necessity be distinguished which is the fourth thing that we say cannot in any Protestant Government possibly be prevented For if no Law can possibly eradicate the notion that there is a God no endeavour of man whatever can hinder then his being worshipped by such at least as have a sense of his being and do verily believe that he is Wherefore if we are trained up from our Childhood and train'd up not only as men but as Protestants firmly to believe that God will accept of no worship at all from us but what is agreeable to his Word and if it be a thing continually inculcated to us even from our very Infancy that it is in a conformity to this Word alone that all Religion whatever doth consist then it is not reason only but experience it self which attests it that a man may as soon quit his notion that there is a God or to be afraid to own it and may as soon quit that notion that God is to be worshipped or be afraid to own it as he may quit or be afraid to own as a Protestant this notion viz. that God is so only to be worshipped and no otherwise then as he hath set down in his Word And if this notion then about his Word as the only rule of the worship of God be as firmly planted in us by our Education as any notion can be planted in us that belongs to our nature as men it must needs follow that a Government may as well and with as good success hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish common notions as hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish among Protestants the notion of the necessity of worshipping God according to his Word And therefore if it be rightly considered it will likewise appear that it must be to him that is truly educated as a Protestant every way as grievous to be commanded by a Law to forsake Christianity it self as to be commanded by a Law to forsake that worship which he as a Protestant cannot but believe in his heart is alone agreeable to the Mind and Law of God which is that worship that is given to God directly conformable to his Scripture or Word and of the truth of this the Martyrs in Queen Mary's time are a competent witness And consequently they that pretend to take another measure of Protestantism than according to what is thus firmly rooted in the hearts of men both by their Education and by the very Principles and Doctrine of the Reformation do seem but to prevaricate only with the Reformed Religion and with the sixth Article of the Church of England and do if not in wo ds yet in actions seem manifestly to declare that they neither really believe the Scriptures or the Christian Religion or the Reformation to be of God for if the whole of the Christian Religion be contained in the Scripture and in the Scripture alone as the sixth Article of the Church of England doth both plainly and expresly confess it is then to make the Rule of the Word to be our Rule wholly as Christians in the worship of God is so far from an obstinacy in us and so far from any thing of humour or superstition or conceitedness that the contrary can be no way dispensible and much less maintainable before God and therefore there is neither any part of Popery it self nor any thing of Idolatry though never so gross but it may be as easily imposed upon and as easily entertained by a Protestant as any worship may which he evidently seeth or is sufficiently perswaded of in his Conscience to be against the mind of God or against the rule of his Word seeing it is this rule that is the only Index of his mind as to us and it is this rule alone to which all promises of God are entirely made and all the promises of God being made to this rule only this rule and no other must then as we are Christians be the alone Foundation both of all our hope and of all our trust toward God and must consequently be the only ground upon which we can as Christians have any expectation of salvation and life and consequently the whole interest and concern of our Souls at least as we are Protestants doth and must stand entirely upon the said Word Which deductions if they cannot any way possibly be denied the disobeying then f all such Laws in the matter of worship as are not agreeable to the Word of God or which at least appear not to be so is a thing wholly inevitable and is impossible to be avoided in a Protestant Government even as we are rational persons because there is a threefold reason that necessarily impells it First as it hath its rise from that most forcible and indelible Character wh ch is writ in the minds of all men viz. that seeing God is he ought to be worshipped in some manner or another of necessity Secondly as it hath its rise from that Character which hath equal force with the other in the minds of us as we are bred Protestants viz. that God is no other way to be worshipped nor will accept of any worship from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word which two Principles seeing by reason of our Education they make but one indeed in our hearts as we are Protestants they do and must constrain us as soon to abandon all worship it self unto God as to abandon that worship which is properly agreeable to his Word because so far as we abandon this we do abandon all worship that is according to our Principles as Protestants either acceptable with God or agreeable to the Mind of God wherefore if to these two we shall add the third ground of its rise which is as certain also as either of the other viz. that we neither have hope in God nor any promise made us by God further than as we obey him in his Word or further than as we worship him according to the rule of it I say these three things being now joyntly considered and seriously weighed by us what man is there or what man can there be who firmly believes there is any such thing as Salvation and Life who will not run any hazard rather than forbear what he judgeth to be the worship of God or rather than he will observe such a worship unto God as he cannot but know or cannot at least but verily believe to be contrary to his mind and contrary to the rule of his Word If it be evil then for any man to believe that God is indispensibly to be worshipped after some manner or another or evil for a man to believe that there is no other rule of his will or mind to us as we are Christians but his word and therefore no other rule wherein his worship is contained besides his said word or if it be evil to expect that God will most truly faithfully and fully perform
