so beaten a Road as the Topiek of adversity nor yet by your favour conclude my discourse There is nothing which can bee more plaine obvious to a Christian than the Benefitt of Affliction a truth Conspicuous out of the writings of the very Heathens I commend unto your Review at this Instant Plutarchs excellent treatise to that purpose I shall therefore have regard to the Times as well as my text consider some of those very afflictions hanging over our heads which must exercise these our Resignations which will prove christianly submitted unto thus beneficiall to us That it is our Duty faithfully chearefully to submitt unto Gods vvill in all times of Adversity with Faith Feare and that all truly Christian submissions will in the end bee highly Advantagious hath been the subject of my two last discourses in this Pulpit IF the Dayes of Adversity Affliction Brethren be such a hopefull seeds-time wee in our present Circumstances are like if wee sovv in pious Teares to have a plentifull crop Many a Heavy Judgement are allready fallen upon us for our past fins against God and in a more particular manner wee have too just reason to suspect for our secure carnall Confidence our Trusting in the Arme of Flesh as well as our unpardonable Disobedience to vile contempt of Gods Vice-Gerent the King. And many greater for our stupid impenitency will fall wee have also too Just cause to feare God hath moved the Land Divided it and if his Allmighty most Mercifull hand doth not prevent it must shake nay totter into Ruine Destruction The SWORD is drawn in the Midst of the Nation God grant it may not bee too soon sheathed in one anothers bowells nor VVhet by the present Cessation Insomuch that what party soever gaine the victory both must certainly some way or other in the Conclusion bee Considerable Loosers It is a sad thing that subjects to the same Prince should in Words many times profess pretend the same thing and yet all the while fight against one another to Destruction One Party among other matters declares for the Protestant Religion in generall another for the Church of England as by Lavv Establisht This cannot bee other with honest meaning than the very same cause for the Church of England is undoubtedly a Protestant Church and the best Protestant Religion notwithstanding all aspersions is professed in that Church yet in all probability here is in the Nation a Quarrel begun God forgive the Authours which is not like to bee determined without the Shedding of much Christian Bloud Or else againe One Party declares for the King also as the Lords at York as well as the Protestant Religion together with the Liberties and Properties of the Subject Another for the King Antient Lavves Governement in the Church State. This likewise without mentall reservation is no other than the former yet both Parties you see enter into a dismall bloudy War to decide the Controversy T is certaine that our antient Lavves Government so much depending on Monarchy cannot be preserved by the Destruction of the Prince and true Liberty Property can never be secured by the Destruct on of the Antient Governement no more can the right Protestant Religion Come BRETHREN let us all be well-advised before wee imbrue our hands deeply in one anothers Bloud such like Pretences Beginnings had once no better consequence Behold I say two Parties of the Kings subjects making the same Protestation and yet all the while fight with one another so that one of them cannot bee sincere If two Persons declare for the King yet fall to Blows one of them pretend what hee will must certainly be a Rebell in fighting against the King. I would in Charity thinke that you all conclude Rebellion a most odious thing and that few will I am sure no good man would dip themselves in so hainous a crime knowingly and willfully The danger is that many worthy Honest Gentlemen as heretofore and now in our Present Iuncture may be insnared before they are aware into this foule Offence so farre that they cannot tell how to gett back againe or if they do themselves cannot hinder ill men from proceeding on effecting their ends by vertue of the Reputation which they have given to an ill cause I will therefore cease to contend in this place who is the best subject or veriest Rebell Whether I that declare my selfe for the King the Protestant Religion or hee that declares himselfe for the Protestant Religion the King is the most Loyal the best Protestant I have here openly frequently enough discoverd my Principles concerning Subjection I am Brethren of the same minde I ever was so resolved by Gods Grace to live dye Instead of such disputes I 'le endeavour to paint sett before your Eyes this abominable sin that neither party wil owne And without telling you any more who are Rebbells I 'le plainly shew you what is Rebellion and what it is to be Rebellious In prosecution whereof I 'le keep precisely as well as I am able to the very Termes Wordes of the Church of England in her Printed Sermons or Homilies Published by Royall authourity Rebellion then you must know is there esteemd by the Church of England whereever it is found either among Papists or Protestants either on the 5 of Nov. or on the 30. of Jan. the worst as it was the first of sins In the first of her Homilies against Rebellion it is stiled the Root of all vices the Mother of all Mischeifs and in the second part the vvorst of all vices the Greatest of all Mischeifs at the Breaking in vvhereof all sins Miseries did flovv in over-vvhelme the vvorld The Authour of that accursed sin of Disobedience vvhich brings in all other at its heeles being no other than LUCIFER himselfe vvho of the Brightest most Glorious Angell for this very sin of Disobedience Rebellion against his King became the Blackest foulest Fiend and from the Height of Heaven fell into the Bottome of Hell. As our Church expresseth it in the afore said Homily Rebellion in another place speedily after is stiled the Foulest of all sins being as it vvere the Source Originall of all other and inseparable from the Highest Pride Contempt of God. Hee that nameth Rebellion saith our Church nameth not a single or one onely sin as is Theft Murder Robbery such like but to speake in the old language of the Homily the vvhole Puddle Sinke of all sins against God man against his Prince his Country his Countrymen his Parents his Children his Kinsfolkes his Freinds against all men universally All sins saith the very same Homily nameth hee that nameth Rebellion every Comandement being violated thereby pag. 360. Yea that all the seaven deadly sins are contained in Rebellion you will finde asserted
