SOME Seasonable Reflections ON THE DISCOVERY OF The late Plot. BEING A SERMON Preacht on that Occasion By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Rector of St. George Buttolph-lane London LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet-street and Fincham Gardiner at the White horse in Ludgate-street 1683. The Preface to the Reader THe reason why I publish this Sermon is partly to gratifie the desires of some partly to prevent the misrepresentations of others but chiefly for the same end for which I preacht it viz. to take the advantage of this present opportunity to make some impressions upon mens minds which I fear at other times they will not so easily receive I hope all honest men even Dissenters themselves do from their hearts abhor those villanous designs against the Life of our King which God of his great mercy to these Kingdoms has so lately brought to light and while they are possest with such an abhorrence of the Treason it seems to me to be a very proper season to put them in mind by what means such evil designs have been first formed and encouraged and brought to ripeness and perfection that those who have been cheated into a Faction by some plausible pretences and have followed the general noise and outcry in the simplicity of their hearts may take warning for the future and avoid every step and advance towards Sedition and Treason as well as abhor the Treason it self It was impossible to do this without calling to mind a great many things which to be sure those who are any ways concerned are not now willing to hear of and that with such plainness as is necessary to convince men of the evil nature and tendency of such practices but God is my witness that I did not this with the least design to upbraid or reproach any men or party of men but with the same honest and charitable intentions though it may be not with the same skill that a Chirurgeon uses in searching a wound to the very bottom which is very painful indeed but absolutely necessary to a Cure Some persons I hear have objected against this Discourse that I seem to charge this Plot upon the Protestant Dissenters and insinuate that it is a Fanatick a true Protestant Plot. God forbid that all Protestant Dissenters should be concerned in this Plot I hope better things of many of them nor do I undertake to meddle with such matters All that I meant is nothing but what is evident to any man who believes a Plot that this horrible Conspiracy has been contrived and carried on by those men who of late have pretended to be the only true Protestants a name which they would not allow to any man who appeared zealously concerned either for the King or the Church of England Whether such men have any Religion or none whether they go to Conventicles or to give the better grace to the business sometimes hear the Common Prayer is all one to me I am sure the turbulent spirit which has of late acted our Dissenters and their unwillingness to believe any Plot still gives too just a suspicion of many of them Though we are all bound to praise and adore the Divine goodness in defeating such wicked designs yet I am so far from triumphing over these men that I cannot but pity and mourn over them my heart bleeds for that scandal that is done to Religion that advantage which is given to the common enemy for the sin and the fall of great Men and the ruine of Noble Families but what is done cannot be undone again our care must look forward to times to come to remove the occasions to root up the very seeds and principles of Sedition that these shakings and convulsions of State may at last settle in a profound and secure Peace and Tranquillity If this plain discourse can contribute any thing to so happy an end I have all that I aim'd at both in Preaching and Printing it however I have the satisfaction of an honest design which is a reward to its self and gives that inward contentment and pleasure which the reproaches and censures of the World which too often attend such undertakings can never disturb A SERMON XVIII PSALM v. 50. Great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his Anointed to David and to his Seed for evermore THis Psalm was pen'd by David in a thankful remembrance of those many wonderful deliverances which God had wrought for him and particularly his deliverance from the hands of Saul a jealous powerful and implacable enemy as we are expresly told 2 Sam. 22. 1. This Pious Prince though he were immediately advanced to the Throne by God himself could not escape the Conspiracies of his enemies both at home and abroad for Men of Turbulent and restless Spirits will be sure to find or make some pretences or occasions of quarrel under the most just and equal Government Sometimes men dispute the right of Succession but this they could not do here unless they would dispute Gods right to place and displace Princes for David was immediately chosen by God and anointed by his Prophet and yet this could not secure him from Conspiracies and Rebellions Others pretend great Oppression and Male-administration of Government though their licentious noises and clamours sufficiently confute it for men who are most opprest dare say the least of it The Liberties and Properties of the