Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

The Second Sermon. (Book 2)

1 SAM. xii.25.

But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King.

THE State and Commonwealth of Israel differed from all other States in the World; it was neither Aristocracy, nor yet Democracy; but, if rightly de∣nominated, a Theocracy or Di∣vine Monarchy: i. e. it was in subjection to no Man, or Num∣ber of Men, but immediately to God himself. Ye have said, Nay, but a King shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your King, v. 12. Again,

C. 10.19. Ye have this day rejected your God, who him∣self saved you out of all your adversities. God was the Commander, Prince and Monarch of this State in his own Person.

But being a Spiritual King, as well as a Temporal; and exercising a Dominion over the Souls, as well as Bodies of his Subjects: though his Reign were as the Reign of Prosperity it self; his Scepter, not only a Scepter of righteousness, but of felicity; Plenty, Victory, and all other Blessings attending it; they were impatient of it, as of an intolerable and insup∣portable Yoke; chose rather to be governed as the Nations of the Earth, than even as the Angels in Heaven; by a mortal, than a Celestial King; pre∣ferred an improsperous Condition, together with a greater liberty of sinning, before the most prospe∣rous, with a strict obligation to righteousness; held it, I say, more eligible even to see their Enemies within their Gates, than their God with narrow eyes continually prying into their actions.

God, who saw this perverseness of their hearts in demanding a King, punished their folly by comply∣ing with it; defeated their wickedness by granting their request. Ye shall, says God, for the future be governed as you desire; after the manner of the Nati∣ons, ye shall have a King; the Court and the Sanctua∣ry, the Palace and the Tabernacle shall be separated; my Divine Authority shall no more interpose in your ma∣king War or Peace, in your marching or encamping, in your Civil or Military Affairs; all shall be in the power of your King: But promise not your selves from hence a greater licence to sin, for though I shall withdraw my former manner of Conduct from you, I will have as near an inspection into your Actions as I had before; and though my miraculous assistances are more rarely

shewed, I will visit your iniquity with Scourges. Your King and new-modell'd State shall be so far from pro∣tecting you in your disobedience, that they shall render your destruction only more signal and calamitous. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed both ye and your King.

In the Days in which God chiefly invited his Peo∣ple to Obedience by the Promises of temporal Bles∣sings, and deterred them from Disobedience by the threats of temporal Evils, none were greater than those that related to their King. As whether he were a Child, or of grown Years; a base Vpstart, or the Son of Nobles; one that eat in the morning, or at due season; for strength or for drunkenness, as Solomon speaks: Or as the Prophet Isaiah, A wise and gracious Prince, or a fierce and cruel Lord and a Fool. Again, whether the Reign of a wicked King were prolong∣ed, or of a righteous cut short; whether the Prince were often changed, or many set up at the same time, as those Words may be interpreted either way, For the transgressions of a Land many are the Princes there∣of. I say, no higher Marks of God's favour, or dis∣favour to a People, could be shewed, than in what related to their King. And no wonder: For un∣doubtedly a good King is infinitely above the encrease of the Barn and the Wine-press, of the Flocks and the Herds: for he is the security of all these, and whatever else makes a Kingdom happy and blessed. Plenty is not Plenty, Possessions are not Possessions, Peace is not Peace, Religion is not Religion, with∣out such a Guardian and Conserver of them.

Well therefore might God, as being the highest of Judgments, threaten his rebellious People with the de∣struction of their King. I say, his rebellious People; for the King is not threatned in my Text, but the

People, of whom he was King. For though a wick∣ed King shall certainly bear the burden of his Sins; and though the Judgment here denounced by Sa∣muel was after a King was anointed in Israel: yet 'twas denounced against the Sin of the People com∣mitted before there was a King: Neither had Saul as yet displeased God, he affected not the Kingdom, though Israel affected to have a King. They are the Israelites therefore that are threatned in the Per∣son and misfortune of their King, whom God de∣clares he will involve in their destruction, even when he is not involved in their sins; and a good King is sooner cut off for the provocation of a Land, than a bad; but then though he falls, 'tis the Land that is punished; though he be untimely snatcht away, 'tis the Nation that is judged and condemned. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King.