accuse mee over rigidly for not doing that for vvhich I am not so vvell as others quallified either by nature or education It hath been my fate to have suck'd in other Principles to have been trained up under better Tutours nay possibly in my vvhole Make to be so contrived and composed that it is not in the Povver of man to nevv-mould mee into that sort of Animal vvhich can blovv Hot Cold vvith the same Breath and is able to save his stake vvhat ever Card turnes up trump To these vvho shall condemne it in mee as a deplorable piece of Madness or folly to talk or vvrite avvay such a Considerable Revenue as Providence my Kind Patrons have bestovved on mee vvhich I am like to do by setting my name to vvhat I print I must declare that I am one of those Fooles S. Paul speakes of vvho that I may bee vvise am vvilling in the sight of the vvorld to become a Foole valuing my Innocency Quiet of Conscience more than I do the best Deanery or Bishoprick in Christendom And as nothing yet hath tempted mee I thank God to Compliment avvay my Religion tho I have been by some so reproached upon Gods raising setting over us a Prince of a different Communion So no Consideration vvhatsoever I rely on Gods Grace shall be able to prevaile vvith mee to prostitute it by falling dovvne to adore the multitude or any Image tho it be of Gold that shall be set up by the People Those therefore that attack mee by arguments or Threats in letters to seduce mee back and dravv mee into a Compliance vvith the nevv Government that I might set my hand to she raising up the Babell vvhich they are building in England may save their labour ink For till they have confuted the Doctrine vvhich they have preached as vvell as the sound Divinity of their Mother vvhich they have forsaken they may cease from offerring mee other arguments to convince mee And till they persvvade mee to set a higher value upon my money than I do on the Grace of God prize my temporall intrest more than mine Integrity vvhich no magick I have yet met vvith all hath been able to effect so as to fill my pockets they may also forbeare to affright mee vvith Deprivation I have long considered studied the point of Allegiance vvhich I ovve to my only Leige Lord Soveraigne King Iames 2 and to no other and am firmely vvithout doubt or scrupule satisfied that my Religion vvill not permitt mee to svveare fidelity to any besides him That the greatest part of my Brethren notvvithstanding the faithfull frequent endeavours I have used to establish them in Conformity Loyalty should forsake Gods Vice-Gerent to do Homage to the Peoples is an unexpressible greife to my soule To prevent the Incurring such guilt and the lamentable scandall of such Apostacy I did in due time as may appeare from the date of the ensuing Address expose my selfe to much censure by delivering my mind to an Auditory vvhich seem'd ready to run themselves as they have done into that Yoke servitude vvhich I vvho had greater temptations than others vvas resolved to run out of the Kingdom from my preferment rather than submit to And to demonstrate that I am after great thought fullness much prayer to God to direct mee of the very same mind here in France on Nov. 15. 1689 that I vvas in England on the same day of the month 1688 as vvell as desirous to expresse my vvillingness to do all that in mee lyes to avvaken those out of their sin vvhich I could not confirme in their Duty I am as vvilling to commit to the Presse the discourse I then made Tho I vvell knovv that I shall in so doing in case these Papers get into England and considering mens present Genius Actings there be exposed to the danger of running as it vvere the Gantlet through the Nation D. G. Trom my study in Roüen Nov. 15. 1689. ADVERTISEMENT IF this or the former Piece have the good fortune to find the way back to Durham and fall into the hands of those Persons that were present when they were spoken for whose sake they were first deliver'd and since Printed they may chance to take notice in the perusall if their memories do not faile them that the Authour is more sparing than heretofore or ever used to be in his Commendation of the Constitútion of the Church of England and more particularly in the Praise of its well compiled Liturgy which he was wont upon all occasions very highly to extoll In which case they are desired to understand and consider that these Papers have been Printed in a R. Catholick Country where they could not be permitted to pass the press without the perusal approbation of R. Catholicks and that it was a great mark of favour and an espetiall token of their present forwardness to concurre with and encourage Loyalty to suffer Sermons and A speech spoken by a Divine of the Church of England to be printed here at all notwithstanding the castigations which have been made by the retrenchment of sundry expressions omitting all Comparisons which did carry with them any Reflections And therefore the aforesaid people have no just cause given them to conceit that the Authour hath in any respect Changed his sentiments of the Religion of the Church of England which he hath ever professed where in he desires and resolues by gods Grace to live and Dye If the aboue mentioned Auditors who discouer too apparently that there is among them at home what ever is in the Authour abroad a lamentable Change