WHether this Psalm is only Pro­phetical, and respects the fu­ture Calamities of the Jewish Church, and her Deliverances by Divine Pro­vidence, as the Babylonish Captivity, and the Persecution of Antiochus: Or whether it is only Gratulatory and expressive, of the Deli­very and escape from the intended Bondage and Misery threatned by the Philistin and Idu­mean Armies, and other neighbouring Nati­ons; which often made their invasions into the Jewish Kingdome: Or whether the Roy­al Psalmist sings in his publick or private Captivity, for Mercies conferred upon his [Page 2]single self, or else his People, or Govern­ment. Or whether it be a mixed Song, Di­vine Writ frequently carrying a double force and sence; looking back upon things or fa­vours past and gone, and forwards, as Types and Presidents, to prefigurate things to come. I find the Learned divided among themselves, and 'tis not very material to determine, who hath the exactest truth on his side: It serving the Interest of the Christian Church, that it is a lively description of a rageing Enemy under the shape and figure of a ravenous and devouring Beast. Ver. 3. His number, force, and violence is pointed out under the Em­blem of a torrent, deluge, or inundation. Ver. 4. The danger, subtlety contriv'd and laid, un­discovered as yet; and slyly carried on, set down, Ver. 7. in the former part. But the unsuccessefulness and defeat of all these ap­proaching dangers and calamities, by the vi­gilant and tender eye of Providence, in the later part, The Snare is broken, and we are e­scaped.

Two things are considerable in these words.

• 1. The imminent danger and misery the Church was in, by the plots and machinati­ons of Wicked men,
• [Page 3]2. Her miraculous and providential deli­verance.

What was then the condition of the Jew­ish, as tho it was a type or prediction, is now the State of a Christian Church; the Danger and the Enemy, the Providence and Delive­rance very much alike in Features and Com­plexion: The truth and certainty of this bloo­dy Treason is so well known and confirmed, that none besides a Romish Zealot, that hath pawn'd all his Faith upon the pretended in­fallible Chair, or which is as good, the dot­ing Legends of their Saints, can have the brow and confidence to call it in question. This traiterous Design being evidenc'd from the judgement of Great and Impartial Men, who from an obscure Light, a dark Letter to my Lord Mounteagle, made it as clear as the Noon Sun, to the satisfaction of King, Lords, and Commons, which caused the consequent Acts of Parliament to call it an Hellish Conspira­cy, not only of the Jesuits, but Seminary Priests, from the Confession of the Principal Actors, the Evidences product, at their Ar­raignment, the acknowledgement of Roma­nists themselves; one whereof, the judicious and sincere Historian Thuanus, hath wrote [Page 4]the History of it, that we may safely say, 'tis more fairly prov'd, than many Articles of faith in the Church of Rome, 'tis the art and cun­ning of that Church to keep their bloody Prin­ciples of assassinating Kings, and murthering their heretical Subjects, secret and close, till some fair opportunity calls them out for pub­lick use, and condemns the design and attempt, if not prosperous; and disavows it to the igno­rant Vulgar, and the unsanctified ears of Here­ticks, tho she applauds it in conclaves and Cloysters. But whenLeo 10. to Cardinal Bembo his secretary. one of their infallible Bishops called the Gospel, that Fable of Christ, And Luther and Beza by them must be affirm­ed to have died Roman Catholicks; and thatDr. Pride­aux's Praele­ction devisibi­litate Ecclesia. Junius was cloven footed like an Ox, Provi­dence having set mark of Schism upon him: AndSir Edw. Sands Spec. Europ. that all English men, by the excommuni­cation that they are under, had contracted Atro­rem Diabolicum, an hellish Balckness, and have contriv'd such fine Stories for the sake of their Vulgar, and more ignorant Proselytes; who must know no more than their wise Guides will give them leave: We may allow them to call this Conspiracy a Puritan Plot, the State­craft of Cecil, or what they please. 'Tis not our business now to prove there is such a place as [Page 5] Rome, or the truth of this barbarous attempt, we shall only consider it in such circumstan­ces, as may advance the Providence and Good­ness of God, and tune our praises and gratitude for it: the end of this days celebration.

