A CHANGELING NO COMPANY FOR Lovers of Loyalty, OR The Subject's Lesson in Point of Sacred Submission to, and humble Compliance with God and the KING; Wherein Confusion is reduced to Order, misery to Mercy; Reproach and shame to Freedom and Honour.  
Return, return, O Shulamite, Return, return, Cant. 6. ult.  
In those days when there was no King in Israel, every man did that which was good in his own eyes, Judg. 17.6.  
LONDON, Printed by M. Simmons, for Thomas Parkhurst, and are to be sold at the three Crowns, at the lower end of Cheapside, 1660.   

To the Clergy of England.  
Beloved;  
THe last and great temptation is over. You have been set in a late Declaration, I will not say like our great Master upon a pinnacle of the temple; but like the Swineherd of Stow upon Lincoln minster, and all the remaining husks, (for the mast is gone long since) you shall have and enjoy, if etc. Is it not sad to consider that you are not only a covering to their eyes, that are filled with robbery, but that they should by the tender of toys, and tristes, (which yet are not theirs to give) allure you into that confederacy, which may not only wound your consciences, but slain your profession, with such a blot and dishonour as shall never be washed out; Honest Mephibosheths' resignation is a much better resolution, Let them take all so that my Lord the King may but return in peace. How near have you been to suffer by divers factions, and yet your lives and interests are maintained, perhaps that you might live to vindicate that which you helped to destroy. Remember, O remember; Curse ye Meroz, yea curse bitterly, etc. Now consider how are the mighty fallen. Your words were more powerful than the Soldier's swords, you foresaw not the event, (it seems you were no true prophets) and are now sorrowful. Oh if you had known (God grant your ignorance may excuse) you would never have cried down the King as a Tyrant, to the ruin of him, his family and kingly government. Well you have still the same weapons, and the good old cause, the King and the Parliament laid before you; pray for it, plead for it, but curse no body, no not your enemies, persecuters and slanderers, that if it be the will of God, there may be a returning of our wander, and a healing of our errors, in the procuring of which you may assure yourselves of the constant and fervent desires and prayers of  
A true friend to truth and Peace W. H.   

TO THE READER.  
GOod thoughts are the best company in bad times; and holy meditations are not only a cure, but a cordial for a fainting soul under heavy distractions. Sacred writ (in the perusal of which we ought with care and reverence to be conversant) as it is of divine inspiration, so is it also of infallible consolation & direction. In the which you may be pleased to observe, & it is pleasant in the observation, That the most horrid confusions have produced happy conclusions; & the most distracted Queries have returned satisfied with most gracious Answers. The Jews being told plainly by Peter, that they denied the holy one, and the just, and desired a murderer to be given to them, were pricked in their hearts, wounded with the sense, and covered with the shame of their bloody act, amazed cry out, Men and brethren what shall we do? Their extremity is God's opportunity; his mercy prevents the excess of their misery, & their fainting question hath a soul reviving answer; Repent and be baptised, etc. and you shall receive the gilt, etc. for the promise is to you, & your children, &c  
The Gaoler trembling at the earthquake, every joint of him being out of frame, to see the foundation of his prison shaken, more captivated now at the enlargement of his prisoners, than they were when put in the dungeon, and their feet made fast in the stocks; feeling the terrors and seeing the wonders of the Lord, cries out, Sirs, what shall I do to be saved? He that had kept them sure, must now be secured by them, or perish, yet his doubtful question had a faithful answer, Believe & thou shalt be saved, &c  
Saul, afterwards Paul, at first a persecutor, at last a Preacher; at first a vessel wherein was no pleasure, but at last a chosen vessel, and a vessel of honour, stopped in the height of his speed, disrobed of his authority, dismounted in the heat of his violence, confounded with the appearance of God's glory, and his own shame; before so impudent that he durst do any thing, now so humble that he will learn his duty; cries, Lord what wouldst thou have me to do? God who had cast him down that he might raise him up, made him blind for a time that he might see better for ever after, leaves him not where he laid him, but raising up his soul with a most propitious answer, as his body with a powerful word, bids him arise, Go into the City, and it shall be told him, etc.  
It is needless to tell you what condition this nation is in; we are not distracted, but distraction; not confounded, but confusion itself; God and man may justly join in that sad complaint and solemn appeal, Hear O Heavens and hearken O Earth, I have nourished & brought up children and they have rebelled against me. A sinful nation, a nation laden with iniquity, a seed of the wicked, and corrupt children, may be the just and grand character of our nation, and as our sin, so our shame is increased; as our rebellion and impiety, so our desolation and miseries are multiplied. Hence it is, that the head is sick and the heart is heavy, that from the head to the foot there is nothing but swell and sores full of corruption; such as not only have not, but seem as though they cannot be wrapped, bound up, or mollified with oil. Is not the daughter of Zion, like a cottage in a vineyard, (homely, lonesome, set up a little for necessity, but neither furnished for delight nor ornament,) like a lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers, solitary whose furniture is scarce so much as a table, a stool, a bed and a candlestick,) or like a besieged City; never more punctually verified then in our age, the Vision is so plain, that he that runs may read it. Are not the foundations of our government out of order? hath not God overturned, overturned, overturned it? have we not had (what nation can say the like) in few years, a King, and no King; a Parliament, and no Parliament; a Protector, & no Protector; a Committee of safety, and no Committee of safety; an Army, and no Army? and have we not now a strange kind of Synecdocicall power, wherein a part & no part, challenges the principle, and yet are not able to maintain the interest? Are we not run into those straits that we cannot march on, retreat, nor stand stillwith safety? are we not (if I may intermingle a jest with serious truths) in Tarlton's Wood, where we may see under, over, and through it, each end and side of it, and yet cannot get out of it? Is not our nation betrayed by itself, either pitied, scorned, or hated by all? where have we a friend? where not an enemy?  
In such a case, who will not say, What shall I do? It hath often been the result of my serious thoughts, I have often with Paul breathed out, Lord, What wouldst thou have me to do?  
Your consciences, your honours, your interests, your posterities, cannot I am confident but engage your most constant desires and endeavours with a holy and watchful prudence for the glory of God and the peace and happiness of this nation. In such a case if you shall inquire of God (as I hope you have done) take this return as an Oracle of divine truth, and a most sacred directoty, My sons fear you the Lord and the King, etc.  
Let not the greatest take it for a solecism, that the meanest of their servants calls you son, God often entrusts his treasure in earthen vessels. Poor Eliah was in some sense a Lord with that good and great Courtier Obadiah; and Moses, a man, and of mean parentage, upon a divine account was no less than a God to Pharaoh, but indeed the counsel is of God; who am I that I should attempt or undertake such a design, unsolicited by any, but moved by that good spirit of God mercifully preventing me in all the duties of my calling I have appeared.  
It is very true that there is something in piety, as well as Policy to countenance that which some account unparaleld prudence, evidenced in silence, the prudent will keep silence in that time, for 'tis an evil time. But there is as a time to keep silence, so a time to speak: Believe it the banes betwixt the King and his people hath been published once and again, those that it is either now time to speak, or to be silent for ever.  
Such a marriage would be honourable amongst all men; May it therefore go on and prosper, all that are sons of Zion, pray for the Peace of our Jerusalem, and may they prosper that love it, in order to which fear the Lord and the King; This is our duty, and will be our safety.  
I have had some struggle within me whether fully to subscribe my name or no; I have resolved not to do it, not that I fear any danger, or apprehend any cause of danger; The greatest enemy is envy; but because I would not Court applause, or worship the Rising Sun. Take all the notice I shall afford you, I am A Lover of Truth and Peace W. H.   

A CHANGELING no Company for the Lovers of LOYALTY.  Prov. 24.21, 22. 
My son, fear thou the Lord, and the King: and meddle not with them that are given to change.  
For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both?  
THe genius of the Text as it is plain, pleasing and plausible, so it is necessary, just and honourable: I cannot in these days of confusion but congratulate the Text to the times, (oh that I could reduce the times to the Text) I cannot but own it as a guide to the blind; as a nail of the Sanctuary fastened in a sure place; as a seasonable speech spoke by him that sits in the congregation of the Gods, is precedent in all the counsels of men, and establish or overthroweth them at his pleasure, what shall I say, I look upon it as the only balm of our Gilead, prepared by God and to be applied by men for the health and recovery of the daughter of his people.  
Lycurgus the great Lawgiver to the Lacedæmonians and no less than a King in Sparta, ordained that if any man came to propound a novelty, he was to come with a halter about his neck: to signify his submission to a speedy execution in case that which he propounded was judged evil and inconvenient tending to sedition or ruin; but if just, necessary, and safe, his halter was taken off, and an honourable reward assigned him for his good service and encouragement: The latter of those I expect not: the former I do not fear: I know whose the command is, and who hath appointed it: It is divine, and therefore : It is a charge, not a humble Petition or Advice. But was it merely moral: The saying of Seneca, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, yea of machivel himself: The state of affairs justly looked upon with prudent and impartial eyes, such as are neither bloodshot, nor have the beams of profit and self-love, than I durst and would, if called to it, before a free and full Parliament, not packed by faction, nor overawed by force, propound it in the Lacedaemonian posture, as the best advice, most seasonable and suitable counsel, that they can take, or any man can give: Fear the Lord, etc.  
Wisdom and authority (say our Lawyers) necessarily concur to the being of a law: Wisdom without authority, makes as little impression upon some men's spirits, as an arrow upon a wall of flint, it may be powerful to do well, but seldom prevalent to hear well. The wisdom of a poor wise man may deliver the city, but no man regards or rewards the poor wise man: Authority without wisdom easily degenerates into tyranny, no fury, like a fool clothed with authority; Absalon and Abimeleck of old, our Butlers, Brewers and Cobblers now adays can sufficiently evince it: I countenance it in none, I abhor it in all: better is a wise child then an old and foolish King. But in my text wisdom and authority go hand in hand, and God himself having joined them together let not man dare to put them asunder: if we look upon God the Author of this, and all other holy writ, who shall resist his will. If upon the penman, it was Solomon, for his wisdom styled the Preacher; for his authority, the son of David, king of Israel.  
