go about to satisfie Men that will never be satisfied A time may come and I hope it is approaching when such a Declaration will not only be believ'd but receiv'd with the joyful Acclamations and grateful Acknowledgments of both Houses and if it be thy Blessed will Oh God let such a time a time so much desired by all good Men come and that quickly But for my part I do not think it civil or decent for those that are unacquainted with the greatest affairs of State to take upon them to prescribe to his Royal Highness or to tell him when or in what manner he should declare himself because this would Savour of Rudeness and Presumption and therefore they must leave it to his own Prudence and the Wise Determinations of those Great and Honourable Personages that understand and conduct the weighty concerns of the Government it being for Them to know the times and seasons of so important an Action and not for Men of privacy and low degree Stay a while then and consider what you are doing be not too confident Oh ye Excluders make not so much hast nor such a stir to shut the door upon a Prince that you are not sure is gone from you believe it possible for you to Err or be Mistaken in your Opinions of him you see he hath no Reason to be a Papist and the Arguments for it are insufficient do not prove it therefore be not too confident he is so SECT IV. So far I have consider'd the first Question Whether his Royal Highness be a Papist The next and great Enquiry is Whether if he be so that Forfeits his Right That it doth not I assert and am now to prove In order to which I affirm That it is possible for a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man one that desires to go the Right way to Heaven to turn Papist Errour may look so like Truth and Superstition be so adorn'd with the paint and fair colours of true Piety that Men of good understanding and great integrity may be deceived and deluded by it Thus the excellent Chillingworth a Pious and Learned Man was seduced to the Romish Church though by the Grace of God he saw his errour return'd to our Church and lived and died in the Holy and Apostolical Faith which it professeth and not long after his return to it mindful of that sacred precept of our Lord to St. Peter when thou art converted strengthen by Brethren writ his excellent Book St. Luke 22. 32. in which he fully and unanswerably proves that which is the Subject or Title of it That the Religion of Protestants is a safe way to Salvation a Book highly meriting the perusal of all that either need or desire satisfaction in that Great and most weighty point In the Preface to it he tells his Readers the Motives that perswaded him to turn Papist which though they were as he truly calls them and to which he there gives full and satisfactory answers silly Sophisms and false Suppositions yet they so abused that good Man as to Proselyte him to the Church of Rome And why may not others as Pious Prudent and Conscientious as he be deceiv'd and misled into Popery by these or such fallacious Arguments or Reasons 'T is very well known that the Jesuits and Missionaries of the Roman Church are Persons Learned and Subtile trained up by the most expert Masters and not suffer'd to go abroad till they are thoroughly skil'd and instructed in the controversies between them and us and furnish'd with all manner of Arts and Abilities to seduce and deceive People And cannot Persons so prepared and fitted for it make gross errours and the foulest practices look fair and plausible varnish them over so with Apologies or Excuses extenuate their guilt pare off the Absurdities adhereing to them with Distinctions and set them out to such advantage that an honest Man shall not only think them Innocent things such as have no harm nor venome in them but be very much enamour'd of or taken with them They that read their Books must acknowledg if they will speak the truth that nothing is wanting in them that either Wit or Zeal can invent to defend or put a fair gloss upon the errours of their Church though what they plead in Justification of them be false or deceitful Argumentations poor idle Sophisms meer Paint Varnish no better than Gilding a Rotten Post or Cloathing Errour in the dress and vestments of Truth yet they seem so plausible look so fair and inviting that a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man as I said before may be so abus'd and deluded by them as to become a Proselyte to the Roman Church And being so is he not a Christian A Papist I suppose cannot truly be deny'd to be a Christian because the Church of which he is a Member is a Christian Church though lapsed into great Errours and Impieties a Christian Church it must needs be because it makes Profession of the Faith and Religion of Christ ascribes enough to him to secure to it self the Glorious Title and Denomination of Christian for the Council of Trent in the Explication of the Article of Justification gives this account of it Hujus Justificationis causae sunt c. Session 6. cap. 7. page 35. The Causes of this Justification are these The Final Cause is the Glory of God and of Christ and Eternal Life The Efficient Cause is the Merciful God who freely washeth aod sanctifieth signing and anoynting with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the the earnest of our Inheritance The Meritorious cause is the most beloved and only begotten Son of God who when we were Enemies for his great Love wherewith he Loved us did by his most holy passion upon the Cross Merit Justification and