Subject is an admirable pretence to deprive the Prince of his Liberties and Properties and those who have any Liberty and Property to loose seldom gain any thing by this for when they have secured their Liberties and Properties against their Prince it is a much harder task to secure themselves from their fellow-Subjects Men who have no Property have some encouragement to Rebel and fight for Property for it is possible they may get something in the scramble when all Law and Property ceases but the property of the Sword but methinks men of Honour and plentiful Fortune should not be so zealous for transferring Properties to enrich Beggars and submit their necks to the Yoke and Government of their own Slaves which our late experience has taught us to be the glorious effect of Rebelling for Liberty and Property Others make Religion a pretence for their Rebellion Religion the greatest and the dearest interest of all but methinks it is a dangerous way for men to Rebel to save their Souls when God has threatned Damnation against those who Rebel but this is as vain a pretence as Liberty and Property for no men fight for Religion who have any Religion is a quiet peaceable governable thing it teaches men to suffer patiently but not to Rebel And were there any true concernment for Religion in this pretence can we imagine that the most profest Atheists the most lewd profligate wretches the greatest Prodigies and Monsters of wickedness should be so zealous for Religion But it 's evident it is not Religion such men are
zealous for but a Liberty in Religion that is that every one may have his liberty to be of any Religion or of none which serves the Atheists turn as well as the Sectaries but is not much for the honour or interest of true Religion So that whatever the pretences are it is an ambitious discontented revengeful spirit an uneasie restless fickle and changeable humour which disturbs publick Government and undermines the Thrones of Princes and therefore it is no wonder if the best Princes and the best Governments in the world be disturbed by such men David himself could not escape he had a great many enemies but Davids God was greater than they all for great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his Anointed to David and to his seed for evermore There is something peculiar in these words which cannot be applied to any other Prince for as David was King of Israel so he was a Type of the Messias who was to descend from his loynes and that promise or prediction that he would shew mercy to his Anointed to David and to his seed for evermore received its full accomplishment in the Kingdom of the Messias who is said to set upon the Throne of David but yet those deliverances God wrought for David were personal too and an example of Gods care and protection of Pious and Religious Princes And when we see the same good providence watching over our Prince and securing him from the bloody designs of wicked men we have reason thankfully to acknowledge it as David did great deliverance he hath given to our Prince he hath shewn mercy to his Anointed Now know we that the Lord saveth his Anointed he will hear him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God they are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright My present Discourse therefore shall consist of those two parts 1. Briefly to observe to you those many great Deliverances which God hath wrought for our King 2. I shall make some practical Reflections on it especially with reference to this late Discovery 1. To observe to you those many great deliverances which God hath wrought for our King His troubles have not been much unlike I am sure not inferiour to Davids and his Deliverances have not been less strange and wonderful I am not a going to give you a History of his Life but only to point you to some remarkable passages of it which it becomes us all thankfully to remember I suppose no man doubts how many dangers a Prince is exposed to who flies before an enraged and victorious enemy who knows not whither to go where to hide himself whom to trust this was the condition of our Dread Soveraign who was hunted as a Partridge in the mountains pursued by his own Rebellious Subjects who had usurpt his Throne and thirsted after his Blood But then God found a hiding place for him and delivered him from the desire and expectation of his enemies But still his condition was calamitous he was forc't to live in Exile and Banishment divested of Royal power and all the ensignes of Majesty reduced to a precarious and sometimes a necessitous state while he saw his Friends impoverisht and ruined his Loyal Subjects opprest his Enemies triumphant too vigilant and too powerful to allow any hope to see an end of these troubles But that God who can do what he pleases and oftentimes does such things as no humane force nor power can effect put an end to these troubles also and restored him to his Fathers Throne in Peace and Honour and with the universal joy and triumph of his Subjects and I suppose you will reckon this a deliverance a great and wonderful deliverance both to Prince and People a deliverance immediately wrought by God without Humane policy contrivance or power To see a Prince whose