lew *& * c at o "n &H n J O O fel c 1 o o 5 pH Q c3 <, »£i rfW* rv ^SWWIfi 'M JB ye>i & Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/sermonsoOOIamb L VOLUME O F SERMONS O N Several Occasions. Many of them preach'd in the Height of the late Rebellion ; In the Parifh-Churches of St. Katherine Cree-Church, AND All-Hallows Barkin. U- ^ By Charles Lambe, M. A. Minifter of St. Catherine Cree-Church, and Lecturer of All-Hallows Barkin. L NT) N, Printed by J.Humfreys, for William Hinchliffe, at Dry den's Head, un> der the Tiazza of the Royal-Exchange. MDCCXVIL ififflfcTitfjir '■ I V d&dbdt£bdbd^ : d^d^d&dbJ& To His Grace the Du K E of Neweaftle. May k pleafe Your Grace, f\Hefe Sermons^ a great Tart of which 1 preacFd .in the Time of- the laic Unnatural Rhbellion, raised by the Warfi of Men^ againfi the Befi Confiitution^ the Befi Churchy and the Befi King * I prefume y with the utmofi Veneration^ to offer to Tour Grace's Hands % and humbly to ask Tour Patronage and •Troteftion. Tour Noble Ardor and TLeal f&r our Religion and Liberty ^ at a Time when the Enemies of Both were mofi infolent and domineer ing^ and mofi j anguine in A a their Dedication. their Hopes of Succefs, put me upon imitating fo great an Example, and determine! me to defend the Envied Blejfings of our Land in my Own Sphere of Attion, as Tour Grace had done in Tours, and to oppofe thofe *Perjur'd Rebels in the Tulpit and the "JPrefs, as Tour Grace at that Time did, where-ever the Safety of the Government caWd for Tour Service and defence. And therefore, what 1 here have the Honour to prefent to Tou, arifrng from that Imitation, and from the fame Principle, lam, fallen into fome Affurance, That you will receive it with the fame Favour and Encourage* ment, which Tou was fleas' *d before to honour the Author with. I am indebted to Tour Grace s fea- (onable Favour and good Countenance, that I was able to fubfifl under that Load of Infamy, Injuftice and Opprejjion, which the Enemy burthen d me with, when, in the Infancy of the Rebellion, I Dedication. / preaclod the Sermon which fiands fir ft in this Volume. If 1 were to trouble Tou with an Account of their Malice and Rage againji me, and the Methods they took to execute it fully upon me, Tour Grace would really think, I had fallen into an Herd of wild Arabs, or wilder Indians, whoje Prevailing ^Principle, without any Regard to Humanity, to Right or Wrong, is Revenge upon all, from whom they apprehend them- felves to have received Indignity, Op- pofition or Hurt. Not only mj [elf and many other Individuals, are in this manner obligd to Tour Grace^s Goodnefs for Favour and 'Protection in the Day of Trouble* but the whole Community is under the fame Ties and Obligations , and we are regaVd 'Daily with new Hopes and Ex- pectations of Future Services to be derived from Tou. It is impoffible to fee the Growing Virtues and Encreafmg Capacities of Tour Dedication. Tour Grace, without formrng mi Idea of the mofi Accompli/Fd Peer^ and mofi Able Statefman y and without ^leafing our pelves with the Profped &f what will redound to the Publick from fuch a Genius. It is a mighty Infiance of the Fa- vour of Heaven to this Nation^ tbat y while we are mourning the Lofs of excellent Patriots^ whofe Services have been wanted in thefe later *Days^ God has raisM up, Tour Grace % ano- ther like unto them. What we have in View abates the Affiiclion of what we want at prefent, and we are become affur y d, That their Places will be filled up with equal Courage and Refolution^ with equal Wifdom and Learnings with equal Zeal for our Religion and Liberty^ and with equal Steadiness to theProtefcant Succejjion^ which is the Foundation of all our Happinefs and 'Peace , and the Only 'Defence of our Church and State. am Dedication. lam very far from giving any En~ couragementf by Imitation, to thtife forced and laboured Encomiums^ which nfually fweil out the Modern 'Dedica* tions : I am as unable to do it Rightiy^ m Tour Grace, I am fure^ is UnwiU ling Ifhould do it at all. It is Tour Grocers known Refolution, Rather t@ Deferve, than to Receive a Pane- gyrick ; and no one has a£led, up to that Resolution with more Succefs than Tour Grace. It becomes myTrofejffion muchmore^ $o take my Leave of Tour Grace with a Trayer, and to call upon every Bri- ton, for their own fakes^ to unite in it^ to addrefs to the Fountain of aM Good, That it would flow with a Full and a Continued Stream be Your Grace's Houfe : To wifh and pray^ That Gofi would profper Your Marriage^ and crown it with all Happinefs ;• give You Health and Long Life^ that Yoa may fee Yom Children Children tread in the Dedication. the Steps of Their Father ; That Your Great and Noble Family may not want a Male to the End of Time ; nor be extinft 'till all the Families of the Earth fhall fail at once. In this Trajer no one joyns with more Earnefinefs and Importunity^ than y M#y it pleafe Your Gr ace, Your Grace's mod Obedient, mod Humble, and Devoted Servant, Charles Lambe. ^tidbc^feJfetIJbC!bJfe ; c^Gclfc(i5bcjtit^Gc^bclfc =5. THE CONTENTS. Sermon I. The Tretences for the prefent Rebel* lion^ confidered. Prov. xxiv. 21. My Son, fear thou the Lord, and the Kjng, and meddle not with them that are given to change. Page 9 Sermon II. The Popifh Plot a fair Caution to Proteftants, not to ingage in a Po- pifh Rebellion. Pfalm cxxiv. 6. Our Soul is efcaped as a 'Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler : the Snare is broken, and we are deli- vered, p. 57 a Ser* The CONTENTS, Sermon III. When God u on our Side. Pfalm cxviii. former Part of the 6th Ver. The Lord is on my Side . P- 9? Sermon IV. The Common Teoples Reafons for their 'Diaffe&ion to the Govern- ment^ examind. Coloff.iii. former part of the i tyh Verfe. oAnd let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts, p. 157 Sermon V. Stedfafinefs to the Proteftant Religi- on and to the King, recommended upon the Alarm of an Invafionfrom Sweden. 1 Cor. xv, 58. former Part. Therefore, my beloved Brethren, b$ye ftedfafl and un- moveable, P» J ^S Sermon VI. 2 he Nature of Sins unto ^Death^ and y of The CONTENTS. of Sins not unto T>eath. i John v. 1 6. If any Man fee his Brother fin a Sin, which is not unto "Deaths he Jball ask, and he Jhall give him Life for them that fin not unto Death, There is a Sin unto Death : I do not fay that he Jhall fray for it, p. 229 Sermon VII. The Nature and T)uty of Jetting Got) always before w. Pfalm xvi. former part of the gth Verfe. / have Jet God always lefore me, p. 265 Sermon VIII. The Eafinefs of the Gofpel fiifpenfa* tion. Matthew xi jo. For my Tokeiseajy, and my "Burthen is light, p. 299 Sermon IX. The Nature of Regeneration by Wa* ter y and the Spirit. John iii. 5 . Except a Man be lorn of Wa- ter and of the Spirit, he cannot enter in- to The CONTENTS. to the Kingdom of God, p. 3 3 1 Sermon X. Cbrifl Reveal' THE PREFACE. \N the Entrance upon this Collection of Ser- mons, it may not be improper to fay iome^ thing in Defence of that Part of it, which has given lb much Difpleaiure to the Ruind Tartj y and brought upon the Author all the Indignities and Affronts, that 3 Captive Rebel could wilh might fall upon a Man, who had taken a Share in confounding his Devices, and oppofing his Practices* i>] I have Preface. I have been at the Expence of a good deal of Recolle&ion, and cannot find the leaft Grounds for any juft Refentment againft me, upon the Score of my Conduft in the Time of the late Rebellion. One Party were publickly and unanimoufly againft it ; the other would have us believe, and contend mightily, that They were fo too ; and yet continue to hold a Clergy- man in high Wrath for preaching againft it : which thofe Gentlemen will give me Leave to affirm, is a very odd way of expreffing their Abhorrence of it. Indeed, having a little more Cre- dulity, than I perceive lince was convenient for me, I thought they were in Earneft when they conten- ded, to whom the Royal and Illu- ftrious Houfe of Hanover was mofi indebted for the A£t of Suc- ceflion : 1 thought they were in Earneft, when they fet a Price up^ on Preface. on the Pretenders Head : I had not Penetration enough to fee the Hypocrify, when after the Death of the late Queen, they breath'd and panted for the Arrival of our prefent Sovereign, and with to- lerable Forwardnefs, crown'd Him King, fwore Allegiance to Him, and Abjur'd the Tretender. I thought, that Popery was really the Averlion of Engli/h Proteftants, and Tyranny the Abhorrence of a Free People : I believed alfo, as I had been taught, that an Highlander was a very indifferent Church of Evgland~man ; and a Civil War a very bad Compoier of Diffe- rences. And therefore, driven on by the Impulfe of Reafon, of Liberty, of Loyalty, of Religion, and of Con- icience, I ran before the Ancients into the Battle (for Youth is always obferved to be more nimble in En- terprize, than Age) : I gave the [ b 2 ] Firft Preface. Firft Blow to the Rebellion with the Weapons of Our Warfare ; I cjcpos'd the Tretences that were made for it; inftru&ed the People committed to my Care in the Do- ctrine of Obedience to Governors, and the Obligations of folemn Oaths : I laid before them the Happinefs of our prefent Condition, and the Miferies that would cer- tainly follow upon any Change. And when I look'd round me, I found mv felf alone, as to my Old friends^ and encompafs'd with Strangers, with Men whom I had not convers'd with ; who bravely encourag'd, and boldly aflifted in the Good and Righteous Work. Now I could not for the Life of me but conclude, and I employ 'd all the Reafoning I was Matter of, That They were certainly the bejb Friends of the Church, and His Majelty King GEORGE, who appeared Zealous in their mutual Defence, Preface. Defence, and ftood the common Enemy of Both with Conftancy and Courage. I could not upon any Score be perfuaded, though a competent Meafu re of Ratiocina- tion had been employ 'd upon that Subject, that railing of Mobs for the Service of the Pretender, was no Token of any Want of Affe&ion to His prefent Majefty, or at all in- confident with the Abjuration Oath ; neither could 1 ever come into that other equally furprizing Sentiment, That the Clergy were not concern'd in the Caufe, nor their Aid at all required in it ; though, by the by, one great Part of the Difpute was, as I take it^ whether we (hould be Tapifis or Troteftants ; and whether the People (hould keep their Oaths, and be faved, or break them at once > and be damned, God has furnifh'd us with two forts of Weapons to combate his Enemies with, the Sword of the [ b 3 ] Flefh, Pr eface. Flefh, and the Sword of the Spirit; the one he has put into the Hand of the Clergy, the other he has buckled to the Thigh of the Laity ; and I will venture to affirm, That when the latter is drawn in the Caule of Religion, and the King, the other muft be unfheathed too; and he is a Coward, or a Tray tor, or both) that lets either of them fleep in the Scabbard, or lye in Ruft at fuch a Time ; and theCurfe denounced upon Meroz, belongs to him, because he went not out to the Help of the Lord. Now it was certainly Natural, as well as Grateful, to fall in with Men who agreed in Opinion with me, and made no Attempts to per- fuade me againlt common Senfe and innate Notions, againft com- mon Honour, common Intereft, and the commonly received Do- ctrines of our Religion ; but on the other Hand confirmed me in the Preface. the Judgment I had form'd upon thefe Heads, encourag'd me by their excellent Example, to aft fuitably to it, and admitted me to a Share of the Honour, which a brave Defence of our Constitution always leads to. Though I had fallen into this New Converfation, and was very much, and very juftly enamourM of it ; for every one knows, that an immediate Friendship arifes a- mong Soldiers, who have been in Battle together, and come off with Safety, though they were not at all acquainted before the Attack ; yet I could not be without fome Team- ings of Heart towards my Old % Friends^ and did refolve to find where they had hid themfelves, and what the Occafion was that with-held them from the Publick Service at a Time, when they had never given me any Reafon to be- [ b 4. ] lieve, f REFACE. lieve, that I fhould not find them in it. In this Search, I fell upon fome in their own Houfes, as indolent as Archimedes^ when his City vvas fack'd, *and as unconcerned, as a Winter Dormoufe, when the Snow lies a Foot deep. I made lbrrre Attempt to awake them ; but the Lethargy was fo predominant, that I concluded they muft fleep. Others I found, did Believe there was a Rebellion in the Kingdom, which, in truth, was an Article of Faith not commonly received among them ; but they did not think it difcreet^ they faid, to be too for- ward in declaring themielves ; for you muft know, the Battles of Tre&on and 'Dumblain were not fought at that Time. I fpoke ibme proper Things upon their prodigi- ous Caution, and perceiv'd them to be perfectly Mailers of that uleful Trea- Preface. Treatife, printed in the laft Cen- tury, calfd, Sure Footing. In the Progrefs of my Search, I difcover'd in a Coffee-Houfe near St. Taul\ a goodly Company of Young Ciergy-men, who were the People I chiefly look'd after, very attentive to the Difcourfe of a Lay- man, an Eminent Merchant and Common Council-man of the City : Happy were it for them, if their Auditors heard them fo gladly! They hung upon him with fuch Earneftnefs, and fuck'd in his poor crude Stuff with fuch Greedinefs, that really, the Image immediately put me in mind of the Picture of a Pelican, giving a Breakfaft to her Young. I was afham'd indeed, and my Blood rofe into Refentment, when I faw fo many young Gentlemen of good Hopes, and excellent Parts, paying fuch undue Honours, not only there, but in other Places, to a Set Pre pa ce. a Set of bufie, ignorant, talkative Men, whofe Bufinefs it is to footh the lefs Adult in the Miniftry, in that which is leaft laudable in their Conduct, and to blow up that Coal of Vanity, which a Young Man is very particular, if he has quench'd. I am afraid, the Door of the Comp- ting-Houie, and the Study, for want of frequent life, opens as heavily, and with as loud Creek- ings # as the Country Parlour of a Young Heir, who has banifh'd himfelf from Home, and lives a voluntary Exile in the City. Not that all in this Clafs fpend their Time in this manner : 1 met with fome, who really beftow the whole Week at Home, in prepar- ing themfelves for the Operations of the enfuing Sunday. Theie are the Men of Renown, and peculi- arly fet apart fovOccafional Sermons, and are to recommend their Abili- ties in all intervening Times : Thefe Preface. Thefe Men mufi be ty'd down to the Oar, and I don't think, that That Worthy Divine had Leifure to ftir out for Six Months, and confequently, had all his Vifits to pay at once, who undertook to prove, on the 30th of January, 1715. That the Rebellion then y If the High-Church was really con- cerned in it, was all fair, and no Crime, becaufe, he faid, he could make it appear, that the Low- Church did the fame thing in 1 64. 