or any other sort of Readers of our own or of any Forreigne Nation fancy him guilty of too much sharpness of expression they are intreated to remember or to be informed that what ever he hath utterr'd in a tyme of great Heat Hurry hath been spoken against such as did invade his own Native County with unexpressible injustice unnaturallness as well as many heightning aggravations for want gratitude and that it was a speciall Duty in every one of his Character his station at that time to expose as much as they were able an invasion which was beyond all precedent without paralell In so much that if a satyricall Invective of which the Authour was never a great louer be at any time allowable in the writings of a Divine it cannot be denied surely but that it may passe here in this Instance espetially Considering that he did very seasonably shew such his indignation even before the Forces that Landed had rowled to so great a number but that they might have been Opposed nay suppressed by any one County of England which would have shewed it selfe right valiant faithful and unanimous And if some 〈…〉 with 〈…〉 during the Reign of in raiâ—ing subjects 〈…〉 in the 〈…〉 of Doctor â— to dethrone their lawfull Soveraigne had done
enimies as allso passing over the Characters of a right Loyall and unalterably Obedient Subject to the King and of a true right bred son of our Church together vvith that Man of Indifference that pretends to be both yet is neither vvhich I did then very largely set before you as vvell as the motives to become the tvvo first that is Good subjects Good Christians Waving I say these and some other matters that time vvill not permitt mee to reflect on I shall only exercise your ears at present vvith hearing four Cautions or Directions vhich I recommended to my Auditory in the Conclusion of that Charge to the Clergy to vvit First that that just reasonable and moderate Ground of Feare vvhich every VVise man ought to have in our Circumstances might drive uâ— more close home to the Throne of Grace and Gods Altar and make us all acquaint our selves better than ever heretofore vvith our Hearts Consciences taking such care of the internall exercise of Grace vertue in the soule vvherein cheifly is the Kingdom of God living in such Obedience both to God the King as become the best Christians Subjects least that our Mercifull God Gratious Prince on vvhose Grace fâ—avour our Felicity did then greatly depend should for our past or future provocations be incensed and deprive us of the Liberty vvee injoyed in the Exercise of our Establish'd Religion The second Direction vvas to take care of the young Generation and never to suffer any Youth to depart from the parishes or families or approach to the LORDS SVPPER vvith out due Instruction and a sufficient degree of knovvledge and Devotion Hic labor hoc opus est And if you vvere for any vvorks of supererogation I prayed you to practise them in this course permitted to us Blessed be GOD his VICE-GERENT nay required of us by his Majestie in his pious DIRECTIONS to PREACHERS as before mention'd vvhereto vvee all ought as I then Caution'd you to keep close and the neglect vvhereof hath much contributed vvithout dispute to our present misery A Third Advice vvas to bevvare least a Vulgar notion of Loyalty obedience to your Superiours in Church State might debauch y ur Vnderstanding and make you more suspitious of your Governours Inchroaement on the Peoples priviledges than of the Peoples Sacrilegious Invasion on the Prerogative of GODS VICE GERENT When vvee cannot discover in England espetially in the family of the Stuarts any One Instance of the fâ—irst but may every day find out lamentable Examples of the latter And that you vvould remember be assured that the Religion of your Soveraign did not one jot either lessen or somuch as restrain the Authority or Povver vvhich hee received from GOD and not from his subjects as also be more afraid of and averse to Popular Tiranny than the Abuses of Government in a Monarch vvho may be supposed to have as vvell as his subjects knovledge Grace Conscience of Duty to his Soveraign in Heaven to restrain him from an extravagant exercise of his Povver and to informe him that his Account to God vvill be more heavy than that of his subjects in case of Male-Administration My fourth last Counsell vvas to be just to all men both to the Romanist and Dissenter That your Aversion to the Doctrine of any Party tho never so Contrary to your ovvn should not in any manner exceed your Love Concerne for the Religion you profess'd and tempt you to encourage barefaced Violations of Truth Justice vvhen it is in the Concerne of an Enimy or Adversary to your Opinions SPEECH IV. THERE remaines novv only the last of my foure Addresses to be brought to your vievv before I ingage in my Conclusive Reflections vvhich consisted of three heads vvherein I spoke by vvay of Caution I desire you to remember rather than accusation Three things I did advise and beseech you in a particular manner to take heed and be vvare of And so I shall in the name of God as long as I have the Honour to be your Archdeacon Things vvhich really portend much vvotfe than most grounds usually assigned in this suspitious Age for Fears Jealousies The first vvas A preposterous zeale against our Adversaries accompained too often vvith a spirit of Contradiction And vvhich distills more aversion into us and disgust against our Adversaries Person than Principles Inclining us to Oppose confute him right or vvrong Concluding all to bee evill in our Antagonists tho oftentimes very Commendable and fondly Over-vveening all to be Good tho some times very unchristian in our selves and others of our Persvvasion A mallady vvhich hath been long the Disease of our Nation Our Poor Church ever since the Puritan Faction began labouring under the same in such degree that a Spirit of Contradiction hath been Commonly made the Cheife standard measure of many mens Religion Devotion and