Royal Throne without a Rival a Rival did I say nay a most imperious Master that is very hard to please and yet if he be not pleased and humour'd in all things 't is a thousand to one but he will jostle him out of it and lay his Honour in the dust A Church in which he can Exercise but a part and that the meanest and most ignoble part of his Authority that only which concerns the Civil Polity and Rights for he may not meddle with Religion nor the Ministers of it who are exempt from his Jurisdiction and Sworn Vassals to his Superiour and as such ready to revenge the Injuries and Affronts the Prince offers to their great Masters if he dares be so rash and unadvised as to be guilty of any but of that afterwards A Church in which he that is Gods Image and Representative less only then God must sneak and truckle Meanly to an Upstart and Usurper a meteor drawn from the Earth and raised on high by Pride Avarice and Cruelty What Temptation then could his Royal Highness who is a wise Prince of a brave and generous Spirit and so exceeding tender of his Honour that he must needs in the highest manner resent the least Violation of his Right all diminution or lessening of his Power all invasion and usurpation of the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to it both by Divine and Humane Right if the Crown should descend to him What Temptation I say could such a Prince have to joyn himself to a Church in which he shall be so degraded and dishonour'd be a Vassal Underling to one that unjustly insolently and prophanely exalts himself above all that is called God that is all the Kings of the Earth Especially if we consider that the Church he forsakes or goes from Courts his stay by giving her Kings their full Authority all the Priviledges Prerogatives and Preheminences belonging to them in this that is the Church of England the King is declared Supream not only in Temporal but in all Causes Ecclesiastical superintends Religion as well as Civil Rights governs the Clergy chuses the Bishops convenes them when he sees cause to make Canons Constitutions Authorises Impowers them to consult debate to order conduct the Circumstances of Religion the Essentials of it being determined by God in Scripture what they agree upon he doth at their humble Petition if he approve of them by his Royal Edict confirm or pass into Laws Ecclesiastical and when they have effected what he called them together for he dismisses or dissolves the assembly Here the Kings Power within his Realms and Dominions is affirm'd and declared to be the Highest Power under God Canon 1 of the Canons Anno 1603. to whom all Men as well Inhabitants as born within the same do by Gods Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience And whosoever shall deny or oppose the Royal Supremacy is to be Excommunicated Canon 2. ipso facto and not to be restored but only by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of those his Wicked Errours So that they must be blind or wilfully shut their Eyes that do not see a vast difference in this great affair between ours and the Church of Rome in this the Pope is Supream Governour in all causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical nay in Temporal too so far as they concern Religion in that our Church I mean she Supremacy is given intirely to our Kings whose Power is expresly declared to be the highest under God and their Authority extended to all Persons as well Clergy as People and to all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal In the Church of Rome if the Prince claim the Supremacy which belongs to him by Divine Right he is Reputed and Treated as an Heretick that is Excommunicated and Deposed and if any of his Subjects dare to assert and openly maintain his Supremacy as in Duty and Conscience they are bound to do because it is their Princes undoubted Right they are Condemn'd to Dye and Adjudg'd Guilty of such a Crime as cannot be purged but by casting them into the Fire In our Church all the Clergy are requir'd to the uttermost of Canon 1. their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any colour or dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times at least every Year That all Usurped and Forreign Power forasmuch as the same hath no Establishment nor Ground by the Law of God is for most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that therefore no manner of Obedience and Subjection within His Majesties Realms and Dominions is due unto any such Forreign Power but that the King is Supream Governour Canon 55. in all his Realms and Dominions in all causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Or as it is express'd in the excellent Canons of the Year 1640 A Supream Power is Canon 1. given to this most excellent Order that is of Kings by God himself in Scripture which is that Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what Ranks or Estates soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should restrain and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers The Care of Gods Church is so committed to Kings in Scripture that they are commended when the Church keeps the right way and taxed when it runs amiss and therefore her Government belongs in chief unto Kings for otherwise one Man would be commended for anothers Care and taxed for anothers Negligence which is not Gods way And if any of our Clergy or Laity dare to impugn or oppose the Royal Supremacy they are Anathematiz'd or decreed to be Excommunicated which is the greatest Punishment the Church can inflict and the most dreadful one any Man can suffer in this World 'T is most apparent then that our Church gives and secures to the Crown that great and most precious Jewel the Supremacy which is the chief Glory and Ornament of it which the Church of Rome so unjustly steals from and Robs it of Here the Prince hath no Rival nor Competitor none to insult or Domineer over him as in the Romish Communion no Lord at all over him but the great Governour of all the World God Almighty to whom it is his Glory as well as Duty to be Subject and submit himself in all things And as our Church doth not diminish or lessen the Power of her Kings so it is so far from pretending any Jurisdiction or coercive Authority over them that it abhors and detests it declares it to be Treason both against God and the King for any to claim or challenge such Authority over them For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or a vow in any their said Realms or Territories Canons of 1640. Canon 1. respectively under any pretence whatsoever any Independent Coactive Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to
