S. 1 OUr Translation of these words being very exact, and par­ticularly more agreeable to the import of the Hebrew-Text in that part of it which we have rendred, [...] Meddle not with them that are given to change, (various and in­constant men) than the Latine, 70 [...] [...]rab. who read it, Meddle not with De­tractors; or the Syriack and Chaldee paraphrase, Meddle not with [...]ools; [...] travenias ulli [...]e Mercer in loc. Bayn. in loc. or than the Greek and Arabick, Fe [...] God and the King, and disobey neither; And the Changers denoted being such rather who vary from the Precepts of God, and Edicts of the King than vary the Order, and respect those of the King before those of God; which some Rabbins have hinted at, last of all, since the Ruine of them both here may be either actively taken the Punish­ment which both God and the King can inflict,Vatabl. & Ca­stal. in loc. as Vatablus and Castalio have expounded it; or passively, that which both they that fear not God nor the King,Mercer ibid. shall suffer, as Mercer; and its indifferent which we admit, and we may safely both: I shall insist no farther upon explaining the Text, but distributing it into three parts, whereof two are Commands, 1. Fear God and the King. 2. Meddle not with them that are given to change. The 3. a Reason to inforce the observance of them, For Calamity shall suddenly [Page 2] come upon them, and who knoweth the ruine of them both? I shall thence raise as many Propositions to treat on:

1. That fearing God and the King are Duties inseperable.

2. That as a manifestation of our fearing God and honouring the King, we ought not to meddle with those who are given to change: where, tho' the change may have such a latitude as to signifie that from Gods Mandate, yet I shall choose to consider it as a deflection from the Kings Ordinances, because it's immediately conjoyn'd with fearing the King, and so may be supposed to design civil in­constancy and mutability; and likewise it's most suitable to the occasion, that I should regard it in that sence.

3. That the endeavouring a change in the Civil Government, proves dangerous and pernicious to the persons engag'd in the Design.

Fearing God and the King are Duties inseperable.1 PROPOSIT.

Indeed all the Commands are so chain'd together,Fearing God and honouring the King inse­perable. that he who loosens but a single Link, dissolves the whole Chain; who trans­gresseth One, is guilty of All.

For,All the Com­mands and our Duties are connext. though they were wrote in two distinct Tables, and di­stributed under ten Heads, or Words, (as the Jewish Doctors speak) by God himself; yet, his Authority (being the Soul which quickned them) like the Soul animating the several Members of the Body, gave them all but one common Life and Being: So that a particular violation of One, becomes of necessity a univeral destruction to All.

And,Plut. de Virtut. Moral. quem ap. Lipsium manu­duct. ad Stoica Phylos. l. 3. c. 4. vide. as the Commands, so our Obligations to observe them are connext;Priore sententiam Zenoni Tribuit idem de contrariet Stioco. posteriorem Zenoni. If not after that manner as Zeno affirm'd all Virtues were▪ [...]. who promiscuously confounded them together; yet so as (hrysippus hath explain'd that Stoical Doctrine, That a man could not be truly Brave, Eodem modo exponit, Cic. de fin. l. 5. & Sen. Ep. 68. with­out the conduct of Prudence; nor Prudent, without attending to Justice; nor Just, without the regu­lation of Temperance.

[Page 3] So in like manner, a man cannot be piously affected towards God, without being honestly disposed towards men; cannot ex­press his love towards the One, in the instances belonging to him, without shewing it towards the Other in all points which concern them; and he who pretends to the Former, and neg­lects the Latter,1 St. John 3. 21, 22. proclaims himself a Lyar.

The reason of this is plain and obvious, because if I perform the First from a right Principle, out of conscience of my Duty to­wards God requiring it: the same Principle will engage me to do the Second, because he demands that likewise. And on the other side, if the motive of my Love and Respect to my fellow-Creature Man, be his bearing the Image of God, I cannot but love and reverence Him who fashion'd him after his own likeness.

And as there is no dividing, so there is no commuting of Du­ties; Our Zeal in one kind, will not make attonement for our Remissness in another; Our Piety, for Injustice.

But though all the Commands are inseperably conjoyn'd,But yet these two of Fearing God and Houou­ring the King are more closelyunited. yet there is a closer and more indissoluble Union (if I may be permitted to say so) between these two particular ones of fearing God, and the King, by how much Kings are more lively expressions of God's Majesty and Power, than ordinary Images, other men, are. The wise man hath here mention'd them as one Command; and St. Peter too,1 Pet. 2. 17 even while he useth two words for them, Fear and Honour, Fear God, Honour the King; for this Honouring the King is the same Act as Fearing of Him, or expressive of it.

And Kings, for their nearer and exacter resemblance of Him, are adorn'd with His Title, wear His Name, and have His Stile given them by Himself.

Psal. 82. 6. & John 10. 34. I have said, ye are Gods; and, Exod. 22. 28. Thou shalt not curse the Gods.

From this strict Alliance and Union of these two Commands, arising out of the near resemblance between the Persons,No Fearing God, without Honouring the King. God and the King, and the Majesty of the One, and Sovereignty of the Other; it's made as impossible to Adore God, and not Re­vere the King, who represents Him, as it is to Honour the King, and throw all the Contumely we can upon his Lieutenants or Vice-Roys commission'd by him.

[Page 4] And of necessity follows, that the Subjects withdrawing their Obedience from their lawful Prince, is a denying Gods Authority, a shaking off His Government from their Shoulders, a laying Him aside, that He should not reign over them.

(God plainly declares this to Samuel, when the Israelites, weary of his administration, who was deputed to it by himself, were desirous to have a King of their own nomination.

They have not rejected thee,1 Sam. 9. 7. but Me, that I should not reign over them)

Treason against Him,Ʋlpian in l. 1. ad l. Jul. Ma­jest. scribit, cri­men in Imperato­rem admissum sacrilegio esse proximum. is a kind of Sacriledge; a revolt from Him, an Apostacy from God; a resisting Him, an opposing God; rebelling against Him, fighting with God; the setting up the Title of a counterfeit Prince against the true One, an introducing a Plurality of God-heads; the obeying of a Usurper, Ido­latry; the slandering his Anointed and his Foot-steps, a blas­pheming God; the blaming his Conduct, a quarrelling with Pro­vidence.

And as we cannot Fear God the Supreme Potentate,No Honouring the King, with­out Fearing God. without Honouring the Subordinate, who bears his Image and Superscri­ption, so we cannot Honour this Last as we should, without Fearing the Former as we ought. We cannot revere the Copy of Divinity transcribed in the King, without revering the Origi­nal, the Deity, from whom his Power came, any more than we can have a veneration for the Picture of a man, and none for his Person; We cannot be for the Monarchy, and supporting it, while we dethrone God, by a denying him either in Words or Actions; not for upholding the Government, while by impious Disputes, or wicked Lives, we exclude his Regiment out of the World; not for maintaining the Prerogative, while we are for clipping the Wings of his Power, and confining it to some Ca­ses only.

There is no bearing true Faith and Allegiance to our King, when we do it not to our God; no being Loyal Subjects to the One, while we are down-right Traytors to the Other.

The reason of this is clear, because the honouring and obeying our Prince should proceed from a Religion towards God, a con­scientious [Page 5] regard to his Authority, exacting the payment of both these; which if they do not, they are false and spurious, wan­ting the true and genuine Parent, a right Principle I mean, for their production, and must needs be fickle and inconstant, for not being grounded upon a sure and standing bottom: So that when in inviting occasion offers of promoting our Interest to greater advantage, of serving our ambition with better success, than by honouring or obeying him; or of gratifying our re­venge, of wrecking our malice; then these are forgot and with­drawn: or last of all,Baxter's holy Com­monwealth, Thes. 137. when by a declination in the state of Affairs he is grown too weak to compel us to render these, then we de­ny the payment of them, and justifie it too.

Then Maxims of Humane Wisdom, the most contrary to these Precepts of the Divine, are broach'd by us, That the King is not Gods Minister, but the Peoples Servant; and as theirs, stands accoun­table to them for his Misdemeanors; That his Power being a Trust only from and for them, is revocable at their pleasure and discretion, and they may justly re-seize it into their own hands, and for their own behoof, when they see it is not administred for their Good; That Wicked and Irreligeous Princes (and such are all they whom they please to brand with those Marks) have actually forfeited their Crown and Dignity to them: Ibid. Thes. 136. And then Practices squared (or ra­ther deformed) by these enormous Rules,Affirming That such Princes de­pose them­selves. are set on foot too. Seditious Clubs and Cabals are erected; Illegal Associations form'd, and entred into; Secret Conspiracies hatch'd; next open Iusurrections raised against them; and last of all, villainous Assas­sinations committed upon their Persons.

A disdainsul Pride swell'dNum. 16. 8, 13, 14. Tiathan, Abiram and On, Sons of Reuben, and so of the eldest House, to see that Power lodg'd in Moses and Aaron's hands, which by Right of Primogeniture they imagin'd belong'd to them. Ambition seduced2 Sam. 15. Absalom, the Peoples Gull. And Revenge for being removed from his great Charge, and drove into Exile by Solomon, inflam'd1 Kings, 11. 28. 40. Jeroboam into Rebellion under the Reign of his Son.