Solomon as he had a threefold title, so had he also a threefold employment, in holy Scripture, we may not unfittingly term his three books his Ethics, his Physics, and his Metaphysics, or if you will they seem to have relation to or resemblance with the three integral parts of his sacred building. The First was the Court of the people, common to all Israelites. The Second, The Court of the Priest into which might come only the Tribe of Levi. The Third, The Temple and holy of holies, into which might enter Priests especially consecrated to that purpose for the time, and the high Priest in the most sacred and solemn feast.  
The Song of songs is only a fit subject for sanctified souls, none that are common or profane may enter into it, or intermeddle with it. Ecclesiastes is only fit for the Preacher or worthy Churchman. But the book of the Proverbs is of general concernment, belonging equally to the Prince and Peasant: and such is the Text equally directed to every man, high and low, rich and poor, every soul.  My son, fear thou the Lord, and the King, etc. 
The Text is easily divided into two general Parts. First, A Doctrine: which is a word of Command. Secondly, The Reason, which is a word of Terror.  
The Doctrine is 

1. Positive, My son, etc.  
2. Negative, and meddle not, etc.    
The Positive consists of three Parts: First, The Scholar: My son, etc. Secondly, The Duty: Fear. Thirdly, The Object of this fear; God and the King.  
In the Negative: First, the Prohibition; meddle not. Secondly, The hateful object; The Seditious.  
In the Reason, That word of terror Observe .. First, an Assertion; In which observe; 1. The Terror, Destruction: 2. The Propriety or particularity, Their: 3. The certainty, It shall come: 4. The Expedition, Suddenly.  
Secondly, An Expostulation, in which the Assertion is doubled, illustrated and confirmed: Who knows the ruin of them both?  
Of those in their order; But first I shall commend the work and workman unto the Protection of the Almighty.  My God, my God, Who art also my King, send help unto Zion; By thee King's reign, and Princes sit in judgement; build up our Zion, but not with blood, establish our kingdom in righteousness and equity: Look not, O Lord, look not upon the iniquities of our Jacob; behold not in severity the multiplied transgressions of our Israel: but thou O Lord, the Lord God of Hosts return unto us, and let the joyful shout of a King be amongst us; Remember thy sure mercies of old, and regard the face of thine anointed.  thy Priests with salvation O Lord, and let thy Saints rejoice in thy goodness. As the just punishment of our breach of Covenant with thee, thou hast broke thy Covenant with us, and being angry with thine anointed haste profaned his Crown, and east it unto the ground; but return O Lord, for the salvation of thy people, and for the salvation of thine anointed. Wound the head of the house of the wicked, and discover the foundations of their cruelties, and subtiltyes even to the neck. Bring the wickedness of the Wicked to an end: but guide the just in thy fear. Order the heart and hand of thy servant; sanctify both to thy glory and the Nations good. Prosper thy Word, as a word of truth, meekness, and Righteousness. With joy and gladness let our Princes be established: That thy name may be remembered through all generations, and the people shall give thanks unto thee world without end, Amen, Amen. 
Son, is a word that intimates authority and relation, and enjoins submission, and obedience; he must have, if not grey hairs, yet gravity sufficient to speak him a father who calls another man his son. It is sometimes a Civil Compliment; if Dives call Abraham father, Abraham by a return of civility will call him Son. Thus Joshua to Achan, My Son, give glory to God. Son, is sometimes the denomination of Rational creatures, Angels and men; and here, if the Sons of God be assembled, Satan himself will come amongstthem, though he be turned out of doors with Ishmael; and with Cain doomed to wander; when the Sons of God are assembled, Satan will come, if not to claim, yet to clamour for a blessing; and though with Reuben he shall not prevail, yet with Esau, he will accuse, threaten, condemn, seek the destruction of his younger Brother who hath got the blessing. But let it be used when, by whom, and in what sense it will, it speaks authority in him that speaks it, and calls for attention in the party spoken to. A son honoureth, i. e. is bound to honour, love, and obey his Father. But  
My Son, intimates a more singular authority mixed with affection; and not only commands but constrains to a singular obedience mixed with reverence and holy fear. When Isaac was to be sacrified, we read not of the least opposition, cry, or complaint; though he was suddenly surprised, and had no less than the appearance of unnatural cruelty and barbarism, to heighten, and aggravate the Act. That expression, My Son, did as it were charm him to obedience; The cords of affection, and bands of love, binding an ingenuous nature faster than Sampsons' new and untried Ropes. But from the Son of Abraham come to the Son of God: This is that my beloved Son. By which expression God did not only acknowledge him for his Son, but oblige him as a Son to duty. Hear him what he says, In the volume of thy book it is written of me, I come to do thy will; yea though it was to be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and to lie bound, and dumb, as a sheep before his shearer. But to come to ourselves, he that hath sealed the Charter of our adoption, hath imposed upon us a necessity of subjection. He that hath entered us into the Prerogative Office of the Sons of God, commands us to receive him, and to believe in his Name. You then that are or would be called, The Sons of God, learn God's love, and your duty; his authority, and your submission.  
Where the word of King is, there is power; if the Lion roar, who will not fear? If the Lord have spoken, who can but prophesy? Let not your prudence, obstruct your piety, nor your love of the world, extinguish the love of God in your hearts. He that knows the will of God, and dares not do it for fear of men, he is as ill, if not worse, then profane Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.  
Every man therefore, that desires the honour, or claims the privilege to be the Son of God: That prays our Father, as The sons of the living God, let them with Reverence, observe The duty; Fear;  
Fear is sometimes so far from a duty, that it is a disturbance. It puts all out of frame, and makes him more timorous than the Hare, That aught to be bold as the Lion. The Apostle calls it by a fit name, when he calls it the Spirit of bondage; for this is that that not only binds a man up both hand and foot, but casts him into utter darkness. Unbelievers, and those that are thus fearful, 
Rev. 21.8.  as they are both blind, & usually lead one another, so they fall into the same ditch. The Indians fear the Devil, and sacrifice to him, not out of love, but lest he should hurt them. And many that are called Christians, fear God upon no better account. This was the sad effect of the first transgression; I was afraid, because I was naked, etc. and, to subdue this in us was the end of Gods sending his Son into the world, that we being delivered from our enemies, might serve him without fear. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts casts out this fear.  
Secondly, Therefore fear is an awful respect to, and regard of, with love, reverence, and honour: This seasons all the duties of men, and makes them acceptable to God. This fear attends upon, and ushers in, great joy. This is Commanded; Serve the Lord with fear, 
Heb. 12.28.  and rejoice with trembling. To distinguish this from the former, the Apostle calls it Godly Fear; God is the Author of it; I will put my fear in their hearts. The end of it, 
Esa. 32.40.  and the object of it first, and immediately; and man only so far, as God hath communicated something of himself, as his Majesty, wisdom, authority, power to him.  
Fear the Lord, and the King: Observe first the Method: The Lord, Then the King. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, & the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. A man may be witty, but not wise without it, he may be as subtle as the serpent, but cannot be as innocent as the dove. Jacob covenanting with Laban, calls to witness, the Fear of his Father Isaac; 
Gen. 31.53.  i. e. That God that Isaac his Father feared. David doth not only explain this duty, what it is, but press it upon us, why it is to be done, with prevalent arguments; Come let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our maker: for he is the Lord our God, he hath made us, etc.  
This is a duty confessed by all, though practised by few; The fool indeed saith in his heart, there is no God; in his heart, i. e. in his secret thoughts, as rather desiring that it was so, then concluding that it is so; in his heart, not with his lips in articulate words. He is afraid either that the Echo of his own expression should give him the lie, or that for Atheism and blasphemy, openly professed, he should strike him with death, who first breathed into him the breath of life. But to leave such speculative, and practical Atheists, either in mercy to be converted, or in terror to be confounded. What strange spectacle is this that I see; Professors, pious and precious souls, such as seem not without the power of godliness, and yet want the form; no outward posture of the body that may express the reverence of the soul: No sacred esteem of times, places, or things separated to holy use, who to avoid superstitious vowing, exclude all formalities of worship: deny God, those external Civilities of his worship, that they will scarcely deny their equals, and dare not deny their superiors. The servant as though he was free from his Master, sits in the Congregation with his hat on, and that not in winter only but in summer, not upon any account of infirmity, but I fear presumption, for heat and sweat will make him lay it by. What will Turks, Jews, and Pagans think of us, who in the externals of their worship do far outstrip us; and perhaps in their zeal also, though it be not according to knowledge? What will the holy men of God, The noble army of Martyrs, The glorious Society of Saints, and Angels, who not only kneel, but fall flat on their faces, not only uncover their heads, 
Rev. 4.10.  but cast their Crowns down to the earth before him. What will they say to David, or rather what will David say to them, who while they boast of his Spirit, deny his practice in every letter, and whereas they would be thought to be men after Gods own heart, they seem to proclaim it, that they think him like themselves. See what David did, and do the like; I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple, Psal. 5.7.  
This fear of God, then is an awful apprehension of the sacred Majesty of Almighty God, proceeding from a loving, and a loyal heart, binding over the soul to all services of love, with a voluntary resignation of ourselves, our profits, pleasures, preferments, and what is ours, to his will and pleasure.  
This is not only The whole duty of man, to fear God, and keep his Commandments, but his chiefest dignity; which not only preserves the soul here in grace, but also Crowns it with glory hereafter. My son, fear thou the Lord.  
The other object of our fear is The King.  