the distance they kept from the vvays Sentiments of their Opposers look'd on as an infallible Mark of the vertue of their ovvn Persons and Truth of their profession Which Opinion and Judgement of matters tho never so popular are very false Weights Measures By reason at this rate the vvorst men must allvvayes be the greatest saints since in them dvvdls most Hatred animosity bitter Aversion to all that is not their ovvne Horrid vices are usually the Parents of this spirit vvhich I set before you desire you may all Loathe The second thing I caution'd you against vvas mens Declining in Loyalty Love to their Prince on account of his Religion Which doth not in any manner dissolve or abate the Bonds of Duty Respect in the subject But on the Contrary Favours received from such a Prince such as vve have received as I shevved then more largely oblige subjects to some more officious respects than are to be paid to a kind Prince of our ovvn Persvvasion The third thing vvhereof I told you that vvee ought to bevvare vvas Ingratitude to both God the King for those spetiall Mercies and Acts of Grace vvhich vvee receive from one and the Other even during our Murmurrings and Complaints Ingratitude to the King I then informed you vvas inseparable from Ingratitude to God A Good Gratious Prince being a Choice Gift of Heaven one of the greatest blessings vvhich a Nation can enjoy And hee that vvill not from the Bottome of his Heart returne his thanks Praise for so inestimable a Jevvel is a mounster of Unthankfullness to the Common Governour of the Universe the Greatest of Benefactors Reflections on some of the points repeated the circumstances of the Nation at the time of the delivery of this speech in reference to the Invasion AND novv Reverend Brethren I have by the assistance of God finish'd the Task vvhich I propos'd to vvit of Refreshing your memory vvith the recitall of the most important matters vvhich I recommended to your
of the yeare 88 that Annu◠Mirabilis vvhich vvholy imployed the Head Hearts of all men And since that time my Roling Posture Change of measures Resolutions occasioned by the uncertainty Change of Affaires Persons at the Helme together vvith the crosse Accidents vvhich I have by Land sea met vvith all through vvhich God hath of his mercy vvell carryd mee vvould not permit mee to salute you vvith that formality as became mee vvherefore I have hitherto continued silent But being novv mor◠fix'd and Easy and got vvhere I have been aiming Ever since I left my station on the 11. of Dec. I cannot so farre forget my selfe as longer to deferre the presentation of my humble Duty Service give you some Account of my behaviour and motions last Winter together vvith my present State Condition both as to Body Mind I have retained that honour Duty for you that I have given lesse credit than any other to vvhat I have met vvith concerning you either in vvritten or Printed Nevves vvherein I have met vvith many things vvhich have troubled mee and I hope you vvill bee pleased to have the Goodness to afford small regard to any Reports or discourses concerning mee vvhich may have 〈◊〉 to your Eares Contrary to the Tenour of vvhat I vvrite A bout the End of sept last on the first Intelligence of the Dutch Invasion I retired to my Cures in the Country First to sedgefeild then to Easington using my utmost zeale discretion in my private discourses as vvell as publick Sermons to establish my people in so sad a Day of temptation when some stars of the first magnitude fell from Heaven in the Essentiall Duties of subjection Allegiance to their Soveraign shevving that subjects vvere upon noe Consideration whatsoever nether of Religion Liberty nor life to Resist or Desert their Lavvfull Soveraigne tho hee vvere no better than such an One as S. Paul lived under vvhen hee vvrit the Epistle to the Rom. not only a Heathen but a Cruell Persecutour A Nero A Caligula or A Dioclesian And that Subjects to a Christian Prince and to a Prince soe Mercifull Gratious as ours by consequence vvould bee infinitely more Guilty if they should Rebell against or Resist him merely because hee profess'ed a Different Religion After I had endeavoured thus to approve my selfe a faithfull shepherd in taking Care of my Country Flocks I repaired to my Deanery at Durham vvith the honest Designe of demonstrating my fidelity to my Soveraigne my Mother the Ch◠of England being persvvaded that their Inttests could never bee separated Wherefore I summon'd my Brethren the Prebendaries together into Our Chapter-House vvhere I propounded to them the Assisting of the King in so sad an Exigent vvith their Purses as vvell as their Prayers vvith vvhich motion all present complied giving readily their Consent vvith their voices as all absent saving one did by their letters vvhich occasion'd an Act of Chapter to the Effect follovving tovvit that the Deane should advance an hundred pound Every Prebend fifty for his Majesties Service tovvards the raising of Horse Men if occasion should require to bee disposed of to the aforesaid Ends Purposes in such manner as our Bp. should appoint And this I did not thinking it any very considerable Service to the King to give him 700 to vvhich summe it vvould amount but that this Act of ours might bee an Occasion of setting the vvheele a going and at that time t'vvas not too late through the Kingdom Conceiving it no sin in such an Extraordinary Juncture to lead the van in Point of Loyalty to my Prince since the Diocesse Archdeaconry of Durham in Particular none can deny had been all along during the Time of Bishop Consins ever since a notable Example to the vvhole Nation of Conformity to the Lavves dutyfull regard to his Majesties Honour and Intrest In the next place Remembring that I bore another Ecclesiastick Office Dignity in the Church of Durham about the beginning of Nov. I summond all the Clergy of my Archdeaconry together vvho met on the 15. labouring in the Absence of my Superiour the Bp. vvho vvas gone