the succesful execution thereof is received at Rome with joy and triumph as the Murtherers in the Parisian Massacre were highly extolled by the Pope and rewarded with such spiritual Graces as his Holiness useth to bestow SECT V. That wheresoever it finds Encouragement it is restless till it bears down all before it or hath put all in disorder MAy we judg by these things how a Party devoted to the See of Rome are to be trusted and cherished in a Protestant Nation who mind the securing of themselves and their posterity from the sharpest Persecutions especially considering the Third Branch of the Charge That in any State where they find advantage or fit matter to work upon they are restless till they bear down all or put all in disorder Popery hath its formed Combinations and seâ—led Correspondencies over all Christendom under the Supreme Direction and Government of the Congregation at Rome for the propagation of the Faith which sent over swarms of Seminary Priests Jesuits and Fryars of all sorts who made their Hives in England The several PARLIAMENTS of the later times of King James represented to the King how the Popish Recusants had dangerously increased their Numbers and Insolencies having great expectation from the Treaties with Spain and the interposing of Foreign Princes for Indulgence to them how they openly and usually resorted to the Churches and Chappels of Foreign Ambassadors their more then usual concourse to the City and their frequent Conventicles and Conferences there how their children were educated in many Foreign Seminaries appropriated to the English Fugitives what swarms of Priests and Jesuits came into the Land many Popish and Seditious Books licentiously printed and dispersed From which Causes as from bitter Roots most dangerous Effects both to Church and State would follow For the Popish Religion is incompatible with ours it draws with it an unavoidable dependance upon Foreign Princes it opens a wide gap for popularity in any who shall draw too great a party it hath a restless spirit and will strive by these gradations If it once get connivance it will press for Toleration if that should be obtained it must have an Equality from thence it will aspire to a Superiority and never rest till it hath wrought the subversion of true Religion In the several PARLIAMENTS of King Charles the First not one Publick Grievance was more insisted on then the Growth of POPERY In the Third PARLIAMENT of that King at a Conference between the Lords and Commons about Popish Recusants one of the Principal Secretaries of State spake thus Give me leave to tell you what I know That These now both vaunt at home and write to their Friends abroad they hope all will be well and doubt not to prevail and win ground upon us And a little to awaken the Care and Zeal of our Learned and Grave Fathers it is fit that they take notice of that Hierarchy which is already Established in competition with their Lordships For they have already a Bishop consecrated by the Pope This Bishop hath his subalternate Officers of all kinds as Vicars General Arch-Deacons Rural Deans Apparitors and such like neither are these nominal and titular Officers alone but they all execute their Jurisdiction and make their ordinary Visitation throughout the Kingdom keep Courts and determine Ecclesiastical Causes and which is an argument of more consequence they keep ordinary intelligence by their Agents at Rome and hold correspondencies with the Nuncio's and Cardinals both at Bruxels and in France Neither are the Seculars alone grown to this height but the Regulars are more active and dangerous and have taken deep root They have already planted their Societies and Colledges of both Sexes They have setled Revenues Houses Libraries Vestments and all other necessary provisions to travel or stay at home nay even at this time they intend to hold a concurrent Assembly with this Parliament In Ireland a Popish Clergy far more numerous then the Protestant was in full exercise of all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Arch-Bishops Bishops Vicars General Officiats and a Vicar Apostolical And they had a special Cardinal at Rome for their Protector Among other Projects a Consultation and Overture of reconciling England and Rome was set on foot Some of Eminency in the Church of England gave advantage to the Project by declaring That only the Puritans among the Protestants and the Jesuits among the Papists obstructed the Peace of Christendom Some prime Agent of the Pope made a solemn offer of a Cardinalship to Bishop Laud at the time of his translation to the See of Canterbury Sancta Clara presumed to dedicate his Book to the King wherein the Articles of the Church of England were examined by the Roman Standard and distorted to the sense of the Council of Trent The Pope had Three Nuncio's Panzani Con and Roseti successively residing in England to work upon this State by advantage of the Project of Reconciliation This Faction had many Irons