should believe Moses and the Prophets handed to them by Tradition and Humane Authority Ay but the Pharisees the Puritan Party of the Jews they must have a surer Card for their Religion then other Jews and therefore they were not content with Faith though the Prophet Habakkuk had told them that the just should live by it Hab. 2.4 no they must have more Religion and a better ground for Religion then the other Jews or then God required or did expect which was Faith only And would make the World believe that as if they had been as old as the first Mutineers and Ambitious Puritans Corah Dathan and Abiram and had seen Moses Face to shine like the Face of an Angel when he came from speaking with God in the mount they do not only by Tradition of their Fathers believe no but they knew that God spake by Moses Mr. Calvin I confess for him and his followers that he was forc't to give a Definition of Faith contrary to that in Heb. 11.1 for fear the Papists had run him a ground For if he believed Christ and the Gospel upon humane Authority or the Authority of the Popish Church which he renounc't he knew not well how to answer the renouncing the Tradition of that Church without also renouncing Jesus Christ and his Gospel therefore which he should not need he was glad to define Faith to be a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c. and this by a certain witness of the Spirit within a Man By which secret perswasion if he means Gods Grace to make a Man believe Humane Authority Christian and Humane Tradition and Laws whereby we believe the truth of the Holy Scripture he is in the right but he is evidently out of his Story in calling this Faith an assured Knowledge For alas the best of us except we Lye and Cheat and Vapor as those Puritan Pharisees did we must say with the Apostle we see but in part as in a glass Darkly and not with stedfast and assured knowledge as the Saints Triumphant do and as did the Apostles who saw and knew our Blessed Jesus and Saviour in the Flesh But hence comes all the mischief from this Vapor and Lye in making our Faith just like St. Thomas his whose seeing was believing and the rest of the Apostles what ever was true of the Apostles must be true of us which is an abominable Cheat and Imposture They were Witnesses of Christs Resurrection we only tell what they said or did Witness at the second or third hand said I no at the Thousand'th hand and at long run by the Tradition of the Christian Church and Laws of the Land he that pretends other ground for his Faith either believes he knows not wherefore and is a Fool or Enthusiast or Fanatick which is all one and a Cheat and Impostor or else is a Papist and has an Implicite Faith in the Church of Rome or else by doing Miracles as the Apostles did can and must give a Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power In the Name of God what would these Disturbers of Man-kind be at Here 's ado with their Religion their Religion and there 's not one of them knows where he got it except from the Church of England or the Church of Rome And yet they disclaim both these and consequently can demonstrate nothing nor rationally convince any Man of the Truth of their Faith except by their own secret perswasion which though it may be of God yet they cannot shew and prove but that it may be a Lye a Cheat and from the Father of Lyes Are they Ordain'd to Preach the Gospel Let us see their Commission and Ordination They answer they are Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by those that were Ordain'd by the Papists c. I knew whether they would come at long Run Nor can they justifie to the World that that English Minister of Gods word that is not the Kings Minister Ordain'd according to the Sacred and Christian Laws of England is any other then a Minister of the Pope or the Devil either a Papist or an Enthusiast and possest with the Spirit of Popery or the Spirit of Foppery Religion true Religion our Saviour says like a Tree is known by the Fruits consult all Histories antient and modern view the present posture of Affairs if ever this Hundred Years there ever was any Rebellion Massacre Tumults or Treasons Blood Rapine and Murder but either Papist or Fanatick or both had the great hand in it To look no further back then the Reign of King James who dethron'd his Mother and made a Slave and property of him in his Infancy but that Bloody Knox Buchanan and the rest of that Puritan Presbyterian brood by woful experience he tells his Son our late Martyr'd Sovereign in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That under pretence of Religion he should find Alas alas He did find it by sad experience no such Barbarous and Bloody Villains in the World When King James came into England they still made him weary of his Life and the Papists on the other hand endeavor'd to take away his Life by the Gunpowder-Treason But Blessed be God unsuccessfully all his Reign but what the Plots the Popish Plots could not accomplish against his Son the Presbyterian Plots did perfect Crowning their Villany with the Blood and ruin of the Kingdom bringing the Blessed King to the Bloody Scaffold and our Gracious Sovereign to the more Ignominious