1. The cruelty of the designed Fact. Had the Brittish Church been Heretical or Schisma­tical, had she swer'd from the Christian Faith into the Mahometan, or renounc'd her baptis­mal Vows, and degenerated into the Pagan superstition or idolatry; is this the way to ce­ment the breach and difference? are these pro­per methods to confute Errors? is this the only wholesome counsel and reason to renew our repentance, and make us Christians once again? is to murther and kill, to convert? is to be bap­tised in blood, to destroy our bodies, to bring our souls to Christ? Such ways for Conversion were utterly unknown, and never thought of by Saint Peter, and the first Planters of the Christian Faith, and are highly unsuitable to, and unworthy of Christ and his Religion, which became victorious, and spread over the World, not by frauds or cruelty, but by miracles and argument, by patience, susfer­ings, and the innocency of its Teachers and Disciples: And therefore its Author, Jesus, [Page 6]tho solicited by his Disciples, to call down, like Elias, fire from heaven (according to his mighty power) to destroy his fiercest Adver­saries, the greatest obstacle to the propagation of his Religion, rebukes and corrects them, and tells them, They knew not of what Spi­rit they were of, and that this temper was Ignorance and Fury, and not true Zeal and Faith; and therefore he would never in his greatest straits and miseries, call down the An­gels from above to his guard and assistance, or like his Type Moses, turn the Rivers into streams of blood, but still continued delivering his Fa­thers Will, in safe and gentle methods, with prayers for, and compassion upon his Persecu­ters, resigning up his Soul into the hands of him that judgeth right: For the sake of Chri­stianity and the peace of Christendom, all good men wish, that his pretended Successor at Rome was heir to, and possest this gentle and easie temper, as well as aimed at his power and ju­risdiction. But alas! to the scandal of Christi­anity, if we search into the Records of Time, and turn over the History of all Ages, and read the barbarous usages of the Pagan World, we can either equal or over act them in the but­cheries and Massacres of the Romish Church, [Page 7]that pretended mild and holy Mother: so nu­merous are the files of Martyrs, that have di­ed under their bloody hands, that we can re­ckon them by as large numbers as St. John doth his Catalogue of sealed Saints,Rev. 7.5. of the Tribe of Judah twelve housand. For so the Historians tell us, that in the French Massacre in the space of three Moneths, an hundred thousand were slain, by the instigation of the tender Vicar of Christ, Dr. More in his Divine Dialogues out of Vige­rius and Peyonius. and the most Christian King of France. Murthered of the Albigenses and Waldenses ten hundred thousand. Killed in the Duke of Alva's persecution thirty six thousand: and in the holy Inquisition in the space of thirty years, an hundred and fifty thousand, and what should I tell you of the times of Pope Julius, and our own Marian dayes; of the Spanish cruelty to the poor Americans, or the bloody persecution in Ireland, wherein an hundred thousand Protestants were murthered by Pa­pish hands. What Kingdom or People have not felt their slaughtering principles, either by open violence, or secret poysoning, or stabing? and this dayes brave attempt surpasses all the great exploits of all their bloody Predecessors: and every where so many have been, and are their cruelties, that that good Author, Mr. Mede, [Page 8]observes, that Papal persecutions do equalize or exceed the ten famous persecutions of the Pagan Emperours: Here's the litteral Succes­ser of Saint Peter, and out writes the Copy, a­rise Peter kill and eat; and when they have spoke the Prologue by the murther of a wor­thy Person in order to as deep a Tragedy as this, our indignation must assign the Roman Bishops another Predecessor, his great Sire Ro­mulus, Fraterno primi madue­runt sangui­ne muri. who laid the Walls of Rome in his Bro­thers blood; as tho Rome Pagans cruelties were all entailed, and ran in the blood of Rome Chri­stian, and are now become so natural to her, being establisht by her Canons and Constituti­ons, that we must sooner expect an instrument out of a Cutlers Shop, than arguments out of a Jesuits Colledge for our conversion, giving us no other effect of her power of Miracles, but that she would this day have turned our Ri­vers into blood; not remembring the wise mercy of that God, they say they adore, who when he reveng'd the sins of Sodom in show­ers of fire and brimstome, was careful least the Righteous should be swept away in the deluge: But here Prince and People, good and bad. History of the Powder Plot. pag. 9. Some Romanists and the Reformed, must all promiscuously fall by one common blow, [Page 9]to be Pattern and President hereafter of learn'd Cruelty, that they dar'd to act what o­thers sear'd to think.