upon it then they call his Piety in question say he is not Orthodox in Religion but a friend or favourer of the corrupt Church and Popishly affected because they know this will open the Mouths and inrage the minds of all the Zealots against him and consequently expose him to the greatest Dangers So that the transcendent worth value and greatness of this Right appears from the mighty esteem and admiration that Men have for it that which all the ambitious envy the owners for vehemently desire themselves will run all Hazards expose themselves to all Dangers for venture their Lives nay their Souls to obtain must needs be a great thing such is a Crown on Earth which evil Men prefer before one in Heaven and good men think hath nothing which exceeds it but that Consider also the peculiarity and separation of this Right how few there are amongst all Mankind that have any just Claim or Title to the Royal Dignity it is not like the lower honours dispens'd to any great number of Men but impropriate or reserved to a few Persons and Families the commonness of other things abates their value and lessens our esteem of them but a Crown is so great a rarity that it is justly accounted the most Glorious thing upon Earth and therefore it is the highest Injustice to to rob a Prince of such a Jewel It would be remembred also who is the Donour of this Right and we may say of it as our Lord did of St. John's Baptism Is it from Heaven or of Men doth God give Crown 's or the People If they be not in his Donation Daniel was much mistaken who affirms That the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and all the holy Writers Chap. 4. 25. Err strangely who call all Kings Gods Anoynted and Ministers the Sons of God and the Children of the most high and say he sets them on the Throne and that they Reign by him receive their Power and Authority that is Immediately from him that he removeth and setteth up Kings and is wonderful amongst them they tell us also that Saul and David and Solomon were chosen by him to be Kings over and Govern his People and that the Prophets had Commission from him to go and Anoynt such an one King and Ahija spake in the name of God when he said to Jeroboam I will give the Kingdom unto thee Nor doth the Gospel make any change in this great affair for our Lord himself own'd Pilat's power to be from above and St. Paul affirms not only Government it self to be Gods Ordinance but that the Powers that be the Kings and Princes that then Governed the World to be ordained of God that is as the Learned Grotius observes Authoritatem suam a Deo accipere In Rom. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 non minus quam si Reges illi per prophetas Uncti essent to receive their Authority from God no less then if those Kings had been Anoynted by Prophets were equally that is Constituted or Ordained by him as if God had bid a Prophet go and Anoynt them And if they were so then they are and must be so now Nor doth St. Peter contradict his fellow Apostle when he calls upon the Christians to whom he writ To submit themselves to every Ordinance of Man for by submitting to every humane Creature or Ordinance he means saith Grotius the being Subject Ordinationi isti quae inter homines in terris agentes locum habet habere debet to In 1 Pet. 2. 13. that ordinance of God which hath and ought to have place amongst Men that live upon the Earth not which Men have set up but which God hath placed amongst them and the sense of the Apostle is plainly this Submit your selves my Bretheren to every Prince or Ruler whom God hath set over that Kingdom or Province wherein you live you are not and therefore do not think your selves excused from paying all Loyalty and Subjection to such a Prince because he is an Heathen and you are Christians for that God whom you serve hath given him his Authority his Power is from him and therefore you must Submit to him for his sake If this be not the Apostles meaning his argument doth not inforce the Submission he requires for what sense is it to say Submit your selves to every Ruler that Men have set up whether he be Supream or Inferiour a King or a Vice-roy for the Lords sake it should be rather for the Peoples sake that you may please and gratifie them that they may not be angry or offended at you as despisers of that form of Government which they have Ordained or set up but his urging them to Submit for the Lords sake must infer as a Dr. Faulkner Christian Loyalty page 412. learned person observes that those Men who Govern the World do not act only by an humane Right since if Government were not by Gods Authority and Constitution obedience to it could not bear a respect to God himself And as the Holy Scriptures affirm Kingly Government to be Instituted by God so this is the sense of Antiquity as is proved by that Author to whom I refer the Reader and shall only transcribe Christian Loyalty chap. 2d Sect. 5. page 419. out