Charity into Sacriledge and Oppression their Church-Building into Church-Robbing These stain the Glories of our Kingdom and find employment for the Sword of Justice which should pursue Sin into its closest retreats and should force it from the Horns of those Altars whereunto it flies for a refuge Nor does it always seek to shroud it self in darkness but goes sometime bare-fac'd without shame even in the sight of the Sun so that many who have so much wickedness as to commit the greatest Crimes yet have they not so much modesty as to conceal them These are the proper Subjects of this act and the Sword is by the Ordinance of God put into the Rom. 13. 4. Rulers hands chiefly for this end that he may execute wrath upon such workers of Iniquity who are the greatest enemies to the Kingdoms peace so that whilst we are sensible of no dangers but such as come either from the Popish or from the Presbyterian Faction and dread no Storm but what 's blown either from Rome or from Geneva we may over-look the most dangerous of all Plotters and may leave the greatest Rebels lodg'd perhaps in our own Breasts our Sins I mean which once remov'd we should quickly gain a Conquest over all the rest of our opposers the threatning Clouds would easily be overblown and and all our Foes would be made our Foot-stool but so long as these are spared and suffered it would argue the greatest vanity and presumption in us to expect so great a Blessing for wickedness carries always a Curse in its Womb of which sooner or later it will be delivered to the sorrow of those who carry such an unhappy burthen And this brings me to The third and last part to the reason of this removal because the suffering of such wicked men is not consistent with the safety of the Kings Person nor with the due establishment of his Throne And if you take the word Wicked in the former and more restrained sence it has been abundantly confirmed by the dear experience of all Ages that the near approaches of such unquiet and seditious Spirits have not only shaken the Thrones but have proved fatal to the lives of the best of Princes and the forbearance of such is but a turning of so many Tygers loose amongst us Suffer such Snakes to be nursed up under the warm wing of Majesty and all the return which they make for their safety and protection is but to turn Parricides and to sting their common parent and patron to whose indulgence they owe their Lives and Fortunes and from whom they have received that power which they would by a monstrous and unworthy return employ to his Ruine But if you take the word Wicked in the largest sence for the vicious and ungodly it will appear very reasonable that these should be taken away who are not only Traytors to God and to themselves but betray the peace and happiness of the Kingdom and bring Plagues upon the places where they live and by their Crimes are undermining the very Throne which they pretend to guard 'T is true they may make many foolish boastings of an impregnable Loyalty and may entertain all Companies with an account of what they have done and suffered in His Majesties Service when by their Vices and Debaucheries they have contributed more to the removal of his Throne than their Swords or Councels could ever do to its establishment We find the people of Israel thus threatned 1 Sam. 12. 27. But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King 'T is not said if your King do wickedly though Princes are no more exempted from the common Infirmities than they are from the common Nature of Mankind but if ye do wickedly which shows that the best of Princes may bear the burthen of their Subjects Sins and may in this sence be as our late Soveraign of Blessed Memory was the peoples Martyr Is it ever likely that he should be a good Subject to his Prince who 's a known Rebel against God or that he should be so much concerned for the Honour and safety of a Crown on Earth who vouches such a bold contempt of the Majesty of Heaven His unfaithfulness to himself in the greatest concerns of Eternity shews how unfit he is to be intrusted with his Princes safety for when he sets so low a price upon his own Soul that when he is blinded by his Passion or bribed by his Lust he 'l betray it to never ending pains and torments How can we imagine that he should set a greater value upon the life of his Prince Surely when he 's blinded by his Ambition or bribed by his Lust or bigotted by a Party he 'l tamely give up the most sacred trust and may be quickly tempted to turn Rebel the true fear of God lays the strongest engagement upon us to Honour the King who will find his Throne to be the best guarded when the people obey not only for wrath but for Conscience sake or if he were willing to engage in so just a Quarrel as that of his Princes defence yet will his assistance prove more inconsiderable when his Vice has dulled his Head and weakned his Hand and has strangely loosed the powers of his dispirited Soul when it has let out all that Noble Blood which should furnish him with a supply of fresh Courage so that he 's miserably disabled either for his own or for his Princes defence His guilt makes him unable sometime to engage with the terrors of his own Conscience then the resolution quickly cools in his fainting Heart and the weapons fall out of his trembling Hand and he seeks a sanctuary when