It is our Saviour's order and Command; To give unto Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are Gods. The Apostle appoints that tribute be paid to whom it belongs, and Honour to whom honour is due. Come forth ye sons and daughters of Jerusalem, see the Regalia, that Throne of Majesty, which God himself hath set up for him, and that Crown of honour, wherewith God himself hath Crowned him in the day of his espousals; He hath joined him with himself in the same expression, Clothed him with the Robes of his own honour, mounted him in royal equipage with himself, and causing it be proclaimed by Solomon (no meaner a person then the greatest of Princes is his Herald) Thus shall it be done to that man that the Lord will honour; Fear the Lord, and the King.  
The Act is the same Fear. Fear 

The Lord.  
The King.    
Of the first I have treated already, now of the second and next immediate object of our Fear; The King, i. e. A single person clothed with authority, chosen of God, and of the people, sitted for, called to, and settled in power and dignity, is to be feared, i. e. with a loyal and loving heart reverenced, and obeyed, next and immediately unto the Lord, in the Lord, and for the Lord.  
Neither was this any Nationall, or legal command only imposed upon the Israelites; but see also the very same made by the Apostle Peter, 2 Pet. 2.17. Fear God, Honour the King. Evangelicall, Moral, universal, and perpetual.  
Where let me first congratulate the word honour by way of explanation, which takes off the edge of admiration from subjects, and of ambition from Princes. It includes not only reverence, obedience, and care of, or for, but also Recompense, Reward, Maintenance. Kings themselves are servants, designed to defend, preserve, keep safe, (as a Shepherd his flock) the people committed to their charge. Our bare heads, our bended knees, all our salutations, and signs of reverence, our honour and fear are indeed a tribute due unto God, but paid to the King as his Stuard, commissioned by him to require, and receive them of us. Wonder not then, that God should thus gild an earthen pot, and lay up the treasure even of divine honour in an earthen vessel. It is the Lord; He may do what he will: and the Honour is his, he may do with his own what he pleaseth.  
Two things lie plain before us: First, That kingly government is of divine institution, and approbation; commanded and commended by God himself. All other governments, and governors, are apppointed by the King, and in subordination to him. The text is plain, 1 Pet. 2.13, 14. Submit yourselves to every ordinance, (or law,) of man for the Lords sake, whether to the King, as supreme, or to Governors sent (i. e. authorized, commissioned, apppointed) by him. Thus Daniel was by the King made a great man, and a Governor, and he that reigned over one hundred twenty and seven Provinces, Est. 1.1. appointed Governors over every Province, v. 14. But to clear this, Moses was singled out of God, made a King, so called, so esteemed by God & men. Visibly vindicated against those seditious Rebels, who despising the Magistrate, and the Minister; The King, and the Priest: Moses and Aaron cried out, you take too much upon you; All the Congregation is holy● Whence then sprung the Sanedrim, from God or from Moses? from God by way of approbation, but from Moses (by the advice of Jethre his father in law) by way of institution. The text is plain, Provide thou, Exod. 18.21. & 24. Moses obeyed the voice of his father in law, and Moses chose men of courage, and made them heads, etc. and after in the 11 of Numbers, though God gave the 70 Elders of the Spirit of Moses (observe it is said of the Spirit that is upon thee, v. 17. see also 25 verse, i. e. the Spirit of wisdom, authority, counsel and strength) yet they were gathered and presented before the Tabernacle of the Congregation by Moses, nor were they then put first into office (for they were Officers and Governors before, v. 16.) but furnished by those gifts to a more cheerful bearing of their public burden. So that it is clear, God called Moses to be King, Moses called the Elders to sit in Counsel and Parliament with him.  
Nay further, I shall own it as a Favour in him that will let me see either Judea, or any other Nation or Country mentioned in any part of the Scripture, either put into that form of Government, which is called a State's government by a Command from God, or (when they had put themselves into it, show me where it is approved of God or commended; or where ever such a Nation deserved the name of a Commonwealth, or that God was glorified, virtue encouraged, sin punished, or mischiefs prevented. The Israelites were indeed often without a King, but, alas, see the miseries that followed; Rapes, whoredoms, idolatries, oppressions, cruelties, civil wars, factions, what not, till blood touched blood, and neighbour fought against neighbour, brother against brother, and many thousands slain, (the sad character of our times) and thus they continued to devour one another, till God gave them into the hand of the enemies round about, Goliath, Ammon, Amaleek, the Philistines, etc. till they had neither liberty to rejoice in, nor weapon to defend themselves withal, yea not allowed so much as a smith in Israel, to make or mend their instruments of husbandry; but every man must go down to the Philistines to sharpen his axe, and his share, and his weeding hook, vid. 1 Sam. 13.18.  
This was the time when there was no King in Israel, every man did what was good in his own eyes (notwithstanding the Counsel of Seventy) this was their sad and deplorable Liberty; their horrid and miserable reformation. O England, England, look in this glass, and see what is wanting but the last act (which God in much mercy prevent) and now after 12 or 14 years' trial of it, tell me if such confusions have been found, such taxes and burdens imposed, such villainies hatched, and such dangers threatened in some hundreds of years before us. Do not all faces gather blackness? are not all complainers, all loser's, unless some few who having in the morning devoured the prey, will needs sit down at night to divide the spoil.  
I intent not to enter upon the dispute, or to set Kingdoms and Commonwealths together by the ears, about a form of Government. My judgement I shall deliver in few words.  
First, That God did appoint, yea found Monarchy or Kingly government, and as it were commend it to all Nations and Countries, in creating one and but one.  
Secondly, That the whole Scripture approves of it, and threatneth its contrary as a general Curse, presaging if not enforcing a Nations ruin.  
Thirdly, That all Nations under Heaven have found most comfort, content, freedom and happiness in it: yea experience hath showed it as most true, that those Nations that were not content with this government cut out for them by the wise and providential hand of God, have seldom or never cut well for themselves after: such changelings ever reading their follies in the miseries that followed.  
I have read the Apology, and defence of those times; perused Declarations, Remonstrances, and what not: I find every sect, every man of the earth grown great: every ambitious Spirit raised (no matter how) to honour, yea every devil set upon a pinnacle, saying as that imperious General did, Am I come up hither without the Lord. 
Esa. 36.10.  The name of God is especially blasphemed in this, that it is made use of to palliate all manner of villainies: lesuites and Anabaptists agreeing in this (and it is feared in other things also) as smoking firebrands in foxes tails, by subtlety, and cruelty to devour those great ordinances of God Magistracy & Ministry. Yet shall I tell you, I have found only two things of seeming weight against what I have delivered.  
First, The free State of Venice, ancient and venerable, surpassing most kingdoms, feared abroad, lovely and amiable at home. This is she that gives a great part of the world law upon salt water, that hath dealt with the great Turk often at arms end: The best bulwark and fortress of Christendom, whose valour, and success while other nations stand and look on, let them admire her, but be ashamed themselves, who like fools, or knaves are quarrelling one with another, she in the mean time calling upon us for our aid and assistance.  
Answ. It is confessed she is ancient and honourable; and it is no less than a wonder that in all those change, successions, and vicissitudes that have been she still remains without visible decay or symptom of old age: when almost all other Politic bodies, all kingdoms in Christendom have met with changes and revolutions. But consider,  
First, The convenience of her situation, upon a great many small Islands in the jaws of the Sea, easily commanding within herself, not easily commanded by any other: She sits as one, and alone as a mistress, a mother, one that at the first maintained her own interest within herself, in a word she seems as a City governed by a Lord Mayor, and a Court of Aldermen; which being at the first so planted, not easily violable by any other foreign or domestic force doth still continue, but it is not thus with us. All generations have read, The kingdom of England; Ten for one in this Nation never consented to this change, nor so much as once dreamt of it: and although many, admiring that justice that they could not understand, being fearful to be found fighters against God did submit, yet the sudden blasting, and the sad effects of it, hath called upon them to acknowledge their folly, & to alter their judgement in point of government.  
But further, What place or persons shall assume this authority or execute it: Shall any City or persons challenge the superiority, the government is no less arbitrary, and far more dangerous then formerly; In a word, I profess when I have seriously weighed our late Kingly government so happily constituted as it was, & our state government fumbled up of so many hetorodox and hetorogeniall principles, and persons; nothing hath more troubled me then to find the fault in the former, or one virtue or convenience in this latter, and therefore cannot but conclude that the constitution of it, is most likely to set persons, and places, at perpetual odds and enmities, and certainly was contrived by them that having plunged the Nation into so many not to be avoided miseries made it their work to secure their own interest, though to the ruin & confusion of all, in the conclusion.  
But again, the state of Venice was laid in peace, ours in blood; Zion herself will not stand long if built in blood: she, i. e. Venice, remains in the mercy of God as a living monument to all nations, what a poor distressed handful of persecuted Christians, watered with the blessing of God from on high may grow to in time; we are likely to stand, as spectacles of horror and amazement, verifying the proverb, We cannot let well be well, and this will not be the lest of our sorrows in our sufferings, that our destruction is from ourselves, and when God had so fenced and guarded us from the force of other nations that we might sleep securely despite their malice, we have armed ourselves, within ourselves, against ourselves to our own confusion.  
Secondly, There is a Piece writ by Milton, called Populi Anglicani defensio, etc. The defence of the people of England; I confess his learning and Oratory to be considerable: I will not enter the lists with him, and the rather because I conceive it may be to contest with a shadow, if he be dead, but if he be now living, (and do not subsist as a mercenary under this power, nor wrapped in so much guilt that he may less fear the gallows than a restoring of kingly government,) let him justify the proceed, and vindicate the sad effects of this fatal change; let him give a satisfactory answer to the late six Queries presented by the excluded members, and let him make it appear that the advantage hath or is very likely to answer to those vast sums expended, Treasures exhausted, trading damnified, miseries multiplied, besides the blood spilt, the guilt and dishonour contracted: if he can make it appear that there was at first just cause for it, or that there is any commodity by it: I will then give him the better of it, and be of his opinion, but if he have seen, as questionless he hath the miseries, and oppressions in these bleeding nations, and do foresee, as he easily may do if living, that danger that is heightened and occasioned by our changelings, I dare say he himself will answer himself sufficiently, and either own his ignorance, or argue his impudence.  
