Kings nomination and refused to Consecrate others named by him At which the King as he had good reason being angry banished him out of his Kingdom But how this was resented at Rome and what troubles ensued thereupon to this Realm the Historians of that Age have sadly recorded After Henry the First came Stephen and after him Henry the Second A potent and warlike Prince who besides England held Normandy Anjou Poitou c. Yet this potent King was strangely disquieted by Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury A man abundantly stored with an ambitious turbulent and ungrateful Spirit as appeared by his disowning the Investiture of the King by whose favour and bounty he was promoted and receiving his Pall from the Pope At which the King being enraged exiled him out of him Dominions but he fled to Rome the Sanctuary in those days always open for such Traitors where he was not only entertained to the great grief of the King but countenanced encouraged and bid hearthy welcom by Pope Alexander the Third who vindicated the quarrel for indeed it was his own at so high a rate that this great Prince partly through necessity and fear of the power of the Keys which made wonderful clinking in those times and partly being perswaded by some Prelates Matth. Paris In Hen. Secund. p. 117. gave this Archbishop a meeting in hopes of a reconciliation at Froncevaux and did that which no man would have believed for he held the Bridle of Beckets horse and that proud Prelate not contented to have received the honour once alighted on purpose that the King should pay him submission twice as he also did Thus that Priest practised Apostolick humility After this Triumph highly applauded at Rome Becket returned into England full of glory Where instead of bringing Peace he was the Bearer and Proclaimer of an Excommunication and Sentence of deposition of the Archbishop of York and his Adherents for Crowning the young King in his absence The King being in Normandy and hearing of these procedures of the Archbishops sent four of his Attendants to require him to absolve those he had so unjustly excommunicated and take off his Suspensions from others Which command he refusing to obey the King began to lament his condition This moved the same four whom he had sent before to return into England and finding the Archbishop in the Church of Canterbury some say at the High Altar at three a clockiin the Afternoon calling him Traitor slew him No sooner did the news of this arrive King Henry still in Normandy but he shew'd a great deal of sorrow for it and though he protested his innocency as to the fact yet he sent an Embassie to the Pope to make satisfaction But the testy old man was so enraged that he would not so much as vouchsafe his Embassadours to kiss his feet but in great wrath spake of Interdicting the whole Kingdom which in those days was looked upon as the sending all the English into Hell The dread of which forced this Magnanimous King to buy his Absolution at a dear rate acquitting not only his right of investing but likewise engaging to keep two hundred men of Arms in pay for the service of the Holy War and the Popes Assigns to be the receivers And to make the satifaction compleat the Majesty of this great Monarch to the wonder of the world must be so far debased as to be stript naked and whipt by a company of Monks And that such Rebels as Becket might never want encouragement in succeeding Ages the Pope did not only defend him whilst he lived but Canoniz'd him when he was dead King Henry being gathered to his Fathers his Son Richard surnamed Cor de Lion succeeded him not only in his Throne but in his troubles too That Prince for the better securing Normandy was resolved to fortifie the Castle of Andeli See Mat. Paris p. 175. At which Walter Archbishop of Rouen being displeased immediately Interdicts all Normandy and flies to Rome where he found as kind entertainment as ever Becket did And now what must the King do Alas submit to contest was in vain for such was the fear of an Interdict in those times that there was nothing which the Pope could not obtain of Princes and Nations if he did but threaten them with it But above all that in the Reign of King John was the most dismal when England remained under the Interdict six years three months and an half Not only the King and his Court but all the People of the Nation were Excommunicated and that not for Heresie not for any Crime of theirs but for a quarrel between the King and the Pope about Investitures Collations and Money matters Matth. Paris in Johan p. 217. Then saith Matthew Paris who was an Eye-witness of all that disorder all the Sacraments of the Church ceased in England saving only the Confession and Communion of the Host in the last necessity and Baptism of little Children Then were the Dead carried out of Towns as if they had been Dogs and buried in High-ways and Ditches without Prayers and without Service of Priests Yet this not producing the end it was designed for the Balaam of Rome proceeds to curse the King by name and finally to pronounce sentence of Deposition against him discharging all his Subjects of their Oaths of Allegiance and sends his Legat to Philip Angust King of France that for the remission of his sins he should invade the Realm of England with force of Arms and