governed by a Protestant Prince than by any other and consequently it may be further seen whether it be any way adviseable for his Majesty or any way advantagious to his affairs still to commit the whole trust of the Church and of Religion it self entirely into the hands or Government of the Clergy To the end therefore that I may with all clearness represent the difficulties that do attend the Protestant Religion with the Government of it as things now stand I shall humbly crave leave to lay down this as the Foundation of my whole Argument which I humbly conceive will hardly be denied me by any Viz That in the Protestant Church the Prince professing himself to be of the Reformed Religion cannot any way remove or take away the use of the Scriptures from the common people the use or restoration of them in the Vulgar Tongue being accounted one main part if not the chiefest priviledge of any that came by the Reformation it self Which being granted me another difficulty is created by it inevitably for seeing the Prince is no way able to remove the use of the Scriptures from the common people he can never possibly be able to remove the influence and effects which the Divine Authority of the Scriptures must have and cannot but have upon the minds and consciences of the said people as the Scriptures are acknowledged to be the only Word the alone Rule of the mind of God unto his people this Character or apprehension of the Dignity and Authority of the Scriptures being so essential to our Reformation it self that there is no Protestant can so much as doubt of it it being that which is not only commonly taught in our Pulpits but frequently inculcated to us while we are Children by our Parents and by those Masters which take the care of us while we are at School And therefore this Principle of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures being from our very Education thus firmly rooted in us it must unavoidably make the influence and effects to be equally as strong and equally as powerful upon the Consciences of us even as they themselves are that is equal with the very Authority of God himself and especially upon all such as re religiously educated and bred so that there is no obligation or tye wha ever which is capable to be laid on men upon any civil outward or temporal account that is able to have any part of that strength or influence upon them as the Scriptures must necessarily have upon and over the generality of all persons in the Protestant Church which is another consequence that cannot be removed by the Civil Government The strength and prevalency of which tye as made upon the Consciences of all persons as Protestants by or from the Scriptures is yet the more considerable because whatever Worship Service or Religion we as Protestants do profess to give unto God we profess it only from the Authority of the Scriptures themselves and from the Authority of them as they are thus owned and accounted by the Protestant Church to be our Supreme and consequently our immediate tye in all that we believe and in all that we act as Protestants towards God hath not its termination or its dependance so much upon men or upon the Church as upon the Scripture or Word of God itself we judging it lawful enough to forsake the Church when we once judge the Church in what it believes or in what it acts or practiseth toward God to have forsaken the Word and our Prosession or Religion being thus founded I mean out of conscience purely to Gods Word every man then properly as a Protestant if he be sincere doth as much believe that the worship whatever it be which he professeth is as truly agreeable to the Mind and Will of God as is the very Scripture it self and consequently that he is as much to contend for the said Worship as he is bound to contend for the Authority of the Scripture it self for these two being taken by him but for one thing viz. the Authority of the Scripture and the truth and authority of what he professeth consequently the same tye that binds him to the Scripture must of necessity bind him to that Religion whatever it be which he as a Protestant professeth unto God and consequently if there be no tye so firm or so strong upon the Conscience as that of the Divine and absolute Authority of the Scripture is as we have proved there is not there can be no tye stronger than what Protestants as such and as sincere must necessarily have for that Religion whatever it be that they do respectively profess unto God And this now being made clear and undoubted viz. that the tye and obligation that every man hath to the worship which he professeth unto God properly as a Protestant lieth in and riseth immediately from the Scriptures and it being likewise cleared that the highest tye which can possibly be laid upon the Conscience of any man is that proceeding from the Scriptures as they are the only Rule of Gods mind and will to us it must necessarily follow that if a Prince can neither remove the use of the Scriptures themselves nor remove the obligation which they have above all things upon the Consciences of men even from their very Education as they are the only Word of God he can never possibly remove the obedience which men will always conceive themselves obliged to give to the said Word in whatsoever it be they apprehend it doth clearly command seeing this obedience is looked upon to be the same and no other with an obedience given to God himself and if an obedience given unto God be in conscience also infinitely preferrable to any obedience to man then must an obligation to the Law and Will of God be always preferrable to and stronger than any obligation whatever to the Law or command of men which is a third thing that can no way possibly be avoided And consequently if the Law of the Church cannot in the matter of Worship any way compel or bind men to obedience further or otherwise than as they apprehend it to be agreeable to the Law of God or to the Law of his Word then neither can the Law of the Prince or the Law of the Civil Government bind mens Consciences in the matter of worship further or otherwise than the Law of the Church viz. no otherwise than as the said Law appears to them to be agreeable to Gods Law which is the Law of his Scriptures or Word and consequently it can never be avoided by any Prince as a Protestant but his Authority as relating purely to things civil with the efficacy of it must stand upon one Rule his Authority as relating to things of Divine Worship with the efficacy of it must necessarily and unavoidably stand upon another Rule and therefore that his Authority over his Subjects in the one and in the other of these must of