give Satisfaction to God his Father for us By which it is Evident that the Church of Rome holds That the Merits of Christ are the moving or procuring Cause of our Justification so absolutely necessary to it that as that Council speaks a little after Nemo possit esse justus nisi cui page 36. merita Passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi Communicantur no Man can be Just or Righteous but He to whom the Merits of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are Communicated Now they that acknowledg or own this Great and Fundamental Truth that we are justified by the Merits of Christ and consequently that he is our only Saviour and do adore him as the Christ or Son of God which they cannot be deny'd to do though that Acknowledgment this Worship of theirs be mixt and accompany'd with many and those very dangerous Errours must be acknowledg'd to be a Christian Church And if the collective Body be such the particular Members must be so too I suppose then it will be easily granted me by the greatest Zealots against Popery it being but a reasonable concession and such as I shall not
Will is you should do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same First you must have an assured Faith in God and give your selves wholy unto him Love him in Prosperity and Adversity and dread to offend him evermore Then for his Sake Love all Men Friends and Foes because they be his Creation and Image and Redeemed as you are Cast in your Minds how you may do good unto all Men unto your Powers and hurt no Man Obey all your Superiours and Governours Serve your Masters Faithfully and Diligently as well in their absence as in their presence not for dread of Punishment only but for Conscience Sake knowing that you are bound so to do by Gods Commandments Disobey not your Fathers and Mothers but honour them help them and please them to your Power Oppress not Kill not Beat not neither Slander nor Hate any Man but Love all Men speak well of all Men help and Succour every Man as you may yea even your Enemies that hate you that speak Evil of you and that do hurt you Take no Mans Goods nor Covet your Neighbours Goods wrongfully but content your selves with that which ye get truly and also bestow your own Goods Charitably as Need and Case requireth Fly all Idolatry Witchcraft and Perjury Commit no Adultery Fornication or other Unchastness in Will nor Deed And Travelling continually during this Life thus in keeping the Commandments of God wherein standeth the Right Trade and Pathway unto Heaven you shall not fail as Christ hath promised to come to that Blessed and Everlasting Life where you shall Live in Glory and Joy with God for ever 'T is as impossible as any thing can be that they who do these things and continue in them to the end of their Lives should miss of Eternal Glory and Happiness To say that such a Faith such Obedience such a Life as our Church propounds and Teacheth persisted in till they pass out of this World cannot through the Merits of Christ Save Men is to Damn the Blessed Apostles and all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs who if they went to Heaven at all went thither by believing and Living according to the Scriptures and call upon us to follow their Faith their pure or unspotted Lives considering the end of their Conversation the Glories in which they shine in the Blessed mansions above This is the Rock upon which we of the Church of England Build our hopes of a Crown of Glory this is a Guide that cannot deceive but will lead us safely to the Blessed place we aspire after they that walk by this Rule the Rule of the Holy Scripture are in a sure way to Salvation and if they persevere cannot miss of it But if we remove our Thoughts now to the Church of Rome it will be Evident that there is at most but a Possibility of Salvation in the Communion of it because of its disagreement with and repugnancy to the Holy Scriptures So far is this Church from doing them the Right and the Honour as to confess that they comprehend all things necessary to Salvation that it affirms the contrary that they do it not without the help of Traditions which they of that Communion receive and Honour with an equal Devotion and Reverence So saith the Council of Trent expresly Sacrosancta oecumenica generalis Tridentina Synodus in spiritu sancto Session the 4th page 19 Legitimè congregata c. This Holy Oecumenical and general Council of Trent being Lawfully called together in the Holy Ghost having this ever before their Eyes that all Errours being destroyed or taken away the very purity of the Gospel might be preserved in the Church which being promised before by the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God with his own Mouth first publish'd and afterwards Commanded it to be Preach'd to every Creature by his Apostles as the Fountain of all saving Truth and Discipline or Instruction of manners and knowing this Discipline and Truth to be contained in the written Books and in Traditions not written which being received by the Apostles from Christs own Mouth or by the Apostles themselves the Holy Ghost prompting them to it as it were handed down are come to us This Council following the Examples of the Orthodox Fathers doth with equal Devotion and Reverence receive and honour all the Books of the Old and New Testament because the same God is the Authour of them both and the Traditions themselves belonging both to Faith and Manners as deliver'd by Christ by word of mouth or dictated by the Holy Spirit and kept by