Dr. Chauncy's SERMON Occasion'd by the REBELLION In Favour of the PRETENDER.
The Counsel of two confederate Kings to set the Son of TABEAL on the Throne, represented as evil, in it's natural Tendency and moral Aspect.
A SERMON Occasion'd by the Present REBELLION in Favour of the Pretender. Preach'd in BOSTON, at the Thursday-Lecture, February 6th. 1745, 6.
By Charles Chauncy, D.D. Pastor of the first Church of CHRIST in said Town.
There will I make the Horn of David to bud: I have ordained a Lamp for mine anointed. His Enemies will I clothe with Shame; but upon himself shall his Crown flourish.
BOSTON: Printed for D. GOOKIN, over against the Old South Meeting-House. 1746.
The Son of TABEAL.
Because SYRIA, EPHRAIM, and the Son of REMALIAH have taken evil Counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against JUDAH, and vex it; and let us make a Breach in it for us, and set a KING in the midst of it, even the Son of TABEAL: Thus faith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
IT was now a Time of Distress and Fear with AHAZ King of JUDAH, and his whole Kingdom: His Heart was moved, and the Heart of his People, as the trees of the Wood are moved with the Wind. The Reason of this sore Amazement, is open'd in the 2d Verse of this Chapter, in these Words, And it was told the [Page 6] House of DAVID, saying, SYRIA is confederate with EPHRAIM. The Original here rendered is confederate, signifies, as a learned Critick observes, is rested; and may import, not only that these confederate Forces were joined, but that they were already encamped in the Borders of the Tribe of EPHRAIM; which was not a great way distant from JERUSALEM the Metropolis of JUDEA. And no wonder that AHAZ, and all his loyal Subjects, were surprized at the Tidings of so powerful an Invasion, threatning the Loss of every Thing that was near and dear to them.
IT was while King AHAZ was under fearful Apprehensions as to the Consequence of this Confederacy against him, that God sent the Prophet ISAIAH with a special Message to him; partly to hush his Fears, by assuring him, that the Attempt of these Kings to rend his Kingdom from him should prove vain; and partly to forewarn him of the Evil that should befall his Land from another King, the King of ASSYRIA, upon whom he too much depended: Interposing, by the Way, as a sure Ground of Support to the House of DAVID, under their present Difficulty, that remarkable Prophecy concerning the MESSIAH, that he should be born of a Virgin.
THE Message the Prophet was sent to deliver to him begins with the 4th Verse, where he bespeaks him in that Language, Take Heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two Tails of those smoaking Fire-brands, for the fierce Anger of REZIN with SYRIA, and of the Son of [Page 7] REMALIAH. Some think the Advice here given to the King is intended, at least in Part, to moderate his angry Resentments. Take Heed, and be quiet. Look to it, that you keep your Temper; that you don't fly into a Passion; and speak unadvisedly with your Lips: Have a Care you don't complain of Providence, and murmur against God for suffering these powerful Enemies to combine together in an enterprize to deprive you of your Crown, and enslave your People. But others more probably suppose the Design of the Advice is, to restrain his Fear within due Bounds and Limits: As if it had been said, See that you keep the Possession of your self; don't be dispirited; don't suffer your Heart to melt and fail within you; don't let your Fears prevail so as to betray you into any Thing unworthy your Dignity as a King, or that may reflect Dishonour on God.
AND, as an Enforcement of this Advice, the Prophet, under the Direction of God, compares these confederate Kings, in a Way of Contempt, to two Tails of smoaking Fire-brands. They seemed to AHAZ fierce and furious, like burning Brands of Fire; yea, his surprised Imagination represented their united Force by a raging Fire, whose Violence could not be resisted. But the Prophet, to allay his Fears, assures him from God they should prove nothing more than smoaking Fire-brands. They might for a while make a Smoother; but they should not be able to do him any considerable Hurt. Yea, he is commission'd to tell him, they were only the Tails or Ends of smoaking Fire-brands. [Page 8] Their Force was spent; they should soon expire; they should easily be put out.
