SERMON XX.

THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER.

ALTHOUGH the due observance of this day, as also of the 30th of Jan. and 29th of May, are enjoined by Act of Parliament; yet particular forms not being previously directed, nor subsequently confirmed by any Act of Parliament, but they are specially authorized (as is also that of the King's Inauguration) by this Order of his Majesty :

GEORGE R.

Our will is that these four forms of Prayers, made for the 5th of November, the 30th of January, the 29th of May. and the 25th of October, be printed and used yearly on the said days, in all Churches and Chapels, &c. Given at our Court at St. James's, the 7th of October, 1761, in the first year of our reign.

By his Majesty's command,

BUTE.

Forasmuch as no nation hath been blessed with greater benefits than this kingdom now enjoyeth, having the true and free profession of the Gospel; the which many malignant and devilish papists, envying and fearing, conspired most horribly, when the King's most excellent Majesty, the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, should have been assembled in the upper house of Parliament, on the 5th of November, 1605, suddenly to have blown up the said whole house with gunpowder, had it not pleased Almighty God that this hidden treason should have been miraculously dis

covered

covered not many hours before the appointed time for the execution thereof: therefore the King, the Lords spiritual and temporal, and all his Majesty's subjects, do most justly acknowlege this great and infinite blessing to have proceeded from God;

It is enacted that all Ministers shall always, on the 5th day of November, say morning prayer, and give unto Almighty God thanks for this most happy deliverance.

S Jac. c. 1. s. 1. 2.

Vide Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. Holidays.

* LUXE ix. 55, 56.

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

WHE

WHEN the Blessed Jesus was going from Galilee to Jerusalem, and was to " pass through

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a village of the Samaritans, He sent messengers be"fore Him," to prepare a reception for Him. But so violent was the prejudice the Samaritans bore against the Jews, that they refused to receive this affectionate friend and lover of mankind, because His face was "as though He would go to Jerusalem."

This unkind, and inhospitable usage, kindled the indignation of His disciples James and John, and they would have "called fire from heaven as Elias did" upon his adversaries, and implored the God of ven

geance "to cast forth His lightning and tear them, and shoot out His arrows and consume them."

Now the affront was offered by a perverse schisma. tical people, who had set up a temple near Samaria, in opposition to the temple at Jerusalem, and had made an unnecessary separation from "Mount Sion, which "the Lord had chosen to be an habitation for Himself, "and of which He had said, this shall be my rest "for ever; here will I dwell, for I have a delight. "therein."

But although these specious reasons might be urged in their behalf, yet the Son of God, who "declared "His almighty power, most chiefly, in shewing mercy " and pity," was pleased to rebuke their passions with that powerful voice" with which He rebukes even the winds and the seas, and they obey Him. He turned and rebuked them, and said, ye know not "what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of ❝man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save ❝ them."

And had all that professed Christianity, duly, considered this just rebuke, had they been directed by the same spirit of love and charity as their Lord and Master breathed forth in all His doctrines, in every action of His life, and, most especially, in the agonies of death; they would have withheld their hand from those dreadful instances of murder and parricide, which have been committed under the pretence of Religion, and most certainly they would have abhorred that deed which, on this day, was, wickedly, prepared, but, through God's Providence, happily prevented.

That we may be possessed with a lively sense of our great deliverance, and a just abhorrence of that cruel, unnatural,

nnatural, persecuting spirit, which would have plunged us into the depths of misery; I shall shew,

First, That it is contrary to the spirit of our Saviour, the temper of his Gospel, and the manner in which it was propagated and spread abroad.

Secondly, That it destroys the end and design of all Religion.

Thirdly, That it turns to the prejudice of that cause which it endeavors to promote.

First. It is contrary to the spirit of our Saviour. This was the description which the Prophet Isaiah gave of the Messiah. "He was oppressed and af"flicted, yet He opened not his mouth." And his character drawn by St. Peter is like unto it. "When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suf→ "fered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to "Him that judgeth righteously."

And, agreeably to both, the course of His actions was a continual proof of the most remarkable meekness, and unwearied patience, and forbearance. He might have commanded "legions of angels" to pub lish His Gospel, and destroy those hardened wretches that refused to hearken to His wonderful overtures of kindness, and accept the means of reconciliation.

He received the most ungrateful and disingenuous provocations; but instead of executing immediate vengeance on the daring offenders, " He wept over Jeru "salem, because she would not know the things that belonged to her peace, before they were hid from ❝ her eyes."

It was the constant endeavor of His malicious ac cusers, to find Him guilty of raising sedition, and be ing an enemy to Cæsar's government. But though great

great numbers of people followed Him, either to hear His doctrines, or for the benefit of His mighty works, yet no disturbance was given to the public peace, no just occasion of jealousy to the Roman government! The Blessed Jesus bound the Christian Religion with stronger tics upon the consciences of men, than ever were laid upon them before; and, at the same time, He, more effectually, secured the rights of every one, carefully preserved the peace of kingdoms, and set a lasting fence, and guard, about them. So far was He from dissolving the common obligations of mankind, and giving the subject a commission to cast off the bands of allegiance, and promote His Religion by massacres, rebellions, and tortures, whensoever his prince should differ from Him!

How contrary, then, is the spirit of the Romish Church to that of the innocent Jesus! How far from His intentions was that horrid conspiracy, which would have involved the king," the breath of our nostrils," the queen, the parent of all our hopes, the princes, the nobility, the spiritual fathers, the aged counsellors, and the promising youth of our country, in one common destruction! How fierce was that zeal, which would have swallowed them up in an instant, without the least fear of danger, and would have made almost as great a slaughter as there was in Egypt, when "there 66 was not an house where there was not one dead!"

How unreasonable was the wrath of these ministers of cruelty, that would have rejoiced in their misery, though they had no other crime to charge upon them than this," that after the way which they called heresy, so worshipped they the God of their fathers!" And this dreadful attempt was as contrary to the

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