continual Succession in the Catholick Church So that their Rule of Faith consists of two distinct parts the Scriptures and Traditions the word of God written and the word of God not written but transmitted by word of Mouth from Age to Age from Generation to Genertion Now though it be certain that the word of God be equally true and equally obligatory to all Persons whether it be written or not written which way soever it be propounded or convey'd to them yet how shall it appear or be proved that what they call the Unwritten word of God is really so not a wicked cheat imposture They say it is his word we say it is not the Primitive Church saith nothing at all of it but asserts and maintains the sufficiency or fullness of the Scriptures or written word of God that is that it contains all things necessary to be believed and done to the obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness as is fully proved by many Protestant Writers And when the Ancient and Orthodox Fathers speak of Traditions and call upon any to observe and obey them they either mean by those Traditions the Doctrine of Christ deliver'd to the Christian Church in the Writings of the Apostles or the Ordinances made either by the Apostles themselves or the Bishops that succeeded them in their Apostolical Office for the decent and orderly performance of Gods Worship The first is indeed the Word of God but then it is his written word the other are not the word of God at all but humane Constitutions and no farther Obligatory than they are agreeable to the General Rules the Scriptures give for Conducting the Circumstances of Religion the Church having Power as Ours truly affirms to Decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority Article the 20. in Controversies of Faith though it be not Lawful for the Church to Ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods word written This is all the Ancient Fathers mean by Traditions when they speak of or require the Observation of them but they make no such Distinction as this of the written and unwritten word of God neither do they say that the first is imperfect or doth not sufficiently instruct Mankind to Salvation unless it be supply'd with the other This is a Blasphemy which the Apostate Church only is guilty of but was never heard of in the
Murderers from entring their Dominions who came upon the most Bloudy and Mischievous designs either to Assassinate their sacred Persons or to Seduce their People from their Allegiance and Animate them to Rebell or take Arms against them And therefore if the Romish Priests and Jesuites who have nothing to do here will venture to come they can blame none but them-themselves if they suffer for it they receive the Reward of their Sin and Folly but have no Injustice done them If they stay away they are safe but if they will Run into Danger when they need not they Destroy themselves fall into the Pit are taken in the Snare which they came to dig and lay for their Prince whose Natural Subjects they are though they become Voluntary Vassals to a Forreign Power that imploys them against their own Prince for whose Safety and Preservation they ought by all Laws both Divine and Humane to expose themselves to the greatest Dangers freely Venture their own Lives to save his And seeing the Excluders attempt and would do that to his Royal Highness which our Laws do to no Ordinary Subject meerly for his Religion and which they would not have done to themselves that attempt must needs be a manifest Affront to and Violation of this Law of Christ and therefore most Wicked and Unjust To say they are of the true and the Duke as a Papist of the false Religion makes no difference in the Case because Christ excepts no Man but Commands us to do to Men Indefinitely that is to all Men whether they be Orthodox or otherwise believe Aright or Err from the Truth Christians or Heathens All things whatsoever we would that they should do unto us And also because no Man that owns the Principles of Natural Religion that believes there is a God Eternal Rewards Punishments after this Life will be a Disciple of that which he is perswaded is a false Religion and Renders the Salvation of them that are of it hazardous and doubtful and seeing he thinks the Church and Religion he is of to be true and the best though he be deceiv'd and thinks amiss 't is to lay aside both the Justice and Mercy our Lord Requires of us to Treat such a Person with the Rigour and Severity which the Excluders offer to his Royal Highness because he follows the best Light he hath his Conscience duly instructed by Scripture explain'd and apply'd as he apprehends by Right Reason for 't is certain a Man can use but his best care in the choice of his Religion that is he can but Pray and Read and Meditate and Obey as far as he understands and Consult the Learned or Advise with those he thinks best able to direct him but because all the Learned of the World are not of one Opinion he must imploy his Reason to Judg which of them is in the Right and if he do it sincerely though he chuses amiss mistakes his way yet he is to be Pitied not Ruin'd to be Restored in the Spirit of Meekness not Degraded nor Undone for following his Conscience God t is certain will be Merciful to a Christian so Erring and therefore if Men be extreme to Mark what such an one doth amiss they Treat him as they would not be used themselves and so bid Defiance to this great Law of Christ all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so unto them Compare it Secondly with that Noble Precept of our Lord which requires all Christians to Love their Enemies and you will soon see the Impiety of it I say unto you Love your Enemies St. Mat. 5. 