in the Fire and many strings to their Bow They had their Agents in Court City and Country They had their Spyes in the Houses of great men and such as kept continual watch over them that had the chief sway of Publick Affairs Their work was to raise and foster Jealousies between the King and His People to cast things into the hurry of Faction Prejudice and confused Motion And whether the Court or Popular Faction prevailed they thought it equally advantagious to their Designs which was to unsettle the present State and work Mutations Such Incendiaries are the Factors of Rome and such busie Engineers in the Confusions of Christendom Can any that considers the foregoing passages doubt of the powerful and special Agency of the Court of Rome in the Commotions that followed A Venetian Agent in England intimate with Nuncio Panzani and privy to all his Negotiations made this Observation If one may make judgment of things future by things past this Realm so divided into many Factions in matter of Religion and that of the Catholick increasing daily will in time be troubled and torn with Civil Warrs SECT VI. The PAPISTS pretension of Loyalty and Merit in the King's Cause Examined THE great Plea and boasting of the Romanists is Their pretension of Merit in the King's Cause The truth is the Papists knew that the PARLIAMENT was fully bent and deeply engaged against them and therefore despaired of any good to themselves by a direct and open compliance with them whatever undiscerned influence they might have on their Counsels So that Necessity made them to serve the King in that Warr. And they brought neither Success nor Reputation to His Majesties Affairs nor did He care to own their Assistance more then as justified by the present necessity And they have little reason to upbraid the Protestants with the scandal of that Warr for whatsoever was alledged in defence thereof by the PARLIAMENT and their Adherents as much hath been written by very Eminent School-men and Doctors
the Stabbing and Poysoning of Princes that stood in their way which the Jesuits teach their Disciples SECT IX The Reformed Religion is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom AS the Protestant or Reformed Religion is the true Primitive Christianity so it is the stable and permanent Interest of England and the sure Foundation of its Prosperity The King of England is the most Mighty Prince of this Profession and becomes the more Potent over Christendom by being the Head and Chief of the whole Protestant Party And it is well known That by the Support and Defence of this Cause the Nation hath encreased in Honour and Wealth and Power The Peoples rooted Aversness from Popery is most apparent and their Jealousies work upon any more then usual Insolence or Confidence of the Papists The Royallists as well as others have been Allarm'd and manifested their Zeal against it And His Majesties Aversness from it is so fully declared by His Constancy amidst Temptations in the time of His Exile and now since His Return that for His Honours sake it is made very penal for any to suggest that He would introduce it the Law presuming That such suggestion must needs proceed from an evil mind And what Prince that hath cast off the Popes yoke would willingly come under it again A Foreign Statesman of the Roman Profession hath observed it as a Barr against the projected Reconciliation between England and Rome That it could not be effected without Concessions on both sides contrary to the Maxims of both parties This Realm saith he is perversly addicted to maintain its own resolute Opinion of Excluding the Popes Authority And the Court of Rome is more sollicitous to remove whatsoever is contrary to its Temporal Grandure then to extirpate such Heresies as this Realm is infected with To instance in that one point of the Approbation or Toleration of the Oath of Allegiance though some Catholick Doctors had with their Tongues and Pens maintained the lawfulness of that Oath yet thereby and by opening some other points of high consequence they had so displeased the Pope that could they have been catch't they were sure to have been burn'd or strangled for it But what allurement is there to dispose the Monarchs of the Earth to subject themselves to the Sacerdotal Empire of Rome or to endeavour an Accommodation with it Hath Popery its advantages to dispose Subjects to security and blind obedience So it hath its advantages to loosen the Bonds of Allegiance and foment Rebellion in Subjects when Protestancy seasons them with principles of unstained Loyalty A people nuzled in ignorance and superstition are more easily seduced from their obedience to Magistrates and carried headlong by those that have dominion over their Consciences But Understanding and Knowledg makes men considerate and more easily manageable by a just and prudent Government As for the Clergy's Interest though the Protestant Religion doth not affect that excessive Pomp and Splendor of Church-men which the