THE REMONSTRANCE From the Reverend Father in God, FRANCIS LORD BISHOP Of ELY, And several others, The most Eminent DIVINES Of the CHURCH Of ENGLAND, Against The Proceed of the P: O. And The Lords Spiritual and Temporal▪ That Invited Him. Being an ADDRESS, from the PULPIT to the KING, in fifteen Sermons; Denouncing Damnation, etc. To the Abdicators of God's Anointed, and the Abettors of this Rebellion.  Concilia callida et Inhonesta, pri 〈◊〉 Fronte loeta, Tractatudura, Eventu tristia, Tacitus. 
Dublin, Printed for Alderman James Malone Bookseller in Skinner-Row. 1689.   

TO THE SACRED MAJESTY OF God's Anointed AND Vicegerent to the Almighty;  
JAMES The Second by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, KING.  
In Vindication of the Principles of Obedience and Loyalty, always Taught by the Church of ENGLAND.  
This Remonstrance is most humbly Dedicated.  
By your Majesties ever Loyal and Dutiful Subject. JOHN YALDEN.   

To the Reader.  
Christian Reader!  
PArdon me, if I presume to use the King words, at his Majesty's first Accession to t●● Crown (viz.) I know the Principles of t●● Church of England, are for Loyalty; And I m●● tell I he too, that Loyalty will be always constant, where it is accompanied with True Religion. If thou dost inquire of me, whether the Preachers of the Gospel, have fully practise those indispensible principles, of primitive a●● pure Christianity, herein taught and avowed 〈◊〉 them, to the whole world? I can only tell Th●● (with the Heathen Orator) Omnis laus virtut●s, actione consistit; If any of them have acted contra●● to what they delivered to the People from t●● Pulpit (where none but Sacred Oracles should dispensed) it is they only are too blame, And t● I am afraid, Even my Bishop here cannot throughly excuse himself, yet such as are innocent ca●not, ought not, in Justice to share in those Bit● Reproaches, which are most justly due to t●● Guilty. Tho the late Defection in England, was ve●● general, and spread itself over his Majesty's ●●minions like the poisonous infection of an Epidemical Contagion, yet I know there are many l●● and those Protestants too, that have not bo●● their knees to Baal, nor worshipped the G●● Calf, that others have set up, such as will most assuredly, join with the King, upon afair opportunity, and do now really believe it to be a kind of Idolatry, to obey the Usurper.  
This Remonstrance hath followed his Majesty, through all the Meanders, of his most Barbarous Exile, and is designed chief to reclaim such of his Subjects, to their duty as have been misled; & bring them to a due consideration of that natural and sworn Allegiance! which for the most part, both ways, They own the King: And to assure the Obstinate persisting Rebel, that his Portion shall be, amidst all the dire effects of Eternal vengeance, accompanied with the Cursed Crew of Appostat Angels, still Cursing God, as they Curse the King, because They can expect no Mercy, by being Sunk below the Depth of all Repentance.  
The first 14 of these Sermons were preached on the 9th of September 1683, being a day set apart for the most Solemn worship of God Almighty, a day of Thanksgiving, for the great deliverance of his Majesty and his Royal Brother, from the Rye house Regicides, etc. And the last for the Defeat of Monmo●th's Rebellion. So that Sermons Preached upon such Occasions, may be truly taken, as from persons filled with Extraordinary Devotion, and inspired with a true zeal for the Honour of Christianity.  
To have printed the whole of each Sermon, would have been too voluminous aswell too chargeable to thee. But in this Abstact, is contained the matter, and design of the several Discourses the Force and Strength of all their Arguments where any thing is added, it is only to make a Connection, and comes generally betwixt these two marks [] And as the Divinity of these Preachers doth extend itself to an universal Obedience So I hope the Reader will pardon me, where I apply such Doctrines, to the case of this Rebellion; In fine, I challenge any man to show me, that I have wrested any thing contrary to the true sense of my Authors (Tho' perhaps Some men's own words, at this time a day, will be unsavoury even to themselves, but such deserve the Character of Atheists much better than that of Honest Christians) And to that purpose I have directed the most Malicious Critic where to find the Sermons, by telling him for whom they were Printed.   