giving to all those that would attend him in that Conquest forgiveness of all theirs and the same graces as to them that visit the Holy Sepulchre Whereupon Philip to obtain pardon of his sins or rather to make himself Master of this Land raised a mighty Army whilst Innocent by his Creatures was labouring to engage the English against their own King By this means King John was strangely and suddenly weakned and utterly disabled to hold his Kingdom and seeing strong invasions from without and daily revoltings within to open Insurrections and every man now counted a Saint and Martyr that would fight against him and considering that the Popes Bulls like Magick Spells had let loose many turbulent Spirits not to be laid again but by him that raised them After much debate and with a heart full of anguish and rage at last resolves to prostitute his Crown and Dignity to Pandulph the Legate that he might receive it again from him as from the Popes hands and be protected by him Thus the Pope taking advantage of this poor Princes misery made him a Vassal to his own greatness and his Kingdom a prop to uphold St. Peters Chair For these pretended Successors of that great Apostle fish not for Souls but for Empire even with the destruction of Millions if their own Doctrine be true which says that all that die under the Interdict without some special grace or priviledge and that not to be had without ready
Innocency no Shield against Envy A SERMON Preached on Friday April 11. Being The Fast-Day Appointed by the KINGS Proclamation To seek Reconciliation with God c. BY GEORGE TOPHAM Rector of Boston in Lincolnshire Perused and approved of by the Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Bishop of Lincoln LONDON Printed for Thomas Fox and are to be sold at his Shop at the Angel in Westminster-Hall 1679. A SERMON Preached upon PSALM lix 3. For lo they lie waiting for my Soul The mighty men are gathered against me without any offence or fault of me O Lord. WHat the Argument of this Psalm is why when and by whom written the Title shews and tells us that it was Davids made when Saul sent and they watcht the house to kill him I shall not trouble your attention with the mystical or Prophetical sense of it either as it relates to Christ or his Church a discourse more proper for some other season but only with the Historical or Literal as it concerned King David and by his example all that succeed him in the like dangers and deliverances and at this time fit for our more than ordinary Consideration For it is a Psalm in which Israels sweet Singer makes his Address to his God by way of vindicating his own Innocency For lo they lie waiting for my Soul The mighty men are gathered against me without any offence or fault of me O Lord. Wherein be pleased to observe these particulars First Davids Petition ver 2. Deliver me from mine Enemies O my God Secondly A description of them 1. By their practices they lie waiting for my Soul 2. Of their persons the mighty men are gathered against me Thirdly His Justification Without any offence or fault of me O Lord. Lastly Upon his being delivered his resolution to praise God ver 16 17. Vnto thee O my strength will I sing for thou O God art my refuge and my merciful God Of these in order First Davids Petition Deliver me O my God And surely never did greater reason and encouragement center in any one person more than in this Princely Prophet Nor ever had any man better assurance of the Almighties favour than himself so that well may he stile him not only God but his God How had he raised him from a low estate to sit upon no less than the Throne of Israel changing his Shepherds Cap into a Crown his Coat into a Robe and his Staff into a Scepter How had he given him not only Courage to encounter but Power to Conquer that daring Philistim whose very Bravadoes frighted the Israelites out of their Valour and at once made them forget both God and themselves How oft had he turned his enemies Swords into their own breasts and maugre all their malice chained Victory to his Conquering Chariot Which made the Damosels of Israel at his Triumphant return playing sing and singing play Saul hath slain his thousands but David his ten thousands It were endless by retail to reckon all the donatives that Heaven bestowed upon this Prince To the no less joy of himself than the Envy and wonder of his Adversaries Yet the greatest wonder is How David a King and Saint both which intitle him to a more than ordinary interest in Gods protection for Kings are his Viceroys and Saints his Friends and David eminent in both relations should have enemies and rebels But if we rightly consider it will appear none since no state or condition of men upon earth is so exposed to dangers as theirs For it is one and not one of the least unhappinesses of the Sons of Adam to be by nature proud and impatient of restraint greedy of liberty always dissatisfied with the present and thirsting after Novelties scarce any content with their station Some are aspiring and would be higher others covetous and would be richer some revengeful and will be quarrelling some malicious some turbulent and many the like Now all this croud of inordinate passions dischargeth it self upon those in power and place hoping by some publick disturbance that in troubled waters they