledge that the blessing which we render unto the Lord for our deliverance, must not be a faint breath, but all the affections of our Souls, the most hearty praise. And what is due to him that hath saved us from the fowler, from the lions teeth, from the stream and proud waves, from the wrath of enemies, and that wrath kindled of hell and boiling-hot? for truly we cannot reasonably believe that the wrath of any enemies is hotter than that of ours, Papists, who have all along exercised the sharpest severities. Now a man looking back upon the dangers which he hath escaped, and remembering how he walked over a deep well slenderly covered, and did not fall into it; and how he passed through a company of wolves and bears and lions, and was not devoured: Oh how will he rejoice, how will he thank the Lord, and what a lively sense of the mercy will he carry in his heart all the days of his life? And may the remembrance of this mercy which this day we received from the Lord, never be defaced so long as time shall endure; nor the quick sense of it abate, neither in us, nor in our Children after us, till we shall be free from the cruelties and malice and conspiracies of Popish Enemies. Which will be when they shall be converted from their Errors, and changed from their savage nature, and the mystical Babylon shall be destroyed; or when we shall be removed from Earth to Heaven. If we owe God praises for our life, health, and food, for preservation in time of war, famine, and pestilence, for recovery out of desperate sickness; what greater praises do we owe him for the enjoyment of our Protestant Religion, and for our deliverance from slaughter, from confusion, from strange tortures, from cruel deaths, from Popery, which is a mass of evils? for I put you in remembrance again, that not only evil to our Bodies was designed, but a worse mischief to our Souls. Blessed be God then, that our Religion, which is spiritual, substantial and lively, is not turned into idle and dead Ceremony, shows and gazings, crosses, beads and relics: that the Holy Scriptures are not kept from our people, and that we have not Prayers in a language which they understand not, whereby the affection (which alone makes the service acceptable to God) is quite deadened and killed: that we are not taught to pray to Angels and dead Saints, and to ask of them protection, grace, pardon; saying, 
* Rom. Breviar. fest. Jan. Beat Pastor Petre, clemens accipe voces precantum, ●●iminumque vincula verbo: resolve, cui potestas tradita aperire terris Coelum, apertum claudere.  O Blessed Peter, to whom power is given to open and shut Heaven; lose by thy word the bonds of our sins. 
† Ib. Commun. Apost. Apostolorum gloriam tellus & astra conci●●nt. Vos seculorum judices qui templa coeli clauditis sanate mentes languidas: auge●e nos vi●tu●ibus.  O ye Apostles, who shut and open Heaven, heal our sick minds, increase our virtues. 
* Ib. Offic. Mar. Dei mater alma, funda nos in pace. Solve vincia reis, proffer lumen caecis, mala nostra pelle, bona cuncta posce. Nos culpis solutos, mites fac & castos. Vitam praesta puram, iter para tutum, ut videntes jesum semper collaetemur.  O Mother of God, establish us in peace, lose the bonds of the guilty, bring light to the blind, drive away our evils, procure for us all good things. Make us free from sins, and mild and chaste. And blessed be God that we do not creep and kneel to an Image and say, 
* Ib. Fest. Maij. Arbor, orna●a Regis purpura, electa digno stipite tam sancta membra tangere: cujas brachiis pretium pependit saeculi. O Crux ac● spes unica, piis ada●ge gratiam, reisque de●e crimina. O Crux, quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi, dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens pondera: salva praesentem catervam in tuis hodie laudibus congreg●tam.  Tree on which Christ did hang. O Cross, 
† Ave. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk 1.28.  hail [or, peace, or happiness to thee] our only hope, increase the righteousness of the righteous, blot out [or, abolish] the sins of the guilty. O Cross which alone wast worthy to bear the talon [or, price] of the world: sweet wood, bearing the sweet nails, the sweet weights: save the present company gathered this day together to praise thee. And blessed be God that we are not taught nor encouraged, nor tempted to rely upon the penances and satisfactions, masses and sacrifices, absolutions, pardons and indulgences of others, as if they could hereby prevent our falling into Hell-torment, and being fallen into Purgatory-torment, could deliver us out of it. And blessed be God that we call not Sacramental Bread and Wine, our Lord and Saviour, falling down and adoring them with divine worship. And blessed be God that we see not his faithful servants imprisoned and tortured, and burned for refusing to submit to these abominations. All which evils we might have seen, if our Adversaries had prevailed: Blessed be God for our King and Parliament, our wholesome Laws, our peace and safety, and our lives. Blessed be God for our ministers, and for sound doctrine, and the pure truth of the Gospel. Blessed be God for the salvation of our Souls: all which we might have lost, some of which we should certainly have lost, if Rome's design now and at many other times had succeeded. Blessed be God from our whole heart for his manifold mercy to us both now and evermore.  