1 . and I hear, the Force of his Argu- ment depended, upon all Mens a- greeing, That every £)og jhould have his Day. Not lefsftudious and retired muft He be, who the Sunday after the Proclamation for Apprehending the Pretender, and the Reward of an 1 00000 /. for fo doing, waspub- lifti'd, preach'd upon a Text re- commending Benevolence and Cha- rity; and with great Dexterity, and Pre face. and equal Strength, for lam fure a weak Man could never do it, lugg'd in Judas for betraying his Mafter ; though indeed, to fpeak the Truth, he was pretty favourable to Judas ; his Spleen was exprefs'd with molt Rancour againft the Parliament : for, you know, Things done a great while ago, do not affed all Tem- pers fo fenfibly, as thofe that are jufi done. Judas , as he thought, was more filly, than wicked, or elfe be would never have taken thirty 'Pieces of Silver for Juch a Service ; and therefore called very loud up- on him, to rife from the Dead, and come into England as foon as poffible; for here he might mend that hard Bargain, and have an 1 ooooo bounds for juB fuch another Jobb. He was very modeft in his Comparifon of the Crimes, and would not take upon him t-o deter- mine peremptorily, which of the Treacheries, as he call'd them, was molt Preface. moft black and damnable. This he thought proper to leave to every one to determine by himfelf \ but of all Love, befought them to re- member, That He muft be but a Degree above an Idiot, who would do fuch a thing for Thirty Shillings, for what he knew, if not for lefs, and that the Parliament was in their Full Senfes ; which ought to weigh very much with a Jury. But of all the diligent arid moft adept in this Way of Preaching, let me recommend my good Friend, who, when he had read in the Pub- lick Papers, that General Forfier rode a very beautiful White Horfe, immediately takes for his Text, that in Rev. xix. 1 1. And behold a White Horfe, and he that fat upon him^ was called Faithful and True, and in Right eoufnefs he doth Judge and Make War. The tirft thing he began to infinmte^ was, That a t Black Preface. Black Man rode upon this White Horfe. He 'did not undertake to prove it plainly, and got cleverly enough off of that, by faying, That many Things in the Revelations were not to be clear'd up fo well as he could wi(h. But having nam'd a Black Man, that was enough for his Purpofe ; every one [knew the Hero wore a Black Wig, and there was no Occafion to name who he meant. But now for his Cha- racter : He was Faithful and True ; and therefore, Good People, ftand to your Principles 5 be True to your old Friends, they are certainly fo to you. Tour Caufe is good ; for you fee what follows, In Righteoufnefs he Maketh War. So that you fee, the War is a Righteous War, that is, a Jufi War ; and no Jury upon Earth will bring you in Guilty ; and therefore, Down with the Meeting-Houfes, Mob it tightly, my Lads ; maffacre the T>iffenters^ and all your Enemies in the South ; f and P R EFA C E. and this White Horfe will tread them down in the Wefi, as David has it in the Pfalms.: All this, you fee, is prophefied in the Revelations, and you may defend upon Succejs. Now I don't fay, that all this was literally in the Difcourfe ; but it apparently tended to fomething like this, and. any Man rpightfee that the Drift of it look'd this way ; and I hear the People were migh- tily taken with his Comment. It was fo appofite, and well fuited to the Genius bf the Congregation, that I believe, they were really convinced, that Forfier and his White Horfe, were foretold of in the Revelations, 'till they happened to fee General Wills ride into Lon~ don upon him, driving Forfier be- fore him upon an humble Hack. From this Species of Preachers, I determined to pafs on to another ; and this confifts of thofe Divines, to Preface. to whom the Chanty Sermons and Evening Le&ures, are more imme- diately intrufted. At\d I remem- ber, 1 found out how they preach'd upon thefe Occafions in the Time of the Rebellion, by a particular Accident. In my Return home on a Sunday Evening, I faw a confiderable Number of Young Men, as I thought, fufbing a Clergy-man be- fore them. I was afraid he had been playing the Fool in the Pulpit, and was committed to* a Conftable, and going into Cuftody. But up- on Enquiry, I found he was only going to play the Fool in the Pulpit; it feems, he was haftning to preach a Charity Sermon, and the Stew- ards had been to wait upon the Doctor from his Lodgings : in his Paflfage, his Equipage thicken'd much, and became very large, every one being acquainted by a Printed Paper, .alter the Manner of Preface. of Trize-Figbters^ who he was, and whither he was moving ; but among all his Attendants, I did not obferve above Three, that ap- ?ear'd to be more than Sixteen ears old. I was refolved to fee the Humour out, and made one a- mongftthem to the Church : with the utmoft Difficulty we got into it ; the Crowd was as great without, as it was within, and the People hung upon the Windows as thick as Flies, when they begin to be blind, in the Clofe of a Summer. Notice was immediately given, that the Children muft not be Catechi- zed that Night ; for the Dodtor" apprehended he fhould be longer than ordinary. When we had fweated out the Prayers, which were hurry'd over after the Modern Manner, the Preacher was [queez'd through a Set of Old Women, up the Stairs into the Pulpit, and the Clerk gave us a brave Tory Pfalm ; [ c ] and Preface. and then we prepared for the Prayer before Sermon. The young Gen- tleman immediately fbew'd his Spi- ritual Authority, and began, I require you to pray : Here he made a long Paufe, that the People might have Time to hum out their Ap- probation, which they did very loudly, and the Word was, Thk will be a rare High~Ckurch Sermon I and in truth, fo it was. When he had finifh'd his ^Demands upon us, and let us know what he Required us to do, when we thought fit to go next to Prayers ; he vouchfaf d us his Text, and really, 1 thought it did betide a good, fober, practical Difcourfe upon the Duty of Repen- tance ; but by what Fate I cannot tell, the Preacher would not be periuaded, but that it naturally led him, and that it was very jeajona- ble too, to lay before us the Diffe- rence between the Papilts, and the Proteftant Diffenters : The firft were \ Preface. were Members of an Epifcopal Church, and confequently a True Church, and They good Chriftians : the other difowning Epifcopacy, were ^Chriftians, but a Parcel of Schifmatical Pagans, and the only People in the World, that would hurt the Church of England : And therefore, my Brethren, they will certainly mine us, if you dont take care, and bring in the 'Pretender : for certainly, it is more to our Advantage to be ruled by one, who brings in the Tapifts with him, than by one who fides with Fanaticks. This laft Paragraph lam ready to bring Fifty Witneffes, is True almoft to a Letter. But indeed ) finding fome of us look a little angry, he was refolved to make us Amends for this abomi- nable, feditious Rant, and on a fudden ask'd us, T)oes any one want a Place at Court ? he could tell us how to obtain it : Only, fays he, [ c o " write Preface. write a Pamphlet, and reflefl upon the Memory of Queen Anne, and the late Mmijlry, and you 11 certainly have one y for none but fuch FeUows have any Favour in thatTlace. This Paragragh alio is Word for Word as he delivered it. By this Time I began to be in fome Concern for the poor Chil- dren ; for he teemed to have forgot them in the Heel of his Sermon, as much as he had done his Text in the Head of it, which in verity, he no more regarded, than he would have done, if his own 4 Head had lain ten Foot from his Shoulders. But at lait he put me out of my Pain, and told the People, they muft contribute to the Charity- School ; read to them a Text or two in the Offertory, colle&ed Six* teen Shillings, wiped his Face, and bid us heartily Farewell. In Preface. In this manner I thought it ex- pedient to give the World a fmall Sample of fome Sermons preach'd in the Time of the Rebellion, by Gentlemen who have been moft fe- vere again ft Me for the Manner I thought fit to choofe at thatCritical Juncture ; and when the Compari- fon is made, I flatter my felf, that it will ealily be difcovered, who has taken the better Part. I have the higheft Veneration for all Worthy and Learned Men, of what Senti- ments foeyer, and have conftantly behav'd my felf to them accordingly, and have determined to continue lb to do : But for thefe Things, thefe Little Creatures, who take upon them to unhinge a Government, to make and unmake Kings, and ar- raign with Infolence every Bro- ther that differs from them ; to Thefe it is impoffible to be Refpeft- ful, Pr:epace. ful, and 1 hope the Manner /have taken to deal with them, will not be thought wrong : it is very dif- ficult to be ferious, when one is talking of fuch egregious follies; and I have known many a Man laugb'd out of an Irregularity, when all the Arguments in the World could not perfuade him from it. Jhave no Defign, Jam fure, but to put a Stop to this growing Evil, to do fome Service to thePublick, and fome Juftice to my felf. 1 have yet remaining a Colle&ion of Flights and Rhetorical Strokes, delivered in the Pulpit fence the Suppreffion of the Rebellion, which, if I fhould publifb, would ere£t the Hair of every Reader's Head ; and J will certainly do it, if the Provocation is continued. And if any thing ex* traordinary is breathed out, I will take it as a Favour of any Auditor, who Preface. who will give me an Account of it by the Tenny Toft ; for, in truth, the. Matter is become infufferable^ and the Fool Must he anfwered ac~ cording to his Folly. THE The Pretences for theprefent Rebellion, confidered. S E RM O N Preach'd at ^.Katherine Cree-Church AND All-Hallows Barkin, On 08ob. 1 6. 17 15. By CHARLES LA Mvf t v "k w* >^J i^\ k"ff< ^y i" Afoyi'A f ^v TO Sir Randolph Knipe, Kt SIR, HLS Sermon^ which you calPd upon me with fd much Earnefinefs to make Tublick^ by your particu- lar CommiJJioH^ has the Honour to bear jour Name in the Front of it. It is much to my Advantage^ that it appears abroad under the Ta- tronage of a Gentleman^ whofe Chara<* Her alone will recommend and keep it up^ notwithfianding all the 'Dejefis, f B a which DEDICATION. which I am afraid in the Reading you will find, tho I was fo happy aPto co- ver them jrom you in the Hearing. It has been fome Uneafinefs to me, that I did not immediately acquiefce, when you fir ft mention d your 'Defire to jee it printed, bccaufe it was jujl upon your returning to our Congregation, from which a publick Office in the City had fo long withdrawn you^ where your ex- emplary jDcvotion, and exact Confor- mity to every T?art of the Service, give you a Right to any thing that you are pleajed to ask or command of me. I hope you will impute this to a common Fear or Concern, which every one has, or fhould have upon him, when he is engagd in this manner to appear in Tublick, and not to any Want of Re- fpedt to you, which I am fure I am obliged in Gratitude and Confcience always to Abound in. Since DEDICATION. Since 1 have mention d the fublitk Office you have lately born in this City, I cannot forbear congratulating your particular ^00*/ Fortune, that notwith- standing the great Variety of Inter efts, which a Sheriff of London is engaged in, the moft Malevolent or Ill-minded, even in thefe cenforiow divided Times, have not taken upon them to impeach either your Addrejs or your 'Patience, your jfuftice or your Wifdom. This is a Happinefs, which has not J alien to the Share of many of thofe very worthy Gentlemen^ who have gone before you in that Toft, I am afraid the fir ft Thing any of your Fellow-Citizens con- demn you for, will be the Encourage- ment you have honoured this Sermon with ; but both oj us being engaged by the fame Motives, Love of our Na- tive Country, Duty to our Lawful King, and Zeal for the Proteftant Religion, I believe any Genfurc or Reflection will fit very eafie upon w. t B 3 For DEDICATION. Vox my part, I have no Views* no unhandsome ^Defigns oflnterefi or Am- bition ; I have di [charged my Confci- ence* and my 'Duty to God and the K^o, which is Reward enough* and as much a/, I look for. Methinks* my Country calls upon me. and every Cler- gyman, in the pathetick Language of the Mariners to Jonah, who lay afleep in a Storm* when the Ship wcvs finking* What meaneft thou that thou deep- eft? Arife, call upon God, iffobe, that he will think upon us, that we perifh not, Chap. 1.6. It is amazing tome* that that Voice has had no better Ejfcfi ; that fo ma* ny fleep in the lempejl which is raised in the Kingdom, who I am [are might with good Succefs fay to thole Storms, Be (till, and put a Stop to the Mad- nefs of the People : But they are all Wife* Good* and Learned* and I the leaft ot the Brethren, and in T)uty obligd to refrain from Cenfure ; lam only DEDICATION. only to wait, and pray, That the T)u vine Ephphatha, that is, BeOpen'd, may be heard amongft them \ then will the Strings of all Tongues be loos'd, and we flail ail fpeak TLA IN, St. Mark 7. 35. I will detain you no longer, than while I beg of you to ejleem me truly fenfible of the Honour you do me in this, andofthofe uninterrupted Civilities and Re [pedis, which I have always received from you, fince I have been fa happy as to be your Minifter \ and withal, how much they oblige me to thofe Returns of Gratitude and Thankfulnefs, which a Minifter fo highly favoured is able to make to fo good, and fo worthy a 'Pa* riflioner. I flould be ungrateful, if I did not mention, with all due Acknowledgnttnts and Refpecl, thofe other Gentlemen of both Auditories, who in a Manner and at an Expence uncommon, have cn~ B 4. couragd DEDICATION. couYagd the 'Publication of this < Dif^ courje. I hope God will blefs thcUn- dertakingy and all thofe who have given Jo much Help to it ; which u the hearty Prayer of y SIR, Your mod Obedient Servant, in all Faithfulnefs and Gratitude, Charles Lambe. §H§$®@®®®®®>r*©@®@®®®®i Proverbs xxiv, 21. My Son, fear thou the Lord, and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change. i§ I »i F a Man were to take a View of the fettled Trinciples, and allowed "D&Brines of the Church of England, how ftri&ly they enjoyn Love, Honour and Obe- dience to the King, and to all that are put in Authority under him \ if he were to confider, how carefully our Fathers have taught them w^ and in Perfecutions gave us Examples of adhering to them even to Death ; and alfo that we, the Sons of this prefent i o The Pretences for the prefent Generation, have our felves univerfally glory'd in them, and urg*d with Zeal uncommon, a due Conformity to them upon the Pain of Damnation ; he would be apt to • think, that to difcourfe upon this Subjedt in an Aflembly of the Church of England, was, literally, being in* ftant out of Seafon : He would con- clude it as tmnecefiary to exhort a Member of this Church to love his King, fo to love him as to keep his juft Commands, as it is to ex^ horr him to love hioifelf. But when he comes to confider the Practices of too many of us, how vaftly different they are from the ^Dodrines we have received and learnt ; when he reflects upon the prefent open Rebellion of fome, and the fecret Machinations of more, a*- gainft the King, his Dignity and Crown ; he will immediately acquit the Preacher, and mourn with him the unhappy Neceffity he is under of prefent Rebellion, confider'd. i j of forming afrefti the Minds of a Multitude, and beginning his In- ftru&ions anew, as if they were juft arrived from a State of Nature^ with- out any Notion of Government, or Authority Jupream. If I thought this Aflertion too fe- vere or uncharitable, I would en- deavour at fome Abatement of it ; but the Trumpet of Rebellion al- ready begun, the loud Alarms of a Civil War, drown the Calls of Cha- rity, and will juftify the fevereft Way of exprefling our Refentment and Deteftationofit. I would by no means be thought to level, and God forbid that I fhould level, what has been, or what hereafter (hall be faid, at all the Members of our excellent Church. There are in it, God be prais'd, great Examples of Loyalty and O- bedience ; there are in it now^ and ever will be, Men that fear God, and the King too, good Subje&s and 1 2 The Pretences for the and good Chriftians ; nay, it is im- poffible to be one without the other. Bat fince