Stool of Repentance And is this your Religion where did they learn it not from God from Holy Scripture nor from this Text but from the Devil who was a Murderer from the beginning and a Lyar like these his Children and the Father of Lyes These things are plain and palpable and had not now been remembred but that Men tread the same steps follow the same methods may we not Fast and Pray say they sad oh sad may we not Preach wo be to us if we do not Preach the Gospel and wo be to you good People if we do not Preach as if the Gospel were confin'd and Monopoliz'd to a Crew that can show no Authority no Commission no Call no Warrant for what they do except from the Pope and Jesuits who I fear have a great Influence among them The King and his Laws Ordain and constitutes in England the only true Christian Bishops Priests and Deacons as he does the only true Judges and Justices of the Peace and he may deprive all of them equally And therefore if they cannot justifie there Ordination and Commission their Warrant and their Call in an Ordinary and orderly way nor yet by Miracles in an extraordinary way let them no more so idly so impudently and so vainly apply the Apostle's sayings to themselves but contrarily wo be to them if they Preach the Gospel without sufficient Call Warrant Ordination and Lawful Authority Pilate rationally and honestly subjoyn'd to the
Earl of Tyrone the Irish Rebell Whose Mouths and Lungs blew up the Fire of contention in our late Civil Broiles but the Presbyterians and Covenanters Surely Kings will be warn'd by such Fatal Examples from trusting their Supremacy the Choicest Flower of the Crown out of their own keeping either to Popes or Presbyters that will not be subject to them I mean the exposition of Scriptures and Power of the Keys For all English Bishops and Ministers that are not the Kings Ministers are Emissaries and Ministers of the Devil or the Pope at least grand Impostors Enthusiasts and Cheats For at the upshot all men's Faith must bottom upon some humane Authority or other except what the Prophets and Apostles had which was more properly knowledge than Faith but our Faith and all Faith ever did and ever must rest in humane Authority Indeed all true Faith is the Gift of God as all other Gifts and Graces are for without Gods special Grace no man can believe the truest humane Authority or Church upon Earth to be true But still I say all but Enthusiasts and Papists who believe the former at Random and at all adventures and they know not wherefore the latter by implicit Faith I say all others that are true Believers their Faith is through Gods grace grounded upon some humane Authority or other When therefore any Man believes his Duty to God and the King he must acquiesce either in Enthusiasme or Popery or in the voice of God which voice of God is infallibly to us only in the Holy Scriptures expounded and declared in the Voice of the Laws our Sacred and Christian Laws so admirably contriv'd from the Old and New Testament comprehending all our duty to God to our selves and to our Neighbors that we are the Envy of other Nations happy English-men if they knew their own happiness more happy in our Laws then in our Land and Scituation being an Island without Paralel in the whole World exempt and free from the Arbitrary Government Tyranny Oppression Delusion and Blind Devotion that other Nations groan Under And if it were not that the Wisedom of our Ancestors knowing their own Felicities had not made an Act that no Alien should purchase or inherit Lands in England the goodness of our Laws and Religion as well as the conveniency of our Scituation and Soil had expos'd us to be overstock't with strangers without Room sufficient for the happy Natives But some will hear object and say what if the King and his Laws should command us to do somewhat that at least in our opinion is contrary to Gods Law to obey assist and help him herein can this possibly be called the help of the Lord or meant in this Text as for Instance there is a Law that no Minister who does not conform shall not Preach within Five Miles of a Corporation Town or City or within Five Miles of the Benefice he left and lost through Non-Conformity the Law and the King says do not Preach there but say they wo be to us if we Preach not the Gospel for we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard and whether it be right to obey you rather than God Judge ye as said St. Peter and St. John This is no wild chymerical supposal and objection of my own making but it is the known and common Apology of the Non-conformists to justifie their disobedience and vouch their confidence in standing it out and bidding Defyance to the King and his Laws nor is it less useful then necessary to give a plain and full answer to this objection under which all Disobedience Disloyalty and opposition of Authority does lurk and shelter to this Day The King and his Laws give the word of Command bids them March and be gone at your Peril but they rejoyn we are Preachers of the Gospel 1 Cor 9 16 necessity is laid upon us and wo be to us if we Preach not the Gospel as said St. Paul Acts 4.19.20 and whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Ans 