up to London to give them right measures in point of Church of England Loyalty Religion laying before them the Indispensable Necessity of their personall Assistance of their Soveraign as far as any vvere Obliged and Exerting their zeale to secure their Flocks that they might not be seduced from their Allegiance by the Canting Sophistry Distinctions of the Age. And tho the zeale I there Evidenced in my Visitaction Speech hath had since as formely small effect as is too visible by the Clergyes generall Compliance vvith their nevv Gevernours Government renouncing their old yet it vvill serve at all times to proclame that their Archdeacon did on that Occasion as hee had done before faithfully deliver his soule Fourthly Beleiving it might bee some Service to his Majestie for both Clergy Layity to shevv their ABHORRENCE of that unnaturall Invasion vvhich vvas then ffeared I moved first my Brethren of the Chapter aftervvards my Brethren of the Bench to Joyne vvith mee in an Addresse of that Nature to his Majestie but the first Refusing and the last all but tvvo vvaving the same I thought my selfe the most publick person in the Bishops Absence obliged to give A demonstraction of my ovvne Loyalty vvhich I vvas not afraid to do tho the Prince of Orange vvas at that tyme advanced as far as Salisbury and accordingly on Nov. 27. sent to his Majestie by the Post an Assurance thereof in an Address vvhich vvas intercepted by the Lord Danby Lord Lumly other Lords at Yorke Whereof I desire your Lordships permission to annex a true Copy to this letter to prevent the Abuses vvhich may bee occasion'd by that Paper 's falling into the hands of my Enimies Moreover Considering my selfe once more in the Capacity of a Civill Magistrate as vvell as Ecclesiasticall I did a fevv dayes after desire my Brethren Justices Deputy Lieutenants to give mee a Meeting to consult about Serving his Majestie to the Utmost of our Povvers Hearing as yet nothing from our Bishop and more particularly hovv to defend our selves against the Lords Gentlemen vvho had Seized on Yorke for the Prince of Orange vvere some of them advancing northvvards to sécure Durham and Nevvcastle But this honest Zeale of mine vvas by their shunning this Opportunity of Meeting likevvise renderd fruitless and the Lord Lumly on Wensday the fifth of Dec Surprized us enterd Durham whiles J vvas preaching in the. Pulpit of the Cathedrall in my Course it being the first Wensday in Advent with 50 Horse or thereabouts sundry Gentry of that the County of Yorkshire immediately afters his Arrivall Sending one Capt Ireton vvith ten Troopers up to my Door to seize on my Armes Horses vvhich I refusing to deliver or
Notions Maximes of the Times My Elders I shall no wise disturb at present with my remaining discourse But I humbly conceive it a kind of Duty to take a litle Paine sometimes with the Others My Father's Mother's Dedication of one of their sons to the Church and it falling to the lot of mee the vnworthiest of them doth in some sort constitute mee A Preist to the whole Family tho not to vndertake the Charge of all their Soules that would bee a Task not only difficult but impossible for mee to discharge and I do not desire it yet to make to them now then some spirituall applications as I do at Present by your permision in this letter did likewise 5. yeares since in some familiar ones to a Nephew in the University of Oxford which I printed is a good act of Christian Religion Fraternall Charity I shall then humbly beg leave in this paper to desire all those who have any wayes warp'd from that strict Duty Respect which hath been ever paid by their Ancestors to the Crown to consider their great obligations aboue others to bee Faithfull to their Soveraigne taking more than ordinary care least they Staine the honour of an Antient House And shall not at present insist on any Duty paid directly to God that was my buisnesse in part of my fore mention'd Addresse But the Duties of Subjection Doctrine of Non-Resistance of Lawfull Princes whom subjects are bound to Obey what ever bee their Opinions or Practices are so vilely Run dnwne in England and so universally put out of countenance that it is a peice of seasonable charity to Revive their Reputation I thinke I may truly say without vanity or oftentation that every one of us have been through the mercy of God trained up in as a deep a sence of that profound Respect Submission which is due from subjects to their Supreme as any family in the Nation having beeu in an extraordinary manner Blest with Loyall Religious Parents Progenitors who have given the best evidence of their sincere hearty dutifulness to their Soveraignes in sealing it with their Bloud And till this late never enough to bee deplored Generall Defection which seemed to carry with it an Irresistable Contagion beyond the power of the strongest Antidote â—here hath never A Blemish of Disloyalty Blessed be God been fix'd on the Family of the Granvilles or on the meanest Branch thereof And that there should any Person now lye under that censure is to mee an Intollerable mortification the Heaviest part of my Affliction amidst my sufferings for my fidelity to the Crowne But since the Torrent hath Overborne some of ours as well as too many of every Antient Honorable Loyall House in the Nation I cannot satisfie my selfe to sit still and not put to my helping Hand to save them By desiring them among other things to beware how they swallow not only new Oathes but new Conceited Querks and Distinctions of those Temporising Common Lawyers who have out of sordid Flattery or Feare by an unintelligible unheard off sort of Abdication Coyned purely for the service of an Usurper deformed the Monarchy Church of England Making a strange kind of Monster of the Fayrest and Best of the Reformed Churches in placing two heads on one Body such as are there the most unlikely of any in the world to agree A Popish a Presbiterian one I never did immagine that I was or ever should