And every one of these either forsook God afore they did [Page 6] their lawful Governours, or else renounc'd Them and disclaim'd Him together.

The first, the Seditious Reubenites were engaged in a Schism against God, at the same time as they were up in a mutiny against their Rulers; joyn'd themselves to Korah a Levite, who had u­surp'd the Priests Office, in burning Incense before the Lord, which appertain'd not to him.

Absalom had his hands imbrew'd in his Brother Amnon's blood,2 Sam. 13. 28. afore he lifted them up against his Prince and Father.

And Jeroboam, 1 King. 12. 27, 28. to strengthen himself in his unjust acquisitions, made a change in the Worship; to continue the rent in State, by widening it, he made a rupture in Religion; to defend his Rebellion, he set up Idolatry, two Calves at Dan and Bethel.

S. 2 § 1 2 PROP. The second Proposition was, That as a manifestation of our fea­ring God, and honouring the King, we ought not to meddle with those who are given to change.

Meddle we may,Medling not to change Covern­ment, a sign of fearing God and honouring the King. either by approving the projects of men de­signing a Change, or by actual endeavouring one our selves; and the concerning our selves either way is unlawful.

The first; The approving a Change renders us as equally guil­ty, as if we had brought it about; for it's consenting to a Crime which derives all the Malignity of it upon us: the external commission of it being only the owning of that to the World, which we had before perpetrated within our selves; and it being withal certain,The Con­senting to a Change, renders us as guilty as bringing it about. we should commit what we consent to and ap­prove, did not the Law (which takes cognizance only of Facts, or of an Overt-declaration of our intending them) restrain, or some Accident intervening, or Power interposing, hinder us.

Catiline was not less a Conspirator, and an Enemy to Rome, when he sate in consultation within its Walls, by what methods and practices its Frame and Constitution were to be subverted, than when he took the Field, and usurping the Ensigns and Badges of Consulship, he joyn'd with C. Mallius.

And a man may be as compleat a Rebel as he was, without taking up Arms against the Government, meerly by justifying [Page 7] the lawfulness of so doing; a Traytor, by giving a favourable ear to overtures tending that way; deep dy'd in the blood of his Prince, by being conscious to a Design of shedding it; or all over Coal-black with foul Poyson, which he hath neither prepared nor mingled, by being privy to an intention of administring it.

And as we are guilty in the Courts of Heaven and our own Consciences, of a Treason or Conspiracy which hath once gain'd our liking, though we proceed not to execution; so we may by the Law of State be justly punish'd for the same, if that can be proved.

For although it might be hard, it was not unjust, when a Noble­man of Normandy was arrested and condemned of Treason by the Judges of the Parliament of Paris, for an intention to kill Francis the first, which he himself disclosed in Confession to his Ghostly Father, as a Crime he repented of, and for which he cra­ved the comfort of Absolution.

The second;The endea­vouring it, as guilty as the prime Lea­ders. The endeavouring a Change, plungeth the person (though he be drawn in by the artifice of others) over head and ears in guilt; immerseth him as deep in it, as the first Contrivers and hottest Promoters of it; For it matters not to the abatement of that, what time he engaged in it, or whether after engagement he was active or supine in prosecuting it; nor is it any, what means he chooseth to effect it, whether fair or foul, as we di­stinguish; whether he be for picking his way, (as we say) or re­solv'd to adventure through thick and thin.

In a Crime of this nature, there are no Accessaries, but all Principals.

§. 2 The unlawfulness of concerning our selves any way to bring this about,Argu­ments to shew the unlawful­ness of en­deavou­ring a Change. will be manifest from these following Reflections.

1. The endeavouring it is contrary to the Duties so oft and so earnestly pressed upon us in Scripture, of not touching God's A­nointed, of being subject to the Higher Powers, (i. e.) those in­vested with the Supreme,Psal. 105, 15, because God ordained them the place and station;Rom. 13. d. 1. ad [...]. of submitting to every Ordinance of every one con­stituted in Authority,1 Pet. 2. 13, 14. whether to the King as Supreme, or unto Go­vernours as those who are sent, commissioned, by him.

[Page 8] For is not the Assassination of God's Anointed, thus contrary to our not touching Him? Is not the plucking down Rulers, a labouring to level them to us, or to raise and build our selves up above them, so, to our subjection and submission to Them? Is not the endeavouring to embroil the Affairs of His or Their Govern­ment, so, to living quietly under it? And are not these the me­thods we pursue, in order to bring about a Change, or some of the ends we propose in labouring it? And if they are, they can­not, with all the allowance of favour, be so construed, as they may be reconciled with our honouring Him or Them; for it may be as easily made out, that you may smite them with the Fist of Vi­olence, and not touch them; raise Combustions, and not meddle in their Affairs; as salve the doing these with honouring Them.

And if there have been men among us who have taken these courses, and yet have confidently, or rather impudently, stiled themselves His Majesties most Loyal Subjects, and pretended to be affectionate lovers of the establish'd Government, they ought to prove the fore-mention'd Texts were to be expounded backward, and shew us they have sound out the mysterious Art of salving Contradictions; of making Light and Darkness▪ Order and Con­fusion, dwell together; Peace and War salute and kiss each other; or else leave us at liberty to dis-believe their Professions, when we see their Practices.

Again,Contrary to the du­ty of praying for them. the endeavouring it is contrary to the Duty of praying for the safety of our Governours, and the prosperity of their Go­vernment; a point which the Jews were commanded to do for the Peace of Babylon, and the lives of Nebuchadnezzar and Bal­tazar his Son while they were Captives in that place,Jer. 29. 7. Baruch. 1. 11. and held so by those persons;1 Tim. 2. 1, 2, which Christians are for Kings, and all that are in Authority, that under them they may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all Godliness and Honesty, with this recom­mendation, because it's good and acceptable in the fight of God their Saviour, and which in the first and purest Ages of that Do­ctrine they performed for their Emperours and Kings, irrespe­ctively to their Religion, their Opinions in it, their natural Dis­position, or their carriage towards them; For their Heathen [Page 9] Persecutors, asTertull. c. 30. Apol. p. 30. ed. Rigal. F. & B. Nos euim pro salute Imperatorum Deum invocamus aeternum, &c. dein Oramus pro omnibus Imperatoribus, vitam illis prolixam, Imperium securum, Demum tutam, Exercitus Fortes, Senatum Fidelem, Populum probum, orbem quietum & quaecun (que) hominis & Caesaris vota sunt. Tertullian is a com­petent Witness for Sept. Severus, andDionys. Alexand. Epist. ad Herm. ap. Eu­seub. l. 7. c. 11. p. 257. ed. Henr. Valesii. Illius vero Dionysii sunt verba ad Aemilianum Praefectum Aegypti jubentem ut Deos Imperti custodes adoraret, [...]; &c. [...]. Dionysius of Alexandria for Valerianus and Galienus: Their Ar­rian, as theFulgentius ad Thrasimund. l. 3. c. 36. Clau­dit librum peroratione pro Rege. African did for Thra­simund, such, and a Goth to boot: ThePraefatio praemissa Synod. Agathens. Actis: Tom. 4. p. 1382. ed. Labb. & Cossart. quae habita erat Anno 22 Alarici Gothorum in Gallia Regis. Cum-Sancta Synodus cenvenisset, ibi (que) fli [...]is in terram Genibus pro Regno ejus, pro longaevitate, pro populo Dominum Deprecaretur ut qui nobis Congregationis permiserat Potestatem Regnum ejus Dominus faelicitate extenderet. Gallican, for Alaricus the same: TheTheodoret. l. 4. c. 26. Spectatim de Aphraate Monacho (quamvis sparsim per integrum librum de Obedientia Orthodox. agit) quem ad Imperatorem cum è Regia Porticu Antiochenâ, festinantem vidisset & per­contatus esset, [...], respondisse refe't [...]. Eastern, for the Em­perour Valens an Arrian: forEpist. Conc. Ephesin. Sess. 7. ad Theodos. & Valent. Imperat. extans apud Binium uti puto, vel inter Acta Conc. edita ab Hieron. Commelino. Omissam vero a Labbaeo & Cossart. aestimo, quod per Dei gratiam & ipsorum Majestatis Sanctionem Coactam agnoverit. Omnes & singuli assiduas Christo Domino pro Regni vestri stabilitate Preces offerimus, etiam at (que) etiam obse­crantes, ut Christianissimum vestrum fastigium quam diutlssime orbi tucatur incolume. The­odosius the younger, and Valentinian the third, the one a favourer of Ne­storius, and the other a very disso­lute person.

And the substance of their Prayers was, That God would grant them a long Life, and a secure Reign; preserve their Family in Safety, and their Government in Peace: In short, whatsoever others or themselves could wish for; all which is perfectly inconsistent with attempts on their Persons, or practices to disturb the tran­quility of the Government. And therefore, He who prays, or pretends to do so, for his Prince, That his Crown may slourish long upon his head, and his Empire may continue like the Sun and Moon through all Generations: and yet is guilty of such, confutes himself, and his actions disgracefully give his Tongue the Lie; for They would bring his Life to a sudden period, and his Kingdom to a sad catastrophe, while This expresseth abundance of clamorous Zeal for the Preservation of the One, and Establishment of the Other.