IV. The Confidence in God, which these words describe, Our help in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth. That is, our help was, is, and shall be in the Lord of Heaven: They had found that God had saved them, and they were resolved to trust in him ever after. And well may we do so, who have had the same help and favour from him in like eminent danger: and as his goodness invites us to trust in him, so doth his power, he being the Almighty and only Supreme that made Heaven and Earth, and therefore can do what he pleaseth, dissolve the forces of the mighty and blow away the devices of the cunning, fetter all the Devils of Hell that rise up against us, and by his Command turn them back in their furious rage. And we are again to remember his Eye that seeth in the dark and secret places where wicked men plot mischief: and his Providence that is over all his works even to a small Sparrow: and his Promise, that he will defend his people, and oppose his enemies. And now as we trust in him, there remains nothing else for us to do, but to keep his Laws diligently and to walk before him with an upright heart: for than shall we surely find his help. They work wickedness; and can they trust in him? If they do, it will be in vain: the impudence indeed they have as to look up to Heaven when they are as deep as Hell in their wicked consultations, and to say masses and make prayers to the God of righteousness for the cutting of innocent men's throats, and for the accomplishing of such unrighteousness as the Devil only puts into the hearts of his slaves, and which only he and his children would rejoice to see accomplished. But do they indeed trust in God? It is rather in the Devil, in their invented visions and feigned miracles, in their plots and perverse deeds, in their dissimulation and treachery, in their rebellion and murders: for I see that to these they betake themselves continually, as those that have no hope otherwise to prevail. And no wonder, for a false Religion must have indirect means to help it up, and a bloody Faith will make bloody work; they devise a cunning device, and gather together the powers of the Earth; and now say they we shall prevail; we will fall upon them before they be aware and will destroy; we will terrify with torments, and we will take away their chief men by death, and as for the rest they will not dare to speak. But, alas, all this is as weak as a feather, and as vain as that which is most so, because he is against them that made Heaven and Earth. For the Lord hateth the workers of iniquity (as the Psalmist speaks) and abhorreth bloody and deceitful men. He loveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth proud doers. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and his countenance doth behold the upright. He will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble. And they that know his name will trust in him; for he hath not forsaken them that seek him. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? Arise, O Lord, and let not man prevail; let the heathenish people be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that they may know themselves to be but men. Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels: cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them: let them that love thy Name be joyful in thee. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous, with favour wilt thou compass them as with a shield. Amen.  