he should take the Field nor can they do any great service when their Oaths are keener and wound deeper than their Swords and their Debaucheries do a greater mischief to themselves than their Blows can ever do to their Enemies and surely such Deboshe's and Carpet Knights have sometimes been fatal to great Men and to the best Cause in the World which has suffered by so weak a defence But futher Sin deprives us of that which is our great and only Bulwark against the Treasons of Men and the Rage of Divels which is the favour and protection of Almighty God who will never be the patron of wickedness this makes him our Enemy it sends up a bold challenge to Heaven and bids defyance to all its Thunders it lays us open to that vengeance from above from which all the Powers and Policies of the whole World can never secure us They may tell us of some clymaterical years fatal to natural Bodies and to Bodies Politick beyond which Bodin seems to affirm that the state of a Kingdom cannot stand but whoever felt a Nations languishing Pulse or could find out the critical days of a Kingdom Are its unalterable periods set down by the irreversible Decrees of God in those Sacred and Eternal Dypticks or doth it grow weak
come Numbers of these may be seen and if the Mercy of God had not prevented the malice of men would have been deeply felt amongst us We may well wonder in so mild a Government what possibly could displease but Heaven it self could not please the Apostate Angels surely some of these had been trained up in Treason and waited only for an opportunity of reducing their seditious principles into practice some of them sure had feathered their Nests in the time of our late confusions and finding their stock of wealth and credit now in the wane they knew no better way to buoy up their sinking name and fortunes than by beating up the old March that they might start a fresh Plunder Their common note is Nolumus hunc regnare for as some of the Rebellious Israelites would not have the Lord to be their God so these English Traytors would not have our most Gracious Soveraign to be their King for when they found that Heaven was deaf to their repeated Prayers for his removal they resolved to prove what the keener edge of their Sacriledgious Swords could do and having kill'd the Heir would have seized the Inheritance and would have divided the spoils of Loyalty amongst themselves But what form or model of Government they would have introduced in its place we cannot so easily conjecture Would they have conjured up a Common-Wealth or have raised the departed Ghost of Democracy from the Grave where it has for sometime laid and may it ever lye kept down by the just resentments of Mankind who have found the little Finger of that kind of Government or Confusion rather heavier than the Loyns of Monarchy ever were However when they had thus snatch'd the Scepter out of Moses's hands 't would have been more easy for them to pluck the Mitre from Aaron's Head Church-disorders would have been the inseparable companions of such State-confusions for State-leveling and Church-leveling are Twins brats of the same monstrous Birth and though the former Esau like be not so smooth and taking and consequently not so apt to be dandled by the Magistrate who is justly tender of any thing that touches his prerogative yet the latter is a more sweet and hopeful Babe which under the notion of Tenderness of Conscience and Christian-Liberty became the fondling of the former Age and was so long cherished till it had like to have proved a Jacob a supplanter indeed and began to Exchange Jacob's milder voice for Esau's bloody rugged Hands Now that such deplored changes were designed by the disturbers of our Peace will be more easy for us to believe when we consider what men of the same leaven had but too lately acted in the time of our uncivil and unnatural Wars which I shall not now repeat since they are still so fresh in the bleeding memories of many thousands amongst us I shall only wish that our Eyes may never be the Witnesses nor our Land the Scene of such another Tragedy so long as Sun and Moon endureth This surely is sufficient to entitle those restless and unquiet Spirits these common Boutifeus and Incendiaries of our Nation to the Character of Wicked which is given them in my Text for though some of them have put on the vizard and appearance of Zeal and Holiness that under so charming a disguise they might draw in greater numbers of the credulous and unwary multitude yet this does but raise their wickedness to the greatest height in that they dare to bring in the adored name of God to the patronage of their greatest Crimes and by a wretched Imposture make bold to hang out the Flag of Heaven when they are Marching under the Banners of Hell Certainly there 's no greater contradiction in the whole World than Religion and Rebellion We may as soon joyn the two Poles and unite God and Belial as find a Man who 's Saint and Rebel at the same time I am sure the Doctrine of the Church of England does abominate and Damn all such practises nor is it possible for any Man who 's true to its received Principles to turn Traytor since it gives a greater reverence and security to the Thrones of Princes than any other Doctrine under Heaven besides So that we are miserably abused by our Friends of Rome when they would