The Words consist of a Commination or Threat, Ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King

And the Case wherein the Commination or Threat shall take place, If ye shall still do wickedly—

I begin with the Commination or Threat,

Ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King.

The Commination runs high, a greater cannot well be denounced; 'tis only to be fear'd it may suf∣fer the fate of the vain menaces and Rhodomanta∣does of men; which are most despised when they sound loudest, and affect to carry most terrour. Ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King!] Why cer∣tainly, men will say, This is some Figurative Hyper∣bolical Speech, which carries not so much danger in it to be feared, as difficulty to be understood; and

sends us to an Interpreter, and not an Asylum or Sanctuary. Was it ever known, that a whole Nation was destroyed as one man? Dathan and his Compli∣ces, 'tis true, went down into the Bowels of the Earth, and it clos'd its mouth upon them: but they were not a whole Nation, but a seditious Party only. Pha∣raoh and the Egyptians were overwhelmed in the Sea, and not one of them escaped; but they again were not a King and his People, but a King and his Host. The seven Nations of the Canaanites were adjudged to utter extirpation: but by reason of the Sins of God's own People, the Sentence was not executed with that rigour it was denounced, and they were not utterly destroyed. Let us see therefore how we are to un∣derstand the Commination in my Text, How a King and People may be said to be totally consumed.

A thing may be totally consumed or destroyed two ways, simul & semel, altogether and in a moment; as Fire consumes Flax or Gunpowder, so that nothing remains but the Place of them: Or gradually and by degrees, when 'tis wasted by little and little, as Li∣quor consumes over the Fire, or as a Body is extenu∣ated by Sickness. Now though God perhaps through the greatness of his Mercy, has never consumed a whole Nation in the fullest and strictest sense of either of these two Ways; yet so dreadful have been his Judg∣ments, and so universal the Destruction he has wrought, that there will be no cause to say, There is an Hyperbole in the Commination in my Text.

The first way God practised, when he caused the ten Tribes and their King to be carried away captive by Shalmanezer into Assyria with a swift destruction: and the other two Tribes and their King by Nebu∣chadnezzar into Babylon. This way also God practi∣sed, when he gave this Nation up to the Conquest of

the Normans: Or as the Tragedy on this Day should rather prompt us to remember, when he permitted the Bloud of our righteous Sovereign, after the slaughter of many thousands of his Loyal Subjects, to be spilled by the hands of execrable Villains, and together with that sacred Sluce broke-up all the Floud-Gates of Impiety, and suffered it to overwhelm the Land with wickedness and ruine, as the World was once overwhelmed with a Deluge of Water. At which time, we may affirm, Death, or a change like Death, past upon all; the Rich became poor, and the Poor rich; the Nobles were debased, and the Scum of the People exalted; the Loyal were ac∣counted Traytors, and Traytors Loyal; Oppression and Cruelty sat in the Seats of Justice; Hypocrisie and Blasphemy in the Chair of Religion, and an ab∣ject Villain in the Throne of Majesty. And when the Kingdom was reduced to this State, may we not say, it was destroyed simul & semel? altogether and at once? both King and People? and that nothing remained of what had been, but the Place and Me∣mory? The Scripture says, Adam dyed on the Day he eat of the forbidden Fruit, though he survived nine hundred and thirty Years after: because he fell then into an evil condition, and forfeited all his hap∣piness. Again, the Scripture calls Damnation Eter∣nal Death, not because the Bodies and Souls of Sin∣ners shall be extinguish'd, but eternally tormented; Life consisting not so much in duration, as in felicity. And in this sense, when a Kingdom has lost its Felicity and Glory, its Laws and Liberty, its King and Religion, though a Remnant of the People be left, it may de∣servedly be said, To be totally and utterly destroyed.

God practised the second way of destroying a whole Nation, when he consumed the Israelites in

the Wilderness by such slow and lingring paces, that a new Generation was grown up by the time that the old was expired; and the Children were ready to enter into the Land of Canaan, as soon as their Fathers Graves were made in the Wilderness. God thus punishing them after the manner they had trans∣gressed; as they had grieved him forty Years, he con∣sumed them for forty Years together. And when e∣ver a Nation is seen to decline in Piety, Vertue, Po∣licy, Wealth, Reputation, the Number of its Peo∣ple, and the like; when private interest takes place in mens hearts before the Publick; when Trade, Vi∣gour, and Industry languish, then this lingering Curse works and ferments.