may catch that which calmer times would have conferred upon persons of better merit And the State the Employ the Condition of Kings gives some advantage to such intendments for they stand high all eyes are upon them nothing they say or do escapes observation and censure If any thing be amiss as in multiplicity of affairs it is impossible but there should they are sure to hear of it with all its hightning circumstances the giddy multitude not considering that there may be a great Sacriledge committed in Israel and yet Joshua not know of it Some errors will escape the best vigilancy that sin is not half cunning enough that hath not learned secresie yet when such miscarriages happen Magistracy must be traduced for it Nay how oft is their very innocency charged with aberrations Making good holy Davids assertion For lo they lie waiting for my Soul The mighty men are gathered against me without any offence or fault of me O Lord. Where be pleased to take notice how he describes his Enemies First By their policy lying in wait for his Soul that is for his life And how and when they did this is set down 2 Sam. xix 11. when Sauls unbounded malice mist of its design by Davids avoiding his darted Javelin his hatred pursues him home Sending Messengers thither under the pretence of a visit to slay him and to bid him a good Morning with the loss of his life And though this Stratagem failed of its desired end as well as the other Saul will not fail of a further contrivance for his ruine and that of a most unpardonable nature To cozen under the colour of Amity is the most execrable villany And there is no defence for that Pistol that is charged with the Bullet of friendship yet such was this of Sauls Be thou valiant and fight the Lords Battels and I will give thee my eldest Daughter Merab to Wife for he said my hand shall not be upon him 2 Sam. xviii 17. David was now grown so popular that the King durst not offer him personal violence therefore he hires him into the jaws of death by no less a price than his eldest Daughter What a Saint what a Friend was Saul Yet he never intended more mischief to David nor more unfaithfulness to his God than in this offer for for all these fair flourishes he hoped David would have fallen by the Sword of the Philistins as appeared by the not performing of his promise for Merab was not given to David but to Adriel And now the breaking of his word must certainly be a sufficient oblation to his hatred No revenge knows no limits He has one plot more by which he does not doubt but to bring David to his Grave if he will but bring him an hundred Foreskins of the Philistins he has another Daughter which shall be his Wife And though the yonger yet the more
affectionate she was as sick of love as her Father was of hatred toward him Saul is glad of this his Daughter could never do him better service If Davids valour over-heated with the hopes of her Espousal do but make him perish in this attempt But all those projects failing and Sauls death ensuing sure nothing now can discompose his rest or raise a storm upon the face of his serene Government Yes this rare and excellent Person this gracious Prince the very light of Israel as his Subjects stiled him 2 Sam. xxi 17. was restless all his days I cannot reckon his troubles because he himself says they were innumerable Psal xl 12. nor his enemies that hated him without a cause and sought to destroy him wrongfully for they were mighty Psal xxxviii 19. The Grandees the gravest that sate in the Gate the place of Judicature Psal lxix 12. were those that conspired his destruction Which is the next considerable The mighty men Had it only been the Drunkards the scum of the People that had made Songs of him he would either have reduced them to their obedience by some punishment suitable to their Crime or with a noble scorn or pity have past by their affronts But for the mighty men to lie in wait for his life must needs not only awaken his diligence but his devotion too that Heaven would be pleased to fortifie his Guards against their treacheries who were daily contriving his ruine And that after the most insinuating ways imaginable traducing that Government which God himself never found fault with and at last took Arms against him And to make up his sorrows to the full who should head these Rebels but his dearly beloved Absolom who drew into conspiracy with him besides the most of his Fathers Subjects even his familiar Friend Achitophel whose Counsel whilst good was as an Oracle of God but when bad might stand in competition with the Devil as appeared by that he gave Absolom 2 Sam xvi 21. for he fearing that Absolom should relent and David remit and so that breach be pieced he advised him to second his unnatural Conspiracy with as unnatural Incest not only to violate his Fathers Throne but his Fathers Bed And this Villany not to be acted in secresie the argument of Fear or Modesty but so that all Israel might be Witnesses of the Sons sin and the Fathers shame And that this treason may end in victory he has another design ready Protraction may be an advantage to David Therefore he resolves 2 Sam. xvii 2. I will pursue him to night and come upon him while he is weary How pernicious how destructive was this intendment For besides the weariness and unreadiness of Davids Army the