there is fo vifible a Defe- ction of many, I had almoft calTd it Apofiacy ; fince they who appear to beforcmoft in this black Confpiracy of invading our Nation, and en- throning a Papift, were alfo fore* moft in our Elleem as Lovers and Patriots of our Church ; tome Af- perity of Language and Refledion will not be look'd upon as criminal, by any virtuous or loyal Subject. I hope every one that hears me has, or will endeavour hereafter to obtain, a Title to thofe Epithets of Virtuom and Loyal ; and then 1 may promife my (elf your Candour, Pa- tience, and Attention, while I en- deavour to defend you from the evil Influences of fuch bad Examples ; and while I exhort you, who re- main untainted in your Allegiance, not only to continue fo unto the end, but to endeavour alfo by all the A6ts of prefent Rebellion, confided d. of unfeigned Obedience and Love, to attone for the Want of it in lbme of the Brotherhood ; by a very emi- nent Degree of both, to wipe off the Blemifh thofe rebellious Sons have caft upon our Mother the Church ; and to pay thofe Arrears of Duty^ which they owe to the Father of our Country, the King. In order to which, I have made choice of thefe Words of Solomon, the wifeft of Kings, My Son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change. Which Advice, tho' at firft fight it feems particular, is not addrefs'd to his own Son, but to all the Sons of IVifdom, to every true Child of Religion and Loyalty, he fpeaks as the good Father of his People, over whom he is fet, as the Minifter of God for Good; and would endear himfelf to them by calling them his Sons. He puts them in mind of that Reverence and Duty which they J 4. The Pretences for the they owe to him } as their common Parent ; and of that Love and Re- gard which he, as their common Pa- rent, owes to them : By calling them his Sons, he acknowledges the Right they have to Protection and Defence from every Evil both at Home and Abroad ; and to his continued Pro- vidence and Care, that every one might be eafie and fafe, as far as poffible, under hit own Vine, and under his own Fig-tree ; at the fame Time intimating to them, that Returns of Gratitude and Love, were hisjuft Expectation ; which we certainly with-held from him, if we were ft ub- born and perverfe Children, if we left off to fear God, and to fear the King, and prefumed to meddle with them that were given to change. The Fear of God, and the Fear of the King, are fo neceffariiy depen- dant the one on the other, that where the one is, the other will al- ways have a Place ; and where the one prefent Rebellion, confide fd. i § one is laid afide, the other is aban- don'd alfo. It is not poffible to be- lieve that a Man can pay all awful Reverence and Regard to God the Supream Governour of the World 9 who fhews continued Difrefpe&s to his Vicegerents, and difhonours daily his Anointed Ones. Whatever Ho- nour or Difhonour we do to them, we do it unto God alfo. And therefore, tho' a Man fet up for the greateft Patriot, tho' he ap- pear the moft zealous of all for his Religion, and his Followers cry a- loud, The Temple of the Lord, The Church of England ; if they aft in direct Oppofition to the Principles of that Church, rebelling openly a- gainft the Supream Head of it here on Earth, their Moife and Zeal is Hypocrify and Cheat, and is only to cover Deligns they dare not openly own. To pretend to fear God^ that is, to be truly Religious, and refufe to fwear Allegiance to the King, or to 1 6- The Pretences for the to break the Oath when they have taken it, has fomething in it very extraordinary ; and is the oddeft way in Nature of obtaining the Charadier of a Patriot. For thisReafon it is, that Solomon is lb particular in his Advice ; for tho', -as I faid before, the Fear of God does neceffarily imply the Fear of the King too ; yet becaufe fome Men did pretend to fear God, and yet withdraw themfelves from their Allegiance to the King, he is very exprefs, and mentions both ; and as the Fear of God is ufually in Scrip- ture put for the Whole of Religion, for an exadt and uniform Obedience to his Commands, fo the Fear of the Khg, as properly includes a ready and chearful Performance of every Duty incumbent on us as Subjects and Chriftians ; and the Command, not to meddle with them that are gi- ven to change, being immediately fubjoyn'd to the other, Fear GW, and prefent Rebellion, conjtder'd. I 7 and the King^ it is plain, that Solo* mon did look upomany Engagement or Concern, dire&ly or indire£tly, with the Lovers of Novelty and Change, deftrudtive of that Fear of God and the King^ which every one in Subjection ought to live, and to dye in, There are indeed different Chan- ges which Men are given to, accpiv ding to their different Conceits, In- terefts, or Refentments, and there is the fame Variety in the Methods by which they purfue and carry on the Change they aim at ;. but they all tend to the fame thing, di- rectly or in their Confequences^ they ftrike at Government, they fhew an Abfence of that Fear of God and the King^ which the Text advifes us to, and it makes us equally Criminal in the Eyes of God ; tho' railing at the King, ar* raigning and condemning his Cqun* fellors, Spreading defamatory Libels, C fow- 1 8 The Pretences for the lowing Jealoufies amongft his Peo> pie, be not actual Refinance or Re- bellion, yet they are the firft and common Advances to it ; and he whofe Confcience allows him in thofe Things, can never be iuppos'd to obey, or to refrain from Rebellion for Conjcience-lake^ but for his own fake, for fear of the Gibbet, which daily reminds him of the Confe- quences of Rebellion. And his O- bedience with thofe Circumftances attending it, will but little avail him in the Eye of the King ; and will avail him fefs, nay, will be feverely punifh'd, even with the rankeft Re- bels, before God. Upon fuch Confederations per- haps as thefe, the w 7 ife Man in the Text forbids in general^ not to med- dle with them that are given to Change 9 , he does not mention any particular Change^ becaufe any Attempt to alter a Government eftabliih'd and fettled according to the Conftitution of the King' prefent Rebellion , confide fd. i p Kingdom, was highly Criminal, ia every Degree of it, in every Step towards it, and every Species of Change or Alteration, that can be intended. But though the Text in general Terms, forbids us to meddle with any Change in Government what- ever ; give me leave to comply with the Neceffity of the Times, and to be particular in the Remainder of this Difcourfe. We have been told from the Throne^ that a Change in this Government is a&ually attempted ; and this we have feen confirmed, to the Amaze- ment of ail good Subjects, by fecret Murmurs and Revilings, by open Outrages, and Infults upon Autho- rity, by leditious and tumultuous Riots, by proclaiming another King, and eretting his Standard in full Defiance of our true, rightful Sove- reign GEORGE, whom God^ his own Lineal, Hereditary Right, and Ga the so The Pretences for the the Eftates of this Realm, according to the known Laws and Ufagt j s of it, have calPd to be our King, and to exerciie Dominion over us. With thofe that are given to ihii Change, it is your Duty not to meddle, and it is my Duty, in the Name of God, and of the Kiwg y to befeech, to exhort, to charge you ever to for- bear it. That I may do this with the grea- ter Succefs, and that you may more willingly acquiefce in it; I will fhew, I. What the Change is, which at this Time is too apparently intended. II. I will confider the Pretences and Reafons which are given for it. III. Exhort you, Not to meddle rvt it. with them that are given to I be- prefent Rebellion, confide fd. 2 1 I begin with the Firft. I. What the Change is, which at this Time is too apparently intended. And this I do not mention fo much for your Information, becaufe you cannot be ignorant of it in the main, as I do to raife your Averfion to it, and Abhorrence of it Is there an EnglifiTrotefiant of fo cold a Constitution, as not to fire imme- diately, when he hears of changing a Trotcftant King, defcended without 'Dijputc, from a long Race of Royal Progenitors, Kings and Princes of our Land, enamoured of our Con- stitution., Civil and Ecclefiaftical, delighting in Juftice and Mercy, averfe to Tyranny, and pleas'd to fee his People in that Liberty, where* with our Laws have made wfree* C 2 Would 2 2 The Pretences for the Would he not burn with Rage, I fay., to hear of giving fuch a Prince, for a Youth of a difputed Parentage, bigotted to the Topfb Faith, fworn a Child at the Altar to bear perpe- tual Enmity to our Church, to feck the Ruin of it upon Pain of Damna- tion, taught to deteft our happy Conftitution, which fhuts the Doors of our Kingdom agamft him ; a Youth taught to govern only with Rods of Iron, by Force of Arms, Excommunications, Inquifitions , Fire and Faggot, and all the Artil- lery of the Church of Rome ; a Youth big with Revenge, and impatient to execute it upon us, whom he vainly calls /^People, and bis Subjects. Unhappy Change ! fo fatal and deftruftive to us all, that one would think, as nothing but thehigheft In- fatuation could move the Contrivers of it to attempt it, fo nothing but the fame Witchcraft can move the main Body prefent Rebellion^ confidefd. 2 3 Body of this Kingdom to accent it. And therefore, let us confider, II. The Pretences that are made to juftify their Confciences and their Condud: in fo wild and wicked an Undertaking. And here I would firft befpeak your favourable Sentiments, thatyou would not impute my engaging in this Subject, to any vain Opinion of my own Abilities, which 1 acknow- ledge greatly Inferior, or to any In* clination to intermeddle in the Af- fairs of Kingdoms, but impute it to the Command of our Sovereign, and our Bifhop, to the Promifes that we lately made them both in perfonal Addreffes, viz. That we would inftil good Principles into the Minds oj our refpefiive Congregations^ that we would endeavour to Jet them right in their Notions of Obedience^ andjurnijh them out with fueh c Do£trines, as would make themgood Subjetts, and good Chriftians. C 4. The 2 4- The Pretences for the The Pretences are chiefly thefb Three : ift. They would reftore Right to to a Perion greatly injur'd, by the Settlement of the Crown in the Troteftant Line. idly. They would redeem their Fellow-Subje£ts,from their Op- preffions under His Majefty's Government. %dly. They would fecure the Church of England. lfl. They would reftore, l?c. It would ill become me, theCourfe of whofe Studies has been always bent another Way, to prefume to give you a Detail of all thole nume- rous Laws and Statutes, Ancient and Modern, which limit and fettle the Rights and Claims of the Crown ; but we may all affirm this, that from the King to the moft inferior Sub- prefent Rebellion, confident. 2 $ je£t, there is 110 Demand of Right, but what the Laws of the Realm derive to them ; Unalienable, Inde- feafible, Hereditary ', without the Qua- lifications which the Law and Con- ftitution expeft, are the Language only of Tyrants and Opprefiors, and a few black melancholy Men, who learn to obey from the Phlegm and Indolence of their Tempers, and their want of Spirit to look up, and feel when they are opprefs'd. But what Right the prefent Tre* tender to Dominion over us, has> from our Laws, is not yet made ma- nifeft, in all the Variety of Attempts to that Purpofe ; the Laws I am fure are exprefs againft him, and if his Birth could give him any Right or Tith % even that is fo much weak- ned by the Circumftances attending on it, that nothing but a very im- plicit Faiths can move us to believe it, Tq 2 6 The Pretences for the To be under a Neceflity to reflect upon the Birth of an) Perfon, is grie- vous enough to a generous Mind, and more lb, when the Perfon is the reputed Sou of a King, but we mufi bear to be reminded upon this Exi- gency, that the Condud of his fup- poled Mother, in the Day of her Travail, gave a peculiar Unhappi- neis to his Cafe ; that was done in a Corner, which (hould have been done openly ^ to the utmoft Extent of Decency ; the Care that lliould have been taken to convince the proper Perfons of his real Relation to her, was employed in making it a Secret, and hiding it from them ; which ex- pofes his Birth to many, and fo fair Objections, that I am confident, the greateft Stickler for his Hereditary Right, w r ould not leave his reputed Son the Eftate of an ancient Family, if his Legitimacy w r as attended with fo many Objections, and fo fairly open to the Sufpicionsof Impofture: nor prefent Rebellion, confider 'd. 2 7 nor would any Son, fuppofe him Legitimate^ think hitnfelf injur'd, when left out of the Succeffion, for want of the Qualifications (which he refund to bring with him, tho' made by Law) neceffary and effential to the Inheritance. This Notion of Right has been fo fairly and clearly confuted, upon the Foot of our Confiitution^ by the Learned Dr e Higden^ now with God, that his Adverfaries have only rail'd and vilified him, and have never an- fwer'd him any other way, than by ■ calling Books an Anfwer to him. Let not this Pretence therefore make any Impreflions upon you ; it is a Bait laid only to catch the Un- wary, to work upon the unduly Compaffionate, and to give fome fort of Glofs to an impious Rebellion. Suffer it not to withdraw you from your Allegiance to your prefent Lawful Sovereign ; let it not make any Alteration in your good Efteem of 28 The Pretences for the of Him ; lead him s tho' he be thy Brother, before a Ruler, who ven- tures by fuch Inlinuations to tempt thee from thy Duty, or to unfheath thy Sword againft him. idly, There is another Pretence for this Rebellion : That they would redeem their Fellow-Subje£ts from their Oppreffions under His Ma- jefty's Government. There never yet was a Rebellion^ but Redemption from Oppreffion was one of the pretended Motives to it ; and that Arch-Rebel beyond the Tweed, who has erected a Standard, and called it by the Name of a King whom we know not, in his Decla- ration, tells us, he is come to redeem us from Opprejfion ; but in his great Modefty^ he is filent as to the Na- ture of the Oppreffion, wherein it confifts, or in what manner we aie afflidied with it. So Corah ufheni In his Rebellion againft Mofes^ a Man prefwt Rebellion, confide fd. 29 Man of lb little Ambition, lb little inclined to Power, that he is recor- ded in Holy Writ as the meekefi Man upon Earth; and yet, to give fome Colour to his Rebellion, he charges him before the People, that he took too much upon bim y N umb. 1 6. 