I may seem both ill-affected, and also to intrude into a Secret that cannot be known, if I should pro∣nounce, that this Kingdom lay at this present under this slow and lingering destruction, as it has been more than once a miserable Instance of the other quick and total destruction: But it may become me, and all that hear me this day, to fear and endeavour to prevent so dreadful a Judgment; especially when so many and sad Symptoms of it seem to appear. For, not to name our Consumptions of late Years by War, by Pestilence and by Fire, we see the Mo∣ral and Spiritual Consumptions of Piety and Vertue, and as fearful an encrease of Riot, Prophaneness and Irreligion; Popery gains upon the true Religion on one side, and Fanaticism on the other; and Atheism, the Vorago of all other Sects and Schisms, daily swal∣lows up Popery and Fanaticism. Again, we hear plentiful Years complain'd of, that the People are im∣poverished by the great encrease of the Land; A∣bundance cry'd out against as a worse evil than Scar∣city. God thus making his Punishments a Riddle,

while he confounds us no less by his Blessings than his Judgments: as if he would at once confute and de∣ride the Atheism that denies his Providence, and a∣scribes all Events to Natural Causes; letting men see, their Wealth cannot enrich them, their Victories ad∣vantage them, their Wisdom profit them, without his Blessing and concurrence. But that which ought most tenderly and sensibly to affect us, is the Fatality in the Royal Family, so many of those Illustrious Branches having been snatcht away of late Years in their Youth or Infancy, that we may compute our Annals by the Death of one or more of our Princes: the Royal House, Alas! being only fruitful to the Grave. But to proceed.

As the Consumption, mentioned in my Text, may be thus twofold; so the Persons threatned to be con∣sumed are also twofold; and the threatning of the last is set down by way of Aggravation of the Evil, Ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King. But there will not want some Sons of Belial to say here, What Part have we in David, or Inheritance in the Son of Iesse? that this should be held a matter of so great moment, so high an aggravation of our misery, that not only our selves shall be destroyed, but our King also? The Speech of the People is, When I dye, all the World dyes with me; not only all my thoughts perish, as the Psalmist says, but all my care and concern for my Rela∣tions also perish; whether as of a Father for my Chil∣dren, or as of an Husband for my Wife, or yet as of a Sub∣ject for my Prince. So that to say, Ye shall be consu∣med, nay more, your Prince shall be consumed, ag∣gravates the terrour, but as if one should threaten, Your Limbs shall be torn on the Rack, nay further, Your Garments shall be torn also.

No doubt, I say, but there are too many of these Sheba's in our Israel: But yet where ingenuity and natural goodness, honour and generosity are not quite extinguished by self-love and interest, there is in ma∣ny men a care of others, their near Relations, even beyond themselves, and after their Decease. And this made Lawgivers enact (for a further terrour to evil Workers) the destruction of Wives and Chil∣dren for the offences of Fathers and Husbands, ut haberent aliquid quod timerent, qui mortem non ti∣ment; that they that feared not Death as to their own Persons, might yet fear it reaching to those for whom they had a greater tenderness than for them∣selves. And we see those frequently among us, that chuse to wear their lives out in a noysom Prison, or to dye under the torture of the Press, that by these means they may preserve a poor maintenance for those they leave behind them. Why, the Relation of a Subject to his King; of a People to their Prince, is in just estimation the chiefest and highest of Rela∣tions, the principal in importance, though not the nearest in Bloud: which the men of Israel rightly understood, when they called David the light of their eyes, and preferr'd him before so many thousands of themselves. And also the People of Rome, when upon the Election of just Numa they rejoyced, as Plutarch says, as if they had not only obtained a new King, but a new Kingdom. Indeed the felicity of a Nation is bound up in the Person of the King, and waxes or wains according to his Vertue. Well therefore may we pray heartily and truly for our King, as the Romans were wont to pray flatteringly for their Tyrant-Emperours, Demas annos meos mihi, & addas Caesari, Take, O Jupiter, from the number of my Years, and add them to the account of Caesar's; esteeming the

King's life a greater Blessing to us, than our own; the destruction threatned to him more dreadful than the destruction threatned to our selves; looking up∣on the Commination in my Text as the highest ag∣gravation of Evils, Ye shall dye for your Sins, nay, your religious, your victorious, or your gracious Prince shall dye also.