1. This is an excuse that abominably aggravates the Crime to all knowing Christians Oh Impudence and Imposture not to be named amongst sober and modest Men and Christians What shall these Wretches that truckle and drudge for a few Pence and a gathering amongst the Silly Men and Women shall these Preachers that with such a Text as this have against the plain and easie sence wrested the same to the ruin of their Auditors Body Soul and Estate shall these Posci nummia these Crumeni mulgae these Pick-pockets and Petticoat Preachers that lead Captive silly Women compare themselves with St. Peter and St. John and St. Paul That which was from the beginning which we have heard 1 Jo. 1.1 3. which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Saith St. John Now no Man can in truth and in sober fence without Raving Cheat Imposture and palpable Enthusiasme say these words at this day and apply the same to himself as that which he hath seen and heard and handled St. John St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles nay St. Paul in a Vision and an Apostle and witness as well as the rest though born out of due time saw and witnessed what they saw namely our Saviour's Resurrection the great Seal and Confirmation of the truth of the Gospel and wo be to them if they had not told the World what they saw and heard and felt and handled and knew that we might have Faith the evidence of things not seen but believing their Testimony and Witness through the Grace of God enabling us to believe what such good Men and true did depose upon their own Knowledg Faith is the Life of a Christian but how few understand it To say with the Pharisees that we know that God spake by Moses 't is false we do not know it nor they did not know it It had been modestly and more truly said we believe that God spake by Moses Jo. 9.29 for Knowledge is the Evidence of things seen Faith the Evidence of things not seen Knowledge is the Grace and Glory of the Church Triumphant Faith is the Grace and Glory of the Church Militant and therefore let us not like those silly conceited Pharisees or good Mr. Calvin say we know a thing to be true when we only believe it to be so For Calvin like those Pharisees and the Presbyterians that follow him defines Faith 2. lib Institut 16. Sect. 7. a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c Why should Men cheat the World and themselves too by pretending a Religion that God never made nor does not require God requir'd no more of the Jews than that they
brave the Magistrate and face him and dare him with their Numbers as if they were ready to come to the Poll with him and count whether more People come from the Church on a Lords-day or from the Meeting vying for multitude especially if the weaker Vessels the Vessels of Frailty will but pass Muster Poor Bashful tender Hearts and tender Consciences As if a Holder-forth cannot Preach Christ in the Wild of Kent as in the Throngs and Crowds of a City or Corporation Well the Magistrates surely do well enough know their meanings and what they would be at And such a Discourse as this and such a Text as this can no where be so properly or so well Improv'd as in this Assembly the most Honorable and most considerable of this greatest and most Glorious City of the whole Kingdom the great Hinge of Peace and War Those Preachers are like Jobs Comforters Job 13.4 either Forgers of Lyes or Physicians of no value that do not handle or do not handle to purpose this Distemper What disquiets your sleeps but Fears of Disturbances from the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery I know not which is worst they are both Bloody and Dangerous the former by Plotting but Blessed be God their Plots come to nothing the latter by Plotting and Acting too God knows not to mention the Defolation the Bondage the Tyranny and oppression this City groan'd under for so many years under so many Masters and different Tyrants Three or Four several ones in a year sometimes before His Majesties Happy Restauration but even since though the Papists might Plot Rebellion and Treason yet the Phanaticks have not only plotted but twice been up in Armes which the Papists never were twice I say in Armes and Open Field Fights in Scotland where our Miseries were first brooded and begun their Rise but Blessed be God as soon Defeated which was Gods goodness more than our Deserts no Thanks though to the Coventiclers and Field-meeters they show'd their good will and their good Religion and their tender Consciences in the Interim oh true Church Militant here upon Earth Why should Ministers make wild and randome discourses in the Pulpit and but beat the air applying remedies to distempers that the City and Kingdom are not especially plagu'd with alas Faction and Foppery and Popery are the great disease of the Kingdom with which it now at this day as well as of a long time it has been vext and griev'd hic seca hic ure here make applications otherwise we Preachers are like those the Apostle speaks of 2. Thes 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Working not at all to the purpose but busie to no purpose What shall Jesuits dare to venture their lives to come