3. So Jeroboam, when he had de- termined to revolt, complain'd to Reholoam, of the grievous Services and heavy Toke, which bis Father had put upon all the Congregation r 1 Kings 1 a, 4. There is indeed a keen Appetite in the greateft Part of Mankind, to hear Evil of their Governours, and to believe, as well as to report it to be true, tho' they are in a manner convinced of the contrary. This In- clination has been of great Service in Seditions and Rebellions ; to re- deem Fellow-Subjefts from Slavery or Oppreffion, is extremely Popular; it ftrikes home upon the giddy Mul- titude, and every one is proud of being a Patriot of Liberty. But 30 The Pretences for the But as in moft Rebellions, the Pretence is only feigned, and the Noife of Opprellion a Lie, a Cheat upon the People ; certainly it never was more apparently fo in any than in this. It is not long fince God blefs'd this Nation with His Majefty's hap- py Acceffion to the Throne ; it will therefore be no Difficulty to look back, and recoiled the feveral Paf- fages of His Reign, from the Time that we all unanimoufly put the Scepter into His Hand, to this Time, that the Treacherous and Ungrateful would impioufly wreft it out. And here I appeal to the moft difcontented, to the moft re- bellion* Breaft ; whofe Right has he taken ? Whom has he opprefs'd ? What Promife or what Law has he broken ? What Part of our Confti- tution has he invaded ? Has he run in upon the Dodhines or Difciplines of the Church ? Or has he dealt un- fairly prefent ReheUion, confide fd. 3 1 fairly with the Laws, the Cuftoms, and Ufages of the State ? Have you not his Royal Word, that he will in- violably maintain them all ? And have we not had a continued Series of Royal Deeds to confirm his Sin- cerity, arid fhew his Truth ? Has he deviated at all from the Exam- ples of his Predeceffors under the lame Extremities, 'even tbofe to whom we are moft endear'd, and whofe Memories are moft precious to us ? Are not his Ears open to all Complaints, and his Hands to all our Addreffes ? How Gracious are the Anfwers that he gives ? How Affectionate the Expreffions of his Love, his Care and Concern for us, even at a Time when Indignities are daily offer 'd, when Faction runs high, and Rebellion flagrant and domineering? Cafl this Trince be an Oppref- for, Cruel, Implacable, and Re- vengeful, whofe Temper is not ruffled g 2 The Pretences for the ruffled in the Height of thefe re^ peated Provocations, who can fpeak Teace to his People, tho' they have' War in their Hearts ? Who, like the God he repreients, is more inclined to Mercy than to Judgment, and is more ready to forgive, than to pu- nilh, tho* he is provoked every 'Day ? Whatever is extraordinary, or more than we have been us'd to in his Government at this Juncture, is not owing to his Choice, but to Ne- cejfity, to our Selves, to our undutijul Behaviour. The Laws of Nature, of the Land, and of God, allow a King, as well as his People, in the necefiary Me- thods of Defence ; and it would be an unpardonable Negleft in the go- verning Part of a Nation, to leave it in a dejencelejs Condition, when a Rebellion was affiuaUy begun at home, and an Invafionthr eaten d from abroad j and the Iniquity of thole Men is as unpardonable, who iniinuate their Fears prefent Rebellion, conjidefd. g qj Fears and Jealoufies upon that Ac- count, inftilling Apprehenfions of Oppreffion and Tyranny, and all the evil Confequences of a /landing Force. And therefore let us take a View of Him in His own Native Coun- try, fee Him there encompafs'd al- ways with an armed Hoft, ever ready to execute His Commands, or His Vengeance ; fee Him there in- verted with Arbitrary Power, under no Reftraint, but what His own Wifdom, Juftice and Mercy laid upon Him. What A£ts of Tyranny, Cruelty, 1 or Oppreffion have His Enemies Here been able to charge Him with? They would have told us thefe with Plea lure and Aggravation, if any fucb they could have found : But the Grief and Tears of His Sub- jects, when He parted from them, fufficiently convince us, that they had nothing of this to complain of ; + D and 34. The Pretences for the and why fhould we imagine that His Subjeds here at Home (hall not find from Him, with this fmall ad- ditional Temporary Authority, the fame Lenity, Juftice and Goodnefs, which made Him lov'd and ador'd by His Subje&s Abroad, even in the Plenitude or Fulnefs of Power un- controuFd ? There is a Third Pretence for this unnatural Rebellion ; and that is, The Security of the Church oj Eng- land. In truth, I am almoft aftiam'd to mention it, it is fuch an unaccoun- table Impofition, fuch an Indignity done to common Underftanding, that that Provocation only, abftra- dled from all other Considerations, fhould methinks be enough to kin- dle our Refentment, and determine every one to arm againft them. It is as modeft to call upon us to be- lieve prefent ReheBion, confide fd. g J lieve rranfubftantidtibn, as it is to call upon us to believe, that out Church will be more fecure under a Tapifiy than under a Trotefiant Kin S< But whence is this fiirprizing Se- curity to a rife ? They tell us, from the Obligations he will put himfelf under upon his Acceffion j and will he perform thofe Engagements,wheri he finds himfelf fix'd and well-fet- tled ? If he does, he has been ftrangely mifreprefented, arid is no Tapifl « or if he is a Tapiflj it would be bar- barous arid urichriftian in his Sub- jects to infift upon them, becaufe, according to the ruling Principle of the Topifb Faith, thofe Engagements with Hereticks,un\efe broken, would fink him deep into the Miferies of the Damn'd. And is it to be imagined, that a Man fo bigotted to his Religion, that &Crwn carinot tempt him to change D % %: 3 6 The Pretences for the it^ and that purely upon the Score of Confcience, and the Fears of Hell, can ever be prevail'd upon to defend a Church, or protect its Members, which are both equally the Averfion of his Soul, confider'd asTroteftant, when he really believes that Eternal Mifery will be his Por~ tion if he does, and Eternal Hap- pinefs his Reward if he does not ? What other Motive but this did induce that poor unhappy, mifgui- ded Prince, whom he calls his Fa- ther, to deal fo madly with his People, as he did ? You will all recqlleft, when the Bill of Exclufion lay before the Le- giflature, the Apprehenfions of ZW- ger to the Churchy ' from the Religion of the Heir apparent, was one of the chief Caufes of it. When the Zeal and Power of the Promoters of it leem'd to promife Succefs, an Expedient was offered, Methods proposed to fcreen the Church from prefent Rebellion, confide fd. g 7 all the Dangers that could arife; Ailurances were given, Promifes made, fuch as prevailed at that Jun- cture, and put a Stop to that re- markable Proceeding, after a Strug- gle of more than Two Years, In due Time, the then Heir apparent became King, was crown'd, and fubmitted to, all his Promifes re- new'd and confirmed in the moft fo lemn manner : He ty'd himfelf in all the ftri&eft Bonds of Honour, Confcience and Religion : He made a Covenant before the Congregati- on of his People, and in the Pre- fence of God, That the Church of England fhould ever have his De- fence and Protection; that the Laws of our Land fhould be the Rule of his Reign. But alas ! the Oaths and Cove- nants were all deceitful a* the Brooks^ and as the Streams of the Brooks they faffed away. It was not long before heperfecuted the Churchy and broke D 3 through g 8 The Pretences for the through her Eftabliflh-ment : It was not long before he invaded the State^ trampled upon our Statutes, defpis'd our Laws, and [old himfelf to work IVickednejs in the Sight of God. Upon this Head, it is juft and equal to remind you, that his Hi- flory is a fair Caution to us for the future ; it u written for our Inflru~ ition^ and we are to learn by it, . ne- ver to put our Truft in one, whofe Religion enjoyns Perjury, makes the Breach of Oaths and Cove- nants with Proteftants highly Me* ritortow, and one Way to Salva- tion. But they tell us, that the Perfon for whom they are called to rebel, having feen the Errors of this King, and known his Fate, will be careful to avoid them, and dread the Steps which brought that Fate upon him. * x t Alas ! prefent Rebellion, coufider'd. 39 Alas! if he is lincere in his Reli- gion, as wehavenoReafon todoubt, thole Errors are all Good Works y and the Confequences not unhappy, but full of Merit, and to be courted by every good Catbolick : Thefe he be- lieves have rais'd him among the Bleffed Ones Above, and the Knee is bow'd to him daily, as to one of the raoft powerfu I Saints of Glory. And how can we believe, that he will not follow an Example he fo much honours, or that he is not as ambi- tious bv the fame Methods of ob- taining his Place in Heaven, as he feems to be of his Throne here on Earth ? How vain therefore is this Secu- rity ! How great a Contradiction in its own Nature ! And how unable fure to prevail upon the f oft eft iln- derftanding ! Certainly, they offer it only as a Tryal of our Faith. If we can believe this, they will right- ly conclude us fufceptible of any D 4. Ira*> 40 The Pretences for the Impreffions, and that the wildeft Tenets, and moll fhocking Doftrines of Fopery, will find our eafie and ready Affent ; the chiefeft Thing they aim at ? and the Difcovery of it will be a great Satisfaction, as well as a huge Encouragement to go on. And therefore as the Church can have no Security from this Quarter, give me leave to congratulate your Happinefs that (he wants none. That we are opprefs'd, and that the Church is in Danger y they tell us in general Terms; had there been any real Inftances of either, un- doubtedly their Accounts would have been fpecifak, and we fhould have known the Particulars. But a general Affertion is of fome Ufe in a Rebellion, it makes lbme Impreffion upon the lefs penetrating, and is an Advantage they think muft not be loft. It prefent Rebellion, confide fd. 4. 1 It is greatly Happy for us, when our Church is declared in 'Danger, that we cannot eafily perceive it ; the only Danger fhe is in, is from thofe Falfe Brethttn, that have re*- bellM againft her ; from thefe in- deed they have in fome meafure fe- cur'd us, by receiving fome of the guilty Leaders into their own Arms, and diftant Countries, and anima- ting the reft to fuch wild, impradti- cable Attempts, as will certainly de- ftroy them in the End. As for any other Danger, it is yet hid from our Eyes ; her Efta- blifhment is yet firm and untouch'd, the Laws for her Privileges and Prerogatives, in full Force, receiv- ing every Year from Authority re- peated Affurances, which are fo many frefh Collateral Securities ; the Generality of us are indearM to her beyond the Poflibility of chang- ing. Our Hearts, our Minds, our Souls are tyed down to her, and all our 42 The Pretences for the our Strength at hand to defend her in perillous Times Where then is the Danger ? From whence does it proceed ? From the King ? Good God"? Are all the found Members of the Body united in one Intereft, and does the Hu ipire againft them ? Fatalis qucedam Cala* mitas incidiffe videtur I Some fatal Infatuation feems to have feiz'd the Minds of Men ! And that Gcd had given IM over to believe a Lye ! The Church and Monarchy of England are ib neceffarily obliged to each other, their fevecal Interests fo link'd and interwoven, that it is mo- rally impoffible for either of them to fubiift in their prefent Glory, if feparated and divided. In a juft Senle of this, as well as mov'd by his Inclination and Judg« ment, our Wife and Gracious Sove- reign has not been wanting in any fingle Evidence of his fincere and hearty Attachment to her : I wifh I could prefent Rebelkon, confider 7 d. 4. 3 could fay her Sons had been careful to give equal Teftimony of their (incere Adherence and Affection to Him. The firft Advances to his Reign, were attended with all imaginable Affurances of his Favour and Pro- tection ; the Time of his Corona- tion was fpent in binding his Con- fidence, his Soul, and all that was Dear and Valuable to him, in the ftrongeft Tyes that Man or God could require of him, which he yeilded to with Chearfulnefs and Pleafure, with an Alacrity peculiar enough to convince the moft Sufpi- cious, the moft Jealow of his Sub* je£ts ; and what Pains has he taken lince, to (hew the Sincerity of his Faith by his JVorh ? attending pub- lickly our Preaching, our Prayers, our Sacraments, expreffing daily his entire Reconciliation, and his Re- gard to them fuperior to all other Ordinances whatever. With 44 The Pretences for the With, what Endearments, with what Grace and Favour did he re- ceive the Addtefles of the Clergy of London^ of the Universities, of the Convocation ? How remarkably Gracious were his Anfwers, how full of comfortable Affurances- how becoming a good King, and a true Father .of his People ? How chear- fully did he recommend to his, Par- liament, upon our Petition, the pro- viding a Maintenance for the Mini- fters of new-erefted Churches? How generoufly, purely for the Encouragement of Learning, did. he prefent to the Loyal Univerfityof Cambridge^ one of the nobleft and beft collected, private Libraries in Europe ? How does he delight to do us good ? He feems to love, he de- fires, he -waif j tobegraciom to ourSion. Where then are thole Ingrates ? where are thofe Spots and Stains to our Holy Church 8 Is it poffible that aLer all the Benefits he hath done unto prefent Rebellion, conJider J d. 45 unto as, after all the Certainties of future Services ; that they (hould, like the perverfe infenfible Jews^ perfift ft ill to declare, Not this Man^ but Bar abbas ? Unhappy Choice ! Fatal Refolu- tion I So deftru&ive in it felf, that lure you do not want much Exhor- tation to guard againft it, and againft the Men that would draw you into it. When luch a Change is offer 'd at, as this which I have been men- tioning, you want not certainly to be perfuaded, not to meddle with them that are given to it. Not to meddle^ that is, not to bear any part with them, directly or indi- rectly; not to believe or fpread their Libels ; not to joyn in their Re- vilings, not to conceal the Defign, not to affift with ourCounfel, or our Money, not to give Encouragement to it by Word or Deed ; the con- trary to which, according to the various Expofi.tions of the Word, is to 4 6 The Pretences for the to meddle with them that are given to change. And here, if I had not already fwellM this Difcourfe to its juft Li- mits, I would urge you not to med- dle in this Change, from the To- picks of common Honour, common Gratitude both to God and the King^ common Intereft as Subjects, and common Confcience as Chriftians ; but thefe are Subjects too copious to be Undertaken towards the Clofe of a Difcourfe, which you already wifti at a full Stop. But yet 1 cannot forbear offering to your Confideration this Particu- lar : How great the Refle&iori is upon us, how much we fuffer in the fi- fteen! of Europe ; we who pride our felves in the Title of the Balance of Europe ; we who are look'd Upon as a great and a wife Nation^ have expofed our felves juftly toReproaeh^ Contempt and Scorn. What prefent Rebellion, confider'd. tfi What can the Neighbour- Nations think of fuch an unfettled, waver- ing, inconftant People? What Prince can wifely venture upon any Con- ventions or Alliances with m, who are fo fluctuating and unfteddy in our Affections, and in every Particular • of a Subject's Duty ? Pofterity will hardly believe, after we had Ena- cted, Guaranteed, Invited, Recei* ved, Crown'd a Prince our King, Sworn to him, abjur'd his Enemy, and ail this with Unanimity, with all the Acclamations of Joy and Tranfport ; that in the Courfe of a few Months, our Behaviour forc'd him to ftand furrounded with an armed Hoft, to call his Ships from their peaceful Harbours, not only for the Security of his Government, but even of his Royal Terfon^ even of his Royal Iffue^ whom he threw into our Arms, and confided in the Honour of his Kingdom for their Safety; and all this, becaufe the Jufti.ce 48 The Pretences for the Juftice of his Laws perfued fome popular Fugitives, who now fcreen themfelves under the Wings of Po- pery, and adl in concert with the Enemies of our Repofe, and the Pre- tender to our Crown. God has frequently, and very fignally deliver'd this Church from the Invaiions of Popery, from the fecret Plots and deep-laid Confpira- cies of the Sons of Rome, not only in the Years long before us, but in the Years nigh unto us, and even this prefent Time, The Death of that Old Monarch in the Nation beyond us, who has fo long been a Rod in the Hand of God to chaftize this Nation, and vex Europe ; his Death at this Time, when he had form'd a Confpiracy (I am alham'd to mention his Con- federates) to invade our Country, and place a Papift on the Throne, is a mighty Inftance of God's Fa- vour, how