any other Figure than that which they used when they denoted absolute Universality by Romanus Orbis and Romanum Imperium and made Romanitas to signify the whole World only that which they called Barbaria excepted Romana Dominatio i. e. Humani Generis saith Florus 2. Another Mark of the Church is Antiquity which they much glory in as if theirs were truly antient and ours a novel upstart Religion Notwithstanding our learned Writers have abundantly shewed not only when the Errors we protest against were not in the Church but the particular time and occasion of the commencement of many of them tho not a few of those Tares were sown in the most ignorant and sleepy Ages and brought forth by such gradual Alterations that they might not so easily be discerned in their Productions and Progress as in their Maturity but this is besides our present undertaking which was only to shew that this Pretence also was a great support of Gentilisme * Si longa aetas authoritatem Religionibus conciliat servanda est tot saeculis Fides sequendi sunt nobis parentes qui secuti sunt saeliciter suos Symmachi Ep. ad Theod. Its Orators and Advocates upon all occasions set forth the Antiquity of their Rites and Ceremonies and the Innovations of Christianity Where was your Religion before Luther say the Papists to us and where was yours before Jesus of Nazareth said the Pagans to the first Christians When †Acts 17.19 St. Paul preached the Gospel at Athens the Philosophers there asked in Scorn What the new Doctrine was whereof he spake and the Historian calls the Christians Christianos genus hominum novae maleficae superstitionis Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. Bellarm. lib. 4. de Not. Ecclesiae cap. 4. Men of a new and mischievous Superstition 3. A third Mark of the Church which they think suits theirs very well is a Power of Working Miracles we cannot yield that this is a perpetual visible Note of the true Church as is pretended Miracles indeed are the clearest Evidences of Divine Truth and Authority and the most immediate Credentials of Heaven Our blessed Saviour attested his Divinity and the Truth of his Gospel thereby and in the Churches Infancy gave his Apostles the same Power of confirming their Doctrine but many good Reasons have been given to shew that there is not the same need and use of them now as then there was and how far the Devil by the Agility and Subtilty of his Nature may impose upon the Senses of Men and puzzle them with strange Appearances I shall not now enquire nor endeavour to refute the pretence of the Romanists in this kind by discovering the Vanity and Extravagancy of their lying Legends only to be named in a place and time fitter for Laughter and Disport than this wherein we are Nor shall I stay to shew how little cause they have to boast of this Faculty if they were more expert in it than indeed they are Seeing our Saviour and his Apostles have prophesied of the latter times that in a general Apostacy from the Faith Great Wonders should be wrought Mat. 24.24 able to deceive if it were possible the very Elect and that those especially who would not receive the Love of the Truth thro' an effectual working of Satan 2 Thess 2.9 10 11. in lying Wonders and strong Delusions should be brought to believe Lies But my Business here also is to shew that the Heathens talked as much and upon as good Grounds of this Gift of Miracles as they do it is well known how famous Pythagoras was for it in the Writings of Porphyry and Apollonius Tyaneus in those of Philostratus and Hierocles Histor lib. 4. besides what is said of Vespasian by Tacitus and those wonderful Manifestations of the Divine Power and Presence in the Roman Armies which Balbus boasted of Lib. 2. de nat Deorum p. 27. yea the idle and rediculous Reports of the frequent removals of the Chappel of Loretto from one Country and from one Place to another by invisible Hands in its most creditable Appearance seems to be but the counter-part of a Heathenish Wonder That I mean of the Temple of Diana's removal out of the Isle of Zazinthus unto Saguntum in Spain as it is related by Pliny 4. Another Mark of the Church with them is outward Splendor and Temporal Prosperity of which we read nothing in Scripture and it agrees much better with the Condition of Paganism and Mahumetanism than this of Christianity The Roman Orator Cicer. Orat. de Haruspic from the flourishing Greatness the many Victories and Triumphs of that Empire infers the Truth and Goodness of its Religion and the Idolatrous Jews will not be put out of conceit with their abominable Superstitions because they prospered and fared well in them Jer. 44.17 We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our Mouth to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink-Offerings to her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the Streets of Jerusalem But why so resolute and obstinate in your way Why Because we have this Catholick Argument that we are in the right outward Plenty Health and Prosperity as it follows for then had we plenty of Victuals and were well and saw no evil I might here add That the Heathens have the same plea with them for uninterrupted Continuance Number and Variety of Professors but I forbear this because it is no reproach to true Christians that they are a little Flock seeing we are assured by Scripture Testimony that the whole World in a manner lies in Wickedness I proceed to examine the Popes pretended Titles of Supremacy and Infallibility It hath been observed that old Babel who was the Foundress of Idols and the Mother of all Heathenish Superstitions was the first Pattern in the World of ambitious Dominion And 1. For the Supremacy of our new and mystical Babel it seems to derive from that Lordship Mark 10.42 which was exercised by those that ruled over the Gentiles And indeed that Authority which the Historian attributes to the Pontifex Maximus may suit new Rome Dionys Halic Ant. Rom. l. 2. as well as old The High Priests have great power among the Romans and are the Lords and Controllers of their most important Affairs they decide all Religious Controversies between the Commonalty the Magistracy and the Ministry they call all Magistrates and Priests to account for the exercise of their Authority And what follows in the same Author shews in how great repute they were 2. For their Infallibility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They determine all Differences relating either to Traditional or Novel Customs in Religion I know the Papists would fain parallel the Infallibility of their Chair with that of Moses and endeavour to confirm it by a seeming Parity of Reason in their case with that of the Jews