of him those words of Paulus Orosius That all Power and Government is of God is that which they who have not read the Scriptures do think and they who have read them do know And if God be the Donour of Crowns if he gives the Royal Dignity to and takes it from whom he pleaseth we ought to submit to his wise disposal and be content that he should order this great Affair as he thinks fit For when he will have a Prince to Reign it is not in the Power of Men to hinder it though the People struggle and oppose it all they can and come to that Resolution We will not have this Man Rule over us though they make Laws enter into Leagues and Associations bind themselves by Oaths and Ingagements to oppose and keep him from it yet when they have done all they can he shall Ascend the Royal Throne and Injoy the Crown which Heaven hath design'd for him And on the other side when God will not have a Prince Reign all his Friends Counsels Endeavours how numerous Powerful Politick diligent soever shall not profit or avail him any thing the great Disposer of Crowns and Kingdoms opposeth his Exaltation and therefore he must be content with a lower Station In this Case there needs no Bill of Exclusion upon Earth to bar his claim because there is one passed in Heaven that cannot be repeal'd The Duke then hath an undoubted Right to succeed the King and being so great a Right a Right to that which is admir'd and accounted by all Mankind the Richest Jewel and most Glorious thing upon Earth and hath the God of Heaven for the Donour of it
made up of such excellent and desireable Ingredients as these First I say he would injoy his full Authority Subsect 1. all the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to his Royal Place and Dignity all the Rights that God hath annex'd to it he would be a King not an Image of one exercise his Regal Power in the full latitude or extent of it not have it restrain'd or limited to a few things and those the meanest and most inglorious parts of his sacred Office This he cannot have in the Church of Rome for there the Mitre Perks up above the Crown the Pope I mean is Lord over the Prince claims a Superiority pretends to a Power and Jurisdiction over all Kings or Soveraign Princes by Divine Right a Power to Excommunicate and depose them to declare them fallen from all Dominion and Rule to dispose of their Kingdoms and give them to whom he pleaseth to unty the bonds of Obedience or absolve and discharge their Subjects from their Allegiance The first that is the Popes pretended Superiority over him impairs and lessens the Princes Honour makes him a Subject instead of a Soveraign Prince degrades him from the high Station thrusts him lower than Heaven hath placed him renders him not Gods but the Popes Vicegerent or Deputy makes him a Servant to him who is but a Fellow Servant with all the Bishops of Christ and is as strictly and indispensably bound as they are by the express Command of St. Paul to be Subject to the higher Powers that is Kings and Soveraign Princes Let every Soul be Subject to the higher Powers every Man that is whether he be of the Clergy or Laity if of the Clergy tho' a Prophet an Apostle an Evangelist a Patriarch a Metropolitan a Bishop all are included in it and must be Subject to the higher Powers so was St. Paul nay St. Peter himself from whom his Holiness claims Superiority over Kings unto that Cruel Emperour Nero both of them suffering Martyrdom under him and so far was St. Peter from claiming that Supremacy which his pretended Successors have so proudly challeng'd so unjustly usurped since that he gives it to Kings Commanding the Christians to whom he writ to submit themselves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake to the King as Supream as the chief or highest Minister of God upon Earth And if every Soveraign Prince be Supream or the highest Minister of God within his own Dominions as St. Peter calls him how can he have any Superiour To make two such as they of the Church of Rome do in every Kingdom one to superintend the Affairs of Religion the other Civil Rights or Matters of State besides that it is impudently and faucily to divide and separate the Powers that God hath joyn'd together Kings and inferiour Magistrates as the Apostle exhorts being to be pray'd for That we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty but how absurd is it that we should pray to God they may do that which according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church they have no Commission nor Authority from him to meddle in that is to provide that their Subjects may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness as well as Honesty to take care that their People not only deal Justly one with another but also Worship God aright profess the true Faith and the Holy Religion of Christ and be taught to lead their Lives according to it Besides I say the guilt of dividing the Powers that God hath conjoyn'd or united it is the very dregs of contradiction to make two Supreams in one Kingdom for how can one be Summus or Supremus the chief or highest if the other be equal to him 't is as evident as the Sun when it shines brightest that these are inconsistent one cannot be the greatest if the other be as great nor one the highest if the other be as high and therefore to give the Pope a Supream Power in all the concerns of Religion is however it may be colour'd or guilded over to make the Prince his Slave to give him not an equal but a subordinate and dependent Authority for he that Rules Religion must needs Rule all and therefore the Assertors of the Popes Supremacy as they give him a direct and absolute Power in Spirituals so they give him an indirect and relative Power in Temporals in order to Spiritual and Religious concerns when the Interest