44. Bless them that Curse you do Good to them that Hate you and Pray for them which Despitefully use you Persecute you this is my Will and Pleasure this I enjoyn you that you Love not only your Friends or those that Love you as the practice of the Jews and Heathens is but your Enemies what are our Enemies is fully declared in this Law even they that Curse and Hate that Despitefully use and Persecute us Every Man thinks him his Enemy that offers any of these things to him but he that doth them all is the worst most Cruel and bitter Enemy any Man can have and yet how bravely every Christian is to behave himself towards such an Enemy our Lord tells us he must Love or bear him good Will desire his Welfare or Happiness do him all the Good and Charitable Offices he can Pray to God to give or bestow all manner of Blessings upon him and to Forgive all the Wrongs he hath done him This because it is a Duty that hath some Difficulty in it he presseth us to the Performance of with the most weighty and perswasive Arguments Love your Enemies That ye may be the Children Vers 45. of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to Rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Unjust hereby you will prove your selves be the Children of God shew that you resemble or are like that most excellent Being who is kind and bountiful to all Men even the most Prophane and Wicked that are his Enemies and Discover themselves so to be by their wilful and open contempt of his Laws who though they received their Being and all their Injoyments from his Bounty will hardly give him a good Word or pay him any Respect at all but Blaspheme oftner than they Praise him Curse him more than they Pray unto him Affront him oftner than they Adore him and yet so admirable is his Goodness that he not only lets such Vile and Ungrateful Wretches as these Live and Injoy the Light though they are Unworthy of it but showers down his Blessings upon them gives them an equal share at least if not greater Plenty of these outward Injoyments than he Communicates to the Good and Righteous Propose therefore his great example to your selves think it your Glory to Love and do Good to your Enemies because the God you Worship is pleased to Treat his so and cannot but take great Delight in those brave and generous Souls that Imitate him therein own them for his Children and give them a Blessed Portion in his Heavenly Kingdom but if you refuse to do this saith Christ you Dishonour me and Degrade your selves For if ye Love them which Love you what Reward have ye Do not even the Publicans the same If you confine all your Love and Kindness to your Friends to them that bear you good Will and do you good Offices you can expect but a small Reward from my Father Me for such Love as this it being that to which Nature it self inclines and Common Gratitude prompts you Besides this Low and Abject Charity which is produced and preserved by Mutual Offices of Friendship and Respect Ranks you amongst the Worst and most Impious Men the very Publicans whom all the Pious Men of your
Nation think such Scandalous Sinners that they will have no Civil Commerce much less any Religious Communion or Society with them Thus our Lord Commands us to Love our Enemies and these are the weighty Arguments with which he urgeth us to the doing of it Suppose then his Royal Highness be a Papist and as such an Enemy to us that profess the Reformed Religion though neither of these is Certain must we not as our Lord here commands us Love and Bless and do him Good and Pray for him yes certainly if we will be Christians obey the Command of our Lord imitate our Heavenly Father and obtain the blessed Portion and Inheritance which he hath provided for all his obedient Children Consider then you that would Exclude him is your Black Bill by which you would degrade him from his Honour deprive him of his Birth-right banish him his Native Country any token of your Love to him If this be your Kindness and Good-will how cruel and implacable is your Enmity or Hatred Christian love or charity as St. Paul tells you suffereth long and is 1 Corinth 13. kind disposeth and obligeth the Soul in which it is to suffer or bear injuries from others especially his superiours with patience and submission will not allow him to think any evil of or do any to them but endeavour to melt and overcome them by kindness and good offices by fair carriage humble deportment respectful behaviour towards them seeketh not his own safety by anothers danger and rather suffer himself than cause another to doe it unjustly is so far from giving any unjust offence to any man that he is slow to wrath and not easily provok'd himself or if he be so at any time he is very placable ready and willing to be reconcil'd But your Charity if it may be so called would make the Duke suffer and that most unjustly that you may not do it your selves would lay the most intolerable Burthen and Oppression upon him that you may bear nothing your selves and therefore is unkind and cruel seeketh your own safety by his ruin your own gain and benefit by his loss and injury is so highly provoked upon bare suspicions and fears as not only to think and imagine but to attempt and indeavour to do him the greatest evil or wrong that can be offer'd to him So that instead of loving you hate him instead of doing him good you do him all the evil you can and would do him more if you could whereby you wilfully transgress and contemn this Noble and Royal Law of Christ prove your selves not to be the Children of God to have none of his Mercy and Goodness in you because he gives the Sun and the Rain temporal Blessings and Injoyments to his Enemys but you if you could bring your purpose about would take from his Royal Highness whom you suppose to be your Enemy that temporal Right and Inheritance which undoubtedly belongs to him if he survive our present most Gracious Soveraign Thereby also you that are by profession the best of Christians rank your selves amongst the Publicans and Sinners for they love their Friends and hate their Enemies and so do you And if ye love them that love St. Luke 6. 