spirits of that holy King were low and daunted And had not Hushai 2 Sam. xvii 14. put a stop to this piece of Aohitophels policy Davids Army had been half vanquished ere one blow had been given Thus was this excellent King used by an unworthy Master an unnatural Son and an ungrateful Subject Nay that the Cup of his affliction may not want but run over they will not suffer him to die in peace for Adonijah another of his darling Sons obtrudes himself a Successor upon him endeavouring as it were to bury him alive But I shall proceed from their Cruelty to his Innocency the third thing proposed Davids Justification Without any offence or fault of me O Lord. Now that this was no Complement but a real truth is evident to any that consults the History of his life For he was a Pious man a great Souldier and a gracious Prince one in whom nothing was wanting to oblige a people to obedience and respect A man after Gods own heart 1 Sam. xiii 14. proposed as a Pattern to Solomon with a promise to entail his Kingdom and blessings upon him and his Posterity if he would but walk in his steps 2 Chron. vii 17 18. His life was the Measure and Standard by which succeeding Princes were to be judged his vertues out-lived himself and many Generations fared the better for him Yet you see this incomparable Prince this Favorite of Heaven this glory of after-Ages was continually disturbed in his own by the Seditions and Rebellions of his Enemies Which made him say They are minded to do me some mischief so maliciously are they bent against me But surely these Persons of Honour had some just cause to lie in wait for David perhaps he had degraded them or taken away their Estates or at least his rising Sun had darkned and caused theirs to set in a cloud of disgrace No he was not guilty of any of these For as God was wonderful in placing him on his Throne so was he merciful even to the worst of his Enemies How did he pardon that railing Shimei 2 Sam. xvi 7. when he cursed him saying Come out thou bloudy man and thou man of Belial What Tongue but that of this wicked Rebel durst thus have slandered the Majesty of a King Every word was a lie He calls him an Usurper a man of bloud and that of Sauls House how false God sent for him out of the fields to be Anointed How was he an Intruder The man after Gods own heart is branded for a man of Belial and he that regretted for but the cutting off Sauls Garment is reproached as a man of bloud Indeed for his Master what respect did he pay him Meeting his Envy with Love yea at that very time that he sought his death for Saul being weary with pursuing of him seeks a repose in Davids Cave 2 Sam. xxiv 3. where David takes him napping and now his Souldiers advise him to carve his own revenge and to encourage him to it they alledge Gods promise and this advantage concurring But he like himself gives way neither to his own passion nor their solicitation but only makes this opportunity the trial of his Loyalty and the means of his Peace It had been as easie to have cut Sauls Throat as his Garment but his Coat not his Person shall be the worse Nor that neither but for a monument of his Innocency Did he not shed the bloud of that Amalekite who did but say he had shed Sauls How did he bewail the death of so bad a Master wishing no dew might fall where that Royal bloud was poured out And as for Absolom and Achitophel what humane power could have done more than David did to endear and secure the Duty of the one and the Loyalty of the other With what love and affection had he treated Absolom And for Achitophel he made him not only of his Privy Council but the Grand Minister both of his state and favour And therefore when this ungrateful Politician turned Traitor how deeply did it wound the Royal breast that had advanced him For it was not says he Psal lv 12. an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me
money are eternally damned as dying out of the Communion of the Church So that if St. Peter should now come to his Successor in his old tone Silver and Gold have I none if he were a thousand Peters he must into Purgatory How many Millions then of Souls did this Innocent the Pope wilfully send to Hell in this great Kingdom of England in the Space of above six years And this for no offence no fault of theirs For what could they do if the King would not be ruled by the Pope Are these the actions of the Vicar of Christ Is this the kind Father of the Church Is this the way of managing the Keys Yes he that consults the Reigns of our succeeding Kings from the time of King John to our own which would make me too great a debtor to your patience particularly to relate shall find that no stone has been left unturn'd no policies though never so horrid have not been put in execution to reduce this Nation to that miserable slavery they had once imposed upon it For it is not for the Points of true Doctrine but for Wealth and Grandeur for the setting up of their visible Monarchy of the Church whereof Christ and his Apostles never spake a word and of which the Primitive Fathers never dreamt they so much contend Henry the Eighth held all the Doctrinal Points of the Romish Religion yet for rejecting the Jurisdiction of Rome was Excommunicated by the Pope his Subjects commanded to deny obedience and all men to take Arms against him This is