of Religion requires it he may Exercise a Temporal Power or Jurisdiction over Princes Excommunicate or Depose them give their Kingdoms to others absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance give them Commission or Warrant to take Arms against them nay to Murder or Destroy them So that the Pope where he hath the Supremacy is really the Kings Master and absolute Lord over him his Dominion is but precarious during the pleasure of his Holiness for so long as he behaves himself humbly and dutifully towards his Holy or Spiritual Father Executes all his orders observes all his injunctions though never so barbarous bloudy and inhumane so long he shall have his Blessing and injoy his Favour and being so dependent he must needs have a tottering Throne and an uncertain Authority the Crown sits loosly on his Royal Head ready at every turn to drop or fall off If he dispute the Commands of his great Master the Pope complain of his Exactions remonstrate against any of his proceedings though never so modestly if he express any sorrow for the intolerable oppressions of his People if he be unwilling to Butcher and Cut their Throats like Sacrificed Beasts or to make Bonefires of Innocent and harmless Men meerly for professing the True Faith and obeying the Holy Religion of Christ If the Divine Goodness be pleas'd to inlighten his Royal Soul with the knowledg of the Truth and by the splendour of that Light he see and condemn the errours and corruptions of the Romish Church then he is an Heretick and they say of him as the Jewish Zealots did concerning St. Paul Away with such a Prince from the Earth for it is not fit that he should Live Excommunicate curse him with Bell Book and Candle then it is meritorious to kill him and his Holiness hath a Ravilliack or a Jaques Clement or some such Villain to assassinate or murder him wholf he effect the execrable Parricide shall be well rewarded upon Earth or if he Perish in the attempt be made as far as the Pope can do it a Saint in Heaven Consider then what Charms or Allurements such a Church can have to invite a Prince into its Communion These certainly are so far from being attractives that they are the strongest disswasives imaginable and instead of drawing him to must needs deter and drive him from it A Prince that knows and hath had Communion with a better must first run out of his Wits before he can joyn himself to such a Church A Church in which he cannot ascend his
fifth Commandment taught that it is their Duty to Honour and Obey the King and all that are in Authority under him Every time they come to Prayers the Loyal Supplications Intercessions and upon special occasions Thanksgivings of our excellent Liturgy for the King and the Royal Family and the Inferiour Magistrates remind the People of the true Obedience and Subjection they owe and must pay to them and humbly beseech Almighty God to give them Grace to do it If they read the Pious and Venerable Homilies of our Church there theâ— Divine Original and Institution of Kings is fully proved the necessity of Obedience demonstrated the horrid guilt the dreadful mischiefs the woful Calamities of Rebellion explicated and detected the heavy Wrath and Vengeance of God upon Rebels and Traytors in this World and the horrible Damnation that attends them when they pass from hence Faithfully represented and described in a most Lively manner that all who Read them may Heartily abhor and carefully avoid so execrable a wickedness Nor doth the Loyalty of our Church lye Dead in the Books and Writings of it but Lives and Reigns in the Hearts of all the true Members of it and exerts or shews its Life and Vigour in their undaunted Courage Resolution and readiness to stand by and defend the Sacred Person Honour and Authority of their Prince against all that dare be so impudent and wicked as to assault the first to impair the second or to infringe the third I challenge all the World to shew me one true Member of our Church that so long as he continued so was found guilty of any Disloyal Practices No so far are they from that that the numbers cannot soon nor easily be told that have Sacrifiz'd their Lives Estates every thing that was dear to them in the Cause and Service of their Prince His and their Enemies could and did in the late times Deprive them of their Liberty Plunder them of their Goods Sequester their Estates strip them of all things else but their Loyalty they could not take from them this they preserv'd pure and untainted in the midst of all the Oppressions Cruelties and ill Usage they endured and when they were permitted to Live no longer to give any farther Testimonies of it bequeath'd it as the Choicest and Richest Legacy to their Off-spring Descendents nay by their true Christian Patience and Undaunted Courage at their Death a Glorious Death to them to which they were Condemn'd for serving their Prince did Recommend it to many that came to see them Dye A Loyalty not Limited or Conditional that Dyes if it be not cherish'd and kept alive by the Princes peculiar Favour and Bounty and continues no longer then he Pleases and Humours them but absolute and inconditional that cannot be shaken nor removed by any wrongs or ill usage but is the same when he Frowns upon as when he Favours them If he Oppress them in their Estates they Submit if he cause the Sentence of Death to be unjustly pass'd upon them they refuse not to Dye nay do it with the Meekness Patience and Charity of the Primitive Martyrs they will not lift up their Hands nor open their Mouths against him let him use them as he pleaseth The Fires of Queen Mary could not consume nor burn up their Loyalty nor scare them from their Allegiance she had never gain'd the Crown if the Loyal Protestants had not assisted her and the great Opposer of