[Page 10] §. 3 2 Argum. The very endeavouring it opposite to the te­nor of the [...]o­spel. 2dly. It's most opposite to the tenor of the Gospel, and the frame of Christianity. The Virtues That inculcates, and This makes profession of, are, Contentedness in all Estates, Humility in the highest, Patience in suffering, Meekness in bearing, and Cha­rity in forgiving Injuries: whereas Discontent, Pride, Ambition, Impatience, Anger, Revenge, are the Passions and Vices which instigate men to endeavour revolutions in Governments.

They affect Novelty,Thucydid. [...]; and therefore sit uneasie under the pre­sent Government, which will be always deem'd * heavy by men of such volatile and unquiet Spirits.

They love not a Constitution wherein Divine Providence hath a hand,Statius Theba [...]d. and are for one of their own setting up.

This made the Israelites request to have a King, like the rest of the Nations round about,Militis aut [...]lebis inge­nium obser­vit Nec imposi­tes unquam cervice vo­lenti ferre Duces. when they were under a Theocracy; God reserving the Sovereignty in his own hands, but exercising the Acts of it by Samuel, 1 Sam. 8. 5.

The Yoak of Authority galls their stiff Necks, though in it self never so easie; and they are for shaking it off, venturing the issue either of having none at all, or one that will hang very loose a­bout them.1 Kings 12. c. a. v. 14. ad. 21.

An opinion that Jeroboam's Loins would be lighter than Reho­boam's little Finger, occasioned the Revolt of ten Tribes from the latter, and the mutation which thereupon succeeded in the Jew­ish State.

Or they are dissatisfied with their station and place in the Go­vernment, as too low and mean for men of their Abilities and Merits; and suspecting they are not like to rise higher, or make themselves greater, in the present posture of Affairs, are for di­sturbing them, as the probabl'st way to gain their point; or out of meer indignation to see themselves neglected, as they esteem, are for subverting it,Nem [...]c [...]rum qui in Re­publica ver. santur quos vincit sed a quibas vin­citur aspi­cit. though they themselves be oppressed with its fall.

Or if they stand high, they are displeas'd to see any above them; (for it's the nature of Ambition not to look down, but up; not on those behind, but those before) and therefore they will unhinge the whole Frame, in hopes to get into their places, or tum­ble all down, so they may Them.

[Page 11] Or they are Poor and Needy, and so would sain enrich them­selves, though it be with the spoils of their Countrey, which they can never come to have the ransacking of, but in publick Com­motions: Want enrag'd Catiline and his Associates to conspire a­gainst theirs.

For that Observation of the Historian will be always found true; Sal. de. B. Catil. de ipso Catil. Inopia & mali meres stimulabant. Those in a Commonwealth who want Power or Riches, will envy them who have; and out of meer anger or madness with their private Fortune, will desire and labour to have the publick State turn'd topsy-turvy.

Or they like not the disposition of their Governours;Idem ibid. Nova ex op­tant, odio suarum rerum om­nia misce­ri student They are too mild, or too severe for them; too sordid, or too profuse; And though the Excesses of Princes are to be born with as over­much Drought, or immoderate Rain; nor are vitious Princes always succeeded by vitious, but the good interpose and com­pensate for the bad: yet they will not expect time to assist them with this remedy,idem B. Jugurth Semper in Civitate quibas opes nu [...]e sunt bonis invi­dent; vete­ra odere, nova expe­tunt, odio suarum re­rum mutari omnia stu­dent. but are for immediate discarding them, and going in quest after another of a more suitable temper, let the hazard of the Wild-goose-Chace be what it will.

Or they have been disgusted by them,Cerialis ita loquitur. Quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres, & caetera naturae mala, ita Luxum vel Avaritiam Dominantium to­lerate. Vitia erunt, donec homines; sed ne (que) hac continua & meliorum interventu pensantur. Iacit. hist. l. 4 c. 73, 74. ed. Lips. because in the disposition of Honours they have pass'd them over, or have not had that high esteem for them, they have for themselves; or they have disgraced them in words or actions: And to be revenged for these neglects and affronts, they will combine together to Depose and Mur­ther them; care not whether they confound Heaven and Earth in one common Chaos again, so be it they have their revenge.

Pausanius killed Philip of Macedon, [...] for advancing Attalus to the Government of a Province, instead of punishing him upon his Complaint for abusing his Body; and Aruns brought the Goths into Italy, for having not Justice done him against Lucamon, Tacit. An­nal. l. 1 [...], c. 12. who had defiled his Wife;Lucanum propriae causae accendebant, quod fa [...]am carminum ejup premebat Nero prohib.. eratque ostentare. Lucan con­spired with Piso and others against [Page 12] Nero's Life,Idem Ibid. Cuspini an. Maximus for snppressing his Poem;De Quinctiano. à Nerone probroso Carmine diffamatus coniumelias ultum ibat. Quinctianus, for Defaming him in Song; Maximus against Va­lentinian the third,Roderic Teleton l. 3. c. 8. & 19. Julian a Nobleman of Spain calls in the Moors thither to be even with Roderic for corrupting his Wife or Daughter; and even he was, for their success put an end to his Life and the Gothique race of Kings in that Country.P [...]tav. Ra­tionar. part. 1. l. 8. c. 4.

Robert of Artois called the English into the France because a Suit of Law went against him:Joan Buss [...] eres Hist. And Charles of Bourbon rais'd up harles the fifth against Francis the first,Gallic. l. 16. c. 11. part. 3. p. 301. for the same reason; and Bodilus kill'd Chilperick for ordering him to be Whipt as a punishment.D. Pet. l. 8. c. 3. Ration. par 1.

Or last of all their Villanies,Jo. Bussier l. 3. c. 18. p. 1. have render'd them obnoxious to the Justice of the Government, from which they have no way left of saving themselves, unless by committing the greatest, that of undermining and overthrowing it.

The Phylosopher wisely ob­serv'd, [...] Imminentium periculum emedium ipsa peri­cula arbitrati, Aristot. Polit. l. 5. c. 3. Those who have done wrong, usually fly to Sedition to protect them against Punishment;Tacit. and the Histo­rian, That men fling themselves intoactual dangers to secure them­selves against those they only fear.

§. 4 3dly. The methods which men usually, and of necessity almost must take to bring about a Change are extremly ill.3d. Argu­ment.

The first of which is the Devising and Venting Lies against their Governours.The Me­thods to bring it about ill. as (1.) by Lyes.

This of Slandering them and their Conduct, is generally the first step Seditious Incendiaries take in their progress to Re­bellion.

Absolom,2 S [...]muel 15. 34. The prime model of such, told the people, There matters were good and right, but no man deputed of the King to hear them.

And having this precedent before them, they fail not of com­plaining to the People of their Princes neglecting his Affairs and Justice; or insinuating moreover his Inclinations to alter Religion, and Laws, then which nothing is (I am sure ought to be) more [Page 13] tender and dear to them; to bring in a Forreign Power or Settle a standing Army; than which, nothing can be more Dread­ful and Afrightful to them; that he Affects an Immensity of Power, or Arbitrarily exerciseth what he hath already: In short they Maliciously spy out Faults where there are none, Agravate those that are, and with a like greediness and pleasure divulge them both,Tacitus Annal. lib. 16. Inserunt querelas & ambiguos de principe sermones, quaeque alia turbamenta Vulgi. to weaken his Credit and Estimation with his People.

They make Invidious Constructions of his Designs, Odious Reflections on his Actions, and spread them Abroad; which when they are grown the subject of Common Report, fill the Peoples minds with Fears and Jealousies, and so dispose them, as Combustible matter soon takes Fire, for Tumults and Insur­rections.

The spreading of false Rumors, is to the Multitude as Winds to the Sea,Psal. 46. 3. Makes them Rage and Swell, lift up their voice and roar, in the elegant Expression of the Psalmist, who otherwise like that, smooth when not blown upon, would have layn still and calm; and by insensible degrees it tends to work this effect, though the False News within few Hours, Days at farthest, can be disprov'd; for either the refutation shall never reach so far as the Lye went, or if it doth, that hath made too deep an Impres­sion in some to be eras'd; the Poison of it hath wrought it self so far in, and lodg'd it self so strongly, that Truth is too weak an Antidote to expel it.

The second method is near of kin to this, False and Hypo­critical pretences.2d. Me­thod False Pretences.

They who level at the Government, always disguise those aims with the fair and specious colours of maintaining endanger'd Religion, Liberty and Property; while they have no Sense of the first; intend to Oppress the second, and Seize on the third.

These are all such pleasing names in the Peoples Ears, that al­beit no attempt towards a Change can be made, without first Violating Religion and its commands of Subjection and Obe­dience; and its always seen if that succeeds, that Liberty is afterwards crush'd, and Property usurp'd: Yet as Conspiring Knaves never fail to make use of them; so nor easie Fools to be [Page 14] charm'd and caught by them, to contribute their assistance to­wards the destruction of them all in a Change.