But to conclude this in a word, Arguments taken only from event; or success are not infallible, for subordinate states, a government so ordered may do well, but in such a nation as this it cannot; and for my part I cannot see but that kingly government is most convenient, most suitable to and agreeing with the genius of these nations; had it been left indifferent to frame ourselves at pleasure into any form of government, which I conceive is now questionable, I must have propounded kingly government, and if the Scripture must be our guide, I must and shall ever say, My son: fear thou the Lord, and the King. And that's the second thing.  
The King is to be feared, i. e. loved, honoured and obeyed next and immediately to God himself and that by the command of God.  
This I shall first prove to be the ordinance of God; Secondly, Demonstrate the grounds or causes of it, why so. Prov. 30.31. A King against whom there is no rising up, i. e. ought not to be, nor did ever any rise up, but they found it better to sit still, being convinced of their folly in their fall.  
Prov. 20.2. The fear of a King is as the roaring of a lion, He that provoketh him to anger sins against his own soul: which expression in Scripture ever infers a most mortal, dangerous and desperate sin, Eccl. 10.20. Curse not the King, no not in thy chamber, etc.  
Ezra 7.26. He that will not obey the law of God, and the King's law, let him have judgement without delay whether to death or to banishment, to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.  
In the Gospel and New-Testament.  
Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, Mat. 22.21. Which is well and fully expounded by the Apostle, Rom. 13.7. Give to all men their due; Tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Rom. 13.1. Let every soul be subject, and in the 5 verse. Wherefore we must be subject. 1 Tim. 2.1. I exhort that prayers, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for Kings and all that are in authority, etc.  
I might add more, but something hath been said and more may be: See the Reasons why God will have it so, for although no man may say to God why dost thou so, yet what reasons God hath given we may and aught to take notice of.  
First Reason: See Eccl. 8.2. Because of the Oath of God. I counsel thee to obey the King, etc. Oh the promises, Covenants, and Oaths that have been taken and made in this nation to that end, is it not for the violation of these that the land mourns? are we yet devising new oaths, and never kept the old ones? it is folly and madness to bind others in those cords that we ourselves break at pleasure before their faces, hear and fear, and assure yourselves that God will visit for these things, and his soul will be avenged upon such a Nation.  
Second Reason: That we may lead under them a godly, peaceable and quiet life; Oh value the comforts of a peaceable government. Submission hath ever purchased true liberty of conscience. Where is he, or what is he, that being of a pious and peaceable spirit found not that toleration that piety could ask, or modesty request: Turbulent spirits indeed, some of them made voyages into foreign parts only there to proclaim their follies, and to air their factions, which done many have returned convinced, converted, and what was partly occasioned by themselves, they have owned as matter of lamentation.  
Third Reason: Power is ordained of God, Rom. 13.1. He, (i.e. he that bears and executes that power, i.e. The King, He) is the Minister, that is a servant sent and appointed of God; See it twice repeated, vers. 4. and again, vers. 6. By me King's reign, Prov. 8.15. The Apostle is plain, Rom. 13.2. He that resisteth, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist, (be they who they will) shall receive to themselves damnation. Comment upon the Text who will, and evade it who can. See also David's positive assertion included in a most vehement and  question: Who can (1 Sam. 26.9.) lay his hand on the Lords anointed, and be guiltless? if a statesman, if an injured person, than David: if reasons of state principles of policy, if all that wit & reason can contrive to have excused it could have excused it, it had been excusable in David, but David could not; The Lord keep me from doing this thing to my master, etc. for he is the Lords anointed, vid. 1 Sam. 24.7. may he ask, who can? he must produce a commission written with Gods own hand, that can do it and be innocent. I am not ignorant of what is objected against this, in case of Tyrants, bloody Princes, etc. all that I shall say is, Reason is a good servant, but a bad Master; God sees that good for me, that neither I nor my reason can see good for myself. David had reason enough on his side, but see what he says, As the Lord liveth, either the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come, or he shall go down into the battle and perish, (1 Sam. 26.10.) but the Lord keep me, etc. In a word, he that can thankfully and humbly wait upon the justice of God when he gives us such a king in his anger, can submissively and patiently wait upon his pleasure to take him away in his wrath.  
Fourthly, The King is the most visible resemblance of the invisible God. His servant authorised and commissioned by him to execute his will. He is as the very garment wherewithal the Majesty, justice and power of God is covered and presented to the eye as a visible object; I speak not of a Prince's robes but his royalty, not of his outward apparel, but his spiritual gift and sovereignty. The Queen of Sheba, (2 Chron. 9.8.) hath this expression, Blessed be the Lord thy God that loved thee, that set thee on his throne as king, instead of the Lord thy God.  
That saying of God himself, 1 Sam. 16.1. I have provided me a King, is very considerable; He was a man after Gods own heart in his public administrations of judgement and justice; though his personal faults were very great. It is no untruth to say he was a better King than a man. In his infirmities he teaches even the most precious Saints and servants of God to remember that they are but men; but in his executions of justice he lessons Princes that they ought to be no other than gods, i.e. Ambassadors, Stewards, servants substituted and apppointed by God.  
I might add many more reasons why God is pleased so strictly to charge and require submission and obedience, doubtless, every act of obedience, and disloyalty, especially public, and in eminent persons doth as it were unloose the bands, and dissolve the Covenant betwixt a King and his Subjects. If Kings be (as usually they are) too ready to improve advantages to increase their power and greatness, Treasons, disloyalties, etc. gives them opportunities, and makes them eye those as Captives subdued, which before they beheld as subjects, yea as sons in their Dominion. It is good therefore to fear the King, to prevent our misery and his tyranny, it being most certainly true in Politics, That every rebellion subdued, makes the King more a King, and the Subjects more subject. But we have said sufficient to persuade, yea to enforce obedience from such as fear the Lord, Their consciences are dear unto them, and a godly peaceable and quiet life most desirerable. The oath of God they fear and the Covenant, as a Covenant of God they hold inviolable: They can look beyond the shadow to the substance, and in and under the visible man, can see the justice, wisdom, power, and Majesty of God, and pay the tribute of their fear and reverence due to God, to the King as his receiver. They have learned our Saviour's lesson; If a man (much more a King) will take away thy coat, let him take thy cloak also; They judge it better to be famous for their sufferings, then infamous for their actings. Thus good Mephibosheth when he had more cause to be angry at the King's unjust connivance and distribution, doth not only submit without the least impatience or opposition; but gives us the best counsel in his own example, and the best instruction in his resolution; Let him take all, so that my Lord the King may but return in peace.  
To reasonable men enough hath been said, to unreasonable men, and such as have no faith, it is to small purpose to say any more; Their subtleties can evade, or jealousies pervert what can be said, nor will they read their sin, but in their punishment; nor be convinced of this duty, till they have overwhelmed themselves and the Nation in unavoidable ruins.  
Before I leave this, let me congratulate this happy union, The Lord and the King, not here alone, but elsewhere joined together; and observable it is that the fear of God and honour of the King go hand in hand, and where the King is dishonoured, the fear of God is also violated. It was a fatal prediction (the unhappy consequence of homebred distractions) that Israel refusing directions from the Law and the Testimonies, should go to and fro, and fretting themselves, should Curse their God, and their King. It was also a happy prediction, (and oh that our eyes might see the accomplishing of it) that Israel upon his Conviction should seek the Lord, and David their King. Thus in Blessings and Curse, God and the King are joined. The Almighty himself in order to the preservation of peace, and administration of Justice, is pleased with his own hand to put into the same scabbard of eternal truth, the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon.  
I have now done with the positive part of the doctrine; My son, Fear the Lord, and the King. Now I come to the Negative part; Meddle not with the seditious, or those that are given to change.  
First, Meddle not. Meddlers are fruit that was never planted in the paradise of God, nor are suffered to prosper in the places of his pleasure. They will indeed as ill weeds be springing up, (and when they are overgrown they are dangerous) but the diligent hand must weed them out. God hath made ample provision against this corruption, he condemns them as inordinate walkers, that are busy-bodies, 2 Thes. 3.11. Such as go from house to house, are not only idle but pratlers, and busybodyes, 1 Tim. 5.13. If such suffer, they suffer justly, to prevent which we have a divine Caution, 1 Pet. 4.15. Let no man suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy-body; (the word is expounded word for word, a Bishop in another man's diocese) Thus vices are linked together, & as evil words corrupt good manners, and evil thoughts hatch, and generate evil words, so needless intermeddlings, especially in State-affairs, often ushers in evil do; these carry us forward to theft and sacrilege, these to murder and what not. Sin, if not prevented, ever plunging the soul into more and more sin, one mischief covering itself with another, conceiving it cannot be safe but by so doing. As we see it was thus with David in the matter of Vriah, and Ahab in the case of Naboth, the beginnings of which are oft but small, but alas, alas, how great a sire will a little spark kindle.  
He that made the whole world the object of his contemplation, as he was grieved to see some idle, and others ill employed, so was he also grieved to see many busy in other men's matters. Such endeavours are seldom acceptable, or successful, and this connivance they carry ever along with them, if well they are but well, if evil the more pains the less thanks, ye accessaries in this case come in as principles, and bear the reward of their follies in their sufferings. Briefly, God hath placed every man in his own station, appointed him some office, calling, employment, or business of his own. This let him do it with all diligence, and following the Aposties' rule; Let him study to be quiet and meddle with his own business, 1 Thes. 4.15.  