Forwardness yet they will never be crowned with due Praise nor have any just cause to triumph in their Victories unless they strive lawfully acting within the compass of their own Calling and Quality not violently invading other Men's Offices but patiently waiting for God's Blessing upon the faithful discharge of their own Those that are otherwise persuaded are in that Particular at Rome also Where we all know it is taught and practised as sound Doctrine that a very good End doth Legitimate and Sanctify the worst Means that can be used for attaining it 2. If the Power Policies and Advantages of our Enemies be at this time very dreadful as indeed they are I would advise them to consider whether the Protestant Cause is like to gain any thing by their representing their Number and Strength to be more still and more terrible than really it is I mean by reducing every thing to Popery which suits not their singular Models and Forms of Government and Worship Sure if the Fathers and Sons in this our National Church are for the most part Popishly affected as too many of them do most disingenuously and indeed dishonestly suggest the very Heart of our Religion would fail for want of its wonted and proper Succours and Support How formidable would the Interest of Rome then be if there were none but disagreeing and scattered Forces to oppose it His Majesty in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs 1660. was pleased to signify That in his Converse with the most Learned of the Reformed Churches abroad they did always with great Submission and Reverence acknowledg and magnify the Established Government of the Church of England and the great Countenance and Shelter the Protestant Religion received by it before the late unhappy Times and that many of them have with great Ingenuity and Sorrow confessed that they were too easily misled by Misinformations and Prejudice into some Disesteem of it as if it had too much complied with the Church of Rome whereas they now acknowledg it to be the best Fence God hath raised against Popery in the World Those that go about to pull down this Bulwark or fire this Castle for fear it should surrender to the Enemy I would desire them to think in time how naked and defenceless they will leave the Protestant Religion and whether they do not really expose what they pretend to preserve and strengthen the Building of the Roman Church with every Stone they take from Ours 3. I would desire the Beginners of the Separation to reflect seriously upon the Issues of their former Practices I mean not only the shedding of so much Blood the Blood of their Equals their Nobles their King himself in pursuit of the Quarrel they began but the great occasion they gave thereby tho I hope some of them unwittingly of Triumph to our Popish Adversaries We know very well how ready they were to throw back upon our Religion that heavy Charge of Rebellion which we had so justly laid upon theirs and by noting the irregular Practices of such Zealous Professors how much they endeavoured to depretiate and beat down the esteem of the Protestant Religion where it was most valued to raise some Men's Aversions to an abhorrence of it and to confirm and heighten the dislike of others into the utmost degree of Contempt The generality of weak but honest Christians who observed things in their naked and proper Appearances without the colourings of either side the Presbyterian Excuses or the Popish Aggravations were put into great Doubts and waverings of Mind which part they should adhere to the Idolatrous Papist or the Sacrilegious Protestant That Learned and truly Moderate Man Monsieur Amyrant in the Epistle Dedicatory of his Paraphrase upon the Psalms to His Majesty that now is gives him to understand how much the Proceedings of the Puritans here were objected to him by a great Peer of France in way of Reproach to the Protestant Religion as if it moved to Sedition and Rebellion and were a perfect Enemy to Monarchical Government And the blessed Martyr King Charles the Father fearing lest the Scandal of the late Troubles might be objected to his Son against our established Religion He furnisheth him with this Answer That scarce any one that hath been a Beginner or Prosecutor of the late War against the Church the Laws and Himself either was or is a true Lover Embracer or Practicer of the Protestant Religion established in England which neither gives such Rules or ever before set such Examples I would desire those yet surviving who did begin or carry on that unhappy War after so fair a time of cooling to consider calmly what it ended in how much our Religion lost and how much Popery gained by it and that they would have a very jealous Eye upon every Discontent and turbulent Motion which tends the same way again and not justify those Actions now which sometimes since in their own Acknowledgment could not be pardoned without a great Act of Mercy and Oblivion Yea on this day of our sorrowful Reflection upon the most execrable Treason that ever the Sun saw for that against our Saviour the Sun would not look upon How much doth it concern us to bewail not only that last and most daring Villany but all the causeless Complaints the Factions and the Fightings that made way for it Endeavouring by all good Considerations to encrease our Abhorrence and Detestation of so black a Crime and by our peaceable Behaviour and chearful Submission to the Scepter we live under to secure our selves from the least touch and stain of any such Guilt for the time to come 4. I would advise our dissenting Brethren to consider how far a great part of them have advanced towards Rome and symbolized with the Papists not only in their own frequent Violations of solemn Oaths those of Allegiance and Supremacy the Covenant of their own framing and imposing but in their specious offers of a Dispensation for our Royal Martyrs Goronation-Oath relating to the maintenance of Episcopacy with the Legal Rites Honours and Priviledges of the Clergy But also in their Imperious Solicitations of him to give up that great Trust contrary to his declared Judgment and Conscience and that notwithstanding his signal readiness to comply with them in any thing where he lawfully might God knows I am very unwilling even upon this day to look back upon any thing of this nature which I might honestly over-look And indeed my own Circumstances in the Church and the present temper of the Nation is such that I cannot be supposed in an equal Judgment to be biassed to any Partiality in defence of our present Constitution either against Papists or any other Aggressors or Underminers of it and however I may be censured by any sort of Men for the seeming Imprudence or unseasonableness of such plain dealing I really design nothing else but the faithful discharge of a necessary Duty even in this Advice and I pray God remove
THE GOSPEL Preached to the ROMANS IN FOUR SERMONS Two on the 5th of November AND Two on the 30th of January 1680. By JOHN CAVE Rector of Cold-Orton in Leicester-shire and Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Durham Fruamur bono nostro recti sententiam temperemus cohibeatur Superstitio impietas expietur vera religio reservetur Min. Fael p. 55. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Rich. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1681. THE GOSPEL Preached to the ROMANS IN TWO SERMONS On November 5. 1680. The First Sermon ROM 1.15 So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also THe great Doctor of the Gentiles St. Paul directs this Epistle to all the Professors of Christianity at Rome tempering his Apostoâ—â—â— Authority with much Charity and â—rdor insinuating his good Opinion of their Sincerity tho attended with the Weakness and Imperfection of Learners who are usually too retentive of their former Prejudices and Prepossessions and therefore stand in need of clear Demonstrations and frequent Impressions to bring them off from a Religion delivered and endeared to them by Tradition from their Fathers and to confirm and establish them in a new Doctrine After he had magnified his own Office by intimating his extraordinary Call and Separation unto the Gospel of God in the first verse of this Chapter that he might not any ways advance himself to the discouragement of their Infant-Graces and hopeful Dispositions he owns them also to be the Called of Jesus Christ in another Capacity Ver. 6. and dignifies them with the Titles of the Beloved of God and Saints Ver. 7.8 such as he gave Thanks and prayed for in regard of