fain lay this Brat of Treason at the door of our Reformation which we may with greater Justice return back to themselves who are the more proper Dads and Patrons of it for that the faults and miscarriages of Princes should be censured and punished either by their high Priests or by the representatives of the people is a Doctrine that was never taught or owned by any other than Jesuits or Jesuited Fanaticks some of which latter sort are meer Machines acted only at the Will of those wandring Spirits the disguised Ghosts of our Kingdom who walk in darkness and would haunt us to a Civil Death they find these zealous Brothers fit tools to employ in the unhinging of our Government and in pulling of this stately fabrick in pieces over our secure Heads when alass should they Midwive their Treason into the World without a Miscarriage themselves would be first buried in the Ruins of it yet are they ready to lodge any needless fears in their disturbed Breasts and to entertain any factious whispers against their Superiours with the strongest apprehensions of some approaching danger which they strive to prevent by turning their Asses Ears into Horns and goring the sides of Government which can never be so peaceably established as when these Horns by the Sword of Justice are pared off and taken away for men of unquiet and Seditious Spirits may be justly termed wicked But Secondly The word Wicked may be taken in a more large and unlimited sence and thus it denotes the vicious and ungodly such as are strangers to morality as well as true piety and these deserve the severest cognizance of our Laws they are most obnoxious to the Laws of Men who have lost the respect and obedience which is due to the Laws of God whom neither the rewards nor terrours of another Life can move nor affright who will never take any other measures but such as their own lusts shall give nor will make any difference between things sacred and prophane who if they could but avoid the censures of all Courts below resolve never to be scared from their Crimes with fears at so great a distance as those of the dreadful Tribunal above and were it but as easy to take away the wickedness of these men as it is to find it how happy might we be We have out-grown the former times in vice and can teach new modes of pride and luxury to which they were the greatest strangers so far have they been over-done in wickedness by their improved posterity we have changed the Simplicity of the former times into Subtilty and Hypocrisy their Loyalty into Faction and Rebellion their Chastity into Chambering and Wantonness their
and old and shrivelled and bowed down with years as the Bodies of Men do No it may flourish still and continue as the Days of Heaven as the Sun and Moon before God if his Wrath be not provoked by their Impieties So that it is not any strange Conjunction of the Planets nor any Malignant Influence of the Stars which bodes the Death of Princes and the ruine of States but the loose Manners and the ungracious Lives of the people these are the surest prognosticks of ruine and if these be but once taken away all is safe This the very Heathens did conclude for when one was demanded what was the strongest Guard to a Kings Throne He answered The Piety and Innocence of his Subjects For if they were vicious an Hundred Brazen Walls would prove too weak for its defence Nay Matchiavel himself owns the wickedness of Men to be the ruine of Kingdoms But we need no such Testimonies finding this Truth confirmed by the Sacred Book of God and by the common experience of Mankind We may Read it in the Ruins of many once flourishing Kingdoms and may find that God hath turned many fruitful Land into Barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwelt therein So evident is it that if Atheisme and Debauchery Faction and Heresy be so common amongst us these Sins like the Traytors in the Trojan Horse will do us more mischief than Thousands of other enemies in many years could ever do The reasonableness of this execution does I hope now appear unto you and you see that men of Seditious spirits and ungodly lives are justly obnoxious to the censures of our Laws they are to be taken away because the forbearance of such is inconsistent with the due settlement of the Kings Throne and the Kingdoms Peace and when this is once done we may expect the Blessing set down in the latter part of my Text where we find a confluence of all those Blessings that can make an happy Prince and a thriving people Here Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other and whatsoever can add to the glory and security of a Nation we find it here summ'd up in one short period For there do the people sit under the kindest influences of Heaven there do they enjoy the greatest favours upon Earth where the Kings Throne is established in Righteousness a Blessing of such an absolute necessity to the common Peace and safety of Mankind that the want of this does not only take away the flourishing but the very being of a Kingdom Take but Government once out of the World and we shall quickly find it run back into a State infinitely more deplored than that of its first confusion the whole Earth would be nothing else but a vast Wilderness but an howling desert of Satyrs and Savages but a Type of Hell and men would be but a more cunning kind of brutes or