Sin, and sinners, in general we must not meddle with; My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not, if they say, We will lay wait for blood, etc. vid. 1 Prov. v. 11.— We shall find precious riches, and fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot amongst us, we will all have one purse. My son, walk not in their way, refrain thy foot from their paths, etc.  
Good old Jacob (whom neither affection to his children, nor love of gain could court to the countenancing of cruelty) abominates that villainy of his sons in slaying the Sichemites (though they pretended great and urgent reasons for it) especially after overtures of peace for the future, and tender of satisfaction for bypast injuries, he confesses that it made him stink in the nostrils of other Nations; and many years after, even upon his deathbed, to evidence his perpetual hatred of such treachery, he disclaims any society with, or approbation of that act; Into their secrets let no● my soul enter in their assemblies, mine honour be not thou united: and passes sentence upon them that were chief actors in it, Simeon, and Levi, Divide them O God in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, Gen. 49. 5-7.  
But to speak to the object in the text, The seditious. Sedition is the murderer of piety, the bane of charity, the mother of consusion. It is a hell upon earth, as having nearest relation to, and confederacy with the Devil and his Angels. Satan never acts so like himself, as when in the shape of an Angel of light, he attempts works of darkness; and by his delusions, and devices, throws all into extremities, and those often contrary, casting some into the fire, and others into the water. Sedition is that Grand Trapan, which not only carries away deceived souls, such as in the simplicity of their hearts go on thinking no evil, but also perverts good intentions, and in time converts them into most horrid practices. Sedition hath this evil in it, that it usually corrupts the best knowing, such when corrupted to be ever the worst. That poison is most mortal that hath seized on the vitals; and thus it is in a Church, or State, when Religion is turned to faction, and peace the daughter of piety is so fatally betrayed that she becomes the mother of dissension, and grandmother of destruction. Nor do I wonder at it in our dregs of time, when in those purer days the Apostle tells the Corinthians, that he feared he should finde (what he was unwilling to find) strife, envyings, wrath, contentions, backbitings, swell, and discords. Behold an Army of Saints, whose Cause is envy and swell, whose Artillery, is strife, wrath, and contention, and whose Military provision seems no better than backbitings, and discords. If thus it be with the green tree, what shall become of the dry? and if the righteous could not be preserved from those evils, how shall the wicked and ungodly appear?  
But to come to the Text, the seditious seem to be of two sorts (which I gather from the last word Both, a word necessarily relating to two) and indeed in State-affairs two factions or seditions are most dangerous.  
First, Such as would have Monarchy degenerate into tyranny; Who cannot be content to have Sovereignty, like the tree of life planted in the midst of the paradise of God, whose fruit is food, and whose leaves are physic to heal the Nations, but they must have it, as that overgrown tree, whose height must reach to heaven. It was a foul sign of Babel's approaching ruin, when his Princes and people, who knew the King to be but a man, must honour him as a God; Is not this great Babel that I have built for mine Honour, etc. preceded that fatal deposing; Thy kingdom is taken from thee, etc. Dan. 4.28. Herod's flatterers were his murderers, had not they cried out, The voice of God and not of man, Herod might have been a man much longer; but they giving and he accepting divine Honour, he was smitten with a mortal disease, He was eaten with worms, and gave up the ghost, Acts 12.22.  
Such as those, Hosea 7.3. That make the King glad with their wickedness, and Princes with their lies, That see vanity, and devise folly, and say, The Lord saith it: Arbitrary Power, and government at pleasure; This shall be the Custom, 1 Sam. 8.11. They interpret it, This shall be the right, power, prerogative royal of your King, to take your sons, your daughters, your tenths, and till you cry out because of your King. Such as Rehoboams young Counselors, Make thy little singer heavier than thy Father's loins, 1 Kings 12.10.  
I take no delight to rub up old sores, yet I request those whom it may concern to remember, That flatterers have been most fatal to Prin●●● A Court Parasite, is a Court Plague: It is most certainty true, That a King is made for the people, and not they for him: Their safety and welfare, aught to be the aim, and end of his government, in requital of, and thankfulness for which, his ease should be their labour, his honour their endeavour, his safety, their hazard: and in as much as their security is his chiefest work, their tribute, and Honour ought to be duly paid to him as his just wages.  
Princes are called Gods. An unjust, cruel, tyrannical god, is nonsense and blasphemy, with all sacred reverence be it spoken and received. If God himself were as the son of man, that he might err, or could be deceived, an arbitrary and unlimited power terminated in cruelty and oppression, would depose him from his royalty, and make him even such a Creator hateful to his Creatures.  
God who is the holy one, of purer eyes then to behold iniquity, may deal with men, as the Potter with his Clay, and who shall say, What dost thou? his ways are unsearchable, and his judgements past finding out; but for man, yea the best of men, who in their best estate are altogether vanity, though they be called gods, they must die like men, and therefore must act according to those Laws, which the King of Kings hath laid before them for his glory, and his people's good.  
It is recorded concerning king Joash, 2 Chron. 24.2. That he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, all the days of Jehoiada the Priest: and no longer: What, no Bishop, no King; how true that Maxim is let others dispute: Sure it is that a good Priest makes a good King, or at least if he can help it will not endure a bad one. But what was the matter with Joash, after the death of Jehoiada, v. 17. The Princes of Judah came and did reverence unto him, and he hearkenod unto them, etc. Did they reverence him! it was but 〈◊〉 duty, but duty itself (as every virtue) hath two extremes, but he harkened unto them, puffed up with pride he forgot to be humble, and alured by their flatteries was persuaded to do that which in the conclusion tended to his ruin and the Nations woe.  
Those therefore that are or shall be the Counsellors of a King, remember what is written, As a roaring Lion, and as a hungry Bear, such is a wicked Ruler over a poor people, Pro. 28.15. It is not for Princes to be drunk with ambition, no more then with wine, this will make him err in judgement, no less, than that. It is better for Princes to be sons of Consolation, then of terror; and those that take a delight to be, and be accounted Hunters before the Lord, it is just in God that they fall into the snare, and that the venom of his arrows dry up their spirits. Is the Prince naturally merciful, cherish and preserve that temper in him, do not as the Lioness did her young Lion, teach him to catch, and to devour the prey, Eze. 19.4. persuade him not to waste, and destroy, or show himself terrible with the noise of his roar, lest the Nations beset him, and lay snares for him, and he fall into their pit. The greatest Triumph of a King, is to gain the hearts, and win the good affections of his people. He that hath these, shall never want their hands to vindicate, nor purses to maintain his Honour, and interest. That service is quickest in dispatch, and soars highest that is mounted upon the wings of love. A beloved Prince is as the breath of our nostrils, The anointed of the Lord, worth ten thousand of us, no dangers shall disquiet his repose, no cares line his Crown, no terrors torment his spirit, if his subjects can help it. All Israel will come up to Hebron, to attend the Coronation of such a King: on the contrary, what sadder spectacle in the world then to see a King, mounted on his triumphant Chariot, enriched with the spoils, and drawn by his gald-backt, naked, and impoverished subjects. Which that neither we, nor our children may see, let Kings, and Counselors ponder & observe this truth, That when Kings in governing, go beyond the limits of moderation, they pass the lines of security, and run the hazard of their own ruin.  
When Kings make their Will their Law, and their own Pleasure, their Prerogative Royal, Subjects often make their Power their Privilege, and conceive Might a sufsicient Right to vindicate their Liberties. As I cannot allow the first, so I dare not approve the second. I have heard the Advocates of The King's Bench, and am not altogether ignorant what is said for the Common pleas, I have summoned a Grand Jury of my serious thoughts in the Case, which have returned an Ignoramus, and I am resolved to leave both parties to stand or fall to their own Master.  
But for this first branch of this seditious faction, let them Consider the text; Fear the Lord, and the King: First the Lord, than the King; The King after, in, with, and for the Lord; He that would be able to give a good account of his loyalty, must prefix these prepositions as Essentials of piety, he cannot love the King, that fears not God: Are drinking of healths, swearing, ramming, damning, hideous and desperate execrations and Curse the symptoms of a loyal subject: do such damnable and deplorable carriages speak those that use them the servants of a Christian King, defender of the faith, or the Cursed vassals of Baal●zebub Prince of the Devils.  
Oh that my Counsel might be acceptable to such, to break off this sin by Repentance, and this iniquity by a public confession, that there may be a healing of the error; That that may be effected, (which for fear of them hath been partly obstructed) which is by all desired, That our Judges may be restored as at the first, and our Magistrates as at the beginning. Thus far of the first.  
The second sort of seditious persons, are such as will have no King. Every small discontent arms them into desperate undertake. What portion have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Ishai? To your tents O Israel; Now look to thy own house David? Stay, stay, a little, may not a man be more zealous than religious? more forward than wise; consider the end of it, will it not be bitterness, and an evil day? But further, Have we no share in David, no inheritance in the house of Ishai? Was he flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, at his inauguration, and have we no interest in the succession? Is that the best Counsel, To thy tents of Israel. Well go on, rejoice in Jeroboam, and his golden Calves. Make priests of the meanest of the people; submit to any thing rather than a return to the house of David. God permits much that he doth not approve of. Let me with the peace of a good conscience, lie with Lazarus upon a dunghill, yea die like a dog in a ditch, rather than stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. May my memory perish rather than deserve such a Monument as Jeroboam had; This is Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that made Israel to sin.  
Sedition hath sometimes success, but doth never prosper; the conclusions of it though purchased by blood are less valuable than water. It is in this case as it was with David, Oh that any would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, (his enemies the Philishins then lying round about it) His worthies will venture their lives to satisfy his longing, (what will not zeal and affection do) but when he hath it he refuses to drink it; but pouring it on the ground says, Is not this the blood of these men, The blood of men is a dear rate for an imaginary liberty; such a one as like Plato's Idea, hath its existence only in fancy, and is Ens rationis, more properly then Ens real: If this be liberty say many thousands in England, would we had been subjects still; and he that thanked God that he was borne a freeman and not a slave, had as little reason for it, as he that blessed God, that he was born a vassal to the Crown of England.  