32. you what thank have ye for Sinners also love those that love them Besides in this Law Christ commands us to Love those that are our Enemies do actually Hate and Curse Dispitefully use and Persecute us but the Duke hath done none of these things hath not yet declared himself your Enemy by doing any of you any Injury and it may be never will so that in Reason and Conscience you are obliged to Love Honour and Treat him as your Friend But instead of that you have most Uncharitably suspected him for your Enemy when he gave you no cause to think him so and upon that suspition behaved your selves so Unjustly and Unhandsomely towards him as is enough to make him your Enemy though he were not never intended so to be Is this just and equal Is this Christian practise first to suspect or suppose a Prince to be your Enemy and then offer him such Injuries and Indignities as are so far from being Expressions of that Love which Christ requires all that profess his Religion to bear to their Enemies that they are Demonstrations of the blackest Malice and most implacable Hatred You should have stay'd till his Royal Highness had declared himself your Enemy made it appear he Hated you by some Injurious or Unjust action and when he had done it you should not have suffered your selves to have been overcome with Evil but have endeavour'd to overcome that Evil with Good You should have remember'd what our Lord here requires of you and seeing you profess your selves his Servants and Disciples have done accordingly for this New Way of loving your Enemy by preferring a Bill of Exclusion against him that is by attempting to ruin him is such a Token or Expression of your Love such a Pledg of your Kindness to him that the Duke hath no reason to thank you for it and is I am sure none of that love which our Lord requires us to bear to our Enemies If this be your behaviour towards a suspected how would you treat a known and open Enemy To say your Project of Exclusion is an act of real Charity to the Duke as it would disable him from doing that injury to himself and others which as a Papist he would do if the Crown should descend to him besides that it is to Reproach him is also to talk Idly because Christ commands us to love our Enemies that is those that bear us ill-will and do us Ill Offices that hate us in their hearts and injure or wrong us in their actions but by attempting to Exclude the Duke instead of loving him as your Enemy which is to all men of common sense a strange way of loving an Enemy to take from him all power or ability so to be and yet this is all the Kindness you have for his Royal Highness that you would tye his hands put the chains and fetters of Law upon him and thereby instead of an Enemy make him your Friend whether he will or no. This Love if the Primitive Christians had been acquainted with it would have saved abundance of their Lives but alas t is New and of Yesterday and therefore was not known nor heard of in their Days The good Men Pray'd for their Enemies Implor'd the Divine Goodness to Convert and Forgive them patiently endured the Wrongs and Cruelties they offer'd them like their Dearest Lord and Master when they were Reviled they Reviled not again when they Suffer'd they Threatned not but Committed themselves to him that Judgeth Righteously or as St Paul describes their behaviour 1 Cor. 4. 12 13. towards their Enemies being Reviled we Bless being Persecuted we Suffer it being Defamed we Intreat Not a word in all this of a Bill of Exclusion to
There are many bickerings amongst them about those points in which they differ from us They are not agreed where to place the Infallibility whether in the Pope alone or a General Council alone or in both of them together They differ about his Supremacy for some of them affirm that he hath no Authority over Princes to give take away or alienate their Kingdoms and that he unjustly assumes to himself such Authority others as stifly assert or maintain that extravagant usurped Power cry it up as high as they can hoping thereby to advance themselves Some affirm others deny him to be Universal Bishop They are not agreed about the Latine Service for some of them hold it would be more for the Edification of the People if it were in the Vulgar Tongue They clash about the Worship that is to be given to Images and what the due honour is which the Council of Trent decrees to be given to them They differ about the Power of Priests to remit sin about the necessity and institution of Auricular Confession They do not agree in the Doctrine of Justification nor of Merit nor concerning the Sacrifize of the Mass nor the Communion under one kind nor in divers other things and how is it possible they should for having chosen Opinions that do not