2. The Policy by which this Conspiracy was carried on, 'Twas called a snare in the Psalmists time, and so it may be just­ly now: Naked Truth and Integrity are powerful and successful by their native ar­guments and internal vertue; his villiany and baseness, which call for stratagems and de­ceits, and live and thrive by political frauds. When Rome her self was to be baptised into Christianity, only the reason and Miracles of her great Apostles, their plainness and inte­grity, their constancy and resolution under persecution made the way, and caus'd the mighty Change and Conversion; but when she her self is to reclaim onely the errors of a dissenting Sister, Conclaves and Ca­bals, the State-craft of all their Frater­nities and Orders, the subtlety of all their Emissaries must combine together to carry on this black design: How strangely is Primitive Christianity among them that pretend to be its greatest Champions and Admirers, degene­rated from its first simplicity and open inno­cency into fraud and violence, inquisitions and [Page 10]disguises; cunning and artifice is their faith and piety, and the Court and Ceremony their Church, and their Bishop instead of univer­sal Pastor merits better the title of Stateholder; their Discipline and Cannons, their Articles of faith and Rules of manners, are coyn'd and fram'd to serve their power and Interest; and Mysteries of Christianity are chang'd and become only secrets of the Papal Empire; the design of their counsels and determina­tions are not to better and amend the lives of men, but to sway and govern Christendome. Good old Laws are relaxt, and new ones, call'd fundamental, cast, to raise a portion for a Neece, or to enrich a Cardinal Patron, and their Exchecquer brought into the Temple, and call'd the holy of holies; that, what their Predecessors got by fraud, they might still keep by the same method; the dreames and visions, the extasies and raptures, the mira­cles, and revelations, and other pious frauds, us'd and countenanc'd by the Church of Rome (who calls her self the only spouse of Christ) to drive on their secular interest, makes the A­theistical world conclude, that Jesus himself was only a great imposter, and joyned with his Privy Council, the twelve Apostles, onely [Page 11]design'd to set up a new goverment, or only to lay us down some rules to trade by, and the chief factory should be at Rome, a good School to teach men only policy and cun­ing; and for an instance of their policy, which they call the Spirit of God, take the time for the election of Romes High-Priest, when they pretend the Spirit of God, is as famili­arly presiding, and as fully operating, as upon the day of Pentecost, or baptisme of the blessed Jesus, yet so wide are their differences, so clamorous their factions, their buying of voices, their seting up stales, their tearing of scrutinies, their long disagreement (as from the death of Clement the fourth, two years and more) and other slie methods, that you may say of them, as an old Cardinal did, you must uncover the roofe of the house (so little room is left among them) for the holy Ghost to come upon them. And their famous Tridentine Council, was a better demonstration of their cunning than their faith, and integerity, wherein they fancy the Spirit of God guided their pens, influenc'd their heads, and moved their hearts, he being totus in toto, & inqualibet parte, and sent every day (Hist. of the Counc. of Trent. pag. 497. as some then merrily said) from Rome [Page 12]in a cloak-bag thither; yet beside the lewd­ness of their definitions and decrees, so many were their wily methods, and their labori­ous arts, that the Recorder of Florence, or Caesar Borgia, seem'd rather to keep the Chair than the Spirit of God, and little of good Saint Peter among them, beside his Nets to draw some less discerning men into the fa­shion of their Religion, and therefore more eminent was Divine Providence, that disco­vered all these slie and subtle Serpents, that took them in their crasty wilyness, defeated their Counsels, and made them perish by their own designs.

3. The Loss that would have follow'd had this design taken effect: Which is two-fold.

• 1. Of the Lives and Blood of so many.
• 2. Of Religion.