Popish doth yet it is taken for granted That neither Conscience nor Interest will permit the Bishops and Clergy of England to unite to the See of Rome Their Doctrine is too pure and their Judgment too clear for a full compliance with Popery And they know what it is to come under the Papal Yoke to divest themselves and receive new Orders from Rome and to be displaced and set behind the Veteran Soldiers of the Roman Camp whose turns must be first served SECT X. It is for the behoof of Religion and true Piety and for the Interest of this State That Reformed Christianity be setled in its full Extent IF it be resolved That Protestancy is the truth of Christianity and also the stability of England it follows That this Profession must not be streightned and lessened but inlarged and cherished according to its true Extent and the Rule and Square of the Ecclesiastical State must be commensurate thereunto It should be the measure of all mens Zeal and Activity in Rites and Opinions whatsoever is necessary to its support and advancement is constantly to be asserted and about things impertinent thereunto contention should utterly cease This is to advance the Kingdom of God among men and to encrease the Church's glory upon earth But by needless Schisms and Factions to weaken the common Interest of Reformed Christianity is to dissipate the Church of God and to defeat the great Ends of the Christian Religion which are Sound and strong Faith in Christ and his Promises unfeigned devotion purity of heart innocence and integrity of life common charity brotherly love humility mutual forbearance and condescention unshaken peace and concord As this Latitude promotes the great Designs of Christs Gospel so it settles this Nation and is for matter of Religion its right and sure Basis. Every good Foundation lyes adequate to the Building to be laid thereon So any Polity Civil or Ecclesiastical should be proportionate to the people to be governed thereby The people that are of moment in the Ballance of this Nation are though not universally yet more generally rooted in Protestantism as it is taken in its due latitude and not as unduly restrained by the passions and interests of men For in this they are one though divided about lesser things There hath been much discord between men of several Perswasions that throughly accord with each other in the same common Faith as almost to expunge one another out of the List of Protestants Surely this is a great error and a disadvantage on all hands as well to those that stand on the Vantage-ground as to others For they that carry it after this sort do weaken the Common Interest of true Religion and strengthen the Common Adversary that is irreconcilable and disparage themselves as a narrow Party or Faction That all those who heartily embrace the English Reformation established by Law are Protestants will not be questioned by men of temperate spirits And concerning the residue let the sober-minded judge Whether they that assent to the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Articles of the Church of England and do worship God according to that Faith have right to be esteemed Protestants Now if Protestancy taken in its due Extent doth sway the Nation and is able to settle its Peace against the Competition of any Rival should it not be encompassed according to that Extent as much as is possible in the Polity of this State SECT XI How momentous in the Ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Polity VVHether cogent Reason speaks for this Latitude be it now considered How momentous in the Ballance of this Nation those Protestants are which are dissatisfied in the present Ecclesiastical Polity They are every where spred through City and Countrey they make no small part of all ranks and sorts of men by Relations and Commerce they are so woven into the Nations Interest that it is not easie to sever them without unravelling the whole
A DISCOURSE OF THE RELIGION OF ENGLAND ASSERTING That REFORMED CHRISTIANITY setled in its Due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of this KINGDOM LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC LX. VII THE PREFACE REligion being deeply imprinted in Humane Nature and having a great Power over it and being more notably displayed in the present Age is become the Grand Interest of States and almost of all men though not after the same manner nor upon the same Grounds and Motives For this cause whether it comes in Truth or in Shew only it is found to rule and turn about the great Affairs of the World And though many things of different nature may have great influence on the State of this Kingdom yet Religion and Matters of Conscience evidently appear to have the greatest The distinguishing of Persons for the favour or disfavour of the Times yea the very Names of Discrimination pass upon the account of Religious Differences The Active part of all sorts and ranks of men is hereby chiefly swayed in their Motions and their Affections