cohere or hang together they must needs disagree about them and if their Tyrannical Discipline did not awe and suppress them their differences would be as great and irreconcileable as any are in the World for when they wrangle loudest if his Holyness do but threaten them with the Inquisition they are as quiet as Lambs and dare not mutter at all And if any desire farther satisfaction in the Case they may consult the excellent Dean of St. Pauls in his Learned Discourse of the Divisions of the Church of Rome where their differences and dislentions are fully proved and stated and their false pretences to peace shamed and confuted So that the unity they brag so much of is that of slaves who are forc'd to be quiet for fear of the whip let the holy Inquisitors scourge them not with Rods as peevish Children are corrected but with Scorpions as incorrigible offendors are punish'd And if their Church was not upheld by force and cruelty and the People kept in it like Beasts in a Pound it would soon fall to peices and be the veryest Babel in the World And till they have better peace and agreement amongst themselves they may be ashamed to upbraid us with those divisions they are the mischievous Authors and Promoters of 'T is certain too that our Divisions had never grown so great nor continued so long if the Laws had been duly Executed upon the Schismaticks for the just corrections they decree against the troublers of this our Israel and the disturbers of our Peace if inflicted would have obliged them to give over their wicked and dangerous practices Such disorders and dissentions as I remark'd before by the Instigation of the Romish Emissaries broak out with great Violence in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth but by the just severity of her Laws duly and impartially Executed she soon master'd and subdued them and her Successour King James by the watchful and diligent use of the same means might have suppress'd them and setled the Nation in firm and lasting Peace if he had pleased but the favour that was shew'd them the mild and gentle usage they found in the latter part of his Reign did so multiply and encourage that dangerous and stubborn Faction that they were strong enough to bid Defiance to and Ruin that glorious Prince King Charles the First So lamentable an Errour is it for the Government to shew favour and clemency to these People who when they have power make it appear by their barbarous Actions that they have no mercy and no honesty If they be let alone there is no end of Peoples whimsies and extravagancies in Religion their Ignorance betrays them into the wildest Errours they have such odd notions and apprehensions of it as instead of Civilizing make them Savage and Brutish instead of being Just Merciful Humble Peaceable and Obedient to their Prince prompt them to be Sawcy and Stubborn Traytors Heady High-minded Unjust and Cruel Turbulent and Seditious They have such a mighty admiration for every Factious Fellow that will but Cant and Whine talke Impudently and Sillily and look Demurely that he may govern them as he pleases they are his obsequious Slaves and will venture upon any thing how base execrable and damnable soever that he prompts them to and therefore it is the interest of the Government to keep such Seducers from them to provide that they be duly instructed in their duty as to God so to their Prince and if at any time they dare to transgress the Laws and grow freakish through Religious Zeal that they be punish'd for such dangerous Misdemeanours This is absolutely necessary both for the Safety of the Prince and the Peace of the Kingdom 't is not only doing Justice upon great and wilful Offendors but Charity too as it Keeps them from doing themselves and others the greatest harm and mischief Curbs or Restrains the madness of the People This is the wise and just method the Government now uses to Remedy these Evils to bring the wild Schismaticks to their Wits again to reduce them to better Manners and a more Quiet or Submissive Temper and it will if duly and diligently followed put an end to our Divisions then we shall live as Christians ought to do in Love Peace and Unity with one mind and one mouth glorifie the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ then our united Prayers will call down the choicest Blessings upon us and none can make our discords a pretence to run from our Church because that scandal will be removed then our Differences will be composed our Breaches repaired and the Divisions we have so long labour'd under will be no more an Objection against us then our Ruin will be prevented our Enemies put to silence and we shall be an happy People which that God who is the Author and Lover of Peace mercifully grant for his Sons Sake The next Scandal or Offence that would be taken away is the open Prophaneness or Impiety into which the Nation is lapsed for all that do not wilfully shut their eyes may see how our Ancient Piety and Holiness are decay'd that though we profess the best and purest Religion yet a great part of the Nation are sadly debauched lead very impure and vitious lives which is the more to be admired and lamented because both our Religion and Laws condemn and forbid such vile and unchristian practise The profess'd Atheism and the open Scorning or Deriding all Religion how intolerable are they in a Christian Kingdome and such horrid crimes as are sufficient of themselves if we had no other guilts to ruin the Nation by calling down the most dreadful judgments upon us and