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
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
such a Treacherous Precarious way of Communicating them We see how strangely the Ancient History of the World and the greatest Transactions of it whilst they were thus Transmitted were Depraved and Corrupted so intermix'd with Lies and Fables as they passed down the Channel of Time and Ages that the truth of things was either quite lost or very difficultly to be found out being cover'd or in a manner Buried under such an heap of Dirt and Rubbish that the Wisest and most Sagacious minds after all their care and endeavours to search it out were very doubtful and could not come to a full Determination what to believe or what to reject some things they saw had an appearance of Truth but then the Fables mixt therewith disgrac'd and render'd them so Suspicious that they knew not what to think of them And therefore the All-wise and most Merciful God as he was pleased to offer Immortal Happiness to Mankind and to tell them upon what terms or conditions he would admit them to and bless them with it so he took care to have these most weighty things Conveyed down to all Ages and Generations of Men in the safest way requiring those he imploy'd to deliver his Laws to Mankind to commit them to Writing nay delivering some of them the Ten Commandments that is to Moses Inscribed or Written upon two Tables of Stone Exodus 32. 16. which way of Transmitting them is most durable or lasting and therefore the safest and they that say the contrary Reproach Disparage the Wisdom of God because he thought fit thus to Convey them to us and when these Writings were compleated by the Addition of the New Testament to the Old nothing could be wanting to instruct Mankind in all the parts of their Duty and to tell them all the terms or Conditions of their Eternall Happiness and Salvation To say they are imperfect and do not give Men sufficient Direction for the attaining this great end is to Blaspheme the Glorious Author of them to Arraign his Wisdom to revile his Goodness and to contradict these Sacred Writings which call upon us to search and study them and invite us to perform the Duties they require of us with the offer of Salvation if we do it and the Denunciation of Damnation if we refuse to do it Now if all those things united or conjoyned cannot bring the observers of them to the Salvation they promise then the Scriptures do not say true and therefore God is not the Author of them This the Church of Rome doth not dares not say but owns the Truth of all they say and confesses them to come from God only it says they are insufficient and obscure that is do not speak enough tell those that consult them all things necessary to Salvation nor speak so plainly and intelligibly as to be understood without an infallible Interpreter to declare the true and full Sense or Meaning of them The first cannot be because if the Scriptures say do these things and thou shalt live be Eternally happy and Blessed As for Instance believe in Christ Repent of thy Sins keep the Commandments of God and tell us what they are as it is apparent they do and promise Salvation to them that so believe Repent and keep the Commandments of God then they speak fully to the purpose tell him or them that Read them enough to save them if they perform it and consequently must be sufficient and then to add I know not what unwritten Verities as they are called as Supplements to them is both a Wicked and a Vain thing 't is Wicked both as it invades Gods Authority will not let him prescribe appoint all the Terms or Conditions upon which he will give Eternal Life and Glory to his Church and People Wicked also as it disgraces his Laws and charges them with defects they are not Guilty of 'T is vain too and altogether needless like Lighting up a Torch or a Candle when the Sun Shines in all his Glory for they that cannot see or find the way to Heaven by the Glorious Light or Direction of the Holy Scriptture will never do it by the help of the dark Lanthern of Oral Tradition this is apter to seduce or draw those that follow it out of the Right way than to guide them into it That cannot deceive any because it gives them a full and perfect Description of it tells them This is the way walk ye in it And as they speak fully to this great point give an exact and perfect Answer to every one that asks them that Important Question What shall I do that I may have Eternal Life So they speak plainly and intelligibly to it and every Reader may if he brings with him an humble and Teachable Mind Learn and understand all his Duty his Duty as the Apostle divides it to God his Neighbour and himself to God in Acts of Piety to his Neighbour in Acts of Justice and Charity to himself in Acts of Temperance or Sobriety 'T is very Foolish as well as Sinful for Men to cry out of the Obscurity or Darkness of the Scriptures only to serve a Worldly Interest by it when those parts