her Advancement to the Royal throne was the Duke of Northumberland who though he pretended to be a Protestant yet was really a Papist for so he declared himself to be upon the Scaffold at his Death Such a People make a Prince happy are his greatest Safety and Security and nothing but a guard of Angels from Heaven can be a better defence to him which by their Pious and Holy Prayers they are careful to call down to Protect him that no harm nor danger may happen to him And being sure by continuing in our Church to have such a Loyal Obedient People if the Crown should descend to him what Reason Motive or Inducement could his Royal Highness have to forsake it and joyn himself to the Papists People that are Infamous all the World over for Killing Kings Plotting Treasons Raising Seditions and Rebellions against them That are Obedient to their Prince no longer then he is a Slave to the Pope for how often did they Mutiny make Insurrections and Rebellions against King Henry the Eighth for renouncing and casting off the Popes Usurped Authority and resuming the Supremacy which belong'd to him by Divine Right as a Soveraign Prince Though he was a Zealous Professor and maintainer of the Romish Religion yet he was Alarum'd by frequent Tumults and Seditions and his owning that could not keep the Catholicks so they call themselves in Obedience to him unless he would be altogether a Slave to him that pretended to be the prime Minister of it And though a Prince Study to Please and Humour them all he can yet their Loyalty must needs be very fickle and precarious because the People of the Romish Communion have a mighty Dependence upon and are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy and the Clergy are exempted from the Princes Jurisdiction and Sworn Subjects to the Pope The People are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy who manage and govern them at their Pleasure and they must needs be so because they believe they can forgive their Sins absolutely whilst they Live and pray them out of Purgatory when they are Dead by forcing them to come to Confession they have Opportunity to know all their Errours Sins and Follies nay all their Thoughts Purposes and Intentions which renders them very Subject and Dependent Their Power also of Inflicting Penances and denying them Absolution if they do not please humour them keeps the People in great Slavery to their Priests because they think God will not if they do not forgive them so that the People are absolute Slaves to them and do every thing they require of them And the Clergy that thus Govern the People are wholly at the Popes Devotion they own him for their Lord and Master Swear Obedience to and depend upon him as their great Patron and Benefactor all their Preferments being if not in his Donation yet such as depend upon his Approbation and Confirmation so that if they do not receive them from his Bounty yet they Injoy them by his Favour which is Tantamount This makes them flatter and adore him as the chief if not sole Monarch and despise their Prince as an underling or meer Cypher that signifies nothing And at every little quarrel or disgust between his Holiness and him the Prince is sure to feel the sad effects of their Power with the People either in the Disturbance they cause in the State or the attempts they make upon his Person for if they cannot run him down with the pretence and
Accusation of Herisie which they may easily do because they are the Judges of it and may call every thing they please so yet they will be sure to do it with the charge of unprofitableness he is no longer useful to the Church that is his Holiness is weary of him and that with them is a Just and Sufficient cause of Deposition and when they pronounce that Sentence upon him they only take from him the Name or Title of King because they had Rob'd him of all the Power and Authority before for how can he be a King that doth not Rule and Govern his People and if the Pope Commands the Clergy and they Rule the People for Gods Sake who doth the Prince Govern or what Authority hath he none none at all his Empire is but Imaginary a meer Chimera or faigned thing I appeal then to all the Wise and Rational World whether the Romish Clergy deserve the Name of Subjects much less of Loyal Subjects that neither Obey the Prince themselves if he refuse to be a Subject to the Pope nor suffer the People to do it any longer than he is constant to be their fellow Subject to the Pope his Throne must needs totter and his Authority be a poor and precarious trifle that is sure of the Obedience neither of the Clergy nor People And if it be a Princes Happiness to have a Loyal Obedient People as undoubtedly it is 't is against the Dukes Interest to leave our Church all the true Members of which are eminently so and to join himself to the Papists who are Notoriously known not to be so this being to exchange Sheep for Wolves Doves for Vultures and consequently to underdo and make himself miserable if he come to the Crown I confess indeed there is a Generation of Men amongst us that call themselves Protestants and would be thought the best and purest part of the Reformation that have equal'd if not outvy'd the Jesuits themselves in their Treasons Seditions and Rebellions against Kings these were they that took Arms against and Murder'd that Incomparable Prince King Charles the First of Glorious and never Dying Memory These abjured and exiled our Present most Gracious Soveraign and since his Happy Restauration have Created him so great Vexation Trouble and Disturbance These too with the new Converts and Proselites they have gain'd from the Church and poyson'd with their Seditibus Principles Headed by some of the Great Men that either had cast off Religion or being Male-content because they