become a Pillar of the Church Tho you all know that I did in a time of Adversity Rebellion when there was small Hopes of Being Deane of Durham Devote my selfe thereto honestly with Good will to Gods service without Designe Much lesse do I fancy my selfe A Person of somuch Might or Skill as to bee able to stem such a Tide as hath Broken in upon us Beaten down the High Rocky Cliffes of England as if they had been only muddy Bankes or the wooden Fences of a Low-Country But on the other side I have not soe meane thoughts of the Grace Power of God Almighty who hath manifested his strength in my Weaknesse in upholding keeping mee steddy during the late Terrible Shock which like an Earth Quake made the Foundations of the Kingdom to Tremble and overthrew Divers supporters of Church State as to despaire of all successe In my Attempt to fortifie at least some if I cannot regaine Others or any of my Kinred to whom I write Who ought not to Conceit themselves so able Divines as to thinke they are in spirituall matters above my Counsell advice To accomplish this Good worke whereon I invoke the Assistance of that Spirit whose Power no Creature is able to Resist I shall lay before their Eyes some of the Good old Church of England-Divinity which hath been infused into mee as well as their Fathers in our Youthes by those Right Orthodox Loyall Doctors of the old Stamp under whose Conduct wee have had the felicity to bee trained up And remembring well considering the words of our Saviour Christ that a Prophet hath allwayes least honour in his own Country among his own Kin I shall keep strickly faithfully not only to the Sense but often in prosecuting this Point use the very words of A Famous Divine of Authority aboue any mans Contempt being justly had in houour veneration of the whole Nation as well as our own Family IN the first place then I here take liberty to put your and mine owne Relations in mind of some seasonable Truths well Calculated for the meridian of an Antient Loyall Family the most effectuall Preservative which I know off to secure their Innocency in a wavering Corrupt seditious Age and Country tinctur'd all over with Schisme Rebellion To wit. That our Blessed saviour Christ his disciples were of all the Doctors who ever were in the world the most carefull to preserve the Doctrine Practice of Allegiance and entire Submission Subjection to the Supreme Powers which were deputed by God as his Vicegerents to Governe the world even then at that very time when they lived under Heathen Emperours who where not only Great Opposers of Christianity but Cruell Mercilesse Bloudy Persecutors Furthermore it will bee worthy of Observation that Christ Jesus tho hee were as God the King of all Kings might have changed disposed of their Dominions as hee pleased yet did not thinke fit to make any Alteration in the Government hee found on Earth when hee was born but on the Contrary Judged it meet to continue settle all in that Course where in it had been formerly placed by God himselfe living in a most Exemplary manner in subjection to the knowne Lawes paying Tribuute to Caesar Nay shewing so great Concerne that the Supreme Powers should receive their Due that hee thought fit rather to work a miracle than appeate deficient in Paying Tribute Whereto if
on the Place Witness my Sermons I preach'd on the 5. 9. of December two dayes before I fled the Sunday after the Generality of the Citty Country had with open Armes Mouths receiv'd a Discontented Lord who the week before seiz'd on the Town for the P. of Orange prophan'd both your Castle the Markett Cross with the reading of a Treasonnable Declaration as is related more at large in the foregoing letter I could not accord I must confess with such Example of your Lordship nor with the Example of others in being silent or sitting still in a time of imminent Danger VVarr Tumult when good Nature as well as good Conscience dictated to all faithfull Clergy men Christians not only to list up their voices like a Trumpett but to employ all their hands to have restrain'd the unruly multitude which had got the Bitt in their Teeth were runing madly to a Change of Government and Deposition of their King in that towards their own Destruction since the Monarchy as well as our Church was like to receive as it hath done an incureable blow by an other Disgrace Banishment of a lawfull Soveraigne of the same Stock Race which had been once before barbarously treated beyond expression in such degree that the English Nation for a while became an object of Contempt Indignation among the very Turks Pagans However matters might appear to your Lordship other Prelates above at London as I ought in duty to conclude by their your Actings that they did otherwise than to me below I could not discover when my eyes were most open clear'd by serious fervent Devotion that any thing or course tended more to the preservation of the King's Crown security of our Church under Him than our unfeign'd submission to our supreme Moderatour Governour our vigorous constant opposition of seditious Incendiaries Male-contents who any wise Irritated or Inflam'd the People or did undutifully capitulate with the King being agitated as was apparent by an humour of Popularity that Republican spirit which was gone forth into the Nation which ought to have been withstood somuch the more by how much it had gotten strength numbers to terrify some of our greatest Leaders in our very Sion as well as our Jerusalem who put themselves into a most dangerous Poste the head of the Multitude not out of disaffection to the King I am perswaded so much as out of fear of that ungovernable Beast who will make less scruple to pull off the Bâ—sho'ps Lawnsleeves the Earle's Coronets than either of them in the Convention did to deprive their Lord Soveraign's head of the Crown And I must confess my selfe so short sighted or hard to be convinced that I cannot as yet see or owne that I then made a wrong judgement of things or on