of them that describe our Duty are said to be a Light a Light unto our Pathes and a Lantern to our Feet those must needs be Blind that cannot see the Light because it is the Nature or Property of it to be Visible 'T is true indeed there are degrees of Light one Light being greater and more Radiant than another thus the Law was a Light but yet weak and dimm in Compare with the Gospel which is so great and Illustrious a Light that the Apostle saith If it be hid it is hid to them that Perish that are so in Love with their Sins as to resolve to persist though they Perish in them and therefore shut their Eyes against the Gospel which comes as a Light to shew them their Errour They that say the Scriptures are Obscure and unintelligible must say that either God could not or would not declare his Mind so as to be understood by Men If they say the first they degrade him because if he could not do it he hath not the Wisdom or Intelligence of a Man and therefore cannot be God every Man of Common Sense that is able to speak being also able to speak his Mind so as to be understood If they say the other they Vilifie and Disgrace him for if he would not speak so that Men might understand him then it is meer mockery to offer them Eternal Happiness upon such Conditions as they do not cannot understand and hateful Cruelty to threaten them with Everlasting and Intolerable Punishment for Transgressing such Laws and omitting such Duties as are above their apprehension To say as the Papists do that God hath took care to remedy this Obscurity of the Scriptures by appointing an Infallible Guide or Interpreter to explicate or unridle the meaning of them and
take for a favour to have yeilded to me That a Papist is a Christian though an Erring one and then all the dispute between the Excluders and me in the great Case before us comes to this Whether an Erring Christian doth by being so Forfeit his Birth-right To say he doth is an hard saying and such as can never be Justified or Defended for a Christian as all other Men may do may Err either in Judgment or Practice or Both. Errour in Judgment if it rests there can forfeit no Mans Right because it is injurious to none but the Erring Person himself and cannot be known to any but the great Searcher of Hearts and therefore no humane Laws can Punish it If any Errour then forfeits a Mans Right it must be Errour in Practice because this is both open or manifest and may be mischievous or hurtful to others but every Errour in practice every Sin that is cannot forfeit a Common or Ordinary Right much less so Great Transcendent and Extraordinary a Right as this to a Crown To say it can or doth is a sure way to deter all Men from being Christians for who will be so if by doing any Evil Action he forfeits all his Happiness in Heaven and all his Injoyments and Expectations upon Earth That indeed is recoverable by Repentance but it is uncertain whether any Repentance can restore a Man to these being once forfeited and as such alienated or taken from him because 't is doubtful whether he that hath them in possession will ever restore them to the first Owner And therefore no Man that considers the Frailty of his nature the great and manifold Temptations to which he is exposed and the necessity and usefulness of that Estate or Property to his comfortable subsistence in this World which he hath either acquir'd by his Labour and Industry or descends to him by Inheritance will ever be a Christian if by being so every Sin he commits doth forfeit that Estate or Property So Injurious to the most Holy and Excellent Religion of Christ and that which tends to the utter Ruin and Destruction of it is that Originally Popish and since by Adoption Presbyterian Principle That all Dominion is founded in Grace that no private Person hath any Right to his Estate or Property nor any Prince or Monarch to bear Rule or Authority over others any longer than he is an Holy and Gracious Person and in the favour of God Upon this Principle the Pope proceeds when he Excommunicates and Deposeth Princes that profess the Reformed Religion that Profession in his Opinion makes them Hereticks and their Persisting in it declares them Obstinate or such as will not be Reformed which are he thinks two great Sins to deny that which he calls the Faith and to continue stubbornly in that denial by which in his Judgment they forfeit their Royal Dignity which being lapsed to him the Supreme Minister of Christ upon Earth is absolutely at his disposal so that he may give it to whom he pleaseth Upon this Principle also the prosperous Rebells in the late times seiz'd the Government and the Revenues of it plunder'd sequester'd deprived the Loyal party of their Estates call'd them Malignants say'd they were great Sinners Persons either void of or fallen from all Grace and being so their Estates were forfeited which they being the Saints and People of God might justly take possession of and convert to their own use So glad are