For when that's actually done, then these cunning Contrivers of it are sure to bind the silly, giddy, helpers of it forwards with Chains for Cords, and instead of an easie yoak, to put a heavy burdensome clog about their Necks; for enjoy'd or promis'd Freedom, to entail Slavery on them and their Posterity: And have the Impudence at the same time to call this State of Op­pression and Tyranny,Galgacus popularis noster ap. Agricoloe vitam a Ta­c [...]to scrip­tam. an asserting the Priviledges of the Na­tion, and restoring the People to their Birthright.Auferre, trucidare, rapere falsis nominibus Imperium, at (que) ubi solitudinem fecerint, pa­cem appellant. As the Romans when they had seiz'd on Kingdoms without right,Miseram servitutem falso pacem vocarent. and wasted them with Fire and Sword, call'd that Desolation Peace.

This is the recompence,Civilis apud Eundem l. 4. Hist. and a deserved one, they meet with for their easiness in believing the pretences, and forwardness in aiding them in their wicked enterprizes.

Absalom used both these colours: He complain'd that the due course of Law was stop'd, and seem'd griev'd that Justice did not freely flow in its Channels, and promis'd withall to open them a passage,2 Sam. 15 ch. if he were made Judge; That every man then who had a Suit, and would come unto him, should have right done him.

And yet he violated the Law of Nature in thus affecting the Soveraignty, which was not to be had without Killing or Com­manding his Father as his supreme; and proceeded farther in the breach of it, in Lying with his Concubines without regard to shame, in the face of the Sun, and before the Eyes of the People.

He made Profession of Concience too, the paying of a Vow he had 2 years stood charged with, to have his Fathers leave to make a Journey to Hebron, when it was only to gain the oppor­tunity of time,2 Sam. 15. v. 7, 8, 9, 10. and the conveniency of place to commence a Re­bellion.

And Jeroboam if he did not cover his Ambition at first with zeal for the purity of Religion, and charge Solomons making [Page 15] twelve Oxen to support the brazen Sea in his Temple with a de­gree of Idolatry,1 Kings 12 28, 29, 30. as the Rabbins have done; yet he was a great Stickler for the Peoples Liberty, went with them to Rehoboam to redress their Grievances: And as being got into the Throne he certainly debased Religion, in setting up the Calves at Dan and Bethel, and proclaiming they were the Gods which brought the Israelites out of Aegypt; so it's as little to be question'd but that he infring'd their Liberty, laid heavier Taxes on the revolted Tribes than ever Solomon did, towards the payment of the Soul­diers and Garrisons it was necessary he should maintain for the holding of his ill got power; and those, no doubt, harder to be paid in his divided and unquiet Usurpation, than the same would have been under Solomon, while the Kingdom stood entire, and his Reign flow'd with Peace and Wealth.

The third method is,The third Method toward a Change, Breaking Oaths. Breaking through all Oaths they stand bound by, Of bearing true Faith and Allegiance to their Gover­nours, of discovering all Treasonable Designs and Practices against their Persons or Authority: Oaths in which they deposited with them the richest Pawn it was possible for them to stake down, and gave them the strongest Security the others could require of their Fidelity and Obedience, their Salvation; Oaths in which they call'd God's Omniscience to witness these Engagements, and his Justice and Power to revenge the breach of them.

And yet, as if they were no more to be held by them than Sam­son was with green Wyths or new Ropes, (which to his force were slight and weak as single Threds) or as if their consciences were no more to be wounded by Perjury, than the German Hard-men are by Sword and Shot; or last of all, as if they had a secret Re­cipe of being acquainted with Conspiracies, and not being af­fected with the Treason of them: All who are for innovating in Government, direct their Councels against the Constitution it self, or the Supreme Person in it, to the Subverting the One, and Deposing or Murthering the Other, notwitstanding their Oaths to the contrary.

But if there were no breaking through Oaths, (and yet I be­lieve there is scarce any form of Regiment in the World which [Page 16] takes not this kind of cautionary Bond from their Subjects) they must make their way through all Natural Obligations to come at their end.Natural Obligati­ons.

For every man who is not born to Empire,Aerodius l. 10. Rer. Judicat. tit. ad Munici­pal. c. 3. antecedent to all Oaths,Sed si Patriae, non nobis Nati sumus, &c. Cur licebit Civitatem tanquam Militiam de­serere, cui Nativitate, cui Sanguine, cui Divino Humano (que) jure addicti & adstricti sumus? Atqui qui Militiam deserit Adul­tero aut Homicida propterea gravius pec­cat. (inquit Aristoteles) quod hic unum aut alterum laedit; illa Remp. Quid de eo igitur, qui Civitatem, qui Patriam dese­rit? Jus Naturale, jus Gentium laedit sane ut jura Sanguinis non possunt Commutari ita nec originis. and abstracting from the force of all Humane Laws, is born with a tie of Duty and Obedience to the Government under which he was born;Zouch feci­al. Gent. p. 2. S. 2. sect. 17. and he can no more dis­solve, change or transfer this Obli­gation by a subsequent Protestation of his Obedience to a Prince or State,Aerod. pan. l. 10. tit. 1. Sparfim. other than his Natural, than he could afore he came into the World choose of what Parents he would descend, the Countrey where, and the Dominion under which he would make his en­trance into it.

Yet farther,Entring into un­lawful Oaths. besides the wickedness of breaking through all Civil and Natural Obligations to bring on a Change, they bind themselves by impious Oaths, the most directly contrary to those Engagements, to labour it: Catiline initiated his Complices to the privacy of his Conspiracy by a Sacrament solemn as a Sacrifice to the Gods, drank to them in a mingled Bowl of mans Blood and Wine, made them pledge him and one another in that, and so doing, their mutual Faith, devoting themselves with horrid Exe­crations to suffer all ills, in case they infringed it, afore he ventu­red to acquaint them with the Villainy they were to be Actors in. And the Gunpowder-Traytors bound their Truth and Secrecy one to another in the wicked Project they had in hand, by the Sacrament of the Body of Christ.

§. 2 4 Argum. The Means of effecting it, Base.The Means by which a Change is executed, are base and vile, generally by occult Fraud and Treachery, without any preceding Declaration of Animosity.

If the Government be Monarchical, and the Change depend upon the removal of the present Possessor of the Crown, or the legal Heir and Successor to it, it's executed by Poyson, a Stab, [Page 17] Shot,Tacit 2 hist. or some such foul villainous means; the using of which is the Symptom,Arma aper­ta palam vites, fraus & dolus ec­culta ec (que) inevitabi­lia. or rather the Malady, of an abject profligate Mind, which a person of any bravery of Spirit can no more do, than he can protect himself against them.

He hath the Courage to oppose Arms to Arms, and may be with success;Caesur apud. Sal. B. but he dares not be an Assassin, or Poysoner: He hath no more a Soul that can be guilty of such base Actions, than he hath a Body that is defensible and proof against them.Catilin Ho­stem adver­sum homini strenuo op­primere haud diffici­le est pericu­la ne (que) face­re, ne (que) vi­tare bonis in pr [...]mtu est.

Or if it be accomplish'd with the formality of a Process, as ours was, when our Prince was Arraigned and Sentenced by a mock Court of Justice, and accordingly Executed; or as that of Naples was, when Conradine the Nephew of Conrade the Empe­rour, contending for that Crown, and the other of Sicily, with the House of Anjou and the Papal See, being taken at the Battle of Alby, was Tryed, Condemned, and Beheaded in the publick Streets of Naples: Raynald Annal. ad A. 1268. P. Aemil. l. 7. & Mich. it makes it still more villai­nous; for there is no more capital Injustice, than that which is done with the Ceremony of the Law, and the Pageant-shew of Justice.Ritio de Reg to sic l. 3.

But if it be a Republick, in the strict notion of the word, its Change is hardly to be effected without violence, as many times that of Kingdoms is not too, and the Government hath no war­ning to prepare it self against this danger, as in a just War denoun­ced by a Foreign Enemy it hath; but like conceal'd Fire, it breaks out all of a Flame, which masters in a moment whatever opposeth it, or stands in its way.