it which if our Religion would allow Pius IV. Hist Conc. Trid. lib. 8. p. 7.5 they would allow of our Religion The Politick rather than Pious Pope said once Since he could not regain the Protestants it was necessary to keep those in obedience which he had to make the division strong and the parties irreconcilable Conformable whereunto their now Doctrine is that such as submit not to the Popes Supremacy do renounce Christianity When the Fires of Queen Maries bloudy Reign could not do this work how many Plots were laid against the life of Queen Elizabeth that Queen of blessed memory by whose gracious hand God wrought those wonders that the most potent Kings can hardly reach Honour filled the Circle of her Crown her brow with Majesty her heart with Piety and her lap with Plenty Yet how execrable were the Treasons against that glorious Defender of the Faith and of her Royal Rights When neither the Dagger nor the Poyson could reach her Sacred Person an invincible Armado as they themselves stiled it must be sent to invade England three Popes having made way for the Sword by three roaring Bulls which dethroned the Queen and commanded her Subjects to take Arms against her But when the invincible Army had lost that name being defeated by the powerful Arm of God other Armies were poured from time to time into Ireland ever prone to Rebel When all those effects were frustrated God blessing England because the Popes cursed it and Elizabeth full of days and glory was translated from a Temporal to an Eternal Diadem her peaceful Successor Defender of the same holy Faith must be welcomed to his Throne by a Mandate of Clement the VIII declaring him unworthy to sit there as an Heretick and forbidding his Subjects to obey him When all that would not effect the desired end to make short work such a device is excogitated as nothing but Rome and the Devil could have invented And now they are resolved on that desperate Cry Incendium extinguatur ruina the King and his Royal Issue Lords and Commons all the flower and vigour of the Kingdom must be blown up sent to heaven before the Resurrection Bloudy Priests that would have offered a whole burnt Sacrifice and made both Prince and Peers pass through the fire an oblation to their Moloch of Rome And as for our late King of blessed memory that Prince in whose breast all those Vertues Centred which severally had commended the great Monarchs of former Ages Was he not beholden as it is now apparent to his Holiness for raising all those storms of Rebellion upon the face of his calm Government hoping in those troubled waters to have catch'd that Fish he had been Angling for so many Ages Indeed the large claim of St. Peters Regalities has been for these last six hundred years the cause of all the Corruptions of Faith and Religion of all the Confusions and Distractions of all the Seditions and Rebellions in the West of the world And we of this Island by sad experience have been taught that this is the great Wheel that sets those Mischiefs Plots and Treasons on going wherewith the State hath been so many times shaken torn and brought to the brink of ruine For when hot-headed Zealots are really perswaded that the Pope has power to depose Emperours and Kings that oppose him and absolve Subjects from their Allegiance to them and this believed as absolutely necessary to Salvation what Royal bloud will they spare What attempt be it never so cruel never so unjust never so difficult will they not assay to bring their Country under the Popes subjection and to promote his Universal Monarchy Or can it be expected they will desist from endeavouring its reducement though after the most inhumane and barbarous way that any thing but Rome and Hell ever thought of so long as the Pope whose slaves they are is himself a slave to his own cruel and illimited Ambition which to satiate all the Kingdoms and all the bloud in the world are too little And never was it more evident more apparent to the world than in this late discovered Conspiracy against our most gracious Sovereign what their resolutions are and what both King and People must expect from the Roman Prelate whose malice never sleeps nor whose Agents never rest to work his Ruine so that he may say of them and justly too as King David did of his They are minded to do me some mischief so maliciously are they bent against me But we will pass from their Malice and Policy to a consideration of their Might and Power the next in order The mighty men are gathered against me The mighty alas he is such in the Superlative degree that is enemy to his Majesty if you will believe him for this he that asserts that all Empires and Scepters are at his dispose As Pius the Fifth taught the People of this Kingdom in express words in the Bull of Deprivation which he thundred against Queen Elizabeth And to make this good to the world and to shew the height of his Pride Pope Celestine crowned Henry the Sixth Emperour of that name with his feet and kickt it off when he had done making no less than an Emperours Crown his Foot-ball Gregory the Seventh made Henry the Fourth pay attendance at his Gates in Winter four days bare-footed And Alexander the Third with an insulting scorn trode on the Neck