Father was Murdered and himself forc't into banishment by his own Subjects without any power of his own without the help and assistance of Forreign Allies while his Friends at home were opprest while the same power that drove him out was still in the hands of his enemies while so many persons who were in greatest power were concerned for their own preservation to keep him out while those who wisht his return durst not whisper any thing tending to call the King back again I say to see a Prince in such circumstances without striking a blow without shedding a drop of Blood return again in the throngs and crouds and with the acclamations of his Subjects is no less a Miracle than dividing the sea to give a safe passage to the Israelites for the Psalmist represents it as an argument of equal power to still the noise of the the seas the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people This is the Lords doings and it is marvellous in our eyes now know we that the Lord saveth his Anointed he will hear him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand And that good Providence which brought our King back again has watcht over him ever since Though he returned in a happy day when the Seas were smooth and calm when no frowns were to be seen on mens forheads but such cheerful looks as signifyed the inward pleasure and serenity of their minds yet it could not be expected that this calm would always last I think we may now venture to say without fear of being censured that there are two sorts of men that are restless and implacable and always working under ground and both of them with an equal pretence of Religion I mean the Papist and the Fanatick I shall not take notice of those several weak attempts they have made since the happy Restauration of our Prince there is something greater to imploy our thoughts at this time some more signal demonstrations of that great deliverance God giveth to his King We have now for many years had little other discourse than of a Popish Plot a wicked hellish design against the Life of our King and the Religion and Liberties of his Subjects This was a formidable design laid close and in the dark prosecuted with deep Counsels and combined interests We may remember for I think we cannot easily forget what horror and consternation surprized us at the news we lived in perpetual fear of the Life of our Prince in perpetual fear of our own how did the name of Popery deservedly stink among us how did men abhor a Religion which is nourisht with Blood with Royal and innocent Blood How zealous were men in their discoveries how watchful in their Guards how devout in their Prayers for the preservation of their Prince and of their Religion And though possibly we have not seen to the bottom of that Plot to this day and it may be never shall yet blessed be God
of maliciousness And if we ever desire to see the peace and prosperity of our Sion is it not high time to unite in Religion which is the onely thing that can bless us with a firm and lasting peace All our late troubles have been owing to the differences of Religion and while the cause of dissentions remains though there may be some expedients at present found out to palliate the distemper yet nothing can remove it All men seem to be very sensible of this and very desirous of an Union but the question is how or in what we shall Unite Shall we unite in Popery God forbid the salvation of our Souls is somewhat dearer to us than temporal peace and that we believe to be exposed to infinite hazard in the Communion of so corrupt a Church A firm and universal Agreement indeed in any thing will secure the publick peace but we must not make our Religion so wholly subordinate to temporal ends If we can save our Souls and secure the publick peace together such a Religion ought to be chosen upon a double account but if both these interests cannot be united we must take care to save our Souls and trust the Providence of God with our other concernments Shall we then unite with the different Sects and Parties of Christians which are among us This is to unite without Union It is to unite indeed against something but to unite in nothing The several parties of Dissenters who separate from the Church of England differ as much from each other as they do from us They may unite and combine together in pulling down but they can never unite in setting up any thing they can unite in Tumults and publick Disturbances but they can never unite in Peace When they had pulled down the Church of England they could set up nothing in its room but a prodigious encrease of Heresies and Schisms There is nothing then to unite in but the Church of England as by Law established which will both secure the interests of our Souls and the publick peace And why should we not unite in this Church which is the Glory and the Bulwark of the Reformation the envy and the terror of Rome Whose Fathers and first Reformers were Martyrs against Popery and who her self has been a Martyr for Loyalty Those infinite dangers we are surrounded with on all hands methinks should strongly encline all honest men impartially to examine the reasons of their Separation and I am confident not onely what has been formerly written in the