THE Prophet goes on with his Message in the Words I have read to you for the Text, Because SYRIA EPHRAIM, and the Son of REMALIAH have taken evil Counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against JUDAH, and vex it; and let us make a Breach in it for us, and set a KING in the Midst of it, even the Son of TABEAL. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. In which Words the three following Things are observable,
I. A REPRESENTATION of the Design which the confederate Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL had formed against AHAZ; which was to dethrone him, and set a King in the Midst of his Kingdom, even the Son of TABEAL.
II. THE Resolution of Heaven to bring this Design to nought. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
III. The Reason of this Resolution; suggested in those Words, Because they have taken evil Counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against JUDAH, &c.
ACCORDINGLY, these are the Particulars we shall distinctly consider; but with all possible Brevity, [Page 9] that we may have more Time to apply them to the Circumstances of our Nation at this Day.
I. The first Thing contained in the Words of the Prophet is a Representation of the Design, which the confederate Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL had formed against AHAZ King of JUDAH.
SYRIA, EPHRAIM, and the Son of REMALIAH are the Confederates spoken of in the Text, as engaged in the Design against JUDAH: But, by a common Figure, SYRIA is here put for the King of SYRIA; and EPHRAIM being the known Scripture Term giving Denomination to the ten Tribes, or the Kingdom of ISRAEL, and the Son of REMALIAH being their King, he is the Person here intended: So that by SYRIA, EPHRAIM, and the Son of REMALIAH, we are to understand the Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL. The same Thing is meant as if these two Kings had been mentioned by Name. To be sure, these were the allied Potentates who had formed a Design against the Kingdom of JUDAH; and the Prophet here opens their Design, and plainly tells AHAZ their King what it was. And this he does by bringing them in, saying, as in the middle Clause of the Text, Let us go up against JUDAH, and vex it; and let us make a Breach in it for us, and set a KING in the midst of it, even the Son of TABEAL. Their Scheme was to dethrone AHAZ, and set up a PRETENDER in his Room, constituting him King of JUDAH.
[Page 10]WHO this Man was they intended to exalt to the Throne, we can't tell at this Distance of Time. He is called in the Text, the Son of TABEAL. And this is all we certainly know about him. Some conjecture he was a SYRIAN; others think he was an ISRAELITE; others a Native of JUDEA, but in the Interest of SYRIA and ISRAEL, and a fit Tool to serve their Turn. This seems most probable; and that he pretended some Sort of Right to the Crown, and had a Party in the Kingdom who abetted him. But whoever he was, and whether he pretended a Right to the Crown or not, he was the Creature of these confederate Kings, a sutable Engine for them to work with; and therefore they resolve to set the Crown of JUDAH on his Head. This was the Design they had principally in their View; and the Means they resolved upon in order to accomplish it, are particularly recorded in the Text.
THE first Thing they determined upon, in a Way of Means, the Prophet expresses in their own Words, Let us, say they, go up against JUDAH. The Thing resolved upon is an Invasion of their Land. This they judged necessary; an Expedient without which they might not hope for Success. 'Tis likely a Party in the Kingdom had an Affection for this Son of TABEAL, lik'd well the Scheme of making him King, and would gladly be assisting in it, could a Way be contrived to bring about so great a Revolution. Such Intelligence as this at the Courts of SYRIA and ISRAEL might give Rise to their Resolution to go up against JUDAH. A considerable Force from abroad they judged might [Page 11] countenance the Disaffected at home, and spirit them to rise up in Rebellion against their rightful and lawful King: They therefore project an Invasion, as a hopeful Method to succeed in their Intention to displace AHAZ, and set the Son of TABEAL on the Throne.
ANOTHER Means they resolved upon whereby to effect this Design was, the filling JUDAH with Vexation and Sorrow. Let us go up against JUDAH, say they, and vex it. The Meaning is, Let us ravage their Country, pillage and plunder their Towns and Cities, and so vex and harrass them as to make them weary of adhering to their present King, and willing to take the Son of TABEAL to reign over them.