move more importunately in this One then in all their other Concernments Wherefore if a Settlement may be found out which may accommodate all those Parties or Perswasions in which the Peace of the Nation is bound up it will prove the undoubted Interest of this State And if such a Settlement be likewise found to be the true and sound state of Religion it must needs be acceptable to the faithful Servants of Christ and the true Lovers of their Country Now the Adventure of this Discourse is to Assert That Reformed Christianity rightly stated and setled in its due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of the Kingdom of England Nothing is here suggested for Politick Ends to corrupt the Purity or enervate the Power of Religion or to lessen Charity but the Fatherly Compassion of Rulers and the mutual Brotherly Condescention of all Christians required by the Law of Christ and some Connivence in case of insuperable Necessities and that for the Truth 's sake is here propounded Episcopacy is not undermined nor any other Form of Government here insinuated only a Relaxation of the Prescribed Uniformity and some Indulgence to Dissenters of Sound Faith and Good Life is submissively offered to the Consideration of our Superiors All Pragmatical Arrogance presuming to give Rules to Governours and to teach them what to do is carefully avoided only the Possibility Expediency and Necessity of Moderation is represented And it is humbly desired That this Honest Intention in pursuance of Peace may find a favourable Reception The Contents SEct. 1. The Religion of this Realm and Three different parties of most important consideration The Protestants of the Church of England the Protestant Nonconformists and the Papists Sect. 2. The Behaviour and Pretension of the Popish Party in these times Sect. 3. That Popery disposeth Subjects to Rebellion Sect. 4. That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach Sect. 5. That where soever it finds Encouragement it is restless till it bears down all before it or hath put all in disorder Sect. 6. The Papists Pretension of Loyalty and Merit in the Kings Cause examined Sect. 7. The result of the whole Discourse touching the Popish Party Sect. 8. That the Reformed Religion makes good Christians and good Subjects Sect. 9. The Reformed Religion is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom Sect. 10. It is for the behoof of Religion and true Piety and for the Interest of this State That Reformed Christianity be setled in its full Extent Sect. 11. How momentous in the Ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Polity Sect. 12. The Extirpation of the Dissenters is both difficult anaunprofitable Sect. 13. The Representation of this Difficulty is no threatning to Rulers or intimation of Rebellion Sect. 14. The setling of the Nation by an Established Order a Toleration and a Connivence Sect. 15. Of the Established Order in Religion and the Moderation therein required Sect. 16. Whether the Dissenters are capable of being brought into such a Comprehension Sect. 17. Acquiescence in the widened Establishment is the safety of Religion Sect. 18. Of Toleration and Connivence Sect. 19. Dissenters of narrow and rigid Principles advised to Moderation Sect. 20. This comprehensive state of Religion further considered with respect to Three Important Interests First To that of the King Sect. 21. Secondly To the Interest of the Church and Clergy Sect. 22. Thirdly To the Interest of the Nobility and Gentry Sect. 23. The general Security that comes by this Latitude ERRATA Page 9. line 2. read in King James his time p. 5. l. 18. r. Arts of Rome p. 31. l. 31. r. exacted A DISCOURSE OF THE RELIGION of ENGLAND SECT I. The Religion of this Realm and three different Parties of most important consideration The Protestants of the Church of England the Protestant Nonconformists and the Papists THE Religion of England considered not only as established by Law but as rooted in the Nation and generally embraced is that which is called Protestant and is no other then Christianity recovered out of the Antichristian Apostacy and reformed from the Corruptions of later Ages after the Primitive Purity receiving the holy Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Christian Faith and Life How beit in this Realm there be three different Parties of most important consideration The first consists of those Protestants that zealously adhere to the English Ecclesiastical Polity and call themselves the Church of England The second sort is of those Protestants that receive the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Articles of Religion but are dissatisfied in the form of Ecclesiastical Polity These by their Adversaries have been usually called Puritans The third is of those that utterly reject the Reformation and remain united to the Pope as their Spiritual Head and call themselves Roman-Catholicks Hereupon an impartial serious Observer respecting the Common Good may be