§. 6 5 Argum. The Con­comitants and Con­sequences of [...] Change, Dire.But fifthly, The Concomitants and Cousequences of a Change, are dire and mischevous: If it's not preceded and usher'd in, it's attended and followed by Tumults and Insurrections, where the Sword is licentiated to do those horrid Wickednesses which I have too great a tenderness to mention, or, may be, you to hear; Virgins are deflowr'd; Matrons ravish'd; Sucklings hanging at their Mothers Breasts, snatch'd thence; Children torn from the Bosoms and kind Embraces of their Parents, and both either dash'd against the stones, or impaled upon the Spears point, or swoon a­way [Page 18] through Famine in the streets; the Comliness of Youth shamefully abused against Nature; Manhood tortur'd with all Cruelty; Old Age, without Reverence to it, and the tender Sex, without Pity to it, forced to suffer all the Contumelies of Mili­tary Insolence; Temples profan'd and pillag'd; ancient Inheri­tances turn'd to Strangers, and Houses to Aliens, or else sack'd and burnt; all places fill'd with Lust, Rapine and Murther; the Air resounding with the dreadful groans of the dying; the Ground strew'd with the gastly Carcases of the slain, or drown'd in a De­luge of their Blood; In short, where there is no other Spectacle but Sadness and Horrour

S. 4 But if these Arguments representing the sinfulness of endea­vouring a Change, be not powerful enough to dissuade us from making such Attempts, the danger we may draw upon our selves may be of force to discourage us. The Text presents us with this Consideration, where it is brought in as a Reason to deter us: For their Calamity shall rise suddenly, &c. and might be regarded by us as such here; But because I cannot treat of it with the same brevity as I have done the fore-going, I shall choose rather to handle it under the qualification I propounded it at first, as an ab­solute entire Proposition,

That the attempting a change in Government,3 PROP. Or Doctrine The dan­ger of de­figning a Change in 3 respects. proves dangerous and pernicious to the persons engag'd in the Design.

I shall exhibit the danger of it to your view in these several re­spects:

1. From the difficulty of carrying on such a Design without detecti­on; and in that case, the severity of punishment which shall be in­flicted on the Agents concern'd in it.

2. If it be not prevented by discovery, but succeeds to their hearts desire, the punishment it may in probability meet with some time or o­ther in this World.

And 3. If it be so lucky and thriving, as to escape punishment in this World, yet the certainty of its being pursued, overtaken, and pu­nish'd by Divine Justice in the World to come.

[Page 19] §. 1 1. Then its difficult to carry on any design towards the Alte­ration of the State without discovery.The dan­ger in the 1st. respect from De­tection.

1. And the difficulty of this ariseth in the first place from the number of those who of necessity must be engaged in an affair of this nature,Its hard to aviod dis­covery because of the number, the taking or trea­cherous humour of some of the Conspira­tors. always too many to keep Councel, and too few for Action. And in such a number there will be some who are troubled with a natural infirmity, are leaky and chinky in the Comaedians Phrase, and cannot hold a secret; are in Boccalini's afraid if they should, that it would smell and corrupt their Breath, in the Son of Sirach's travel, with it and are in pain till they be deliver'd of it. This was the weakness of Dymnus a Complice with Philotas in the Con­spiracy against Alexander. Sal. B. Cat. de Curio Huic homini non minor vanitas inerat quam audacia, ne (que) reticere quae audierat, ne (que), suamet ipse scelera [...]c­cultare, &c. He could not forbear telling it Nicomachus a Catamite Boy he lov'd,Tac. Annal. 15. [...]rusira filentium & fidem in tot Censciorum Animis & cor poribus sperari. who ac­quainted his Brother Ceballinus with it, and he the King by Motronus. And the Disease of Curius in Cataline's, who tatled it to Fulvia his Mistress, and she reveal'd it to the Consul.

Others are of a treacherous disposition inclining them to be­tray whatsoever is Committed to their Trust,Curt. l. 6. num. 7 though under the strictest and Sacred'st adjurations of Secrecy to seal up their Lips in Silence,Plut. v. Alex. and their Associates to boot, though leagu'd together in mutual confidence by the powerful Cement of a Sa­crament.

Nor is it reasonably to be expected otherwise, that men false to their Lawful Governours Authority, should be true to one another in Villany.

§. 2 But 2dly, If it pass safe these pikes of Garrulity or Perfidi­ousness, some occurrence or other (which we call Accident and are apt to give to chance but in Truth happens not without the interposition of Divine Providence watchful for the Con­servation of Governments it hath erected) administers some Jealousy of a Contrivance carried on against it.2ly. Its oft discover'd by some strauge Provi­dence. Either to the Rulers and Conducters of Affairs, or persons unconcern'd in the management of them.

[Page 20] This occasions the apprehension of the suspected,Tac. Annal. 15. who through Fear or Hope are wrought upon to discover all they know of the Confederacy and Confederates:Cruciatu aut Praemio cuncta per­via esse. For Torments or Rewards are the Picklocks of all Secrets, and scarce a humane breast so fastned with the bars and bolts of Obstinacy, which one of these will not open: So Mordecai either overheard Bigthan and The­resh contriving to lay Hands on Ahasuerus, Esther 2. 21, 22. or suspected their Design and Accused them. So it was in Piso's Conspiracy. Milichus a manumis'd servant of Scevinus, Tac Annal. one of the chiefs in that Plot against Nero, suspected he had some such Design, from his calling for his Rusty-Sword, and ordering it to be scour'd and sharpn'd, Filleting useful for the binding up of Wounds to be got ready; the making his Will, and giving his Slaves their Freedom; all which he did but the day before it should have been put in Execution: Thereupon he accuseth him to the Emperor, and on this dark intimation alone he is seiz'd and brought before him; where, while he stood Confron­ted by Milichus singly, he considently deny'd any knowledge of it; but understanding Natalis had declar'd something, he forthwith Confesseth all, and names his Complices: Lucanus, Quinchanus, Joan. Buss. l. 16. c. 12. p. 3. p 303, & 304. Senecio; the first of which upon Examination did his Mother, the other two their Intimatest Friends Two Do­mesticks of the Duke of Bourbons, Martignon and Argogne, penetrat'd into his Conjuration, and reveal'd it to Francis the first: So the Sagacity of one of our Princes from an obscure Expression in a Letter to the Lord Monteagle, warning him to keep from that Session of Parliament, becanse it should receive a Terrible Blow, scented out the Treason, which was then near perfected, and that Powder should be the Instrument of it: con­firm'd in which conjecture more and more by weighing the Word, he gives order for a diligent search to be made of the Cellers and Vaults about the Parliament-house, which happily ended in the taking the Prime Artificer of wickedness standing before the doors as one of them; where all the Engines pre­pared to work the Dire mischief lay hid under Piles of Wood and Coal.

[Page 21] Thus God undiscern'd,Psal 64.. v. 56, 78 shoots with a secret Arrow at those who encourage themselves in mischief, and commune among them­selves of laying snares, and say, that no man shall see them; so that suddenly they are wounded, and he makes their own Tongues to fall upon them.

Thus he ordereth it, Psal. 9 15. That they fall into the Pit which they digg'd for others; and that in the Net which they laid privily should their own foot be caught.

§. 3 But if it neither be detected before-hand by the Vanity, Loos­ness and Faithlessness of men,3ly. It oft fails at the point of Execution or Gods Miraculous Providence, it oft fails at the very nick and point of Execution through pre­cipitancy and Inconsideration.

The design of Quinctianus a­gainst the Life of the Emperor Commodus, De Quintiano, [...]. miscarried by his rash drawing out his naked Poiynard, [...] Herodian l 1. vita Commo p. 12. edit H. Steph. and presenting it towards his Breast with this Complement, The Senate sends thee this; for this, though small warning, gave him opportu­nity to make his escape.

In like manner did that of Antonius de Volaterra against Lawrence di Medici, by so little notice before, as the crying out of, Ah Traytor! gave him to prevent it.

§. 4 But suppose it to meet with all the success Conspirators them­selves can wish themselves,2d. Danger is of its being pu­nish'd af­terwards, though it succeeds for the present. yet in the second place; these per­sons are oft at the long run overtaken by Vengence, and ex­plarily punish'd in this World.

Innumerable footsteps of this justice are left us standing both on Sacred and Civil Records: The earth open'd her mouth wide and swallow'd up Corah Dathan and Abiram with their Rebelli­ous Crew in the very act and height of their wickedness:Numb. 16. 32. Abi­melech, who dy'd his Princely Scarlet in the Blood of 70 Bre­thren he slew,Judges 9 ch. v. 53. that he might rule without controul, had his Skull at the storming of Thebez broke by a Stone thrown from a Womans hand, on which the Historian, who relates it, makes this remarque.

[Page 22] Athaliah who murther'd all the Royal Line of Judah (except an Infant Heir preserv'd by his Aunt for a more favourable juncture) that she might reign and reign without a Rival,2 Kings c. 11. 16. fell from her Greatness by the same bloody steps she mounted to it; was slain by her Guard within the Verge of her Palace.

Jeroboam the grand Usurper of the Israelitish Crown, though he escap'd in his Person, yet was punish'd in the utter extirpa­tion of his Posterity;1 King 15. 29. Nadab his Son kill'd and all his Family by the Sword of Baasha, not one left alive who breath'd.

This murtherers Son Elah, 1 King 16. 10, and 12. together with all the Male Line de­stroy'd by Zimri; not one left who piss'd against the Wall.

Zimri after seven days reign,1 King 16. 15, 18. laid hands on himself to avoid falling into Omri's who Besieged him, burning his Palace over his own head.