But some perhaps will say here, Is it just and righ∣teous with God to destroy a good King for the trans∣gressions of his People? Surely yes, and the Scripture affirms as much, For the transgressions of a People, many are the Princes thereof: and in the second Com∣mandment God says, He will visit the sins of the Fa∣ther upon the Children: and for the same reason, of a∣ny Relation upon his Correlation; as of a Subject upon the Prince. For though the Subjects are Vas∣sals and Homagers to the Prince, both Prince and Subjects are Vassals aad Homagers to God, and may be disposed of by him, as he sees best for the ends of his Glory. But then though it be righteous in God to cut off a good Prince for the punishment of his People, because he can translate him to a better life, and turn his Crown of Gold into a Crown of Glory; yet wo be to those Subjects, who any way contribute to their Prince's or Countries misfortune, either by their wicked Plots or wicked lives; by their imme∣diate Conspiracies against them, or their remoter, as I may say, of their sins against their Peace and pros∣perity: For if men commit great offences, and go on obstinately in them, they sin not only against their own Souls, but the Publick Safety. Which brings me to my second general Part, The Case wherein the Commination in my Text shall take place, wherein both King and People are threatned to be consu∣med,

If ye shall still do wickedly—

The things wherein both Israel and their Forefa∣thers continually did wickedly, the Scripture tells us, were Infidelity, Stubbornness, Ingratitude, Murmu∣ring openly upon the least want or distress, against their best Governours, but covertly and secretly against God himself, Proneness to Idolatry, Incontinence, the very Sins for which the Nations were cast out before them, to which the present Generation added over and above, the demanding a King, with the design to exclude God from ruling over them. For we must note here, That the greatness of the present sin of Is∣rael consisted not in desiring a King simply; in re∣nouncing, as some would have it, the sweet Govern∣ment of the Sanhedrim, or Council of Elders, for the Regal and more Tyrannical Power. For, not to say any thing in vindication of Monarchy (that 'tis the best of Governments, not only by the consent of the wisest men of all Ages, but by the attestation of Nature, or rather the God of Nature in all Orders and Subordinations of things both in Heaven and Earth) 'twas God's express Purpose from the beginning to e∣stablish Israel under a Monarchical Government, and Deut. 17. (some hundreds of Years before a King was demanded) the Laws concerning a King were set down by Moses.

Neither did the greatness of their Sin consist in desiring a King inordinately, precipitately, rebelli∣ously, not attending God's time, nor consulting his Will in so important an Affair: these were Aggrava∣tions of their Sin, but not their Sin it self; which was no other than Apostasie, at least in purpose and de∣termination; a resolution not only to shake off the

Yoke of God's Political Government, but also to break his Yoke of righteousness from off their Necks. And that their Sin was of no common nature, the miraculous Rain and Thunder, v. 17. sent to reprove them, are a sufficient Argument But we have no need to conjecture what their Offence was, for God himself declares it to Samuel, C. 8. v. 7. They have not rejected thee, says God, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. Their desire to be governed as the Nations of the Earth, was indeed To live after the licentious manner of the Nati∣ons of the Earth; not so much to have a King like them, as to be without God in the World like them, as the Apostle speaks. They were weary of the Di∣vine Conduct, uneasie under God's Discipline; his Statutes and Ordinances were a burden to them, th•••• hated on all occurrences to address themselves to the Ephod, to have their last Appeal to the Deity, to see the Cloud descend upon the Tabernacle, on every miscarriage, as in the days of their Fathers. The Presence of the Living God is dreadful to Flesh and Bloud in its purest and holiest state, well then might these Rebels wish him further removed from them, that were conscious to themselves not only of infir∣mities, but of purposed defection from him; not on∣ly of defects and failures, but of direct Apostasie.