1. Of the Lives and Blood of so many. To secure the peace and quiet of this Nation, and to fix Religion safe from its undermi­ners, the Great Assembly meets, a learned and wise King (the Prince also, by them in the beginning of their Plot, concluded to be present) Nobility and Commons with their large Train and Attendants, the Flower and [Page 13]strength of the Nation, the Church and State engrost, and enhous'd together, with their good design, stately buildings, and a Race of Kings sleeping in their Tombs, must by these Conspirators, be made an whole burnt Sacri­fice, and offer'd up to Rome ambition, and by one blow surpass, what ever Plague or Pamine, War or common Mortality, in many years could bring to pass; and these would not have fallen alone, but Laws and Liberties, Charters and Priviledges would have died to­gether, and have been buried in one common ruin: and all our peaceand freedome would have ended in Gibbets and Inquisitions, Tor­ments and heavy Burdens, and betrayed into a Papal Bondage: And this Land, that was never compleatly overcome by all the Le­gions and Armies of their Pagan Emperors in the space of so many years, in a moments time, might have been conquered by Romes High Priest. History of the Powder Plot out of Thuanus, pag. 5. For so Catesby (as my Histo­rian tells me) thought it not enough, that this, or that, or any single Person, should be aimed at, but that all together, and at the same time should be comprehended in this Conspiracy. For so he reasoned with him­self, The King himself might many wayes [Page 14]be taken away, but this would be nothing as long as the Prince and the Duke of York were alive: Again, if they were remov'd, yet this would advantage nothing, so long as there remain'd a Parliament, so vigilant, so circumspect to whatever might hap­pen: Or if the Parliament, or the Chief Members of it, could be destroyed, there would remain still the Peers of the Realm, so many prudent Persons, so many pow­erful Earls, addicted to that Party, whom they would hardly resist, and who by their Authority, Wealth, and Dependants would be able, if occasion should be, to restore things to their former state; therefore not by delayes but at one blow, all were to be swallowed up, and so laudable an atchieve­ment was to be brought to effect altoge­ther and at once. Thus did the Roman Ea­gle stoop to her prey, and the whole Land was got within her pounces, but, thanks be to God, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

2. The Loss of Religion.

1. What might have been, had this Trea­son been successful. Had this Train of Powder and Designs been prosperous, what [Page 15]a dismall choice had been proposed, to change you Religion, or to embrace a Stake, to violate your Faith and Consci­science for the Romish Creed, or else Lives and Liberties, Fortunes and all the Endowments of Life must be sacrific'd; to Recant your Vows and sacred Oaths, or else to expect a perpetual Prison or a Flame, to suffer or comply, to have a Wrack either in Body or in Mind. Such hard proposals should have been the con­ditions of your Peace, and a severe con­tract it would have been to change the Religion of our Church, which we have Arguments and Reasons sufficient to con­firm us, is pure, Primitive and Apostoli­cal, into a Faith, that is but a Modern Contrivance and Innovation, begun by interest, made up of Fopperies and False­hood, and carried on by Fraud and Vio­lence. Such a Religion you must have had, which makes absurdities, Blasphe­mies and Contradictions Articles of Faith, teaching you how by vertue of Transub­stantiation, you may admire the glorified Body of your Saviour above, yet mangle [Page 16]it, adore, and devour it, at the same time here below, you should have been taught to make your Prayers and Addresses un­to God in an unknown Tongue, where­by the dead, that sleep in the Tombs and Monuments of the Church, might have as good Devotion as the living in it, or if they understood any part of their Devotion, the work barely done, the nim­bleness of their Lips and Fingers must satisfie for Zeal and intention of mind: you should have been taught, that, though you die with a load of sins, not thoroughly repented of and satisfy'd for, yet your kind Mother of Rome hath pro­vided an intermediate place between Hell and you, a second venture from whence, by a Deputy Friend, a good Purse, and a kind Priest, you may be discharged, and be Crown'd a Saint in that Church. You must be content onely to Commu­nicate in one kind, and be glad of the bread alone, for the dainty reason of the Lay mans beards, and the nice distinction of concomitance, yet point blank against your Saviours institution. [Page 17]you must have been in that Church (notwith­standing the Thunder and Lightning upon Mount Sinai, to shew their indispensible na­ture, when the Ten Commandements were de­liver'd) will afford you Nine only; or at least, use Art to conceal the Second, because it Glares too much upon their Adoration of Images, and Invocation of Saints; and the Curious Distinctions of their Schools and Ca­suists have eluded the force of all the rest. Such Priests, such Temples, such Devotions you must have had, so gay, so foppish, so full of Antick Postures, Scenes and Ceremonies, that you will find little difference between Old Rome's Theatres, and New Rome's Church­es. Such a Religion is the Romish, which Magnifies Christ in Hymns and Songs, Ge­stures, and other lighter Services; yet Rivals him in his particular Power and Prerogative, in Adoring and Invoking Saints, som of which, while on Earth, were Vicious, and now we know not where they dwell; and others justly suspected, if ever they were in Being. The jolly Sinner in that Church needs not de­spair of his Salvation for want of Sincere Re­pentance, while Artificial Sighs and Customa­ry Confessions, Pilgrimages and gentle Whipp­ings, [Page 18]Pardons and Indulgences so easily ob­tain'd by privileg'd Altars, Agnus Dei's, hal­lowed Swords, Roses, Hats, Church-yards, and other pretty Knacks and Devices; while a little Dole to the Poor, and more to the Priests, for a lusty Absolution upon Attrition, and other faint Compositions with God, and Bribes for Divine Justice will serve the turn. Such a Church you should have been in, who, not­withstanding her Pretences to Infallibility, can give her Members no sufficient Assurance to judge by, whether they shall be saved or no; not only from their known way of Arguing, call'd Circle, proving the Scriptures from their Church, and their Church again from the Scri­ptures, but from the Doctrine of Intention Dianae Com­pend. p. 36., (which is an Article of Faith at Rome) that if the Priest do not really Intend to do, what he outwardly pretends to do, all his Perfor­mance is Ineffectual; and this perverse Inten­tion of the Priest is not to be supply'd by God himself, Ibid. saith one of their Casuists, and that the Priest may be so perverse as not to In­tend. Escobar Tract. 7. Examin. 6. Num. 41. p. 867. Another of their Doctors doth sup­pose, and states the Case where it may be allow'd; so that though you be Baptized, Communicated, and Absolved, (things ab­solutely [Page 19]necessary to Salvation by their Con­fession,) yet you cannot certainly judge whe­ther you shall be sav'd, except you have the privilege of God, and know the Heart and In­tentions of your Priest. Such a Religion you must have profess'd, whose chiefest Doctors and Guides of Conscience teach men to break all the Ties and Ligaments of Humane Society and Conversation, telling their Disciples that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks; direct­ing them how to Lye Artificially, to Equivo­cate and Forswear, to Cheat in Bargaining, to baffle Contracts, to exempt their Priests, though Guilty of Treason, from the Secular Judge; and before an Ecclesiastical one 'tis very difficult to Convict them, their For a Cardi­nal 72. for a Bishop 64. See Diana Com­pend. p. 85. Wit­nesses must be so many. These Guides teach Subjects to Rebell and Murther, Children to be Disobedient, Servants Unfaithful; by which, and many other lewder Doctrines, Skin'd over by nice Distinctions, by which they instruct their Proselytes only more Learnedly to sin; they would make the World only a greater Robery, and reduce it to its Ancient For these and much more of the same nature, see the Casuistical Writers of the Church of Rome, as San­chez, Azorius, Lessius, &c. Chaos. In short, such a Religion the Bishops of Rome would have fore'd you into, whose Faith is False and Erroneous; the Rules of Manners [Page 20]laid down by many of her Penitentiaries and great Doctors perswading and countenancing Vice and Debauchery; her Devotions Childish and gay, and propagated by Fraud and Cruel­ty. Taking therefore this short view of the Romish Way, and being fully perswaded that we are Baptized into this Church of England, whose Faith is Primitive, Pure, and Apostolical, her Rules for Manners only leading to Virtue and Goodness, her Discipline wholsome and proper, and her Devotions decent and Manly; let us stick fast unto her, Prov. 24.21. and take Solomon's Advice, My Son, Fear thou the Lord and the King, but meddle not with them that are given to change.