that account labour'd under any Errour Would God that all those whom I dare not deny to be as they think themselves very much wiser men tho they did approach as much towards rudeness in withsstanding as I did towards Flattery in complying with the King had not too late discern'd the pernitious fatallness of the contrary Errour in endeavouring to bring Gods Vice gerent to Terms whereby the Soveraignty of our Defender of the faith was so weaken'd broken shatter'd that he was not able to protect either Church or State or so much as his own Sacred Person from the hands of the Rabble nay not secure his very pocketts at last from the Fate of me his unworthy servant other his Subjects I mean from being in our flight pick'd rifled Hinc illae lachrimâ— And I make no question but that if Tears would redress what is past thousands of those who murmured complain'd of the King would shed whole rivers to restore the King the Church the Kingdome to the Circumstances as bad as they then thought them which they were all in but last year But God knows it is now too late to make use of such feeble means for the recovery of what is lost flouds of tears being not like to prevaile unless accompanied with a holy violence conjoyn'd with sincere hearty prayer issueing out from a truely penitent heart deeply humbled Soule Wee have God knows madly grasp'd our Religion our Liberty our Laws out of the hands of our own lawfully descended mercyfull Prince who manifested all a long even at the last upshot that he carried about him as he profess'd a truly English heart whose Interest it was whatever was his Majestys Religion to uphold them all Grasp'd them away I say put them into the power at the mercy of Forreigners whose Humour Inclination it is as well as Interest to destroy them all whereof a few months are like to afford Us more lamentable Demonstrations as we have reason to apprehend by the Transactions of five or six that are past By these few honest reflections on the miserable Estate of my Native Country more particularly on the Cathedrall Archdeaconry of Durham which I cannot here reflect on without often sitting down weep your Lordship may perceive that I am the very same that You found me when You entred on your Diocess 17. years agoe left me in the month of Octobet last bearing the Brunt of that dreadfull Hurricane which was then coming out of Holland strugling with that insatiable Hydra which did widely gape for the Crown and Myter is like after devouring it's supports like a Jugglar to disgorge a Commonwealth I am indeed my Lord on all accounts to all intents purposes the very same that I have ever been intirely devoted to the Honour Interest of the ROYALL FAMILY OF THE STVARTS so unalterable steddy a Practiser as well as Professour of the old Church-of-England-Religion more especially of those distinguishing Doctrines which do signally honour our Church which were whil'st practis'd so lovely in the eyes of all as to prevaile with a Rom Cath Prince at his mounting the Throne to continue and protect her that I can by the power of no temptation or Arguments of Dutch Divinity be induced to do any certain sinfull act to preserve her whether by way of resisting my lawfull Soveraigne or complying with an Usurper I say my Lord that I am both by Nature Instinct a perfect Abhorrer of that Diabolick sin of Rebellion however varnisht over by the Father of lyes by what Names or Titles soever it be dignified or distinguish'd And in the same temper of mind I do here declare to your Lordship which I desire may be communicated to every Person in your Diocesse under You that I am resolv'd by the grace of the Almighty to end my dayes Greiving that your Lordship hath by doing homage to a Superiour which I cannot owne absolv'd me in a great measure from the Canonicall Obedience Duty
such a hearty application and such plain Reproofs even in the very language of the letters became so necessary that hee could not in good Conscience have wav'd them And therefore he conceiv's that people have the lesse reason to be disturbed thereby Thirdly after the authour had made a considerable progress in printing the letters and other discourses he was forced to undertake a hazardous Journey into England Feb. 1689 whereby hee got a small suply of money to subsist a while abroad without defiling himselfe with any Oath of fidelity to the Prince of Orange tho with much trouble and Danger occasion'd him by an impertinent and malitious Postmaster who discover'd him in Canterbury Which voyage made it absolutely necessary to lay aside till his returne his designe of publishing the papers he had penn'd at his first Coming over unless he would willfully and unavoidably have run his neck into a halter Which all know was the Fate lately of a right honest and loyall man. THIRDLY all sorts of Readers may hereby be informed that these papers are at this time the more hastily published without polishing because the authour hath had this summer after a long intervall some returne of those infirmities that he brought out of England which being seasonable memento's of the mortality of his condition and uncertainty of his life have caused him without any more ado or longer delay thus plainly and honestly to deliver his soule the comfort of which doth to him abundantly ballance the uneasiness of any obloquy which may accrew from the provoked friends of the new government in England where he desires to appeare no more unless it please God to restore his Soveraign as all may be perswaded easily to beleive by his present manner of proceeding Fourthly All those who shall blame the Dean's undertaking may in a word satisfy themselves that hee had never thus exposed himselfe to their censure if hee had beleived that a a Dignified Divine in his circumstances being the onely one here abroad out of the Reach of England and whose Conscience would not permit him to swallow any new dispensatory oathes or distinctions could without the just censure of all