Shallum who took away Zechariah's Life and Kingdom was depriv'd of both within a Month by Menahem, 1 King. 15. 30. whose Son Pe­kajah had the like turn done him by Pekah the Captain of his Guard,2 King 18. 9. and he by Hoshea, who in the 9th. year of his Usurpation was strip'd of his Regality, and carried Captive by Salmanezer into Assyria and Media, Quod de Caesure me­moriae Tra­ditum est hoc etiam de Gordiano evenisse per­scribit nam omnes qui­cun (que) illum gladio ap­petiverunt (qui novem fuisse dicun­cuntur) po­stea inte remptis Phi­lippissua ma nu suis (que) gladiis & iisdem quibus illum percusserant interisse dicuntur, Jul. Capit. vi. Gordia 3tii p. 241. ed. C. Sigonii. and with him expir'd that Monarchy.

And should I travel now out of Sacred Story into Profane for Instances, time would fail me in recounting the Tragical ends of Usurpers or Rigicides, of Cyrus who seiz'd on his Grandfathers Kingdoms, of Bessus whose Murther of Darius Ochus caus'd the Translation of the Empire from the Persian to the Greeks, of Philip the Usurper of the Macedonian Crown, slain between his Son Alexander the Great and his Son in Law Alexander of Epirus at the Espousals of his Daughter; of Pisistratus who invaded the Athenian, Julius Caesar who Invaded the Roman Government: The Murderers of Gordian the Emperor, who fell all by their own hands, employing those very Swords against their own Lives, which they had before us'd to take away his.

And infinite numbers more mention'd by the Roman, Byzantine and other Writers;Cuspin t. Maximus Sidon 2. Ep. l. 3 only I cannot omit two memorable Ex­amples. the one of Maximus, who procur'd the Murder of Va­lentinian [Page 23] the Third,P Diac. l 17 Mat 26. 52. Rev 13. 10. Tac. A. Lo­quens de Galbae occis­soribus, nec priores nec futuri prin­cipes terru­ere, quo face­rent scelus cujus ultor est quisquis successit. Torn afterwards in pieces by the People of Rome; the other of Phocas, who through the barbarous murther of his Master Mauritius, ascended the Throne of Constantinople: He taken by Photinus, received a suitably reward, and had his Head, Hands, Feet, and Privities cut off

In these, generally speaking, is that saying of our Saviour ve­rified, They who take the Sword, [take it against lawful Authority] shall perish with the Sword, [the Sword of Justice;] And of St. John, He that killeth with the Sword, must be killed with the Sword; by the Sword, very oft, of him whose way to the Throne that persons Sword cut,Tac. l. 1. hist de Galbae oc­cisoribus om­nes (que) con­quiri & in­terfici jussit, non Honore Gal­bae sed tra­dito Princi­pibus more munimentum ad praesens in pos terum ultionem. in murthering him who sate thereon; for Prin­ces recompence such a kindness done them, by revenging it on the Authors: David did it on the Amalekite who slew Saul at his own intreaty, and with exemplary severity on those two who slew Ishboseth their Master, and his Competitor for Empire, cut­ting off first their Hands and Feet.

Amassas put to death the murtherers of his Father Joas; Alex­ander, Pausanias and his Abettors; and thus Vitellius did those who killed Galba; Probus, the murtherer of Aurelianus and Ta­citus; Theophilus, the murtherers of Leo Armenius, though his death made his Father Michael Balbus Emperour; and Claudius, as great a Bruit as he was,Zonaras de Theophil. & Zezim. l. 1. p. 35. ed. p. 35. ed. Steph. de Probo me morat. those of Caligula: And a Christian Council hath enjoyn'd the Successor to take this just revenge of those whose hands were embrew'd in his Predecessors Blood.

But if Justice doth not follow them so close and fast, as to signa­lize her self in the overtaking and punishing them here, she will pursue them into another World,Sueton. 6. Conc. 6. Tol. v. l. 7. tit. 2. c. 20, 21, 22, 23. and there certainly apprehend and chastise them: In this sense that of Amos shall be fulfilled, He that escapeth of them, shall not be delivered.

And therefore,3 Danger Of being certainly punisht in the world to come, if it escape scotfree in this. if we have seen or observed men who have been active in disturbing the Order and Tranquility of States, and tur­ning them topsy-turvey through Ambition or Revenge, go off the Stage gloriously with all their ill-got Power and Greatness, or at least steal silently into their Graves, (as a late Usurper, and a later Boutefeu, among us have done, whose Names I'll commit to Oblivion, Amos 9. 1. because I will not gratifie their Vanity in thirsting after [Page 24] a great Name) though we are no more to envy than applaud their Fortune, but really pity their misery, such, that their Crimes were not punish'd according to their Condignity here, but reserv'd to be so in another World, with pains that Almighty Vengeance alone can inflict, and the Damned alone sustain.

There, there, at God's Tribunal, shall they stand to be judged, whom the Bench hath been too weak to reach, or take cogni­zance of; and then shall his terrible Sentence deliver over such who have evaded the lash of the Law to evil Angels, his Execu­tioners, to scourge with Scorpions.

Then with his own right Arm shall he discomfit, and overthrow in a perpetual Destruction, such successful Rebels who have been too strong for the Arm of Flesh to correct.

For, should he not do this, that infinitely impartial Justice of his, in rendring to every man according to his Job 34. 11. ways, and the fruit of his Jer. 17. 10. & 32. 19. doings; that exact Truth of his, which hath declared, though hand joyn in hand, Prov. 11. 21. the wicked shall not be unpunished, would be liable to be question'd and impeach'd.

Upon that Justice and Truth then which can never be justly and truly tax'd, we may be confident that they shall then receive their woful Doom.

For can it be thought, that he who will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain, should connive at the violation of all Obligations of Duty and Fidelity contracted in that Name; and let such escape scot-free who do this that they rise up against them who wear his Name, and are clad in the Rays of his Ma­jesty? That if men shall be in danger of Hell fire for calling their Brother Fool, Mat. 5. 21. they shall be in none for railing against their Superi­ours invested with Authority from above,1 Pet. 1 2. c. 9. comp. with the 10. Jud. [...] comp. with the 13. and acting by a Com­mission from Heaven? St. Peter and St. Jude have taught us other­wise, viz. That God reserveth such who speak evil of Dignities unto the day of Indgment, to be punished: for the blackness of darkness for ever.

Certainly, if neither Thieves, nor Extortioners, nor the Co­vetous, shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven,1 Cor. 6. 10. as St. Paul hath told us they shall not; If pety Thieves, who steal a Lamb from the Fold, or a Thimble and Bodkin out of the House; small Extortio­ners, [Page 25] who take Ten in the Hundred; poor Covetous Ones, who rake and scrape to save a peny, shall not: I say, Certainly such Thieves who rob and spoil whole Countreys, such Extortioners who by their exactions for the maintenance of their unwarranta­ble Armies, poll and flea the People to the skin, such Covetous who are not to be sated with all the plunder'd Wealth of Pro­vinces, (and such are all Rebels against Government) shall not.

If such Hypocrites who make long prayers to devour widows hou­ses, Mat. 33. 14. shall receive greater Damnation; then they who do so to swal­low whole Kingdoms in a Usurpation, shall receive That, or a greater than the greater.

If Lyars, Sorcerers, Whoremongers, Murtherers, and Idolaters, shall receive their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, Rev. 21. 8. as we are informed they shall; surely such Lyars, who maliciously slander their Prince, first to weaken his Credit, then his Hands; such Sorcerers, who with the Witchcraft of cunning and fair speaking alienate the Peoples affections from him; such Whoremongers who are guilty of, and stand answerable to Justice for all the Rapes and Deflorations Souldiers raised by them to be­gin an Insurrection, and make a Revolt, in the heat of War and Lust commit.

Surely then those Murtherers of their honest fellow-Subjects who will not side with them in taking up Arms, and of their Prince if they prevail; then those Idolaters, who, crown'd with success, erect false Power in opposition to the legal One, and would compell all to acknowledge and pay homage to it, like Nebuchad­nezzar, to fall down and worship the Image they have made and set up, shall be cast there.

S. 5 §. 1 I have now gone through the several parts of the Text in spe­culation, but will resume them again,1 Use of Reproof of those who in th [...] [...] ­ctice dis­sever the Commands of Fearing God & the King. and try how practically use­ful they may be to us.

And first, The inseperability of these two Commands of Fearing God, and Honouring the King, may serve for a Reproof against two sorts of men, whose Cloak of Hypocrisie or open Profane­ness put assunder in practice what God hath joyned together in precept.

[Page 26] The first make use of their pretended Fear of God, to justle out the King's Honour; their serving Him, to excuse their Diso­bedience to This; their fits of Devotion and Extatical Raptures, their acts of Disloyalty; their asserting the true Religion, justifie their rising up against Majesty.

The other pay their Duty to their Prince, at the rate of sub­stracting it from their Maker; think with their Allegiance do dis­count for their Irreligion; that being good and faithful Subjects, makes amends for being bad and false Christians; being right for the Government and Laws of the Land, satisfies for Actions unbecoming and scandalous to the glorious Gospel of their Sa­viour.