much his Providence is con- prefent Rebellion, confide fd. 4.9 concerned for us, and how he de- lights to fave and defend his Church and People. Had not he dy'd, the Sword had been drawn throughout the King- dom, and we cannot fay which of us would have been left alive ; and therefore, fince God has done fo much for our Safety, let us co-ope* rate with his Providence, and do fomething towards it our felves; let us all ftand up as one Man, -in Defence of our Laws, our Religion, and our King. Let us obey the Calls of Honour, Gratitude, Inte- reft and Confcience; let thefe drown the Murmurings of the Difaffe&ed, the Noife of the Fa&ious, and the Clamour of the Rebellious ; let no fly Infinuations, artfully contriv'd to deceive, have any Effect upon us ; let no Promifes from the Quar- ters of Papifts, prevail with us to meddle, or to fide with them. E I have 5 o The Pretences for the I have told you, that this Church has felt the heavy Hands, and known the naughty Hearts of Po- pifh Kings ; no Oaths, no facred Obligations have been able to hold them ; all the Religious Bands have been broken through, and our Fa- thers have groan'd under Tyranny and Perfecution, when they vainly flattered themfelves with Liberty and Freedom. And therefore, if you have any Love for your felves, for your King, for the Trotefiant Religion ; let us guard againft all the Encroachments that the Tretender to the Crown can make upon us, either by his Friends from Abroad, or his Abettors here at Home ; and this, if we are brought to that unhappy Neceffity, it is our %)uty to do, by Force of Arms ; the AggreiTor may be flain by the Laws of God and the King; it is the Caufe of Liberty, of Religion, of our Souls ; and therefore Life, Eftate and prefent Rebellion^ confide fd. $ i and all that is dear, muft be put to Hazard in Defence of it. • But there is a Way, I believe, even yet, to prevent thefe fad, thefe fatal Extremities; we may defeat the Rebels without Sword, without Blood ; and that will be by calming our Paffions, giving a new Turn to, our Tempers, refolving againft any evil Inclination to our Governours, and joy ning heartily with them, and acquiefcing in their Adminiftra- tion. Want of Unanimity is the firft Caufe of all our Evils, and will in- fallibly ruin us at laft ; om'Divifeons only gave new Life and Courage to this old Enemy ^ that has fo long flept, and, as it were, in Death. Our Animofities alone have call'd him from among the Tombs > and unlefs we al- lay them, he may rage perhaps a- mongft us, like the Doemoniack in the Gofpel, beyond a Poffibility of beingbound, or chain'd down again. E 2 Men, + •# 5 2 The Pretences for the Men, Brethren, and Fathers, let us confider fairly with our felves 1 what it is that we quarrel about', what the chief Occafion is of this great Breach fo fcandalous to our Church > fo deftru&ive to our State ; and it will appear fo frivolow, that you cannot poflibly continue any longer in it. We that are inferior People mufi be governed ; and while the Confti- iution is the Rule of Power, fhall the Difpute be, who, under the King, (hall govern ? Shall our Affe- ction to particular Men, fuppofe them truly Good, fet us afloat in a Sea of Blood, and open a wide Paf- fage for inevitable Deftru&ion? Have you any Notion of a Civil War ; your Treafury exhaufted, your Banks plundered, your Trade decay'd, your Companies bankrupt, your Shops rifled, and the various Species of Stocks, funk, run down, and loft ? Have you any Idea of Fields prefent Rebellion, confide fd. £ g Fields flow'd withBlood, your Streets pav'd with the Carcaffes of Fellow- Citizens, your Wives and your Daughters torn from your Sides, and made a Prey to enrag'd undiftin- guiftiing Soldiers ? Think that you fee this beautiful and fpacious City burnt, deftroy'd, made a ruinous Heap, attended with all the difmal Horrors of Fire and Sword, even from Fellow Countrymen, Fellow Subjects, and Fellow Trotefiants. If you can frame in your Imagi- nation a Landskip of this, you will furely avoid every thing that does in the lea ft tend towards it ; you would certainly never follow any difcon- tented Leader in thofe Paths that apparently guide to all this Mifery, and carry on to fo much Ruin ; you would then certainly feek Peace, you would then certainly, befoi* it be too late, enfue it diligently. Under the Government of this Trotefiant Trince^ you may be hap- E 3 py e; 4. The Pretences for, Sec. py if you will ; under the Govern- ment of a Tapifi^ you never will, you never can be ; and therefore let us all joyn heartily in this Prayer : That God would be pleat d to give our King a long Life, an happy and undi* fturb'd Reign over m ; that he would dijpofe the Hearts of all his Subje&s to Obedience^ Unity and Peace ; that he would confound the 'Devices of all his Enemies \ that Blcjfcngs may ever attend his Royal Iffae ; that his Seed may multiply in the Land^ and his 1U luftriom Houfe not want a Man to ftand before us as our King for ever. Amen > Amen. The PopifhPioT a fair Caution to Proteftants, not to engage in a Popifh Rebfxlion. SERMON Preach'd on Sunday, November the 6 th. 1 7 1 5. A T S.K atheliine Cree-Church AND All-Hallows Barkin. LONDON: Printed in the YEAR 1717. @®@®®$® ®®$®@® Psalm cxxiv. Ver. 6. Our Soul is efcaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler : the Snare is broken, and we are delivered. j|ESTERDAY being the Fifth of November, a Day memorable for the great Love of God to this Nation, and the great Hatred of the Papifts to it ; it will not be improper at this Time to make that the Subject of a Difcourfe; becaufe, for what Reafon I know not, very few of you attend the publick Aflembly upon that great Feftivalj and becaufe I think we can never 5 8 The Topljh Plot a fair Caution never be thankful enough to Al- mighty God for that Deliverance, nor too often expofe the Cruelty and Inhumanity of the Roman Church, efpecially at this Time, when the Members of it here in Great Britain are in adtual Rebellion againft our tflabliJFd Government in Church and State, encouraged by the Ui> thinking, the Angry, and the Ma- licious ; and not only recommended to our Favour and good Opinion, but offerd to us as the beft Patriots of our Liberties, and the beft: Pre- fervers of our Troteftant Religion. We deferve not God's Favour for the Future, if what he has already done^ has not the proper Effeft up- on us. Undoubtedly the Deliverance from that Powd,er Plot, was one of the greateft that God has ever wrought for this Church and Nation: It was a Deliverance, like his Name, Great, Wonder jul, and will ttand an eternal againft a Vopifh Rebellion. 59 eternal Inftance of God's peculiar Care of our happy Eftablilhment, Ecclefiaftical and Civil, and an inde- lible Brand of Infamy and Reproach to that infatiable Thirfter after Tro- tefiant Blood, the Church of Rome. I am willing to believe, that there are none in this Aflembly without thofe Impreffions, which fo fignal a Mercy fhould always make upon us ; there are none fure without a due Senle of thofe ineftimable Ad- vantages, which we, even now^ de- rive and enjoy from it. The Confideration of which will naturally engage us always to meet that Great Anniversary with Hearts fuited to the Occafion of it, ready to celebrate it with Hymns of Gra-* titude and Songs of Praife, with thofe chearful and triumphant Hal- lelujahs, which are due to God, and become a People fo highly favou> red. We 60 TheVopiJh Plot a fair Caution We are to celebrate in a particular manner, upon this Great Day, his infinite Goodnefs, his omnipotent Power, his unlpeakable Wifdom, his omnitcient Mind, his all-feeing Eye, and that vaft Train of afto- nifhing and ineffable Perfedtions, which make him higher than the Higbeft^ and which he employs per- petually in the Service and lntereft of his Creatures. When the retired Malecontent draws his Schemes of Rebellion and Treafon, whether in the Covert of the Night upon his Eed, or in the Day in the Secrecy of his Walks, God is about his Bed^ and about his Tatbs ; he fees the Pit that he is digging, and the Net th it he is fpreading, and by his Providence throws the Traytor headlong into the one, or caufes bis Foot to be taken in the other. T)avid very frequently, and with | Paffion uncommon, celebrates this his againft a Pttpifh Rebellion. 6t his Univerfal Providence, and par- ticularly in thisPfalm, to which we are indebted for our Text. The Learned are not lb well ac- quainted with the original Occafion of this Pfalm, as to point dire£tly at the Deliverance which he foiem* rrizes in it ; but by the Defcription which we find given of it, it appears to be fome very narrow Efcape ; like that which we now commemorate, like ours, a very Great Salva- tion. When we take a View of the Greatnefs of the Danger that fur- rounded him, we (hall be better en- abled to form a Judgment of the Greatnefs of the Deliverance, for which he here lings his Praifes and his Thanks to God : He reprefents himfelf affaulted by his Enemies on every fide, who came down rolling upon him like a Torrent ; The Wa~ ters had almofi overwhelm 7 d him, and the deep Waters of the Troud not far fi rom 62 The Popi/h Plot a fair Caution from going over his Soul, Verfes But the Rock of his Salvation broke thofe infulting Waves, and open'd his Way with Safety and Security ; God remembred his Promiie, and did not jail T)avid ; he would not fuffer him to be a 'Prey to the Teeth of his Enemies, but he try'd hia Con- ftancy and his Faith, by bringing him fo near Deftru&ion, that his Efcape was as the Efcape of a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler. Our Soul is efcaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler : the Snare is broken, and we are de* liver'd. From which Words, without any unnatural Force or Stra in upon them, we may draw this Obfervation : That (jfqd fometimes delights to fave his Church or People, •v when againfl a Popifh Rebellion. 63 when their Hopes are Icajl, and their Dangers greatefl, when the Approaches of Deftru&ion are fo near, that their Efcape is as the Efcape of a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler ^ that is, when the Danger is moft im- minent, and Deliverance moft acceptable, when their Hopes of efcaping are as little, as the Hopes, of a Bird entangled in a Net. I would be admitted to make good this Obfervation from fome Inftances which I find in Holy Writ, and from fome others which I find recorded in the Annals of our own Nation : When this is done, I will endeavour at fome proper Applica- tion, and then bring the whole to a full Stop. ift. From fome Inftances which I find in Holy Writ. God 6^ TfoPopiJh Plot a fair Caution God by a mighty Hand, and an out-ftretched Arm, had refcued his People from the Hands of the Egyp- tian King, and had brought them onwards to the promised Land, but he was pleased in their Paffage to prove them, to make Trial of their Affiance, and their Faith in him, and to fhew the Greatnefs of his own Tower, by leading them into Dangers, which thej could not in any human Probability hope to fur- mount ; furious and innumerable Enemies purfued them, and the Red Sea intercepted their Flight } where then could they go for Re- fuge? To the Sea? They could not hope for Mercy from the Waves. Should they throw themfelves at the Feet of Pharaoh's Hoft? Thefethey knew experimentally, had no Mercy. Thefe Extremities made work for Omnipotence ; nothing lefs than an Almighty Hand could lead them out ■ againft a PopiJB Rebellion* &§ put of the Snare into which they were fallen ; the Sea therefore is commanded to ftand on an Heap on each fide, and give them a dry Pak fage thro'. the Deep, and when the harden d Hoft of Egypt continued their Purfuit the fame way, itprov'd to them the way to Deftru&ion ane| Death. 'David's Metaphor itl this Tfalm was literally true of thern^ The Waters overwhelmed them r and the Stream went over their Souls^ ver. 4. Into the fa me furprizing Streights $ and Circumftances feeming defpe- rate, God was pleas'd .to bring Ju* dah, and Jehofaphat their King. The Children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, unprovoked and unex-s pe&ed, invaded his Country, and ftood in Battel againft him, unpro- vided, without the common Necef- iaries of War and Defence, Bettum, print veri^ quam bar dpi •■ he found the i F 66 The TopijhYlot a fair Caution War attually begun, before he heard of any T * reparations for it. In the midft of a Confufion, com- mon to fuch fudden Diftrefles, the only Giver of Viftory commanded them into the Wildernefs of Tekoa, not to fight, but [foil their Enemies; not to flay, but Knfee them fain. For the Battel wm not theirs, but the hordes : they looKd upon the Multu tude, and behold they mere all dead, and none efcaped, 2 Chron. 20. 24.. The certain Fate of thofe that fight againft God. Thefe are Two of the moft emi- nent lnftances in Holy Writ, of God's delighting to fave his Church or People, when they are reduced to a Condition, in all human Appear- ance, fomething defperate. There is another not lejs remark- able in our own Story, the Circum- ftances as farprizing, the Delive- rance as great and unexpected ; fo Great, that it has made the Fifth of againji a Vopifh Rebellion. 6j of November diftinguifh'd above all Days, and has given it a Name that will not be forgot, 'til] the laft Trumpet wakes the World to Judg- ment. God fuffer'd the barbarous and moft inhuman Defign to be concert- ed, and carry 'd on with Secrefy be- yond the Reach of the moft prying Sufpicion ; the Methods agreed on were juft and appofite ; the Contri- vers induftrious, cunning, mali- cious ; the Agents true and fteady to their Villany, and all the Inftru- ments of Death plac'd to the beft Advantage ; there wanted nothing but the imalleft Spark of Fire, to have given Death to the Royal Fa- mily, and Ruin to the whole Nation. So great a Matter would a little Fire have kindled. It was the moft extended Piece of Villany, that any Hiftory furnifhes us with, and nothing but the barba- rous Heart of a Tapift, the Mood'thirfcv t F * Soul 6 8 The Popifh Plot a fair Caution Soul of a Jefuit, could have enter- tained a Notion, or an Idea of it. The King was not to perifh alone, but the Slaughter was to reach his Royal Ijfue too : nor was this enough, the greateft Part of our Nobility, and the beft of our Gentry, were to be Sharers in this fudden Deftru> £tion : if I may ufe the Expreflion, the whole Kingdom was to dye a fud~ den c Death ; for if the Head had been deftroy'd, the Body would in Confe> quence have fympathiz'd, and been crulh'd under thofe Ruins. But blejfed be God, who did not give them over a* a c Prey unto their Teeth, that he fuffer'd them to efcape, tho T as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler. They were in the greateft Danger* and did not in the leaft fufpedt it ; upon the Brink of fur e Deftru&ion, and apprehend ve of no Jeopardy. Who then could fave, but He who is Omnipotent? What Eye could guide to the Diicovery, but that; which' againft a Popijh Rebellion. 