Defence of this Church but what has been lately offered for the satisfaction of Dissenters would open the Eyes of all sincere men to see their mistakes if they would but calmly without prejudice or passion read and consider it It is demonstrable we can unite no where else and is it a desirable state to be perpetually strugling and contending with intestine Commotions to be hating reviling undermining each other For Gods sake beloved Christians let us at last consider the things which make for peace and those things whereby we may edifie each other And in order to do this I observe further 3. How dangerous a rash boisterous intemperate Zeal is though it be for the best things and against the worst Whatever private discontents revengeful or ambitious designs might secretly act some great men who know how to practise upon the zeal and the ignorance of the people yet nothing is more evident than that the first visible occasion of these new Troubles and Conspiracies which have endangered the Life of our King and the Ruine of his Government was laid in a mighty zeal against Popery and for the preservation of the Protestant Religion The Popish Plot was the first Scene in this new Tragedy Those bloody designs raised the fears the jealousies the indignation of men and a love to their Prince and to their Religion kindled and blew up their Zeal into such a violent flame as threatned an universal desolation and became more formidable than the danger it intended to remove A great and passionate Zeal like a distempered love blinds mens eyes and makes them mistake both their Enemies and their Friends It fills their head with endless jealousies and fears and makes them start and run away from their own shadow Such a boisterous Zeal is the Frenzy and Calenture of Religion which makes men uncapable of all sober Counsel and prudent Resolves and precipitates them into the most wild extravagant and irreligious attempts There is nothing more pernicious than Zeal when it gets a head and bears down all the considerations of Reason and Religion before it When men are conscious to themselves that they are engaged in a good Cause and have honest designs it makes them more bold and venturous for though few men dare own it yet the actions of too many sufficiently proclaim that they think they may strain a point and dispense with strict duty when it is to serve a good Cause when the honour of God and the interest of Religion is concerned such a zeal does violently push men forward but it does not steer well nor observe its Compass and thus it is too often seen that men who begin with a zeal for Religion insensibly slip into State-Factions and are engaged vastly beyond what they first designed and engaged so far that they cannot retreat with safety or honour but must either Conquer or be Conquered Let us then above all things have a care of our Zeal that we may not mistake an earthly fire which burns and consumes for that divine and harmless flame which is kindled at Gods Altar A true Zeal for Religion is nothing more nor less than such a hearty love for it as makes us very diligent in the practise of it our selves and contented if God sees it fit to lay down our lives for it and very industrious to promote the knowledge and practise of Religion in the world by all lawful and prudent means A true Christian Zeal will not suffer us to transgress the strict bounds of our duty to God or of our duty to Men especially to Kings and Princes whatever flattering prospect of advantage it may give To lie to forswear our selves to hate and revile each other to Reproach and Libel Governours in Church and State to stir up or countenance with the least thought any Plots Seditions or Rebellions against the King is not a Zeal for God nor for Religion for this wisdom is not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish for where strife and contention is there is confusion and every evil work 4. Let our past experience therefore teach us to watch over the least stirrings and first appearances of a seditious and factious Spirit either in our selves or others however it may be disguised with a pretence of Religion Faction like other Vices has but very small beginnings but when those beginnings are indulged it soon improves and gests strength Omne in proecipiti vitium stetit
foolishness of Preaching by preaching that absurd and ridiculous Doctrine as the world then accounted it of a Crucified Jesus and it defended it self only by a resolute and patient suffering for the Name of Christ. This is the true temper and spirit of Christianity Under the most barbarous and persecuting Emperours no Christian ever suffered as a Rebel they gave no other disturbance to the Government than by confessing themselves Christians and suffering for it Their numbers indeed were very formidable but nothing else for in imitation of their great Master they went as Lambs to the slaughter and as sleep before their shearers are dumb so they opened not their mouths But notwithstanding this our daily experience tells us that when Religion is divided into Factions and Parties or rather men are divided into Factions and Parties upon account of Religion there is nothing more imbitters mens spirits against each other nor