A SERMON ENTITLED The Duties of Fearing God and The King, Preached on the 9th of September, 1683. by John Fitz William D. D.  Prov. 24. vers. 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? 
FEaring God and the King are Duties inseparable. Indeed all the Commands are so chained together, that he who loosens but a single link, dissolves the whole chain; who transgresseth one, is guilty of all. For though they were wrote in two distinct Tables, and distributed under ten heads, or words, (as the Jewish Doctors speak) by God himself; yet his Authority, being the soul which quickened them, (like the soul animating the several members of the body; gave them all but one common life and being: So that a particular violation of one, becomes of accessity an universal destruction to all. And as the Commands, so our obligations to observe them are connext; if not after that manner as Zeno affirmed all virtues were, (who promiscuously confounded them together:) yet so, as Ch●ysippus hath explained that Stoical Doctrine, That a man could not be truly Brave without the conduct of Prudence; nor Prudent, without attending to Justice; nor Just, without the regulation of Temperance: So in like manner, a man cannot be piously affected towards God, without being honestly affected towards Men; cannot express his Love towards the one (in the instances belonging to him,) without showing it towards the other, in all points which concern them; and he who pretends to the former: And neglects the latter, proclaims himself a liar.  
The reason of this is plain and obvious, because if I perform the first from a right principle, out of conscience of my duty towards God requiring it; the same principle will engage me to do the second, because he demands that likewise. And on the other side, if the motive of my love to my fellow Creature man, be his bearing the image of God, I cannot but love and reverence that God, who fashioned him after his own likeness.  
And as there is no dividing, so there is no commuting of duties; our zeal in one kind, will not make atonement for our remissness in another; our Piety for Injustice.  
But tho'all the commands are inseparably conjoined, yet there is a closer and more indissoluble union between these two particular ones of ●earing God and the King, by how much Kings are more lively expressions of God's Majesty and Power, than ordinary images (other men) are. The wise Man hath here mentioned them as one command; and St. Peter too, even while he useth two words for them, Fear and Honour, Fear God, Honour the King, for this honouring the King 
● Pet. 2. 17.  is the same act, as fearing of him, or expressive of it. And Kings for their nearer and exacter resemblance of him, are adorned with his title, wear his name, and have 
Psal. 82. 6. Joh. 10. 34. Exod. 22. 28.  his stile given them by Himself; I have said Ye are Gods: and again, Thou shalt not ourse the Gods..  
From this strict alliance and union of these two commands, arising out of the near resemblance between the persons, God and the King, and the Majesty of the one, and Sovereignty of the other; it is made as impossible to adore God, and not revere the King, who represents him; as it is to honour the King, and cast all the contumely we can upon his Lieutenants, or Vice-Roys, commissioned by him.  
And of necessity it follows, that Subjects withdrawing their Obedience from their 
* Such was and is James the Second.  Lawful Prince, is a denying the Authority of God, a shaking off His Government from his Shoulders, a laying Him aside, that he should not reign over 
t The people of England.  Them. They have not rejected Thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them, 1 Sam. 9 7.  
Treason against the King, is a kind of Sacrilege; a Revolt from Him, an Apostasy from God; a Resisting Him, an Opposing God; Rebelling against Him, Fight with God; the 
* Is not this the case in England.  Setting up a counterfeit Prince against the True One, an introducing a plurality of Godheads; the Obeying of an Usurper, Idolatry; the slandering His Anointed and his Footsteps, a Blaspheming God; the blaming His Conduct, a Quarrelling with Providence.  
And as we cannot Fear God, the Supreme Potentate, without Honouring the Subordinate, who bears His Image and Superscription; so we cannot Honour this last as we should, without Fearing the former as we ought: We cannot revere the Copy of Divinity transcribed in the King, without revering the Original, the Deity, front whom His power came, any more than we can have a veneration for the picture of a man, and none for his person. We cannot be for maintaining the Prerogative, while we are clipping the wings of his Power, etc.  
There is no bearing true Faith and Allegiance to our King, when we do it not to our God; no being loyal Subjects to the One, while we are downright Traitors to the Other. The reason of this is clear, because the honouring and obeying our Prince should proceed from a Religion towards God; a conscientious regard to his Authority, exacting the payment of both these; which if they do not, they are false and spurious, wanting the true and genuine Parent (a right principle I mean) for their production, and must needs be 
* English Loyalty.  sickle and inconstant, for not being grounded upon a sure and standing bottom: So that when an Inviting Occasion offers, of promoting our interest to greater advantage, of serving our ambition with better success, than by Honouring or Obeying our King; or of Gratifying 
t Malcontents or disgusted Lords?  our Revenge, of Wreaking our Malice, than these are forgot and withdrawn. Or last of all, when by a declination in the state of affairs He is grown too weak, to compel Us to render these, 
Baxter's Holy Common Wealth, Thes. 137.  than we not only deny the payment of them, but justify it too. Then maxims of humane Wisdom, the most contrary to these precepts of the Divine, are broached by Us. That the King is not God's Minister, but the People's Servant; and as theirs, stands accountable to them for his misdemeanours; That his Power being a Trust only from, and for them, is revokable at their pleasure and discretion, and they may justly reseize it into their own hands, and for their own behoof, when they see it is not administered for their good; That wicked, and irreligious Princes (and all are such whom They please to brand with those marks) have actually forfeited their Crown and Dignity to them: And then 
* Too lately in England.  Practices squared, or rather deformed by these enormous rules, are set on foot too; seditious Clubs and Cabals are erected; Illegal Associations formed, and entered into; Secret Conspiracies hatched; next Open Insurrections raised against them; and last of all, Uillanous Assassinations, etc.  
A disdainful pride swelled Dathan, Abiram and On, Sons of Reuben (and so of the eldest House) to see that power 
Numb. 16, 8, 13, 14.  lodged in Moses and Aaron's hands, which by right of Primogeniture, they imagined belonged to them; Ambition seduced Absolom, the People's Guil. And Revenge for being 
2. Sam. 15.  removed from his great Charge, and drove into Exile by Solomon, inflamed Jereboam into Rebellion under the 
1 Kings 11. 28. 40.  Reign of his Son. And every one of these either forsook God afore they did 
* such is the King.  Their Lawful Governors, or Else Renounced them and disclaimed him together: The Seditious Reubenites were engaged in a Schism against God, at the same time as they were up in Mutiny against their Rulers; joined themselves to Corah, a Levite, who had Usurped the Priest's Office, in Burning Incense before the Lord, which appertained not to him. Absolom had his hands embrued in 
2 Sam. 13. 28.  his Brother Amon's blood before he lifted them up against his Prince and Father, and Jereb●am, to 
1 Kings 12. 27. 28.  strengthen himself in his unjust acquisitions, made a Change in the Worship; to continue the rend in State, by winding it; He made a Rupture in Religion. To defend his Rebellion, he set up Idolatry, two Calves at Dan and Bethel.  
And to manifest that we fear God and honour the King, We ought not to meddle with those that are given to Change: And this 
* The Bishops.  We may do, either by approving the Projects of 
t Lords Temporal▪  Men Designing a Change, or by actually endeavouring One ourselves; and the concerning ourselves either way is unlawful: And first, the approving a Change Renders Us as equally Guilty, as if we had brought it about; for it is consenting to a Crime, which derives all the malignity of it upon 
* who has been to blame.  Us; the External Commission of it being only the owning of that to the World, which we had before perpetrated within ourselves: Catiline was not less a Conspirator, and an Enemy to Rome, when he sat in Consultation within its Walls, by what methods and parties its frame and constitution were to be subverted, than when he took the Field, and Usurping the Ensigns and Badges of Consulship he joined with C. Mallius: And a man may be as complete a Rebel as he was, without taking up Arms against the Government, merely by justifying the lawfulness of so doing, a Traitor 
† Why did not the Lords Spiritual abhor, or disown the P. of O. Declaration as the King required them.  by Giving a Favourable Ear to Dvertures tending that way; deep died in the Blood of his Prince, by being conscious to a design of Shedding it; or all over Coalblack with foul Poison, which he hath neither prepared nor mingled, by being Privy only to an intention of Administering it.  
And as we are Guilty in the Courts of Heaven, and our own Consciences, of a Treason or Conspiracy, which hath once gained out liking, though We proceed not to Execution; 
Let every Xian Man in England consider this.  so we may by the Law of State be justly Punished for the same, if that could be proved: For although it might be hard, it was not unjust, when a Nobleman of Normandi was Arrested and Condemned of Treason by the Judges of the Parliament of Paris, For an Intention to kill Francis the first, which he himself disclosed as a Crime he repent of, and for which he craved the Comfort of Absolution.  
And secondly the endeavouring a Change plungeth the person (though he be drawn in by the Artifice of others) over head and ears in guilt, immerseth him as deep in it as the first Contriv●●● and hottest promoters of it: For it matters not to the aba●ement of that, what time he engaged in it, or whether after engagement he was active or supine in prosecuting it; nor is it any what means he chooseth to effect it, whether fair or ●ou● (as we usually distinguish) whether he be for Picking his way, or Resolved to venture through Thick and Thin: And in a Crime of this Nature, there are no accessaries, but all are Principals  
And further, to endeavour a Change, is contrary to the Duties, so oft and so earnestly pressed upon Us in Scripture, of not Touching God's Anointed; of being Subject 
Psal. 105. 15. Rom. 13. à 1 ad 6. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 14.  to the Higher Powers; of Submitting to every ordinance (of every one Constituted in Authority) whether to the King as Supreme, or unto Governors, as those that are sent [i. e.] Commissioned by him, For is not the Assassination of God's Anointed, contrary to the Command of not Touching him? Is not the Plucking down Kings or Rulers contrary to the Precept of our Subjection and Submission to Them? Is not the endeavouring to embroil the Affairs of his or their Government opposite to the Doctrine of living Peaceably under it? And are not these the Methods We pursue in Order to bring about a Change? And if they are, they cannot (with all the Allowance of Favour) be so Construed, as they may be reconciled with our Honouring Him or Them; for it may be as easily made out, that you may Smite Them with the Fist of Violence, and not Touch them; Raise Combustions, and not meddle in their Affairs; as Salve the doing these with Honouring Them.  
And if there have been Men among us; who have taken these Courses, and yet have confidently, or rather Impudently styled themselves his Majesty's most Loyal Subjects, They ought to prove the before mentioned Texts are to be expounded backward, and show us they have found out the Mysterious Art of Salving Contradictions; of making Light and Darkness, Order and Confusion dwell together; Peace and War salute and kiss each other, or Else leave us at Liberty to  Their Professions, when we see Their Practices.  
Again, the Endeavouring a Change is contrary to the duty of Praying for the safety of our Governors, 
Jer. 29, 7. Baruch 1, 11. 1 Tim: 2. 1, 2.  and the Prosperity of their Government a point which the jews were commanded to do, for the Peace of Babylon, and the Lives of Nabuchadnezzar and Baltazar his Son, while they were Captives in that Place. And Christians are Commanded to do the like for Kings and all that are in Authority under Them, that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all Godliness and Honesty, (with this Recommendation) because its good and acceptable in the sight of God their Saviour: And which in the First and purest Ages of Christianity they formed for their Emperors and Kings, respectively to their Religion, Their Opinions in it, their Natural disposition, or their Carriage towards them, for their Heathen Persecutors, as Tertullian is a Competent Witness, Nos enim pro Salute Imperatorum Deum in●●●amus aternum, etc. Dein oramus pro Ominius Imperatoribus, vitam illis Prolixam, Imperium Securum, Domum tutam, Exercitus fortes, Senatum Fidelem, Poputum Probum, Orbem quieium, & quacunqn● ho●inis & Caesaris vota sunt; And so many 
* Dioni●uis, bulgentius Theodoret, etc.  others Testify.  
To endeavour a Change, is most opposite to the tenor of the Gospel, and the frame of Christianity: The virtues That it inculcates, and This makes profession of, are, Contentedness in all Estates; Humility in the highest, Patience in suffering, Meekness in bearing, and Charity in forgiving injuries: Whereas Discontent, Pride, Ambition, Impatience, Anger, Revenge, are the Passions and Vices which instigate men to endeavour revolutions in Government.  
They affect Novelty, and therefore sit uneasy under the present Government, which will be always deemed heavy, by men of such volatile and unquiet spirits. Militis aut pl●bis ingenium observat. Nec impositos unquam cervice volen●i f●rre deuces.  
They love not a Constitution wherein Divine Providence hath an hand, and are for One of their Own setting up. This made the Israelites request to have a King, like the rest of the Nations round about, when they were under a Thescracy, God reserving the Sovereignty in his own hands, but exercising the act of it by Samuel, 1 Sam. 8. 5.  
Or They are dissatisfied with their station and place in the Government, as too low and mean for men of their abilities and merits; and suspecting they are not like to rise higher, or make themselves greater, in the present posture of affairs, are for disturbing them, as the probablest way to gain their point; or out of mere indignation to see themselves neglected (as they esteem) are for subverting it, though they themselves be oppressed with its fall.  
Or if They stand high, they are displeased to see any above them, (for its the nature of Ambition not to look down, but up; not on those behind, but those before) and therefore they will unhinge the whole Frame, in hopes to get in their places; or tumble all down, so they may advance themselves.  
Or They are Poor and Needy, and so would fain enrich themselves, tho' it be with the spoil of their Country, which they can never come to Ransack but in public Commotions: Want engaged Catiline and his Associates. And those in a Commonwealth who want Power or Riches will envy them who have; and out of mere anger or madness with their private Fortune, will desire and Labour to have the Public State turned Topsie turvy. Or They like not the 
* or Religion  Disposition of their Governors; They are too Mild or too Severe, etc. Excesses of Princes are to be Born with, as we bear overmuch Drought, or Immoderate Rain; nor are vicious Princes always Succeeded by such, but the good Interpose and compensate for the bad; yet They will not expect time to assist them with this Remedy, but are for immediate discarding them, and going in guest of another of a more Suitable Temper, let the hazard of the Wild Goose chase be what it will; Cerialis 
Tacit. liest. l: 4. cap: 73: 74.  ita loquitur, Quommodo Sterilitatem, aut nimios Imbres, & catera naturae mala, ita Luxum vel Avaritiam dominaantium tolerate, vitia erunt, donel homines, sed neque hac continua & meliorum interventu pensantur.  
Or They have been digusted by them, because in the disposal of Honours they have passed them over, or have not had that High Esteem for Them in words or actions: And to be Revenged for these neglects and affronts, they will Combine to Depase or Murder Them; And care not whether they confound Heaven and Earth in one common Chaos again, so be it They have their Revenge. Pausanius killed Philip of Macedon, for advancing Attalas to the Government of a Province, instead of punishing him upon his Complaint for abusing his body; And Aruns brought the Goths into Italy, for having not Justice done him against Lucamon, who had defiled his Wife; Lucan Conspired with Piso and others against Nero's life for suppressing his Poem; Quinctianus, for Defaming him in Song; Maximus against Valentinian the third. julian (a nobleman of Spain) calls in the Moors thither to be even with Roderic for corrupting his Wife or Daughter; and even he was, for their Success put an end to his life, and the Gothique Race of Kings in that Country; Robert of Artois called the English into France, because a Suit of Law went against him; and Charles of Bourbon Raised up Charles the fifth against Francis the first, for the same reason; and Bodilus killed Chilpherick for ordering him to be Whipped as a punishment.  
Or last of all their Villainies, have Rendered them Obnoxious to the Justice of the Government from which they have no way left of Saveing themselves, unless by committing the greatest, that of undermining and overthrowing it. The Philosopher wisely observed. Those who have done wrong usually fly to Sedition to protect them against punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Arist Pol. l. 5. c. 3 And the Historian saith, that Men fling themselves into actual dangers, to secure themselves against those they only fear, Imminentium periculum remedium ipsa pericula Arbitrati.  
Thirdly, the methods which men usually take to bring about a change are extremely iii. The first of which is the devising and venting Lies against their Governors; And this of slandering Princes and their Conduct, is generally the first step Seditious Incendiaries make in their progress to Rebellion. Absolom began his Rebellion so, telling the People their matters were good and Right, but no man deputed of the King to hear them 2 Sam: 15. 34. In short Wicked men Maliciously spy out Faults where there are none, Aggravate those that are, and with alike greediness and pleasure divulge them both, to weaken his Credit and Estimation with his people, They make invidious Constructions of his Designs; Odious Reflections on his Actions, and spread them abroad; which when they are grown the subject of common report, fill the People's minds with Fears and Jealousies, and so dispose them, as combustible matter soon takes fire, for Tumults and Insurrections. The spreading of false Rumours is to the multitude as Winds to the Sea, makes them Rage and Swell, lift up their voice and Roar, in the Elegant Expression of the Psalmist. Psalm. 46. 3. who otherwise; like that, smooth when not blown upon, would have lain still and calm: And by insensible degrees it tends to work this Effect, tho' the false news within few hours, days at farthest, can be disproven, for either the Refutation shall never reach so far as the lie went, or if it doth, that hath made too deep an Impression in Some to be erased; the Poison of it hath wrought itself so far in, and lodged itself so throughly, that Truth is too weak an Antidote to Expel it.  
The second method is near of kin to this; viz. False and Hypocritical pretences. They who Level at the Government, always disguise those Aims with the fair and specious Colours of maintaining. Endangered Religion, Liberty and Property; while They have no sense of the first, intent to oppress the second and seize on the third; These are all such pleasing names in the People's Ears, that albeit no attempt towards a change can be made, without first violating Religion and its Commands of Subjection and Obedience; And it is always seen if that succeeds, that Liberty is afterwards crushed, and property usurped: Yet as conspiring Knaves never fail to make use of them; so nor Easy Fools to be charmed and caught by them, and to contribute their assistance towards the destruction of them all in a change, for when that's Actualy come, than these cunning Contrivers of it are sure to bind the silly, giddy helpers of it forwards with Chains for Cords; and instead of an easy yoke to put an heavy burdensome Clog about their Necks; for Enjoyed or Promised Freedom, to entail Slabery on them and their Posrerity: And And ●ave the Impudenceat the same time to call this State of Oppression and Tyranny, an asserting the Privilidges of the Nation, and Restoring the People to their Birthright as The Romans when they had Seized on Kingdoms without Right, and wasted them with Fire and Sword, called that desolation Peace, Aufer●e, trucidare, rapere falsis nominibus Imperium atque ubi solitudinem fecerint pacem appellan● Miseriam servitutem falso pacem voca●ent. This is the Recompense, and a deserved one they meet with for their easiness in believing the pretences, and forwardness in Aiding them in their wicked Enterprises Absolom us d both these Colours; He complained that the due course of Law was stopped, and seemed grieved that Justice did not freely flow in its Channels, and promised withal to open them a passage, if he were made a Judge; That thery Man then who had a Suit, and would come unto him, should have right done him, 2. Sam. 15. And yet He Uiolated the Law of Nature in thus affecting the Soveranity, which was not to be had without killing, Dethroning or Commanding His Father And did not Jeroboam cover his Ambition at first with a Zeal for the purity of Religion? And when he had Usurped the Throne did he not infringe the People's liberties, and lay Heavier Taxes on the Revolted Tribes, than ever Solomon did? towards the Payment of the Soldiers and Garrisons it was necessary he should maintain for the holding of his Ill got Power; and those no doubt harder to be paid, in his Divided and unquiet Usurpation, than the same would have been under Solomon while the Kingdom stood En●●●, and his Reign flowed with Peace and Wealth  
The third method is Steaking through all Oaths they stand bound by, of bearing True faith and Allegiance to their Governors; of discovering all Treasonable Designs and Practices against their Persons or Authority: Oaths in which They deposited with them the Richest pawn it was possible for them to stake down, and gave them the Strongest Security the others could Require of Their Fidelity and obedience, viz. Their Salvation; Oaths in which They called God's Omniscence to witness their Engagements, and his Justice and Power to Revenge The breath of them. And yet, as if They were no more to be held by them than Samson was with green wyths or new Ropes; Or as if Their Conscieuces were no more to be wounded by Perjury than the Germane Hard-men are by Sword and Sho●, or last of all, as if They had a secret Recipe of being acquainted with Conspiracies, and not being infected with the Treason of them.  
But if there were no breaking through Oaths, (and yet I believe there is scarce any form of Regiment in the world which takes not this kind os cautionary Bond from their Subjects) they must make Their way through all Natural Obligations to come at their end: for every man who is not born to Empire, antecedent to all Oaths and abstracting from the Force of all Humane Laws, is born with a Tie of duty and Obedience to the Government under which he was born; And he can no more Dissolve change or Transfer this Obligation by a subsequent Protectation of his Obedience to a Prince or State, other than His Natural, than he could before he came into the World choose of what Parents he would descend the Country where, and the dominion under which he would make his Entrance into it.  
And now suppose The Treason meet with all the Success the Conspirators could wish, yet these Persons are oft, at the long Run, overtaken by vengeance, and exemplary punished in this World. Innumerable Footsteps of this Justice are left Us, standing both on Sacred and Civil Records: The Earth opened her Mouth wide and swallowed up Corah Dathan and Abiram, with their Rebellious Crew in the very Act and Height of Their wickedness: Abimilech, 
Judges 9 53.  who died his Princely Scarlet in the Blood of Seventy Brethren he slew that he might Rule without Control, had his Skull at the storming of Thebez broke by a stone thrown by a Woman's hand, on which the Historian, who Relates it, makes this Remark. Athaliah who Murdered all the Royal 
2. King's: 11. 16.  Line of Judah (except an Infant He●r preserved by his Aunt for a more fabourable juncture) that she might Reign, and Reign without a Rival, fell from her greatness by the same Bloody steps she mounted to it; was slain by her Guard within the Verge of her Palace: Jeroboam the grand Usurper of the 
1. King's: 15. 19  the Isralitish Crown, tho'he escaped in his person yet was punished in the utter Extirpation of his Posterity; Nadab his Son killed and all his Family by the Sword of Baasha, not one left alive who breathed. This Murtherer's 
1. King's: 10. 12.  Son Elah, together with all the Male Line were destroyed by Zimri; not one left who pissed against the 
1. King's: 16: 15. 18.  Wall, Zimri after seven days Reign, laid hands on himself to avoid falling into Omras who besieged him, Burning his Palace over his own head Shallum who took away Z●●hariah's life and Kingdom, was 
1. Kings. 15. 30.  deprived of both within a Month by Menahem, whose Son Pekajah had the like turn done him by Pekah the Captain of his Guard, and he by Ho●hea, who in the 9th year of 
2 Kings: 18. 9  his Usurpation was stripped of his regality, and carried Captive by Salmanezer into Assiria and Media, and with him expired that Monarchy.  
And should I Travel out of sacred Story into Profane for instances, Time would fail me in recounting the Tragical Ends of Usurpers or Regicides of Cyrns who Seized on his Grandfather's Kingdoms; of Bessus whose Murder of Da●ius Ochus caused the Translation of the Empire from the Persian to the Greeks; of ●hillip the Usurper of the Macedonian Crown, slain between his Son Alexander the great and his Son in Law Alexander of Epicus, at the Espousal of his Daughter, of Pisistratus who Invaded the Athenian; Julius Caesar who Invaded the Roman Government: The Murderers of Gordian the Emperor, who fell all by Their own hands, using those very Swords against their own lives, which They had before Employed to take away others. And Infinite Numbers more mentioned by the Roman Byzantine and other Writers; only I can't omit two Memorable Examples, the one of Maximus, who procured the Murder of Valanttnian the third, Torn afterwards in Pieces by the People of Rome; the other of Phocas, who through the Barbarous murder of his master Mauritius, Ascended the Throne of Constantinople, he taken by Pho●inus received a suitable Reward, and had his Head, Hands and Feet with his Privities cut off:  
In these (Generally speaking) is that saying of our Saviour verified, They who take the Sword, (take it against Lawful Authority) shall Perish with the Sword, (the Sword of Justice) And of St. John, he that killeth with the Sword, must be killed with the Sword; so David Killed the Amalekite who slew Saul at his own ●●treaty, etc. And can it be thought, that he who Will not hold him Guiltless that taketh his name in vain, should connive at the violation of all Obligations of Duty and Fidelity contracted in that name; and let such escape  that rise up against them who wear his name, and are clad in the Rays of his Majesty; That if men shall be in danger of Hell fire for calling their Brother Fool, shall They be in none for Railing against their Superiors invested with Authority from above, and 
1. Pet. 1. 2. comp. with the 10. jud. 8. comp. with the 13.  Acting by a Commission from heaven? St. Peter and St. jude, have taught Us otherwise, viz. That God Reserveth Such who speak evil of Dignities unto the day of Judgement, to be punished; for the Blackness of Darkness for ever.  
If Liars, Sorcerers, Whoremongers, Murderers and Idolaters, shall receive their part in the Lake which 
Rev. 21. 8.  Burneth with Fire and Brimstone, as we are informed they shall; surely such Liars, who Maliciously Slander Their prince first to weaken his Credit, than his Hands; such Sorcerers, who with the Witchcraft of Cunning and Fair Speaking, alienate the People's Affections from him; such Whoremongers who are Guilty of, and stand answerable to Justice for all the Rapes and Destorations Soldiers raised by Them to begin an Insurrection, and make a Revolt, in the heat of War and Lust commit, surely then those Murderers of their honest fellow Subjects, who will not side with them in taking up Arms; Then Those Idolaters; who Crowned with Success erect a False Power in opposition to the Legal One and would Compel all to acknowledge and pay Homage to it, like Nibuchadnezzar, to fall down and worship the Image, They have made and Set up, shall be cast there.  
Some there are who have (too lately) made use of Their pretended Fear of God, to Justle out the King's Honour; their serving God, to excuse these disobedience to the King; their fits of Devotion & Ecstatical Raptures, their Acts of Disloyalty, Their Asserting the True Religion, Justifying their Rising up against his Majesty.  
And now let every Englishman begin to examine himself, whether he hath not meddled with them who were given to change? Have not You showed yourselves such, by siding and going along with that Faction which wrought the last dismal change, or by following men who Traced their steps, and Practised the same methods of Sedition, which ushered in that Rebellion? did you not greedily Swallow down the Calumnies and and Slanders They F●d you with against the Government? Have you their persons in the greatest Admiration, who made the Biggest Noise for Religion and Liberty, while Their Lives manifested they had extinguished the one, all but the Name, and Their Arbitrary proceed that they were Resolved to Prostitute the other to their own Lusts? such who had Scrupled at Order and Decency in the Church, but had made none of involving three Kingdoms in Misery and Confusion; strained at Conformity, but Swallowed down Rebellion; slumbled at a Ceremony, but leaped over the Murder (or Dethroning) of Their King.  
And after all this, did you not look upon yourselves as absolved from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and on them as antiquated Bonds? Or were you not for expounding Them so as they might be best accommodated to Rebellion, or willing Disciples of such Masters who did? That they were stipulations of a Conditional Obedience, Provided the King maintained your Rights, and that limited and Restrained to some Case only; so that the King not performing the former, you were not bound to the latter; or Commanding something without the Verge of his Authority, might be opposed by Arms, and Forced within compass; Or that those Sacred Ties might be violated without Sin, for promoting such great Goods as the Power of Godliness and the Freedom of the Gospel! did not the Casuistical Divinity of such Rabbis please you, who directed You, in Order to shake the Crown from off the Monarch's head, to break any Oath with the deepest sense of Religion, which you before had Sworn with a Sound Conscience, etc. And besides the Wickedness of Breaking Through These Sacred Obligations have you not bound yourselves by illegal Associations or Covenants (directly opposite to these solemn engagements) to labour a change? So Catiline initiated his Complices to the privacy of his conspiracy, by a Sacrament solemn as a Sacrifice to the Gods, He drank to Them in a mingled bowl of man's blood and wine, and made them pledge him and one another in that, and so doing their mutual Faith, devoting themselves with horrid execrations to suffer all Ills, in case they infringed it, afore he ventured to acquaint them with the villainy they were to be actors in. And if you have in any of the forementioned respects been guilty (as it is more than to be suspected you have.) Let me exhort you, to wash away the contracted guilt with the tears of repentance, etc.  
LONDON, Printed for William Nott, at the Queen's Arms in the Pall Mall. 1683.   

