whispers occasion misunderstandings and make you weary of your Government and life Reason 19. You must not tolerate Popery unless you will withal tolete all these heresies which are contained in Popery viz. 1. That the word of God I tremble to write it is obscure imperfect and insufficient to lead us to all truth that may save us and to keep us from all error that may damn us 2. That men must rest upon the judgement of men for salvation 3. That some if not all are born without sin which one opinion may undoe the world by keeping it in ignorance of is misery and in a neglect of the way of safety 4. That man works out his salvation by the power of nature and is saved by the merit of his works 5. That some sins are venial and deserve not death though the Law saith the man is accursed that continueth not in all things commanded in the Law to do them 6. That the sin against the holy Ghost is not unpardonable 7. That Christ is not God of himself and that bread and wine is God 9. That there are many Mediators as the Virgin Mary c. besides that one Mediator Jesus Christ by whose merits we are saved That Saints are to be worshipped 10. That we must still offer sacrifice that preaching is the way of hereticks 11. That the vertue of Sacraments depend upon the intention of a Priest 12. That the observation of outward Ceremonies is the essence of divine worship 13. That mingle so many Ceremonies with the pure worship and holy Sacraments 14. That the grace of God depends upon these Cereâ—onies and the outward observance of them 15. That some meats are unlawful 16. That priests marriages are unlawful 17. That a few words turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. 18. That one and the same body of Christ is in heaven and in earth all one 19. That men must worship creatures 20. That none are saved by the Sacrament who communicate in both kinds against the judgement of the Church 21. That men can pardon sin 22. That Mass may save men after they are dead 23. That if man believes in Christ he cannot be saved unless he believe in the Pope That Kings may be deposed and murthered by their Subjects c. They that indulge Popery indulge almost all the Heresies that are in the world Popery being nothing else but a forrage of old errors heresies and superstition brought into the Church to serve the interest of men is it a light thing with us to suffer damnable heresies shall we hang men for injuries done to few men and shall suffer them that intend to damn all Reason 20. We ought not at this time to set up Popery when God seems according to the prophesies that went before of it to pull it down what when Babylon is falling shall we put an hand to uphold it when the Kings who have given their Kingdoms to her threaten her shall we Indulge her REV. 18.1 2 3 4 5. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of of her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies And I heard another voice from heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembred her iniquities Reas. 21 That which we pray against we should not allow we pray against Popery c. shall we not deliver our selves from all false Doctrine and Heresie when we pray from all false Doctrine and Heresie good Lord deliver us Do we pray that Antichrist may be destroyed and yet do we uphold him do we set a solemn day viz. 5. of November to thank God that he delivered us from the superstition Idolatry Heresie Tyranny and cruelty of Rome and shall we admit them O do nothing against your Faiâ—h do nothing against your prayers Reas. 22. If the Papists may with a safe conscience conforme with us then we ought not to comply with them but they may conform with us therefore c. our Religion is the same it was in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign but when they came to our Churches they heard our prayers and our Sermons why can they not do it now yea many of them come to our Churches now why may they not all do so the Pope forbids them they say and do they deserve an indulgence from our Magistrates who will rather obey a foreign Power then submit to our lawes they are not worthy of protection much less of favour among us that own a forreign power which they assert for disobedience to our own Reas. 23. If we had the happiest times for peace plenty prosperity and general satisfaction to all people when the severest Lawes against Papists were made then we ought not to mitigate those Lawes the restraint of faction is our security their indulgence is our danger O the happy yeares of Queen Elizabeth when Papists durst not shew their heads the blessed time of King James when a Priest durst not be seen we date our happinesse from that hour in Queen Elizabeths time that Popery was voted treason we date our miseries from that time in the last yeares of King James that it was declared Tolerable what calme what peace what quiet what unity order and uniformity before what feares what jealousies what troubles what dangers what divisions and disorders since Reas. 24. And what you think would our fore-Fathers say if they saw those whom they resisted unto blood enjoyning equal liberty with themselves methinks Reverend Cranmer's ashes stirre at the mention of the Toleration of Popery methinks the blood of Martyrs cryes aloud no Toleration of Popery the Millâ—oâ—s that have been massacred in Ireland c câ—y how long Lord good and true will thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth shall God avenge and will you indulge Reas. 25 And to say no more when I see Coutzen Campanella Allen c. laying this mâ—thod for the undermining of the reformed Religion and the promoting the Popish viz. 1. That seeing the Papists are so odious among Protestants they would put on the visors of severall Sects and factions and under that pretence oppose the established Religion in any Country privately with more successe then they did openly 2 They should endeavour to make the Sects so considerable as to gain an universall Toleration wherein they might be included by the benefit whereof they