had not all the Honours and great Offices they desired or being promoted to them did not injoy them as long as they would have done but for their Misdemeanours were justly deprived of them that they might be confer'd upon more deserving Persons with others Alarum'd by the late Popish Plot and Excited by their hatred of the Romish Religion are the Enemies of the Royal Family known Authors and Promoters of the Bill and the late more damnable and accursed intended Exclusion But then I desire it may be consider'd that these are not of the Church of England but Fugitives and Runnagates that have withdrawn and separated themselves from it they renounce the Church and the Church renounceth them they will not own her for their Mother nor she them for her Children they are so far from being Members that they are the Sores and Ulcers the pest of the Church as well as of the Crown and that they are equally hateful to them is Evident because they destroy'd the King and the Church together or rather the Church first that this being taken away which was the support of it they might more easily and readily overthrow the Monarchy and verifie that which King James in his great Wisdom foresaw would certainly be No Bishop No King And therefore none can with any appearance of Justice charge the Insolencies Mutinies Seditions Teasons and Misdemeanours of that Stubborn Generation upon our Church this being to blame it for the Crimes and Offences of those that are profess'd Enemies to and open Dissenters and Separatists from it nor in Reason expect Loyalty and true Obedience from them so long as they continue such for how should they Learn to Reverence and Obey their Prince that refuse to come into our Assemblies where such great and useful and concerning Duties are Preach'd to and press'd upon the Hearers Or if at any time they vouchsafe to be present at our Churches 't is never till the Loyal as well as most Pious Prayers of our Liturgy are over and then too if either the Text or the Sermon have any smatch of malignancy so they called Loyalty in the Days of old or as the new Word is Toryism away they run as if they were frighted out of their Wits or the Preacher had vented some damnable Heresy which their Ears tingle and their Souls are astonish'd at These are Duties that are never taught in their Conventicles if they had any mind to it the Apostles of the Separate Churches have not the face to put their Hearers in mind of Obeying their Prince because their Preaching and the People coming to hear in those Places are Acts of great Scandalous and Sinful Disoobedience And if the seeds of Obedience be not sowed in their Hearts by Learned and Constant Preaching how should Loyalty as the precious Fruit thereof grow up in their Lives and Actions They that prefer the Opinion of that Scotch Villain David Blake who said all Arch-Bishop Spots Woods Hist Church of Scotland pa. 423. Kings were the Devils Bearns before that Affirmative of God I have said ye are Gods and you are all the Children of the most High and that assertion of St. Paul who writ by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost There is no Power but of God the Powers Kings that be are Ordain'd of God and neither desire to be nor care to come where they may be better inform'd and Preach'd out of such Damnable Principles cannot possibly be good Subjects Do Men gather Grapes of Thrones or Figs of Thistles As unreasonable is it to expect Loyalty from these People who have not hitherto been Taught and have still no mind or desire to Learn any and do therefore cast off all Obedience to the King and do all they can to tear or rend the Government from him because like the Bramble they would fain be so that is Govern all themselves 'T is then apparently the Interest and consequently ought to be the Care of the Government to reduce or bring back to the Church these People that are gone from it because whilst they continue separated or divided from it they are open and profess'd Enemies to the Government and there is no other way to make them good Subjects To grant them Toleration is a sure way for the Government to Ruin and undo it self because it is to give them not only opportunity but Licence and Commission to Preach Treason and dissiminate their Seditious Principles with Impunity to strengthen
the most Moderate Pious and Conscientious Men but despise censure and withdraw from the strict Conformists as violent and Superstitious Persons Popishly Affected but when they all agree or joyn in the Observation of them not only speak the same thing preach the same doctrine profess the same Faith Worship God with the same Prayers the Holy Prayers of our Incomparable Liturgy use the same Rites Gestures Vestments in the Administration of the Blessed Sacraments all their Holy Offices walk all of them by the same Rule This will satisfie the People of their Unity or Agreement and convince them of the Innocency and Lawfulness of the things which so many Learned Grave and Pious Men concur in the Practice of But then all Wise or Intelligent Persons will readily apprehend that this general Conformity will very difficulty if at all be effected unless the Clergy be put into such a Condition as to have no Dependance upon the People for their Maintenance and Support Many of the Clergy by reason of the poorness of their Benefices are greatly tempted if not constrain'd to humour and comply with the People to Preach such things as they Love to hear and to omit such as they dislike that they may not loose their Benevolence and Contributions without which they cannot Live nor is this the Condition of some Country Villages only but also of great and Populous Towns in which there are Swarms of People that Dissent from and are Enemies to the Church of England and such a poor