God Glorified, AND THE Wicked Snared.  
IN A THANKSGIVING SERMON For the most happy Preservation of His Majesty, King WILLIAM III. from a most horrid and barbarous Assassination, in order to an Invasion from France.  
By A. S.  
LONDON: Printed, and are to be sold by R. Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1696.   

God Glorified, AND THE Wicked Snared.  PSAL. IX. 16. The Lord is known by the Judgements that he executeth. 
ALthough there be nothing in the World so much removed from the Eye of Sense as the Substance of the Essence of God is; yet there is nothing more known by its Acts and Operations. The direst Beams of the Divine Majesty that flow from his Being and Essence, these are too illustrious for our dim and bleared Eyes to gaze upon. But then the Rays of his Wisdom and Power, Goodness, Justice, and Holiness reflected upon us from the Creature, these discover God unto us, and make him known, who in his Essence is a great Deep, an eternal Abyss unto our Eyes; so that although there be nothing in the World less known than the very Being or Essence of God; yet there is nothing more clear, more visible in its Acts, Effects, and Operations, than God's Attributes are, his Wisdom, Power, Goodness, etc. his Essence (as I may say) it is all covered with thick Darkness, veiled with Clouds from our Eye, but the Rays of those Attributes shine through those Clouds: So that as we see the Light of the Sun many times when we cannot see the Sun itself, the Body thereof being hidden under a Cloud. So may we see the Lustre and Glory of the Wisdom, Power, and Greatness of God, while we cannot see his Essence, nor pry into the Deep of God himself. Which I conceive will instruct us as a Preparation to understand the Words, The Lord is known, etc. Which words are an absolute and plain Proposition of themselves, therefore I shall not any way divide or lessen them, lest also I should at the same time cut the Nerves of the Truth, and make it weak by being minute and obscure, which in itself is as it were a strong and an entire Body; but I shall speak unto them by making these Questions upon them:  
I. What is the Judgement of God here said to be executed?  
II. When may God be said to be known in the Sense spoken of in the Words?  
III. How may we understand more remarkably the Judgements of God? Or thus, How or by what means do the Judgements that God executes in the World, make the same God known unto us?  
First, What is meant by the Judgements here spoken of? I answer, by Judgement expressed by the Hebrew Mishpat, we are to understand the righteous Sentences, and holy Decrees of God passed upon Man, or Mankind, in order to Reward or Punishment; and also the Execution that is made upon the passing of these Sentences. So the Jewish Masters tell us, It is to judge according to Truth, and execute also according to that Judgement whether it be in Matter of Punishment or Reward. And then if you would know the particular Sense, wherein the Word is taken here, there's no Question but it refers to the worst Sense (that is to say) an Act of Judgement, the Execution of it, as the latter part of the words show, The Wicked is snared in the Work of their own Hands. Look in what Sense the Judgement of God is said to be executed in the latter part of the Text, in that Sense it is taken in the former part: but the Judgement executed is spoken in respect of Punishment of Offenders; therefore so is it to be taken in the former part also.  
Secondly, When may God be said to be known in the Sense spoken of in the Words?  
I answer, When so much of his Wisdom, Power, Justice, Righteousness, Holiness, or any other of the Divine Attributes, is discovered and made known unto the Sons of Men, as that every Man that will consider may indeed observe and take Notice of; that he that hath an ear, may hear; and he that hath an Eye, may see, if he please. We are not here to think that God speaks of the Metaphysical, or Philosophical Knowledge of his Essence; No, that's too high for us; but he speaks of Moral Knowledge of his Attributes, or indeed rather of a sober and pious, and humble Acknowledgement of them. So that then God may be said to be known when his Wisdom, Power, Goodness are acknowledged in these Providences and Dispensations that he exerciseth and acts among the Sons of Men. The Holy Scriptures they were not (generally at least, and in the largest Extents of them) designed to instruct Philosophers, and to discipline and teach Men of great and raised parts and understandings only, but they were as well aimed to enlighten, to inform, to teach, and instruct Men of lower and weaker Capacity. As the Sun doth not only shine upon the Cedars of Lebanon, upon the tallest and bravest Plants of the Wood, the Trees of the Forest; but also upon the lower Brambles and Bushes; in like manner, God (who would have all to be saved) doth not so cause the Holy Scriptures to be drawn, penned, or Written, that they should only be understood by Men of greatest Parts (I mean in the general, or things necessary) and of highest Attainments; but also, that what is necessary should be drawn out of them, even by Men of lower and meaner Understandings. And hence it comes to pass when we find the Knowledge of God spoken of in Scripture, it is not to be understood Philosophical, Notional, Metaphysical Knowledge of his Being and Essence (for this is above all Capacities) but we are to understand common and ordinary acknowledgement of those wonderful and glorious Attributes of God shining in his Providence, made known in his Works, appearing in all those Exercises of that Providence in the World, and amongst Mankind.  