2. What Religion hath lost, though the Design was Unsuccessful, yet the Attempt makes the Crime Scandalous and Horrid, and Detestable by all Mankind. Christianity by the intended Blow lyes a Bleeding: Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in Askelon. When the Uncircumcised, the Pagan Emperours and Mahometan Princes shall hear of such Barba­rous Attempts upon the Persons of Princes, such Bloody Villanies and Massacres upon their Subjects, and That by her that Arrays her self with the fine Names of the only Catholick, Apostolical, Infallible, most Holy, and only [Page 21]Christian Church; and Perjuries and Murders, Rebellion and Disloyalty are defended by the Nice Doctrines of their Schools, will they not conclude in Disdain: Here's the Principles of a Christian, these Spring from their Bi­bles, these are the Doctrines and Precepts of their Commander and Master, Jesus? Are these the tame Lambs and Doves of Christianity? Are these they that fear Damnation for Re­bellion? Are these the gentle Martyrs for Ho­nesty and Peace, for Conscience and Obedi­ence? Are these the meek Servants of the Bi­shop of Rome, that calls himself the Servant of Servants? Christians! Away with them to the Lyons and Fires again. Let us invade their Territories, set up our Alcoran for their Bi­bles, and our Mahomet for their Christ, against whom we dare not Rebell, lest we forfeit that Luxurious Paradise. The Bloody Doctrines and Rebellious Practices of the Infallible Chair hath stain'd more the Beauty of Reli­gion, and stop'd its progress and Victories over the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Gentile World, and lost more Proselytes, than ever their busie Emissaries, their Christaviers and other zealous Planters have Converted and obtained. Will not an Indian Prince be afraid [Page 22]of embracing the Christian Religion, lest he lose his own Dominions, Life, and his Pater­nal Religion too, at the same time, which he now holds by a surer Tenure? Is it not a clear Argument and demonstration to the Chinesian Emperour to renounce his Idolatry, and be Baptized Christian, when he shall read how Henry the Fourth and Frederick the First (as one observes) fought threescore Battels more than Julius Caesar, stirr'd up by the Peaceable Popes of Rome? Is it not a fair perswasion for all Princes to become Chri­stians, when they shall hear of the Depriva­tions and Excommunications, and that unli­mited Power of the Romish Priest, in dispo­sing Crowns and Sceptres, upon the pretence of Profuseness or Breach of Faith, for Perjury or Magick, for Sacrilege or Heresie, for Schism, or Violence to a Cardinal, and for many other Causes laid down by their flattering Casuists, or for almost any thing, when his Holiness is out of Humour? and they give us a Pre­sident of Childerick, who was deprived from being King of France, because he was a little easie natur'd, not given to Action, nor so wise as his Neighbours, whereby he was unfit for Rule; Fowlis Hist, p. 113. though Benedict the Ninth [Page 23]at Twelve years of Age was made Vicar of Christ, and his little Holiness was as Infalli­ble as the best of them, and fitter for the Rat­tles of their Devotions than any. When they shall read of that Jolly Pope Sixtus Quintus Excommunicating Elizabeth of Eng­land, and publishing a Croisada against her, and Henry the Third of France; of Gregory the Fourteenth, Excommunicating and Damning Henry the 4^th, renewed by Clement the Eighth; and the turbulent carriage of Paul the Fifth, in the Reign of King James; and thence (as a good Author notes) as it's natural conse­quence, this Black Conspiracy came; for seldom was the Thunder of Excommunicati­on discharged, but a Showre of Blood fol­lowed. When Adrian the Fourth shall chide Frederick Barbarossa the Emperour, for hold­in the Stirrup wrong, and tread upon his Neck, adding Profaneness to his Insolency, in applying the Prophecy belonging to Christ, Psalm. 9 Thou shalt go upon the Lion and Adder, the youg Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet: Fowlis Hist. 252. When they shall read how Callistus the Second had William the Great Duke of Apulia as his Foot Boy, how Cele­stime the Third put on, and kick'd off again [Page 24]in Disdain the Emperour Henry the Sixth his Crown: When the Pagan Princes shall read of King John resigning his Crown upon his knees to Pandulphus the Pope's Legate, and of the Canonizing of Thomas a Becket, that Insolent, Sawcy, and Rebellious Saint; and invoking of his Blood as meritorious: and the whipping his Prince and Master Henry the Second by the Monks of Canter­bury; and that Champian and Garnet for Re­bellion and Treason should justly forfeit their Lives here in England, and yet be reputed Martyrs, and have Glories about their Heads at Rome: that these can be the Methods to make Kings the Nursing Fathers, and Queens the Nursing Mothers of the Church? Will it not make them believe that Christianity spread, and became Victorious, not by Pa­tience, Goodness, and Martyrdome, but by Falshood and Invasions, Murthers and Pow­erful Armies? No Sect of Christians have made True Religion more give ground, than those of the Romish Communion, who en­gross Christianity, and all the World are He­reticks and Pagans but themselves. Their Adoration of Images are a Scandal and Of­fence unto the Jew, whose Law is so rigo­rous [Page 25]and strait against them; and their Do­ctrine of Transubstantiation is made up of so many Contradictions and Blasphemies, that it made the Arabian Philosopher Averroes say, Terrarum Orbem peragrando nullam Re­ligionem Christianâ deteriorem inveni, quae ip­sum Deum quem tollit devorat; in all my travels I have found no sort of Religion worse than the Christians, which Devoures that God it pretends to adore; and their many other soft and delicious Doctrines, have caused the Christian World to degenerate into Atheisti­cal and Vicious Lives; and to conclude Christianity is nothing else but a Politick Maxim, to reduce Fools and Madmen and credulous Subjects into awe. Thus was this Church and State struck at, but Christianity felt the Blow; and while St. Peter's Sucessor draws his Sword, pretending to defend his Saviour, and propagate his Religion, his Master receives the Wound, and he Crucifies the Lord of Life again, and puts Religion to an open shame.