Stipend for the Clergy the Tyths being impropriare and in Lay Hands that they are forced in a manner to turn the Church Assemblies into Conventicles and the poor Vicar or Curate dares not for his Ears Read all the Prayers nor wear the Surplice nor which is abundantly worse reprove the Irreverence and Rude Behaviour they are guilty of in the House and Service of the great God nor shew them the Sinfulness of their Schism nor the Wickedness of their Murmurs Complaints and Tumults against the Government nor Preach up Loyalty put them in mind fully and effectually to be Subject or Obedient to the King and all that are in Authority under him all that the most Couragious Person under such unhappy Circumstances dares venture to do in these great and for the present Age most necessary points is but to touch at them in transitu as he passes to other things as I have heard some do in London it self or as the Dogs at the River Nilus only lap and away for fear of being snap'd by the Crocodiles for if these things be press'd and insisted on the Preacher disobliges the Fanatick party and drys up all the Streams and Emanations of their Bounty they will not receive him into their Houses nor bid him God Speed and 't is well if he scape so do not feel the weight of their Protestant Flayls This is a great Injury both to the Church and State abates the Honour and Esteem of the Clergy and renders them less Serviceable to the Government than they must would be if they had a Liberal and Honourable maintenance and such as depends not upon the pleasure and Benevolence of the People but such as they may demand of them as their Right not receive as their Almes which they may give them if they please and deny them if they think fit These things in my Judgment which I humbly submit to all those great and wise Persons that are in Authority added to the Just Correction which the Laws inflict upon them would in a short time awaken and reduce those of our People that are gone out from us effect such a Blessed change in them that they would return to their Loyalty to the King and to the Communion of the Church And seeing all the true Members of the Church of England are Eminently Loyal already and those of our People that are otherwise at present may in time by these means be made so 't is against the Dukes Interest and Happiness if the Crown devolve upon him to be a Papist because this would be to exchange good Subjects for bad a Loyal People that own no Prince but him for such as have been guilty of frequent Treasons and are profess'd Subjects to a Forreign Power And next to his own honour safety and happiness Subsect 3. all that a Prince can desire in this World is the Welfare and Felicity of his People And then it is well with any People and they are happy when they Live in Piety and Peace and Safety are encouraged and required to profess and practice the true Religion and to Worship God Aright that is according to the the Scriptures When they are protected in their Estates from Rapine and Oppression and in their Persons from Violence and Cruelty Blessed are the People that are in such a Case And it is both the Duty and Glory of the Prince to provide or take Care that this be the Condition of his People or Subjects His Duty because this is the great end of Government and the prime Reason of Gods Investing him with the Royal Authority When David was Psalm 78 71. chosen by God to be King of Israel it is said That he took him to feed Jacob his People and Israel his Inheritance To seed that is protect and preserve them from mischief and Injury not to Worry or Devour to Destroy or Hurt but to Defend them from harm and violence And because he had been so to them and they hoped he would have Lived long to be so to them still they bitterly lamented the Death of good King Josiah saying The Breath of our Nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord was Lamen 4. 20. taken in their Pits of whom we said under his shadow we shall Live among the Heathen he was a shadow and defence to us under his protection we were safe and guarded from all our Enemies This is also asserted by St. Paul Rulers are not a Terrour to good works but to the Rom 13. 3 4. Evil They are not so in the purpose or intention of God were not instituted or ordain'd by him for such an evil unjust and unworthy end to Injure Punish and Destroy good Men they have no such Power from him and if they do it they abuse their Authority and go beyond their Commission A Terrour they may and must be but it is not to the good but to the Evil-doers Wilt thou then not be affraid of the Power Do that which is good and thou shalt have Praise of the same for he is the Minister of God to thee for good The Prince or Ruler is imploy'd by God to protect and defend the good and this is or ought to be the great Design or Intention of all his Laws that they be a safeguard and security to such and a terrour or restraint to the Evil and Injurious And if the Prince must not suffer others to wrong his People to be