Thirdly, How, and by what means does the Judgements which God executes in the World make him known unto the Sons of Men.  
I answer first in the General, That God's Judgements they are generally suited and strangely accommodated unto the Time, Opportunity, and also unto the Nature of those things that are at such times upon the Wheel, or upon the Anvil, when those Judgements are discovered and are executed in the World. The Wisdom of Divine Providence it makes itself known every where unto a seeing and considering Eye; and if we will but take notice of things, we may see the Lines of Divine Wisdom and Knowledge drawn upon every thing, we may discover the Footsteps of Righteousness and Justice generally in God's Judgements, of his Intendments, and of his Designs in the World.  
But to fall into particulars: All God's Judgements are seasonable, and the most remarkable in these Particulars.  
1. They often surprise the Sinner in the very act of Sin; they arrest the Hand that is lifted up to strike; they cut off the Head that is plotting and contriving to destroy; they fall in upon the Sinner just in such a nick of time either as he was ready to do the Evil, or while he was just doing of it; and this is a great and a singular Discovery of the Providence of God in these Affairs. Men, they do indeed follow and set as it were the Contrivances and Plottings of Evil Men at a great Distance; they do trace the Works of Darkness in the Dark, and so they often miss that which they follow; the Sinner escapes in a Crowd, or a Mist of his own making, and so gets off without any Punishment to them here in this World. But now God he hath an Eye in every Attom of the Sun, and his Eye-Beams they point into every Corner of Man's Heart. He stands by when all the Contrivances and Machinations of wicked men are upon the Wheel; stands by though he do not partake or communicate with them. He listens unto all the Plots that are made; nay, he hears without listening; for he is in the very Heart that thinks, in the very Head that contrives; and with the Voiee, the Tongue that speaks, though it whisper never so gently, never so softly, yet than he only can give Strength to it to move. And now when Plots are laid, and Designs contrived, and Instruments of Death are forged, and are big, and ready upon the Anvil; when the Innocent is designed for slaughter, and when the Righteous is swallowed up in hope; and when the Prey is already devoured in the Expectation of the Devourer, then doth God often times strike in, and fall upon the Necks of those evil Persons.  
You may observe God takes Pleasure (at least in many signal Evils) to choose the very time of Sin for the time of Punishment: Vzziah stretches out his Hand to support the Ark, which was not to be touched by any such Person, and he is in the same Moment smitten dead, touched himself by the Hand of the Lord, and taken away in the twinkling of an Eye, 1 Chron. 13. 9, 10. again Vzziah the King, he arrogates to himself to execute the Priest's Office, he invades the Work that was put into the Hands of other Persons, and in the same Moment he was smitten with Leprosy, 2 Chron. 26. 19 Thus also was it with Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, they were surprised in the very Act of their Rebellion. God thus deprehends, seizes, and arrests a Sinner, even in the very Act and Exercise of Sin; when he stops him in the full Carear, and lays hold upon him while he was just falling upon the Evil designed, this shows that it is God that strikes, and that it is his Wisdom, and his Justice that interposeth in such a case as this is.  