But let me add a few words more because of the new attempts of our Adversaries, who like their Fathers have again consulted with the Devil and the grand wickedness of their hearts, to kill our King, subvert our Government, and change our Religion. But remember, Dear Brethren, that men cannot curse those whom God will bless, except it be with their tongues, which is only a brutum fulmen, a Pope's Bull, a clap of Thunder without the bolt. And be ye sure that those God will bless that love and serve him, keeping themselves from sin and following peace and holiness with a pure heart: as Balaam (after he had attempted several times to move God against Israel; for this end building seven Altars and offering upon every one a bullock and a ram, and repeating this again and again) confessed, saying, 
* Num. xxiii. 20, 21, 23.  God hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. And if the case be so, that God sees not iniquity among us (not such as that he will curse us for it, perverseness, and rebellion) then may we boldly say, Let the sons of Belial conspire and contrive what they can: let the covetous Priests build seven Altars and add seven more to them, and let them offer upon every one seventy times seven bullocks and as many rams, Masses, Relics, Candles, Hosts, and what they please: let them lay their crafty heads together, and call up all the Devils of Hell to their consultation: let them prepare all sorts of deadly instruments, and fortify themselves according to their cunning, and gather together the Kings of the Earth against us: Tush, it is in vain, and the evil which they devise they are not able to bring to pass: 
* Psalm two.  He that sitteth in the Heavens will laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision: he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. We fear, I see, deceitful workers, ungodly plotters, serpentine Jesuits, bloody Papists; and so we do Witches, Sorcerers and Conjurers. But much rather may we fear our wickednesses, than all the generation of this black rabble in Earth and Hell. And as the presence of some of these malicious and mischievous creatures strikes some into trembling; so would to God we were all as much afraid of sin, and did not take this more dangerous enemy so near unto us and love its Company so dearly as to invite it to our house and put it into our bosom and let it lodge with us from day to day all the year about.  
But Sirs, what can you do? you that put the Nation into fear with your evil machinations, you Sons of Rome? You can smite, you'll say; you can torment, you can burn, kill and destroy us. Some of us you may, but all you shall not: and the Devil can do as much as this, and this is right well in his eyes. But can you pull the Sun out of Heaven, or toss about the Mountains? Neither shall your Hell-gates prevail against the Church of Christ, to throw it down and lay it wast utterly, which is built upon the firmest Rock, and which that mighty Son of man, the Son of God, compasseth with his Arms. For God is stronger than the Devil, and will save his people from that evil Spirits rage and yours; otherwise he were not what assuredly he is, a loving and watchful Father. You remember the voice from heaven, 
Acts ix. 4.  Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me. And you may thence observe that the troublers of his Church contend not with frail man only, but with the Mighty jesus, who can dash you into pieces in a moment: And you may conclude from the same words, that he will not always suffer himself to be bruised and beaten, persecuted and afflicted. And do you not think that we can pray to our Father in Heaven, who can send us more than twelve legions of Angels, which shall vanquish the Devil and his powers of darkness, your confederates in your wicked enterprises? And what? can we not kill you, as well as you kill us? Our strength is as great as yours, but our will (thanks be to God) not so wicked. You cannot say in Conscience that you fear any such thing from us as we do from you, death, and burning, and tortures. And did you fear so much as loss of Goods or Imprisonment? Were you not in quietness? Lived you not in peace and safety? Who troubled you? Did you not enjoy as much liberty in the exercise of your Religion as you could in reason expect? more I dare say you had than your Religion deserves: that is, than your Latin-Service, your Half-Communion, your denial of Marriage to Priests, your Masses, Indulgences, Purgatory, and Papal-Supremacy, your Image-worship, your Invocation of Saints and Angels, your Adoration of Sacramental Bread and Wine, and such like stuff deserves. All which is properly your Religion, that which we call Popery, wherein you differ from us and from the truth of the Gospel. I think you were blind and did not understand your own happiness (as you esteem this Liberty to be so:) or you were mad and foolish and would endeavour to deprive yourselves of it by abusing your indulgent friends. But God now intends you a greater happiness; and that is, to shame you out of your adherence to Rome, and to convert you from her corrupt Religion (I wish you were so wise as to embrace the opportunity and good providence:) when his providence namely discovers to your face your Popes and Priests, and other friends unrighteous doings, and raises up the spirits of all honest men against you for the same, and lays upon you some restraints and penalties to curb in your insolences and exorbitant actions, and to secure us from your Swords and Daggers, your Poisons and Stabs, your Coleman's Confusions, your Fauks' Powder, your Irish Rebellion, your Spanish Inquisition and Invasion, your Paris Massacre, your Queen Mary's Faggots, and Bishop Bonner's butchers hands.  