to pervert our Nation in the Spirit of Popery and shall Fanaticks dare and brave the Magistrate to his Face in publick in the Cities in the greatest City of the Nation and all this with an Impudent Forehead like the Whore in the Proverbs wiping the mouth and saying they have done no wickedness and all this in contempt nay in defyance of all Law and Authority and shall no Man dare to say and speak publickly what they dare do publickly Is it no sin no crime no shame for them presumptuously and with a High Hand and a Brazen Face to transgress the Laws and is he fit to be a Minister of God and the King that has neither honesty nor courage to Check and Rebuke it The great and good Emperor Constantine the first Christian Emperor took another course with Factious Coventicles Euseb de vit const He prohibited them by Edict and Proclamation see the Proclamation and Edict at large in Euseb de vit constant Theod. l. 1. c. 19. He Burnt their Books and proscribed the Authors and Abettors to use his own words Pestium illarum audacia ministri Dei hoc est meâ Executione coercebitur Their Plaguy Impudence shall be restrained by the Authority of the Minister of God that is my self c. that good Emperor Those bold pestilent fellows that dare offend in defyance of all Authority I 'le make bold to punish their Fool hardiness by my Authority A Speech as pious as Princely and a pious Example to Princes For ancient and modern experience has taught that faction like a Top never goes well but when under the lash and well whip't 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore obstinate and prating Fanaticks or Seducers saith St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul whose Mouthes must be stopped oportet os obturare it is very fit they should be stopped Why it follows because they subvert whole Houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy Lucres sake When the People had got a new Religion but a false one King Josiah puts it down and is commended for it 2. Kings 23. from the 4. verse to the 14. verse The same did King Hezekiah 2. Kings 18.3 4 5 6 7. The first Law of Theodosius that good Emperor in his Law Book is de sacrâ Trinitate quid credendum Theod lib. legum A Lawful King may not only imperata facere but imperare facienda though I know the Learned Grotius scruples this latter but he was a Hollander By this Regal Supremacy Solomon deposed Abiathar the Arch-Bishop because he sided with the Rebels 1 Kings 2.27 Constantine did the like to Vigelius and Justinian to Silverius Otho the Emperor ejected Pope John 12. for his Necromancy and Wickedness 'T is Chrysostom's Paraphrase on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers whether Apostle Evangelist Pastor or Teacher Pope or Bishop Presbyter or Presbyterian they must needs be subject and that for Conscience-sake if they have any Conscience any Conscience unseared Rom. 13 5 Vid Chrys Hom 3. ad Antioch any Conscience not hardned To whom assents Theodoret Theophylact Oecumenius and all that are not posses 't with the evil Spirit to keep to my old terms of Popery or Foppery King Josiah came not with Cap in hand to the High-priest 2 King 23.4 but commanded him to reform this and that Nefas est in dubium deducere ejus potestatem cui omnium gubcrnatio superno constat delegata Judicio saith the 6th Toletan Counsel speaking of the undoubted right of King Chintellanus The four first General Counsels were called by Emperors not by Popes Socrat l. 5 in proem nor the Clergy Pope Leo petitions the Emperor to call a Counsel in Italy and he call'd it at Ephesus Supplicationi nostrae dignetur Imperator annuere Lev. Epist 9.24.26 Let the Emperor vouchsafe an Ear and hearken to the request of his humble Petitioner But many years after the Canon of Pope Boniface runs a stile and Language more Magisterical Dictator like Dicimus Definimus De majoritat in glossâ pronunciamus esse de necessitate salutis omm humanae creaturae subesse Romano Pontifici We say it we
decree and pronounce it altogether necessary for all Mankind to be subject to the Pope of Rome in pain of Damnation Observe by the way the difference betwixt the Popes old and new style For till a Thousand years after Christ no Pope was ever so audacious as to claim or usurp Supremacy over Kings and Emperors So that the Pope in ordine ad spiritualia and the presbyterian ribus Christi hookes in all Dominion Kings will have a good share left between them but Pride and Covetousness taught these Sons of Perdition these Innovations and Usurpations For Priests and Bishops themselves however they pretend the derivation of their Office from Christ yet have the liberty of the open Administration thereof from the Civil Authority alone and Laws of the Land Object But suppose the Civil Authority will not be so civil to us to grant us this liberty is not this Persecution what shall we do in this case Ans In such a Case obey our Saviour's Command and take his advice Mat. 10.23 When they Persecute you in one City Fly to another and in one Country Fly to another Country Every good Christian every tender conscience will do it but the Papists and Fanaticks and Non-conformists scorn the motion flye say they what