2. If God doth fall upon the Sinner by some remarkable, visible, and extraordinary Judgement; this is an other Demonstration of God's Providence, and such as may well be said to be in Judgement amongst the Sons of Men. If God shall fill the World with Darkness at Noonday; if God should draw an Eclipse over the Eye of the World, that is to say upon the Face of the Sun, at an extraordinary time, in an extraordinary manner, as he did at our Saviour's Death, would we not all say, and must we not needs acknowledge, that the Hand of God is here?  
So when the Veil of the Temple was rend (the Temple itself being in good Repair) and divided asunder, as it was at our Saviour's Death; was not this a visible Demonstration of the Interposition of God's Power and of his Providence here in the World? The Fate also of the Rebels in Israel (before instanced in) was the more remarkable, in that by a Prophecy, Moses had foretold that some strange Death should fall upon them, Then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, Numb. 16. 31, 32. So again we find those Two Hundred and Fifty Persons that offered strange Fire unto God, these are taken away by a strange Fire; this is a Demonstration of God's Justice, and of their Iniquity.  
3. God's Judgements again are often Executed when the Wicked have brought things to such a pass as that the Righeous are almost ruined, and are in the greatest danger, than God appears at such a time, and this Appearance demonstrates him to be God, and makes him known amongst Mankind; In the mount will the Lord be seen, Gen. 22. 14. God often lets Wickedness arrive and swell into great Tides, unto great Excesses and Inundations; he often suffers the Winds to blow, and the Sea to arise, and the Waves to swell until the Sides of the Vessel crack, the Cordage be broken; until the Church as it were be ready to sink, and the mighty Waters ready to pass over it; and then in a Moment he stills the Winds, he allays the Fury of these Tempests that overflow; he makes the Face of the Waters smooth like Glass, and he heals the Breaches of the Vessel, and knits the joints thereof together again.  
And when God deals thus with his Church, this is a Demonstration that there is a Providence awake and alive in the World, that takes Notice of things, even when they are brought to the greatest Hazards, and in the greatest Dangers and Extremities. God loves sometimes for the clearer demonstration of his Providence, to let things go to dangerous Points, unto very dreadful hazardous Cases; he sometimes placeth his People upon the Brink of the Pit; and sets his Church as it were upon the Brow of a Rock, upon a great Precipice; but then he so orders things again, that he interposes in times of greatest Danger; he rescues the Prey out of the Mouth of the Lion; he plucks the Firebrand out of the Fire, and he smites out those Teeth that were ready to devour; this shows the Wisdom, and Power, and demonstrates the Providence of God.  
4. God interposes sometimes also in the midst of great Affairs; when great Designs are upon the Whell, and great things are driving on towards an Issue, than God delights to intervene and show himself.  
God sits in the Centre of the great Wheel of Providence, that rules and governs all the World; he turns the Primum Mobile, he moves the first movable, he turns the highest Sphere; and though he move the lesser Wheel, or the lower Affairs also, yet we are sure the great and mighty Affairs are governed by none but God; if a Hair of a Man's Head do not fall without the Providence of God, how much less the Man himself? If every Man, every single Person be the Concernment of Divine Providence, how much more those Persons that are God's Vicegerents, Princes, Magistrates, and Men in place; for they have a double Relation to God, as Men, and as Men in Power. And therefore you shall find that God makes mention of the very Name of Cyrus many Years before he was born, and calls him his Servant, nay his Anointed Servant, and that though Cyrus was a Heathen Prince, but then he was a Prince, and a Prince that God designed to make use of in the Restauration of his Church, and return of his People out of the Captivity of Babylon, Isa. 45. 1. Again, Dan. 2. 22. 'Tis said he changeth times and seasons, and therefore these changes are in a peculiar manner attributed unto the providence, and unto the Dispensations of God's Wisdom, and to his Power; for who can remove Mountains, but he that lifted them up? and who can exalt the Valleys but he that laid them low? and who can change Times, but the Author of Time itself, and the Father of Eternity? And therefore, although thou wouldst not observe the Providence of God in lesser Affairs; though thou wouldst not hear the Voice thereof whispering in small things; yet when Divine Wisdom and Power thunder from Heaven, when they appear in several great and wonderful Revolutions and Transactions in the World, surely he that is not verily blind, he must see at such a time as this is, when the Hand of the Lord hath been so long and so dreadfully lifted up, who can be so blind as not to see God's Hand here? or who so hard, and so obdurate as not take notice of the Judgements and of the Righteousness of God in such a case as this is?  
