theirs Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord Oh! Foolish People and Vnwise is he not thy Father that bought thee hath he not made thee and established thee He speaks not here of their first Creation as Kimhi well observes for that is common to all but of that special Favour vouchsafed unto them in making them his People distinct from the rest of the world and Moses calleth them foolish noting them to be the worst of Men So do you thus requite the Lord ye sons of Belial ye monsters of Nature ye Generation of Vipers Is he not a King of the greatest Goodness the most Innocent Life and of the most publick use that ever swayed the English Scepter Hath he not retrieved the Land from Destruction And must he be brought to Destruction himself for his so doing O unparalel'd Igratitude Fifhly This was a Linsy Woolsey Conspiracy a strange mixture of Nations and Parties united together though otherways of Sentiments differing enough to oppose the Wellfare of our Zion of the same mould with that we meet with Neh. 4.7 8. But it came to pass that when Sanballet Tobiah the Arrabians and the Ammonites the Ashbodites heard that the Walls of Jerusalem were made up and the breaches began to be stopped then they were very wroth and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it Great and wide was the breach in the late Reigns between the Church of England and those of the Dissenting way but by the Prudence Good Will and Gracious Inclination of the Governours of our Judah this breach is competently made up the Dissenters have their Liberty not only granted but secured and made firm by a Law and the moderate and sober part of the Church of England are therewith well satisfied but there are others that are raging mad at this happy composure as for instance Sanballat and Tobiah that is the Devil and the French the Arabians that is the wild Debauches and prophane Athiestical Persons of the Age the Ammonite that is the sly and subtil Papists the Ashdodites that is the furious hot spurr'd Church Predicants with a swarm of Priest-Ridden and Bigotted Fools O these are very wrath and even foam at the mouth because the Dissenters are permitted to live in quiet and have therefore all agreed together as one man though we must give the right hand of Fellowship to the Jesuits as the chief Ingineer to fight against our Jerusalem to open the Trenches again to make way for Constables and Informers to plunder mens Goods and haul their persons out of their habitations and cast them into Prisons for Worshiping God according to his Word Here now you have the foundation of the Plot and the true cause of it O King William King William If thou hadst refused to sign the Bill of Indulgence if thou hadst let loose the reins of the Law against thy peaceble Dissenting Subjects Hoc Ithacu velit et magno mercentur Atridae Thou wouldest have pleased all the aforementioned Parties and there would have been no Ploting against thee but because and only because thou art a Friend to our Jerusalem they are sworn Enemies to thee and vowed thy destruction But hark What voice is that I hear O! what melodious musick like the chiming of Aaron's golden bells Isa 29.8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty or as when a Thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his soul hath appetite So shall the multitude of all the Nations be that fight against Mount Zion O Hallilujah Blessed be God we find it so this day Sixthly This is a Conspiracy grounded upon a false bottom supported with lies deceit viz. That our King supplanted the late King James and Usurped his Kingdoms this the Conspirators make their great plea for all their attempts against the Government thus we we find the Prophet falsly tax'd by Amaziah Amoz 7.10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jereboam King of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the Land is not able to bear all his words Now I think it not impertinent to the work of this day to give you a short Narrative of the whole matter and then let the world judge whether this be a just charge upon the King His Majesty coming over at the Invitation of many of the Nobility and Gentry to give a check to the growth of Popery which they were not a little apprehensive would soon overwhelm the Land and to restore our Laws which were strangely perverted by the Arbitrary Gentlemen then in power and God Blessing him with wonderful success for all the Nation flocked to him and every thing concurr'd to the succeeding Revolution in His Glorious march to London he sent the late Marquess of Hallifax the Lord Delameer and another to the late King advising him to retire to Ham House for the safety of his Person now any body knows that was not the way to France his going to Rochester was purely his own desire and without doubt to get away as fast as he could upon which the Convention when they sat Voted King James had Abdicated himself and the Throne thereby became Vacant Now I appeal to all the World What should the Nation do Would they have had us been as those of old when there was no King in Israel and every man did that which was right in their own eyes the case is too plain to be long insisted on and therefore O ye Jacobites if you will revenge King James's loss revenge it on the Pryers and Priests who gave him such pernicious Counsel and revenge it on his Court Parasites who left him in his Adversity of whom we may say in the words of