A Sermon Entitled, Some seasonable Reflections on the Discovery of the la●e Plot, By William Sherlock D. D.  Psal. 18. Verse 50. Great deliverance giveth he to his King, and showeth mercy to his Anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. 
MEn of turbulent and restless spirits will be sure to find, or make some pretences or occasions of quarrel under the most just and equal Government. Sometimes They dispute the right of Succession; but this they could not do in David's case, unless they would dispute God's right to place and displace Princes: For he was immediately chosen by God, and anointed by his Prophet, and yet this could not secure him from Conspiracies and Rebellions.  
Others pretend great Oppression and maladministration of Government, tho' Their licentious noises and clamours sufficiently confute it; for men who are most oppressed dare say the least of it. And Others make Religion a pretence for Their Rebellion; Religion! the greatest and the dearest interest of all: But methinks it is a dangerous way for Men to rebel to save Their Souls, when God has 
Rom. 13. 2.  threatened damnation against Those who rebel: But this is a vain pretence, for no man can fight for Religion, who has any Religion. Religion is a quiet, peaceable, governable thing; it teaches Men to suffer patiently, but never to rebel. And were there any true concernment for Religion in this pretence, can We imagine, that the most professed Atheists; the most lewd prostigate Wretches, the greatest Prodigies and Monsters of wickedness, should be so zealous for Religion? But it's evident, it is not Religion such men are zealous for, but a liberty in Religion; that is, that every one may have his liberty to be of any Religion, or of none; which serves the Atheists turn, as well as th● Sectaries; but is nor much for the honour or interest of true Religion.  
I suppose no man doubts how many dangers a Prince is exposed to who flies before an enraged and victorious enemy: A Prince whose Father was murdered, and himself forced into banishment by his own Subjects! Who knows not whither to go, where to hid himself, whom to trust: Many persons who were in greatest power, being concerned (for their own preservation) to keep Him out; while those who wished Hi● Return, durst not whisper any thing tending to call the King back again. This was the condition of our dread Sovereign, who was hunted as: Partridge in the mountains, pursued by his own rebellious Subjects, who had usurped his Throne, and thirsted after his Blood. But then God found an hiding place for Him, and delivered Him from the desire and expectation of his Enemies: And, as the Psalmist says, This is the Lords doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes; now know We, that the Lord saveth his Anointed, He will hear Him from his holy Heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand, Psal. 65. 7.  
God may sometimes suffer Treason and Rebellion to be prosperous, but it can never prosper but when God pleaseth; and it is impossible Rebels should ever know that. There is nothing more expressly contrary to the revealed will of God, than Treasonable Plots and Conspiracies against Sovereign Princes: And though God does many times permit those things to be done, which he has forbid to be done, or else no man could ever be guilty of any sin; yet his forbidding of it is a plain argument that he does not approve it, that he will not countenance it. God never indeed interposes by an irresistible power to hinder men from choosing that which is wicked, for he offers no force or violence to men's wills: but when this wickedness is injurious to others, who are the objects of his care and providence, he many times interposes to prevent the mischief. Who ever suspected, that the Fire at Newmarket, was sent by God for the preservation of our King and His Royal Brother?  
Christian Religion is the greatest security of Government both i● its precepts and examples: It commands Every Soul to be subject to the higher Powers, and threatens eternal damnation against Rebels; it strictly enjoins the practice of all sociable virtues, and charms those boisterous passions which disturb humane conversation; it requires Us to obey our Superiors in all lawful things, and quietly to submit and suffor, when we 〈◊〉 obey: And the blessed Jesus, who was the Author of our Religion, 〈◊〉 our great Pattern and Example, did himself practise these laws, which he gave to US. He lived in obedience to the Civil Power, and though the Jewish Nation, which was a free People, the Lot and Inheritance of God himself, were then in subjection to the Romans, yet He would not give Them the least encouragement to shake off the yoke, but commands them to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. He died himself upon the Cross, and made this the condition of our discipleship, To take up our Cross and follow Him; and thus the Apostles and Primitive Christians did, they cheerfully followed their Master to the Cross, and conquered by suffering. Christianity was planted in the world by no other arts but the foolishness Preaching, and it defended itself Only, by a resolute and patiented suffering for the name of Christ. This is the true temper and spirit of Christianity. Under the most barbarous and persecuting Emperors, no Christian ever suffered as a Rebel, They gave no other disturbance to the Government, than by confessing themselves to be Christians, and suffering for it. Their numbers indeed were very formidable, but nothing else; for in imitation of their great Master, They went as lambs to the slaughter, and as sheep before their shearers are dumb, so they opened not their mouths.  
But notwithstanding this, our daily experience tells US, that when Religion is divided into Factions and Parties, or rather Men are divided into Factions and Parties upon account of Religion, there is nothing more imbitters men's spirits against each other, nor gives greater disturbance to public Government. All the Troubles and Miseries which for these late years have overwhelmed this unfortunate Island have been doing to this cause; Religion has been made either the reason or the pretence of all.  
To deny that Prosest Protestants have ever rebelled against their Prince, is to deny, that there ever was a Civil War in England. And I would to God, We had but one instance of this; it might have left some hope still, that This was not the temper nor the Principles of the Men, but some unlucky ●●●cture of affairs, which transported Them beyond the bounds of their Duty, and their own ●●ow'd Principles.  
When Religion turns into a ●●a●e 〈◊〉 to curb and restrain, and quell such pretences, is not to invade the 〈◊〉 Conscience, o● the ●●ber●●● of Religion, but to secure the public 〈◊〉 to prevent the occasions of new Rebellions. And no sob●● man can 〈◊〉 his Prince for this, though he may Those, (and aught to express a just indignation against Them) who forfeit this liberty, by abusing it for a cloak of maliciousness.  
A great and passionate Zeal, like a distempered Love, blinds men's eyes, and makes them mistake both their Enemies and Friends. It fills their heads with endless jealousies and fears, and makes them start and run away from their own shadow. Such a boisterous Zeal is the frenzy and Calenture of Religion, which makes men uncapable of any sober counsel, and all prudent Resolves, and precipitates them into the most wild, extravagant, and irreligious attempts. There is nothing more pernicious than Zeal, when it gets a-head, and bears down all the considerations of Reason and Religion before it. When men are conscious to themselves, that they are engaged in a good cause, and have honest designs, it makes them more bold and venturous: For though few men da● own it, yet the actions of too many sufficiently proclaim, that Th●● think they may strain a Point, and dispense with strict Duty, when it is to serve a good cause, when the Honour of God, and the Interest of Religion is concerned: Such a Zeal does violently push Men forward, but ●● does not steer well, nor observe its compass; and thus it is too often see● that Men who begin with a zeal for Religion, insensibly slip into Stat● Factions, and are engaged vastly beyond what They first designed. L●● Us then above all things have a care of our Zeal, that we may not mista●en earthly Fire, which burns and consumes, for that divine and harmless Flame, which is kindled at God's altar. A true zeal for Religion, is nothing more nor less: than such an hearty love for it as makes us very diligent in the practice of it out selves, and contented, if God sees it fit, 〈◊〉 lay down our lives for it, and very industrious to promote the knowledge and practice of Religion in the World, by all lawful and prude●● means. A true Christian Zeal will not suffer US to transgress the stri●● bounds of our duty to God, or of our duty to Men, especially to King and Princes, whatever Flattering Prospect of advantage it may give. To lie, to forswear ourselves, to hate and revile each other; To reproach and libel Governors in Church or State; to stir up, or countenance, with the least Thought, any Plots, Seditions or Rebellions against the King, is not a Zeal for God nor for Religion: for this wisdom● not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish: for where strife and contention is, there is every evil work.  
Let Our past Experience therefore teach Us, to watch over the lea●● stir, and first appearances of a seditious and factious spirit, either in ourselves or others, however it may be disguised with a pretence of Religion. Faction, like other vices, has but very small beginnings; but when those beginnings are indulged, it soon improves, and gets strength. Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit: When men once espouse a Party, like those who are running down hill; they cannot stop when they please. Discontents and jealousies are easily fomented, when We have once given admission to them; and the busy Factors and Agents for Sedition, when They find US never so little disposed to receive the Impression, use their utmost art and skill, all the methods of insinuation and address, to make us Proselytes. I doubt not but many Men have died Rebels, and suffered as Traitors, who at first did as much abhor the thought of Treason and Rebellion, as any of us can; Thus I doubt not but it was in our late Troubles; And thus I believe it is at this Day.  
Let such Examples as these make Us wary, how We begin to entertain, or to whisper our discontents and fears; how we begin to listen to be suspicious of our Prince, or of his Government; and to hear with pleasure, any scandalous stories or reflections on either. Those who can with content and pleasure hear their Prince and his Government reviled, will soon think him not fit to be Their King.  
And the great danger of such beginnings is, that We are not apt to observe them in ourselves or others, when Religion is concerned in the quarrel. We think it all Zeal, pure Zeal! and can't suspect ourselves or others, to be in any danger of turning Rebels. But whatever is in its own nature a degree or tendency towards Rebellion, is so wherever, and in whomsoever it is found; and there is always more danger, that the beginnings of vice should corrupt the best temper of mind, than any hope that a sound and religious disposition should correct the malign influences of such a vice. Some men's Religion does as much incline them to Faction, as secular interest doth other men; and there is no such dangerous Faction, as that which is bred and nourished by the corruptions of Religion. The Jewish Zealots, and the Christian Enthusiasts of all sorts, are too plain an Example of it. And therefore when men, who make great pretences to Religion, begin to talk or act factiously, a fair opportunity is as like to make them Rebels, as any other men. Thus We often see it is, and this is a sufficient reason to suspect all such beginnings, either in ourselves or others, whatever glorious pretences we may have.  
London, Printed for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleetstreet.   

The Power of Kings from GOD. A SERMON Preached, at Sarum, By Paul Lathom, Prebendary there.  Prov. 8. 15. By Me Kings Reign. 
KIngs have their Authority derived immediately from God, whic● Authority is not conferred on Them, as a Trust by the People. Let us consider first what Titles the Scriptures give to King They are called the Ministers of God, therefore not of men, Rom. 1, 4. 6. The Powers that be, are said to be Ordained of God, therefore not of Men. v. i for the question concerning St. John's Baptism, wa● it from Heaven? or of Men? seems to put this upon an Issue; Besides they are called Elohim, Earthly Gods, Psal: 82, 6. And what People can make there own Gods, without Palpable Idolatry.  
When God first Subjected his own People, Israel to the Government of Kings, the People had nothing to do in conferring the Power Mos●● was made their Ruler immediately by God so joshuah and the Iudge● for so long the Theocracy did continue visable among them. When th● People desired a King with formality, God is not angry with them simp●● for desiring a King; for he foretold their having a King, and gave hi● directions for his Government, Deut. 17 but for some irregularities their manner of desiring him, But how was he chosen? not by the People, but by Lot. 1, Sam: 10, 20, 21. the determination whereof from the Lord, Prov: 16. 33. no hand of the People in choosing him David was made King by God's immediate 〈◊〉 Sam: 16. 1. H● the Theocracy seems to end. Afterward the Government did descend by Succession And Those that pretend directions from the Scripture in every thing, will be at a loss where to find directions there for the People to take away or Confer Power upon their Prince.  
We Challenge any man from Profane Histories, to show Us any Footsteps of such beginnings of Monarchy, when the People did intrust this Power to their King? If they acknowledge that their History fails them, let not also reason fail them; Let not Loyalty fail Them; let not Conscience fail them let them have somhing more than bold Surmises, or else not attempt to build a Supposition of such dangerous consequence, upon the mere strength of imagination.  
If therefore they Persist and Urge Us to show, how Monarchy first came to Subject men to Obedience, I think the History of the Bible will give US light enough. That Patriarchal Government, or the Ruling of the Father or eldest of the Family over the Rest, was the first form of Government in the World, I think is generally owned; Now when the Families increased, the Subjects multiplied, and by insensible degrees the Patriarchal Government seems to have settled into that Government of the Reguli, or small Kings, which was upon the matter the same; when joshuah Conquered the land of Canaan, which is less in extent than the Kingdom of England alone, he found and Subdued 31 Kings, Iosh: 12, 24. And it seems this was the least Jurisdiction of their Reguli. For after him Iudg: 1. 7. Ad●●ibezek when he was Conquered, doth own that he kept 70 Reguli in Barbarous Servitude under him. And some Hundreds of years after the King of Syria (no great Prince) had 32 Kings at once in his Army, 1 Reg. 20. 1. so that it seems their Territories and power were then surely but an inconsiderable alteration of External Government, and that which by degrees introduced greater Monarchy's.  
If We further proceed to take a view of all the ways, whereby Princes ascend to the Throne, it will appear they are but few; and that in none of those the People confer the power on the King; first by D●scent or Succession, as in England: Now who can say that the People hereconfe● the Power? If they ple●d that at the King's Coronation the consent of the People is demanded; it is evident that the King is King to all intents and purposes before his Coronation, Besides neither are all the People Summoned, nor any considerable part of them appear at a Coronation: And if then thereshould be any su●ly Sheba, that should reject his Prince, that would not hinder the Coronation, so that this is but barely a thing of course and doth not decide the King's Power from the People at all. Secondly those that attain a Crown by conquest, no man can say They expect or receive the explicit consent of the People, tho' a tacit consequential consent may be argued in their yielding him a forced obedience, Thirdly Those that Surprise a Throne by Fraud, tho' they may impose upon the People so as to gain a formal consent. Yet is there no real consent in those that are thus bewitched or cajoled, Fourthly, there are some that come to a Crown by Elcteion: And here our Malcontents think they are secure, that They derive their Power from the People. But we must consider the great difference that is betwixt Designing the person, and conferring the Power; The former is from those that choose Him, the latter by no means, the Dean and Chapter of a Cathedral, by the King's leave) choose a Bishop (Seed vacant) this choice designs the person, but doth not confer the Power, which is afterwards given him in his consecration The Aldermen and Commons of a City, do yearly choose their Mayor; this choice doth indeed design the person, but not confer the power, which descends by virtue of the King's Charter, So when the seven Electors choose an Emperor of Germany, or those that usually choose a King in Poland, they only design the person; his Power is not from them, but immediately from God. And now, whether the Power of Kings be so immediately subordinate to God and depending upon Him, that no Earthly: ower whatsoever can call them to account for the Administration of their Government, and discharge of their Trust?  
The Accountableness of Princes to the People in their Representatives hath passed (too lately) for currant Doctrine in the days of imprisoning King Charles the first, etc. That Reason and Conscience may be satisfied of the falseness and dangerousness of such Assertions, I shall offer what follows, to prove that God Almighty is the only Ruler of Princes, and that to him only they own their accounts, first in reason it is a contradiction, after We have owned the King to be Supreme in all Causes, and over all Persons both Ecclesiastical and Civil, to affirm afterwards, that there is any other Power that hath Right to call him to an account, and consequently is in that respect his superior. That We have owned the King as Supreme, I suppose all men will confess, and the Apostle St. Peter calls him so, 1 Pet: 2, 13. And that his accountableness to any other on Earth, would render these persons that may demand his account (to nomine) Superior to Him, is grounded upon that known maxim, Par in parem nou habet potestatem. If therefore the King be Supreme, and yet hath others on Earth that are Superior to him, then is he Supreme, and not Supreme, a palpable contradiction, both branches of which cannot be true. Now the King's Supremacy, both the Law hath Settled, and every Good Subject hath owned, and therefore must disown the Supremacy of the People, either Collectively, or in their Representative as a Spurious Offspring descended from Salus Populi, and Vniversis minor. Secondly, If We consult the Scriptures, when David had committed those two great sins of Adultery and Murder, either of which singly was capital by the Jewish laws, yet do we not find him called to account for them, but only by the great King of Kings, who takes the matter into his own hands, sends his Prophet to him, Summons him before himself, as his Judge, brings him to Repentance, accepts his Confession, and Remits his Trespass, as to the Eternal punishment. And David appears very sensible of his being accountable to God only; when in his most penitent Confession he cries out against Thee, Thee! only have I Sinned, Psal. 51, 3. If therefore We own the Scriptures for our guide in all doubtful and important points, here is an instance to guide Us in a matter of this great and weighty Moment.  
Thirdly to hold a Power in the People to call the Prince to account for the Administration of his Government is most highly inconsistent with the law of nature, and all the Reason and Conscience immaginable: For it makes the People at once the complainants, the witnesses, the Jury and the Judge, For when we speak of the King, and the People, they are but two parties. If therefore the King must be impleaded, who must be the Complanants & Prosecutors? the People! who Witnesses? the People! who must be the Jury to inquire of matter of Fact? the People! who must be the judge, to determine he hath broken a Law, and be obnoxious to punishments the People! at last when Sentence is passed upon him, who must Execute it? still the People! a thing never heard of in any Judicial proceed, even in the most Barbarous Nations: and that which must needs preclude the doing of Justice, when passion or interest in the Mobile, would carry all things according to their own Lusts and Humours.  
The Judgements of God, have dogged at the Heels, in all Ages, Those Subjects that have Risen up in Rebellion against their Lawful King, and ●●ther Secretly, or openly, taken away their Lives Had Zimri peace who ●●w his master? etc. And how hath the Justice of God, become the avenger of Blood, and pursued Those, who had killed and taken possession, and boasted of their Wickedness, for several years together; and some of them desired it might be written on their Tombs, here li●sens of the late King's judges. This I hope will not be forgotten in This Generation, etc. That all men may hear and fear, and do no more so presumptuously.  
If Kings then have their Power from God, and are not accountable to any person or persons on Earth, then is it a great Sin, to Arraign the wisdom or Justice of his Majesty's proceed, in the Convention of men of unsanctified Hearts, unhallowed lives and profane Mouths. Too many now adays make it either a sign of Grace, or a token of Wisdom, or at least an argument of good affections to the public, to Slander the Footsteps of God's Anointed; And as if they would investigate their Pedigrees, from Cora● and his Complices, do proceed by Rising up against Moses and Aaron, reproaching both Prince and Priest, as if They took too much upon them. If he that stepped out of his rank, without allowance of his Officer, to fight an Enemy, though he killed him, was condemned for deserting his place, what censure can be great enough for Those that desert their Ranks and Stations, not to fight an Enemy (a Foreign Invader,) but to encounter their lawful Sovereign? If God Almighty be the only Ruler of Princes, and neither the People collectively nor Representatively; have power to censure the actions of a King, then certainly the Individuals, or little knots of the Populacy, have much less power to censure his proceed.  
When Men presume to think that the King is the people's creature, deriving his Power as a Trust from them; and when the fondness and novelty of the notion by degrees hath flattered them into a fixed opinion of it, They will quickly implead his Authority, as a conditional and precarious thing, and upon the least distaste, will be tempted to meditate a revocation of their trust; So that what does not jump with one man's interest, though it may advance another's, the King must answer for; And what does not indulge the lusts of the foolish, though 'tis highly acceptable to the Wise, the King must account for; so apt are Resty Men to clamour against the Settlements of their own security and happiness, and promote the steps of their own ruin and confusion. But when Men shall seriously consider that the Sword is put into His hand by God himself, and that he bears it not in vain, that he is a Revenger to execute wrath upon Him that doth evil Rom. 13. 1. This will oblige them to obedience and loyalty to their earthly Sovereign, out of a principle of conscience towards the King of Heaven; This will speak them at once both True Christians and Good Subjects. For pretended Saintship is consistent with Rebellion, but True Christianity will be always attended with Loyalty. This will clear the Profession of Religion from the aspersion of ungovernableness; and set Us forward to that Kingdom, where He by whom King's Reign, shall rule over all, and be all in all.  
LONDON, Printed for Joanna Browne at the Gun at the West-End of St. Paul's.   