NOR was this all, but they determine upon a more mischievous Means still in order to compass their Design against JUDAH; which was, to make a Breach in it for them. Let us go, say they, and make a Breach in it for us, i. e. say some, Let us penetrate into the Heart of the Country, advance even to JERUSALEM, the head or capital City of it, and make a Breach in its Wall, a Breach wide enough for us to march in; without which there will be no Hope to set a King in the midst of the Land. Let us make a Breach in it for us, i. e. say others, Let us rend the Kingdom from AHAZ, part in Twain, and share it between us; placing over it a King of our own, the Son of TABEAL, our very good Friend, in whom we have a joint Interest, and on whom we may both with Safety depend. [Page 12] Let us make a Breach in it for us, i. e. say others, Let us tear the Kingdom to Peices by enflaming the Disaffection there may be in the Minds of the People to their present King, and his Administration; by promoting Broils and civil Discords among them, dividing and getting them into Parties. Let us work by the discontented, factious and turbulent Spirits there are among them; setting them one against another, whereby they will weaken themselves and strengthen us.
AND this Sense of the Words, as it is agreeable to the Original, so it well sutes with their Design to set up a new King. This is seldom attempted, unless a Nation is supposed to have those within themselves, who will help forward such a Change. And when this is the Case, a foreign Invasion is more likely to effect a Revolution in Government. This might be considered by the allied Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL, and they might go against JUDAH in Expectation of making a Breach in it, i. e. of dividing the People, stirring up in them a Spirit of Hatred, Animosity and Variance: And they might probably hope to gain a Party from among them to join in their Attempt against the Crown of AHAZ, and to exalt the Son of TABEAL to the Throne.
THIS now was their Design: It aim'd at nothing short of overturning the Constitution, of dethroning the King of JUDAH, and setting his Crown on the Head of a vagrant Pretender. And the Means in order to accomplish this Design, was an Invasion [Page 13] of the Land; distressing its Inhabitants, and dividing them into Parties.
AND as they had concerted so plausible a Scheme, they little doubted of Success in the Execution of it: But this the righteous sovereign God would not grant; which leads to the next Thing observable in the Text, viz.
II. THE Resolution of Heaven to bring this Design to nought; contained in these Words, Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. Their Measures shall be broken, the Enterprise they have undertaken shall be confounded.
IT shall not stand. This is a Phrase strongly expressive of the divine Pleasure to defeat the Intention of these confederate Kings against JUDAH. A Design is said to stand, according to the Genius of the Hebrew Language, when it takes Effect. Hence that of the Psalmist, Prov. 30.11. The Counsel of the Lord standeth forever. It forever takes Place. On the other Hand, A Design is said not to stand, when it fails of its Accomplishment, proves frustrate and vain. And this is the Thing here intended. It shall not stand. 'Tis as if it had been affirmed, it shall not be carried into Execution; but, like the Counsel of the Heathen be brought to nought; like the Devices of the People made of none effect.
[Page 14]IT is added, neither shall it come to pass. In the Original 'tis, neither shall it be; which may have a further Emphasis in it. For a Thing purposed may be produced, and yet not established; it may be bro't into Being, and for all that fall to the Ground and come to nothing. But this Result of their's shall never have Existence: It shall not be. 'Tis as if the Prophet had said, AHAZ shall not be dethron'd; JUDAH shall not be enslaved. The Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL have design'd this; but it shall no more be, than if they had not formed such a Design: So far from it, that these Kings themselves shall be subdued, the Riches of DAMASCUS, the chief Seat of the King of SYRIA, shall be taken away; and EPHRAIM shall be broken that it be not a People, as it follows in this and the next Chapter.
AND AHAZ, to whom this Message was sent, had reason to depend upon the Truth of its Contents. For it is introduced with a thus saith the Lord God. The Prophet did not suggest his own Wishes; he did not deliver his own Conjectures upon the probable Appearances of Things: But spake as immediately sent from God, and said nothing but what he was instructed from Heaven to say.
AND that AHAZ might have no Reason for Doubt upon this Head, the Prophet, in God's Name, allows him to ask a Sign for the Confirmation of his Faith, Verse 11. Ask thee a Sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the Depth, or in the Height above. He is permitted to make his own Choice, to ask such a Sign as he himself pleased, either in Heaven [Page 15] or Earth; as that the Sun might stand still, or go back, or withdraw his Light for a while; or that there might be a Convulsion in the Earth, or a Removal of it out of its Place, or the like extraordinary and miraculous Performance.