David to Abner 1 Sam. 26.16 This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords Anointed In a word revenge it upon the cowardly Officers who fled when they should have fought but let our Innocent King and guiltless Kingdom alone Seventhly This was a Bloody Barbarous Conspiracy such an one as Hoshea made against Pekah 2 Kings 15.30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a Conspiracy against Pekah the son of Ramaliah and smote him and slew him and Reigned in his stead The Conspiracy was not only against his Kingdom but against his Life These Conspirators designed to wade through an ocean of Blood to their wished Haven The Blood of the King the Blood of his Guards and then the Blood of his Nobles and the Blood of his Subjects must be poured out like water to quench the burning rage of their Inveterate Mallice Oh! Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel like the Ofspring of Manassah that Bloody King
more honour to the Jesuits than is their due as if they were the first authors and contrivers of Plots no no they have had elder breethren but this honour does properly and peculiarly belong to them of being the most perfect and accurate masters in this Diabolical Art The First I shall instance in is in the 2 Sam. 15.12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Giboanite David 's Counsellor from his City even from Gilob while he offered Sacrifices and the Conspiracy was strong for the People â—â—reased continually with Absalom But that we know the date of the Jeâ—uits and from whence they had their original we could not but certainly conclude that Absalom and his accomplices were of the same stamp â—or he is here offering Sacrifices a badg of Religion and in his panick 〈◊〉 of zeal sending for Ahithophel to help to carry on the design appearing thereby to the world to be Religious while in the eye of Heaven he was most horridly Rebellious Well that Conspiracy though much of a complexion of this for the discovery of which we are met to praise God this day yet it comes not up to it by many steps for to let pass what of Divine Justice there might be in it as a punishment for David's sin of Poligamy we find Absalom and Achitophel in the open field shewing themselves in their own collours declaring plainly what they designed and what they would be at and thereby gave David an oppertunity to provide for his safety But this Conspiracy was hatch'd in the dark and 〈◊〉 be executed on a sudden the Fatal Blow was to be given without any â—evious warning they were resolved that none should know or see 〈◊〉 they came upon the Lords Anointed and slew him and put out the â—â—t of our eyes in one day Well what was the issue Achitophel hanged 〈◊〉 self Absalom by an awful stroke from Heaven came to the same end â—â—ch end hath overtaken several of our Conspirators and many more are coming towards it so truly so litterally hath God fulfilled that pâ—â—â— mise to our present Soveraign which he made to his Royal Predecessâ—â— Psalm 132.18 His Enemies will I cloth with shame but upon himself shâ—â—â— his Crown flourish and let all English hearts and real Protestants eveâ—â— more cry out Amen Amen The next Plot we find 2 Kings 12.20 And his Servants arose and madâ—â— a Conspiracy and slew Joash in the house of Millo which goeth down to Sillâ—â— This was a base horrid abominable Murder but yet far short of thâ—â— intended Assassination upon our King for we do not read they went any further they did not make a Slaughter among the People or endeavour to subject the Land to a Forreign Yoke for his son Amaziah reigned in hiâ— stead But in this abominable Conspiracy not only the King but a mulâ—titude of others would have been Butchered and God knows what thâ— consequence would have been if the Almighty had not given us the avaâ—â— of David's Petition without being sought unto 2 Sam. 15.31 And oâ—â— told David saying Ahithophel is among the Conspirators and David said O Lord I pray thee turn the Counsels of Ahithophel into Folly Our Graciouâ— God befooled their Councils and infatuated them in their Undertakings and Blessed O Blessed be his Name for ever The next Contrivance is in the 2 Kings 15.10 And Shallum the soâ— of Jabish conspired against him and smote him before the People and reigneâ— in his stead and this is further remarked v. 15. And the rest of the Acts 〈◊〉 Shallum and his Conspiracy which he made behold they are written in the booâ— of the Chronocles of the Kings of Israel This indeed was a great evil buâ— far short of what we are commemorating for here was one wicked maâ—â— setting himself against another and so the event could not be much mischievious because both under a curse and both liable to destruction Joâ— 31.1 Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the worker of Iniquity and I do not know but this may be one of the strange Punishments to plot and contrive one anothers ruine But in this Plot here were Papists against Protestants the worst against the best of Men the Son of Darkness against the Children of the Bride Chamber The last instance I shall give is that in the Text Acts 23.12 Aâ—â— when it was day certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves â—â—der a Curse that they would neither eat or drink till the had killed Paul Tâ—â— word in the Original is Consecration and used here only 〈◊〉 know of in a bad sense they seperated devoted and solemnly gave themselves to perpetrate this wicked act of