Lastly, the opportunity God took for this Deliverance. Just when the Snare, and these Conspirators were ready; just when these proud Waves, our Enemies, in a violent Tor­rent were all coming, and this horrid Mon­ster [Page 26]was begotten, grown, and thriven in the teeming Womb, and ready to be brought forch; Divine Providence interposeth, strang­leth it in its Birch, to the raine of its Parent. the Deity permits the Designs of Satan and his black Confederates to blossom and to grow, and through all the Intrigues and mysterious turnings of State and Policy, to arrive at their full maturity; then the Invincible Hand is stretched out, and crops them, to display his Omnipotent Arm more, to make his Pre­sence and his Wisdome more sought for and reverenc'd, and to be stronger Arguments for a grateful Mind. When the Trains and Me­thods of Tyrants and malicious Men are so well contriv'd and laid, that their Passions begin to swell, and their hopes are brisk and smiling, and nothing but Victories and Praise, Triumphs and Success do-rove with-within their Fancy, an unexpected Provi­dence stops them in their full Cariere, blasts their hopeful Spring, and all ends in a Dream. The Tyrant waxes pale, and mourns, curses his Confederates, perhaps that Machiavel be­low, that he and they are not Stronger than Omnipotence, and more Politick than the All-wise. When wicked Designs are in the [Page 27]Egg, they may be crush'd and prevented by the slow and dull Methods of Humane Wis­dom, an easie hand; but when they hatch into a Serpent or Basilisk, breathing out no­thing but Death, and Poyson, and Despair, and Paleness sits on every Brow, this Dan­ger calls for an Infallible Eye, and Omnipo­tent Arm for its Deliverer: Extremity, and the utmost minute of Cure, are the Seasons for Divine Mercy: When Hezekiab's wound is become Incurable, when St. Peter and his Church begin to sink; when Sennacherib's Regiments encompass and shut up Ferusa­lem, when Counsels and Armies fail, and the Secular Arm doth shrink, and nothing but a Wonder can prevent Despair; a Pro­vident Eye looks down from above, Defeats the Enemy, and Crowns the Day with Victo­ry and Success. Thus did Englands Church and State both lye like Isaak upon the pyle, the Flame and Conspirators are ready for the Bloody Sacrifice; but an Angel thrusts his hand through the Cloud, a Bird of the Air tells the matter, and a Ram is caught by his Horns in the Thicket; the Conspi­rators are their own Ruine, and now the cause of our Joy and Triumph, which leads [Page 28]to the last, part, We are delivered: which com­mands us these two Duties.