their Christian Principles which made Rome now more truly renowned and honourably spoken of throughout the World than all he former Grandeur Wisdom and Loâ—ning Oecumenius gives this Reason of 〈◊〉 precedency of this Epistle because 〈◊〉 was written to such as had not only the advantage of a Civil and Philosophical Education but were also initiated in the Worship of the true God according to the Revelations of the Gospel yet to keep them humble and teachable he suggests to them their want of many things of some Spiritual Gift Ver. 11. in order to the Settlement and Growth of their Faith and Comfort the fructifying of their fair Blossoms and the ripening of their tender Fruit Ver. 13. I have oftentimes purposed to come unto you that I might have some Fruit among you also even as among other Gentiles For the Doctrines I teach are such as will not only give Wisdom to the Simple and Barbarous but improve the Knowledg of the Wise and therefore in that respect as fit to be preached at Athens or at Rome as in the most obscure and ignorant parts of the World yea such are your defects in Knowledg and Faith that I am obliged by my Commission to instruct you I am a Debtor both to the Greeks and Barbarians to the Wise and to the Vnwise So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also From these Words some have observed St. Paul's Chearfulness and Courage his Readiness and Resolution in discharge of his Ministry as a Pattern worthy to be imitated by all of his Order and Calling for as much as neither the Power nor Prejudices of Rome the Seat of the World's Empire and Learning did in the least dishearten him from Preaching the Gospel there Where the Articles of pure Faith and the inconceiveable or at least inexplicable Mysteries of the Christian Religion were more likely to be rejected with scorn than received in Love and where such a plain Preacher as came not in the way of Human Wisdom or Excellencies of Speech was like to perswade but little yet he is ready and resolved as God shall enable him as much as in him is to preach this Gospel at Rome as he speaks Emphatically at Rome also a Place so famous for the general Concourse of the Wise and knowing Men of the World I cannot disallow of this Sence of the Words which would afford us very profitable matter of Discourse yet I humbly conceive they are very capable of another Meaning viz. That our Apostle was the more desirous to preach the Gospel at Rome because there was still a great mixture of Judaisme and Gentilisme even in the Christianity of that Place and those that he calls Saints were but imperfectly such right in Fundamentals but in many respects needing Reformation of their Errors as well as Settlement and firmer grounding in the true Belief Though St. Peter were the Apostle of the Jews as St. Paul of the Gentiles and each superintended their proper Diocess in all places where they met as at Antioch and afterwards at Rome ordaining distinct Bishops to succeed in both Cities and making all the Jews in each under the Charge of one and the Gentiles of another as the Learned Dr. Hammond hath abundantly proved to the utter overthrow of St Peter's Supremacy and Universal Pastorship yet as St. Peter before any Agreement between themselves to the contrary preaches the Gospel to Cornelius a Gentile and his Family So St. Paul here writes to Jews and Gentiles both and desires to have an opportunity to preach the Gospel to them in common He had upon several Occasions encountred the Jews in their Synagogues and disputed with the Greeks in their most famous Cities at Athens Corinth Ephesus and elsewhere erecting where ever he came some honourable Trophies of the Power and Prevalency of his Master's Gospel He desires now to carry his Spiritual Arms and Forces to the Imperial City not to make himself but Christianity eminent and victorious to triumph not only over the Vices and Immoralities but the very Religion or rather the remainder of Superstition in that Place by shewing them how weak the Jewish Dispensation and how altogether ineffectual the Precepts of the Gentile Philosophy were to make Men truly happy that neither Gentiles by their Natural Works nor Jews by their Legal Obedience could be justified but yet both were equally capable of Salvation by the Gospel which he is so ready to preach to them It hath been observed that in all the Churches of the Apostle's own planting and cultivation the Seeds of sound and wholesom Doctrine did more easily take Root than Heathenish and Jewish Customs could be extirpated and by his distinct Addresses both to Jews and Gentiles in this Epistle we may well conceive this was one great inducement to him to preach the Gospel to them that were at Rome also viz. To bring them off from those Superstitions which Antiquity Vniversality and Oral Tradition had made them too fond of But if we will suppose those Christian Converts to be refined and wholly purged from all their former Errors and Corruptions and so not to need the preaching of the Gospel for those Purposes
Hero's or deceased Worthies and by that general Practice of the old Romans not only of preserving but reverencing their Bones and Ashes Serv. in Virg. as their Patrons and Defenders tanquam Tutelares Patronos Lares atque Penates But I proceed to take notice of 7. The Worship they give to the consecrated Host And I choose the rather to speak of it just now because it may be and hath been accounted one Species of the Idolatry of Reliques The Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament being the Mystical Reliques which he left us as Monuments of his Death till he come If it may not more properly be reduced to Image-Worship as being the Adoration of a Sign or Symbol which soever it be I must confess Mr. Med. with the learned Mede it hath a strain above the abomination of the Gentiles who tho they supposed some Presence of their Demons in their Images and Reliques yet were they never so blockish as to think their Images and Reliques transubstantiated into Demons Caster Enchyrid Fisher contra Oecolampadium l. 1.2 Yea they themselves acknowledg of their own Accord that if the Doctrine of Transubstantiation be not true which it cannot be unless all the Sense and Reason of Mankind be false the Idolatry of the Heathens in worshipping some Golden or Silver Statue is more excusable than theirs in worshipping a Bit of Bread 8. As for the Peoples receiving in one kind contrary to the continued Practice of the Church for a thousand years together tho it cannot be supposed to be of an Original purely Heathen Baron lib. 4. c. 26. p. 633. Bellarm. de Eucharistia l. 4. c. 24. yet for the Credit of its Antiquity Baronius and Bellarmine do derive it from the Practice of the Manichees their abominating of Wine and their willingness to come to the Communion at least to avoid the Law and Censures of the Church if they might receive the Bread without the Cup. Now from the Characters the Fathers give us of these Manicheans they were rather Infidels and Heathens than Christians Tertullian one of them calls them alterius Divinitatis Haeretiâ—i 9. Their locking up the Scriptures in an unknown Tongue if it was not taken up in imitation of that Roman Law which prohibited the common reading of the Sybilline Prophecy's yet it justifies it self by the same Reasons Those were not to be read or published sine Authoritate Jussu Senatus without the Command and Licence of the Senate As Tully Vid. Isaac Casaub Exercit. ad apparat Baron Annal. p. 66. Livy Dio inform us and the Reason of their Concealment was lest Private and Factious Persons should under the countenance of