fly from our dear proselytes fly from our Dayly-bread fly from our flocks and our herds they scorn it they 'le sooner fly in the Magistrates Face they are good Christians the while St. Paul thought himself happy that he could fly though he ventur'd a Limb by Flying being let down in a Basket over the City Wall and so escaped their Hands Obj. But we live not under Pagan but Christian Magistrates and therefore should expect better things of them Ans I grant it and so we do Blessed be God any man may in England be as good a Christian as he will and instead of Persecution for the same have encouragement from the King and his Laws But woful experience has taught not to trust with too much Power Canters and Hypocrites Juglers and Dissenters no Nation in the World but endeavors to maintain its own being it s own Laws and Constitutions from the Plots and Conspiracies of such as always Watch to defame disparage contemn circumvent and undermine it especially to such as have bid defyance to a good Conscience for a good and conscientious Christian dares not disobey our Saviors Command but if he be persecuted in one Country he will he must he ought to fly to another and in the Interim if he cannot Fly willingly to suffer for Christ and joy and glory therein as the Apostles did and not whine mutiny and complain as Fanaticks do Alas the Men do not believe what they would make others believe that woe be to them if they do not Preach the Gospel if they did they would Preach it in India in Turky in Persia the World is wide and the Converting of a Turk has a better Reward than the perverting of one that is a Christian already Cicero indeed holds it to be Heresie to differ or dissent from the Religion of a Man's Country and the King of Morocco answered the Ambassadors of King John of England requesting to know how His Majesty liked St. Paul's Epistles which he had lately read with a Protestation that were he to chuse a Religion he would be a Christian But he held it abominable not to live and dye in the Religion received from his Fore-fathers and his Country But these were Infidels and to be condemned by us Christians who are taught to call no Man Master nor no Man Father or Rabbi upon Earth that is not jurare in verba Magistri but to give a reason of the Faith and hope that is in us though the said Cicero and the Infidel King spoke like as they were very Wise-men and great States-men But when through Gods great Mercy we are happy in being born in a Country Beautified with the best Religion and the best Laws nothing but the said Spirit of Popery or Foppery can make any Man a Non-conformist Our Blessed Saviour though he was Lord of Heaven and Earth and also poor and penny less yet when tribute was demanded of him rather than he would offend the Law of the Land he liv'd in did a Miracle to get Money to pay his Assessment St. Paul upon his Tryal when he was Indicted before Festus by the Jews who laid many grievance complaints against him he clears himself by Pleading not Guilty not by demurring to the Jurisdiction of the Court and Laws of the Land Acts 25.28 and yet they were Heathen Laws but Pleads not Guilty and Justifies that neither against the Law of the Jews nor against the Temple which yet was Superstitious nor yet against Caesar though their Conqueror and Invader had he offended any thing all And Acts 28.17 In these words clears himself namely I have committed nothing against the People or customes of our Fathers I wonder by what Rule by what Pattern a Non-Conformist walks whilst he will neither coppy after Christ nor St. Paul Surely no opinion is so wild and extravagant but will find some Fools so wicked as to follow it though it ruin them I read of a Sect called Caynites because they praised Cain in Murdering his Brother others that have commended Corah Dathan and Abiram as stout Independents and Libertines that would not be controul'd with never a Moses or Aaron of them all nay I read of one Bruno that writ an Oration in Commendation of the Devil and his Luciferian Pride Oh liberty liberty is a sweet thing say some the very Birds when caged had rather live at all adventure and perhaps starve then be coup't up with never so much Plenty oh say they liberty of Conscience to believe what we list and say what we list and do what we lift is a very precious enjoyment Happy are the People that are in such case like the Guiana-Indians sine Lege sine Rege I can tell you of a time and a Country in Holy Scripture where there was just such a time of Liberty And yet they had a King the good King Asa but of little benefit to the People because they had a great mind to this same liberty and to live as they list and lawless Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God no matter for that saith the Atheist and without a teaching Priest all the better saith the Papist and Fanatick and without Law all the better saith the Libertine Here was a time to some Men's wish and was it not a happy time Read that in the 5. verse And in those times there was no peace to him that went out or to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity And 't is Impossible it should be otherwise for there was no Law no Yoak every