And as the Greatness of their Sin thus consisted not in desiring a King, but in revolting in their hearts from God: so their [still doing wickedly] which is so severely threatned in my Text, could not possibly be, as some interpret, their persisting in the desire to have a King. God had already given them a King, before the Prophet denounced the Commination in my Text; and not only so, but he had promised a Blessing up∣on his Reign, and also on them, in case of future o∣bedience,

as may be seen at the 14^th Verse. Their Still doing wickedly therefore, must be, their persist∣ing and going on to accomplish their wicked design to forsake God; their making good their Apostasie in Act, as well as in Determination and Purpose; their gi∣ving themselves up like the Heathen to whatsoever their Lusts prompted them to; and this out of a Per∣swasion that they might sin more securely under the Dominion of Flesh and Bloud, than under the Do∣minion of God. And this was the Case in which the Universal Destruction, the Destruction of King and People, is threatned in my Text.

All Sin and Doing wickedly offends God; but Presumption in sinning, persisting and resolving to do wickedly, turns him into a consuming Fire; when men add wickedness to wickedness, and draw ini∣quity, as the Prophet says, with a Cart-rope; i. e. with a long Series or Train of evil Deeds, not interrupt∣ing or breaking them off by Repentance; but lying down to sleep in sin, and rising up to return again to it; making sin the business of their lives, and not only transgressing against God and his Laws, but re∣nouncing them. And we find in After-ages, when the Children fell into the Apostasie, which their Fathers only consulted of at this time; when, I say, their King, instead of humbling himself upon hearing God's wrath denounced against him, Cut the Roll, and cast it into the Fire; and the People presumptu∣ously told his Prophet, As for the Words that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto them; But we will certainly do what∣soever goeth forth of our own mouth, to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven, &c. as it is Jerem. 44.17. For three iniquities, and for four, says God, I will visit my People. By three is understood many, or very

much, as we say, thrice happy, and thrice honourable, for exceeding happy and honourable. When a Na∣tion comes up to be thrice, i. e. exceeding sinful, their condition is dangerous: but when it goes be∣yond that, and is four times sinful, then 'tis no mar∣vel if God also sets no Bounds to his Anger, but says, Nunc exurgam, I will now arise and visit; and as they have vext me with their transgressions, I will vex them with my Judgments; as they have cast me out of their Hearts, I will cast them out of my Sight; as they will allow me no longer to be their God, I will pluck them up by the Roots, and allow them no longer to be a People and Nation; or, which is all one, a happy People, a flourishing Nation, govern∣ed as in times past: But I will eclipse their Glory, and change their Laws, together with many thou∣sands of them, cut off their King; and they that re∣main, shall be in a worse condition, as Sheep without a Shepherd, They shall be a living and lasting Destru∣ction.

I am now come to the full Close and Period of my Text; and what Use or Application shall I make of that which we have heard? Shall I endeavour to set forth the Heroick Vertues of our murthered King, and shew that he fell not for his own Sins, but the Sins of his People? that the impious Act of executing a Sovereign Prince by a pretended Process of Law, was a higher Strain of Treason, than to have dis∣patcht him with a Dagger, or an empoysoned Cup? the one being Treason only against a single Monarch, but the other against Monarchy in general. These things, I confess, may be worthy of a pious Pains, and a pious Attention: but, alas! what would they profit here, where they are already acknowledged? Or what would it profit to dilate either on the Ver∣tues

or Vices of other men, when we are so apt to think on the one side, that while we only extol the Vertues of Heroick Persons, we go Half-sharers with them in their Vertues? like the Cryers in the Olympick Games, who fansied, while they pronounced only au∣dibly and volubly the Victors Names and Victories, part of their Glory redounded to them. And again, on the other side, while we declame against Vice, that we are free from all imputation of Vice our selves; my Text calls us to other Considerations, not only to look back on Evils past, but forward on worse Evils to come; I say, on worse, while but on the same repeated: for if it be a sad reflection, that we have been totally destroyed, 'tis certainly a much sad∣der, that we may be so destroyed again; that if we shall still do wickedly, we shall be consumed, both we and our King. This consideration, if rightly made use of, will excite us rather to call our own Sins to remem∣brance, than to commemorate the Sins of other men; to arraign and condemn the evil deeds are found in our selves, than to employ our time in raking into the crimes of the Age that's past. And in order to our doing this, I shall instance in three Particulars in which this Nation seems most to tread the steps of Israel, and to be in danger to bring home to it self, the dreadful Commination made in my Text against them.