their Authority make any innovations in their Religious Ceremonies or in the Civil Government of their Country I know They are ready to defend this Practice by a more worthy and warrantable Example Maimon Praef. Par. 11. more Nevochim Hil. Jes in Hottingeri Thesau Theol. p. 78. viz. The great Caution which the Jews used in explaining the more Difficult and Metaphysical parts of their Religion and particularly their prohibiting all but wise and knowing Persons to study the Vision of Ezekiel's Wheels or any other abstruse intricate part of Divinity but their End in this was rather to prescribe a prudent Method to the People in reading the Scriptures than to take them wholly out of their Hands Let us next see whether they can 10. Say any thing more to the Purpose for their Prayers in Latin The learned Isaac Casaubon in his Answer to the Epistle of Cardinal Peron having noted that King James read in a Book of a certain Popish English Priest that Prayers in an unknown Tongue were more effectual and prevalent than those which were understood tells them plainly Quod insulsissimum delirium ab Ethnicis primo excogitatum This most sensless dotage was of Heathen Extraction In like manner the Valentinian Hereticks used Hebrew an unknown Language in their Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might thereby raise the Wonder if not the Devotion of the simple Vulgar as Eusebius informs us Euseb Hist 11. Their placing such Vertue and Efficacy in the Sign of their Cross their Agnus Dei's c. which cannot rationally be attributed to them seems parallel to the Bacchus Laureus to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Amulets among the Heathen or to the Precatiunculae or little Prayers that the Turk carries about with him as a Defensative against all Dangers and Diabolical Assaults 12. The Papists using Spittle in Baptism seems to be derived from that Heathenish Rite the Satyrist refers to Ecce Avia Persius Satyr 2. aut metuens Divum matertera cunis Exemit puerum frontemque atque uda labella Infami digito lustralibus ante salivis Expiat And Pliny tells us at large Lib. 28. c. 4. what wonderful Vertue they attributed to Spittle with Allusion whereunto Athanasius calls the superstitious Dotages of Priscilla and Montanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old Womens Spittle 13. The Ceremony of sprinkling Holy Water was a Heathenish Rite used in the Sanctifications and Lustrations of the Capital But River-Waters were thought to be less purgative therefore those only of the Sea were used for the Expiation of greater Crimes Alexand. ab Alexan. dies Gen. Propter vim igneam magnopere purgationibus consentaneam For which Cause questionless the Papists in the Composition of their Holy Water make use of Salt as one of the chief Ingredients that it may come more near in nature to the Water of the Sea I do not blame the Heathens much for their Washings and Cleansings Preparatory to their holy Services nor the Christians in St. Chrysostom's time for washing their Hands at the Church-door before entrance but I blame them very much for using them as expiatory to wash away the Guilt not only of other Crimes but of Murder it self as Orestes did in Pausanias after the killing of his Mother and we condemn the same end of using it much more in the Papists For it is their's too Haec Aqua benedicta deleat mihi delicta Let this holy Bowle cleanse my Soul 14. Burning Candles by dead Bodies was innocent and useful to them that watched by them the night before the Interment but when they thought the departed Souls benefitted thereby the Ceremony was infected with Heathenish Superstition and was condemned by the Counsel of Eliberis Temperance and Mortification are enjoyned by our Christianity and discreet Abstinence and Fasting are very useful to call off our Minds from the blandishments of the Sense and serve many good ends of Religion but this change of Diet which the Papists account fasting resembles a Superstition which the Jews were guilty of Declar. Erasm adversus censuras Theolog. Paris p. 41 42. in their way of eating as Erasmus confesseth Again though the freedom of Mans Will was the current Doctrine of the Fathers for all the first
only have satisfied the Antichristian Spirit of the worst of Men but if any thing would the Hatred Enmity and Revenge of the Devil himself who was a Murderer from the beginning Cursed be their Anger for it was sierce and their Wrath for it was cruel But for ever blessed be God who bringeth the Counsel of the Heathen to naught And blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the People whom he hath chosen for his own Inheritance We thy People and Sheep of thy Pasture will give thee Thanks for ever we will shew forth thy Praise to all Generations 4. Let us endeavour to consirm our selves by these Considerations in the true Faith which we profess and in a stedfast Obedience to the pure Gospel of our Saviour Not learning the way of the Heathen Jer. 10.2 not giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Demons 1 Tim. 4 1. To such as speak Lies in Hypocrisie forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from Meats Whatever there is of Gospel and true Christianity in the Church of Rome we have it already and what is more either purely of their own Invention or borrowed from the Heathens who have changed the Truth of God into a Lie I hope we shall be content to want We hold the Foundation Jesus Christ and reject none of the Gold Silver and pretious Stones which they built upon it but the superadditions of Hay and Stubble such Doctrines and Practices of theirs as are not to be found in Scripture nor in the Creeds Homilies and Canons of the Primitive Church Notwithstanding their great boasts of Antiquity which prevail much where they are believed it is a plain case that the Popery of their Religion if not new in it self is new in the Church never professed by any Christians for the first three hundred Years and as to the grosser parts of it not known in the Church until several Ages after We may patiently hear them upbraid us with Singularity and Innovation when we are assured our Doctrines are as old and as universal as our Saviour's Gospel and we may allow them to glory in any thing older and more Catholick than that Their Religion will not appear to us more sacred and venerable because much of its Attire many of its Rites and Ceremonies are more antique than ours and because it is adorned in those Fashions of the World those Vanities of the Gentiles which as they were before Christianity so were to pass away at its Appearance and where they remain or rather have been reassumed are the Blemish and Disgrace if not the Disease and Leprosie of that most excellent Institution But on the contrary I hope we shall be more fervent more settled and constant in our Affection to and Zeal for our own Religion when we consider that it is sound and pure Christianity the only Catholick Religion which hath in it all that is truly good of all other Religions without their Adulterations and Debasements It is a Religion which doth not allow us to give Gods Glory to another Isa 42.8 nor his Praise to graven Images It admits neither Saints nor Angels to share in God's Worship nor owns any other Mediatours but his Son Jesus Christ It is a Religion which enjoyns none but Reasonable Services which allows us to search the Scriptures and prove all things not exacting an Implicite Faith or Blind Obedience It gives us to understand what God saith to us and what we pray for to him in the use of an English Bible and Liturgy It is a Religion which makes no more