First, A Faithful Remembrance of this Mer­cy of God.

Secondly a future Dependance upon Pro­vidence.

First, A Faithful Remembrance of this Mercy of God. This is all the return we can make for Divine Favours, passio­nately to resent and commemorate them. But alas! Good deeds, though the Condi­tion is so cheap, do dye like Men, and are buried in the Grave of Oblivion, and have seldome a Resurrection in the mind of the Receivers, thinking it meanness to make an acknowledgment that they are obli­ged to God himself. He therefore well fore­saw how soon his Miracles and Wonders in Aegypt would be forgotten, or attributed to Foreign Deities; He therefore commanded Aaron's Rod Numb. 17.10. and Exod. 16.33. Josh. 4.7. the Pot of Manna to be laid up, and Stones to be erected at the passing of Jordan, to be constant and standing Monitors to the descending Generations, of the Power and Bounty of God to their Fore­fathers; and our Saviour had regard to the treacherous Memories of Mankind, when he [Page 29]commanded the frequent Commemorati­ons of his Death and Passion, lest that grand Attchievement should slip out of the minds of men; so difficult it is for Sinners and Ungrateful men to record a Favour. The Pagans Adorn'd their Tem­ples with their [...], the Spoils of their Battels and Victories, in Honour and Memory of the Assistant Deity: and the Sailers having escaped a shipwrack, hung up their Vestes Votivas unto Neptune, to re­cord the favour of the Sea-god. We tell the long stories of our Sorrows to the Neigh­bourhood, we proclaim our griefs like Je­remy, All you that pass by, is there any sor­row like to my sorrow? or any grief like to my grief? We pen down the black dayes, write the Effects of a devouring Flame, or Pestilence, Judgments upon Marble or Ce­dar with the Pen of a Diamond, we tell them to our Children, O passi graviora! and entail them upon Posterity; but for Mercies and Favours, we cry not with the Psalmist, Come and see what God hath done for my Soul; we hush them in Si­lence, we Degrade and Vilifie them, to Ad­vance, our own Wisdom and Power, and say [Page 30]of them as Nebuchadnezzar of his Baby­lon, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for my Honour and Renown? Inju­ries and Affronts we write down in inde­lible characters, the Persons, and Time, and all the aggravating Circumstances are ever fresh and green. ‘—manet altâ mente repostum Judicium Paridis—’ and never laid aside but upon a Sacra­mental day, and taken up the next. Though our Memories for Benefirs at first may be fresh and brisk, yet the sudden Flame of Joy at length changeth its ruddy Com­plexion, grows pale, and endeth in Ashes, and is blown away. And this day began to lose its Solemnity, had it not been re­viv'd by the New Traiterous Designs and Contrivances of the same sort of bloody men. Hist, of the Powder Plot. p. 7. And if these bold Conspirators, having found the Cellar for their Design, direct­ly under the Royal Throne, did seem to perswade themselves from that Accident, that God by a secret Conduct did favour the Attempt, we may now justly turn Pro­vidence [Page 31]upon them, and in this strange Deliverance acknowlege the hand of God; in a true Remebrance therefore of this great Deliverance, the Knife being taken from our Throat, the Flame quench'd the Snare broken, and the Tempest calm'd, and the Church and State, and every pri­vate Person riding at an Anchor in a quiet Haven, let us acknowledge our mighty Be­nefactour with our Psalmist, and say, Our help is in the Name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and Earth.