of Frederick Barbarosa This is he that can give and take Heaven away at his pleasure Mat. 4.9 a Priviledge that great Usurper his Father never challenged Nay Cerem Sacra l. 1. §. 7. c. 6. this is he that has encroach'd upon the highest Prerogatives and Titles of God himself Pope Sixtus the Fourth out of his singular modesty assumed that authority which not only we but all the Primitive Christians thought to belong to Christ alone All power is given me both in heaven and Earth Pope Paul the Second was stiled a Celestial Majesty which all know is only proper to God Pope Sixtus Quintus called the Corner-stone in Sion due to the Son of God And in the last Council of Lateran it was decreed that the Pope must be adored by all Nations and that he is most like unto God Yea we are further told in the same place that he must be adored with the same Adoration enjoyned Psal lxii All the Kings of the earth shall worship him in which Text the Adoration proper to our ever-blessed Saviour is understood and so it is taken by Tertullian So that if David were permitted to speak from the dead he must needs acknowledge and say that those of his though mighty were far inferiour to these enemies of his Majesty Which brings me to the next considerable Without any offence or fault of me O Lord. And does not our gracious King run parallel with him in this What Prince ever writ his favours in such engaging Characters as he has done That were his Adversaries any thing but what they are Vassals to the Roman greatness he must for ever have endeared and secured their obedience A Prince whose unspotted Innocency is such that no fancies or fears disturb his breast for as he is guilty of nothing so there is nothing he dreads He is the very Compound of Charity and Compassion For he pities those that will not pity themselves and whilst they contrive his destruction his Prayers ascend heaven for their pardon Nor can the utmost of their malice provoke him to a retaliation having learnt not only of God but the King his Father to forgive his very Enemies Now to study to design and plot the ruine of such a Prince must make a strange aggravation of the Crime and render the Conspirators much more black not only to this but to all succeeding Ages especially when they shall find that some of them were indebted to his bounty for their bread O but he will not admit of the power of our Father the Pope and all Obligements all Oaths all that is Sacred are too weak to engage and bind our Loyalty when he claims not only Rivality but Supremacy And therefore Great Sir pardon us we will serve you in any thing else but when that Interest is on foot when he enjoyns and commands us we are bound and that under no less penalty than eternal damnation to devest our selves of all to promote it Is this the cause is this his offence is this his fault What if the Pope command his Majesty to break the Sacred Mandates of the Almighty and kneel before an Idol and offer his Invocation unto others than God What if he appoint him other Redeemers than Christ and other merits for his Propitiation than those of his obedience in the Death of the Cross What if contrary to the Apostle he tell him that the Bloud of Jesus cleanseth him not from all sin and will send him to be cleansed in an imaginary fire of Purgatory and fright his Conscience to drain his Purse Must he to please the unmatchable pride and insatiable griping of that Tyrant hood wink his Reason befool his Conscience make shipwrack of his Faith and blindly and wilfully inslave himself and his Subjects under the yoke of the Romish bondage Or else be deposed and murthered and his Kingdoms disposed of at the Popes pleasure Good God! how contrary is this to the Religion of the ever blessed Jesus to the practice of his Apostles and the Primitive times Our Saviour himself was so far from pretending to a disposal of temporal Empires that he refused to divide Inheritances among Brethren as a thing that belonged not to him in Luke xii 14. And for the Apostles how earnestly did they exhort and persuade their Auditors to be obedient not only for wrath but for Conscience sake Not because the Emperours had their Swords in their hands and might therefore punish them but because God did command and require it of them That known passage of St. Paul may serve for an abundant evidence Rom. xiii 2. where he not only affirms That whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God but also that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And that the ancient Christians were of the same temper with their Master and his Apostles submitting themselves to the penalties of those Laws whose Injunctions they thought it not lawful to observe is clear from Tertullian and others And this they did too not as that great Cardinal would have the world believe because they wanted force and power to resist Bel. lib. 5. de Rom. Pont. cap. 4. 