Sacraments than our Saviour did but gives us them intire In a word it is a Religion which is pure and peaceable which dispenseth with no Duties of Piety Righteousness or Charity which teacheth Obedience to Governours and abhors Rebellion and Treason as one of the worst things in Popery Methinks no worldly Considerations no Hopes or Fears should cause us to waver in much less to depart from a Religion so purely Christian as this So Profitable unto all things in our Politick and private Capacities maintaining Peace and Property the Power of Soveraigns and Rights of Subjects Giving to God the things that are Gods and to Cesar those that are his no way oppressing the meanest of the People in their civil Concerns and most effectually promoting the spiritual Welfare and Happiness of all Men methinks I say we should not easily be perswaded out of such a Religion at least not to change it for that which we have heard described one depraved with the most fond Superstitions and Idolatrous Rites of Gentilism nor indeed for any other which under the pretence of greater Purity doth really comply with and advance the Interests of this What true Good can we propound to our selves by such an Exchange Let us therefore resolve to continue and fix where we are Saying with those in another Case Whither shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life The End of the second Sermon THE GOSPEL Preached to them that are At ROME Also IN TWO SERMONS On the 30th of January 1680. The Third Sermon ROM 1.15 So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also HItherto I have been discovering the Anti-Christian Errors of professed Papists in order to your Confirmation and Establishment rather than what I yet most heartily desire their Conviction and Recovery because I know not whether this Discourse may reach any of them There are another sort of Men who think themselves far enough from Rome or at least would have us think them so who upon a true enquiry will be found to be their Also I mean these among our selves who whilst they loudly protest against the Heathenish Superstitions and Idolatries of the Papists do yet combine with them yea with the worst of them the Jesuits in many of their Principles and Practices no less unchristian and strengthen the Hands and Hearts of those our implacable Enemies by dividing the Body and consequently wasting the Force of our Protestant Church I would not at this time especially discourage the Zeal of any well meaning Protestants by aggravating the Errors and Irregularities of it but sure they must needs be very shallow Headed if they are indeed true Hearted and well meaning Protestants who think in these Days to serve their Cause to bring Honour and Security to their Religion by breaking the Orders and Unity of our Church by mutinying against their Leaders and drawing off into Parties and Factions from the main of their Strength if not turning their Weapons upon and making at those as their Enemies who have been at least their Companions if not their Champions in the common Quarrel In order to the tempering and directing of these Men's Zeal I would in the Spirit of Meekness the Spirit of the Gospel propound these things to their sober Thoughts 1. That however they may value themselves upon their Courage and
careless and loose Livers among our selves for as my Lord Bacon hath well observed Controversies of the Church of England p. 168. There is a double Policy of the Spiritual Enemy either by counterfeit Holiness of Life to establish and authorize Errors or by corruption of Manners to discredit and draw into question Truth and things lawful No Pagan Blasphemies or Popish Usurpations are so offensive to God or injurious to his Church as the scandalous miscarriages of his pretended Servants Our greatest Fear and Danger Beloved is from our selves Our Sins are our worst Enemies and if not overcome by us will soon betray and ruine us and our Protestant Cause without any other Plots and Conspiracies When we consider what it was that blasted those flourishing Churches of Ephesus Sardis Laodicea we cannot escape some fearful abodes of the like effects of our decay of Love our Hypocritical Profession our Lukewarmness and great indifferency in the most material Parts and Acts of our Religion The Church of England and God grant we may be truly sensible of it hath suffered much and is still like to suffer more by her own Children And that is verified in her which was once said of Julius Caesar Plures illum amici confoderunt quam inimici She hath received more Wounds from her Friends than from her Enemies Victa est non aegre proditione sua Ovid. de Carinnâ How many among us are there that profess little or no regard at all to Religion or profess that regard for the temporal Conveniencies that attend it And how many are false and hypocritical in their Profession resting in meer Shadows and external Formalities most unreasonably concluding that all is well with them because the Lines are fallen to them in so pleasant a place as a purged Church and that themselves need Reformation the less because that is reformed What is this but as one speaks To run round in a Circle and meet the Church of Rome where we left her What is this but to speak her very Language that to be in this Ark this Church is to be safe Behold we are called Christians and rest in the Gospel and make our Boasts of Christ and the Purity of his Ordinances and Worship among us But believe it it is not the Name of Protestant or Reformed no nor the Name of Christ himself that will save us or our Religion if by our wicked Conversation we cause that Name that worthy Name as St. James calleth it to be evil spoken of among the Gentiles our Popish or our Phanatical Enemies It is our walking in this Holy Name our living up to the Principles of our Saviour's Gospel and our improving the Means of Grace to a more perfect Degree of Holiness than any have attained unto in the Strength of Nature or of their own artificial Inventions that will make Christianity truly glorious in the Eyes of Jews Turks and Heathens Our Protestant Christianity to out-shine the Visibility of Rome and our Church of England to flourish and be honourably esteemed among all her Sisters of the Reformation Our Skill in Controversies will not do us the Service nor gain us the Reputation that the Simplicity of our Manners the Piety of our Practices will This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom stiles it the most uncontroulable or irresistable if we may not say infallible Proof and Conviction of the Goodness of our Religion in the Judgment of most Examiners I shall therefore conclude this Head of my Discourse with an earnest Exhortation to Holiness of Life That our ways may be upright as among the Gentiles and our well-doing such and so exemplary as may put to silence the ignorance of foolish and captious Men. It is a shame to our Religion that we should go to Rome for Examples of Vertue or seek Christ in the secret Chambers that we should learn Piety from Idolaters or strictness of Life from the Enemies of Government yet even among them may be found some Instances of Mortification and Zeal which may serve at least for our Reproach if not for our Imitation The voluntary Austerities of the Papists their Mid-night Devotions frequent Fastings painful Pilgrimages and Pennances may serve to put us in mind of our Saviour's wholesome Precepts of Self-denial Heavenly-mindedness devout Prayer and discreet Abstinence and the Zeal of several Sectaries in some parts of Religion may condemn our general Coldness or Indifferency in the whole But