killing Paul This ban◠〈◊〉 somewhat like the late cursed design of Murdering our Indeared Soâ—â—â—â—gn yet it did not come up to it but was a great deal below it for 〈◊〉 though an Eminent Preacher was in a low state but here was a King a Crowned King and one of the Heroes of the Age mark'd out for Destruction who could have no Enemies but the sons of Belial 1 Sam. â—6 9 And David said to Abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guitless O what a load of guilt then must these Miscreants have brought upon their heads in this Hellish Conspiracy who horridly design'd to imbrue their hands in their Soveraigns Blood Having thus given a brief account of some Conspiracies in former times 〈◊〉 come now to take notice of this late one but alass Vox faucibus haeret 〈◊〉 want Language I am at a loss for Words our blessed Lord seemeth to be at a stand how to speak aptly of so hardened and blinded a sort of men as were in his days Mat. 11.16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation Truly in the same strait am I O whereunto shall I liken these Cursed Plotters and Conspirators who have so far out-gon all that ever went before them if we respect the Bloodiness of the design and desperateness of the Attempt the perniciousness of the consequence had it taken effect that these though born long after are verily the elder Breethren in Iniquity as our Saviour said of the Pharisees John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do He was a Murderer from the Beginning Indeed no Age hath produced such Monsters or rather Murderers so exactly like their father the Devil as these have appeared to be Men so eagerly bent in their determination Vt omnia Humana pessum iri veliut They Designed but I Tremble I Tremble in the thoughts of it I must draw a Sable Curtain over this Plutonick Seene only to tell you in general they designed to make our Land an Aceldema our Houses a Golgotha and every Town and City a Ramah wherein nothing but bitter Mourning and Lamentation would have been heard take the scheme of the Project in these following particulars wherein more
who filled the streets of Jerusalem with Blood which the Lord would not pardon But now oh now they are fallen into the pit which themselves have digged and their violent dealing is come down upon their own pate that cry is gone up to heaven against them Quousq Domine and upon them is come all the Righteouss Blood shed in this Land these late years from the Blood of the Famous Lord Russel to all the Blood spilt in the West by bloody Jesseries of ever cursed Memory And now behold they are under a dreadful and yet a just dispensation as the pouring out the Third Viol in Rev. 16 and 15.6.7 And the Third Angel poured out his Viol upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became Blood and I heard the Angel of the Waters say Thou art Righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus For they have shed the Blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them Blood to drink for they are worthy And I heard another out of the Alter say Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy Judgments O how just and right is that rod of Vengeance now upon them for all their bloody dealings against the best Men in our Land O! that they would see the just hand of God in making them to reap the fruit of their own doings and to drink of that Cup which they mingled for others more righteous than themselves 8thly This was a base ignominious Conspiracy like that in the second of Kings 21.23 And the Servants of Amon Conspired against him and slew the King in his own House Houses are Places of Rest and Security where may a Man expect Safety but in his own House But this was no Sanctuary for poor Amen for his Treacherous Enemies made a Butcher's Shambles of his Royal Pallace Our Dread Sovereign retiring from his Annual Toils and Labours in the Martial Camp for a little rest in the Winter Season thought as justly he might to find nothing but quietness and Security in his own Mansion amongst his own Subjects who were blessed and honoured with his Presence But so contrary to all expectation these Pigmire Cowards who durst not look him in the Face in the Field of War inhumanely resolved to Attack him in the place of Peace But the great God has graciously frustrated their horrid Design and by his wonderful Providence delivered up many of their Persons to be responsible unto Justice Though they thought themselves secure and did not doubt of the Event concluding in their Minds with their Brethren of Old Neh. 4.11 And our Adversaries said they shall not know nor see till we come in the midst of them and slay them and cause the Work to cease So these Conspirators the Adversaries of God and of his People and of the Liberties and Welfare of this Land said in their Hearts the King shall not know the Parliament shall not know the People shall not know till we come on a sudden in the midst of the Guards and slay the King and fall upon the unwary Subjects and so cause the work of preparing for the next Campaign to cease O rare Project O brave Contrivance Ah but though they would not let Man know it God knew it and has most wonderfully revealed it to the Comfort and rejoycing of the Godly and all the lovers of England's Prosperity but to Amazement and Confusion of her Enemies O how do the Dukes of Palestina tremble How do the Inhabitants of Canaan melt away how are all the Devotees of Rome gnawing their Fingers