to give up our selves and relation to God and the Gospel as for English Queens we may in time have Protestant Queens In the mean time we know our gracious Queens will not impose upon us the publick practice or indulgence at least of their Religion no more then we impose our Religion upon them they had rather few then whole Kingdoms should suffer they had rather see you suffer for your conscience then force us to allow your way against our consciences however to avoid some supposed inconveniences we will not commit sin which is a real and the greatest inconvenience in the World To your eighth ninth and tenth Reason we say if you are true to the Popes Supremacy you cannot be true to the Kings Government if you deny that as you seem to do you deny the foundation of your Religion yea the sum of Christianity as Bellarmine saith Whether you speak as you think in the eighth and ninth Reason we know not for you can equivocate we know your Brethren will never say so when they have obtained a Toleration and we know it is no new thing to have a few moderate men offer that in adversity which their Brethren will never own in prosperity Indeed you can juggle so as that some shall write for Supremacy and others against it and laugh among your selves to see how you cheat the world we know what the Sorbonistâ— stand upon at this time however you are punished here onely for actual disobedience upon what principle soever you disobey if some of you think loyally you all live disobediently to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm II. Reason You say you are forced to be dangerous by fleeing to forreign Embassadours and parts for safety Answ. 1. It 's well we know your designe 2. If you did not go to Forreigners for Religion you need not go to Forreigners for Protection if you will worship with them you may live with them 3. If you keep correspondence with our enemies and practise against us when you are in danger of punishment what will you do when you are tolerated If you deal with Forreigners now to secure your selves from us much more will you deal with them hereafter that you may have power over us what you do now for liberty you will do hereafter for power this threatning insinuation will signifie little with us who measure our Religion by our Consciences and not by Interest whatever inconvenience follows upon your punishment we will not displease God to tolerate you To your twelfth Reason we can say upon sad experience that you may do more harm by creeping into houses then we can do good by preaching in Congregations To your last we say Our Bishops can prove their Consecration they will make their authority eminent in awing you if they cannot make their perswasions eminent in converting you and that when they are the severest enemies to your corruptions they are the most hearty well-wishers to your persons and you may hear them as such Sirs As you did your duty in serving the King in his just War so he will allow you all just priviledge in time of peace but you must not think that the reward of your obedience to him in some things shall be a liberty to disobey him in other Although we have been as you say fellow sufferers with you we will not sin with you You say you hazarded much to restore the King to his Throne To what purpose I pray you if every man shall do what is good in his own eyes as when there was no King in Israel And you must know his sacred Majestie makes Laws against you not to satisfie any mans passion or revenge but to satisfie his own conscience Whereas you speak of his Majesties mercie and word from Breda 1. Let me tell you That Toleration would be the greatest cruelty in the world 2. You know his Majestie promised no more at Breda but that he should condescend to such provisions for tender Consciences as his Parliament would think fit May it please therefore the wisdome and goodness of both Houses of Parliament setting aside those plausible insinuations which undermine the principles of Government to see that the permission of Roman Catholicks is not onely contrary to the peace quiet and union of the subject but also dangerous to the constitution and threatning to the welfare of this Church and Kingdome and not let that be promoted upon shallow and fallacious suggestion of any interest and advantage especially since the wisdome of France The Duke of Rhoan hath made it appear to the world and your wisdom makes it clear to your selves That the Protestant Religion is the Interest of England FINIS The excellent Reasons of the Honourable House of Commons against Indulgence with Historical Observations thereupon BUt to what end do we trouble the World with our inconsiderable Reasons now we are all concluded by the common reason of the Kingdome at least that part of it wherein we are included represented by the most Honourable the Commons of England assembled in Parliament then whom the Sun scarce beheld a more noble a more resolved a more unanimous a more loyal and Orthodox