These are such gross mistakes, and the practices grounded on them so dangerous, that the entertainers of such Principles, and such Actors, deserve the sharpest rebuke, to be told with all smart­ness on both ears: That a devout stirrer up of Sedition, a religi­ous Incendiary, a godly Rebel, on one hand; and an atheistical Royallist, a dissolute Leige-man, a wicked good Subject on the other, are contradictions in the adject: To be subject to the Po­wers which be, for conscience-sake, because ordained by God; and to strive or fight with them for conscience-sake, because they are not of the same persuasion in matters of Faith with us, of the same piece in Religion: To honour God's Vicegerent, by a dutiful de­porting our selves towards him; and to dishonour the Sovereign of all the World, who constituted him such, by flagitious lives, are inconsistent impossibilities.

§. 2 But 2dly. If the dividing the Commands deserves such a re­proof, the neglecting the caution or the going directly against the wise Charge in the Text,Reproof 2. of those who are given to change, and parti­cularly of us of Eng­land. of not meddling with those who are gi­ven to change, requires a yet sharper rebuke.

It's observed of Islanders, that they are usually as variable as the Weather of their Climate is; and it hath been our reproach, that none have been more so than we.

After that great and total change which the success of the last Rebellion produced, the subversion of the Monarchy for a time, how many several Changes did we pass through after! We shif­ted [Page 27] Scenes of Government, or rather Anarchy, as oft as in the Pythagorean Opinion the Soul doth Bodies.

First, The obscene part of a House of Commons, which had the impudence to stile it self a Parliament, domineers; next, upon their being thrown out by their own Army, a Councel of State, form'd for the most part of Officers; then a Convention of some of their Creatures, or confiding Brethren, with the assumed name of a Parliament too; then a single person, and he a General forsooth, advanced from a Lieutenant or Captain at first, (and that Officer extracted from an indigent Gentleman) with the specious title of Protector of the Commonwealths of England, Scotland and Ireland: He succeeded by an unequal Son, unfit to hold what he had got, and so deposed by his ambitious and jealous Kindred: then at the Armies call that filthy part of the Commons return to take the Reins of Go­vernment, who not pleasing their powerful Masters, are a second time disgracefully expulsed by them; then a Creature of the Ar­mies begetting and moulding, with a new name of their own devi­sing, a Committee of Safety, is substituted; this occasion'd a difference between the English and Scotch Army, the last declaring its dissa­tisfaction against the Proceedings of the former; and the Contest ended by the gradual mouldring away of That, and the subsist­ence of This, in placeing the ejected Members once more in their Seats; who being scarce warm there, had unwelcom Guests ad­ded to them by the prudent Fabius, General MONCK, viz. those who were secluded (1648.) by violence, for voting the King's Concessions satisfactory, and a ground for Peace; who dissolving themselves, made room for the sitting down of that Assembly which recals home our Exil'd King and His Brothers.

And when all the Tribes seem'd unanimous in bringing back our David to his Throne, and he was according to their wish safe seated thereon, one would have thought all these Feaverish Di­stempers should have been allay'd, our floating Island fix'd by His Restauration, as they say Delos was by Apollo's Birth. But there was no such matter; for there was a Party of men injur'd, as they suppos'd, by His Restitution, because it stript them of their ill-got Wealth and Power: and these were restless to bring all [Page 28] things back to the late Confusion again, as the probabl'st means to re-imburse and re-instate themselves.

These endeavoured to seize His Majesties Castle of Dublin, and make an Insurrection here; and being defeated in both, continu­ed the carrying on of the Design here, which they thought to ac­complish by surprizing the * Tower; and to facilitate that, resolv'd to set fire on the City,1663. June 1. in Ireland. for which several Army-Officers being ta­ken, Arraigned, and Convicted by the Teflimony of others and their own Confession, were Condemn'd and Executed the April before that September in which great part of it was laid in Ashes.1666. April 26. in They were Try'd at the Sess. in the Old baily▪

There was another Party indeed for His Restauration, yet not for His or the Kingdoms sake, but with hopes to have their fallen Ark of the Covenant and the Kirk-Discipline rear'd and set up; like the People of Rome, Liv. Inde libertatis auram cap­tare unde servitutem timendo in eum statum Remp. ad duxerant. who oppress'd by the Decemviri, look'd up to the Nobility, in expectation by their help to breath free Air, who by fear of their Power before had brought themselves into that state of Servitude.

These finding themselves mistaken in their measures, engaged themselves in our Neighbourhood of Scotland in two actual Re­bellions, the one at Pentland-hills, the other at Bothwel-bridge, for the Cause of the holy League.1666. Nov. 26. 1679. May 29.

And both these (neither being dishearten'd by their former ill success) joyn'd together lately in one common Design, either of undermining and blowing up the Government by Fraud, or overthrow­ing it by plain force.

I will not trouble you with repeating to you the method of this last Project, which you have had fully and yet succinctly deduced in His Majesties Declaration; but it may be I shall trouble you, and grate your tender ears, in charging you with assisting towards it, and so bringing you in as Medlers with them who were given to change.

For, Did not you shew your selves such, by siding and going along with that Faction which wrought the last dismal Change, or by following men who trac'd their steps, and practis'd the same methods of Sedition which usher'd in that Rebellion?

[Page 29] For first, Did you not greedily swallow down the Lies they fed you with against the Government; sometimes as if it was making it self Arbitrary and Tyrannical; other times as if it was selling you for Bondslaves to the French; and by and by as if it were in­troducing Popery, Images were just a setting up in your Churches to be worship'd, and the holy Water for sprinkling was already in the Porches?

And when the falshood of these were discover'd to you, were you not as ready to entertain any new ones they devis'd to stop those Leaks, (though never so ridiculous?) Had they not inured you so to them, or you your selves, that your Spirits were not to be kept up without them; as men accustoming their Stomachs to Brandy, are fainting if they warm them not ever and anon with a Dram of the Bottle.

2. Have you not had their persons in the greatest admiration, who made the biggest noise for Religion and Liberty, while their Lives manifested they had extinguish'd the One all but the Name, and their arbitrary proceedings that they were resolv'd to prosti­tute the Other to their own Lusts? Such who had scrupl'd at Or­der and Decency in the Church, but had made none of involving three Kingdoms in misery and Confusion; strain'd at Conformity, but swallow'd down Rebellion; stumbl'd at a Ceremony, but leap'd over the Murther of their King?

Were not such esteem'd the fittest persons you could choose to represent you, and act on your behalf; Atheists, to Reform Re­ligion for you; Bankrupts, to secure your Property; Old Army-Officers, to guard your Liberty; and Conspirators of forty years growth and upwards, to shield you from the danger of the late Plot?

3. Last of all, Did you not look upon your selves as absolved from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and on them as an­tiquated Bonds? Or were you not for expounding them so as they might be best accomodated to Rebellion, or willing Disciples of such Masters who did? That they were stipulations of a conditio­nal Obedience, provided the King maintain'd your Rights, and that limited and restrained to some Cases only; so that the King not performing the former, you were not bound to the latter; or [Page 30] commanding something without the Verge of his Authority, might be oppos'd by Arms, and forc'd within compass; or that they might be violated without sin, for promoting such great goods as the Power of Godliness and the Freedom of the Gospel? Did not the Casuistical Divinity of such Rabbies please you, who directed you in order to shake the Crown from off the Monarchs Head in time, as well as to enfeeble his hands for the present? How,A Pamphlet entituled, No Prot. Plot, 2d. part, p. 26. ad calcem: as Jurors, sworn to make true enquiry between Him and Prisoners at the Bar, you might break such an Oath with the dee­pest sense of Religion,and a Trea­tise of oc­casional Commun. before sworn with a sound Conscience; call Damnation upon your heads with the Fear of God before their eyes? How in singleness of heart you might receive the Commu­nion kneeling, to capacitate you for an Office whereby to do mis­chief to the State, and yet be free from the Idolatry charged upon that gesture there?

§. 3 If you have in any of the fore-mentioned respects been guilty,Exhort. 1. as it's more than to be suspected you have, I exhort you to wash away the contracted guilt with the Tears of Repentance,Not to meddle in bringing about a Change. and to take care for the future of drawing any farther on your selves. If you have sinned in this kind, sin no more.

The Contrariety of any ways assisting towards a change of Go­vernment, to the Doctrine of Christ enjoyning subjection to all Powers irrespectively which are lawful,Rom. 13. because ordain'd by God; To a Caligula, S. Aug. l. 5. de C. D. 21. as well as an Augustus; to cruel Nero's and Domi­tians, as well as to courteous Vespasians; to an Apostate Julian, as well as a Christian Constantine: because they had equally their Power from Him;1 Pet. 2. 12, 13. to that demanding us to pray for all in Autho­rity, because constituted by Him; Of the Vices, which drive and push men on to this, (such as are discontent with the lowness of their station, Ambition to climb higher, Covetousness to make themselves richer, Envy against those who are above them in Place, or exceed them in Fortune, Revenge for some conceived affront or neglect) to a Christian Frame of Spirit; the baseness of the courses taken to bring it about, Lies, deep Dissimulation, and Perjury; Of the means to execute it, Devilish Fraud and Trea­chery; the horrid Concomitants and Consequences of it, Con­fusion [Page 31] and Desolation, should be very powerful Arguments to dissuade you from medling.