fiends rather devouring and being devoured one of another and Government it self without Monarchy without the Throne of a King would be a monstrous and confused Body with many Heads whose disorders would be its death it would quickly crumble it self in pieces by its private Factions and interests it would be subdivided into several Parties and Cabals each whereof would strive to bear down their opposers and to raise themselves upon the ruins of those whom they either fear or hate and when they have gain'd a share in the Government they would sooner be drawn to emprove their short liv'd power for their private advantage and might be tempted to take measures from their own coveteousness and ambition rather than from the Publick Good So that no other kind of Government can make so reasonable a provision for the Peace and happiness of a people as Monarchy can do And Monarchy it self the Throne of a King without a due establishment will prove but a tottering and uneasy Seat like old Ely's stool from whence some of the most deserving Princes worthy of a better fate have been thrown headlong down the precipice of an untimely death and even the firmest seeming settlement of a Throne without Righteousness would be nothing else but a medley of Tyranny and Injustice Now here all these inconveniences are avoided and we meet with a concurrence of all the requisites to a Kingdoms Peace and hapiness For here is 1st The best Government 's the Throne of a King 2dly Here is the best Guard the strongest supporter of his Throne and that is good order and due establishment 3dly Here is the best means in the whole world to procure and continue so desirable a settlement and that is Righteousness I have no time to enlarge upon each of these particulars I shall wish that these may not only be matters of Speculation and Discourse but of Experience and Enjoyment We have at present all these Blessings which are the Glory of our Land the grief and envy of our Enemies we have the best of Governments under the best of Princes the best Laws and the best Religion under Heaven May these be continued to us and to our posterity till Time it self be outdated and lost in Eternity by that Favour of that God by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice To whom be all Honour Praise and Glory now and ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by Isaac Cleave THe second part of the Institutes of the Laws of England Containing an exposition of Magna Charta The third part of the Institutes of the Laws of England Concerning High-Treason and other Pleas of the Crown and Criminal Cause The fourth part of the Institutes of the Laws of England Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts all three by Ed. Cook Mil. The Reports of that Reverand and Learned Judge the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hobert Knight and Barronet Lord Chief Justice of His Majesties Court of Common-Pleas Offinia Brevium Select and approved forms of Judicial Writs and other Process with their Returns and Entries in the Court of Common-Pleas at Westminster as also Special Pleadings to Writs of Scire facias A Vindication of the true Christian Religion in opposition to the Abomination of Popery in a Sermon upon Exekiel 21. 24 25 26 27. Being the Text appointed for Master Whitebread one of the Popish Consprators to Preach upon the accomplishing their wicked design By J. Thomas Rect. of St. Nicholas Preached at Cardiff before the Bayliffs and Aldermen there The Popes Cabinet unlocked or a Catalogue of all the Popes Indulgences belonging to the Order of St. Mary together with a List of all the Indulgences dayly yearly and for ever Written in Italian by Fr. Arcangelo Tortello of the Order of St. Mary and now translated into English by John Sidway late Seminary Priest but now of the Reformed Religion and Vicar of Selling in Kent and one of the Discoverers of the Horrid Popish Plot with the Cause of his Conversion Whereunto is added an Appendix by the Translator in which the grounds and foundations of the said Indulgences being examined are utterly overthrown and by consequence Indulgences themselves apparently proved to be mear Cheats And also shewing that the Church of Rome doth lay the chief Basis of their Religion on Indulgences The Book of Rates now used in the Sum Custom-House of the Church of Rome Containing the Bulls Dispensations and Pardons for all manner of villanies and wickedness with the several sums of Money given and to be paid for them The second Impression To which is added the New Creed of the Church of Rome and several other Remarkable things not in the former Edition Published by Anthony Egane B. D. late Confessor General of the Kingdom of Ireland but now of the Reformed Religion Englands Improvement Reviv'd in a Treatise of all manner of Husbandry and Trade by Land and Sea plainly discovering the several ways of improving all sorts of waste and barren Grounds and enriching all Earths with the natural quality of all Lands and the several Seeds and Plants which must naturally thrive therein together with the manner of Planting all sorts of Trees and Underwoods with two several Chains to plant Seeds or Sets by with several directions for planting of Hops also the way of ordering Cattel with several observations about Sheep and choice of Cows c. By John Smith Gent.