induced to make inquiry How agreeable or dis-harmonious each of these Three are to the Publick Weal as also What proportion they bear to each other and whether those under the Legal Establishment or the Dissenters preponderate in the Ballance of the Nation or whether the Established preponderate in that degree which is requisite in true reason of Government SECT II. The Behaviour and Pretensions of the POPISH Party in these Times THE Roman-Catholicks in England considered not barely in their Number but in their Rank and Quality being Rich and Powerful and Strong in Alliances are very momentous and seem to be capable of great Designs especially in conjunction with Foreign Interests In these times they have taken much Liberty and Boldness with an undisturbed Security and lately have been observed to be more then ordinarily active jocund and confident of the effect of their Mutual Correspondencies and manifold passages of dangerous appearance have been every where spoken of in so much that the Nation hath taken an Alarm and
of the Roman Church for the Interest of the people and the Consent of the Cities and the Peers in Defensive Arms. Which they have written over and above their peculiar Principle of the Popes Universal Power of Deposing Kings that are unfit for Government As for the woful Catastrophe of those Commotions it hath been manifested to the world by such as undertook to justifie it when Authority should require That the year before the Kings death a select number of Jesuits being sent from their whole Party in England consulted both the Faculty of Sorbon and the Conclave at Rome touching the Lawfulness and Expediency of promoting the Change of Government by making away the King whom they despaired to turn from his Heresie It was debated and concluded in both places That for the Advancement of the Catholick Cause it was Lawful and Expedient to carry on that Alteration of State This Determination was effectually pursued by many Jesuits that came over and acted their parts in several Disguises After that execrable Fact was perpetrated on the Person of our Soveraign if we may believe most credible reports there were many Witnesses of the great joy among the English Convents and Seminaries and other companies of Papists beyond Sea as having overcome their great Enemy and done their main work Many of their Chief ones sought the favour of the Usurpers with offers of doing them service One of great note among them in a Book entituled Grounds of Obedience and Government undertook the solution of the Grand Case of those Times That if a People be dissolved into the State of Anarchy their Promise made to their expelled Governour binds no more they are remitted to the force of Nature to provide for themselves That the old Magistrates Right stands upon the Common Peace and that is transferred to his Rival by the Title of Quiet Possession Conformably to these Principles they address their Petition To the Supream Authority the PARLIAMENT of the Commonwealth of England They affirmed They had generally taken and punctually kept the Engagement and promised That if they might enjoy their Religion they would be the most quiet and useful Subjects Of their Actings since His Majesties Restauration and the Jealousies and Rumours about them let men judg as they find by the Evidences that are given SECT VII The Result of the whole Discourse touching the Popish Party AND now let it be duly weighed Whether the Papists of these Dominions have in later times changed their former Principles and Interests or have only taken another method of greater Artifice and Subtilty as the change of times hath given them direction and advantage The scope of the whole preceding Discourse is to call in question those high pretensions of theirs and to cross their Aims at great Power and Trust But it is not directed against the Security of their Persons or Fortunes or any meet Indulgence or Clemency towards them Let them have their Faith to themselves without being vexed with snares or any afflicted the State always providing to obviate the forementioned Principles and Practices of Disloyalty and the diffusing of the leaven of their Superstition The Inference of the whole is this That they be not admitted to a capacity of evil and dangerous influence upon the Affairs of the Kingdom or of interrupting and perplexing the course of things that concern the publike SECT VIII That the Reformed Religion makes good Christians and good Subjects AS true Religion is the most Noble End so it is the best Foundation of all Political Government And it is the felicity of the State of England to rest upon this Basis even Reformed Christianity or the Primitive and Apostolick Religion recovered out of the Apostacy of the later times and severed from that new kind of Paganism or Pagano-Christianism under which it lay much oppressed and overwhelmed but not extinguished It s wholsome Doctrine contained in its publick Confessions makes good Christians and good