sure it must needs be sinful and unlawful for him to do it To Execute Thieves and Murderers and yet be Unjust and Cruel himself 'T is true if he be so his People may not must not revenge the wrongs nor resist the Violence he offers to them because the Apostle tells them what the dreadful Punishment of that resistance will be They that resist shall recieve to themselves Damnation And because God is the only Judg of Kings and he so Righteous a Judg that he will be sure to Punish them if they abuse their Power When David was unjustly pursued Injuriously dealt with by King Saul he did not study Revenge but abhor'd it saying God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anoynted 1 Sam. 26. 11. He remitted or left him to his proper Judg. David said furthermore As the Lord Liveth the Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to Vers 10. Dye or he shall descend into Battel and Perish But as for me I have no Commission nor Authority to cut him off and therefore God Almighty keep me from committing so Audacious and Execrable a Crime or Wickedness But the Peoples having no Power from God to Revenge the wrongs done them by their Prince is no encouragement for him to do them because as they are contrary to his Duty and the abusing his Authority he is answerable and accountable to God for them and must expect from him a Punishment equal to them And that they may Faithfully perform this Duty consult and provide for the good and welfare of their People the Apostle requires that Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions be made for them for Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty This as it is the Princes Duty so his Honour and Glory when according to the Ancient Title of Kings he is a Common Father to his People hath a Paternal care of and Affection for them Loves them and is tender of their Lives and Properties is so far from Destroying the Innocent that he is unwilling to Condemn and Execute the Guilty and would not do it but that those cannot be safe unless these be cut off had rather save one Subject than Destroy a Thousand Enemies and thinks himself Rich enough if his Loyal Subjects be so and instead of Impoverishing them by needless Wars encourages Trade and Studies to keep them in Peace and Plenty 'T is as impossible for wise and good People not to Love such a Prince as it is for them to hate themselves or not to be concern'd for their own Interest They look upon him as their chief Patron and Benefactor upon Earth and the Sun it self is not dearer to them than he is They Love and hate as he doth they that are his Friends they account theirs and those that are his Enemies they abhor as if they were their own They have the highest esteem and Admiration for him in their Hearts which they express in their words and Actions In their words by filling all Places with his Praises and speaking nothing but Panegyricks and Encomiums of him In their Actions by treating him with the greatest reverence and respect receiving him in Triumph and with all possible expressions of Joy whereever he comes as if some Glorious Angel was descended from the Heavenly Regions and come to Bless them with his presence By obeying his Laws and observing all his Royal Injunctions doing every thing he Commands with a ready cheerful and willing Mind Such a Prince as he is admir'd and belov'd in his Life so he is truly Lamented at his Death and his Subjects pay their Tributary Tears at his Royal Sepulchre weep over him and say as Elisha did at the departure of Elijah my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and Horsemen thereof And though he be gone to take possession of a better Kingdom and to receive a brighter Crown yet amongst all his Glorys above they cannot forget to Praise and Honour him upon Earth not only think but call him Blessed raise the fairest Monuments to his Memory inscribe his Royal Vertues and Glorious Actions in never Dying Records that his Fame and Renown descend to after Ages and all Generations may admire and call him Blessed So that the providing or taking care for the welfare of his People is a considerable part of the Princes happiness Let us enquire then if this be not also lost by the Dukes being a Papist if the Crown should descend to him If he come to be King and be of the Romish Religion he must set up that or not if he do it not he Frustrates their Expectation disobliges that Party and thereby incurs their Rage and Displeasure which must needs be very Fierce and Cruel because ever since Queen Mary left the World it hath been their study and endeavour to get a Catholick into the Throne This hath cost them so much Labour put them upon so many Conspiracies for this so many of their Zealots have been Executed found a worse Purgatory here than that they talk so much of after this Life And having gain'd their point as they thought got a King of their Religion for him to be content with Mass in his own Chappel and let his People openly profess and enjoy the Reformed Religion which they call Heresy and hate worse than they do the Devil What an unpardonable Injury Affront and Disappointment is this This is to rouse and irritate the Angry Lyons to deny the hungry Wolfes the Prey they have been so long hunting after his Holiness though he be Indulgent enough to other Sinners and sells them Pardons at as Cheap and Reasonable Rates as they can well desire hath no Mercy in store for such a Transgressor Sons will sooner pardon those that Kill their Fathers Fathers those that Murder their Innocent Children inraged Husbands them that Ravish their beloved Wives than he will forgive such a crime as this A crime that robs him of his so much admired Soveraignty of his dear and most desired Profit of his first Fruits Tenths Peter-pence Fees for Investing Bishops Indulgence Mony and all his other ways of getting Wealth by which as our Histories relate he drain'd a mighty Treasure out of this Kingdome and which if the Prince deny him his Reign will be short and his days few for if the Traiterous Priests and Jesuits that are about him do not Poyson or Stab him before their great Master hath declared him Unprofitable Consequently unworthy of the Royal Throne to be sure he having first for Fashion sake Admonished and Exhorted him to be Zealous of and mind the good of the Catholick Cause will proceed to Sentence Declare him Uncapable of faln from all Dominion and Rule then every one that Kills him thinks he doth God the most acceptable Service such as Merits from him the bigest reward and the brightest Crown provided inthe