Barrabas was committed for sedition and murder; Those two are not easily separated. Yet oh, the misery of popular tumults, how easily are they moved to put to death the holy one, and the just, and to require a murderer to be given unto them.  
Seditions against Princes, and government established are not very many in Scripture, yet some we read of, as that of insinuating Absalon (who saved the executioner a labour, and was hanged in a halter of his own spinning) That of Sheba; the Son of Bieri, (whose head soon after ransomed the whole body of his Army) both against David. The best Princes have many times the worst subjects; their pliable natures are easiest abused, and turbulent spirits having (as the man in the fable) by some concessions gained a handle for his axe in requital cut down the Tree.  
But of all seditions in holy writ that which the Apostle calls The gainsaying of Corah, seems to be (take it in all parts, and under all considerations) the most dangerous and desperate. Numb. 16.— The Ringleader is Corah, an eminent person in the Tribe of Levi, with whom Dathan and Abiram two of the sons of Reuben, who gain into their confederacy two hundred and fifty men, Captains of the assembly, famous men in the congregation and men of renown, these gather together against Moses and Aaron, and in plain terms tell them, That they take too much upon them, all the congregation is holy, yea every one of them; why then should they (seeing the Lord was amongst them) lift up themselves above the congregation of the Lord. Was not this recorded in sacred writ, I could scarcely receive it for a truth being a faction made up of pretended religion, and intended ambition; Specious pretences countenanced by men famous both in Church and state, so coloured and covered over with dissembled sanctity, that even Moses and Aaron, the King and the Priest must suffer in their reputation, and honour, and in the Vulgar account pass for Tyrannical and Antichristian. But true it is, for truth itself hath recorded it, and in as much as it is written for our learning. We may learn from it,  
First, That innocence itself is no guard against impudent and slanderous tongues; Moses though the meekest of men, must pass for a Tyrant, if seditious souls will dare to say, others will be ready to believe it, though there be no cause for it.  
Secondly, Moses and Aaron, the Magistrate and the Minister are equally leveled by factions, and as instituted at first by God to comfort and support one another, as Saul and Jonathan lovely in their lives, so in their deaths, they are not separated.  
Thirdly, That blasphemy, hypocrisy and counterfeit holiness, ever ushers in sedition and rebellion. All the Congregation is holy, every one, and the Lord is with us, etc.  
Fourthly, That the grand abetters and maintainers of faction, are not only bred, but often eminent in Church and State; Their enemies being usually those of their own household.  
I shall descant no longer on this seditious subject, may those that read it consider what hath been said, and the Lord give us grace to prevent that woe which is threatened against them, that followed the ways of Cain (who slew righteous Abel) and are lead away like Balaam with the wages of deceit, (ready to do any thing for money) and have perished in the gainsaying of Corah, Judas v. 11.  
And this leads me by the hand from the Doctrine, the word of Command, My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with the seditious, to the Reason, a word of terror, for their destruction shall come suddenly, and who knows how speedy may be the ruin of them both?  
What Daniel said of the Dream, let me say of this for the certainty of it, it is doubled; first, by way of assertion; secondly, of expostulation: of these in order.  
In the assertion observe; first, The judgement threatened; Destruction.  
When Separation and Confusion is the work; what fit wages than ruin and destruction. Is not destruction to the wicked, and strange punishment to the workers of iniquity, Job 31.3. Is it not Gods solemn protestation, Ezek. 35.6. As I live, saith the Lord, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: except thou hate blood, blood shall pursue thee. Are not the threaten of this nature many? Is not the vision plain? Though it tarry for an appointed time, yet he that shall come will come. Have not the children of affliction comforted themselves with these meditations in their worst conditions? It is David's Counsel, Psal. 55.22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall nourish thee, and will not suffer the Righteous to fall for ever. But for the implacable enemies and treacherous friends of his Church, such as maintain cruelty, and strife, in the City; such as lay their hands upon those that be at peace; and break the Covenant; Whose words are softer than butter, but war is in their hearts; whose expressions are smooth as oil, yet are they swords: Such God will bring down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men, shall not live out half their days, v. 23.  
But this is not all, not only a destruction, but theirs is threatened: observe.  
Secondly, A destruction appropriated as it were to the nature of the Crime, seasonable to the time, and suitable to the occasion, in the punishment God writes the sin, and in the penalty proclaims; Lo this is the Man, and this was his Fault. Adonibezecks' confession, may be their superscription; As I have done, so God hath rewarded me, Judg. 1.7. They either suffer with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as we call them, either God casts them into the same pit that they have digged for others, or into another like it; either he hangs them with Hamman upon the same gallows, or makes another very like it. There is ever some conformity either of the subject, or some remarkable Circumstance of time or place. Their destruction is mighty, bitter, strange, great, deadly, compared to, illustrated by, and often joined with hell itself; Briefly, it may be said of the seditious what is recorded of Corah, & his companions; The Lord creates a new thing in the earth, they are not visited as others are, neither do they die the death of other men. God usually pleads the Cause of his servants before the sons of men, bringing (without any desire or endeavour of theirs) the mischievous designs of their enemies upon their own heads, and their violent deal upon their own pates. Which leads me to a  
Third Observation, It comes, unexpected, uncontrived; No secret plots are needful to contrive that which God hath designed publicly to bring about in the sight of Heaven, and before the Sun. Man's device cannot further, but may at least seemingly obstruct God's resolution. It comes many ways, how often is the Candle of the wicked put out, and their destruction cometh upon them when God divideth their lives, in his wrath, Job 21.17. When their day cometh as a destroyer from the Almighty. When they least expect it, fear and a snare is upon them, with desolation and destruction; yea usually it marcheth so furiculsly, that when it cometh they sue and seek for peace, but cannot find it, Ezek. 7.25. And this leads us to the fourth Observation.  
Fourthly, Suddenly. Sudden death never passes without observation, it is at least a mercy to be sorewarned of our misery, and not to stand upon such slippery places as suddenly to go down into hell. It is a sad condition to be surrounded with snares, to be suddenly troubled with ●eares, and yet such is the condition of those that cast out Widows empty, and that have broken the arms of the fatherless, Job 22.9, 10. What greater calamity then for destruction to come speedily, and suddenly to be destroyed without recovery; yet this is the portion of him that deviseth lewd things, and that stirreth up contentions, Prov. 6.15. Would a man paint out misery to the life; What can be more said to lay out the lines of it? then Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the morning thereof: destruction shall fall upon thee which thou shalt not be able to put away: destruction shall come upon thee suddenly or ever thou be ware, and yet this is the lot of them, who trust in their wickedness, and say, None seethe it, whose wisdom and knowledge have caused them to rebel: who have said in their hearts, I am, and none else, vid. Esa. 47.10, 11. It is the Lords Threatening against those that have increased that which is not theirs; that they shall rise up suddenly, that shall by't them, and awake that shall stir them up, and make them their prey, Hab. 2.7, 8.  
But to add the Expostulation, Who knows the ruin of them both? Who knows how sudden or in what manner? The Scripture compares it to the pangs of a woman. When they say, peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come, etc. 1 Thess. 5.3. The Prophet Esa. 29.6. Sets it out by thunder, shaking, a terrible noise, a whirlwind, tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. Who can comment upon these comparisons without amazement, or think of them without terror? The danger is passed before the report come, in thunders, earthquakes and lightnings. Tempests are ushered in by Haltion days or fairer weather; and sire (though moderated the best of servants, yet) if become devouring, the worst of masters. It is also compared, to a breach in a high wall, whose breaking ●ut comes suddenly even in a moment, Isa. 30.13. Which puts me in mind of the house built upon sand, which when the storms beat upon it it fell, and the fall of it was great.  
But the Genius of the time admits not of long discourses. This concerns the wise, and great men whose office it is, not only to stand in, but to make up the breach, and a word to the wise is sufficient. I shall therefore briefly from Scripture lay down, the sudden and observable destructions of the seditious, and then apply it, that others may hear and fear.  
In as much as we spoke of two sorts of seditious persons, and that distinctly in the doctrinal part, I shall follow the like method in the Rational, and speak first to the advancers of Tyranny, either by evil counsel, or wicked practices. Such hath ever been fatal both to Prince and people, and have in some suitable and remarkable way found this true, That their destruction came suddenly.  
I shall begin with the mother of a King, Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah, 2 Chron. 22.3. She counselled him to do wickedly, in so much as he did evil in the sight of the Lord to his destruction: And observable it is, That it is said, v. 7. The destruction of Amaziah came of God, i.e. was in a singular manner appointed and ordered of God. For his perishing together with the house of Ahab was the reward of his unhappy compliance. And for Athaliah she was slain at the command of Jehoiada the Priest, a strange and severe example, the mother and grandmother of a King, slain at the appointment of the high Priest; She had broke up the house of the Lord, and bestowed upon Baalim whatsoever was dedicated to the house of the Lord. When wicked counsellors violate God's glory, Priests have sometimes the honour to execute upon them the judgements that are written. Though this we may admire, not imitate.  