Subjects It teacheth obedience to Civil Magistrates without the controle of any Superior or Collateral Power Nor is it concerned if dangerous Positions fall from the Pens of some Writers And notwithstanding the Adversaries Cavils the Divines of Authority and solid Reputation in the Protestant Churches do with a general Consent maintain the Rights of Princes and Soveraign Powers against all Disobedience If any aberration in Practice hath been found in its Professors it is not to be charged therewith because it condemns it but the general practice in this point hath been conformable to the Doctrine The Reformation in England for its Legality and Orderliness is unquestionable In Germany it was setled and defended by Princes and free Cities that governed their own Signiories and Territories paying only a respect of Homage to the Emperor In Helvetia it began by the Senates of the Cantons It was received in Geneva by that Republick after the Civil Government had been reformed by strong Papists In the Provinces of the Netherlands it was spread many years before the Union against the Spaniard which Union was not made upon the score of Religion but of State The manner of its beginning in Scotland is by some attributed to a National Disposition the asperity and vehemency thereof is said to be greater in times of Popery and to be much mitigated by the Reformation For France we may take the Testimony of King JAMES who was jealous enough for the Power of Kings He said That he never knew yet that the French Protestants took Arms against their King In the first Troubles they stood only upon their Defence before they took Arms they were burned and Massacred every where The first Quarrel did not begin for Religion but because when King Francis the Second was under Age they had been the refuge of the Princes of the Blood expelled from the Court who knew not else where to take Sanctuary and that it shall not be found that they made any other Warr. It is not for this Discourse to intermeddle with all the Actions of Protestant Subjects towards their Princes that have happened in Christendom Let them stand or fall by the Laws and Polity under which they live Whensoever they have been disloyal they have swerved from the known and received Rules of their Profession Through the corruption of Mankind Subjects of whatsoever perswasion are prone to Murmurings and Mutinies Sometimes Oppression makes them mad Sometimes a Jealousie of Incroachments upon their Legal Rights and Liberties raiseth Distempers and Contests And sometimes an unbridled wanton affecting of inordinate Liberty makes them insolent and licentious But over and above these common Sources of Rebellion Popery hath a peculiar one and that of the greatest Force the Conscience of Religious Obligations and the Zeal of the Catholick Faith Protestants have never disowned their King for difference in Religion as the most of the Roman Catholieks of France dealt with Henry the Fourth by the Popes instigation And in their greatest Enormities they have never attempted
invincibly possess the Judgment in that case Christian Humility and Charity as well as Discretion adviseth such persons to acquiesce in their private Security and Freedom and not to reach after that Liberty that may unsettle the Publick Order and undermine the Common Safety SECT XX. This Comprehensive State of Religion further considered with respect to Three important Interests â—irst to that of the KING FOR the removing of all conâ—â—â—ved Prejudices let this desired Latitude of Religion be considered with respect to the several Interests of the King of the Church and Clergy and of the Nobility and Gentry First let it be examined in reference to the Interest of Regal Majesty The Non-conformists and other inclinable to their way are by some charged with such Principles as detract much from Kingly Power and Dignity and tend to advance Popular Faction It is confessed they have been eager Assertors of Legal Liberties yet herein they were not singular but in almost all PARLIAMENTS have had the concurrence of many good Patriots that were not touch'd with the least tincture of Puritanism They profess much affection to MONARCHY and the Royal Family and think they have made it appear by their hazardous declaring against the designed Death of our late Soveraign and their vigorous Actings for the Restitution of His Majesty that now is They are so well satisfied as none more in the Ancient Fundamental Constitution of this Kingdom This Arraignment of their supposed Principles about Government may haply proceed upon Mistake There is reason enough to think That the many late Disputes about Prerogative and Liberty are Controversiae ortae non primae that they had their rise from something else which lyes at the bottom Both former and present time do shew That the Anti-Puritan Interest when occasion serves and the urgency of Affairs requires can contest with Princes and pretend Conscience too in crossing their Designs