ONE would think this was eno' to satisfy Infidelity itself; and yet, AHAZ was faithless and unbelieving. He refused this gracious condescending Offer of God, saying, as in the 12th Verse, I will not ask. He pretends indeed a pious Reason; I will not tempt the Lord: As if it would be a tempting God to do that which he had himself permitted, yea, directed him to do. But this was a meer Pretence. The true Reason, why he would not ask a Sign was, because he was resolved to provide for his own Safety a securer Way, as he imagined. His Dependance was upon the ASSYRIANS for Help: He chose rather to rely upon an Arm of Flesh, than upon the God of JACOB, in whom is everlasting Strength.
UPON which the Prophet sharply reproves, both him, and the House of DAVID, for their Contempt of the divine Offer he had made them: But withal lets them understand, that God would notwithstanding give them a Sign. Verse 13, 14, 15, 16. Hear ye now, O House of DAVID, Is it a small Thing for you to weary Men? But will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a Sign; behold, A Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his Name Immanuel. Butter and Honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the Evil, and [Page 16] chuse the Good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the Evil and chuse the Good, the Land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings ‡. [Page 17] And According to the Sign here given, so it came to pass; for within a few Years, PEKAH and REZIN, [Page 18] the two Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL, were both slain; one by HOSHEA, and the other by the King [Page 19] of ASSYRIA.—But I may not enlarge. The Design I have in View obliges me to hasten to the last Thing observable in the Text, which is,
[Page 20]III. THE Reason of God's Resolution to bring this Design formed against JUDAH to nought; viz. because it was an evil Design. This Reason is suggested in those Words. BECAUSE they have taken evil Counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against JUDAH, &c. The Matter of which their Result consisted was evil, and therefore devoted by God to Shame and Disappointment. It was evil in respect of the Effects to be produced by it; and it was evil also in it's moral Nature, as being an outragious Intention of Injustice and Wickedness.
IT was an evil Design in respect of the Effects to be bro't to pass. These were as dismal as could be devised by the Heart of Man. For not only might the ordinary Mischiefs of War be expected, in Consequence of this evil Counsel, but civil Discord, intestine Broils, Hatred and Variance; which naturally and powerfully tend to divide a Kingdom against it self, and bring it to Ruin. And what is still worse, their Counsels aimed at making a Revolution in the Government; at cutting off AHAZ, and setting a PRETENDER on his Throne, to the utter Extermination of the House of DAVID. What more shocking could they have enterprized? What more fatal in it's Consequences to the Kingdom of JUDAH? Their King; the Succession in his royal Family; their civil and religious Interests; their All was now threatned by the combined Forces of SYRIA and ISRAEL.
BUT this was an evil Design also in Respect of it's moral Nature. The Thing intended was vile; [Page 21] a Contrivance formed under the Influence of ungoverned Lusts and Passions, without either Reason or Justice to give Countenance to it. It does not appear that AHAZ had done these Kings any Wrong; without which their taking up Arms against him was highly injurious: Much more their Design to deprive him of his Crown, and place it on the Head of the Son of TABEAL; hereby subverting the Constitution of JUDAH, and making that happy People Slaves to a Tool, they had no other View in trying to advance to the Throne, than to serve their own base Purposes. There is scarce a Name bad enough to convey a full Idea of the Outrage, Violence, and Injustice of this Intention. It was abominable in the Sight of a holy and righteous God; and he therefore resolved to bring it to nothing.
NOT that God always defeats the Counsels that are evil. He sometimes suffers them to take Effect, for the Punishment of his own People, and to bring about his own Purposes, in the Changes he has ordained should be made in the Kingdoms of this World. But when that which is evil, in it's Nature as well as Consequences, is intended against a Nation, he often interposes for their Help; and sometimes for this very Reason, because the Design formed against them is evil; hereby testifying against it as a Thing odious in his Sight. Thus it was here. Because the Kings of SYRIA and ISRAEL took evil Counsel against JUDAH, therefore the Lord God said, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
[Page 22]AND he might the rather come into this Determination, because the Counsel taken against JUDAH was, in a Sense, a Contrivance to overset an Establishment of his own, forming. For 'tis observable, after SAUL, who was once King of the Jewish Nation, had the Kingdom taken from him for his Iniquity, God gave it to DAVID, and settled it on him and on his Sons in Succession forever. So that this Counsel to set the Son of TABEAL on the Throne of JUDAH was virtually an Attempt against God, and that Suceession he had established to run in the Family of DAVID.—But I must hasten to the
APPLICATION.