gives greater disturbance to publick Government All the troubles and miseries which for these late years have overwhelmed this unfortunate Island have been owing to this cause Religion has been made either the reason or the pretence of all Papists plot and conspire the death of a Protestant Prince to bring in Popery and profest Protestants it seems do the same thing to keep out Popery and thus a Protestant Prince and a truly Protestant or rather a true Primitive and Apostolick Church is in danger of both And is there not great reason then for Princes who love their Lives and their Crowns to keep a watchful eye over such busie potent and dangerous Factions shall it be called Persecution for Religion to punish Traitors or to keep under a factious and turbulent Spirit If the Consciences of Subjects will serve them to Rebel for Religion it seems a very hard case if the Conscience of the Prince must not allow him to hang 'em for their Rebellion and yet no wise Prince will put it upon that hazard neither if he can help it to suffer his Subjects to deserve to be hanged To curb a growing Faction by prudent and timely Restraints is a much better and safer way The truth of this is readily owned when it is applied to the Papists They are men of such dangerous Principles and Practices as not to be suffered to live in any Protestant Kingdom and truly so they are and thanks be to God we have very good Laws against them and whatever they may do in private they dare not out-face Government with their publick and numerous Conventicles they walk in the dark and dare not own themselves to be what they are But yet I cannot but wonder upon what Principles those men Act who are so Zealous against Popery and think it such an unpardonable fault in Governors to suffer any Papist especially a Popish Priest though never so obscurely and privately to live among us and yet at the same time think it Persecution a horrible Persecution not to grant a general Liberty and Indulgence to all other Dissenters The difference between these two cases must either respect their Religion or the security of the Government As for their Religion I believe Popery to be a very corrupt Religion and the greatest Apostacy from Christianity of any other Sect or Profession which deserves the name of Christian but yet I am so profest an enemy to Popery that Iabhor that Popish principle of persecuting men meerly for Religions sake which can no more be justified in Protestants against Papists than in Papists against Protestants It is certainly the duty of a Prince to use his power and interest to Establish the true Religion in his Kingdoms to encourage the sincere professors of it and to lay such restraints upon others as may be sufficient to make them consider and hearken to wise instructions that it may be no mans temporal interest to dissent from the Religion of his Prince and it is the duty of Church-Governors not to receive any into the Communion of the Church or to cast them out again who do not profess the same Faith or will not conform to the Worship and Discipline of the Church And this is all that I know of in this matter and if men will call this Persecution it is a sign they know not what Persecution means for the Primitive Christians who were indeed persecuted would have thought such usage as this a very easie and prosperous State So that the difference must lie if any where in the Security of the Government That no Protestant Prince or Kingdom can be secured from the attempts and Conspiracies of Papists whose Principles and Practices are destructive to Government and this is the very true reason of those severe Laws which were made in this Kingdom against Popery And it must be acknowleged that there was formerly a vast difference between Papists and Protestants upon this account and therefore a sufficient reason for any Prince to make a difference between them and I wish I could say it were so still but I dare not I cannot say so To deny that profest Protestants have ever Rebelled against their Prince is to deny that there ever was a Civil War in England that there ever was a Protestant Prince Murdered by his Protestant Subjects with all the mock-formalities of Law and Justice and he must have somewhat more than the impudence of a Jesuit that can deny this And I would to God we had but one instance of this though that was a very bad one it might have left some place for hope still that this was not the temper nor the Principles of the men but some unlucky juncture of Affairs which transported them beyond the bounds of their Duty and their own avowed Principles The happy Restauration of our Banisht Prince might in some measure have expiated their former guilt and they might have recovered their innocence and the reputation of Protestant Loyalty had they manifested the sincerity of their repentance by abhorring all the Principles and Practices of Rebellion but he must be a bold man indeed who dares make excuses for those who prove Rebels a second time and he must be a bolder Prince who will trust them And when every little Creature is so vastly concerned for Liberty and Property can we think our Prince should be the onely unconcerned Person when the Liberty and Property of his own Life and Crown is at stake Or can any reasonable man expect that he should encourage those Religious Factions which by frequent experience he finds troublesom and dangerous to his Throne When Religion turns into a State-faction to curb and restrain and quell such pretences is not to invade the rights of Conscience or the liberties of Religion but to secure the publick Peace and to prevent the occassions of new Rebellions And no sober Dissenter can reasonably blame his Prince for this though he may blame those and ought to express a just indignation against them who forfeit this liberty by abusing it for a Cloak