Inclinations and Interests more then Speculative Opinions will be found to have born the sway and caused those active motions on the one hand and the other These Dogmata or Problemes about Obedience and Government do but little where mens Affections and Concernments do not give them spirit and vigor The practical Judgment of Inferiors hath a bias in this case according to their Superiors Benignity or Asperity towards them High strains of speech may easily proceed from such as flatter their Governors or know not themselves but they are worthy of credit that speak credible things The wise man saith He that repeateth a matter separateth very friends A looking back to former discords marrs the most hopeful Redintegration Acts of Indempnity are Acts of Oblivion also and must be so observed Let not the way of Peace be barr'd by the framing of such Tests as may perplex the minds of men but add no real security to the Higher Powers For as some set their wits a work in framing so do others in evading the designs of such Engagements And of those that devise how to evade them some may deal seriously and others perhaps may trifle with Conscience but the internal Judgments of both remain what they were before The common Evasions or Violations of such bonds among all parties in our times do shew That they are not the way to root out inveterate Opinions But there is a surer way to obviate the evil tendency of such Opinions and to render them ineffectual For it is not this or that narrow conception or notion but some greater thing that rules the actions of humane life The condition of the dissatisfied may without damage or just scandal to any be made such That their far greater number shall not long for changes but gladly embrace present things and then the implacably evil-minded would want matter to work upon and rest without hope of disturbing the Publick Peace Moreover all Loyal Principles are not inclosed in some Positions in which may be much variety and uncertainty of opinion and in which both Theological and Political Casuists and they great Assertors of Monarchical Government have written doubtfully Men of different apprehensions in such things may be indued with the same prudence soberness common charity love of Publick Tranquility reverence of Regal Majesty conscience of Allegiance and an awful regard of Divine and Humane Laws Men of nicer Judgments may have as loyal hearts as those of greater latitude And why should the judgments of such men be rack'd and their spirits vexed with curious scrutinies The ancient Sacred Bonds of Fidelity are not questioned and if they do not what others can oblige and awe the Conscience The extent of Prerogatives Royal of the Priviledges of PARLIAMENTS and of the Peoples Immunities is not matter fit for common disquisition but requires to be kept among the Secrets of Government It might have been far better if these points had been more gently and warily handled on all sides The English in general are an ingenuous and open-hearted people and if unlucky accidents discompose them not they are of themselves disposed to have their Kings in great veneration and doubtless their satisfaction and good estate is their Soveraigns true repose SECT XXI Secondly To the Interest of the Church and Clergy IN the next place let this Comprehensive state be examined with respect to the Interest of the Church of England The Doctrine of Faith and Sacraments by Law established is heartily received by the Non-conformists and it is like to be the Basis of their standing in England as long as Protestant Religion stands How far they approve Episcopacy and Liturgy hath been above declared Their dissent is in some parts of Divine Worship as they say not appointed of God but devised by men also in the frame of the English Hierarchy as it differs from the Ancient Episcopacy and they avow they are under no obligation to extirpate or impeach that ancient Form The Ministers of this Perswasion are Godly and Learned able and apt to teach the people and no small part of the Congregations in England feel the loss of them Doth the Lord of the Harvest command that such Labourers be thrust out of his Service And will the chief Shepherd at his appearing justifie this usage of his faithful Servants The Bishops and dignified Clergy and those of their Perswasion have the advantage of Law and Power But can they believe that the Church of God in these Nations is terminated in them alone It is hoped that Christ hath a larger Interest in these Realms Shall it be said of the English Prelacy That it cannot stand without the ejection of Thousands of Orthodox Pious Ministers Or that it dreads a general diffusion of knowledg in the people Or that this is a Maxime thereof No Ceremony no Bishop as if the Bishop's work were at an end and his office of no force if Ceremonies were left indifferent Is an Ecclesiastical Government that pleads Apostolical Institution and Universal reception so weak and feeble that godly and peaceable men