You boast of your Loyalty to our present King and his Father. But what you have done like Loyal Subjects, did it proceed out of a Loyal Principle, or out of Necessity? Was it Faith that acted you, or Fate? What you have done well, was it not for want of opportunity to do worse, or for want of a Pope's Bull, which tolerates and commands Rebellion? If Loyalty to an Heretic Prince (especially when he is declared Excommunicate) be your Conscience and Faith and Principle, then abhor and renounce your Pope and Church which teach you another Lesson. For says your 
* Cap. iii  Lateran Council under Pope Innocent the Third, thus: Si Dominus temporalis requisitus & monitus ab Ecclesia terram suam purgare neglexerit ab haeretica pravitate, per Metropolitanum & caeteros comprovinciales Episcopos Excommunicationi vinculo innodetur, & si satisfacere contempserit infra annum, significetur hoc summo pontifici, ut ex tunc ipse vasallos ab ejus fidelitate denuntiet absolutos, & terram exponat Catholicis occupandam, qui eam exterminatis haereticis sine ulla contradictione possideant. That is, If a Temporal Lord being admonished by the Church, neglects to purge his Dominion of Heresy, let him be Excommunicated by the Metropolitan and the other comprovincial Bishops, and if he refuseth to satisfy within a year, let this be signified to the Pope, that thence he may declare his Subjects free from Allegiance to him, and expose his Dominion to be possessed by the Catholics, who expelling the Heretics may justly possess it. And thus thundered Pope Paul the Third in his Bull against our King Henry the Eighth: 
* Hist. Concil. Trident. p. 68  Because he hath cast off obedience to the Church, he is therefore deprived of his Kingdom, and his fautors of all their goods, honours and fortunes, his Subjects commanded not to obey him, Foreigners to have no Commerce with him, and all to take up Arms against him and his People, and to take unto them his Kingdom and Fortune for a Prey and Reward, and to keep his People in servitude, And thus says Pope Pius the Fifth, in his Bull against our Queen Elizabeth: 
Camb. Annal. Elizab. p. 179.  Regnans in excelsis hunc unum super omnes gentes & omnia Regna Principem constituit, qui evellat, destruat, dissipet, disperdat, plantet & aedificet. Illius auctoritate suffulti, qui nos in hoc supremo justitiae Throno voluit collocare, de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine, declaramus praedictam Elizabetham, haereticam & haereticorum fautricem, eique adhaerentes in praedictis, anathematis sententiam incurrisse: Quinetiam ipsam praetenso Regni praedicti jure, necnon omni & quocunque dominio, dignitate, privilegioque privatam: Et item proceres, subditos & populos dicti Regni, ac caeteros omnes, qui illi quomodocunque juraverunt, à juramento hujusmodi, ac omni prorsus dominii, fidelitatis, & obsequii debito, perpetuò absolutos, prout nos illos praesentium auctoritate absolvimus, & privamus eandem Elizabetham praetenso jure Regni, aliisque omnibus supradictis. Praecipimusque & interdicimus universis & singulis proceribus, subditis, populis, & aliis praedictis, ne illi ejusve monitis, mandatis, & legibus audeant obedire. Qui secus egerint, eos simili Anathematis sententiâ innodamus. That is, Christ hath wade Peter and his Successor, Prince over all Nations and Kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant and build. By his Authority, who hath placed us in this supreme Throne of justice, We out of the plenitude of our Apostolic power, declare Elizabeth, as being an Heretic and a favourer of Heretics, and her Adherents, to have incurred the sentence of Excommunication, and moreover to be deprived of her pretended right to the Kingdom, and of all Dominion, Dignity and Privilege whatsoever, and also the Nobility, Subjects and People of the Kingdom, and all others, who have sworn unto her in any sort, to be absolved for ever from the said Oath, and from all duty of Dominion, Allegiance and Obedience, and by these presents we do absolve them, and deprive Elizabeth of her pretended right to the Kingdom, and of all other things before named. And we command all the Nobles, Subjects and People, that they presume not to obey her, or her Orders, Mandates and Laws: And those that shall do the contrary we bind with the same Anathema. We swear in the Oath of Allegiance, to bear true Allegiance to our King, and to defend him against all Conspiracies and Attempts which shall be