The Copy of a Narrative prepared for his Majesty about the Year 1674. to distinguish Protestants from Papists THat as the business of the Christian Religion is now a thing not capable to be separated from an Affair of State so considered as such it is far more difficult for a Prince to manage and regulate than any other Affair of State whatever and more difficult for a Protestant Prince to govern it than for any other Prince and the Reasons are as followeth First A Prince having the Character or Repute only of a Secular Authority hath not that immediate influence either upon Religion it self or upon Religious People which the Clergy hath for as it is not to be expected that a Prince should have that knowledge so neither is it possible that he should be any way so conversant in or so attendant upon the Affairs Controversies and Disputes which do relate to Religion as the Clergy themselves may and are And by reason of this though the Prince hath in other things never so great an ability of judgment and be never so Absolute or Supreme yet he is denied the Right of this Judgment as to the matters of Religion in regard that this is appropriated if it be not usurped solely to the Clergy Further That the Clergy taking upon them the sole right of Judgment in all Religious and Ecclesiastical Affairs do by this means presume their Judgment alone is to be received by the Prince whensoever they see it reasonable to desire his Authority to confirm and assent to such things in Religion as they would have confirmed and assented unto and whensoever they on the contrary shall desire his nulling and repressing such things as they properly dislike and would have nulled and repressed by him seeing all such representations when at any time made by the Clergy are not only the easier but the sooner gained by them because of the entire trust that in the whole Affair of Religion is generally committed to them by the Prince as to persons not only of supposed sufficiency but of supposed Conscience and Integrity and because there can be no third party therefore that hath at any time a power to examine the things propounded by them or to sift into the grounds or reasons of them they are the more easie to be gain'd also because of the power and influence which all pretences and arguments about Religion do commonly and rationally carry with them with reference to the Publick Peace and to the establishment of Piety and to the procuring both of prosperity and of blessing upon a Nation it self which things being generally apprehended and believed by all to be the real consequences of Religion as nothing therefore can render a Prince more obnoxious than the rumour of his be ng wholly irreligious so nothing doth or can render a Prince more plausible or to speak more properly nothing renders a Prince more naturally grateful to the hearts or more inwardly awful and reverend to the mind and affections of his people than the supposition of his being Religious or Pious doth this being easie to be observed not only in the Protestant Countries but even in the Catholick Countries themselves and indeed in all where Religion is seriously or zealously professed and therefore all Propositions about Religion having this advantage above all others of any kind whatsoever no marvel if they gain a more easie Reception with any Government than any other Propositions can and especially if offer'd by such who claim the main care and charge of all things which concern Religion and concern the welfare of it as well as they challenge the chiefest knowledge and judgment about it For these several reasons therefore and for the purchasing and conserving such a name among his people as may become a Prince that would justly be accompted Pious and for the avoiding the blemish and imputation of the contrary a Prince is oft-times induced through the instant request and importunity of the Clergy both to dispence with and yield to such things which otherwise if duly examin'd would neither be judged suitable nor perhaps consistant with his Dignity either to do or to grant So that though it be a thing for all these reasons very plain that a Prince cannot in the Affairs of Religion easily decline the judgment and representation of the Clergy yet nothing is more certain than that their Counsel proves frequently not only imposing but very dangerous both to his Government to his Safety to his Honour and to his Interest and the more because as the rise of their advice doth often proceed if not for the most part from those considerations and no other wherein their own Interest as a Clergy is particularly and sometimes privately concerned so the end of their advice terminates generally in nothing else beyond this that due care and just consideration which is but fit to be had to the Princes Interest being as it is evident by experience either not so faithfully and uprightly or at least not so circumspectly minded by them as they ought For the proof of which we may appeal even to matter of Fact there being not one or two but rather too to many Presidents wherein the advice which the Clergy hath given to Princes hath been so precipitate and rash that Princes to avoid those mischiefs that have followed from their Counsels and doubting lest other and further inconveniences might ensue upon them that might be worse have been forced oft-times to rescind their own Orders though to the lessening of the Credit and Authority of their Government Yea not only so but through the importunity of the Clergy and through the rashness and unseasonableness of their Counsels it is not one Prince but several Princes that have been frequently intangled either with Divisions and Dissentions at home among their own Subjects or with Quarrels abroad among their Neighbours not only to the disquiet of their Government to the ruine of many Ancient Families to the shedding of much Innocent Blood and to the waste and consumption of an extream mass of Treasure but which is yet worse to the doing of all this without any fruit and to the giving over at length the very Quarrel it self even for these reasons viz. because they saw they were misled in it and were able to effect none of those ends which others propounded to them by it and which they propounded to themselves than which nothing can render a Prince more unfortunate to the eye of himself or of others which unfortunateness by their ingaging in Quarrels relating to Religion hath nevertheless happened not to Princes of ordinary but to Princes of extraordinary Wisdom Courage and Conduct witness the ill success of Charles the Fifth in his War upon the Princes of Germany and of his Son Philip the Second of Spain in his attempts upon the Netherlands and of three Kings of France one after another and witness what is not fit to be particularized even those things