And first, As Israel desired a Change of Govern∣ment, only to remove God further from them: so if we may judge of mens minds by their outward actions, of the Secrets of their hearts by their fol∣lowing behaviour, the passionate desire of many a∣mong us to have a King again, after the fatal stroke struck this Day, was on no better an account than Isra∣el's desire to have a King. We had lain a long time

under a sad Oppression at home, or a sadder Exile abroad; ate no Bread for many Years, but what came, in a manner, to us, like Manna, from the imme∣diate hand of God: and the frequent Fasts, strict Devotions, and holy Lives, which could only pro∣mise a continuance of such favour from Heaven, were as insupportable as the Holiness and Obedience God required of Israel that he might dwell among them. And many desired a King, not so much to deliver the Nation from Oppression and Confusion, as themselves from the Paedagogy of Divine Discipline; not so much, I say, to rescue them from the Tyranny of the Usurper, as from the Tyrannies of Religion. And such a Surfeit many took, no less of holy Duties, than of evil days, that they have endeavoured since to obliterate all memory of them both: as 'twas the pra∣ctice, or at least the boast of a prophane Person, That whereas others observed the Days of their De∣liverance from any great danger, with Fasting and Humiliation; he always kept such Days with Feasting and Jollity; and for this Reason, To make his Soul a∣mends for what it had suffered. And such has been the deportment of some men since God restored them to their prosperity, that they seem to vie by their voluptuous lives with the former miseries they suffer∣ed; to make their Souls amends for the twenty Years affliction they lay under, by a twenty Years, or a whole future Lifes Debauchery. When God resto∣red us to our forfeited Peace and Prosperity, he pro∣mised himself, he had restored a People sensible of so wonderful a mercy; who, as he had made them to abound in all secure enjoyments, would have abound∣ed in Good Works, and Gratitude to him: but he has found such an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as I may say, such an unexpected Issue among us, as the Prophet Isaiah

complains he did in Israel in his Days, He lookt for righteousness, but behold a cry. When God lookt for righteousness, that his Glory should have been exalt∣ed in this Land more than in any other, because he had done more for it, than for any other, behold, I know not what Cry of more than usual infidelity and wickedness! What shall I say? that we are fallen back again into those Sins, which brought on us the cala∣mity of this Day? Nay, but we have outdone all our old Sins, and all that ever went before us; we have not only broken God's righteous Laws and Commandments, but denyed he ever gave a Law to the World; we have not only denyed him by our wicked lives, but even in our words to have any Be∣ing; and as all Ages have been guilty of Adultery, Drunkenness, and the like, 'tis the Character of this, That it affirms such things are no sins.

Secondly, As Israel put their confidence in Flesh and Bloud, believed, if they could obtain a King of their own Nation, he would be invincible, possessed of all the Heroick Qualities they had read of their Judges, and as his Character was greater, so his Per∣formances would be also greater; and this of course, as if God had been obliged, for his own Glory, to see it should be so, though they never so little re∣garded his Glory themselves. And have not we put as high a confidence in Flesh and Bloud, who have lookt upon our King not only as a defence against our Enemies, but even against God himself? not only as a Foundation of our Peace and Felicity, but of our Rebellion against Heaven? Who have said in our hearts, We have no need of the burthensom Duties of Religion, and the severities of a holy Life, now we have a King to provide against our dangers from abroad, and to take care for our quiet at home?

Few considering, in order to the Prosperity they de∣sire, what are the provocations of the Land, how we stand in favour or disfavour with God: But en∣quiring, What Alliances we have made abroad? What Ships we are able to set out? What Money there is in the Exchequer? What Supplies the Par∣liament will give, and the like? Is not this to pro∣voke God to infatuate our Counsels, and to bring our Enterprizes to nought? to involve our King in a common destruction with our selves, as he did this Day, though he were even a Hezekiah or a Da∣vid?