men Knavishly inclin'd of any Religious pretence or colour for their Rapines and Injustice but I shall endeavour to strip them of this covering that it may never more be a Cloak for their Avarice and Oppressions That this is a false as well as wicked and mischievous Principle may be proved divers Subsect 1 ways For first if now under the Christian Religion Dominion be founded in Grace it must be so founded by the Decree and Declaration of Christ himself contained in the new Testament but that gives us no notice nor information at all of any such decree or appointment of his therefore there is there can be no such thing Search all the four Gospels and all the Sacred Writings of the Apostles and there will be nothing found in them to countenance or favour so wild a Principle 'T is true indeed our Lord hath intermix'd some few Temporal promises with his great and noble offers of Eternal rewards and injoyments that our obedience to his excellent Laws might be excited and encouraged with the expectation both of present and future advantages such is that when charging his Disciples not to be too thoughtful or solicitous for the things of the Earth he said seek ye first the Kingdom of God St. Math. 6. 33. and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you never afflict nor trouble your selves about these mean and despicable things let it be your constant study and endeavour to obey my Laws and to lead the pure and vertuous lives they injoyn you and then you may be confident you shall want nothing either necessary or convenient for you in this World he that cloaths the Lillies in such brave and splendid Vestments and feeds the young Ravens that cry unto him will take care of and extend his Royal Bounty to you his devout Worshippers and faithful Servants And to this great promise I suppose the Apostle refers when he saith That Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come but by this promise no man hath any new Right to any Temporal possessions which he had not before but it only assures him of Gods Blessing that he will by his gracious providence and bounty supply him with all things necessary for his present support which may be done by prospering his labour and diligence in an honest Calling or by exciting others to extend their Bounty and Charity to him but Christ doth not say obey my Laws live up exactly to the Rules of my Religion and I will inrich you with the Wealth and Estates of those men that either oppose my Doctrine or if they profess do not observe or act according to it assure your selves that notwithstanding all I have done to convert them many will not believe in me nor all of them that do obey me and the want of Faith in the one and of Obedience exact and intire Obedience in the other will forfeit all their temporal properties and possessions which I bequeath as my Royal Donative to you and to my Saints for ever Such a Declaration as this would have made it clear that Dominion is founded in Grace but he hath said nothing that in the least measure looks like any such thing unless that promise to the meek may seem to some to have an aspect that way Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth The meek are opposed to those that are angry and passionate and they are the mild
before by the Dignity of the Person against whom it is committed and by the Transcendent Worth or Value of the Right or Property you would so Unjustly Rob or spoyl him of This great evil you do that good may come therefore if you will believe the Apostle without Repentance your Doom is Damnation the Dreadful but yet as he calls it Just Sentence which you are to expect from the Righteous Judg who is no respecter of Persons but perfectly hates and will severely Punish all Wilful and Presumptuous Sin in all the Actors of it be they Publick or Private Persons in Authority or not whatever they be if they do Unjustly the Vengeance of God will be sure to pursue and overtake them The Distinction of Papist and Protestant make no difference in the Case if a Papist do any Wicked or Unjust thing invade the Estate Assasinate or take away the Life of any Protestant as an Heretick though it be done with an Intention that good may come or accrue to the Catholick cause by it still he is a Thief and a Murderer and therefore the Just God will Inflict the most Dreadful Punishment or Damnation upon him And if on the other side any Protestant or Company of Protestants for the preventing of Popery do Injury to or Unjustly deprive any Papist of his Right and Property as an Idolater that or those Protestants notwithstanding the good end they propound to themselves in it are Injurious and Oppressors and must look that the Vengeance of God will come upon them here and that without Repentance their Portion will be amongst the Unjust hereafter And if there be any odds in the guilt it is on the Protestants side such an one thus offending being more inexcusable than a Papist because he hath better means of