AND what I propose is, to accommodate what has been said to the Appearances of Providence at this Day. I doubt not but, upon reading my Text, your Thoughts were turned to our Mother Kingdom; and while discoursing on the melancholly State of JUDAH, I believe you found within your selves a Readiness to transfer the most of what was said to the present Circumstances of the British Nation. There is certainly an Analogy between the two Cases. Suffer me to dilate a little in making it still more obvious to you: And, for Method's Sake, I shall give you what I have to offer under the three following consentaneous Heads.
1. I SHALL take Notice of the Design formed against our King and Nation.
2. REPRESENT it as a most evil Design.
[Page 23]And,
3. MENTION a few Things tending to encourage us to hope, that God will say concerning it, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
1. AS to the first, the Design against our King and Nation, much need not be said. You have all been apprised of the Insurrection in SCOTLAND, as well as of the Thing intended by it, an Attempt against the Throne of GREAT-BRITAIN, to displace our King, set aside the Succession in his illustrious House, and subject the Nation to an abjured and popish PRETENDER. Nor are any of you ignorant, that this Design was formed and carried on under the Countenance and Protection of two allied Potentates, the Kings of FRANCE and SPAIN, those natural and inveterate Enemies of ENGLAND. At first, indeed, it look'd like a Contrivance of those Princes to keep our Fleets at home, and prevent our sending Forces abroad; but it is now too evident, that they have resolved to make an Attempt against the Person and Crown of our rightful and lawful Sovereign, and are getting in Readiness a Body of regular Troops to be sent into ENGLAND upon this fatal Design. Their Counsel against GREAT-BRITAIN appears to be like that in my Text against JUDAH, Let us go up against it, and set a King in the midst of it, even the Son of TABEAL, our common Friend and Tool, thro' whom we may accomplish all our Desire: Which Counsel of their's,
2. I AM to point out to you, in the second Place, as most Evil, both in its natural Tendency and moral Aspect.
[Page 24]'TIS naturally connected with the Ruin of the Nation, and all its dependant Provinces. Should God permit this Design of our Enemies to take place, what would become of our English Liberties, whereby we are distinguished from every other People under Heaven? Would a Creature of FRANCE and SPAIN maintain these inviolable? Would he not rather rule us with a Rod of Iron, after the Manner of those corrupt and arbitrary Courts? And what would be the Fate of those invaluable Priviledges which we enjoy as Protestants? Would one that brings his Religion from ROME turn Enemy to the POPE, and encourage and promote the Cause that is opposite to his and subversive of it? Can this reasonably be supposed? Has it been the Way of popish Princes, bigotted to the Religion of Antichrist? Have they not rather made use of their Power and Influence to extirpate the true Protestant Religion? Had not the Nation full Experience of this in the Reign of Queen MARY, notwithstanding her Promises to the contrary *? [Page 25] What Ground did the Interest of ROME and Hell gain in her Day †? How were the Professors of the pure Religion of Jesus persecuted, and many of them called to endure the fiery Trial ‖? And have we not Reason to believe, if that unhappy Reign had lasted a little longer, that Popery would have been effectually established in the Kingdom? And [Page 26] what Progress did King JAMES, the supposed Father of the present PRETENDER, make towards bringing upon us this Yoke of Bondage, together with all the Miseries of an arbitrary and tyrannical Government ‡? He took such large Steps, under [Page 27] the Influence of popish and despotic Principles, that, in a few Years, he went a great way. The Freedom of Parliaments was denied; the Rights both civil and religious, not only of private Persons, but Communities invaded, and with a high Hand taken away; the Laws, which, under God, are the People's Security, dispensed with, and the Will and Pleasure of the Prince set up in the Room of Law, and a tyrannical arbitrary Power declared for by the Judges, who should have been Guardians, as well as Interpreters of the Law. Professed Papists, not only bare-faced and with Impunity, but with the greatest Share of the royal Favour, came over in Shoals from foreign Parts, like Swarms of Locusts, and infested the Land, ingrossed the Prince's [Page 28] Ear, fill'd his Presence, and, tho' utterly unqualify'd, obtain'd great Offices of Trust and Profit in the Nation. Popish Priests and Jesuits were openly countenanced and encouraged, and Seminaries erected for poisoning the Principles of our Youth; while some of great Worth and Dignity, for humly representing to the King, according to their Duty, the dangerous and unhappy. Tendency of such Measures, were imprison'd, and with much Rancour prosecuted.