A Sermon Preached by Benjamin Calamy D. D. on the 9th Septemb. 1683.  Ecclesiastes 10. Verse 20. Curse not the King; no, not in thy thought, etc. 
OF all Rebels they are certainly the worst, that are such out of conscience; and no such desperate Villains as those, who think to please God by Murders and Massacres. Other wicked men may be often checked, are sometimes restrained by their consciences, and dread of a future Judgement; but what evils shall they ever boggle at, who commit such gross wickedness out of compliance with their conscience? out of obedience to God? and expect to be rewarded for it in another world! And is it possible (by any thing We can do) to bring greater dishonour to our Religion, or more effectually to prejudice Rulers and Governors against it, than by making it to patronise and countenance Faction and Rebellion? If this were the true genius of Religion, To make men Unpeaceable, Turbulent, Mutinous, Seditious, etc. It would then become the great interest of Princes to guard themselves against It, as the very Pest of Humane Society, and dangerous to the Civil Government. But thanks be to God, This is not the temper of Our Christianity: Our Saviour's Religion begets in men the most gentle and meek, patiented and Governable Spirits, and is so far from being inconsistent with Loyalty to our Prince, that it is th● greatest ●ye and Obligation to it in the World, And there is no one can through off his Allegiance to his Earthly Sovereign, but at the same time He Renounces all duty and Conscience towards God.  
The Doctrine and discipline of the Church of England We all know what it is; It is stated and defined, and we are sure that it condemns all disloyal Seditious practices, on any pretence whatever. We must not compass, imagine desire or contrive (Or invite) any thing that tends to the damage and prejudice either of our Sovereign Lord the King▪ or of any that are Commissioned or Authorised by him, Sovereign Kings and Princes are God's Deputies and Vicegerents, set up by himself, and They derive their Power and Authority from him alone. God Almighty the maker of us all is the only absolute Lord and  Sovereign of Men and Angels, part of his own Power and Authority, which he hath over his Creatures, he hath Delegated and Committed to Kings, who are the most Principal instruments and Ministers of his providence in the World: Hence are they called Gods, and Children of the most High: Psal: 82 6. God hath invested them with some part of his own Majesty, stamped his own Character upon them, and appointed Them in His place to perform and administer even some part of his Divine Office (if I may so speak) amongst men; Thus constituting Them Earhly Gods, as to their persons, sacred; and as to their Actions, Accountable to None, but that Supereminent Divine Authority that gave them Commission. This is not any new coined Divinity, invented in favour of Arbitrary Power, but is expressly delivered in holy Scriptures, was professed owned and taught by the primitive Christians and hath been the constant Doctrine of the Reformed Church of England, Nay it is agreeable to the general sense of mankind, and might be made out by Rational Evidence, if we had no other confirmation of it.  
That Supreme Governors have their Power and Authority from God alone, is expressly delivered in Scripture; and that not only of the Kings of Israel (who were evidently established by God's appointment) but in general we are told Prov: 8. 15. 16. By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice: By me Prince's Rule, and Nobles, even all the Judge's o● the Earth. Thus Cyrus an Heathen Emperor is called God's Anointed Isa. 45. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed to Cyrus; and in the last verse of the preceding Chapter, he is called God's Shepherd (Prin▪ ces being often, by reason of the Resemblance betwixt the Pastoral Offic● and Government, called Shepherd's) I have made the Earth saith God by the Prophet Jeremiah 27, 5, 6. and given it to whom it seemed meet unto me, And now have I given all▪ these lands into the hands of Nabuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my servant: Thus Daniel declareth that the Most High Ruleth in the Kingdoms of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And he tells Nabuchadnezzar Chap. 2, 37. that it was the God of Heaven, that had given him a Kingdom, Power and Strength and Glory. In the new Testament nothing can be plainer, than the beginning of the 13, Rom: where St. Paul tells us that there is no Power but of God, that the Powers that be are ordained of God; whence in the next verse he styleth Magistracy or Government, the Ordinance of God; and in the 4th verse the Ruler is Called the Minister of God, To execute his vengeance upon Them that do Evil. It is plain that this was always the Doctrine of the Church of England, as appears from the Book of Homilies, wherein we are taught▪ That the High Powers are set in Authority by God; that they are God's Lieutenants; God's Precedents; God's Officers; God▪ s Commissioners; God's Judges Ordained of God himself, Nay, it hath been directly asserted in our Church, that the most High and Sacred Order of Kings, is of Divine right, being the Ordinance of God himself, founded in the prime law of nature, and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testament.  
Nor indeed can it be well Conceived or Reasonably imagined from whence Kings and Sovereign Princes should have right to Govern and Command, but from God alone, since He is the undoubted Lord of the whole Earth, and alone hath full Power and Right to Govern it: I cannot see, but that whoever shall go about to Confer any Power of Government, or take upon himself, any such Authority, over others, were it not ●y God's Appointment and institution, he would thereby put himself, upo● disposing of Gods Right, without his leave, or ordering: so that Government or Supriority of o●e, or more, over others, is all Tyranny and Usurpation upon God's Right, or else it must be granted, to be Ordained by God himself. And whatever the form of Government may be, or whatever hand the People may have in Choosing or Designing the person, or persons, that shall be invested with this Supreme Authority, yet the Power and Authority itself, is derived only from God, and is neither Received of the People in Trust, nor is the▪ Sovereign Power, answerable to them▪ for the Administration of it: which is sometimes illustrated thus, Tho' the Wife may choose what person she pleaseth, to make her Husband, Yet his Authority over the Wife; is not owing to her, nor doth she confer it upon him, but it is of Divine Appointment.  
Whosoever R●sisteth the Power, Resisteth the Ordinance of God saith St. Paul: To oppose and shake off his Majesty's Government, To Plot and Conspire against him is to Rebel against God; And when We wou●d not suffer our Lawful Sovereign, whom the Divine Majesty had appointed to Rule over Us, we did, by just consequence, and fair interpretation, endeavour what we could to Dethrone God himself and proved Traitors ●ot only against our Natural Lord and King, but against the Heavenly Monarch himself, by whose Commission he Reigns.  
That Wicked King Z●d●kiah, of whom it is expressly said, 2 Kings, 24. 19 that he did that which was Evil in the sight of the Lord; yet he is stile● by the Prophet Jeremy, Sam. 4, 20. The Breath of our Nostrils The fates of whole Kingdoms depend upon them. All that live under their Government are interested in them, and partake with them: And a Uillanous Invitation or Treacherous Attempt Succeeding against our Sovereign, may (I am afraid most justly, will) stab a whole Nation to the Heart, and fill all Places with Blood and Confusion.  
Is it not God's wonderful Providence, that hath hitherto preserved His most Sacred Majesty. And did not the same Providence preserve his Royal Brother, and himself, from the Fury and Rage of those, who Embrued their Savage hands, in the Sacred Blood of their Majesty's Royal Father? Hath not the same good Providence continually encompassed Them as with a shield, when their own Subjects, then, and now again, in Arms▪ sought both their Deaths and destructions? was it not the same Providence, that for a long time hid and Concealed Them, from the most diligent Search of Bloodthirsty Rebels, and at last after a Miraculous manner provided an escape for them, and through Innumerable dangers, conveyed them safe to a strange Land? was it not the same God who deferded and supported them then and still continues so to do, in the unparallelled case of his present Majesty, against the most unnatural and blackest Treacheries, and Treasons, that ever yet saw light, till at length by His own Right hand and Outstretched Arm. He brought them safe again to England, and Gloriously Restored the King, to his three Kingdoms.  
Tho' it were realy so that We were oppressed, or treated harshly, by Governors, yet We are not to give vent to our passion, in undecent Railing, or Inveighing, against them, called in Scripture, Blaspheming, or speaking Evil of Dignities. Is it fit saith Elihu to job, to say to a King, thou art wicked; and to Princes; ye are ungodly.  
It cannot but be observed, almost by every man, that many of the Heads of this late Conspiracy, were persons Infamous throughout the whole Nation, for their Immortallities and Debaucheries; Notorious Whoremasters! Adulterers! Drunkards! Murderers! Swearers! and what not? Now what a Fulsome thing is it, and to be abhorred of all Honest men, to hear such persons as these set up for the great Patriots of their Country, and the assertors of the People's Rights, and Conservators of their Liberties and Religion? Are men of such Atheistical Principles, and prostitute Consciences, fit to be trusted, either with Religion or our Liberties? or can we desire any greater Argument, that they are moved by some other design; which they make under such plausable pretences.  
Let Us all be warned, to have a care of Reading Factious Books, and of imbibing antimonarchical principles, but more especially that cursed Antichristian Principle, which hath done an infinite deal of mischief amongst Us, and perhaps hath brought more into This Plot than any one thing else, I mean, That it is Lawful in some Cases by Force and Violence, to Resist the Supreme Authority Especially in defence of the True Religion; Particularly, if the King or those commissioned by him, use Illegal Force to bring in another Religion, or to persecute the Professor of the true Keligion. Let us have a care of the Books, wherein such Poisonous Doctrines are taught, or of the Company of those who profess to believe them, lest before we are ware, they insinuate themselves into us, and so betray us to infinite mischiefs  
Men do not become Traitors, and Rebels, in an instant, But first They begin with Murmuring and Complaining, then unmannerly talking of their Superiors, at length plain accusing their proceed, till by such undutiful practices, they become conscious to themselves, that They have offended the Government, at so great a rate, as that they cannot be safe under it, and then in their own defence, they think of destroying it.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kittilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church yard.   

Core Redivivus. A SERMON Preached by William Bolton, one of the Scholmasters of the .  Numb. 16. 26. And he spoke unto the Congregation, saying, Depart I pray you from the Tents of These wicked Men, and touch nothing of Theirs, lest you be consumed in all Their Sins. 
TO oppose Our lawful Magistrate, is against the sense and practice of Christ's Church in all ages, even under the severest persecutions, I say in all ages, even under the severest Persecutiors of Heathen Emperors, nay, under Julian the Apostate. And if We shall reflect upon the Judicial proceed of God Almighty in this kind, we shall find him so jealous of his own, as not to suffer in his Deputies Honour, and therefore by some secret and irresistible power, He hath still countermanded the deepest projects of Traitors. He hath split their Counsels, and struck their most refined Policies, with frustration, Or a Curse. You have heard how Corah, Dathan and Abiram (who had supplanted, from their loyalty, no less than 250 Princes, men of renown, upon whom the Holy Ghost in the Text, fastens no other character, than that of Wicked) suffered, both in themselves, and accomplices, for their mutiny against Moses. And let Absolom steal the hearts of Israel from David, both his King and Father, Let ten of the twelve Tribes proclaim him King in Hebron; Let the Distressed David fly from his Royal Seat, and let his ungrateful and rebellious Son, possess Jerusalem [London.] Let A●hi●ophel advise Absolo● ●o pursue David, his counsel shall be turned into folly, insomuch that he sh●●● lay violent hands upon himself; and though the too indulgent Father gives command to spare his life, yet rather than Absolom shall prosper in his Treason, his own beloved hair shall serve for an halter to execute him, 2 Sam. from chap. 15. to the 19th. Let Sheba the Son of Bichri make a Party in Israel, against David, let him secure himself, in the strong City, a Woman shall persuade his own Followers to cut off his head, and present it unto David's General; chap. 20 If you look into 2 Kings 11. you will find the reward of Athaliah's Treason; She seizeth upon the Crown of Judah, and to secure herself in it, she (as she imagined) slew all the Seed Royal: After six years' enjoyment of the Throne (without doubt she supposed herself safe enough) when behold the King's Son (hid in the house of the Lord for six years' space) is brought forth by the loyal Jehojada, the High Priest, and proclaimed King, and the Traytoress Athaliah is justly slain.  
And in our English Annals we may find Examples enough of this kind: Let John usurp the Throne due to Arthur, his elder Brother's Son, he taught but his Subjects to rebel against him; and after he had numbered as many troubles, as days of his Reign, he is thought to end his life by poison. Edward the Third, though otherwise a brave Prince, yet because he Dispossessed his Father of the Crown, shall rue it in his Grandson, his immediate Successor, whom H. 4 (another Usurper) bereaves first of his Throne, and a little after of his life too; But Divine vengeance meets with him likewise, in his Posterity; for H. 6. his Grandson (though as innocent and harmless a Prince as ever before him that enjoyed the Imperial Crown of England) hath his own Son stabbed before his face, and himself some time after butchered by the same hand● Let Rich. 3. murder his innocent Nephews in the Tower, let him poison his own Wife, that so he might marry his Niece; the only Heiress to the Throne; yet God blasts his designs, and blesseth this Nation both with his death▪ and the happy Union of the York and Lancaster Families, in the persons of Eliz and Henry the Seventh, Which Contest had cost more Blood than twice Conquered France; Which, One would think, should make all true Englishmen pray for the Succession of the Crown, in a true lineal descent.  
From these, let us come some what nearer, and behold Edward the 6th upon his death bed, whom Northumberland works, and imposeth to declare the Lady Jane Grace his Successor: The security of the Protestant Religion was then, as now pretended, To which They knew Mary was averse, And so soon as the King was Dead, the Lady Grace (against her own will is proclaimed Queen, in London; and her Ambitious Father in Law, Northumberland thinks all safe, as having nothing to oppose him but a Naked and defenceless (Tho a true) Title; when no sooner Mary (tho' a Papist) asserts her Right to the Crown, but her Subjects (tho' they were Protestants) as one man rise up in Arms to Defend [not to oppose or invade] the Succession: They knew how many thousand lives the dispute about the Crown had cost but a little before; Neither could they find any motive then, no more than We can now in the Church of England, That gave any Encouragement against the Lawful Heir. P●●secution they might dread, but they would commit that Cause to God; and they had rather undergo the flames of Martyrdom, than be stigmatised with the brand of Rebellion. Upon this the Conspirators were defeated (and that without a Battle) taken and Executed. I might tell you of Wyat's Conspiracy in the same Queen's time, and of many others in Her Sister's Reign.  
And as we often see Treason Severely punished in this World, so it is much more dangerous to the Actors thereof in the World to come; I am sure St. Paul tells Us so, Rom: 13. 2. They that Resist, shall Receive to Themselves Damnation, a very small Encouragement (God knows) for Conspirator and Usurpers, to rise up against and Dethrone a Lawful King; Fortho' we should grant (which seldom happens) that many Traitors might so far prosper here, as to secure themselves from the hands of Justice; yet there is a King of Kings, from whom no power can shelter Conspirators or such (whether they be Lords Spiritual or Temporal) that shall any ways Invite, or encourage an Invader, against their Lawful Sovereign; And this Damnation, in the close of all, will prove a sad Prize of the most Fortunate, or Successful Treason whatsoever.  
And in the 49 verse of this Chapter, we may find no less than 14700 destroyed, because they maliciously cried our against Moses and Aaron that they had killed the People of the Lord; And what People were they? why even the Blessed Conspirators! Corah and his Accomplices! Good God that any should be so bold, or Foolish to call those, whom the Holy Ghost in my Text, brands with the character of wicked Men The People of the Lord; No! No! They never were nor can be the People of the Lord, who Resist Lawful Authority.  
London, Printed for James Norris at the Kings-Arms without Temple Bar   

A SERMON Preached at Petworth in Sussex by John Price, D. D.  1 Corinth: 10, 10. Neither Murmur Ye, as some of them also Murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer. 
NEither the sense of a natural allegiance, nor the Sacred Ties of Oaths, nor Preferments, nor Honours, nor Riches could keep Some men, in the dutiful station of Subjects; St. Paul would have the Corinthians take warning from the Israelites, whose Murmur, and discontents, are recorded in Scripture, and recorded there not only To ubraid their ingratitude, but as the Apostle speaks verse 11. These things happened to them, for Examples, and they are written for Our admonition, upon whom the Ends of the World are come.  
Solomon gives a Caveat, Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than These? For thou dost not inquire wisely, concerning this matter; The Murmuring Questionists of his Age, had the like before them, and they have been since; and ever will be! so long as time is, men will complain of the times, and the little portion of Happiness that God gives Us in this life, is disturbed by our own Restless and Repining nature, any little petry accident, at present, doth more disturb Us than a load that is past, and gone off our shoulders, Israel was under the Miraculous protection, and deliverance of Heaven, but wants some little convenience; and presently, we read of a loud and clamorous Murmuring; would to God We had died in Egypt! The hard Bondage they had felt, was gone off now; and the want but of a meals meat, in the Wilderness, put them to Murmur against God and their Governor's.  
As if it were not enough that man was born to labour, as the sparks fly upward, but we add, sparks to the fire, when we are Children and under the discipline of the Rod, we complain that we were not born sooner, and past the Correction of our Master; and when we are Old, we think we beware never so happy as when we were Children; indeed we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those fancies that pleased Us, we are soon weary of, and seek for new; something it is that would please Us better, but what it is we know not; Nev●bus atque Quadrigis petimus bene Vivere. etc.  
To Represent unto you the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Murmurer; first he is an Heretic; St. Ind speaking of false Teachers, says that they are Murmurers, Complainers etc. Iquietoe Hereticorum Curiositates says Tertulian: They are always Restless, and always Prying; Creep into Houses, and then into affections, till their Murmuring discontents at last, break out into open Factions.  
Secondly, The Murmurer is certainly the State sinner, The little grudge that begin in Prince's Courts, are ●oon spread into the Country; and they are like the Poets F●●● Malum, the further the same goes the greater it grows, The Murmuring discontents in the state, at last break out into open Rebellion (as We now sadly see The Israelites said as for this Moses, We wots not what is become of him, The next thing we hear of them is, They make a Motion Calf, that is set up a Religion and Government of their own, The Tongue is a little Member saith St. James, but 'tis a great evil: and the Murmuring Tongue sets the state still on fire; and Hell Fire shall be the Portion of such Tongues.  
Thirdly the Murmurer is ever an envious person, and so an evil member of a Society; Murmuring is a distemper called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a complaining without cause, and the envious man always doth this, 'tis a nature that mak●s a near appreach to the Devils, The prosperity of job is an Eyesore.  
Fourthly he is the Malicious man; delights to do Mischief where he lives; is a trouble to himself, and will be so to his Neighbour; and therefore no wonder if punishment doth attend him, for he is ranked by Solo●on among the seven abominable things, that God hates, Him that soweth discord among Brethren. In short a Murmurer is he that is every thing, that is Mischievous, Blaspheams- God, the King the Church his neighbour; and he is a burden to the Earth, and to himself, neither good nor bad whether pleaseth him, Complains in War, and yet is discontented in Peace; pines away in Scarcity, and yet repines at plenty; when ●●s Summer, he longs for Winter, and when 'tis Winter wisheth again for Summer, neither Times nor Manners please him, and could he call for them at his pleasure, yet he would Murmur still, of which we have a full iustance in the Text.  
Ill Men, who have private designs of their own to carry on will be always complaining of Public affairs; and their Complaints may sometimes seem so plausible, that they may gain Proselytes to their Faction, 
* I doubt not but there were many such in England.  Some of whom may not Mean so ill, as they do.  
Froward Men disturb God's method of Mercy, and make it ever Miscarry in the Womb. God intended quietly and safely to lead Israel out of Egypt into Canaan; and the March of so many years might have been accomplished in so many days; but They stood in their own light and stopped the way against themselves: They tempted God very oft, and so oft, that a patiented and long suffering God, at last, swore in his wrath that They should not enter into his Rest. This Sin of Murmuring is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ill habit of the stomach, that corrupts the best meat; We Murmur at Mercys, as Israel did at Manna.  
Some Casuists tells us, that Habitual Sins have a guilt distinct from those Sins of which they are Habits, and that they are more dangerous, because the Sinner is farther off from Repentance: The guilt that is contracted from those Habits doth make a Callus, and fear the Conscience, that the sinner little thinks on it, That he is going down into the Chambers of death, and he is ensnared into damnation, drowned in perdition before he says Domine miserere, or asks what he has done? The Habit of Murmuring is so universal. Hand joined to Hand, Tongue to Tongue, that the sense of the Gild is lost; and because 'tis so 'tis a distinct guilt: for the greatest Sinners have repent, as Murderers, Adulterers, yea and Idolaters too, who are in a peculiar manner Guilty Loesoe Majestatis Divinae, and Traitors to the God of Heaven. The repentance of all habitual sinners is difficult, but the repentance of an Habitual Murmurer, is bes●t with more than ordinary difficulties; for the Arguments that should reach the guilt, are not well reducible to any single Commandment and doth scarce affect the letter of any; And yet 'tis a sin of a complicated guilt, affects both Tables, and most of the Commandments of Both. Besides the Murmurer is not so soon as other Sinners convinced of his Gild, because he hath framed a rule of rectitude to himself, and his Conscience o●ens and shuts by that Rule, and so he strains at gnats and swollows Camels: Nothing so much troubled the Conscience of a Neapolitan Shepherd, when he came to Confession at Easter, as that he had tasted a little Cream the Lent before; but he had often Robbed and Murdered Passengers on the Mountains, and that troubled not his Conscience, because his Father and Grandfather had ●on so before: I believe all o● Us are ready to pass a true and just sentence here, but Reflect, here are some, who cannot digest as●●t Form of Prayers; are offended at a Surplice, startle at the Cross in Baptism, etc. And yet can whisper against the King, and whisper to be heard too! talk loudly against Bishops and Priest's, censure all men; complain of every thing and be satisfied with nothing.  
Remember that God passed by some of the discontents of Isr●el, but when They grew Clamorous and more Combined, his wrath fell in amongst them. And Remember that God hath other Eyes to see Sin, with than We have, and hath other Scales to weigh it in, than We have We ourselves do not take ill Language kindly from our Neighbour, and can we think that God will from Us, when by our discontents We daily Revile his Providence?  
When froward men do take a Liberty to speak, writ and Print what they please, and all with designs against the Government they live under, 'tis plain, They would be Governors themselves, And when They have whet their Tongues, and sharpened their Pens, They are not far off from drawing their Swords. And surely, without offence, I may now ask if this be not the present case of England against their natural Liege Lord and King?  
LONDON, Printed for John Fish near the Fountain Taver●, in the Strand.   