Assembly and Assembly as that excellent Bishop said quo nihil videt orbis augustius their famous Vote which may satisfie all your Reasons their Vote at which your conclave at Rome may tremble all the Conventicles in the World shake a dejected and forlorn Church raiseth up its selfe decayed Religion is recovered the soules of the first reformers if they have any sence of things here below rejoyce O if there be joy in Heaven at the recovery of one sinner what is their at the Recovery of a Nation millions of unstable Soules are setled the many breaches of our Church are close that threatning evill of schisme and separation is checked the loose hopes of dangerous men are bounded the callapsed Honour of England is restored former miscariages are expiated for which our gracious King the Defender of the true Ancient and Apostolick Faith heartily thankes them In which the Nobles if they have any sence of their Ancestors Honour will concur with them the reverend Clergy will be bound to pray for them and we with our posterity that are yet unborn will stand up and call them blessed their famous Vote to which we must submit is this The Vote That it be presented to the Kings Majesty as the humble advice of this House That no Indulgence be granted to the Dissenters from the Act of Vniformity And that you may know that this is not an Act of power but of reason not what they think they may but what they think they ought you have added their reason too Ordering That a Committee be appointed to collect and bring in the Reasons of this House for this Vote upon the present Debate to be prescuted to his Majesty and that the nominating of the Committee be adjourned till to morrow morning But reason is not
Sectaries whose numbers will weaken the true Protestant Profession so far that it will at least be difficult for it to defend it selfe against them And which is yet further considerable those Numbers which by being troublesome to the Government finde they can arrive to an Indulgence will as their numbers increase be yet more troublesome that so at length they may arrive to a generall Toleration which His Majesty hath declared against and in time some prevalent Sâ—ct will at last contend for an establishment which for ought can be foreseen may end in Popery It is a thing altogether without Precedent and will take away all means of convicting Recusants and be inconsistent with the method and proceedings of the Laws of England You know there is no end of humor and faction Hooper procures K. Edw. 6. letter for a dispensation from certain Rights and Ceremonies offensive to his conscience as the letter runs The nonconformists in the beginning of Q Elizabeths reign are onely for alteration of some things offensive The later nonconformists were against the Common Prayer and most of the usage of the Church at last they are against all Church government discipline orders and forms of worship the people will have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof 5 The Honourable House of Commons are against Indulgence to dissenters Because It is humbly conceived That the Indulgence proposed will be so far from tending to the Peace of the Kingdom that it is rather likely to occasion great disturbance And on the contrary That the asserting of the Laws and the Religion establisht according to the Act of Vniformity is the most probable meanes to produce settled Peace and Obedience throughout Your Kingdom Because the variety of Professions of Religion when openly indulged doth directly distinguish men into parties and withall gives them opportunity to count their numbers which considering the animosities that out of a Religious Pride will be kept on foot by the severall Factions doth tend directly and inevitably to open disturbance Nor can Your Majesty have any Security that the Doctrine or Worship of the severall Factions which are all Governed by a severall Rule shall be consistent with the Peace of Your Kingdom When Master Cartwright preached at Saint Maries in Cambridge the Church could not hold the people when Doctor Gouge preached at Black-fryers it was too little for him when Master Dod preached people were almost througed to death If a nonconformist preach the whole City is in a tumult if a man be but a little inclined that way how great is his Auditors If Orthodox how thin his Congregation which considering the animosities that out of a Religious Pride will be kept on foot by the severall Factions doth tend directly and inevetably to open disturbance Nor can His Majesty have any Security that the Doctrine or Worship of the severall Factions which are all Governed by a severall Rule shall be consistent with the Peace of Your Kingdom What security have we that the Papists will not teach the Popes power as well as his Religion that they will not absolve men from their allegiance to the King of England as well as they absolve men from their obedience to the Church of England that they will not disobey as well as not obey for Conscience sake how know we but they have all taken a solemn Covenant to defend the Kings Majesty onely in the maintenance of Religion i. e. of their severall wayes Be wise therefore O ye Kings be instructed O ye Judges of the Earth Habet aliquod ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum quod contra singulos utilitate publica rependitur Tac. An 14. Ne timeas contrà Charitatem esse si unius scandalum multorum pace compensaveris Bern. Ep. FINIS See Bishop Abbot on Jer. 6 16. â—e Dr. Peirce Sermon