when men once espouse a Party like those who are a running down hill they cannot stop when they please Discontents and Jealousies are easily fomented when we have once given admission to them and the busie Factors and Agents for Sedition when they find us never so little disposed and prepared to receive the impression use their utmost art and skill all the methods of insinuation and address to make us Proselytes I doubt not but many men have died Rebels and suffered as Traitors who at first did as much abhor the thoughts of Treason and Rebellion as any of us can Thus I doubt not but it was in our late Troubles and thus I believe it is at this day Let such examples as these make us wary how we begin to entertain or to whisper our Discontents and Fears how we begin to listen to suspicions of our Prince or of his Government and to hear with pleasure any scandalous stories or reflexions on either those who can with content and pleasure hear their Prince and his Government reviled will soon think him not fit to be their King And the great danger of such beginnings is that we are not apt to observe them in our selves or others when Religion is concerned in the quarrel We think it all Zeal pure zeal and cannot suspect our selves or others to be in any danger of turning Rebels But whatever is in its own nature a degree and tendency towards Rebellion is so where ever and in whomsoever it is found and there is always more danger that the beginnings of Vice should corrupt the best temper of Mind than any hope that a sound and Religious disposition should correct the malign influences of such a Vice Some mens Religion does as much incline them to Faction as secular interest does other men and there is no such dangerous Faction as that which is bred and nourished by the Corruptions of Religion The Jewish Zealots and the Christian Enthusiasts of all sorts are too plain an example of it And therefore when men who make great pretences to Religion begin to talk or act Factiously a fair opportunity is as like to make them Rebels as any other men Thus we often see it is and this is a sufficient reason to suspect all such beginnings either in our selves or others whatever glorious pretences we may have Let this at last teach us to learn from experience One would wonder that there should be any occasion for such an Observation as this for those who have not understanding nor reach enough to foresee the issues and events of things yet when they have once seen what the events of such actions have been when they see the same things acted over again they expect to see the same effects Thus indeed it usually is thus it ought to be if men ever intend to grow wise and happy and yet our late observations will tell us that it is not always thus For if it had the same Game would never have been played over twice by many of the same men in the same Age and by the same Arts and Methods and yet the people deluded and the world bore in hand that they designed nothing less than to play the same Game again We saw all the Zeal and all the Intrigues of 40. and 41. return again and yet it was an unpardonable crime for any man to say so or for any man to look as if he thought so The cry against Popery was renewed but indeed with a great deal more reason than they formerly had for we were in eminent danger of Popery which is the onely difference between those times and ours but then our real fears and dangers of Popery were presently abused to Factious designs and made a property of to serve some more secret Intrigues The old cry was against Popish Bishops and a Popish Liturgy and Popish Ceremonies and in a word against the Popish Church of England but one would have thought it impossible that ever the Church should at this time have been charged with Popery when the Popish Plot was principally intended against the Church of England and our King as the Supream Governour and Defender of it and yet this was done too and the King and the Church had like to have been brought into the Plot against themselves We heard new stories told of the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government when thanks be to God we saw nor felt no such thing This was the main subject of those infinite numbers of Pamphlets that flew about the Bishops and Clergy were sure never to escape besides those many oblique and scurrilous reflections which were made upon the King and his Government and it is hard to name any step which was formerly taken to ruine Church and State which these men could possibly take and did not And yet few men would see whither all this tended though no men were thought