69 which is All-feeing ? Who could fhew the Secret, but He to whom all things are naked and open? Who could reveal theTranfa&ions of Night and 'Darknefs, but He to whom the T)ark- nefs is no 'Darhicfs at all, to whom the Night is clear as the 'Day ? In this the larrf evidently appeared on our Side, he apparently took this Trotejlant Teople into his Prote&ion and Defence, he would not fuffer a Nation that had heartily embraced the Precepts and Inftitutions of his Son, that preach'd hisDoftrxne with Sincerity and Purity, thatworihip'd him with Decency and good Order, and adminifter'd his Sacraments rightly : he would not fuffer, 1 fay, fuch a Nation to be born down and trampled upon by Men not half fo Pure, fcandalous in Principles, and debauch'd in Practice : Men that corrupted his Do&rines, new mo- dell'd. his Inftitutions, difobey'd his Ordinances, and adminifter'd his F 3 Sacra^ 70 The Topijh Plot a fair Caution Sacraments by halves ; Men that fcorn'd the good old Way, and would not walk in the Paths that Chrift had fet before them. From the fecret Plots and Machi- nations, from the open and bare- fac'd Attempts of thefe Men, God has often fhew'd himlelf our Prote- &or and Defender, and notour, but a [ccondTime very eminently on our Fifth of November : This k the 'Day, one would think, that God had chojen to fignalize his 'Difpleajure to the Pa^ pifts, and his Love to us. You have all ftill in your Re- membrance, the melancholy Con* edition of this Church and State to* wards the Clofe of the La ft Centu- ry, when Topcry began to ere£t its Head anew, and domineer over Li- berty and Law, tho' but in the In- fancy of Tower. You will recoiled how an Army of Tapifis kept this noble City in Captivity, when the Sword of Jiiftice was held in the Hands againft a Popijh Rebellion. 7 1 Hands of Soldiers, and the Bar re- ceived Inftru&ions from the Camp ; you cannot forget the DiftrefTes of the Church, her Do&rines difputed, her Bifhops imprifoned, her Schools of Learning invaded, particularly that renowned Seat of Learning, Magdalen-College among the Oxonians ; the Members of which, by the no- ble Stand they made at that Time, by their bold Oppolition to Topery, gained all that Glory and good E- fteem, which their Indolence or Ncu~ trality, call it Indifference, at this Time has juftly forfeited, and taken from them. When God faw us in this miferable Condition, he again flretch'd forth his Hand to fet us free. The Prince whom he was pleas'd to fet foremoft among the Inftru- ments which he had chofen in order to it, attempted to give the Fourth, the Day of his Birth, the Honour of his firft Advances ; but God in his F 4 Wif- ■ rj 2 The Pcpijh Plot a fair Caution Wifdom, thought fit to put it off to the Fifth ; as if he look'd upon us not mindful enough of his former Favour on that Day, and was there- fore refolv'd, by this new Delive- rance^ to revive the Remembrance of the other, and to make our Fifth of "November fo emphatically memo- rable, that the lmpreffion lhould be deep, and lafting to the End of Time.- This Deliverance was wrought for us by iuch a iurprizing Train of unexpeftcd Accidents, lb vifibly by the Interpofitionofthe Divine Hand, that no Human Unuerftanding can fairly account for it. The Hea rt of a mighty Hoi\, terrible with Banners, in a Moment became turnd a* the Heart of one Man : the King himfelf became a voluntary Fugitive, leav- ing his Throne Empty, Vacant, Ab- dicated ; and the Tcople, calPd by the Laws of Nature, of our Land, and of Abfolute Necejftty,- fupply'd the againft a Popijk Rebellion. 73 the Vacancy, recovered a perifhing Conftitution, repair'd a fhatter'd Churchy and became again happy Partakers of that Liberty and Free- dom, which the Nations round us envy'd and repin'd at. Upon the whole then, can we have nobler Subjects of Thanks and Praife, than theie before us ? Is there a more agreeable, or a more becoming Task, than to joyn in grateful Returns of Acknowledg- ments and Praife for thefe mighty Inftances of God's paternal Care, and moft affe&ionate Concern, for us his People ? What Recom pence can we make our Great Deliverer^ for fuch Invaluable Bleffings ? for fucli a vifible Regard to our Happy Conftitution, to our EjlalliJFd Re* ligion, to all thofe Methods by which our Fathers wrought our Liberty and left us Free ? All that God requires of us, is, That we perfevere in publick as well as 74 TfoPopiJh?lot a fair Caution as private Evidences of our Grati- tude, our unfeigned Senfe of our Obligations to him. And not only this, but alfo that we enjoy thofe Bleffings which he is pleas'd to reach out to us, with Diicretion ; and that we employ them to a right End, that all the Defigns of God's difpenfing them amongft us, may be anfwer'd, may be fuccefsful. If he deliver from Danger, as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler, he would teach us what Demea- nour is moft becoming under any Diftrefs, whether National or Terfo* nal. We are not to rely upon our own Strength and Ability, or to put our Trufl in the Might of our own Arm : This is laying our Hand on a broken Reed, it is placing our Con- fidence in that, which is known to fail upon every Tryal. But it is our Duty to lift up our Eyes mto the Jiills^ from whence only cometh againft a Popijh Rebellion. j $ comet h Salvation. We are to throw our felves upon God, who alone jmoweth when, and how to deliver ; who has told us, That he regardeth the Children of Men, that he is our Shield, our firong Hold, and the Rock of our Salvation. This Confederation is a fure Guard againft all Repining and Murmur, all unbecoming Impatience andDif- fatisfattion of Mind, under the lefs agreeable Difpenfations of God's Providence ; it fhould make us Strangers to that Cenfure and un- hand tome Reflection upon God's Procedure, which a Temper hafty and importunate is too apt to hurry us into ; it fhould, above all, be an impregnable Barrier againft fad Defpondency, and wretched Defpe- ration, in the worft of Times. You have feen that God fome- times fuffers his Church or People to come fo near Deftru&ion, that there is not Room for a Retreat, or for y6 TheTopifh Plot a fair Caution for Safety ; yet ftill, in his own good Time, he interpoles with his Al- mighty Power, he ftays to prove usj as he did his own People ; but ra- ther than his Heritage fhould be brought to Confufion, the Sea (hall become an Highway. Tho ? he fuffer the Ene- mies of his Church for a while to rage furioufly and fucceisfully, he will fhew them at laft, that they imagined a vain thing. Tho' he fuf- fers i the Cunning of Achitophel to profper for a Sea Ion, tho' he permit Men of defperate Fortunes to em- broil a Kingdom, and to hurry an ignorant, unthinking Abfaiom into open Rebellion ; yet in a Moment, he catches AchitopheU in the crafty Wilenefs that he has imagtnd : The next Oak executes his Vengeance on Abfalom, and what they both thought rpouldbe for their Good, he makes unto them an Qccafion of Failing. This Coniideration, That God delights to (hew Mercy to his Church in againfi a Vopifh Rebellion. 7 7 in the greateft Exigencies, fhould bring Refrefhment to us, even at this Time, when we fee our felves fo fcandaloufly mouldred into Parties, and crumbled into Divisions, facri- ficing daily the common Good, ma- king publick Peace a Prey to private Refentment, or perfonal Hate ; when we fee a great Part of the Nation actually under the Witch- craft of Rebellion, Tila rninantia pits \ Members of a Trotefiant Church fighting with Fellow Members, at the Call of a Tapift, whofe Followers, upon the fir ft Succefs, in compli- ment to him, will triumph over our Eftablifhment,and fay to the Church of England, as the Children of Edom did to Jerufalem^ T)own with it, down, with it, even to the Ground. Tho' we fee our felves, I fay, in this unhappy Pofture, and melan- choly Circumftances, yet let us hum- bly hope, from the Experience of God's former Favours^ that he has ftili 7 8 The Popifh Plot a fair Caution ftill Bleflings in ftore for us; that our Sins, great and daring as they are, have notprovok'd him to withdraw himfelf entirely from us. Let no unhandfome Fears take hold on us, no undue Apprehenfi- ons break in upon our Truft and Affiance in Almighty God : He who has delivered us before from tbeTaw of the Lion^ and the Taw of the Bear, will deliver m alfo out of the Hands of thefe Thiliftines . While we are praifing God for delivering the Ages before us from Tyrants and Papifts, it will not be- come us to think that he will give up this to the Revenge and Fury of Apofiate Troteftants ; and therefore let our Hearts be fill'd with Cou- rage, and our Minds be eafy. Let us from the comfortable Pledges of God's Love already received, form our felves into this firm Affurance, That God in his due Time will ftill the Raging of thefe troubled Seas ; that againH a Vopifh Rebellion. 79 that he will fet Bounds to their Swellings, and fay, Tbw far /hall ye go^ and no farther. Let us be confi- dent, that he will defend his Church by preferving Him, our lawful So- vereign G EORG E, who is the Great Defender of it here on Earth. Let no Man doubt, but that he will counfel thefe his Counfellors, and teach his Senators JVifdom ; that he will inlpire them with the propereft Methods of removing Prejudices, (ilencing Gainfayers, and uniting the Affe&ions of all Orders and Degrees of Men amongft us. Have thofe Men in Derifion therefore, that would infinuate their Fears, and bring you to defpond ; be deaf as Adders to the jealous Whifpers of the Difaffe&ed, to the Murmurs of the Factious, and the loudeft Cries of the Seditious and Rebellious. Let the Heart of every true Proteftant leap within him, let it exult and triumph in full Confi- dence The Vopifb Plot a fair Caution dcnce in God and the King, in th£ Wifdom, Ability^ in the true Love of their native Country, fo viiible in thofe Honourable Men who ftand neareft to the King's Perfon, and have the Conduft of publick Af- fairs. There is another life which we are to make from the Confideration of God's delighting fometimes to fave his Church, or People, when they are brought to exf ream Danger: And that is, Always to be careful not to run our ielves wilfully into the fame Dangers, which we have been deli- vered from. In order to this, we. are to take heed of thofe Principles, and of thofe Men, to whom our Dangers are generally owing. We are to be equally careful of the Ways and Methods by which Extremities have been brought upon us, not to fuffer our felves to be lull'd alleep by the infimiating Opiates, which againft a Popijh Rebellion. 8 are generally given, that their Tares may more eafily be fown, and Dan- ger brought upon us, when we leaft think of it. Tho'God has fometimes deli ver'd, he has no where promised, that he will always do it, efpecially when by a ftupid Indifference, by a dull Neu-* trality, or a cowardly Defence, we fuffer our felves to fall again into the fame 5treights. Undoubtedly we are oblig'd to co-operate with God's Providence, to do our Parts towards keeping our felves fafe, when he has been pleas'd to make us fo. We know now their Arts, and fee their Confederates ; their Nets are laid now in the Sight of the Bird^ and if we willingly entangle our felves in them, we have no Reafon to believe that we fhall efcape^ but rather be taken , as a Bird in the Snare of the Fowler. You will all eafily apprehend what I mean by this. It is with G the 8 2 The Vopifh flat a fair Caution the utmoft Regret that lam brought to fpeak in this manner to you 1 know not whether 1 am more A- fhaniM or Grie^'d, that I muft, m an Aflembly of Church cf England *Prc!eftant<, dehort them from Po- pery, and Men Popiftily inclin'd, who have always attempted their Ruin upon every Pofllffion of Power, and very often when they had not the leaft Share of it, Methinks the very Mention of the Fifth of November, fhould fupercede all that can be faitj upon that Head. Is it not a Reproach, that you want to be exhorted, to be animated, to (land in Battle 4nay againft the rebelli-jut Members of a Churchy which juftifies fuch accuried Practi- ces, which promiies Salvation for fuch Barbarities, fuch Ma fiacres and Slaughters, as would ftartle the wildeft Arab, and Ihock the moft cruel Beall of Prey, that AjrUk ever brought forth ? Where ' againft a Popijh Rebellion. 8 3 Where will our Divifions end ? To what Lengths will Tarty Zeal carry us ? We have loft, not only the Senfe of Inter -efi^ but Iamafraid > the Notions of Religion too. The Articles of our Creed cannot bind us, nor the moft folemn Obligati- ons keep us right. How many (hut their Eyes, and follow Leaders blin- ded by Paffion or Ambition \ and muft inevitably fall with them into Ruin and Deftru£tion. Had our Fathers in the other World any Knowledge of what we are doing in this, were they ienfible how favourable and gracious our Thoughts of Popery at prefent are, and how weak theOppofition which by many is made to it (give me Leave to ufe the Expreffion, I hope it is not too high) they would even fend from the %)ead^ lefi we come into that V lace of Torment, fta Church of Rome. G a Gould 8 4- The Vopijh Plot a fair Caution Could the Saints above look down upon us, it would imbitter their Happinefs, to fee all their Labours loft, all their Reafonings and Dis- putes with Papifts, fo efficacious formerly^ now without due Effect, without Force or Prevalence at all. Think of the noble Stand that was made to it by Chillingworth, Stillingfleet, and Sherlock; think how their Pains and Care en- dear'd them to the Age before us ; what glorious Eife&s were wrought by them ! what juft, what well- founded Averfion to Popery, what ^Deteftation of it arofe from them ! and then think w r ith Shame and Confulion of Face, how degenerom they are, how unworthy Sons of fucb Fathers, who call in Tapifis to affift in their private Refentments, who joyn with them to carry on particular Defigns, either of Intereft or Revenge ; nay, who rebel with them againft a Popiffo Rebellion. 8 £ them againft a Troteftant Trince, and vainly hope that they will fe- cure our Trotefiant Church. The Plot, which I have made at this Time the Subject of your Me- ditation and Praife, tells us fuffici- ently, what Spirit they are of, and what we are toexpeft. They come to us as the perfect Reverfe of the Gofpel, not to fave Mens Lives, hut to deflroy them ; they call for Fire, and tho' adminifter'd from Hell, with Blafphemy enough, they tell tis, it is an Holy Flame from Above ; if you have no Impreflions from the Hiftory of their former Behaviour to Englifi Troteflant s, if you refufe to learn the Leffon which it reaches out, and draw the neceflary Con- fequences which flow from it, in a Word, if after all they have faid and done againft you, if after all you have heard and feen, you u 7 ill yet again truft them with Power, G 3 your 8 6 The Popijh Plot a fair Caution your Ruin will be as unpitied^ as it is inevitable. King James the Fir ft was a Pro teftant, and the Tapijls fufficiently quell'd, and laid low in Subjection, and yet they attempted this barba- rous, inhuman Murder, which has given fuch a particular Mark to our Fifth of November ; King James the Second was a Tapift* and the Fel- low Members of his Church, lower and more feeble far than in the Days of his Grandfather ; yet when they faw a Prince upon the Throne of their own Religion, even thofe Few lifted up their Heads, and by De- grees became Formidable, more and more fo ; 'till the Trayers and Fears of the Church prevailM upon God, by the Hands of a Trmce of Immor- tal Fame^ to drive them out of the Land , and to reftore us as before. Learn we not from hence, Bre- thren, what our Fate will be, if Suc- cefs fhould crown the prefent Rebel- lion ? against a Popifh Rebellion. 