7. but in a real practice of the Precepts of the ever blessed Jesus Tertullian and Cyprian two Ancient Fathers being under the Persecution of the heathen Emperours do make their Apologies in behalf of the Christian and Catholick Church Tertal Apol. contra Gentes cap. 37. Tertullian thus God forbid that our Christian Profession should be revenged by Humane Power or should grieve to suffer that whereby we are tried Although if we would become either secret or open revengers of our own wrongs could we want either number or power What War is there that we are not fit for yea and ready also to undertake if that our Religion taught us not rather to be killed than to kill for the profession thereof Cyprian ad Demetr And St. Cyprian Our Professors saith he do not take revenge against unjust violence though our people be more in number And agreeing hereto when the Theban Legion which consisted of six thousand six hundred sixty six Christian Souldiers were by the Emperour Maximian commanded to offer Sacrifice to the heathen Gods though they refused to obey his commands yet when he upon that refusal commanded every tenth man to be slain they suffered themselves so to be without any the least resistance looking upon themselves as obliged by their Religion to obey him either actively or passively Thus the Supremacy and Power in those days was in the Emperours and Obedience was held better than Sacrifice And this owned and practised by several of the Popes of Rome themselves as Binius and Baronius two Witnesses against whom I hope they will take no exception have set down yet I shall only produce three of them that number having always looked upon especially of such men sufficient for any Test And the first is Pope Leo the first who made
delight in bloud Let me rather direct the discourse to our selves the fault is our own if we perish Heaven has not nor will not be wanting if we do but our parts And therefore that Iniquity may never be our ruine that God may never repent of his protecting and delivering of us let us resolve for the future to be in good earnest Pious to our God Loyal to our King and Loving and Charitable one towards another Let our Repentance be a real 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a devesting of our selves of all those sinful habits with which we have provoked Heaven let each man rend his heart with sorrow for his own sins and the sins of his People let every man ransack his own soul and life and offer an holy violence to all those sinful Corruptions that may hinder heavens protecting of us and let not these resolutions end with the day let us not think it enough to forbear a meal or to hang down our heads like a Bull-rush for a day but let us break the bonds of wickedness and in a true contrition of soul vow and perform better obedience Let our Loyalty be such as it ought true and ingenuous let no murmurings nor complainings find entertainment in our breasts It is the trick of Mutineers of impenitent Covenanters to say the former days were better than these And if they once come to wear their teeth in their Tongues as Shimei did they will do what they can to have the Trumpet at their mouths as Sheba had Let not us that decry Romes Supremacy make a Pope of an Anarchy God himself says By me Kings Reign not by the Pope nor by the People In a word let us not be less free in exposing our Lives and Estates for the preservation of our King and Country than our Adversaries are to destroy both It is a pity but his Neck should hang in suspence with his Conscience in a halter who scruples to venture all for his King the Church and his Country Lastly Let us learn to be unanimous it is by our disunion our Enemies are so strong Were we but so wise as to stand as a City that is compact together and not fall out about Circumstances and Points of less moment while we agree in the main substance the Skirts of the Scarlet Whore had been rent to pieces ere this and the Walls of Babylon with the Trumpet of the Gospel would have long since fallen down as Jericho at those of the Sanctuary To conclude Let us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and though we may differ in Opinions let us not differ in our Affections but unite against these common Enemies of our Interest and make our hearty Prayers to God that he may still continue his mercies infatuate and defeat the Counsels of these our bloudy and unparallel'd Adversaries continue the light of the Gospel to us and our Posterity bestow his abundant blessings upon his Sacred Majesty and this present Parliament make us all happy here and eternally happy hereafter AMEN FINIS Books newly Printed for and sold by Thomas Fox at the Angel in Westminster Hall A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Right Honourable William Lord Paget Baron of Beaudesert c. by John Heynes M.A. and Preacher of the new Church Westminster quarto stitch'd A seasonable advice to all true Protestants in England in this present posture of affairs discovering the present designs of the Papists c. by a sincere lover of his King and Country quarto stitch'd Holy Rules and Helps to Devotion both in Prayer and Practice in two parts Written by the Right Reverend Father in God Bryan Duppa late Lord Bishop of Winton in the time of his Sequestration Twelves bound The Legacy of the Right Reverend Father in God Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford or a short determination of all Controversies we have with the Papists by Gods holy Word The second Impression Corrected with additions by the Author Quarto stirch'd Grand Cyrus compleat a Romance Folio Clelia a Romance Folio Dr. Peter Heylins Geography Folio Farindons Sermons in three Volumes Folio Pharamond a Romance Folio Queen Elizabeths last Speech and thanks to her last Parliament after her delivery from the Popish Plots c.