fit for any publick Trust or Office but those who were eminent for their disaffection to Church or State I hope your eyes are opened now to see what all this meant and methinks it is but a reasonable request to you that if ever we should be so unhappy as to see these things acted over again you would not need being put in mind what the natural tendencies and consequents are which is the onely reason why I mention them now We had like to have paid very dear for disbelieving our own eyes and senses and former experience it is certainly a cheaper and safer way to learn by former experiences than by new ones 6. Let us now learn how dangerous a thing it is to interrupt the ordinary Course and Methods of Justice let the pretence be what it will Justice is the only support and security of Humane Societies and a stop or a breach here is as fatal and dangerous as a failure in the foundation or the main pillars which support the building When men are rescued from the hands of Justice against the most clear and notorious Evidence upon a meer presumption of their innocence and a good opinion of them What security can there be to the Government when let men do what they will if they can get and maintain a reputation of Zealous Patriots for their Country and Religion they are out of the reach of Justice Had not the good Providence of God interposed this very thing might have cost our King his Life and his Crown and involved this miserable Nation in a bloody War This Plot might possibly have been discovered sooner before it was so ripe for execution had Justice had its due course which I think it becomes all Persons who are concerned in it seriously to consider with such guilt and confusion as it deserves 7. I observe that in times of publick danger when we have Enemies on both sides it concerns us to keep a watchful eye upon both extreams It is indeed a very hard thing to do this but it is impossible we should be safe
without it While our thoughts are wholly employed to secure our selves on one hand where our danger is present and visible it gives opportunity to an unseen and unobserved Enemy to assault us on the other When the Popish Plot was discover'd all mens mouths were opened against Popery we saw no other Enemy we feared none we suspected none nay when there was too much reason for our suspicions we would believe none we thought it impossible that men who exprest such an abhorrence and detestation of the Popish Plot should be laying new Plots themselves And we see now what advantage they made of our security And now the great danger is that the Discovery of this Anti-Popish Plot should make men secure of Popery and think there is no danger now from that corner For my part I am abundantly satisfied that we are in great danger of both and in the greater danger of both because their contrary assaults give great advantages to each other The Papists now may Father their Plots upon Protestants and Protestants upon Papists and we may be involved in Blood and Confusion and neither know our Friends nor our Enemies God of his infinite mercy preserve our King and these Kingdoms our Liberties Laws and Religion from the wicked conspiracies of all our Enemies Which is the last thing I shall recommend to you to praise God for his preservation of our King hitherto and earnestly to beg that the same good Providence would still watch over him for the time to come And certainly if ever we had reason to praise God for any Deliverance we have for this which is such a comprehensive mercy as extends to all our concernments of Soul and Body in this world If we value our own Lives our Liberties and Religion if we value the Security of the Government and the publick peace and safety we have reason to bless God for the preservation of our King Who can without horrour consider what a distracted face of things we had seen at this day had this Plot taken effect who knows who should have acted his part in that Tragedy by what Mark or Test they would have distinguished Friends from Enemies Or what comfort had it been to any Loyal Subject and good Christian to have survived the Murder of his Prince and the ruines of Church and State and to have been an eye-witness of those barbarous Villanies which would have been acted under a Mask of Religion Blessed be that God who giveth deliverance to his King and sheweth mercy to his Anointed Blessed be that Alwise Being who sits upon the Circle of the Heavens and sees and laughs at and defeats all the most secret Plots and Conspiracies of wicked men Let us bless God and let us honour our King and receive him with Joy and Thanksgiving as a new Gift and Present from the hands of God When we are heartily thankful for the mercies we have already received this will make our prayers more effectual for the continuance of them O Lord save the King who putteth his trust in thee send him help from thy holy place and evermore mightily defend him let his enemies have no advantage against him nor the wicked approach to hurt him Which God of his infinite mercy grant through our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be honour and glory and power now and for ever Amen FINIS 13 Rom. 2. 20 Psalm 6 7 8. 65 Psal. 7. 2 Psal. 1 2 3 4. 18 Joh. 36.