Thirdly, As Israel was mutinous and rebellious up∣on the least occasions against their best Governours, we come not behind them in this Sin: witness the black disloyalty of this Day. Historiographers, the publick Censurers of Mankind, brand every Nation of the Earth with some Vice more peculiar to them than others, as, to name none, one with Drunkenness, another with Robbery and Piracy, a third with ambition and desire of Sovereignty, a fourth with Whoredom, and abusing themselves with Man∣kind, &c. And we of this Nation, among the rest, are taxt for stubbornness, and proneness to Rebellion, noted for a People that delight in Sedition and sedi∣tious Persons, that are apt to think the most turbu∣lent and factious, the best Patriots; the greatest Troublers, the greatest Lovers of their Country: So that as other Princes, in regard of the sweet com∣pliance of their Subjects, are styled Reges Hominum, Kings of Men, ours are styled Reges Diabolorum, Kings of Devils. And 'tis observable, that what was the Vice of every Nation many hundred Years ago, continues to be the same still; Time has not altered them, nor the Preaching of the Gospel reformed

them. But though we of this Nation should not care to wipe off the imputation that lies upon us among men; nor yet fear the displeasure of God (who counts Rebellion as the Sin of Witchcraft, i. e. Disobedience to Governours a Degree of Apostasie from himself) yet the experience alone of the former Evils, which our unquiet Spirits have brought upon us, and their direct tendency to bring the like again, (viz. to be∣reave us a second time of our Royal Government, and to cast us under the subjection of the basest of the People) may well make us abhor all seditious thoughts; I say, for fear lest a second time we be∣come not only the most miserable, but the most ridicu∣lous and despicable of all People; while we give the World leave to say, that we that could not digest a miscarriage in the State, are forc'd to digest Oppres∣sion and Tyranny; that could not pass by an over∣sight in our Rulers, are compell'd to undergo Seque∣stration and Banishment, the Axe and the Halter, per∣haps a Foreign Yoke.

To draw to a Conclusion. It is a common Per∣swasion, That Comets or Blazing Stars portend the Change of States, and the Falls of Great Men: but we have much more reason to apprehend, that the Sins of the Nation, which hang like so many Me∣teors over our Heads, have an Ominous and Fatal A∣spect on us. The Bands of Discipline are loosned, the Majesty of our Prince is despised, God blasphe∣med, common Honesty baffled and affronted, Lewd∣ness triumphs, seditious Spirits take advantage from all to foment Disorders, Good Men are agast, the Ma∣gistrate desponds, as if the Distempers were as incu∣rable as Epidemical: And yet Good Men, as if we sate on a safe Shore, we please our selves in behold∣ing our Neighbours Ships tost and wreckt by the

Tempests of War; we read unconcernedly the week∣ly Gazettes of Armies overthrown, Cities ras'd, Coun∣tries subdu'd and ruin'd, and never apprehend, that our fair weather may suddenly lowre and overcast into a Storm. We met at this Day with vain and e∣lated minds to judge others, not to humble our selves; and if we lay load enough upon our Adver∣saries, and render them black and odious, we think our selves white as Innocence. Methinks the loud Thunder in my Text (for so the Commination in it sounds to me) should chastise these Gaieties, and not appear less terrible, because articulate, and speaks more to the Soul, than to the Ear; and this pro∣nounces emphatically, That the Issue of Sin persisted in, is utter ruine and confusion, and that the only way to prevent destruction, is Reformation. Let us therefore seek to reverse God's threats, by turning from our e∣vil ways; let us upbraid the wickedness of our Op∣pressors by our holy Lives; condemn the Hellish Practice of this Day, not by Invectives, but by our Loyalty and Obedience; and this will turn the dreadful Commination, Ye shall be consumed, both ye and your King, into the Blessing promised at ver. 14. If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and not rebel against his Commandments, then shall ye, and also the King that reigns over you, continue following the Lord your God, the Blessing promised to Israel, contained in these Words, shall be made good to us. God, in an extraordinary manner, will be our God, and we shall be his People: in which is included all the Feli∣city that can be wisht by man. And which God of his infinite mercy grant to us, through our Lord Je∣sus Christ, to whom, together with the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Honour and Glory, &c.