A SERMON Preached before the King at Winchester, by Fra. Turner D. D. then Dean of Windsor, but since Bishop of Ely.  Psal. 144. 9 10. I will sing a new Song unto thee, O God, etc. Thou hast given Victory unto Kings; and hast delivered David thy Servant from the peril of the Sword. 
THere is no question but David in my Text had an eye to all the terrible hazards he had run before he was Crowned, when Saul and his bloody house were hunting him like a Partridge upon the mountains: So that not his Own 
* Not our King's Palace.  House which should be a man's Castle, and his Sanctuary, not his Own 
† His Majesty didisturbed at midnight.  Bed, which was made to be quiet in; not those very places whither He fl●d for Refuge, were free from the peril of the Sword.  
●o keep far enough off, not only from cold and frivolous parallels, but also from odious comparisons. I will only say, Do We not see a King preserved from the same implacable enemy that has pursued him above these forty years; but a much more formidable enemy since he concealed his enmity▪ than when he declared himself openly, even by setting a price upon the Most Sacred Head.  
And David in his reflections upon the dangers or deliverances of his life, looks up to Heaven, he acknowledges, That the Race is not to the swift, nor the Battle to the strong; and though it be added by Solomon, that Time and chance happen to all things; his meaning was, that many things ●ook indeed like Chance, though guided by a hand of Providence, to most unseen, which yet was most visible to King David; in the whole course of his Fortunes; therefore he gives the Honour to God alone: He thanks him not only for his own prosperous success●s, but in behalf of All the Crowned Heads in the world, It is he that giveth victory ●nto Kings: To the same great▪ God of Heaven he ascribes their Preservation from so many Horrid Cons●iraties, as while there is a Devil in Hell, and so many of his Agents upon Earth [in England] will never cease to be carried on; and when they are defeated or prevented, it is ●e the King of Kings that delivers his Servant David, or by parity of reason, any other Sovereign Prince, from the hurtful Sword.  
Now when David says, It is God that giveth victory unto Kings, it is to be understood virtually, and implicitly universal; he does not say that God always gives them victory: We know it has been given against the Best of Kings to the Worst and most Ungrateful of all his Subjects: But the meaning is, that when ever th●se sacred Princes are so delivered, as to be preserved from the Sword, 'tis by an extraordinary vigilance of the Divine Providence over them, 'tis God is their Guardian, and not Man. And as [too late experience teacheth,] no King is to put his trust in the number or the fortitude of his People, so neither is any People to confide in the wisdom of their Heads, or in the vastness of their Body, to Oppose their Lawful Prince: For God in his Good Time, will make it appear that He governs the World, and He will make Them feel his hand that [Have Wrested] or think to wrest the Sceptre from Himor Them that hold it for Him. Whoever They are that use indirect & unlawful means to raise or establish, or but to Secure Themselves, They set up as it were for themselves, without God in the World; They take the certain course either to miscarry with their design; Or, if they do gain Their Point, yet their success itself is a Judgement upon Them; Proportionable to the greatness of their Sin, will be Their punishment; which, if It comes in this World, is commonly fetched out of the very bowels of the Sin that deserved it, and so as the hand of God is illustriously visible in it. Such as will not trust in God as a Deliverer from any Dangers They fear, but will take the Sword against Their Lawful Prince, upon any pretence whatsoever; Their Sentence is read in the words of our Blessed Saviour; They that take the Sword shall perish by the Sword.  
As an humble Confidence of God's Protection over us (if We resolve to live in his most holy fear) is the most infallible course We can take to continue in safety; so, on the other side, all Policy that swerves from the strict rule of Conscience, does rather procure than pr●●ent extreme danger.  
The men of Israel said unto Gideon (that was in the time of the Judges) Rule Thou over us, both Thou and thy Son, and thy Son's Son also: By which they bind themselves and their posterity to be subject to him and his: But how did they keep their Faith with him? Much at the same rate as the unconstant multitude are wont to keep it. As soon as G●deon is dead, Abimelech his Son by a Co●●bine, insinuates himself into them; They fur●ish him with Money under hand, wherewith he hires vain and light persons to follow him; Multi quibus utile Bellum: And with These he assassinates all the seventy legitimate Sons of his Father upon one stone; yet the People have still that wicked partiality for him, as to make him their King; but how did this 
* And so is every Traitor; for the blood of all that is spilt in the Rebellion, shall lie upon their heads.  Murderous Traitor and his A betters prosper? Jotham the youngest Son of Gideon, and the only Son that survived the Massacre, cries as a Prophet from God against the Usurper; and denounces that Fire shall come out of ●e Bramble, (so in his parable he calls that Ba●e Son) and that this Fire shall devour their Cedars of Libanon▪ Their Noblemen that raised [or invited] him. And we are told afterwards, that the men of Sichem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, as Those that have been once F●llow Traitors to their lawful King, do s●l●om long continue faithful to one another. What ●umul●s t●ere followed? What Insurrections? How the Fields were died with Gore, and how much Blood ran down the Streets of their City, you may read in that noble Story. And all the evil of the men of Sichem did God render upon Their own heads, and upon Them came the Curse of Jotham.  
But because this ●istrusting of God, and (in stead of doing that which David presses so passionately, O tarty Thou the Lord's leisure) being ready to say with that impious Nobleman, Why ●arry We for the Lord any longer? Because this fatal Impatience seems to be now one of our national Sins, I shall urge against the sad effects of it some such examples as shall be national, and virtually a multitude of examples; Zedekiah the King of Judah having absolutely submitted to the great King of Babylon, '●is said he rebelled against King Nabuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: Therefore by the way▪ The ●●st●●ing a lawful Prince to whom an Oath of Obedience ha●h once been take●, though he be an Heathen Prince, as Nebuchad ezxar was, is 〈◊〉 better than a downright P●●●ury, A wicked Rebellion: So Jeremiah the poor despised Prophet of God implies it to be throughout his Prophecy. But what if these were Perjured Rebels? yet this was always their note concerning themselves. The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord are these▪ i e. They were the Godly, they were the Saints; just as the True Protestant! The true Protestant! is now the common Cry of Those, who think that Title, a good Apology, & a sufficient Plea to legitimate Perjury and Rebellion; nay more, he is sure to be called a Factor for Babylon (as Jeremiah was) that dares but call it Perjury and Rebellion. But to return to my Story, what became of that Rebellion I was relating? That misguided easy Prince was utterly lost, his very eyes were not left him, but only so long as to see his Sons put to the Sword, and the People were carried Captives into that same Babylon, that heathenish Country, which they so justly abhorred  
Again, the same turbulent and restless People, being after many ages in some degree reestablished by the valour of the Maccabees, had made an entire and necessary surrender of themselves to the Romans, as to their Lords and Masters. For fear of giving umbrage to the Romans of any other pretender to the Crown but Cesar, their cursed Politician Caiaphas was for putting our Blessed Lord to death: These two words Venient Romani! the Romans will come, and take away both our place and Nation, were effectual Incentives to stir up the People to cry, Crucify him, Crucify him: As now to cry loud enough, Popery will come in and swallow Us up, serves all the turns of any great Incendiaries, to b●e●k through all Humane and Divine Laws. What else could they intent (speaking of the Fanatic Plot in King Charles the Second time) but a Massacre? What other thing could they wish? What other cause of acting so detestable a Treason? For to take off a most merciful King, and his next Successor; Who next to him hath showed himself of a most reconcilable Temper.  
Complying men, such as can sit still and be quiet under any Usurpations, care not What In●erest prevails, and laugh at the notion of being State Martyrs: But I wish this sort of men (who please themselves w●●h being so Passive in so Active times as these) would consider what kind of censure, or sentence rather, an Heathenish Legislator hath passed upon them; Amongst the Laws of Solon (says Plutarch, Writer of his Life) that is very peculiar and surprising, which makes all Those infamous, who stand Neuters in a Sedition: for it seems he would not have any One insensible and regardless of the Public, and securing his Private affairs, glory that he had not any feeling of the Distempers of his Country, but Presently join with Those that have the Right upon their side, assist and venture with Them rather than shift out of Harms-way. These are the words of the wise man, stating and declaring the concern that every private man ought to show, when his Prince (in respect to Rebellion) or his Country (by Invasion) is in danger. And David being yet a Subject, tells the people plainly, as the Lord liveth (says he) Ye are worthy to die, Because Ye have not kept your Master the Lord's Anointed. Awake than You that together with the Land which the Lord gave, to your Forefathers, inherit their virtue too the old English Loyalty and Courage, Lay out your thoughts upon some thing more worthy of yourselves, than are thoughts only of your own security: Let every one in his station do his duty fearlessly: And they that do so, prove for the most part the wisest aswell as the most Conscientious, the safest aswell as the noblest and best Patriots: Let Us set it down to ourselves that Honesty is the true Policy, and let none make that cursed conversion of the proposition, as if Policy were the true Honesty; unless they mean to Revive that old abominable Gnostick principle of Compliance with any Usurpations, or Impositions, for fear of sufferings, for fear of that; which a Christian would rather wish for his own sake, could it be without other men's guilt, i. e. the Crown of Martyrdom. The Church (the Field of God) has been manured and enriched with the noblest compost in the world, the blood of Martyrs; The times and Seasons of the year are bounded out and Signalised by the dying days of Martyrs, The Christian Temples are dedicated to the Memorials of the Martyrs; And Miracles were undeniably wrought at the Monuments of the blessed Martyrs. After all this, men of soft and smooth-Insinuations would introduce a Principle of self-preservation (as they call it) as if it were unworthy, as if it were unlawful to suffer any thing like Martyrdom, Nay as if it were more Christian like, to be Rebels and Regicides, than to be so much as Confessors in the cause of Christ.  
I hope now many of the King's Enemies will change their note, and sing Our new Song, But then let it come from the ground of the heart, And upon these terms They are welcome not only to Our Communion (to our Church, She never takes the Sword against her lawful Sovereign) but to that of the Angels in Heaven; for there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth, then much more joy over many repenting Sinners. What a noble change, or rather what a Glorious transfiguration would be wrought upon These men, that were lately Instruments of mischief; would They now turn Saviour's in their kind, such as the Prophet gives God thanks for, Thou gavest them Saviour's who saved them out of the hands of their Enemies, Nehem: 9 27. I will not say the third part of the Stars are smitten down (as they were in St. John's vision) yet now so many who shined heretofore in their proper Orbs are fallen. And yet the greatest Courage in the World may find Room enough to exercise and show itself in a Through Penitent; as 'tis excellently argued by St. Chrysostom, That David showed a more undaunted greatness of mind in daring to think of Surmounting the Sin, and the Shame, and to set up again for a Saint, after his Foul, Treacherous and Bloody offence in the matter of Vriah, than he had shown in his Single Combat with Goliath of Gath.  
LONDON, Printed for Benjamin Took at the Ship in St. Paul's Churchyard.   

The Religious Rebel. A SERMON Preached at South-Marston, in Wiltshire by Charles Powel, M. A.  Psal. 10, 10. He falleth down and humbleth himself, that the Congregation of the Poor may fall into the hands of his Captains. 
REbellion (says Samuel) is as the sin of Witchcraft: Satan first Rebelled against the great Monarch of the World, and though his Ambition tumbled him down from the bright Regions of Bliss into eternal Chains of Darkness, yet his instruments carry on the same Rebellion still; tho' the scene be changed, and the Plot carried on at a distance, the design is still the same, only that Our earthly Rebels are in this the worse Devils, that They dare Rebel against God and the King too.  
This Psalm in general is a pathetical complaint of David to Almighty God of the Pride, Treachery, Malice and Cruelty of wicked men, who (as Solomon says) seek only Rebellion; and These wicked men (expositors tell us) are Those whom he had maintained and preferred in his own Court, and were therefore the more wicked and the more dangerous; of which very persons he says; It is not an open Enemy that hath done me this dishonour, etc.  
Divisions are of late so dangerous, that I shall not dare so much as to divide my Text, but will only raise from it this proposition; That it is no● new thing for the worst of men to make use of the sacred name of Religion, to palliate the most abominable undertake. Bloodshed, the Murderer of the▪ Fathers and Defenders of Religion (Pious Kings and Princes) destruction and Massacre of their Fellow Subjects, pulling down and overturning of all polity in the World, must be all ushered in (as We see it this day) with the Lamblike harmless voice of Religion: And tho' in these Glorious times of the Gospel they cannot possibly think so, yet They will pretend, that in all this They do God good Service; so true is that of our Saviour; They come to Us in Sheep's Clothing, but inwardly They are Ravening Wolves.  
My proposition has been so often and so sadly proved, even Among Ourselves, that to go about to confirm it by Arguments or precedents were to light you with a Lantern, in the Sunshine, or to persuade you that you are wounded, when you are (now) Roaring under the smart and anguish of the Blow. An evil man (says Solomon) seeks only Rebellion. therefore a cruel Messenger shall be sent against him. Prov: 17, 11.  
We must have a care how we harken to Those men, that make the greatest noise about Religion, which is not a thing of Talk and Noise and Tumult, but a Quiet, Calm, Peaceable thing: The Author of it was the Lamb of God, who neither stirred up the Jews to Rebel against the Roman Heatken C●sar, nor did he ever make use of any Sinister, or Violent means to escape the hands of his bloody Persecutors and Crucifiers, who envied him for nothing more than his Religion, which he came on purpose to plant among them, and which was to be watered with his own Blood, and brought to perfection by his own Death. In all his Actions, in the whole course of his Life, he was a Pattern to them of Meekness, Gentleness, Peaceableness, and Sub●ection. And truly I am afraid Those men, who make such an Hurry and Clutter about Religion, are not his Disciples, nor did They ever learn it from the Prince of Peace, especial when They make Religion the Argument of Public Commotions and Disturbances.  
Let me now give you this Seasonable Caution. Doth any one come to you in Samuel's Mantle, in the Garb and Posture of a Prophet, and in that Sacred Disguise falsy whisper to you what that Aparition said truly to Saul; That God is departed from the King, and become his Enemy (for such Sprights also there are now abroad in the World, and Those in Black too) Have a care now? and stand upon your Guard! Look Diligently about you! are you not got into Endore e'er you are ware? Is not the Witch and the Devil at work now, instead of Samuel, tempting You to ill thoughts of him, whom that more sure word if Prophecy (the word of God) tells you, ye shall not dare so much as to think Irreverently of? Remember that Apparition was an Extraordinary thing, never permitted but once, a thing that Frighted the Witch herself, and not like to be repeated again, for every Fantastic man's ●ake, that would pretend to Inspiration. 'Tis true indeed; there are ●●ch Spirits in the World, but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Cademons' or Wicked Spirits, Spirits of Rebellion and Mischief and Murder, as St. Paul Prophecies of, 2 Tim: 3, 4. Traitorous, Heady, , Lovers of pleasure more than Lovers of God, such as St. jude describes, who Despise Dominion, speak evil of Dignities; And these St. Paul tells ●s, have a form of Godliness; They appear like Lucifer himself, when ●e is Transformed into an Angel of Light, all Clad with the bright and Glorious Rays of pretended Sanctity, as if they were Sons of the Morn●ng, some of the Corpse du Guard to the great King of Heaven: But than ●ave a care, Mulier formosa superne, De●init in Piscem. Beware of the Clo●en Foot under the Robes of light; for tho' they have the form of Godliness, yet you may be sure they deny the Power of it, who endeavour to ●essen and vilify those persons in your opinion, who bear the Image and ●amp of Him, from whom they derive their Authority; By Me Kings Reign; And while they Command nothing▪ but what is in their Compression, are no less to be obeyed than he that sent Them, and set them o●er us, however They are not In any Case to be Resisted; for Whosoever Resist shall Receive to Themselves Damnation. Rom: ●3, 2.  
And when his Majesty was Restored in mere Mercy to Us; for I can ●●arce call it any to him, who seemed to be brought back only to new afflictions, by the Ingratitude and Repeated Rebellions and Conspiracies of a Stiffnecked and Hypocritical Generation, who have Repaid ●ll those Blessings, that by Him were conveyed to Us, not only by Reproachful and Contumelious language, which Moses calls Reviling of ●●e Gods, Exod: 22, 28. But by atheistically, Sacrilegiously and Rebelliously Plotting and Contriving his death, to whose Mercy [now] ●nd to his Brother's Godlike Act of Oblivion, so many among Us own ●hose lives, which We are now Sacrificing to the God of Rebellion against him. A King so dear to Heaven, that it has shown as many Miracles in his preservation, as Hell hath produced Plots even to a Miracle, for his destruction. I need not refresh your Memories which the wonderful Acts of Heaven in his whole life, which has had its black lines of affliction, more perhaps than any other King we read of, in the Murder of that glorious Saint; his Royal Father, the several Exiles of himself, and the Royal Family, and the present Calamnities, which now attend him, in all which he hath suffered and doth still continue to suffer more than I can relate, or he could bear, were he not sustained by the right hand of the most High while he not only was, but now is again what St. Paul says of himself, ●n journeying often, in Perils of Waters, in Perils of Robbers, in Perils by his own Countrymen, in Perils among False Brothers [Treacherous Favourites] in Weariness, in Painfulness etc. And now let Us pray to God that he would move Us all to walk more uprightly, and more sincerely before him, And that the same God would make Us for the future more Loyal to our King; that We may not any longer deal Hypocritically with the one, or Rebelliously with the other, That God may once more speak Peace to his People.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard:   