if we can learn no good from them let us be very careful lest we harden them in evil and confirm them in their Erroneous Opinions by our vitious Practices When we have disarmed them of their defensive Weapons and left them no rational Plea nor Excuse for their Schism and Sedition Let us not put into their Hands a Sword of Offence and expose our selves to the Mercy of their Censures which is cruel enough by any Irregularities of another nature And because many among us at this time appear more zealous for the Interest of their Religion than that of their Souls less mindful of the great Duties of Sobriety Righteousness and Piety in their own Conversations than those of discovering opposing and punishing the heretical and traiterous Designers against our Protestant Church and seem more to fear the Popish Conspiracies than any of the Devil 's Wiles and Stratagems I would desire it might be well considered that a holy good Life is as necessary to uphold our Religion as to save our Souls Nothing like this as hath been intimated already to break the Courage and baffle the Attempts of our Romish Adversaries or to reclaim and bring home other Dissenters into our Communion Nothing so like to fix and settle them in their Errors and Seditions as our loose and vain Conversations and indeed at this time we ought to be more then ordinarily circumspect now so many evil Eyes are upon us watching for our haltings and so many Mouths ready opened to aggravate our least Miscarriages wherefore we could never more seasonably apply to our selves that of good Nehemiah Ought we not to walk in the Fear of our God Chap. 5.9 because of the Reproach of the Heathen our Enemies Among all the Motives and Persuasives to Holiness me-thinks this should not be the least powerful that it is likely if any thing to gain those that dissent from us to convince the more sober and ingenuous that we are in the right way of Worship and to remove all Stones of Offence out of the Path either of the tender or peevish An eminent Example of Mr. Edward Fowler in his design of Christianity p. 304. and a mighty Advocate for Holiness hath well observed That meer pretences to great Sanctity do strangely make Proselites to several Forms that have nothing besides to set them off and commend them And as for obstinate Persons that will by no means be prevailed with to come over to us they will however be greatly disabled from
away our Place and Nation are not themselves preparing their way But are the Papists indeed among all our modern Professors of Christianity the only Anti-Gospelers in this particular of promoting Religion by Force Truly I believe the bloody and rebellious Principles of all others were originally theirs and derived from them But we can by no means excuse the Tyranny of the Independency of which we read so much in the History that bears its Name And their frequent putting Quakers to death in New England for their Opinions Thorndike's Forbearance of Penalttes c. 29. doth shew what a meek merciful Spirit they are of and what Liberties they are like to allow others wherever they obtain Rule And I wish with all my heart I could honestly speak better and more gentle things of all their elder Brethren the Presbyterians and because many of that Perswasion are not only sound and Orthodox in the main Articles of our reformed Religion but learned and able Defenders of it zealous Protestours against the horrid Wickedness of this Day and active Instruments in bringing home our banished King I am not willing to say the worst I know of the violence of some of their Spirits and the severity of their Discipline Yet I hope none among us will justify the Rage Malice and Cruelties of the Scotchfield-Meeters ten of whom barbarously murdered the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews and it is the current Doctrine of their Pulpits and Books that killing of Bishops and those ordained by them is no Murder but a commendable yea an Heroical Act of Justice and that a revolting Covenanter of any sort is as acceptable a Sacrifice Altho I fear too many among us feel some glowings of this Hellish Zeal some kindlings and stirrings of this fiery fierce Spirit yet blessed be God they have hitherto and I hope still will be restrained from such outragious Villanies But let me not I beseech you be thought your Enemy If I tell you the Truth in telling you plainly That thus far we must complain of the severity their want of a Gospel-Spirit as Optatus did of some separating slandering Malecontents of his time Dei Episcopos linguae Gladio jugulastis fundentes Sanguinem non Corporis sed Honoris Though your hands have spared the Lives yet your Tongues have murdered the Reputation of Gods Bishops and Ministers though you have not shed their Blood yet you have stained their Honour and which is worse vilified their Function yea notwithstanding the undeniable and convincing Proofs they have given both heretofore and of late by their Preachings Writings and Practices of their Sincerity in and Zeal for the Protestant Religion yet as Tacitus speaks Tacitus In Vitá Agricol conflatâ magnâ invidiâ seu bene seu male gesta premunt Where Envy and Spite predominate Mens good or bad Actions are alike distastful and what was said out of the same Author in Proclus's Case Vi◠Procl p. 28. that famous Arch-Bishop of Constantinople may well be applied to theirs Non minus est periculum in magnâ quam in mala fama cum fumma semper petat livor It is not the Evil of their Lives nor the Errour of their Doctrines but the eminency of their Place if not of their Vertues which hath drawn upon them so much vulgar hatred and Obloquy Faults they have had Dr. Barrow's Ser. on Psal 132.16 and will always have for they are Men and subject to the common Imperfections of mortal Nature but that perhaps less and fewer than any other distinct sort of Men But if their Faults were greater than ever they have really been or than ever Malice could misrepresent them is it therefore equal that the Miscarriages of some should derogate from the Reputation or Prejudice the Welfare of the whole Order yet so blind as well as bitter is some Men's Zeal that they think they do God and their Country good Service in pursuing them all with the same cry and running them down together with an indiscriminating Rage as if they were the greatest Enemies of our Peace and Prosperity and that there were a touch of the Bishop in all our Evils and Inconveniencies But without offering at any Vindication which indeed would be besides my present Purpose it may not be amiss perhaps for the furthering the Humiliation of this Day to consider that they who began with the Church before ended with the Crown and tho at first they pretended a Quarrel only with our Episcopacy they soon proceeded to pour Contempt upon Princes and Nobles and to make havock of Royalty it self and that when it was most happily seated in so Wise so Holy and so Gracious a King and all under a great shew of Zeal for the Gospel and the Purity of Religion But how far this was from the true and genuine Spirit of the Gospel from the Doctrine of our Saviour and the Acts of his Apostles may be easily inferred from what you have heard and particularly from the Practice of our St. Paul who tho when a Pharisee he thought he did God and Religion good Service in persecuting the Church yet when once a Christian he thinks only of preaching the Gospel He who before breathed out nothing but Threatnings and Slaughter after his Conversion only exhorts entreats with all Long-suffering and beseecheth by the Mercies of God Not that our Apostle was less concerned for