5. If God interpose and execute Judgement upon the Enemies of the Church, when they are in their greatest Confidence, greatest security, this doing appears to be such as that it owns no other Author but God himself, Isa. 36. 18, 19, 20, etc.  
Observe here what wonderful, proud, signal Confidence appears in Rabsheka, and then see the Issue that falls upon this Confidence, Chap. 37. 36. How many Thousands one Angel slew in one Night. Observe, God delights sometimes to check the Insolence, and astonish the pride of vain Persons, and of those that lift up themselves in Iniquity against him. And that he may do this more effectually, he astonishes them in their greatest confidence, he destroys them in their highest Security, and weakens them in the very Flower of their Strength: signal Disappointments are generally attributed unto God, and so are signal Deliverances also: When we see such Effects wrought as cannot well own any second Cause, upon whom can we Father these Effects but upon the first Cause only, that is to say, upon God himself?  
If God shall by weak means produce great ends: If he shall cut off the Head of a Giant by the Hand of a Son of Jesse: If he shall scatter a Conspiracy by the Light of a Candle: If he shall remove a Mountain by a weak Arm, this must needs make God known by the Judgements which he executes.  
6. If God find out and execute Judgement upon wicked Persons in their greatest Secrecies, when they thought no Eye had seen, when they were persuaded so thick a Darkness had been drawn over the Face of their Designs, that none could pierce nor make a Discovery of it; then for God himself to unfold and unveil the Monster! this shows that God is Judge indeed: He revealeth deep and secret things, saith Daniel, He knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with him, Dan. 2. 22.  
In these Six Particulars may God be said to be known by the Judgements which he executes.  
And thus indeed, and in all these Respects was God known by the great Deliverance he vouchsafed to us in the Discovery of this late horrid Conspiracy, against the Life of our present gracious Sovereign, King WILLIAM, and in him against our Religion, Lives, Laws and Liberties: and in the great Judgement that he has exercised upon some of the wicked Contrivers of our Destruction. In all these Particulars now mentioned, did God make himself known.  
1. He surprised them in the very midst of their Sins; he seized upon them in the very Bowels of the Plot; he broke the Vessels while it was upon the Wheel; and he dashed the Instruments of Death in Pieces, even while they were preparing, while they were forging, or rather just forged upon the Anvil.  
2. God did also remarkably confound and scatter those wicked Contrivers away; no sooner did the Day break upon their Designs, and the Light peep upon them; no sooner was the least Discovery made, but like Men amazed, even at their own Evil; like Men afraid of the Monster that they themselves had form, hatched, and contrived, they run away, they divide, they scatter, they lose themselves they know not where; so strangely did God confound and amaze them so soon as ever they were discovered.  
3. God discovered them also in the very nick of Time, when the Monster was at the very Gates of the Womb, when it was just striving for Birth, when it was just ready to devour the Prey, when the Day and Hour fixed for the Execution of their black Treachery, and unparallelled baseness was already arrived, and welcomed by the hellish Content and rejoicing of the Assassinators, than did God point at the Evil by a Beam from Heaven, than did he discover the Plot that was laid, and so prevented it by the same Discovery.  
4. Great Affairs were now upon the Wheel, and great Persons were at work: the Safety of Christendom, the Peace of Europe, the Establishment of our reformed Religion were depending. The Person of his sacred Majesty, the chief Patron of this Cause of God, and the main Obstacle to the Designs of the Tyranny that makes Head against Europe was therefore struck at.  
They well guessed that the Cedar of our Lebanon once fallen, they might hue down the Shrubs with less difficulty; or that the Sprigs which before were defended by his Shade, would be crushed by his Fall: That the Peers and Commons assembled in Parliament, though in themselves strong Props and Pillars of our State, yet could not long stand, the Foundation and Centre of their Strength being once razed: Yea, that the United Forces, the Confederate Princes would reel at least, before so mighty a Shock.  