for Madness at this happy Disappointment Thus have I given you some short hints of this Conspiracy not with aggravating Imbellishments for truly 't is as uncapable of receiving any as I am of giving Res ipsa loquitur The thing it self speaks louder than I can do This day is that Scripture fulfilled Psalm 11.2 For the Wicked bend their Bow they make ready their Arrow upon the String that they may privily shoot at the upright in Heart The Bows of our Conspirators were ready their Arrows were upon the String to shoot at our upright-hearted Sovereign who designs ill to none and whose Pious Soul could hardly be brought to think so ill of the worst of Caitifs that they should have so base a Project against him concerning which I will allude to those words of Israel spoke in abhorrence to what was done to the Levite's Concubine Judges 19 30. And it was so that all that saw it said there was no such deed done noâ— seen from the Day that the Children of Israel came up out of the Land of Egypt unto this Day Consider of it take advice and speak your Minds Let us consider this Plot as promoted if not contrived by the greatest of Men as the Master-piece of the Jesuits subtilty as directly levelled at the Foundation of our Religion as most horridly ungrateful as the result of an Union among those who never in any thing else could unite as grounded upon a false bottom and Sham-pretence as most Hellishly Bloody and Barbarous as very Base and Ignominious I say let these things be well weighed and then consider of it and speak your Minds whether ever there was such a Conspiracy acted upon the Stage of England since it was a Civilized Nation and taking in all these Circumstances let any Man produce a parallel plot in any History whether Sacred or prophane whether ancient or modern and I will heartily thank him as the greatest Novelty he can oblige the Learned with but I am very well assured no such Parallel can be found O then How much are we bound to God for his steping in between us and the execution of so matchless a design Now let us a little consider What this Conspiracy is eventually and what God has by his over-ruling Providence wrought by it Verily he hath brought forth sweet out of this strong and meat out of this eater and Glory be to his name for ever First This Conspiracy shews the Judgment of God to be most dreadfully upon the Conspirators that he has blinded their Eyes hardned their Hearts infatuated their Counsels and left them so far to split upon this Fatal Rock of Combination that the same end might overtake them as Amons Murderers were brought to 2 Kings 21 24. And the People of the Land slew all them that conspired against King Amon. Oh! How long might these Virmin have lived as a Plague to our Land Hatching Mischief Contriving Plots and working Wickedness under ground if Heaven had not brought them upon the stage by this execrable design of theirs O! How has the hand of God been upon them that they might reel and stage and fall backward God has answered the Prayer of the Church with respect to these miserable wretches Psal 104.35 Let Sinners be consumed out of the Earth and let the wicked be no more These Conspirators were Sinners great Sinners first rate
Governments for the most Arbitrary Tyranny that is any where exercised in the World is so unaccountable and so ill resented by all sorts of People whatsoever that the greatest sufferings these Conspirators can undergo will hardly be pittied of any It would make a Niobe dry up her tears even for the Death of her nearest Relations engaged in such a cause as this and whoever has or shall suffer on this account will have the hard sate to be as little bewailed as Jehoiakim was Jerem. 22.18 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim tâ—â— son of Josiah King of Judah They shall not lament for him saying Ah my brâ—ther or ah sister They shall not lament for him saying Ah Lord or ah his Glory He shall be buryed with the buryal of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond â—â—gates of Jerusaelm So circumstanced will be the end of such Plotters aâ— these be Sixthly This is a strange Providential Conspiracy and calls for oâ— Adoration at the wonderful hand of God in it which brings to mind thâ—â— of Baasha against Nadab son of Jereboam 1 Kings 15.27 And Baasha â—workâ— son of Ahijah of the house of Isacher Conspired against him and Baasha smâ—â—â— him at Gibethon which belongeth to the Philistians for Nadab and all Israâ—â— laid sieg to Gibbethon and a little further we find the consequence of thâ—â— Conspiracy was all the wicked house of Jereboam were cut off There arâ— some doom'd of God to destruction for the iniquity of their Fore-Fathers and who knows but his Conspiracy may terminate in accomplishing Godâ— will in rooting out the generation of some who are lothsome in his sight God does his work by strange ways and by terrible things in righteousness he many times answers his People and I am very apt to believe succeeding Ages may have cause to bless God for this Plot as being thâ— great occasion of delivering them from such Task-Masters as would alway have been oppressing of them And I believe many that were hankrinâ— after Egypt will be now more settled in their thoughts and more contented with and more praising God for what they do enjoy which perhapâ— they never had Grace to do before What the Goodness of some men cannot do the Wickedness of other men oftentimes have done This