the Interests of Christianity than for those of his former Religion but better instructed in the way of promoting them viz. by the Ministry of Reconciliation preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable Riches of Christ and by propounding the great Benefits and Blessings of the Gospel as the most powerful Advocates for its Entertainment and if at any time he makes use of the Terrors of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 it is not to persecute but to perswade Men. How far Civil Magistrates may by Threatnings and Punishments compel Men to serve God and keep his Commandments is not the matter of our present Enquiry we see what is the proper Duty of those of St. Paul's Order and what work is like to prosper best in their hands when they have to do either with those at Rome or any other Sects of Erroneous Christians viz. Diligence and Faithfulness in preaching of the Gospel and so I come to the third and last Particular III. That those who are commissionated to the Office of the Ministry ought to be ready and resolute in the discharge of it The excellent Dr. Hammond Answer to the 6 Queries p. 365. hath well observed that the whole well-being of the Christian Church which consists in Vnity as the well-being of a Body in the Health of it nay the very Being it self which consists in the Truth of the Doctrines and Obedience to the Institutions of the Gospel depends in an eminent manner upon the due Qualification of those who are intrusted with the Office of Teaching in the Church and although the best of us are
Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance The Apostles of Christ and their Followers acted upon their Masters Principles and by the Motions of his Spirit at his Command they preached the Gospel throughout the World but opposed nothing besides their Patience and Prayers to the Countermands of Civil Authority not allowing so much as the Rebellion either of the Tongue or Pen any open defaming or any secret ways of destroying the Powers they lived under Nunquam Conjuratio crupit Tertul. ad Nar. they were never found to be in any Plot or treasonable Conspiracy On the contrary being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it Yea Sozom. lib. 1. c. 20. the Calmness and Gentlenss of their Spirit appeared no less afterwards when they were in Power than when under Persecution And herein there Practice was very conformable to the Doctrine of the Apostolical Men of the first Ages Non est Religionis cogere Religionem Religion is not to be propagated by Force and Violence Ad Scapulat saith Tertullian And it was St. Gregory Nazianzen's Advice in his Oration for Peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians must overcome their Enemies by lessening themselves and lay the Grounds of their highest Triumphs in their lowest Submissions Our Religion Lact. lib. 5. saith Lactantius must be defended non occidendo sed moriendo not by taking away other Mens Lives but by laying down our own in the Testimony of the Truth and a good Conscience whensoever the Necessities of the Church shall require it of us It was a great Honour to Proclus his Episcopacy that he got the Hearts of his People and the Ends of his Government by his admirable Condescensions and Clemency In Vit. Procli Archs. Epis Constant ante Opora p. 34. and this was the Wisdom of his Meekness Ne Oves truci minacique vultu absterrendo Lupis parare◠Praedam lest by too much Sternness and Severity he should fright the Sheep from the Flock and thereby make them a more easie Prey for the Wolf Mansuetudine corpus Christi quod est Ecclesia vincit Inimicos The Churches Meekness breaks the Force of her Enemies Rage and she conquers altogether by Acts of Gentleness and Perswasion and indeed other Methods are improper nay ineffectual Men may be forced into Hypocrisie but not into a true Belief they may be beaten out of their Trenches and out-works of Wickedness but the Devils strongest hold the Heart will not be taken by Violence Nothing can enter there but the Light of Reason and the Demonstration of the Spirit the voice of the Wise Charmer and the powerful Preacher the Instructions of Men and the Grace of God We must indeed contend earnestly for the Faith yet above all things we must put on Charity and use such other Arms as are fit for the Christian Warfare not those that are carnal but spiritual Preaching and Disputation Holiness of Life Assiduity of Exhortation the word of God and Prayer and when we come to reprove rebuke and to inflict spiritual Punishments we must distinguish as tenderly as we can between the wilful and the weak the obstinate and the ignorant The first sort indeed must be more roundly dealt withal Isa 58.1 It was with such the Prophet Isa had to do when God bids him lift up his Voice like a Trumpet 2 Tim. 4.8 with such Timothy must be instant in season and out of season exhort reprove rebuke with all Authority The obstinate we must endeavour to save with fear plucking them out of the Fire with them we must be more sharp and severe in our Admonitions and Threatnings but on the Weak we must have Compassion those who may be supposed affectu piae Opinionis errare as Salvian thought charitably of some Arrians of his days those who as Sheep going astray who may be supposed to err through simplicity or the Fervours of Devotion ought to be treated with a fatherly Tenderness and restored if posssible with the Spirit of Meekness conformable to the Doctrine of St. Paul to Timothy in Meekness instructing those who oppose much more those who only peaceably withdraw themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth The Council of Aix compares the Church to a Dove which sometimes may strike gently with her Wings yet hath neither Beak nor Talons to tear and destroy And it was once the saying of a wise States-Man Lord Verulam and one not disaffected to our Church That there is no better way to stop the risings of new Sects and Schisms than to reform Abuses to compound the smaller Differences to proceed mildly and not with Sanguinary Persecutions And God be thankful such is the present Moderation of Ecclesiastical Constitution that we have no Laws like those of Braco written in Blood our Penalties are not for Destruction but for Correction and Amendment we punish none for bare Opinions and readily embrace every returning Penitent Yea such of late hath been the Tenderness and Indulgence of our Gracious King and our Bishops that Mercy hath triumphed over Justice and our Dissenters have had more Favour shewed them than the Laws allow yet too many of them are as quernlous and discontented still as ever like froward humorous Children that cry not because they are whipped but because they may not scratch their Nurse and have their foolish Wills in every thing or complain of their Mother's Rigor though her Commands are very reasonable and her Corrections as gentle But this we are not to wonder at Dr. Puller of the Moderation of the Church of England for since The very mildness and gentleness of our Lord Christ by which St. Paul affectionately entreats the Corinthians 2 Cor. 10.1 too ineffectually prevails on the Christian World why should we think it strange that the Moderation which is the proper Glory of the Church of England cannot perswade either the Romanists or Enthnsinsts to be sensible of that Wisdom and Law of Kindness which attempers all the Commands and Constitutions of our Church but the vehement Opposition of both Extreams confesseth whether they will or no that we are in the mean and preserve that Moderation in our Judgment of Doctrines and our Exercise of Discipline which condemns the stifness of Opinion and the violence Acting in each Party and shews that we cannot joyn with either of them in destroying Men's Lives and Fortunes overturning of Kingdoms and States Laws and Governments much less in deposing or murdering of Soveraign Princes under the pretence of Conscience and Religion But this by the way my Business at present being not so much to justify the Practice of our Church as the Doctrine of the Gospel and to shew that the Religion of our Saviour made no forcible Entry upon the understandings of Men it did not arrest their Judgments with Motives drawn from the civil Power since it met with the greatest Opposition imaginable from the Heathen Emperours but had