Instruction for he hath the Holy Scriptures in a Language he understands to shew him the Right Pathes the ways of Justice and Honesty and he acknowledges them to be the sole Rule by which he is to order and conduct his Life and Actions and therefore if he do any Unjust thing he hath no Apology nor Excuse for it But most Papists are deprived of this advantage they have not the Scriptures in a Language they understand and therefore are not so well Instructed in the Duty that God requires of them neither do they own them to be their Rule without Traditions or the Unwritten Word of God which their Guides have both the Keeping and Expounding of and therefore they may easily be Impos'd upon told that is Just or a Part of their Duty which is quite contrary to it and so offend Ignorantly which doth something extenuate or lessen their Guilt Supposing then what you take for granted that your Bill to set aside the Duke would be for the good of the Nation yet it being absolutely Unjust and Sinful it is to do evil that good may come and therefore if St. Paul say true justly Damnable But what if you be mistaken What if it be not for the good but the injury and hurt the mischief and Ruin of the Nation If thus then you do Evil no good comes of it commit a great Sin to your own Eternal and the Peoples Temporal Ruin and Destruction so that instead of Blessing Praising they will have Just Cause to Revile and Curse you for it For let us suppose your Bill of Exclusion passed into a Law and his Royal Highness thereby deprived as far as that can do it of his Right Will he sit down patiently under so great an Injury I believe him so Brave and Just a Prince that such a Wrong though it would be a mighty Temptation could not provoke him to cast off either his Affection or Allegiance to the King but yet if the Duke be as you suppose him a Papist it would exasperate all the Roman Catholicks against the King excite their Rage prompt them to Revenge the Injury done to a Prince of their Religion make them Desperate watch all Opportunities try all ways to Assasinate and Destroy him We see to our Horrour and Amazement how the Kings most Just Refusal to consent to that Impious Project of Exclusion hath Irritated the Zealous Faction blown up their Rage and Malice to that Damnable height that they had design'd a more Dreadful Exclusion to send the King himself and his Royal Brother out of the World by a most Cruel and Barbarous Death that what their Wicked Votes could not their Murdering Bullets should Effect had not the Watchful Providence and the Adorable Goodness of our God Preserved the Royal Victims appointed for the Slaughter and by a mighty hand Rescued them from the Snare and the Ruin laid for them and I take his Majesties Deliverance from this Hellish Conspiracy as a Remarkable Token of Gods Approbation and Reward of his Royal Justice and Integrity in Refusing the Bill And if the Kings just denying his assent to it could so provoke and inrage the admirers of it against him how would the passing of it have Irritated and Rows'd the Romish Faction Would they not have fill'd Heaven and Earth with Complaints of and Outcries against it Have Publish'd Invectives and Proclaim'd the Wickedness of it to all the Christian World to the perpetual Reproach and Dishonour of our Nation nay have meditated Revenge enter'd into the most Dangerous Confederacies and took Counsel together to Destroy the King for to such Black and Cursed attempts as these they are God knows too Prone and Inclin'd when they have no Just Provocation given them to Instigate or Prompt them thereunto But this in their Apprehension would have Justifi'd all manner of Treasons and Conspiracies made them not only Lawful but in the highest Degree Meritorious they would have thought they did God the best and most acceptable Service when they cut off so Unjust a Prince who was so Cruel and Injurious as to deprive his own nay his only Brother of so great and undoubted a Right 'T is certain this would have put them upon frequent Treasons and Attempts against the King and who knows but it might have provoked that God who Loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity or Unjust Dealing if not more yet at least as much in Princes as other Men to withdraw his Watchful Providence and Gracious Protection from him to dismiss that Guard of Angells which have hitherto Defended his Sacred Person and most Precious Life from all those Bloudy Villains of what Sect or Profession soever that have Ventured to Attempt any thing against it So that your Bill of Exclusion instead of Preserving would have Indangered the King instead of being a Safe-guard and Defence to him would have exposed his most Sacred Majesty to Popish Rage and Cruelty nay which is Infinitely more Dreadful to the Divine Anger or Displeasure And being not for the Safety of the King it cannot be for the good of the People Besides as it would be the Mother of Secret Conspiracies so in all Probability