Plâ—â— has opened more eyes undeceiv'd more deluded ones than the Clemency and Mildness of the Government possibly could do And I question not but many are saying now with those of Old 1 Sam. 11.12 And the peopâ—â— said unto Samuel Who is he that said shall Saul Regin over us Bring the Men that we may put them to Death Oh! how many trimming Jacobites are now upon Reverse and speaking in full of the Mouth Who will not have King William Reign Who is disaffected to him Who dares Plot against him Let him be Punished and let that Punishment extend even to Death it self 7thly This is an horrible Conspiracy such as has brought down Vengeance upon the Conspirators like that against Elah perpetrated by treacherous Zimri I Kings 16.9 And his Servant Zimri Captain of â—â—lf his Chariots conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in ohe House of Arza Steward of his House in Tirzah And if you will read a little further you will see how soon Zimri was brought to condign Punishment for this his great Wickedness And is it â—ot so with these hatchers of Mischief What a sad state are they in What dreadful Calamity have they brought upon themselves Some already Executed others enclosed in strong Walls waiting their approaching Doom the rest roving up and down with Cain's Mark upon them fearing every one they see yea almost afraid of every Bird that flies being so loaded with Guilt and Shame that they know not where to put their Heads and Pashur's Destiny is now become theirs Jerem. 20.3 4. And it came to pass on the Morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the Stocks Then said Jeremiah unto him The Lord â—â—th not called thy Name Pashur but Magor-Missabib For thus saith the Lord Behold I will make thee a Terrour to thy self and to all thy Friends Oh what Fear are these miserable Creatures in and encompassed with Miseries on every side a guilty though perhaps an hardned Conscience within them desolate and destracted Relations about them and a doleful Eternity before them so that the pit they prepared for us they are fallen into it themselves and their violent Courses are come down upon their own Pates Verily God is known by the Judgments which he executes the Wicked are snared in the Works of their own Hands Higgaion Selah Oh consider with Trembling what is most deservedly come upon them 8thly This is a most detestable Conspiracy loathed and abhorred of all People that have any thing of Humanity or the least principle 〈◊〉 Morality swaying in them as Zimri's Plot but now mentioned â—â—as 1 Kings â—6 16 And the People that were encamped heard say Zimri â—â—â—h Conspired and hath also slain the King Wherefore all Israel made Amri the Captain of the Host King over Israel that day in the Camp I am more than confident if these blackest of Hell-hounds had succeeded in their Villanous Attempt upon the Life of His Royal Majesty they had missed of their aim otherwise things would not have run in the Channel they designed them no no the People would have been too much incensed and regretted such an abominable Action at too high a rate to have let them had their Will And this they may plainly see in the late Vote of the Honourable House of Commons the Representative of the whole Land That if the King should come to an untimely End they will revenge his Death on the Papists and those dissaffected to the Government and this is the Sense of all the People of Sense throughout the Nation Then what have these vile Miscreants got by their Hellish Consultations And to what pass have they brought themselves to Why the very same that those accursed ones of the Lord did of whom we read Isa 66.24 And they shall go forth and look upon the Carcasses of the Men that have transgressed against me for their Worm shall not die neither shall their Fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all Flesh Oh! their Conscience is this Worm that will never die Oh! how have they made themselves liable to the most direful Vengeance of God and how are they become opprobrium Hominum et rejecta mentum plebis Every Body's Month is open against them and every Body's Teeth is gnashing at them So let it be with all thy Enemies and the Enemies of thy Anointed O Lord Amen Amen But 't is time to come to Application and to make some Improvement of this in a few Words First Then see the horrid Principles of the Popish Religion that allow of Killing and that by wholesale yea that account shedding the Blood of Innocence Meritorious Act. Truly if their
Books especially those proved by the Jesuits wherein these Maxims of destroying Hereticks are audaciously Asserted Vindicated and publickly avowed as Sacred and wholsome Doctrine I could not possibly believe that our Men pretending to any thing of Learning or Religion should be so far left of God and infatuated by the Devil as to think that Lawful which of all things is most abominable And that tantum Religio potuit quedere malcrum is the greatest of all Mysteries as Jehu said to the Men of Samaria 2 Kings 10.9 And it came to pass in the Morning he went out and stood and said to all the People yeâ— he Righteous Behold I Conspired against my Master and slew him but who slew all these But did this great Slaughter go unpunished unrevenged No surely for tho' Jehu buoy'd up himself with this That 't was a Family Decreed to Destruction as Papists think of all Protestants and so would have it a Meritorious and Religious Act in shedding so much Blood