Providence therefore appeared signally, in preventing so common a Ruin; wherein not a single Nation only, though mighty and numerous; but the whole Interest of divers States were concerned; and from which, had it taken effect, many Kingdoms might have dated their Misery.  
5. How secure and confident were these wicked Contrivers at this time! the Traitors being cherished by the Goodness they ingratefully conspired against: Goodness free from jealousy, as it was from Injustice and Oppression; and the Vipers seeing themselves nourished in the Royal Bosom, thought they might unsuspected sting the Princely Breast.  
Thus secure they had already swallowed the Prey in hopes, they had shared and divided the Nations, assigned the Keys of England to be the Holds of a Foreign Tyrant; they had cantoned us into several Tribes for themselves to seize on, and each had marked his intended Vassals.  
They had resolved, (and that with great Confidence) to have blown up all our Securities in a Moment, and to have amazed the World with an Act of Villainy, surpassing the most accursed Treasons of all Ages past.  
In Assurance of Success they insulted and divided the Spoil in their Thoughts; all things (but especially his Majesty's being above little Distrusts, and full of Love which thinketh and suspecteth no Evil) conspired to favour their Treachery; which so heightened their Expectations, that they imagined the Thunderbolt now might be against the Thunderer himself, and that Lightning might be taught or constrained to ravish Heaven, and their designs move against the Will of Providence, and God's Designs in the World.  
6. These wicked men thought that no Eye had seen them; like cunning Workmen they laid the Works of Darkness in the dark; and contrived those secret and evil Designs with very great and signal Secrecy: But God rend the Veil of the Pit that they digged; and he broke the Day upon them, and so the snare itself was broken also.  
God would not that our Religion, and Laws, and Liberties, and Prince and People should be surprised in a Moment into Death, Confusion and Slavery.  
He would not (so great was his gracious Providence) that the Reformation which had been first produced with so much Labour and Toil; which had been the Fruit of so great Councils, so many Martyrs, so many Prayers and Tears, so many signal and great Endeavours and Examples; he would not, I say, that all this should be blasted in a Moment, by the Contrivances of wicked and desperate Persons.  
He had lately restored to England her Privileges and Liberties, which were well nigh enslaved by Arbitrary Power; had anointed a David to bless and govern his Israel, a Prince whose Virtue equals his Greatness, and whose Dignity receives a Lustre from his Piety, and he would not deprive us of a Mercy which we have as yet but tasted enough of to increase our Desires after its continuance; he would not subject us to the same Yoke of Tyranny he had but lately rescued us from: He would not that the Crown so lately fixed, should so soon fall from the Head of him, who had found Mercy not to slain its Glory with any unjust, or unprincely Action. Therefore for this Deliverance we have great Cause to bless him this Day, and for ever. And since God has preserved a King dear to us as our Lives and Religion; let us make a return of Thankfulness proved in Zeal to the Honour of God and Religion, and in all Loyalty to the Power preserved over us. Our Zeal to Religion should discover itself in aiming at those Ends for which it was given, scil. The Peace of the Church, and the Peace of the State, and the Safety of our own Souls. Let every Man that pretends to hate the Superstition of the Church of Rome, hate the Treachery and the Rebellion of their Principles also: What Advantage will it be to curse the Pope at Rome, and to nourish Popish Principles under our own Roof, nay, in our own Hearts?  
To conclude, That Religion that makes us good Men, will make us good Subjects also; and if it do not make us good Subjects, without doubt it hath not made us good Christians: For it is one indispensible Law of Christian Religion, that we obey Magistrates, that we submit unto those Authorities that God hath placed over us; and if we do not submit to them, neither do we submit to God's Laws. Let us therefore take care that none of us be deficient in the same Duty, but let us obey God, and let us obey Laws, and live in Peace, in mutual Love one of another, and this is the way to be happy here, and happy hereafter also.  
FINIS.