the true Characters of the Divine Presence and came peaceably in aurd leni without Noise and Perturbation insinuating it self into the Beliefs of Men by silent Influences and convincing Arguments I may add here That although our Lord Christ was not only King of the Jews but had the whole Host of Heaven at his command yet he called not in the Assistance of Force and Violence to obtrude his Doctrines upon the World And it is a most remarkable Circumstance That Constantine the Great did not appear in the World to protect Christianity until it had gained Footing in the most considerable Parts thereof Nor do we read any where That when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire They ever used their Power to revenge their Sufferings that they ever put either Jew or Heathen to Death because they would not renounce their Religion The Kingdom of Satan and of Antichrist have still been planted and watered in Blood and Crueltv As Nebrchadnezzar once dealt with those who would not Worship his Golden Gods so did the Heathen Emperors with the Primitive Christians Eusch An. 403. in a long Series of most merciless Persecutions So did the King of Persia with Abdas the Bishop who had overturned his Idol-Temples So do the Turks at this Day with all the Opposers of their Superstition And it is sad to relate the Barbarous Cruelties of some professed Christians towards others really and truly such how bloody the Rage of the Arrians was against the Catholicks Athan. Ep. ad sol vit agentes as likewise that of the Donatists and Circumcellians in St. Angustine that of the Eutichians in the second Council of Ephesus called Ephesinum Latrocinium who murdered Flavianus Arch-Bishop of Constantinople To come nearer home I shall name no more here but that of our zealous Regicides which ought to be to us this day and will be to succeeding Ages for a Lamentation These were the bloody ways of Heathens and Hereticks But no Histories do tell us That true Catholicks did ever practise or approve of such Methods of maintaining or propagating Religion The Pseudo-Roman-Catholicks indeed are upon infamous Record for their inhumane Cruelties in the defence of their Churches Errors and Vsurpations which speaks the Pope the Successor of Romulus who made his way by Blood rather than of St. Peter who drew his Sword but once in his Master's Quarrel and was severely checked by him for so doing When the War begun by the Christians on the Turks and Saracens was turned upon the Albigenses by the Popes of Rome Dr. Heylin's Parable of the Tares and that the Cruciata was proclaimed against those poor Souls only because they differed in some Points of Doctrine from the Opinions of that Church how many hundred thousands of well meaning Men who made a Conscience of their ways and erred not if they erred at all out of Pride but Ignorance fell a Sacrifice to the Roman Furies Thuanus their own Historian reports that Pope Paul the third Anno 1559. among other Exhortations which upon his Death-Bed he delivered to his Cardinals did lastly wish them to uphold the Office of the Inquisition quo uno sacro-sactam authoritatem niti affirmabant whereby the Authority of the See of Rome is chiefly supported Charles the ninth with the French Papists never acted any thing with more Satisfaction to his Holiness than that Tragedy in Paris and other Cities where so many thousand Hugonots were most treacherously and barbarously slaughtered The Savage Irish never thought their Hands and Weapons better employed than in butchering the Protestants and this not more from the fierceness of their Natures than from the bloody Principles of their Religion And in our own Nation how many suffered Death under King Henry the 8th and in Queen Mary's his bloody Daughter's Days for their most reasonable Unbelief of Transubstantiation I have not now time to bring to your remembrance the many Conspiracies of the Jesuites against and Attempts upon the Life of our blessed Queen Elizabeth by Parry Babington Stafford Lopez Squire c. Nor to present you with the horrid Circumstances of their Powder Treason against King James her peaceful Successour all the Royal Family with the Flower of Church and State in a Parliament Assembly But I wish we would take special notice by reason of the seasonableness of the reflection of their treasonable Designs and Actings against that incomparable Prince Charles the First this Days Martyr How they plotted against his Life and Arch-Bishop Laud's as hath formerly and of late been sufficiently discovered how they blowed the Coales of the late unnatural and destructive War how in their Consults they voted that King's Death as much conducing to the Interest of the Catholick Cause as they call theirs and how they assisted and directed Instruments whereby that Hellish Enterprize for which we and the whole Nation mourn this day was accomplished and how they triumphed thereupon all this is notoriously known The first Rebellion began in Scotland See the Apology in behalf of the Papists answer in behalf of the Royalists p. 12. London 1667. where the Design of it was laid by Cardinal Richlieu his Majesties irreconcileable Enemy Then it brake out in Ireland where it was blessed with his Holiness's Letters and assisted by his Nuncio whom he sent purposely to attend the Fire there Lastly in England as hath been intimated it is manifest their Agents did their parts there to unsettle the People and gave them needless occasions of Jealousie which the vigilant Phanaticks made use of to involve us all in War and Confusion Both in England and Scotland the special Tools they wrought with were borrowed out of the Shops of the Romans It was our Royal Martyr's own Observation Large Declaration concerning the Tumults in Scotland p. 3. That their Maximes were the same with the Jesuites their Preachers Sermons were delievered in the very Phrase of Becanus Sciopius and Eudaemon Johannes their poor Arguments printed or written in their seditious Pamphlets were taken almost verbatim out of Bellarmin or Suarez and afterwards we have heard how they carried on and compleated the bloody Tragedy by Popish Influence and Instigation Hath the Clemency and Indulgence of his Majesty who now is and whom God long preserve any ways asswaged their Malice and turned their Hearts to better Purposes Their late deep and dreadful Conspiracy against the sacred Life of so good and Gracious a Prince and the whole body of his Protestant Subjects returns a loud Negative to the Question and gives us too sad and sensible an Assurance that their Feet are still swift to shed Blood that Destruction and Misery are in their ways and the ways of Peace have they not known And I would there was no just cause of Fear that they are working our Ruine again by the very Instruments they used so successfully heretofore and that some of those that give us the loudest Alarms of the Romans coming to take