Secondly, A Dependance upon future Providence. 1 Sam. 7.12. Hitherto (said the good man) hath the Lord helped us; he is god for ever, and changeth not, and his hand is stretched out still. The Familiars of Rome, which haunt the Courts and Palaces of Princes, like the Devil in the Gospel, sometimes attempted to cast us into the Water, by the Spanish Armado; some­times into the Fire, by this Conspiracy; and sometimes by Civil Wars and Rebel­lion (riding another sort of Men) they rent and tore us till we foam'd again. See the Book called the grand Design of Papists in the Reign of Charles the First. But Providence that commands the Waves and Flames, kept us secure, disposses'd [Page 32]the Fiend, and we are in our Wits again, and under our own Vines of Peace and Safety. And though the ejected Spirit thinks to return again, and make our last Condition worse than our first; yet we doubt not (if our Prayers and just Zeal be not wanting) that Providence will put a stop to him, and say to him as he doth to these proud Waters, the swelling Bil­lows of the Ocean, So far shall ye go, and no farther; for think not that your Sa­viour is enthron'd above only to hear the Hallelujahs of Saints, and enjoy his Triumphs, and listens not to the cries and groans of his Distressed Members here. He watches still, discovers their Dangers, feels their Wounds, and sends them Aids and Supplies, Power and Counsel to make them Successul, that the gates of Hell and all its Auxiliaries might not prevail against them. Let the Times look Black and Stormy, let Predictions be never so sad and gloomy, and we hear the sound of may Waters, and the Fiend and all his Confederates sit in full Consult for the ruin of Religion, and nothing else is heard but the noise of Ravens and Eagles for [Page 33]the dying Corps, yet we can stand secure, an omnipotent Arm doth wield our Sword, and our Councel is All-wise, 'tis he that neither Heaven above, nor Hell be­low, nor Earth and the Sea between, can skreen off his Divine and All-seeing Eye. The closest Dungeon and most secure Cell, neither Shade nor Night, as black as a Traytors Soul, can conceal their Po­licy from him that Orders and permits, Disposes and Prohibits for the Interest and Benefit of Religion, which tells us, That all things shall conspire for their good who truly worship him; and that he that in former dayes did deliver us out of the paw of the Lion and the Bear, will deliver us from this Uncircumcised Philistin; and that we might not dispond and suspect his Promises, he doth further assure Matth. 24.35 us, that Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away: and therefore let us not sink and despair, and cry out, Master, we perish; but see the Train of Powder, and view the Snare, all lying In­nocent and Unactive, the whole Design of our Enemies Defeated; and with a grateful Mind sing the triumphal Song [Page 34]to God, Rev. 7.12. with the Angels who stood aboue his. Throne and worshipped, saying Amen, Blessing, and Glory, and Thanksgiving, Ho­nour, and Powes, and Might, be unto our God, for ever and ever. Amen.