87 lion ? If Power fhould be ever loJgVi in the Hands of Tapifts ? Are we not taught alio by this, to joyn Hand in Hand, not only againft them, but againft all their Abettors, High and Low, Private and Pub- lick ; for can any Man believe, who fairly and rationally confiders and compares Things, that we (hall have a Treatment at all different from what our Fathers before have found from them ? If any Difference there is, it will (hew its lelf in greater Degrees of Cruelty, than perhaps they a£ted in Times pa ft ; becaufe now, Revenge and Hate will come ill Company with their fiery religious Zeal, and drive it to the utmoft Extremity ; Root and Branch, will be the Motto of their Standards, and Extirpation of our Church, the fatal Confequence of their Triumph and Succefs. I adjure you therefore, in the Name of the High God, in the G 4. Pre- 88 TheVopifhVXot a fair Caution Prefcnce of God, and by the Au- thority of God, That you confider and know the Things that make for "Peace and Safety ^ before they are hidden from your Eyes. It is yet in your Power to be fafe if you will, you may be free Proteflantr or inflaved Papifis ; the Ele&ion is before you, and you may fecure it AW, and Ever here- after ; this is to be done, as I have hinted often to you, by Unanimity and common Friendfhip. Let the Publick Good triumph over "Private Party.) and the common Enemy be beaten from our Walls without, be- fore we fight and quarrel among our felves within : the contrary Conduct is adtually Plotting with the PapHs againft our felves, which is fome- thing extraordinary from a People who pretend fo folemnly to thank God for his Providential Difcove- ries of their Defigns and Machina- tions againft us. Great againft a Popifh Rebellion. 89 Great certainly have been the Bleflings of God to this Land, and greater ftill we may promile our felves they will be, if we our felves, by an abominable Behaviour, do not Hop the Flo wings of his Mercy and Goodnefs : there is a Behaviour which will certainly continue them to us, keep us under his Protect ion, and enfure Felicity ; which I (hall choofe to defcribe to you in the Words of Samuel^ to his own Con- gregation. I will teach you the good and the right Way^ Only fear the Lord f andferve him with allyourHearts, and confider what G R E A T things he hath done for you. When GOD is on our Side. THANKSGIVING SERMON FOR THE SUPPRESSION Of the Late Unnatural REBELLION. Preach'd on Sundaj, June the i oth. the fupposM Birth- Day of the Vretender, At St. Kjttberine Cree-Church, and pear on their Side. Fir ft, What juft Grounds of Con- fidence a King, or his People, in a Time of War, may have to believe, That the Lord is on their Side. The i ft of them is, IftheCauie be good. Thearf, If the Ends they propofe be good. The 3^ If they profecute thofe Ends by lawful Methods. The A ThankJ^iving Sermon. 95) The \th, If there be a Concur- rence of their Induftry with' the Affiftance of God. ifl, If the Caufe be good. For God being eflfentially Juftand Righteous himfelf, muft never be fuppos'd to fide with thofe who en- gage themfeives in unjuft and un- warrantable Enterprizes ; This would be to fight againft himfelf, to efpoufe Iniquity and Injuftice, when he is of purer Eyes than even to behold it, without Deteftation and Abhorrence. Our Confidence, therefore, of God's Favour, muft arife from the Goodnefs of our Caufa from the Ju* fiice of thofe Reafons which induce us to appear in Arms, and engage in War. I need not repeat to you the Caufe we were embark'd in, you will all recoiled:, that the united Legifla- ture of the Realm, to fecure our H 2 Re- I oo A Thankfgiving Sermon. Religion and Liberties from the Tyranny and Superftition of Rome, fettled the Succeflion of the Crown in an Illuftrious Protectant Family, and in due Time received and crown'd the Head of it, our King : This was done feemingly with a general Approbation ; he.wasfworn to with Alacrity and Unanimity, addrefs'd with all the Acclamations of Joy and X ran ^p ort '> infomuch, that his peaceable Acceffion to the Throne, was look'd upon to be fuch a Security for the quiet Poffefiion of it> that no Defences were eretted againft any Attempts that could be otfer'd to difturb or interrupt it. Our Arms and Ships of War, were laid up in Peace, and every Man's Heart chear'd with the pleafing Me- ditations of Eafe and Security ; the moft fufpeded of Ill-will to what \\ as done, took off all Apprehensi- ons, by an open' Acknowledgment of his Rt'jht, by fwearing True and Faith A Thank/giving Ser mon. i o i Faithful Allegiance to him, at the fame Time Abjuring the Perfon who fret ended another Tide, and mod folerrmly ingaging before God and Man, that they would to the ut- mojh of their Tower, oppofe him, and defend their Rightful and Lawful Sovereign King GEOkGE. But on a fudden, talcing the Ad* vantage of our Security, and the defencelefs Condition of theNation^ they rofe up in open' Rebellion^ broke thro' all their Oaths and fa- cred Obligations, call'd in the Po- pi(h Outlaw they had difownd and abjur'd, fome of them but few Days before ; awak'd the Papifts, who had longflept in a forc'd Obedience, and tolerable Good Will, call'd in the Affiftafice of all our foreign Ene- mies, mortgaged our Eftates to Pa- pifts abroad, and plundered them by Rebels here at home ; made our Nation a Field of Blood, facrificed all that was dear and valuable in it to + H 2 Re- 102 A Thankjgiving Sermon. Revenge and Hate infatiable ; threatned to depofe and murder the beft of Princes, and make a gene- ral Maffacre' of his Royal Houfe, whom' we had invited from their Native Land, and bound our Souls for their Protection and Defence. And all this, without any previ- ous Complaints of Grievances, with- out any Oppreffions, any jufi Pro- vocations from thole that govern'd, but only, on the one Hand, to fill the thirity Souls of Papifts with the Blood of Proteftants ; and on the other, to raife new Fortunes for the Bankrupts amongft them, upon the Ruins of the Country in which they were born^ and of the Church into which they were baptized. It was Time then for every good Subject to make bare his Ar.m y and gird on the Sword to Battle. It was Time then to ftand up in Defence of our Church and State, and to ap- pear in full Oppofition to thofe un- worthy A Thankfgiving Sermon. 103 worthy Sons of this Nation, whofe Throats, thofe open Sepulchres, gap'd wide for the Bowels of their Com- mon Parent, and would not have fpared even the Mother that brought them forth ; fo great was their Ini- quity, to fuch an Height of Barbarity did their Paffions drive them on ! This was the Caufe that called us forth to the Field • it was this that put our watchful Governours upon the noble Defence that was made in Favour of it, and that too with a Courage truly EngU/h, and a Zeal truly Trotefiant. God looted down from Heaven upon the contending Parties, he beheld the War from his Holy Tlace ; he faw the one de- fending Perjury, Superftition, Ty- ranny and Idolatry ; breathing out Slavery, Periecution, Inquilition and Death : He faw the other in ftridt Obfervance of their Oaths, abhorring Idols, and all the Ads of Tyranny, in Civil, or in Spiritual t ' H 4 Rule, 104. A Thanksgiving Sermon. Rule, enamoured highly of our de- cent, pure and truly Chriftian Wor- fliip,breathing out Pity and Compai- iion,even to thofe merctlefs Men, who rudely threatned them, and provok'd daily the utmoft Vengeance of the War ; their Swords were the Swords of the Lord, and the Battle was not theirs, but His ; which he crown'd with iuch aftonifhwg Succefs, in which he appeared fo fignally,fo vu fibly, that 1 ihall ever declare it to be the Lord's 'Doing, 'till I am pre- vailed upon to believe, that the Ho ft of Sennacherib died in a Night, with- out his Vengeance, and that the Egyptians perifh'd at once in the Red Sea, and God knew not of it. A id Ground of Confidence a King, or his People, may have to believe, That the Lord is on their Side, is, If the Ends they propofe be good. The A Thanhfgiving Sermon, i 05 The Iniquity and Immorality of the End, does vitiate and pollute the beft Actions ; Virtue it felf finks into Vice when ill apply'd. Undoubtedly to make War is fometimes neceflary ; . in a good Caufe, and for good Ends and Pur- pofes, it is allow'd of, and favoured by God ; but the Goodnefs of the Caufe will not at all atone for the . unfair Defigns Men may have in the Profecutionof it, for the unjuti Ends they may have in View, if Succefs fliould fall to their Part. And therefore our Governors did not engage in this War upon thofe inhuman Motives of Reprizal and Revenge ; to fill themfelves with Plunder, to drink deep of the Blood of the Slain, or of their Captives : Thefe are the unjuft Ends of War, and fuch as God will not appear on the Side of. But their chief Ends and Purpofes, were, The Reftora* tion of Peace and Good Will; a Se- 1 06 A Thankfgiving Sermon- Security for the future from the fame Atttempts; an happy Re-union of a divided Nation ; the Prefervation of All that can make it worth our while to Live ; the whole centring in a firmer Eftablifhment of our Li- berty, our King, and our Holy Re- ligion. Thefe are xhtjufi and righ- teous Ends of War ; and that no other could be our Ends, is apparent in the whole Courfe of the Oppo- iltion we have made to this unnatu- ral Rebellion. It is apparent from the Difcipline and orderly Behaviour of our Troops, from the great Mercy to the fugitive Rebels after the Battle, and the unparallefd Lenity to the Captives, now in the Hands of Ju- ltice, a vi&orious Army, which rarely happens, is contented only with Vittory, without the leaft Ap- proaches to Domineer and Infult, much lefs to Enflave their Fellow Subjects : An Apprehenfion that has with A Thanksgiving Sermon, i 07 with equal Malice and Induftry been inlinuated, and made a Pre- tence to keep alive a Difaffeciion, which the Promoters of it carefully cultivate^ as the befi Seed for a frejh Rebellion ; as that which beft pro- mifes a larger Harveft of Robbery and Plunder. I am ready to call in the moft confummate Malice ; to appeal even to the rankejl Enemy ; let him (hew where I have err'd in this Re- prefentation ; let him fhew what unjufi Advantage has been made of the Victory ; let him produce any fingle Aftion of our Rulers incon- fiftent with Juftice and Law ; thofe which lean hardeft upon the Rebels, are the Refults of abfolute Neceffity, are the common and jufi Coniequen- ces of Victory, are eflential to pre~ ferve the Advantages of it, are luch as the moft righteous and the moft merciful Conquerors have taught. It would be fiupid to Conquer^ and not ^ to 1 08 A Thank/giving Sermon. to jecure the Effects ofVittory to them* f elves ^ and their Tofierity. A %d Ground of Confidence a King, or his People, may have to believe, That the Lord is on their Side, is, If they profe- cute their Ends and Defigns by lawful Methods. For tho' the Caufe be certainly Good, and the Views in it Juft and Righteous, yet if we purfue them by Ways that are not fo, by Me- thods that are unlawful, the Juftice of the Caufe will avail us nothing ; the righteous Ends in Profpeft will not atone for us, but the whole be- comes blameable and vicious with- out Excufe. By lawful Methods, I mean fuch as are agreeable to the Laws of God, and of the Nation in which we live. In the whole Defence that has been made againft this barbarous At- tempt upon our Religion and our Lives, A Thank/giving Sermon, i 09 Lives, an exa£t Obedience to both has all along been obferv'd. It is not certainly againft the Law of God to defend our I elves ; it is the firft Principle of Nature ; that which he breath'd into us when he gave us the Breath of Life ;' and that which will never depart from us, till that Life reftirns to him who gave it. As to the Laws of our Land, notwithftanding the unfair Infinua- tions of our Enemies, what Violence has been done to them ? By the Law of Nature we defend our felves when affaulted, by the Laws of the Land we are directed in what Man~ ner to do it ; thefe Directions are general, and fuch as provide fuffi- ciently for the Security and Defence of Individuals, and they cannot fail under the Conduct of them. But when the Community is affaulted, and particularly by a Rebel Part of it, the general Directions of the Law in no A Thank/giving Sermon*. in that Cafe, cannot reach all the various Incidents that occur, and point out the proper Defences a- gainft them ; and therefore all Free States inveft wife and good Men with full Power to fill up the Defi- ciencies of the Laws, to prefcribe the Methods of Defence, and fecure the common Safety, and whatever upon fuch fudden Occafions is al- tered in, or added to, the Tables of our Laws, it being done by a com* petent Authority, by thofe, whom the Community had given Power to make, to fufpend, alter, or repeal Laws, there is no Invafion upon our Conftitution, the Tables are yet en- tire, and command our Obedience, if they are not contrary to them, as ftri&ly as the Tables from Sinai, written by the Finger of God. Temporary Laws, enacted under the Surprize of a Rebellion, for the immediate and neceffary Defence of the whole, may bring Grievance to par* A Thanh/giving Sermon, i i i f articular Men, and this the jufteft Lawgiver cannot provide againft, and therefore if the Publick receives Advantage by it, he is acquitted before God and the World. Amor Tatrite, Neceffitas Tempo- rum^ The Love of our Country, the Necejjlty of the Times, were the Do- dirines of Confolation to the Indi- viduals that fuffer'd upon this Ac- count ; and always with-held the. braveft Romans from Murmur and Regret, and in Confequence, from Sedition and Rebellion. Even Cato himfelf, that old Mar- tyr to his Notions of Freedom, would certainly have yielded qui- etly to a Reftraint for a Time upon his own Liberty, when the Liberty of all Rome, in probability, would have been preferv'd by it for ever. To the Example of the old Ro* mans y I might add St. TauFs Com- mand to the Romans that weFe more modern, and mention a Reli- gious, U2 A Thankfgiving Sermon, gious Obligation to fuhmit to the Towers that be ; but I cannot believe that the Dodtrine of Taffive Obedi- ence will have any Influence, even with thofe formerly avowd Patrons of it, while they are fo active in a Rebellion againft it. Since I am upon the Lawfulness of the Methods made ufe of to fup- prefs this Rebellion, I cannot take my leave of it, till I have done Ju- ftice to our Sovereign, and have ob- ferv'd to you, how precife and pun- dual he has been in the Perform- ance of his Coronation Promife, viz. That he would Rule his Teople ac- cording to their L A IV S. I have been taught, that the fud- dennefs of the Attempt, the fur prize of a Rebellion, would juftify fome Deviation from the Laws, in the neceflary, immediate Defence againft the firB Approaches of it : This has always been pleaded in Favour of the Royal Martyr , now a Saint of A Thankfgiving Sermon- \ \ g pf Glory ; and is fuppos'd to jufti- fie him, in the ufe of Means to de- fend himielf, which were not fir id- ly legal ; though I am perfwaded our prejent Sovereign would not have met with the fame Candor from thofe Men, had he imitated that Royal Pattern in a Circumftance the fame with his. He feem'd refolv'd, therefore, not to want it ; he waited for the .Advice and Concurrence of his Par- liament; rais ? d neither Men nor Treafure, but with their Authority ^nd Approbation : He left the Le- giflators to defend themfelves, their Laws and Conftitution; he followed no Methods but fuch as were \ fir idly Legal, and had all the Authority the Three Eftates of the Realm could derive to them. This he knew would make him fuccefsful : He knew that none of his Royal Predeceflbrs had £ver failed, when they a£ted in ^onforniity to it. J Upoii 114. A Thankfgiving Sermon. Upon the whole, then, defpife the Men, who complain of an in- vaded Conjlitution, and would per- fwade the unthinking, that the Le- giflators, though fillcl with Power {o to do, in the Alteration, or Suf- penfion of their own Laws, appear greater Enemies to our Liberty, than they, who by a Rebellion have broke them all, and have attempted to fettle a Free Teople, afrefh, upon the Foundation of Tyranny, and Arbitrary Sway. A \th Ground of Confidence, a King, or his People may have to believe, that the Lord is on their Side, is, if there be a Concurrence of their own In* dufiry with the Bleffing of God. Sometimes indeed God Almigh- ty, to manifeft his irreliftible Power in bringing his own Defigns to pafs for the Good of his People, takes the whole Work into his own Hands, and A Thankfgiving Sermon, i i £ and requires nothing of them but to fland ftill and SEE the Salvation of the Lord ; but thefe are Cafes of an €straordinary Nature, and the Exam- ples we meet with of them are but few. For the moft part God having created Man an Active Being, well fuited for Enterprize and Employ- ment, has made it paft of his Duty, to engage himfelf indufirioujly in car- rying on fuch Works, as tend to his Glory, and our own proper Good. He abhors the Idlenefs of Men, while he himfelf is buiied for their Sakes. Thus when he had allotted Canaan for the Inheritance of his People IJrael, by the fame Power that he over-whelm'd Fbaraob, and his Hoft in the Red Sea, he might have fwept away at once, the whole Race of accurfed Cham, and have open'd an eafy and peaceful Entry for his People to the Promis'd Land» But yet unlefs they went up to af- I 2 fault 1 1 6 A Thankjgiving Sermon. fault it, unlefs Jo/hua fight, and Mofes hold up his Hand in Prayer, Ifrael muft not prevail. And to this purpofe we read, Judges 5. 