A Sermon Preached in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, By William Smith, Prebend there.  Psal. 107. 8. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness: And declare the wonders he doth for the children of men. 
HAth the Nation scarcely wiped Their Eyes dry for the Blood of the Incomparable Father, but must it be drowned again in Tears, for the murder of his succeeding Sons? And that in a scene of cruelty more inhuman, and with a malice more infatiable than the former. [And may I now say (as this juncture stands) being from Men that were once the least to be suspected.] The rage of the Factions had then but the Blood of one King for its present gratification; but Our Zealo●s for the Cause could not glut their thirst for Royal Blood, but by murdering (as it were) Two at one blow; the life of the Dearest Brother too must be sacrificed to their fury and design. So that (methinks) I hear the Saints of that complexion say of him, Here is the Heir, come, let Us kill him also, and seize on the Inheritance. [But let Us declare the wonders of God, for that the King hath escaped the kill, though the Rebels have assisted an Usurper to seize on his Majesty's Inheritance.] A Prince who all along manageth the conduct of his own Kingdoms and Government, with such a sweetness and ingenuity of temper, that he never did, or can, choose to see his meanest subjects so much as uneasy, if Obstinacy precludes not his Royal Kindness to relieve Them: In a word, a Prince that is every thing, that a character of any the most gracious King can represent him.  
And is it This? Such a King! that was designed to be barbarously murdered by his own Subjects! [and now as basely betrayed by the most villainous treacheries!] O! are you not all struck with such an horror at the thoughts of it, as even to forget You have a being at all? Don't all the Blood of Your Ueins chill to a stone, at the very notice of it? And are not your whole Souls, and all their faculties, swallowed up with surprise and amazement? Why don't You cry to the Heavens and the Earth to be astonished, that it should ever enter into the hearts of any of the Christian name, to attempt such acts, that would not only have justified the salvageries of the most brutish Barbarians, but even made Hell itself comparatively innocent in its worst consults. Such acts! that do invert the order of the mischievous Regions, and hath placed the Bottomless Pit (as it were) above ground, and hath so outdone Devils at their own art, that they shall for ever after be tormented with envy, as with a new kind of Hell; that there should be among mankind (in a certain Island) greater Devils than Themselves. Marvel not that I discourse in this rapturous manner, the Case requires it, and it is a defect not so to express it. The Devil as General, with his Lieutenants in sheep's clothing, under the Flag of a Through Reformation, had once again rallied the Whole Protestancy, that is, all the Heresies that ever infested the Catholic Church in all ages, especially the Reformadoes of the Knipperdollian and Knoxian Regiments, to bear down before them all that's regular and loyal, learned and pious.  
And let us now behold further the sad consequences that have already, and are still like to attend Us. Did you not see the enraged Vulgar turn their Ploughshares into Swords, and their Pruning-hooks into Spears, to execute what their bloody Leaders long fermented malice had before contrived? Every Village is now likely to become a seat of War, all united Neighbourhoods are now in danger of being turned into distinct Hostilities, and every single person is like to be listed into one side or other to carry on the fatal, the sad and dismal work of a Through Destruction. How happy were We, when the armed Troops in our streets marched only as our Defence and Guard; When our Trumpets sounded nothing but the welcome Joys of our common Safety; and our Drums beat Us every night to bed▪ for an unsuspected quiet. [But alas, We must now awake amidst all the dismal Alarms of horror and confusion, and our beloved Country is like to be the Seat of that War, which is most just against Us: How could We dethron 〈…〉 ted!]  
This Treason! this late Conspiracy! was not only 〈…〉 abetted, but really managed and acted, by a considerable ●art of 〈…〉 vility, [Lords Spiritual and Temporal] who having off 〈…〉 by Petitioning, Protesting and Caballing, gave the seditious 〈…〉 f●ll assurance, that They owned and headed their Cause. Bu●, 〈◊〉 unfortunate Gentlemen, (or Wretches rather) that ●ou should co 〈…〉 be Tools, and to creep in the dust, to humour a Peevish and unworthy ●action: That They should go about to blend and extinguish that Light [the King] from whence They borrowed their own Lustre; and choose to fall from their own Starry Orbs, to turn Blinking Meteors in the ●usty Regions, to shine only by the Favour of an unjudicious and uncon 〈…〉 〈…〉nt multitude under the Reign of an Usurper.  
This Conspiracy hath been greatly supported under the pretence, and by the obliging name of Religion. Now as Religion bears generally the most powerful Charm in the minds of men, and influenceth them to the highest resolutions of acting, be the attempts never so difficult or hazardous: So must the danger of any evil procedure be increased, that ●ath gained such a prevailing abatement. And such was our Case. All the Factions (though in other things they may irreconcilably disagree, yet) concur in this one common principle, That they man's Religion is ●●s own Private Conscience, which he is to believe is the immediate dictate of God, and which he is bound indisputably to follow. Now when this notion of Religion is entertained, it sets up in every factious mind an  Tribunal, which governs with a power superior to all ●●mane reason, laws and authority; and gains such an ascendant over ●●ch men's thoughts and actions, that like the Commanders power in the Gospel, I say to one Man, come, and he cometh; and to another, Go, and 〈◊〉 goeth. Go; saith Conscience, fetch me a Chain, to bind this King, 〈◊〉 Those iron Fetters, to tie down those Nobles; It's dispatched without dispute: And if than it saith, Go and pluck down those Idolatrus Stru●●ures, and let those superstitious Ministers be cast out of them; if such a con●●●ence be but tinctured from Scripture, that those are Groves and High ●●aces, and these are Baalitish Priests and Dumb Dogs, the work is ●one in an instant. When this Sovereign Conscience enjoins this Oath ●o be taken; another, to be superseded, or broken; such a Jury to be ●ack'd, and such a Verdict to be given, let an innocent man's life, or even 〈◊〉 safety of an whole Nation lie at stake, He can no more suspend his Duty, than violate his Credit of being of the Godly Party. Nay if Blood lies in the way of Reformation, 'tis but Whispering into Conscience a Text or two, and it bids the man (〈…〉 it be against whom it will) Go, and utterly destroy those Sinners the Amalakites, and Fight against them till they be consumed, as he finds it, 1 Sa●: 15. 18. Or if he Reads, Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, and that keepeth his Sword from Blood, as he is told Jer: 48. 10. Or if he but hears a Curse ye Meroz, unless you raise a Regiment to fight the Lords Battles; The man of Conscience can no more resist such a call, than if a Revelation from Heaven had set him at work. And what mischief these and such like destructive principles have done We all know, and are now like sadly to smart under the miserable consequence of them. But when shall the Prophecy of the Royal Martyr be accomplished among Us, who told his Son (our Sovereign Lord) That when the mask of Religion should be Pulled off the Face of Rebellion;— He might then see happy Days. But instead of that, Do We not now see three Kingdoms embroiled in the most unnatural War, or which is worse made Slaves to the most unnatural Tyrants! Tho' we have not yet heard the sad Tidings of Cities lay, in Ashes, or of, Fields covered with the Slain, yet We have just; alas too just! reason to fear that destruction attends Us at our very doors; And We have seen that the Innocent and Loyal have been every where made a Prey, to Satiate the Malice of a Revengful Faction! And for their sakes the Nation is Now again become the Reproach of Christianity, and Scorn of Mankind.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby.   

A SERMON Preached before the University of Cambridge by Miles Barnes, D. D.  St. Luke 19 V 14. But his Citizens hated Him, and sent a Message afoer Him; saying, We will not have this Man to Reign over Us. 
THe Jews were always a Moody Headstrong People, Impatient of any kind of Government, Theocracy itself could not please them, They Murmured against Moses and Aaron, etc. And when the Messiah appears as Moses had done before in this great Juncture of hardship, They adhere to their Oppressors, and shamefully reject the●r Saviour; by Libelling his Government in general, by throwing contempt upon his person in particular, Is not this the Carpenter's Son? by traducing his life and conversation, making him a Winebibber, a Friend of Publicans and Sinners; by making base Reflections on his Disciples and chief Ministers; by undervaluing his Doctrine, as inconsistent which the Pomp and Grandeur of the Roman Empire, by making him an Innovator, a disturber of the Established Religion; and lastly (as the Height of their Malice) by Proclaiming him a Traitor and Enemy to Caesar, as having Si●ister ends to set up a Fi●th Monarchy, in opposition to the Fourth. And when all their pretences were Ba●●●ed, and they Reduced to the last effort of Obstinate Rebels, to own Rebellion for Rebellions sake, than They Magisteriously resolve themselves into the Sovereignty of their own Wills, and conclude against all Government in a direct Nolumus Hun●, We will not have this man to Reign over Us, But can they think he will not Reign over them? Yes he does and will too at his last terrible Advent, when he shall come with all the Solemnities of Majesty to Judge the World, Pronounce Sentence upon These Wicked Citti●ens, and make Them the Vassals of Eternal vengeance, The certain Doom of all unrepenting Rebels!  
I am sorry to tell you, that the frequent Tumults and Insurrections which have infested the Reigns of our British Kings, gave occasion to that Sarcastical saying; Rex Angliae, Rex Diabolorum; but you may tell yourselves, that These Devils never Acted more like Devils▪ than since They were possessed and guided by the Turbulent Spirit of our Modern Pharisees the Presbyterians; who are the very Citizens, that from their first Institution have shown their hatred against Monarches and Monarchy. John Calvin founded his Presbytery in Treason and Rebellion, the Citizens having prepared his way by expelling from Geneva their Lawful Prince and Governor, Which violent Act was Encouraged, approved and confirmed by Calvin; and it has ever since been carried on by Schism and Sedition. Never was it Received into any Church, but it presently dissolved the Catholic unity of Faith, and broke the Bond of Peace; never into any State, which it did not embroil and throw into very dangerous Convulsions; never into any Family, which it did not divide, and set at variance; never did it get possession of any single man, whom it did not strangely transform with Pride and Morosness, made him unfit for Civil Society and Common Conversation.  
Have the Presbyteria●s in any of their Synods censured or condemned the pernicious Tenets of Calvin or Beza? has Any of them had the grace to disown or write against their Dethroning Doctrines? if they have their Books have proved very ineffectual, for if We pass from their Principles to Their Practices, We shall find that They have always been of a Turbulent, Imperious and Bloody Spirit. And there have not been wanting Some Church Trimmers, still retaining a  for the Cause, who from the Pulpit have endeavoured to clear them, and ●ay the guilt of their Horrid Murders chief upon the Popish Priests; though they cannot find the name of one Papist in the whole List of True Protestant Regicides.  
The Principle of De●●roning or Deposing Kings (charged upon the Jesuits) has been publicly censured and condemned as impious and erroneous in several Foreign Unsversities, written against by men of the Romish Communion, and is most solidly and unanswerably confuted by Barclay in his excellent Book De potestate Pap●, etc. which book is dedicated to Clement the Eighth.  
The Prerogative never suffered, no great Statesman has ever been disgraced, nor the Church of England itself (nay the Liberties of the People) ever Wounded, But a dreadful Outcry of Popery has 〈…〉 ceded, No man could show his Fidelity to the Monarchy, but he was presently blasted with the odious Title of a Court or a Church Papist.  
Speaking against the Bill designed to exclude his Royal Highness the Duke of York (now King) says this Reverend Divine. To say nothing to the Rude form observed in the penning of this Bill, that 'twas drawn up by a person since accused of High Treason; And to pass by the Ingratitude of the Contrivers, against a Prince of such Eminent virtues; who has ventured his Royal Blood as frankly for the good of his Country, as the meanest Subject in it, & who was even then actually manifesting his unalterable Loyalty and affection to his Sovereign in Reducing Scotland to their Obedience; and We have at this hour great reason to be thankful to him for his Wise and Prosperous Conduct in that affair.  
And I do here publicly declare; what was always my judgement, that I do believe no human Acts or Power in the World can de jure hinder the descent of the Crown upon the next Heir, which is his unalterable Right by Religion, Law, History and Reason.  
And now if We consider the quality of This Hellish Conspiracy, It is compounded of so many malignant Ingredients, that it looks more like a confederacy against Religion, Morality and the Common Sentiments of Humanity, than a Conspiracy against the Frame, Constitution and Administration of the Government, Ambition, avarice and Revenge have often lead men and bewitched them into Treasonable Associations But This seems to be the sole result of abstracted malice, of men abandoned to the curse of a Reprobate mind; who after having Travelled through all the slow methods of Sedition, have now at last taken Arms and begun a most Bloody Rebellion against the Lord's Anointed.  
And now what storms are coming upon Us! what Devastations and Spoils (by Fire and Sword) may we justly dread. And the whole Nation alas! may now become a Theatre of War and Field of Blood; And the streets filled with the Cries of Widows, and the Fatherless, with Murders, rapines, Incest, Adulteries, Sacrileges, Massacres. and Conflagrations. And what satisfaction now can any Loyal Subject have to think of Surviving the Ruins of the Government? or to live in a Land Polluted and Stained with Blood? to see daily before his Eyes the dismal spectacle of his enslaved undone Country? or to live in pepetual Fears of being made a Sacrifice himself? But it hath hitherto pleased that God, who allotteth to Atheists and Rebels a portion with the Hypocrite, to rescue and preserve his Majesty from the Paws of these Bloody Miscreants, Hence it appears, That good Kings are the immediate care of God; and that They should be so, seems agreeable to the Oeconomy of his Providence, and is confirmed by Examples in all Ages. For They are his Anointed, His Vicegerents, set over Us by his appointment, and are therefore entitled to a special Right in the Divine Providence. Of this Truth his present Majesty, with the late King his Royal Brother have been very Eminent Examples through the whole course of their Respective Lives.  
And that which seems Truly deplorable in this Execrable Treason, is the Hardiness and Impenitence that accompanies This Rebellion, and pursues the Rebels to the very moments of their Deaths. But woe! be to Those wretched Guides, who lead Them into both; Those Betrayers of Souls! who instead of disposing men to Christian Obedience, have caused Them first to Rebel, and then instead of disposing Them to Repentance have encouraged them in the Rebellion; And then at their very Deaths have forced them (as it were) to Publish such justifications as seem written with design to incite their accomplices to carry on the work here, whilst they are answering for it in the other world. and this consideration is enough to make the hearts of all good Christians Ake. And We must now pray, that as God hath hitherto preserved the King, so that Justice may overtake those Rebels and Traitors whom Mercy cannot Reclaim.  
In a word then, as We are thankful to God for the preservation of his Majesty hitherto, so let Us implore Protection over him for the time to come, That he may daily Receive fresh Accessions of Strength and Splendour, and be Recompensed for the times, wherein He hath suffered Adversity.  

O Lord save the King,  
And bless thine Anointed;  
Send Him help from thy holy Hill,  
And evermore mightily defend Him.  
Let the Enemy have no advantage over Him;  
Nor the Wicked approach to hurt Him.  
Amen.   
Lonndon, Printed for R: Royston his Majesty's Bookseller.   