yet we find God resolving to call this Blood to an Account and severely to Revenge it And the Lord said unto him Call his Name Jezreel for yet a little while and I will avenge the Blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the Kingdom of the House of Israel and it shall come to pass at that Day that I will break the Bow of Israel in the Walls of Jezreel Oh verily it will not be long before God will Avenge the Blood of the many Thousand Protestants upon the Scarlet Whore and all that take part with her In the mean time let us abhor and loath a Religion that is so Bloody and have nothing in the least to do with them Secondly Oh then we should take this Alarm and improve it in raising our Spirits more and more against the Papists Are they the Fomenters of such Devilish Conspiracies Oh then let us stand aloof off from them and be irreconcileably set against them Let us say of them as Jacob of Simeon and Levi Oh my Soul come not thou into their Secrets into their Assemblies mine Honour be not thou united for in their Anger they slew a man Ah many Thousand Men and in their Self-Will they digged down a Wall that is undermine Kingdoms threw down all Governments Oh cursed be their Anger for it was fierce and their Wrath for it was cruel God will therefore divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Their Religion teaches them the very worst of Impieties for to borrow a late Learned Man's Words they eat their God they kill their King they Saint the Mutherer they commit all manner of Abominations and no humane Laws can bind them God does call aloud to the Protestants this day to do to the Papists what he bid Israel do to the Midianites Numb 25.16 17.18 And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Vex the Midianites and smite them for they vex you with their Wiles wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor or in the matter of Cozbi the Daughter of a Prince of Midian their Sister which was slain in the day of the Plague for Peor's sake Oh how many brave Men has the Papists beguiled us of by their Cursed Machinations surely we ought then to vex them and to have War a â—â—inst them as Israel had War with Amaleck from Generation 〈◊〉 Generation And the Warning Moses gave Israel I do in the â—ame of God give you all that hear me this Day Numb 16.26 And he spake unto the Congregation saying Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked Men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be Consumed in all their Sins Oh! for the Lord's sake depart from among them and for ever keep your selves from them Thirdly Let us learn to prize honour and reverence our dread Sovereign the more because the powers of Hell have been Plotting and Contriving his Ruin Were he not a good King an Enemy to the Whore of Babylon the Sons of Belial would not have entred into a Confederacy against him Oh how much is Josiah endeared to the People by the Conspiracy against his Priest Ammon 2 Chron. 33.24 25. And his Servants conspired against him and slew him in his own House But the People of the Land slew all them that had conspired against Ammon and the People of the Land made Josiah his Son King in his stead The detestation of this Conspiracy was as Oyl to inflame their Love to Josiah Oh! so let it be with us The more the Papists and Popishly affected ones Hate the King the more let us Love him the more they Envy him the more resolved let us be to stand yb him and defend him with all that is Dear to us We may say of our King as Jacob did of Joseph Gen. 49.22 23 24 25. Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a Well whose branches run over the Wall The Archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him But his Bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob from thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel Even by the God of thy Father who shall help thee and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of Heaven above blessings of the Deep that lieth under blessings of the Breasts and of the Womb. The 23d Verse is a Paraphrase of his Brethren they were as so many Crafty Engineers set on work by the Devil to batter him down and bring him to Destruction but though their Arrows were shot so thick against him though their Malice was discharg'd so violently upon him his Bow abode in Strength and long may it do so And Oh that we may gather his Worth by his Enemies Rage and his Unparallel'd Virtue by these Unpresidented Traps laid for him Oh! what a Disappointment would it be to the Papists and all the Devotees of Rome if this Dispensation did as I hope it will awaken the whole Land to look upon their Sovereign with other kind of Eyes than ever they have yet done Fourthly Oh! then let us learn to be expecting and by a strong Faith be believing God's arising against the Papists and appearing for the Protestant Cause Let us be by Faith applying that excellent Psalm 83. from the first to the twelfth Keep not thou Silence O God hid not thy Peace and be not still O God For lo thine Enemies make a Tuâ—ult and they that hate thee have lift up the Head They have taken crafty Counsel against thy People and consulted against thy hidden ones They have said Come and let us cut them off from being a Nation That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance For they have consulted together with one Consent They are Confederate against thee The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the