00. They fought from Heaven, the Stars in their Courfes fought againfi Sifera. But (till, though Angels, and Stars, fight from above ; and one would think there was no other need of Succor, when God and the Hoft of Heaven are on our Side ; yet to encourage Induftry, 'Deborah muft arife in her Judgment-Seat, the Son of Ahinoam alfo muft awake, and Ifrael united go forth to the Help of the Lord. The Induftry of Man muft co- operate with the Bleftings of God, or he cannot promile himielf Sue- eels in anv Undertaking. And it Induftry in the Defence ot a Caufe, be one way to prevail with God to appear on the Side of it, we may promife our felves that he is witlm : What Induftry, what fains, and A Thanhfgiving Sermon, i i 7 and Care could be greater, than that which our Governors have hi- therto taken to defend and preferve us ? with what watchful Providence have they lookM over us ? The moft fecret Defigns of the Rebel Enemy have been found out, and fuch Guards laid againft them, that they have been intangled in the Net which they had laid, before they could have any Notion that it was difcover'd ; Seeing then, that very worthy 'Deeds are done unto this Na* tion by their Providence, we ought to accept it always, and in all 'Places, with all Tbankfulnefs. And not only what they have done by their lnduftry and Care^ but alfo, what thofe brave and no- ble Souls have done, w 7 ho bore the Arms of our Nation, and fought our Battles for us. And here the lnduftry of Man did in a very eminent manner work together with the Affiftance of God, I 3 Let 1 1 8 A Thankfgiving Sermon. Let us turn our Thoughts to the Weftern Parts of this Nation, and recoiled the many and hafty Mar- ches, the prodigious Refolution and Endurance of the Soldiery, the noble Ardor of the Commanders, and the judden Difpatch of the Re- bellion in thofe Parts ; or let us car- ry our Thoughts beyond theTweed^ refled upon the neceflary Hard (hips which the Nature of the Place, even in its beft Eftate, muft bring them to, the uncommon Severity of the Winter, the fearful Depths of Snow, the Height of the Hills, with thztlVinter Covering, feemingly im- practicable y and let us recoiled:, that all thefe Dangers and Difficul- ties were chearfully undertaken, en- dur'd, furmounted, under the Con- dud, and animated by the Exam- ple of a bold undaunted young Hero, whofe Terjon ought always to be as dear to us, as his Name will be wonderful to fucceeding Pofterity. A Thankfgiving Sermon, i i 9 I have thus (hew'd you, what Grounds of Confidence a King^ or his *People r may have to believe^ that God is on their Side : In the Clole of each Particular, I have endeavourd to (hew, that our Governors have not been wanting in the Performance of any of thoie Things which God per- mits us to believe will conciliate hi§ Favour, and make him fide with us. Let me be admitted to add, The furprizing Succefs that has crown'd our good Caufe, our juft Ends and Purpofes, our lawful Me- thods of purluing them, and our unwearied lnduftry in carrying them on ; and furely no Man will in> peach my Religion, when I pro- nounce peremptorily^ That the Lord is on our Side y that it is , his ^Doingy greatly marvellous in our Ryes ; and for ever bleffed be his Holy Name, who has thus fought our Battles for us. I 4 Which i so A Thankfgiving Sermon* Which naturally calls upon me to make good the id Thing I pro- pofed in general to fpeak to, viz. Our Obligations to be thankful to God, when he appears on our Side. Without God, the molt profane will not prefume to think himfelf able to do any thing ; from him, the great Fountain of Good, all Advan- tages flowj: to us ; to him we apply naturally for Help, and when we receive it, as naturally thank him for it ; tiur Obligations to him rife or fall in proportion to the Benefits we have received from him : Now the way to arrive at a juft Senfe of our Obligations to thank him for the Suppreffion of this Rebellion^ will be, by (hewing, i/, The fad Confequences, if this Rebellion had lucceeded ; and, $dl), The happy Gonfequences that it did not. If A Thankfgiving Sermon. 121 If it had fucceeded, what Lan- guage can exprefs the Miferies that would have fallen upon this Nation? What Words can raife in you an Idea of the calamitous State of a free People, under the Oppreffion, Ra- pine and Tyranny or Men hurry 'd on by Three different, but equally dejlruttive Paffions, CovetoulhefSj Revenge, and ungovera'd religious Zeal ; to the firft our Eftates, to thefecond ouivkives, to the otter, our Eftablifh'd Church, had fallen an immediate Sacrifice; the Church of England, dearer to us than Eftate or Life, rnuft have been born down, muft have funk, muft have perifliM throughly, how would She' have mourn d like Rachel for her Chil- dren, beyond all the Methods of Coniblition ? A Popilh Herod op the Throne > would have flair hot only from two J ears old, and under % but from that Age.^ to The moU ftricken 122 A Thankfgiving Sermon. ftricken in Tears, there would have been none to guide her, of all the Sons that (he had brought forth ; none to take by the Hand, in that peri&ing Condition, of all the Sons that (lie had brought up : As to our State, an humble Vaffal to Rome, bred up in arbitrary Princi- ples, had fat at the Head of it ; a Rod of Iran, inftead of a Scepter , would ha ve been put into his Hands, which would have broken our Efta- blifhment, as a Totterh Veffel, and have driven our Laws before it, as the Chaff before the Wind ; our Li- berty, the Pride of our Nation, and the Envy of the World, would have been mtirely wrefted from us, and nothing of Freedom left to us, only that [ad Liberty of choofing, either to turn Papifts, or die ; the rich luccefsful Trader, in a Moment had been a Beggar ; the envy'd Treafury of your City had been exhaufted in a Dav, the pubiick Debts A Thankfgiving Sermon. 123 Debts wiped off at once, a Friend^ and wealthy Creditor of the frefent Government, after the manner of a Neighbour Nation, would have been a Traytor to this new erefted State : This llluftrious Family , which rightly, and lawfully wears our Crown, had been depos'd, de* ftroy'd, and in Mockery to us, butcher d by the vileft Hands; the whole would have been fuch a Scene of Mifery and Woe, that the Kilns oiTharaoh would have been more tolerable, nay, the Furnace of Ne- buchadnezzar more eligible. Tbefe would have been the Con- fequences ot a fuccefsful Rebellion, rais'd in favour of a BigottedTapft^ headed by a perjured General, car- ry 'd on by Men abandoned both in Principles and Eftate, under a Ne- ceffity, many of them, of ftarving as Beggars, or running the hazard of being executed as Traytor s. Thefe 124 A Thank/giving Sermon. Thefe* would have been your Princes and Potentates, thefe your Nobles and fuperior Commons , thefe the Heirs and Succeflbrs of your antient Eftates, thefe the Husbands of your Daughters, while the elder Brother lay in Blood at their Feet, and the Family became extinft, either by the Sword of the State, or the Fire of their Church. How gratefully fhould we join therefore in the molt thankful Hal- lelujahs, the moft exalted Songs of Praiie, and Gratitude to the God of Heaven and Earth, that the Rebel- lion was not fuccefsful, that inltead of thefe Miferies, we may ftill call our felves the bappieft People upon Earth, the Laws fiili triumphing over Tyranny, and ail the Barriers of our Liberties yet impregnable, every Man's Eftate and Life his own y and our juft and righteous King de- lighting to have it fo. Is A Thank/giving Sermon. 125 Is it not a great Happinefs that we arc yet Troteflants ? affembled in the Houle of God, according to the Religion of our Fathers, that Prayers and Praifeshave been offer'd up in a Language known and un- derftood by all ? Behold that [acred Altar , fee its Decency, fee the fo- lemn Beauty of its Appearance ; is it not a great Felicity, that we are not to change the becoming Orna- ments of it, for the gaudy Trap- pings of Idolatry, and the luperfti- tious Vanities of the Church of Rome ? That the Holy Sacrament will fiill be adminiftred there entire^ and the Cup of Bleffing not confin'd to one Order of God's People only, but the Laity as well zsClergy, equal- ly partaking of it ? This Happinefs we derive from the Suppreflion of this unnatural Rebellion, thefe are the happy Con- fequences that it did not fucceed^ and thefe Confequences become yet more 1 26 A Thankfgiving Sermon. more happy, in that they are fecur'd to us by the Prefervation of our pre* fent Sovereign, and to our Tofierity^ by the Prefervation of his Royal Iffue, fo that if we are not wanting on our part, this Good will come from the Evil that either threat- ned, or fell upon us ; this Breach^ that has been made, by a Civil War, in the Mounds, and Banks that guard our Liberties, is now with fo much Care and Strength renewed and fill'd up, that the moft infulting Waves of Faction cannot weaken them, nor the mofi tempe* ftuous Swellings of Sedition bear them down. And therefore, when we have heartily and iincerely breath'd out our Praifes and Thankfgiving to God, for the interpofition of his Almighty Arm, let us refolve upon^ and carefully continue in a Behavi- our, that will exprefs our hearty Senfe of the Deliverance we now cele- A Thank/giving Sermon. 127 celebrate, fuch a dutiful Demeanor to our King, and ail that exercife Authority under him, as will fru- ftrate the Hopes of our Enemies abroad, fuch Affeftion and Friend- (hip to one another, as will cement us among our felves, and make us invincible at home. But while this Refolution is want- ing, and this Behaviour neither in- tended, nor endeavour'd at, thefe Hymns of Praife are an Abominati- on to God, it is Iniquity even this . your folemn Affembly, it is a Call to God to defiroy you in his Wrath, to give you up to the Will and Pow- er of thofe that hate you. Confider therefore with your felves, how great the Salvation is which God has wrought for us, and how miferable we muft be if we obftinately neglefl it. Indeed, when the Blood is in a Ferment, and the Paffions of Men run high, Exhort tations of this Nature have not their 128 A Thankfgiving Sermon* their proper Influence ; but we have had time enough to cool ; the War is at an end, and the War in our Hearts lhould be concluded too; Intereft (hould have its turn in our Gonfideration, and not entirely be fwallow'd up by the Enemies of it. There will be a time, the Day will once fhine forth, when you will love thofe noble Patriots whom you are now taught to hate, when you will bow down in low Obeifance to thai King, againtl whom you ere£t now a tumultuous Head, and rudely treat with premeditated Indignities and Affronts ; the inoft confuramate Prejudice will fee, and muft own, his Honour, Jailice, Wifdom and Good- nefs, his Care and Vigilance for the Good of his People ; his undifiinguiJFd Concern for the Welfare of all his Subjects, his Works will fhine before us, and difpel the Mifts which the Witchcraft of this Rebellion has caft before the Eyes of the Vulgar, and com? A Thank/giving Sermon, i 29 compel m to glorify God, and pay all due Honours to him our King. Europe acknowledges his Capaci- ty to rule, and his Juftice in ruling ; the moft important Difputes of con- tending Princes are left to him, even the Infidels themfelves, upon the Reports of his Honour and Wifdom, have.made fome Advances to obtain his Good Offices, at leaft feem in- clined to refer that Immenfe War to his Mediation ; and are we, we on- ly, who are his Subjects, his own People, afraid to truft him ? Are our Contentions above his Capacity ? or will he be lefs juft and good to w, with whom his own Intereft is . inseparably link'd, than he will "be to tbofe, whom he knows not, and from whom no Advantage can arife ? Away w r ith fo. flupid a Notion, it is declaring againft the Light of the Sun, and you are brought to it, to ferve the Ends of your own Ruin, K and 1 30 A Thank/giving Sermon. and to carry on the mifchievous De- figns of your moft mortal Enemies, dreft up in the deceitful Cloathing of Friends. Let all therefore, in the Name of God, think, and compare Things rightly, like rational Creatures, and not be driven on like brute Beafts, by Herdfmen who feed you only for the Slaughter, and drive you on to the hands of Butchers. When you think thus, this great Solemnity will be rightly obferv'd, your Sacrifice of Praifes and of Thanks will be fincere, it will go up to Heaven as a fweet fmelling Savour, and return down to you a-> gain in all the Bleffings of Prolperi- ty and Peace, and put it out of the Power of your Enemies to hurt otf to deftroy either you or your King. The Common Veopks Reafons for their T)if- affctlion to the Government, examind j viz. Firfi, The Pretender's Right. Secondly , Their Affection for the late 0uke otCfwbnd: Thirdly, The Difhonour of changing Sides, and leaving old Friends. SERMON PreachM in the Cathedral CHURCH O F ROCHESTER, BEFORE The Honourable Mr. Juftice Tracey, Judge of Aflize, on March 27th, 1716. Publijh'd at the Requeji of the High-Sheriff and Grand-Jur) of the County of Kent ; and of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Coun/il of the City oj Rochefter. LONDON: Printed in the YEAR 1 7 1 7. ^fc» *V jtfat, .*$» #frr» ctri, «,V <£* et> *«•> i «*> A, «*. <•&» «fc *>V» rt» jr>> ,«k rU dk. Civitas Roffen, ff. ^ a /fecial Meeting of the Mayor, Aldermen? and Common Council of the fetid City, held in the Guild-Hall of the fame City the i%th "Day of March, 1716. REfolv'd, that the Reverend Mr. Charles Lamhe be thanked for his Excellent Sermon preach'd at the Cathedral Church Yefterday, the 27th Inftant, before the Judge of Aflize, and that Mr. Mayor, Mr. Alderman Olive, and Mr. Alderman Wellar y do acquaint him herewith; and defire the faid Mr.Lambe will be pleas'd, for the publick Good, to print the faid Sermon. T O Richard Gee, Efq; High-Sheriff. T O Sir Edward *Bettenfon 3 Bar. Sir John Bunce, Bar, Sir Snelhng Thorns ,Knt. Will. Lethieullier, Efq; William Honywo§d, Etq; *RJchard Lewin, Eiq:, William Clap ham, Eiq; William Hoskins, Eiq; Thomas Befi, Efq:, Gabriel Walters, Eiq*, Benjamin Crayker, Eiq*, Gentlemen of the Grand Jury. To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of Rochefter. Gentlemen, ^W^^HIS Sermon which I ^f'r^ preach* a for the publick XSl..- §&& Good. / have the Ho- Jufiinian Champney jEfq; William Wright , Efq; Salmon Morris, Efq:, .fo&m Hold en, Efq:, Matthias Hickerin