The next we shall take notice of is a Treasurer, Adoram, the receiver of the tribute, 1 Kings 12.18. Near in name, and perhaps in relation to Adoniram, who in Solomon's time was over the tribute, he is sent by Rehoboam to pacify, and lo he perisheth by the tumult; they stone him to death: well may their hands be ready to break him, whose faces he had before ground to powder by needless and unnatural taxes; it may be he was such a one as made himself rich, and his master poor, and therefore judged a fit treasurer for the devil, in the meantime know this, that as cruel tax-masdters are unwarrantable, so the punishing of them by popular tumults is unsufferable. God is just, though the instruments be unjust, and perhaps ordered in the providence of God to deter men from such cruel practices, when they see revenge taken without, yea & against Law, by them upon whom usually the law gets little satisfaction,  
But to come from Counsellors to Kings themselves. Adonibezek, Judg. 1.8. Though he had his toes, and his singers cut off, yet could point at his own cruelty, in God's severity, as I have done, so the Lord hath rewarded me. And Agag the King of the Amalekites (happy in nothing but that he died by the hand of Samuel) had not only the execution, but the sentence of justice passed upon him. As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless amongst women, 1 Sam. 15.33. Pharaoh who had ordered the male children of Israel to be drowned, did in the sight of Israel sink like a stone to the bottom of the Sea, Exod. 15.5. He, whose hand had been so heavy upon the poor Israelites in the house of bondage, he with his instruments of tyranny sank as led in the mighty waters; He who shown no mercy to men, when they laboured in the very fire, found no compassion from God when he tumbled in the mighty waters. Jehoiakim who had slain Vriah the Prophet with the sword, and with contempt had cast out his dead body, (Jer. 26.23.) was himself buried with the burial of an ass, drawn, and cast forth out of the gates of Jerusalem, Chap. 22.19. Thus those that walk in the counsels of the ungodly, and stand in the way of sinners are never able to appear in judgement, or stand in the congregation of the righteous.  
This place would be convenient to handle the question, whether it be lawful to kill a tyrant or no; of all that I have seen upon the affirmative, none saith less to more purpose than a late piece called, Killing no murder; If reason alone were predominant, the man seems unanswerable, but with Christians, what is not of Faith is sin; and for our parts our doctrine allows no such practice, neither the Church (reform) of Christ; For him that writ it may he live to recant it, and those that did abet and countenance it (some late active men know what I mean) let them take heed that the same destruction levelled at another, light not upon themselves, and that they fall not into the same net that was spread for another. God hath sometimes by an extraordinary hand taken vengeance, as Phineas upon Zamri and Cozby, Samuel upon Agag, and Johoiada upon Athaliah; yet are none of these warrantable for our example; these being the extraordinary actings of God's justice, not allowable in the common course of his providence. No positive command there is, and pity indeed that there should be, seeing virtue itself is often by the envious blasted as vicious, and wholesome severity, is by some branded for Tyranny; But let Kings and the Great ones of the earth know this, that if they be not accountable to men, yet God by man often takes vengeance; nor is it much comfort for a malefactor, to have his executioners company to another world. Let Princes employ faithful and godly Counsellors, grave, and experienced, and above all let them beg of God, to guide them with his Counsel, and then doubtless he will bring them to glory.  
Lest any mistaking what hath been said, should condemn the generation of the just, and conclude all Princes to have been tyrannical, that have died by sudden or violent death, I have thought it convenient to enter this Caution against it; God is ever just, but often unsearchable, he doth not ever by external mercies or punishments put a difference betwixt those that fear God, and those that fear him not: Where Justice is apparent it is good to say little; but when the matter is secret, it is best to be silent: The same God takes away by the same stroke, an evil King, for the evils committed, and a good King from the evils to come.  
Now to the second sort of seditious persons which despise Government, such Wildings and Meddlers as the last & perilous times must bring forth; Lovers of themselves; Covetous, etc. Covenant-breakers, false accusers, Traitors, heady, highminded, etc. 2 Tim. 3.2, 3, 4. Their destruction also cometh suddenly.  
To begin with Abimeleck, that shrub of Honour, fit ●o make a fire of then a King, who attended by a Company of light and vain fellows, ready for hire to side with any party, or do any thing that he shall command, Lords it over the lives and fortunnes of his brethren; The men of Sychem accommodate him with a little money; (none so imperious as a mounted beggar) and than who but Abimeleck; till God sent an evil Spirit (could it be worse than that of pride, covetousness and murder that possessed him before) to effect what was determined, and a fire from Abimeleck devoured the men of Sichem, and a fire from them devoured Abimelech. Treacherous factious though they hold together for a time, yet usually they dissipate and destroy one another. So must thy enemies perish O Lord.  
The next is Achitophel, a wise Counsellor, whoreadvice was like the Oracle of God, as long as piety towards God, and loyalty towards his Sovereign are joined together in him; but convinced of his folly, and confounded by reason of his treachery, He thinks it safer to go on, (the greater politician the worse convert) though to the ruin of him and his for ever, then to make an honourable retreat, He sets all in order but himself, and to save the Law and the executioner a labour, he hangs thimselfe. His sin not being prosperous, had he proved penitent, he might with Shimei, & others have procured his pardon. But of all rebellions that is the worst that hates to be reform, and refuseth to return, yet seeing it was so ill, it is well it was no worse, he hanged alone, and had no other Company.  
Though the question was asked by one of the worst of women; Had Zimri peace who slew his Master? 2 Kings 9.31. Yet the best of men must acknowledge that he had neither peace, nor prosperous success in that horrid treason. What his treason was the 1 Kings 16.10. will tell you, and what conclusion it had you may see in the 18 verse; He burned himself and the King's house with fire; Fires of that nature kindled by treason, and increased by covetousness and ambition, usually succeed accordingly, and consumes as well the Traitor as the object of the Treason. Jehu seems to slight the precedent, but for all his confidence, & commission, a few years did convince his heirs and successors of the infallibility of it, when God himself did avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. It is neither honour, nor advantage to be God's axe, especially when the axe boasts itself against him that hews with it. God's rods are usually made of combustible matter, as appears when the time of correction and visitation is over. It was Aaron's rod, the rod of peace that was laid up in the Sanctuary before the Lord; the rods of Jannes and Jambres that withstood Moses, were devoured by it, though by enchantments turned into formidable Serpents. Peace must prosper, and will prevail, when the authors of confusions and delusions shall perish. The office of a hangman was never sued for by an ingenuous spirit; nor have I heard of any that lived with credit or died with comfort; The Justice of God is often executed upon the persons and families of Princes, but far be it from a pious soul to strive to be the executioner, or once to boast of or rejoice in such execution. I have examined the Scripture, (which is my rule and aught to be every christians) and I do not find one that ever lift up his hand in this nature against his master, that ever had the peace of a good conscience to gratify him in, or real comfort to crown such actions. Would you find the viper's nest of nation and kingdome-destroying-tenents, as Idolatry, Schism, Heresy, you may find them nourished in the skirts of such as have shaked off both piety, and loyalty, and though none boast more of upright hearts than they yet few but give a better account of them in their conversations. It is sad to observe, that the deposers of Tyrants have exceeded the deposed in tyranny, & oppression, and who did more advance the honour of Baal than he, who but a little before had offered so many of his Priests as a solemn sacrifice to his fury; but contemplations and experiences of this nature are endless: To conclude this part of our discourse; What became of Absolom, we have showed already; The fatal farewell of Corah and his companions is well known; What popular tumult ever produced good, or did not end in its own evil; What bloody beginnings (though with intentions of reforming church and state) ever brought forth happy conclusions, unless a miracle of mercy, the effect of true and lively repentance did create life out of death, light out of darkness, and good out of evil.  
And now I have touched upon that centre to which all the lines of my discourse tend, and in which they rest. Repentance and godly sorrow for our grand transgressions and impieties against God and disloyalties against our King, is the only haven into which the weatherbeaten ship of this commonwealth of England must be put, if she that hath been so long afflicted and tossed with tempests would ever find safety or comfort. We have sought the Lord, stretched out our hands, made many and long prayers, and God hath not heard us, & why? our hands are full of blood; we have fasted and humbled ourselves, and yet the all-seeing eye of God takes no notice of it, alas the reason is evident, we have fasted to strife, & debate, & to strike with the fist of wickedness. Oh that every wise man in this nation would seriously lay to heart the saying of that wise woman, 2 Sam. 14.14. We must all die, & we are all as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again: Neither doth God (when he executes justice) spare any persons, yet he hath appointed means, that he that is cast out may not be (utterly) expelled. I cannot look at the miseries of our days without grief of heart and sorrow of mind. I cannot remember the days of bypast slaughter, nor eye our present distractions, but I must wish with Jeremy, that my head was full of water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night, for the slain of the daughter of my people. Did David beg of God to deliver him from blood-guiltiness, with so much earnestness, for one man's blood, and are we senseless of the blood of thousands slain in these uncivil civil wars, (the price of whose blood is confusion and misery) nay which is worse, after a trial of our own ways (which we see to be evil, and to have no less than a national death, and destruction for their issue) yet we repent not to give glory to God; Oh England, England! hath not God given thee a time of repentance, and thou hast not repent, what dost thou expect but that God should cast thee into a bed of sorrow, and punish thy vain presumtions with unsufferable torments. If what hath been delivered in the doctrinal part of the text be truth, (and he deservs to be stoned for blasphemy that denies it) thou hast erred and hast been deceived, God hath hitherto pitied thy wander, & looked upon thee as sheep scattered upon the mountains without a shepherd: Oh return, return O Shulamite seek the Lord by repentance, and fear; and your King with submission and reverence; Remember the oath of God, & your most solemn national covenant, the pursuance of that was the Good Cause, but since we broke Covenant with God in falsifying, evading, colouring and covering of oaths, swearing falsely, methinks God hath sworn in his wrath, that we shall never enter into rest, in government we have had none and in consciences I fear but little; now by a deep humiliation and an acknowledgement of your sins committed against God and man, repent, and return, and fear the Lord and his goodness in these latter days. But what is said to all, few take notice of, as relating to themselves; I must therefore more particularly apply my discourse to the Parliament, City, and Army.  