NOR were the ill Effects of this King's Reign confin'd to GREAT-BRITAIN. Our Fathers here in NEW-ENGLAND groaned under the oppressive Burden of his popish and tyrannical Power. Some now alive do well remember the Distresss and Fear which fill'd the Hearts of all, who, in that Day, wished well to our Zion. The then Governour of the MASSACHUSETTS, Sir EDMUND ANDROSS, unhappily copied after the Measures of his Royal Master, and by his insupportable Tyranny occasion'd a REVOLUTION here *; not altogether unlike that which was effected, some Months before, in ENGLAND, by the glorious King WILLIAM, under God, the great Deliverer of the Nation from POPERY and SLAVERY.
[Page 29]AND should the pretended Son of this King JAMES succeed in his Attempt, under the Countenance of FRANCE and SPAIN, to ascend the British Throne, what might be expected but that he should be a Plague to the Nation and its Dependancies, as was his Father before him? Yea, whereas his Father did lade them with a heavy Yoke, he would, no doubt, add to their Yoke: His little Finger would be thicker than his Father's Loins. His Father chastised labor with Whips, but he would chastise them with Scorpions.
'Tis true, he has made a great many fine Promises, in his Declaration from ROME, dispersed among the People: And so did his pretended Father before him, and with as much Formality and Solemnity †; and yet, he shamefully broke them all: [Page 30] And we have all the Reason in the World to believe the Son would do the same. For it is to be remembred, he is devoted to a Religion, which not only sets him free from the Obligation of Promises and Oaths made to Hereticks, as we all are in his Opinion; but obliges him, even upon Pain of Damnation, to act counter to them all, whenever he has got Power into his Hands, and is under Advantages to extirpate the Protestant Religion, and establish that of ROME.
AND can the Settlement of such a Prince on the British Throne be for the Good of the Nation? It directly and surely tends, in the natural Course of Things, to its utter Ruin; the Subversion of the Constitution, the depriving the People of their just Rights and Liberties, as Englishmen and Protestants, and the putting them under a Government which knows no Rule but that of meer Will and Pleasure; which is, in one Word, the same Thing with making them certainly and compleatly miserable.
[Page 31]BUT this Design is evil in a moral and religious Sense, as well as in regard of its natural Tendency. 'Tis a vile Contrivance, impious and unrighteous to a high Degree of Guilt; as the Person, the Design is levell'd against, is not of a low and private Character, but the Head of a Kingdom, its rightful and lawful Sovereign, with whose Ruin the Ruin of a whole Nation is inseperably connected. And what aggravates the Wickedness is, that he is a King who has so sacredly adhered to his Treaties, that not a single Instance can be pointed out, wherein he has violated them to the Injury of either of those Powers who are combined against him: Nor has he ever made an Attempt upon the Liberty, or Property, or Religion of any one Person, within his own Kingdom; but has so managed in the Administration, as to be able to appeal to his Parliament, and say, as in his late Speech to them, ‘I have, throughout the whole of my Reign, made the Laws of the Land the Rule of my Government, and the Preservation of the Constitution of Church and State, and the Rights of my People, the main End and Aim of all my Actions.’ And shall a Design be formed, and carried into Execution, against the Person and Crown of such a King? 'Tis vile in Regard of those Powers from abroad, and base and unnatural in Regard of those Male-contents within the Nation, who have given Encouragement and Aid to it. And the more so, if we take into Consideration the indisputed Title he has to the Throne of GREAT-BRITAIN, in Opposition to all others, and to the PRETENDER in particular.