A Se●mon Preached before the Lord Mayor etc. of London, By Henry Hesketh, Minister of St. Helen's.  1 Pet. 2, 15. For so is the will of God, that with Welldoing you may put to Silence the Ignorance of Foolish-men. 
WE then most truly honour God, when we express a great sense of his Power and Sovereignty over us, in our Lives: And we then only glorify and acceptably praise Him, when we live according to his Commandments acknowledge the reasonableness and goodness of his Laws, and cheerfully do those things, that are pleasing unto Him. Among these, there cannot well be an higher instance, than to live up to the Principles of that Excellent Religion, that he has appointed To be the Measure of all our Actions.  
To inquire now what was The Cavil and objection which these Foolish men made against Christian Religion, which the Apostle in the Text hath respect unto, and would have Silenced? And this may easily be resolved, by considering the two verses immediately preceding the Text; In which the Apostle doth press the duty of Obedience and Subjection to Our Lawful Governors, both Supreme and Subordinate; Submit Yourselves to every Ordinance of Man, whether it to be the King as Supreme, or unto Governors, as those that are sent by Him. And this he presseth by an Argument that can never fail of effect upon a good man, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord, and out of Conscience to him, whose Institution Government is, and who hath commanded Subjection to it▪ Upon which These words immediately follow; by which We plainly understand, that the Objection which he enjoins this Subjection in Confutation of, was that old and early Clamour, that Christian Religion was an Enemy to Government, and the professors of it Factious and Seditious persons, The great Clamour against the Christians, upon which that great uproar against them at Thessalonica was stirred, Acts 17. 6, 7. was this, ●hese that have Turned the World up-side down, are come hither also; and These all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another (one Jesus) King. This you will also find the chief thing in the accusation against St. Paul, Acts 24, 5. For we have found this Man a Pestilent fellow, and a Mover of Sedition, etc.  
And I do most readily confess, that were this accusation true, were Christian Religion inconsistent with Government, an Enemy to it, or a Disturber of it, there could not be an objection that would be more fatal to it; all the Reproach and Dishonour that men could load it with, were just, there were no apology to be made for it, nor any thing to be expected, but that all the world should combine together against it. All men that have any becoming thoughts of the Providence and Goodness of God, how tender he is of the good of Mankind, and how largely he hath provided for it, how wisely he conducts the course of humane affairs, and steers them by Rules, which would make them, and all things else that is happy, can never believe That to be a Divine Religion, or be persuaded to accept it as coming from God, which perplexeth the course of things, and defeats these good purposes of God in the World. God is the God of Order and not of Confusion, the Author as well as Lover of Concord and Peace, and not of Ruin and Dissension among Men; And therefore can never be the Author of any Religion that is destructive of the One, and naturally effective of the other, among them. And it therefore greatly concerns all Those that hav● any Respect for the Christian Religion, to be sure to keep it clear from any Objections of this kind.  
The Ancient Apologists have taken care ●in their Noble defences of Christian Religion, to clear it from this Scandalous Reflection, By appealing to the known Doctrines and Principles of it; They challenge the World to instance in any one saying in the new Testament, whether there ●e the least hint or encouragement given to Rebellion, or any thing that can warrant the least undutiful Carriage towards our Governors? Or rather, whether there be not enough asserted there, to assure Government, and to engage all persons to Subjection, upon better arguments, and stronger Reasons, than a●y yet were ever made use of before, For here the Reason of Subjection is laid deep, and charged immediately upon the Consciences of men, Resistance is 〈…〉 〈…〉-si●●ing the Ordinance of God, and Damnation is expressly threat 〈…〉 ●gainst it. And yet I must needs say to the dishonour of Some men, That They have Rob Christian Religion of this way of Defending itself, and defeated the effect of this appology for it.  
Obedience is not only recommended, upon the great advantages of quietness and Peace, of happiness and Order, that result to the World from it, nor backed with the Sanctions of Temporal Punishment to Those that Rebel; but it is pressed upon Reasons of Conscience and Duty to God, and the danger of incurring that Eternal Damnation that is prepared in Hell, for the Lawless and Disobedient.  
King's will be better pleased, and satisfied with the quiet and peaceable Lives of their Subjects; their cheerful obedience to their Laws, and Their ready compliance with their pleasure, than with all the formal Caresses, and Protestations of Loyalty and Love. And I wish Some men of late had not given Them too great cause to conclude, that men's Practices and Prof●ssions do not always go together.  
The good Christians of Old were in all cases peaceable and submissive, They readily obeyed, and hearty prayed for their Governors, Even when mos● Barbarously and unjustly provoked to the contrary; so that not one Christian died as a Rebel or a Traitor, in all the Early Persecutions of Christianity, nor for several Centuries; And you may challenge any of our modern Factors for Treason to instance in One. Nay, it is well known that even Julian the Apostate acquits Them from this aspersion, and upbraids his Heathen Subjects, with the Obedience and Loyalty of the Galileans (as he scornfully calls them) which is the more remarkable testimony, for coming from the mouth of the Bitterest Enemy that Christiani●y ever had.  
And now alas! amongst all the sad Circumstances of Our late Treasons and Rebellion, there are none ●e aught more to be concerned for, than the Impiety and Gild of the Conspirators, and the advantage that some men will take hence, to Reproach the Protestant Religion. Oh! Cursed Impiety and hypocrisy! are these things becoming True protestants? Is this the effect of all your Starched and formal Godliness▪ Do all your Oaths and Vows of Loyalty, and service to Your King? Do all Your appeals to God, for the sincerity of your Intentions? Do all your Solmn Protestations of care and concern for his safety, come at last to this? good God that Plots and Conspiracies against the King, Nay ●●●n Rebellion itself, should shelter themselves under the Gospel! And Religion ●e 〈◊〉 to Colour that, which almost above all things it abhors. What shall we say of such men? who can help U● to Names and Characters bad enough for Them? who have put off not only Religion, but Humanity, and are Actualy commenced Devils.  
LONDON, Printed for Henry Bonnick at the Lion near St. Paul's   

A SERMON Preached by John Harrison D. D.  2 Sam: 18. 28. And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the King, all is well. And he fell down to the Earth upon his Face before the King, and said blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath Delivered up the Men that lift up their hand against my Lord the King. 
THe Rebellion that was to begin at Heb●on, did happen under the pretence of paying a vow unto the Lord, that is, under the Veil or Disguise of Religion, Absolom said to the King, Let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron, 2 Sam: 15. 7. Nothing more usual than to give out, For the cause of Christ! whilst under that vizor, They Act parts quite contrary to his Holy Doctrine and Blessed Example. And this is ever observable, in a well form Conspiracy (if a Conspiracy can in any sense be so expressed) First, To settle itself Under some Chief Leader, that by Popular Arts hath insinuated Himself into the Multitude, Giving Himself out to be some mighty one, And what he wants of a just Title (as that ought ever to be maintained in an Hereditary Kingdom) He will make good in his defence of the People's Religion, Estates, Lives and Fortunes.  
The late Lord Russel, encouraged by this Scotch Doctrine. That it is Lawful to defend a man's Conscience by open Force against any Authority whatsoever, did dare adventure his Body (Yea I tremble) his very Soul on this false bottom, so his Execreable paper seems to import, But instead of a Faithful (I fear) he met with a Faithless Confessor: 
B●rne●.  For who (that is not resolved to quit humanity) will believe that to be Religion, which is Maintained with Treasons and Murders of the most Purple Dye? And here we may observe, of what Mischievous Consequence any Combination is, whether influenced by self-Interest, Pride, Ambition, Spite or Malice. When We are once lead out of the King's Highway of Honour and Honesty, into any By-paths of our own, We soon fall into the Broad road of Rebellion.  
Having taken a Survey of This Hellish Conspiracy, a sudden Horror here Seifeth my trembling heart, at the sad apprehensions of what hath already, or may still, most justly befall Us, The dismal consequences of a Bloody War! etc. The face and voice of an Angel (which hitherto hath been for Religion, Estates, Lives and Liberties) is now like to be changed into the hands of a Devil, who may rend those dearest Interests into a thousand pieces; And the bleeding marks of the Last Rebellions, being Scarce out of our sides, We are now again like to be turned into avery Shambles.  
But surely We that have been so many years, a Lasting mark of Infamy (over the habitable Earth) for Murdering King Charles the First, of Blessed Memory, and Betraying his present Majesty, as Judas did his Saviour, can no longer delight, in a continuance of such disgrace, as wants a Parallel. Have We forgot our Oaths of Allegiance? Have We cast behind Us all past favours from the Crown? to Betray our Trust, to lift up our hands against God's Anointed! sure there are Some, the better they be dealt with, the worse still ye shall find them, And of These constantly David was most in danger.  
LONDON, Printed for William Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar.   

A Sermon Preached on the Thanksgiving day etc. by Edward Pelling Chaplin to the Duke of Somersett.  Psal. 34, 19 Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous; But the Lord delivereth Him out of them all. 
THe special Providence of God is seen in nothing more, than in watching over Princes, in preserving Them, and their Kingdoms, and in supporting their Government For the hearts of Men are naturally so impatient of Subjection, and so greedy of Power; their particular interests are so divided; their designs are so various; their Passions are so violent; their Principles are so different; their minds are so set upon Villainy and Mischief, (and what through Ambition or Covetuousness, or Discontent) their Spirits are so restless, that 'tis by a daily Miracle that Princes live, and 'twould be impossible for them to be safe one Moment, did not the immediate had of God (of whom alone They hold their Crowns) Shelter and Protect Their Persons, and overule the Madness of Turbulent and Bloodthirsty People.  
Perhaps no Prince living ever had such ample experience of this, as King David had; unless W● will except our own dread Sovereign, whose case comes nearest to a Parallel: Davia's Title to the Crown was Unquestionable: His Government was equal and easy; His heart was of a Tender and Compassionate Temper; He was ready to forget the greatest wrongs, and not only to Forgive, but also to express Kindness to the greatest Criminals; insomuch that job had the Confidence, in the heat of his Passion, to tell Him, That He Loved his Enemies more than his Friends, and, by so doing, Shamed the Faces of all his Servants, 2 Sam: 19  
All this notwithstanding, tho' David was a Man according to God's own heart a Character which God himself gave him) yet the poor Prince found Troubles on every side, First he was prese●u●ed by Saul. and anon forced to a Controversy with Saul's ●ouse One while he was in da●ger from Enemies abroad, and another while from disaffected Men at home. Now he was Conspired against by Absalon, which afflicted hi● the more Because the Rebel was his Son. Then he was railed at by S●ime●, that Dog (as Abishai rightly called him) the Sire of all that ●yt●●r, which are continually Yelping at the Lords Anointed. Nor was this all, For Sheba and his Fellow Traitors raised a formidable Insurrection against him, being frustrated of their expectations at the Kings Return: For David had been in Exile, being Forced to Fly [or withdraw] from his Rebellious Subjects, and upon his happy Restauration Some Israelites were enraged, that They had not that Interest at Court which They hoped for; and hereupon They were vexed that the King was come home, and so an Alarm was sounded, Every Man to his Tents, O Israel, 2 Sam: 20.  
Had not the Divine Providence been David's Shield and Salvation, that Excellent Prince had been utterly Ruined by This Army of Troubles, which continually followed him at the Heels. But God was his support and stay; and tho' there was Plot upon Plot, and Rebellion after Rebellion, Yet He trusted still to the Righteousness of His Cause.  
David Commemorates with thankfulness throughout this his Book of Psalms God's unwearied goodness and singular Mercy towards him, From whence he draws this Conclusion, for the comfort of all Righteous Princes, which should come after; that tho' God may, and many times doth, For great Ends and Reasons, suffer Them to be Evil Entreated for a Time; yet he will not only be with them in their Troubles, but also will (sooner or later) give Them a fair Exit, out of all their distress Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous, etc.  
There are Some, who have gained such a perfect Mastery over their Consciences, that they can believe even a Cheat that serveth their turn, and disblieve even a Miracle that wounds their Interests▪ discerning Men have seen for several years last passed, that our King and Government were both in eminent danger because those very ●r●ifices being Employed again, which served effectually to destroy the Father, We had all the reason to believe they were intended to Dethron the Son too; it being impossible, but the same means used in the same manner, must tend to the accomplishment of the same Ends.  
Some Men by their tacit Confessio●s and Artificial shifts; by extenuating and mincing matters [by their denying publicly to excuse themselves (at the King's request) from the foulest charge that was ever drawn against Prelates] did force all men to conclude, that there was some great thing in hand, which needed the utmost of their Art and Skill [which they have since most lewdly brought to its accursed Perfection] And I am apt to think that These men who can call Resistance, only Innocence, will so lessen the matter, that Cutting of Throats will be termed only a new way of Triming, and the Destruction [or Dethroning] of Princess, to be no more but a Perfecting the History of the Reformation.  
Who could imagine, that after so many Protestations and Professions of sorrow for former miscarriages! after so many vows of Loyalty and hearty Obedience! after so many Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, repeated over the whole Nation! after such Acts of Indemnity granted even to Monsters of Rebels! after such prof●snes● of Royal Bounty, whereby Villains were enriched and grew fat! after so many expressions of Goodness, Tenderness and Clemency, enough to soften any Devils but fanatics! after so many specious Addresses, said to be presented by his Majesty's Most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects! I say, who could imagine, that after all This, any Such men should be found among Us, that would not only Conspire against the King [but have now Hellishly engaged Themselves in an open Rebellion against Him.] But methinks if Men would but seriously consider, how the Providence of God hath been particularly concerned for our King all along, from his Birth even to this day [in delivering him from dangers and freeing him from the Mischievous Imaginations of Wicked Men, etc.] it should be enough to turn the hearts of all his Enemies, and prevail with Them to love his Government and Him, who hath continually been, And Still is, wonderfully preserved by the immediate Care of Heaven. I have heard of a jew that was Converted to the Christian Faith, by considering these Wonders of Christ for the King.  
Though the generality of Men have been strangely Blinded and misled, by the Artifices of Those, who made use of men's Fears of Popery, to promote their own Fanatic and Republican Interests; Yet there were [and still are] Many that will not be wrought upon To bow down their knees to Baal; [or Worship the Golden Calf which Same Men have set up] We have all pretended gr●at Honour and Affections for his Majesty, and a most tender care for his safety and preservation. But We can never be Loyal or good Subjects, till We appl● ourselves hearty to the necessary business of Repentance, and Turn from the Evil of our ways; We ought to make it the business of our whole life▪ Truly to Fear and Obey God, And then we ●eed not fear the most Malicious and Wicked Parties of Those who have basely gone off from the King's Side (if ever they were really on it) And gone off too, with all sorts of Debauchery and Immorality along with Them.  
'tis necessary too that Men repent of their Follies, 
Has the P: O: kept to his Declaration?  that they have been so credulous and easy, In taking the words, and trusting to the Principles, and ab●tting (tho' Inadvertently) the Practices of these Conspirators; And to beware of the like Follies for the future. Those Principles which have been sent so thick abroad of late, That the King holdeth not his Crown Jure divino, but is the Common Wealths Trustee and Delegate; That he is accountable to his People; That all his Rights are founded upon Human Laws, That He is a Co-Ordinat State; And that the Supreme or Sovereign Power is Lodged in the People: Whither did These Doctrines tend, but to the Deposition and Destruction [or Banishment] of his Majesty? you may observe they were the Principles which Bradshaw went upon at the King's Trial.  
The manifest obstructing the Course of Justice, notwithstanding full and pregnant Evidence; The protecting of the Basest F●l●ows, and the greatest Criminals, who had nothing to recommend them but this, that They were Factious and Dishonest; The taking of Oaths, not in the sense of the Law, but according to every Man's private construction; The justifying of the most infamous villains; and the zealous endeavours which have been used, both to rescue Traitors from the Law, and to cleanse their Reputation, af●er they were condemned for the foulest Malefactors Wither did all this's tend, but to embolden Conspirators, and to encourage them with securities from all manner of Penalty, if they had but the Character of true Protestants? 
* A character of the Popish ●lot.  The Suborning of Wretches, to say and unsay, to speak by Roat, and to tell every thing but truth; The Supporting of Perjury as a Trade, far more profitable than any old English Manufacture; and the Stitching up of every hole, which any Common Idiot could see in an improbable Story, What did this tend to, but to keep a great stock of Oaths in Bank, to swear the King himself out of his Honour and his Life? The Charge and Sweat which Thousands have wasted, to put the most Disaffected persons into Places and Offices of great Trust, and Power! What did this tend to, but to make Resistance and Rebellion look fair with the Face of Authority? the aspersing of the Government; the Calumniating of his Majesty, and all Subordinate Magistrates, and Loyal Ministers of State; The frightening of Men with such a noise of Popery, when so many had exchanged all Religion for Atheism; The Outcry against Tyranny, when the Licentiousness of those very men argued that Common Justice could not be done, no, not for the King himself; What did all this tend to but to Subvert the Fundamental Constitution both in Church and State? The dispersing of Libels; The Countenancing of the most Seditious Pamphlets, that came from the Rudest and Fllthiest hands; The Scareing of Men (if it had been possible) from speaking Reason, Justice or Truth; And the practising of every thing that served for the diminution of all that is Good, Great, and Noble; What did all this tend to, but to help Evil-minded Men by degrees and Inches to get to the king's Throne, that they might Assaffinate his Person with a full Thrust, and then leave it to the prejudiced and ill affected world to make their Appology.  
One would have thought it impossible, that discerning Men should not be able to look to the end of these things, nor so much as to guests at the Conclusion by the premises: But so it was that great multitudes of Men (Some of whom I am perswaded were not guilty of Black Intentions) were led away with the Common Error, and upon false presumptions; That nothing was at the Bottom, but a tru● Design for the Interest and Stability of Religion; The Stolen pretence that turned the Nation into Aceldema once before! 'Tis High time therefore for such to be sorry to see how greatly They were befooled, and to consider with themselves how far they may have contributed (tho' unwittingly) to the carrying on a Design So Horrid and Barbarous without a Parallel; and by their just Indignation for what is past, and Highest zeal for the future, to endeavour (if it be possible) to make his Majesty Reparation for those intolerable mischiefs, which Bloodthirsty Traitors would (perhaps) never have attempted upon the Confidence of their own Interest.  
I have no more to add' but that We give all diligence Religiously and Honestly to perform Our Duty to God, and to his Anointed; and in so doing to look up to the Hills from whence all our help cometh, and to trust in God for Our deliverance from These Dangers which Stand now dreadfully before Us, trusting in Him, who hath heretofore delivered Us, that He will deliver Us yet Still; Tho the troubles of the Righteous be many, Yet the Lord delivereth him out of all.  
London, Printed for William Abington next the Wo●der in Lu●g●e-street.   