To the Parliament; Gentlemen you look upon yourselves as the Keepers of our Liberty: for your own soul's sake consider seriously how you have kept it, and what a liberty we are brought to, is it not just such another as that which God proclaimed against rebellious Israel? Jer. 34.17. A liberty, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; Such a liberty, as is likely to make us a terror & an astonishment to the whole world. I am for my own part a man of many bodily infirmities, I know not what a day may bring forth in order to my dissolution, let me be arraigned before the severest of your Commissioners for a malignant, rather than at the bar of God's justice for an hypocrite. I have ever been, I bless God, a plain spirited man, and such you must expect, and suffer me to be. If you be not able to bear my speech, your friend, your familiar, what will you do when God shall reprove you, and set all in order before you. Two things you own an account of to God, and to the Country; First, of the authority by virtue of which you act; and secondly, of the aim & end, yea of the manner and method of your actings.  
For the first, many thousands in England, do deny that ever they entrusted you, in any such authority as you assume; For my part; I do look upon you, as the Remnant of a venerable Parliament, in order to which I have been ready to vindicate in what I might, your proceed, not as the best that may, or such as ought to be for ever our rule, or guide, but such as necessity hath imposed upon us for a time, till better might be established; in order to which, I took heinously the last defection, and rebellion of the Soldery against you, did declare, to the receivers of the tax, that I would pay no tax towards the army's maintenance. When some of Lambert's Officers lay at my house in their march into the North, I did expostulate the Case with them, told them how heinously the Country took it, etc. To which they made this answer, The Country had no Cause to take ill the dissolving of this Parliament, for it was their Parliament, not the Countries; settled by them, not by the Country, and to do their work, not the Countries. This they did say, and besides giving of you hateful and ridiculous names, did render you the objects of contempt and scorn, but you have pardoned them, and I shall be silent. I beseech you examine your Call and Commission to the exercise of this authority; We are a free people, and you yourselves have declared, That it is Tyranny, and Treason for any to impose upon us in point of government, but by the legal and just choice of the people. For the power that you have, I profess, I do not envy it to you, I rather pity you; You stand, in all men's apprehensions, upon slippery places; It is not for the honour nor safety of these Nations to submit to such a decimation in State-matters, That scarce the tenth part of a Parliament, should pass for a Free and Full Parliament: look upon yourselves (you that have seen the Majesty of a full Parliament in the days of Monarchy, some of you have not) when assembled in the House, and tell me if you look like such an Honourable Assembly as that used to be; That should render this Nation so happy at home, and so formidable abroad. Who would not rather be the Turnkay of such a Parliament, than the Speaker in this. The present condition is intolerable, neither safe nor comely. Have you not purged yourselves, and been purged by one or other till you are a shadow, rather than a substance? and is this our Honour, Happiness, Freedom; or, the glory, privilege, and interest of our English Parliament?  
For the second, your aim, ends, method, and manner of actings: Was there ever such a thought in those that elected you to be Parliament men, that you should destroy King & kingly Government? Did you declare any such thing, when you raised your Army, oh look over your own Declarations, Remonstrances, Protestations, Covenants, Orders & Ordinances; If there was just cause (which few that fear God will say, and not one of a thousand do believe) to remove the person, yet what had the office done? Kingly government is of divine institution, no other (unless in subordination to that) commanded or commended to us, you have made trial of your own ways, you see how suddenly they came to nothing, and how speedily they are likely to bring us to worse than nothing. Remember the vast disbursements of this Nation, The loans upon public faith, the  offerings, the taxes, assessments, the excise, the Customs, the Crown & Church Lands, would they not very near have purchased such a Kingdom. Was it ever intended to exhaust these treasures, and alienate these lands to no other purpose but to build an imaginary Babel, or if you will A Castle in the air, is this to make a glorious King and Kingdom, etc.  
In the Name and Fear of God, and for the Lords sake, remember from whence you are fall'n, and do your first works. Settle a free and full Parliament, free both in choice, & votes, without factious bandings in the choice, or force upon their actings: Let us hear of no oaths, to bind up men's consciences, It is dangerous dallying with a consuming fire & everlasting burning; others have found it, you will find it, if timely repentance prevent not. Our condition is not yet desperate, nor yours: not ours, For I do verily believe, our miseries may be improved to such advantages, and our trials, to such experiences, as may render us, the wiser for this folly, the calmer, for these Hiricanes for ever hereafter. For yours, though good intentions will never justify evil actions, nor can ignorance excuse totally; yet in as much as it may be supposed, that you have but attempted to try experiments, which failing in, you are sorry for; I doubt not, but that both with God and man, you may find that mercy, that you can implore, and be the objects of pity, rather than punishment, yea was the government well settled as formerly, your experiences may fit you for employments, and none so likely to be faithful and serviceable; They that are Conscious of bypast wander, must needs be Cautious to avoid, and the best Counsellors to prevent them ever after. Wherefore let my Counsel be acceptable, Fear the Lord, and the King, repent of the former seditions, and meddle no more with them, lest destruction come upon you and us at unawares, and misery like an armed man.  
As for the City, our great and once famous Metropolis; Can you without sorrow remember those sad tumults, begun in you, if not raised and countenaneed by you? What fruit have you now of those storms, of which you have cause to be ashamed? or do you not read your sin in your punishment? Have not you yourselves judged them your very Tormentors, that you cried up as your only Patrons, and Protectors? Have you not found that, an obstruction to your Estates, Freedoms, Trade, yea Consciences, which you sometimes with animated and armed tumults maintained, magnified, yea almost adored? I shall exasperate no further, but advise; if there be any piety, any power to prevail with God, or interest improvable with men, in a peaceable and sober way, declare your dislikes of former exorbitancies; That confessing, forsaking, and redressing your former faults, you may find mercy proportionable to your miseries, & a seasonable healing of your self-destroying errors. I shall not charge blood upon you, and God of his infinite mercy, never lay that to your charge, which hath been shed within your walls and jurisdictions. Wherein you have at least contracted so much guilt as to stand by, & look on, while men devoured him that was more righteous than themselves; stand not thus halting betwixt two opinions, if God be God worship him, and if Monarchy be your aim, declare for it: The same courage, with a better Conscience, will build that up to your honour and safety, which your inconsiderate wantonness hath to your great prejudice demolished. The decree is not I hope passed upon you, but that your conviction and conversion to piety, and loyalty, may yet speak you in the ages to come, a City of Righteousness, and a faithful City. Ponder the text well, and the discourse upon it, Fear the Lord, and the King, lest a destruction from the Lord come upon you at unaware, and an irrecoverable ruin be your Reward.  
Now Soldiers a word to you; I know it is dangerous meddling with edge tools, but a good Conscience is an iron sinew, and a brow of brass. You have been esteemed as a righteous Army; Some say your prayers and tears prevailed more than your strength or valour, and I acknowledge it while you did pursue the Good old Cause for The King, and his great Council the Parliament; your undertake were honourable, your valour incomparable, and your victories not to be paralleled; But after you deserted that, & contrary to your solemn appeals and protestations, you destroyed him whose glory and safety you pretended to fight for, how have you been restless in your spirits, seduced in your judgements, and carried headlong into most dangerous and desperate undertake.  
After the King's death, you levelled them that had raised you, and exercised that obstructing and dissolving faculty, upon them who had taught you to do it before to their fellow-members. You set up a single person, whose only right was might, & title, power: what you were in so doing, let that petition signed by Alured, Okey, Saunders, and others, tell you; Nay, let your own papers of recantation tell you (after you had pulled down the Protector, and dissolved a Free, and an ingenuous Parliament,) that you were deluded, deceived, misled, yea bewitched (it is your own expression) etc. and how was it with you when you obstructed That Remnant that yourselves set up, and undertook to pull down whatever displeased you, and to set up the imaginary idols of your own fancies, which yet proved formless and senseless vanities; I know the greatest part of the Northern Army disclaimed this last act, but are you not all at this time unsettled in your resolutions, tossed to and fro, with uncertain and unconstant purposes. There is a centre which you have forsaken, and expect no rest till you find it again. For the King, and his great Council the Parliament, let that be your word, and your work for ever; Your words may spare your swords the labour; make it your request, who dares deny it? fear not a concurrence of City, and Country; this is the way to repair our breaches, to delude the devices of our close and implacable enemies, to render you for ever a famous, and faithful Army, to procure you those Arrears, which otherwise with justice you cannot demand, nor without cruelty exact; This will be the best service you ever performed, the most acceptable to God and your Country; This will be the only remedy against your fears, and the only course to procure love. To conclude, An honourable retreat, in a case of disadvantage, is the highest point of military prudence: Come off now at last with credit, declare for God in the unity of your spirits, and piety of your conversations, for tke King and his great Council the Parliament, in your addresses and valiant undertake: It is safer, and more honourable to make a King, then to be all Kings. You have been God's rod to correct this kingdom, be now his staff to uphold it from ruin, that the God, working wonders, may be admired in the passages of his providence, while he employs the same instruments to kill, and to make alive, that the Nations may say, this is the Lords doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes; To which God immortal, eternal, and infinite I ascribe the honour, and return the praise of these undertake, humbly presenting my Petition, and entering my appeal.  My God, my God, thou that hast made my heart, and knowest it, and art well acquainted with the revolutions and wind of it, unto thee do I come; If I have aimed at man, or made the son of man my confidence; if I have been courted by any but constrained by thee; if preferment hath been my hopes, or I have sought myself in this design, level my life with the grave, and lay mine honour in the dust; but if the advancement of thy glory, and the kingdom's safety; if the peace of our Zion, and prosperity of our Jerusalem; If the prevention of our inevitable ruins, and the restoring of our just and happy liberties, have been and are my desires, in this work, let thy blessings O Lord, be upon it, and prosper it as thine own; as for thy servant, preserve him in thy goodness, and let him not be ashamed, because he hath a respect to thy Commandment. Amen, Amen. 
FINIS.