[Page 32]I wont indeed say, that his Right to the Crown is derived to him from God in the same Sense in which AHAZ inherited the Throne of his Fathers. For the Kingdom was given to DAVID, and settled on his Sons forever, by immediate Direction from the God of Heaven: But yet, I scruple not to say, that he as really received the Kingdom from God, and in a Manner truly wonderful, and in which the Pleasure of God was indubitably made known.
IT was owing to the tyrannical, oppressive Measures of King JAMES the Second, that he became generally odious to the Nation; insomuch, that when King WILLIAM, of glorious Memory, the Deliverer God raised up for us, came over into ENGLAND", all Opposition fell before him, his and our Enemies were infatuated, so that their mighty Men found not their Hands, nor their wise Men their Counsels; and all the Protestants, however at other Times divided, united then, and their Hearts were turned to their Deliverer as one Man. Lords, Commons, Arch-bishops, Bishops, the whole Clergy of all Denominations, and the whole Body of the People, except those who were popishly inclin'd, ran with one Consent, and met the welcome Blessing with Extasies of Joy.
AND when upon this public and general Manifestation of the Kingdom's Sentiments and Affections, the conscious King abdicated the Government, commissioning no Person nor Persons for the Administration in his Absence; the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, humbly besought [Page 33] their great Deliverer, in that their great Necessity, to take the Administration into his Hands. And as there was no other Remedy to save the Nation from utter Ruin and Confusion, he was pleased to comply with their Desire. And the Crown was soon after settled on Him and his Princess, under the Stile of King WILLIAM and Queen MARY. †
[Page 34]BUT he was too generous to confine his Views to the Grandeur and Security of his own Person [Page 35] and Reign only; but extended them to Posterity, making it his Endeavour to lay a good Foundation for the happy Settlement of the Nation for future and distant Times.
Upon the Death of his ever-memorable Queen and the Duke of Gloucester, he wisely foresaw that upon the Demise of his Sister, who was to succeed to him, there would be popish Pretenders to the Crown, who would strive to impose themselves on the Nation. And therefore to extinguish their Hopes, and to secure our Religion, Rights and Liberties, as far as humane Wisdom could contrive, he did all he could to promote an Act of Parliament, settling the Succession of the Crown on her Electoral Highness the Princess SOPHIA, Dutchess of HANOVER, [ Grand-Daughter of King JAMES the First, and Grand-Mother to his present Majesty King GEORGE the Second] the only remaining Protestant Branch of the old Royal Family, and the only support and Hope, under God, of our happy Constitution, and the invaluable Advantages accruing to [Page 36] us from it, both as Englishmen and Protestants *; which Settlement, then established by the whole [Page 37] Legislature has since been confirmed by many Acts of Parliament, and from Time to Time sworn to by almost all of all Orders and Degrees of Men in the Nation.
THIS now is the Way in which the Crown was derived to his present MAJESTY; and his Right thus conveyed is unquestionably clear and strong, and renders that Counsel evil and sinful, whether from Enemies abroad, or Male-contents at home, which would remove him from the BRITISH Throne; and the rather, because the Person intended to be made Sovereign, is, in Principle, a known avowed Enemy to that Constitution, and those Liberties both civil and religious, which our present King has all along defended and protected: Besides which, he is strongly and justly suspected of not being the legal Son of that Prince from whom he is said to descend. I know the PRETENDER calls himself the true Son of King JAMES the Second; and I know also, that a Son was produced while that King sat on the BRITISH Throne; "But (as one observes) there was such bungling Work in that Piece of Management, that, however some have got their Sight cleared now, it was the universal Sense of the Nation then, that there were [Page 38] the strongest and most just Presumptions of his Illegitimacy." *
[Page 39]AND shall a Person under Suspicion as to his Descent, and a Papist in Principle, as well as Tool of [Page 40] FRANCE and SPAIN, be advanced to the BRITISH Throne? God forbid! The Design is abominable. It is so in the Sight of every true Friend to the Interest of ENGLAND; and, I doubt not, it is so in the Sight of a holy and righteous God: Which leads me,
3. In the third and last Place, to mention a few Things tending to encourage us to hope, that God will say concerning this Design, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
I have no Commission to declare this to be the Intention of God. And indeed, while we consider the moral State of the Nation, we have Reason for Concern and Fear. Perhaps, it was never in a more corrupt and degenerate State, than at this Day. Were the Truths of God ever more generally disown'd? Were the Revelations of God ever more generally disbelieved? Were the Commandments of God ever more generally and shamefully violated?