Samaritanism Revived, A Sermon Preached at Great Yarmouth, by Luke Milbourne  Ezra, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
THo' wicked men of all kinds are at never so great a distance among themselves, yet Truth being equally an Enemy to them all, it moves their hatred so much against itself, that other disgusts and Broils are soon forgotten. So the Pharisees, Sadduces, and Herodians laboured at all times to undermine each other, but readily combined together to destroy our Saviour. The more vigorous and bright Truth's lustre is, the more violent the assaults of its opposers, be: So it proved in the Primitive Church, many and absurd Heresies sprung up in it, The breaches between the different Heretics were irreparable, And yet They Lived almost in a constant Conspiracy against the True Catholic Church of Christ: And he that examines Church History will find, that when peace gave the greatest Ornaments to Christianity the Mushroon Heresies and Schisms grew up the fastest; as on the contrary, when Religion grew indifferent and the Professors of it Lukewarm, Heretics and Schismatics seemed to lay down their Weapons, as if Hell had no more employment for them.  
The Devil is never so truly dreadful, as when he puts on the shape of an Angel of Light, otherwise every one stands upon his guard, but then the Subtle Serpent insinuats himself into the bossoms of those, who lest suspect his poisonous nature. And Wicked Men can never possibly do such mischief, as when They put on the visor of Piety; The servants of God avoid Them, when they appear like Themselves, But when the sheep's Clothing has invested the Wolf, even he may pass for a very Innocent Creature.  
It is not to be questioned, but that the acknowledgement of the True God, and the offering due sacrifices to him as God, is the main Foundation of True Religion: But a bare Foundation without a Superstructure is of on worth, for upon these Principles plainly and evidently depend a great number of other things, which, if not observed, prove that the Foundation was never truly owned; For if a man believe indeed that there is a God, and by offering Sacrifices, acknowledgeth there is a duty owing to that God, nothing can be commanded by that God, nothing forbidden, but the man (if he hopes for Salvation) must sincerely, and to the utmost of his power obey it. All the Commands of God must be punctually obeyed; Men may not cull out this, or another, according to their own Fancies, since the Rule is infallibly Authentic, jam. 2, 10. That whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all; The reason is because he breaks that very Foundation he builds upon viz.) The confession of a God, and our duty to Him: The Apostle makes the inference, verse the 11: For He that said do not commit Adultery, said also, do not Kill; now if thou commit no Adultery, yet if thou Kill Thou art become a transgressor of the Law: so than if any man pretend, out of a sense of his duty to God, to do one or more things, and yet minds not some other things, which God has commanded aswell as those, His whole Obedience is nothing, and his whole pretence a Lie, he really (with the Fool) says in his heart, there is no God.  
But if at last we look into the word of God, we shall find that as he has commanded us to abstain from all Immoralities, even from whatsoever has the least appearance of Evil; so he has by the Apostle enjoined Us to mark, to set a brand of infamy on Those, which cause Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine We have learned, and to avoid them, 1 Thes: 5, 22. For They that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly, and by good words and fair speeches Deceive the Hearts of the People, Rom: 16 17, 18. It is not the openess of a Sin that makes it comparitively the greater; Malice is as bad as Theft, yet it lies close concealed within the dark Recesses of the heart; Witchcraft is an obscure Sin, few know what it is, yet every one believes it worse than Drunkeness, Adultery, Covetuousness, etc. And Treason tho' it hates the light, is as had as Profaneness. To Curse the King in Our hearts (tho' never so secretly) is a Damnable Sin, And 'tis the same To contrive Tumults and Rebellions in the State, against Our Lawful Sovereign. But these last admit of one particular aggravation beyond all bare Immoralities whatsoever; and it is this, every one who pretends to Conscience acknowledges it to be his duty, to abjure all Immoralities, while many pretend to be active in the other only for Conscience sake, And when Sin is once abetted by that which men call Conscience, the mischievous effects of it know no bounds.  
Presently after the King's Restauration, before things wre fully settled Tongue, Phillips, Stubbs, Hind, Sallers, Gibbs, (all of 'Em mwn pretending to tender Consciences) were executed at Tyburn 22 Decemb. 1662. for no meaner a design than Cutting off Root and Branch, Kings! Queens! Dukes! Bishop! all were to go one way! That there should be no Running beyond Seas, or parlyes there, but a Total destruction of the King, Lords, Bishops and Gentry; The Plot when effected to be Charged upon the Papists, and the People to be excited to Rise in Arms under pretence of a Popish Massacre; And the Godly party in the year following were Plotting again (in the Northern parts) to carry on the same work their Brethren had failed in before; Of which Treasonable Plot; His Majesty told the two Houses, That it was of a large extent, and very near execution, had not he by God's goodness come to the knowledge of the Principal contrivers, and so secured them from doing their intended mischief. But still the Evil Spirit was not quite laid, In the year 1666 the several Parties ventured once more upon a Plot, To Murder His Majesty, Overthrow the Government, Surprise the Tower, Kill the Lord General and to Fire the City of London, which Plot was to have been executed September the third of that year: Money was distributed to the Conspirators, and a Council of the Heads settled at London for the Management of affairs: For which Hellish Plot Rathbone, Saunders, Tuck●r, Flint, Evans, Miles, Westcot, and Cole, were executed. And tho' so many suffered, yet one part of the Plot was unhappily effected in that dreadful Conflagration wherein the great Metropolis of the Kingdom was laid in Ashes. This being disappointed the Devil of Sedition flew into Sc●tland, when in the same year the Old Covenanters broke out into Rebellion, at Pentland hills, soon after james, Mitchel (a Covenanting Minister) attempted the Assassination of Dr. Sharp, the most Reverend Archbishop of St. Andrews, and in the attempt mortally wounded the Bishop of O●k●●y: But the poor Archbishop escaped not so; Implacable Fanatis●n pursued, till he was effectually Murdered by some of the Crew (with the most inexpressible barbarity) 3d May 1679, The same month a new Rebellion (under the Banner of the Covenant) broke out at Bothwell Bridge, where Their Powers were crushed once again; From which blow God grant They never more return. But all these ill Successes, have not yet (It seems) so tamed our numerous Sectaries, and their Favourers, but that Religious Treason has once more made its Entry among Us; The King himself, the Duke, the great Officers of State, the Loyal Magistrates of the City of London, all doomed to Slaughter, etc. No ●op●p●! No Slavery! has been the Common Cry, They acting therein like those Sabtle villains, who when they have Killed a man themselves, are the most busy to find out the Murderers. Same tell us, that he Members of the last Parliament at Westminster were All Church Men; But what ●hey were, their horrid actions declared, Such Church Men the true Church of England will always disown, as only fit Associates for Conspirators and Rebels.  
Is † This the True Protestancy some have boasted so much of? Or are all Popishly aff●ted who declare can Hearty 
The Rebellion now on Foc●.  abhorrence of all such Devilish Principles and P●atices? May We all bear that reproachful Character, rather than for a Popular Ti●le, run headlong to the Devil. And let all Persons, who profess Loyalty to their Sovereign be truly Loyal to that God, who is the great preserver of Princes; Let the world be convinced, that even s●eming virtues, which render Schismatics plausible, are solid and real in all Thos●, who maintain God's ancient, solemn & r●g●lar worship; Let Us Fear God and Honour and Trust our Sovereign; Let no Subtle Emissarles of Faction, make Us suspicious of our Superiors, or of one another, That so We preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and Righteousness of Life, the wo●k of God may prosper in Our hands; That Plots Treasons and Rebellions against Our Lawful Prince, may for ever be execrated and accursed, And all England may hear and fear, And no such Wickedness may be hea●d of among Us any more. London Printed for Walter Kettilby.   

A Sermon Preached at Westminster Abbey on the 29th of July 1685, being the Thanksgiving day for Quelling Monmouth's Rebellion, by Edward Pelling, Chaplain to the Duke of Somersett.  Psal: 124. 6. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a Prey to Their Teeth. 
THe good Providence of God over the Sacred Persons and Government of Princes in preserving both from the most Malicious designs of so many Restless and Sanguinary Spirits, is one of the most stupendious works of God's Omnipotence, that ever He hath showed since the last day of the Creation, a Miracle which was the Common Subject of King David's thankful M●●itations (up and down throughout his whole Book of Psalms) and particularly in this Psalm, where after a most humble manner he doth adore the infinite Mercy and Power of God, For Delivering Him and his Subjects, from the threatening dangers of a fresh Insurrection: And that too, when the Rebellion was so formidable, When the Malice of Wicked Men was so outrageous; when their appetites were not to be satisfied but with streams of Blood, when Ruin was breaking in upon the whole land like a mighty Torrent, when without the immediate help of God, nothing could be expected but utter desolation; when the danger was so eminent, and seemingly so inevitable, that Those Men of violence thought themselves as sure, as if the Prey they sought after, were already in the Gin; Then was the time for God to lay to his hand, to make bare his Arm, and to gain himself Fo● our 
* so was the King Delivered from Rochester.  by reseu●ng Innocence from the Pitt, as it lay at the Brink, ready to drop into the depth of Destruction. And this ●a●ger did proceed from S●eba and his Associates; a desperate Leader of a Very Terrible Defection; nothing being more dangerous to any Prince, than the United Malice of Rebellions Spirits, that submit, not for Conscience sake, but either upon Constraint, or for Their Interest only.  
I doubt not but David in the Penning of this Psalm particularly thought of the conspiracy of his Bloody Son Absolom, that formerly had been guilty of shameful Murder; his Ambitious Son Absolom, whom nothing would satisfy but the Crown; his ungratful Son Absolom, that so basely rewarded him for his Long after him, when he fled from his presence to Geshur, and for his pardon, for his Kisses upon his return; His  Son Absolom, that no sooner went out of his Father's Court, but ran to the Gates, to steal away the hearts of his Father's Subjects, saying O that I were made judge (meaning King) in the Land; His Hypocritycal Son Absolom that pretending a desire to perform his vow [To preserve the Protestant Religion etc.] would have Usurped the Throne and did under colour of Religion raise an open and barefaced Rebellion. This was such a dreadful Conspiracy, as made David himself [the King] though a man of such Prowess and Conduct, presently To fly for his Life. Such a Violent agitation were People in the●● that they were ready to flow to him from all Quarters, like the meeting and inundation of many Rivers to make a Deluge.  
And that which made this Conspiracy the more Terrible was that Achitophel was in the head of many others. Achitophel that hardened Traitor, and cursed Reprobate, that when his Council and Bloody endeavours would not take, fled for it presently, and through Anguish and Vexation Hanged himself: A sad end indeed, for any Rebel to be his own Executioner, though in Some Cases 'tis pity that an Achitophel, an Inveterate and Advising Rebel should ever die in his Bed.  
When the Highest Treason was formed by such working Heads, when 'twas Conducted by such Politic Councils; when 'twas Executed by such desperate Instruments; when it prospered On a sudden by such 
* The vilest Treacheries of some of the Nobility, in the West.  Successful Stratagems, nothing could be expected, but the King's inevitable Ruin, had not the hand of God been more concerned in the cause, than the hand of David's Faithful General, Joab; visible in the surprising death of Absolom, Who was caught in a wood, and hung by his Locks upon a Tree; To show the World what a Reward all They deserve that take up Ar●s and Rebel against Their 
* Is not James the 2d Son of Charles the first and only brother of Charles the 2d who died without Issue.  Lawful Prin●r.  
'tis true (a most sad and shameful Truth God knows) such was the monstrous Impiety of the last Age, that it afforded one unpresidented, unparallelled instance of God's wrath, when that incomparable Monarch, the Glory of our Reformation, and Honour of the world, was forced to bow his head down, and to fall a Sacrifice, to the Lusts of the most barbarous Villains, 
† Something like the case of his present Majesties; But God be praised it is not go● so far!  as if God had forsaken him! however that some Compensation might be made for that superlative (and otherwise i● reparable) loss, by the due Succession, and after greatness of his Posterity, God hath multiplied those Temporal Glories upon the Sons, which he took from the Father, and gave him a blessed Eternity in Exchange for. And to let the world se●, that Resistance is criminal even when 'tis prosperous, and to punish Rebellion, in a Second Age, tho' it escaped in the First, God hath delivered the Two Royal Brothers, from six Trouble's and s●aven, too' Sh●ba and Absolom, with their Wicked Confederates [or Inviters] joined hand to hand to execute a Conspiracy, which had been long a forming by the 
* For the People are always deceived by the beauty of the Pretence, Religion etc. as the Serpent deceived Eve, with the fairness of the fruit. And repent as she did when 'tis too late.  Serpentine Subtlety of a twining and particoloured Achitophel.  
This Deliverance was manifestly the work of God. Our dangers were so immense, and and yet so close and privy, that it b●●h passed the Sagacity, and exceeded the reach of humane Force to prevent them, and nothing can deliver Us from them but the Power and wisdom of Almighty God, What were the Conspirators, but the most daring and desperate Villains? And what was the Conspiracy itself, but along studied, and now ripe Design, to draw in upon Us an whole Deluge of Blood to over-whelm Prince and People with final Slaughter, To destroy the very name, aswell as to stifle all further efforts of Loyalty, and to bury Ou● Monarch [or Dethrone him] beyond all hopes of a Resurrection? and what is like to be at the end of all this, but Irreligion and A●●eism, accompanied with the most dismal Confusions, and a Perpetual War, till by weak'ning and killing one another, We may in time, when 'tis to late grow weary of Our Follies.  
Good God That ever Atheism should prevail in such a Land as this, where not only all Demonstrative Arguments have been used to prove a being infinitely wise, Just, and Good, to preside over the world, but moreover where the presence of God hath been so often, so long, and in all the vicissitudes and changes of this Sublunary World, so constantly seen and manifested, as if he had taken up his abode with Us, as if he had said of tkis Kingdom, as he did of Zion, Psal. 132. 14. This is my Rest for ever; Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein; And yet I may truly say, but to our great shame, that since the Creation of the Universe there never was such an Athestical Generation, no, not in the most dark; in the most distant; in the most infidel parts of the World, as this Nation hath groaned under these late years.  
And yet 'tis observable (tho' it be very strange) that None among Us have pretended greater concernment for the Reformation, than Those who have bid open defiance to all Religion whatsoever Men of the most profligate Reputation: Open Drunkards, professed Adul●●re●s, Notorious Cheats, Forsworn Rebels, Impudent Liars,  Hypocrites, and but the other day Scoff●rs at God, and at the very show of Piety. 'Tis enough to move the Meekest, the most Patiented Man on Earth to consider what Foreheads of Steel and Adamant those Impious Wretches, have that coul● take the confidence Th●s to Gull and Impose upon the People, by a seeming Zeal for Religion: Especially when They are now up in Arms, fight for it; in open Rebellion against the Example of our Saviour, and the Precepts of the Gospel.  
As far as I have observed, the whole History of England doth not afford Us an Instance of God's Providence, that can come any thing near that account which Rel●tes to our present Sovereign, and his Royal Brother Deceased; unless it be that single Story of King Alfred the great: A Prince of that Learning Wisdom, Clemency, Sweetness of nature, and other such excellent Virtues, as really made him an honour and ornament to the Throne. And yet that excellent Prince was once Reduced to those miserable straits partly by the Invasion of Enemies from abroad, and partly through the Treachery of Rebels and Deserters at Home, that he was Forced to put himself into the disguise once of a Common Soldier, another time of an Herdsman, and at last to abscond for a considerable time in the West, in a poor Cottage, among Woods and Moors (a sad and woeful place for a Crowned Head to Rest in!) And yet such was his Religious dependence upon God, that tho' He was Forsaken by his Friends, invioroned with his Enemies, and brought to those extremes and shameful necessities, that his mother and himself were hardly able to subsist, yet He doubted not but Providence w●uld one Day Restore Him to his just Grandieur. And so it was, that in that very mean Condition, in that most obscure place he began the Recovery of his Fortunes: There he began the Foundation of his Kingdom, Raising it on still by degrees, till in a little time he became the sole and absolute Monarch of this Nation, and made it a most Flourishing Kingdom, and gave many the most excellent Laws that We enjoy at this Hour, or rather may so do, when God shall Restore the King, and we return to to Our Allegiance and Duties.  
LONDON, Printed for Samuel Keble at the Turks Head in Fleetstreet.  
Error Pag: 2, line last Read their Shoulders.   

POSTSCRIPT.  
NOw Reader! (after Thou hast duly considered these Firm Doctrines, of the Protestant Religion) Tell me truly, If thou canst expect ever to see One Rebel in Heaven, or to meet even any of Those, that do but wish prosperity to Rebellion, in the Regions of Bliss? Tell me, if thou hast any dread of a Future Judgement! If thou hast any value for thy Soul! what Rewards will follow Thee! what vengeance rather will pursue Thee! if thou set up a God of thy own Fancy, and hearken to the Oracles of Rebellion, instead of Governing all thy Thoughts words and Actions, by the precepts of the Gospel, and after the meek example of the Blessed Jes●s? Dost thou think one Murder enough to Damn an unrepenting Soul, and Canst thou wish Success to those that take Arms against the King, without Plunging thyself into the Gild of every Man's Blood that is, or shall be Spilt, in such a Damnable Quarrel? Canst thou Offer in Sacrifice, thy will and affections (as the Indians do their darling Children to the Devil) to the Monstrous Idol of Rebellion, and not be tainted with that Idolatry, which will inevitably Damn thy Soul, without a most speedy, and the deepest Repentance? Nay tell me if thou canst Repent, If the Nature of thy Crime, will admit of Repentance in thee, when Lucifer was Damned, because the Sin of his Rebellion was utterly incapable of that Grace, which gives a true Repentance.  
Farewell.   

These Sermons may be Printed, Dublin Castle the 28th of July 1689. Patrick Clogher.   


Thanksgiving Sermons Preached on the 9th of September. 1683.  
Francis Lord Bishop of Ely, pag. 37  
John Fitz-william, D. D. pag. 01  
William Sherlock, D. D. pag. 15  
Paul Lathom, Prebend of Sarum, pag. 20  
Benjamin Calamy, D. D. pag. 25  
William Bolton Scholmaster of the . pag. 30  
John Price, D. D. pag. 33  
Charles Powel, M. A. pag. 43  
William Smith Prebend of Norwich, pag. 47  
Miles Barnes, D. D. pag. 51  
Henry Hesketh, Minister of St. Helen's pag. 55  
John Harrison, D. D. pag. 58  
Edward Pelling, D. D. pag. 60  
Luke Milbourne pag. 65  
A Thanksgiving Sermon against Monmouth's Rebellion 29th July. 1685.  
Edward Pelling, D. D. pag. 68