made against his Person and Crown to the uttermost of our Power, and to do our best endeavour to discover all treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which we shall know or hear of to be against him. And is this an unlawful Oath? And may we break it? And can any one absolve us from it? Would you plot Treason, and attempt the Death of your present King and the ruin of his Crown? And them that do so, will you not disclose, if you know them? And we that have sworn to disclose such persons, if we can, ought we not in your judgement so to do? You see what your Pope and Council teach you, and in Mr. Fowlis' History of Romish Treasons, you may see an hundred or two hundred more Popes and Doctors of your Church which teach the same traitorous and rebellious Doctrine: but I hope some of you are of a better mind. And I desire you to read again the former citations, and then with the words of St. Peter and St. Paul, that you may see how contrary to the Apostles your men teach you. For says the one Apostle thus: 
* 1 Pet. xi. 13.  Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake: whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governors. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Honour the King. And says the other Apostle, 
* Rom. xiii. 1.  Let every Soul be subject to the Higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the Ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Render tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. And is this plucking up, destroying, scattering and consuming? Is this absolving subjects from their Allegiance, and commanding them to take the Kingdom from their King? Is this depriving Kings and Temporal Lords of their Dominions? And remember that Nero, an heathen and monstrous wicked man, and a persecutor of the Christians, was at this time King of the Roman Empire. And yet says the Apostle Whosoever resisteth the power (be he Peter then, be he Pope) he shall receive to himself damnation.  
Forbear, Bold Actors, for it is not now night, that you should play your wicked pranks among us and not be discerned. Nor are our hearts so bad (though bad enough) as to love, or favour, or comply with your gross errors, idolatrous worship, and hellish practices. You and the Devil have too much corrupted us: but we are not yet corrupt enough to join society with you. You have not yet bored out our eyes, that we cannot look into the Bible, nor have you yet burned those Sacred Writings (and I trust never shall do either.) But if you should, yet can you not extinguish the light of our Souls, any more than you can take the Holy Spirit from us: and whilst that remains we shall abhor your ways. There are thousands in our Land that will not bow down to your Baal; so clear is their knowledge, so great their courage, so strong is their faith, so mighty their zeal for God, so upright are their hearts, so good their consciences: though some timorous and more ignorant Souls you may deceive, and fright into a base compliance; but yet neither these, by all that you can do, will love your Popery.  
Smite us (if God please) and we shall abhor your Church the more which delights in blood and cruelty; and feeling the unrighteous plagues of your hands, we shall more sensibly know what manner of persons you are; and we will unite together (who are not yet so close and kind among ourselves as we should be) with one Soul and shoulder against you. Smite us, and we will kiss the Rod from our Heavenly Father's Hand, and will keep his Laws more perfectly. Smite us, and we shall be better. And resolved we are, do ye what you can, either tempt or kill, to serve the Lord, and to serve him better than we have done; not after your manner, with show and pageantry, trifles and empty shadows, blind minds and stupid devotion, in candles, images and agnus dei's, oil, chrism and water, beads and shaved crowns: but with heart and soul, purified and enlightened, in love, peace and patience, in sobriety, justice and mercy. And then I tell you (what I know will sound strange in your ears) that you are undone, and your Kingdom's ruined.  
Go on in the imaginations of your hearts, 
Mat. xxiii. xxxii. etc.  and fill up the measure of your Fathers, and then fall and die. For as Basil taught the Christians to say to their Persecutors, 
* Isa. viij. 9.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, If you shall again prevail, you shall again be overcome.  
THE END.