[Page 41]The Land of our Fore-fathers may justly be lamented over in the Language of the Prophet ISAIAH, Ah sinful Nation! A People laden with Iniquity, a Seed of evil Doers! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the holy One of ISRAEL to Anger.
BUT when we turn our View to the Interest of the REDEEMER, which will suffer by setting a popish Prince on the British Throne, we have strong Reason for Hope. Will God suffer the Man of Sin, that Son of Perdition, who hath exalted himself into the Seat of CHRIST, to be again acknowledged and adored, by a Nation who have declared their Abhorrence of worshipping him, instead of the Son of God? Will God suffer the Fopperies and Superstitions and abominable Idolatries of the Church of ROME, to take place among a People who have undergone so much in protesting against them? Will God suffer the chief Bulwark of the Protestant Cause in Europe to be broken down and destroy'd? There would be no Unrighteousness in him should he, in this Way, punish us for our Iniquities. But yet, we have great Encouragement to rely on his Power for our Protection and Deliverance, as the Design of our Enemies is really a Design against CHRIST, as well as us; a Design against the pure uncorrupt Religion of the Gospel, as well as against our civil Constitution.
AND it should animate our Faith and Hope to consider, how often, and in what remarkable Ways, God has appeared for our Help, when our popish Enemies have laid their Plots as deep as Hell to ruin us; particular Instances whereof might be mention'd, would the Time allow.
[Page 42]AND it looks like a Token for Good, that such a Spirit appears in the Nation, among all Sorts of Men, to oppose this accursed Design, at the Peril both of their Estates and Lives. At first, it may be, it was treated with too much Neglect and Contempt; but since the Defeat of General COPE, and the Entrance of the Rebels into the Metropolis of SCOTLAND, the Attention of the Nation has been roused; and they are voluntarily mustering, from all Quarters, for the Defence of their King and Country. And it may be hoped, God intends, in this Way, to put an End to the present Disturbances, and resettle the Kingdom in Peace and Quiet.
THERE are none among his Majesty's Subjects more heartily desirous of this, than WE in these distant Provinces. I don't believe there could be found in them all so much as one NEW-ENGLAND Man, but his Indignation is enkindled at the Attempt to set a popish PRETENDER on the Throne of GREAT-BRITAIN, in the Room of his Majesty King GEORGE the Second. And could the People, inhabiting the several Provinces, be gathered together in one general Assembly, I doubt not, they would join Heart and Voice in the Cry of AMASAI, Thine are we, DAVID, and on thy Side, thou Son of JESSE: Peace, Peace, be to thee, and Peace be to thine Helpers.
AND horribly ungrateful should we be, if a just Sense of the invaluable Priviledges, civil and religious, which we enjoy, under the mild and kind Administration of so gracious a Sovereign and tender Father, did not knit our Hearts to him in Love, disposing us to all Reverence and Loyalty.
[Page 43]AND shall we be dutifully affected to our Sovereign, and not bow the Knee before the Throne of Mercy for him, now that his Enemies are risen up in Rebellion against him? This is the only Way, wherein we, who live at such a Distance, can help our King and Nation, in subduing those who are endeavouring their Ruin.
AND let us, my Brethren, in this Way, express our Love, and Gratitude, and Loyalty, to our Sovereign, and Concern for the Safety of his Kingdom. Let us be constant and importunate in our Supplications to God, that he would preserve the Person, and protect the Crown of our rightful and lawful King; cloathing his Enemies with Shame, but causing the Crown to flourish on his Head, and on the Head of his Posterity forever: And that he would mercifully save his People from Popery and Slavery; perpetuating to them the Enjoyment of their Rights and Liberties, which distinguish them from the other Nations of the Earth. Happy will they be while in such a Case; yea, happy will they be, so long as God is their Lord. And may our Nation and Land be thus happy, 'till Time shall be no more! God grant it for his Mercy's Sake in CHRIST JESUS.
AMEN.