But if the Villainy and Wickedness of it will not, certainly the Danger of being discovered, through the Falseness and Cowar­dice of Partakers with you in the Design; or by some unforeseen (and therefore unpreventable) occasion; of miscarrying at the very nick of executing it, through rashness or faintheartedness; or if it take effect, and you succeed for a time, the danger of being afterwards over-turn'd, and brought under the Wheel; (for Re­bellion, though it prospers on the Stage through four Acts,Cicero Cati­lin. 4. is generally plagu'd in the fifth;Nulla esse potest in tanti scele­ris immani­tate immani­tate punien­da crudeli­tas.) and then, in all the fore-mentioned Cases, the certainty of being punish'd should discourage you; which, let it be never so sharp and painful, the black Complexion of your Crimes will make it construed Mildness and Clemency; Or, if the Torments man can inflict are too mean Considerations to dis-hearten men of Bravery from thus attempting, surely those which God can and will lay on you, should afright you; if the Princes Wrath will not, Damnation should; if the Gallows, the Wheel, Dis-membring, Unbowelling, Breaking, will not, Hell, its Fire, Smoak, Chains of Darkness, should; if the Pains of the first Death cannot, those of the second, containing all the exquisite sorts of Pain which usher in the first, intended into infinity in de­gree, extended into eternity in duration, (the Portion in the next World of the most prosperous and thriving Rebels in This) should; under all which this shall be a farther aggravation, the Reflection that Lucifer, Chief of the Rebel-Angels Armies, and Ring-leader of all here below, shall be the Minister of God's Vengeance to you, whom his subtle Arts first inveigl'd and drew in.

§. 4 And now, Exhort. 2. To praise God for the disco­vering & preventing the impi­ous design of making a Change in the Go­vernment. If upon the score of Religion, a sense of the impious Villainy of endeavouring a Change, a consideration of the dread­ful everlasting Torments with which (unrepented) it shall be re­venged, you detest such thoughts, and abhor such Miscreants who are inclin'd that way; you may, at my entreaty, or rather Gods by me his Ambassador, be induced to comply with another part of your Duty, which is, to praise and magnifie the riches of his Mercy and Goodness, in preventing the Change design'd to be [Page 32] brought upon this Nation, by men who wip'd their mouths, and call'd themselves the peaceable People of the Land, while they had War in their hearts, and there delighted and wanton'd in mischief, and all the dismal consequents of that; For bringing to light all their secret Counsels of Darkness; For baffling their Devices, and making them of none effect; For disappointing their proud hopes, and turning their weapons form'd against his Anointed and his Friends, upon themselvs.

If the stopping Blood from breaking out in such plentiful issues as should cover the face of the Land again; If the repressing of Rape, Uncleanness, Robbery, Profanation of holy things, and all other sorts of Disorders, which are not barely committed, but priviledg'd in Tumults; If the sheathing up the Sword, and shut­ting up Fire from ravaging, and making this Eden of ours, this Garden of the Lords, desolate as a barren Wilderness; If the not letting loose upon us other Judgments for the just Punishment of our Murthers, and those fore-mentioned Crimes, deserve an humble and thankful Remembrance of God's gracious deallng, it's due up­on these occasions, the detection of a horrid Conspiracy to raise an Insurrection, whose mildest aim, interpreted by the greatest Cha­rity, could not be less than seizing on and imprisoning the King's Person, till he should have consented to their wild demands; and another of a more bare-fac'd Impiety, against His Life, His dearest Brother's, many of the Lords of His Council, of the Magistracy of His capital City, of the rest of the Body of His Subjects, whose signal Loy­alty had mark'd them out for fit Victims to Phanatick Rage. A Mur­ther, as relating to the King, not only execrable in it self, but in its circumstances likewise: For they who had murther'd Him be­fore in His Reputation, by mis-calling Him Tyrant, (whose fault was His Clemency) intended to murther Him in His Person, after the same manner as they inTac. An. nal. l. 15. & 12. hist. Et cepisse im petum Subri­us Flavius ferebatur in scenam Ca­nentem Ne­ronem ag­grediendi. After­wards at Baiae, Cujus amenitate captus Cae­sar. crebro ventitabat, balneas (que) & Epulas ini­bat omissis excubiis & fortune sunt male. Piso's Conspiracy did Nero, the worst of that denomination; To which purpose, they of the Faction who had the Learning may be supposed to have examined that History,Then, Tan­dem statuere Circenfium Iudorum die qui Cereri celebratur destinata Exequi. to parallel it the fitter.

For they design'd to do it as he should go to or return from some of his Houses of Pleasure, (as they did that Emperour at Baiae) as least secured there by Guards or Friends; or at some Recreati­on [Page 33] and Pastime, as they did him at the Theatre or Circersian Game; and resolved if their Design should be prevented by a Discovery,Tac. Annal. 15. c. 15. de Nerone, Crebro ru­more lacera­batur tan­quam viros insontes ob invidiam aut metum extinuisset; ceterum cep­tam, adul­tam (que) con­jurationem esse, ne (que) tunc dubi­tavere qui­bus rerum noscendi [...]n­ra erat & fatentur qui post in­tevitum Ne­ronis in ur­bem regressi sunt. impudently to outface the World they had none; so they have actually done, though it was proved by the Depositions of persons engaged in it, and confess'd by Parties suffering for it, and that at a time chiefly when they should speak the Truth, or could be least supposed to lye against themselves, viz. at the point of death; as the well-wishers to Piso's Conspiracy spread it abroad, That he and those others executed upon that score, were murthered out of envy or fear: albeit they who pry'd narrowly into Affairs at that juncture, and those who had fled, upon their return home after Nero's Death, allow'd the Truth of it.

Such (alas!) is the unhappy condition of Princes, that they must be first oppress'd by an Insurrection, afore it will be believed there was one a hatching, and men seemingly unprovided should venture to contest with their arm'd Forces; Murther'd, before it will be entertain'd there was any Treasonable intention against their Lives.

But I hope otherwise, at least of a great part of this Nation, of all who were not partakers of the Secrecy, that they are fully con­vinc'd of the reality of both the Conspiracies:Dion. l. 52. [...]. And if we are, ac­knowledging God's Providence (which is always awake to con­serve the Peace of Kingdoms and States, and takes the Persons of Kings and Princes into his particular Care and Guardianship, unless otherwise provoked) in the Discovery, awakening the minds of some of the Conspirators with the horror of their meditated Crime, and filling others with such suspicions of their Complices, that they could have no peace with their Consciences, nor calm in their Breasts, until, like Jonah in a Storm,Sueton. v. Domit. c. 21. obser­vat conditi­onem prin­cipum esse miserrimam, quibus de con [...]uratione comperta non creditur nisi occifis. they had reveal'd their own Guilt, and discover'd others; acknowledging likewise his goodness in preventing the mischiefs which would have ensu'd had they taken effect, let us adore and praise his holy Name for these mar­vellous acts, that he hath delivered David his Servant from the pe­ril of the Sword which was ready to be drawn against him, preserv'd his Anointed, the Breath of our Nostrils, from being taken in the Pit which was digg'd for him, and that he hath not given us over [Page 34] a Prey unto the teeth of our Enemies, but their Snares are broken, and we, with our Souls, our Lives in our hands, are escaped out of them; Yea further, that he hath driven them back, and making inquisition for Blood, he remembred to bring to open Light and condign Punishment men who thirsted after it: Let us, for this eminent mercy, be praising him, and with the memorial of our deliverance, transmit our Thanks to Posterity; for the gracious and merciful Lord hath so done it, that it ought to be had in re­membrance, and the Wonder declared unto the Children of Men.

Together with these Praises, let us joyn our ardent Prayers, That he would change the hearts of such evil-minded persons, whose dis-affection to the Government makes them afflicted and griev'd for its Prosperity; and put them in fear, such as they may not dare for the future to think of di­sturbing its Peace; Or if they will not be affraid, yet that he would not suffer them to have the upper-hand of us, but still continue to deliver Da­vid his Servant from the hands of such strange Children whose right hand is a right hand of Iniquity; and making ready the strings of his Bowe a­gainst the face of them, he would put to flight and scatter the People who delight in War.

So shall it come to pass,Tac. Annal. 2. ferenda Regum in­genia, ne (que) usus Crebras mutationes. that our Prince having the Hearts or the Necks of such who would have disturb'd the Tranquility of his Government, by endeavouring a Change, (Change, more destructive to a Nation than the worst of the worst Governours can be;) we his People, secure even from the Fears of Calamity and Ruine, shall enjoy every one our own, our Flocks and Herds, the Fruit of our Labour, and our Fields; a Trade which shall silence all complaints of Poverty and Decay, or all grounds for them; our Wives, Children, Servants, Families, with safety, and our per­sons with freedom; and a farther Blessing than all this, even the Lord for our God.

Now God, who alone can, give us all this peaceable frame of Spirit here, and then reward us with that happiness hereafter which consists in the fruition of Himself;

To whom, One undivided Essence, subsisting in Three Personalities, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be ascrib'd all Power, Glory, Might, Majesty and Dominion, throughout all Churches of the Saints, now and for ever, Amen.