right Church of England-men and loyall subjects to King James 2. have remained silent Since hee hath not now those prudentiall considerations that others have to stop his mouth or stay his pen His own person being secure his Revenue lost Whereas honest Divines men in England where hee hopes there be many that never bovved the knee to Baal tho hee be ignorant who they are cannot attempt what hee does without the hazard of their lives or ruine of their familyes And therefore concludes that a weak and bad performance as this of so good spirituall a designe the more incumbent on him would be better than none at all and be gratiously accepted through JESUS-CHRIST by that ALMIGHTY GOD who can make the poorest enterprises in his name successefull to accomplish his will. Fiftly lastly the Dean's innate indignation to many former late preposterous unaccountable procedures in the Subjects of England to wit First the Non-conformity or rather Semi-conformity of the Clergy who did with zeale more than enough sometimes too bitterly inveigh against nonconformists which ingendred that Brood which are the authours of our Misery Secondly their Forvvardness to dispense throughout the Nation with the Church-Discipline as they pleas'd where when there appear'd no necessity nay with the very Rubricks of the Liturgy whereto they had all since the late review given a solemne Assent Consent sadly presaging that in time of distress they would as they have done dispense with the very Doctrine tho they would not allow his Majesty in extraordinary cases à less dispensing Power Thirdly the Pragmaticallness of most Common-Lavvyeâ—s whose duty and intrest it was as well as of the Ecclesiasticks to joyne in the support of the crown of their Soveraign the Fountaine whence all their Law did proceed in endeavouring industriously by all manner of quirks to diminish the King's Prerogative Authority even coining wicked distinctions taking up obsolete lawes to dethrone him when there were enough of such which they would not willingly have reviv'd against the People or themselves nay flying to the Reign of an Usurper for Acts of Paâ—iament to justify and colour over their fullsome proceedings as if a Dispensing power in the People was like to be found more tollerable than in the King or that such a kind of supremacy as the multitude contended for and which must be either in Prince or subject is less liable to Tyranny and other abuses when it is in the subject than in the Soveraign These and the like perversions of Law and Religion did cause the authour professeth is desirous to proclaime so much disgust in his Soule as hurried him over all the difficulties and dangers that he met with in his way to this publication in such a degree that the consideration of his book 's reflecting on the new Government which was designed to edify the people within his own province hath push'd him on instead of deterring him to send it forth into the light committing it and his reputation to the mercy of a Gratious God amidst a crooked and perverse Generation which hee is willing may learne thus much by his boldness or fool-hardiness as it will be possibly termed to wit that God hath given him among a multitude of infirmities the Grace not to be afraid or ashamed to do his duty or discharge his offices faithfully who ever may be rebuked by the doing thereof and that hee is sure hee had done neither if hee had not as hee hath done deliver'd his soule without mincing in such plaine and intelligible language at such a juncture as to allot every thing its right epithet appellation giving the very names of REBELLION USURPATION to what hee was perswaded in his conscience deserv'd such denominations and that are so even REBELLION USURPATION if ever there were such things in the World. Yea such a REBELLION USURPATION that no good Christian can hee is also satisfied in his Conscience joyne in the first or uphold the later and consequently that no body can receive the communion without injury to his soule in the use of those prayers which pray for the maintaining of both since hee that receives the blessed Supper of the Lord in the office of any Church sets his seale to all the corruptions that are crept into that Church and doth in a higher manner profane Gods sacred name by using that holy ordinance to so impious an end as to beg of God by vertue of his saviours body and blood the distruction of his lawfull Prince than hee that barely swears allegiance to an Usurper Which yet by the way who ever does let him understand doth in a manner Abjure his lawfull Soveraign Which is a Case of Conscience that the Authour will in Gods name now venture here publickly to decide as hee hath long since don to some in private and put his name to the decision what ever comes of it since no body else hath done so for the sake of those many thousands of soules under his authority in the Jurisdictons belonging to the Archdeacon Deane of Durham whereof none can deny but that hee hath a Call from God to take care And consequently to undertake this difficult province since no body else doâ—â— Who if they are not satisfied with his Judgement in this particular which as poor as they may esteeme it will yet hee trusts in reference hereto be found Orthodox ought to consult as it concernes them some abler Casuist without being scared as heretofore in some other cases with frightfull consequences administred by the Universality of the DEFECTION such like considerations to wit Empty Churches thin Altars For if it be a wholesom truth which is recomended by the Authour to their thoughts it cannot he is sure in the conclusion produce ill effects to be repented of And he begs pardon if he cannot prevaile with himselfe to judge the last recited effects to be ill as matters go things stand For hee makes no doubt but that the Churches in England must become Empty the Altars thin c. before his Soveraign is like to return to Whitehall Introduction Fidelis vox est non desperati non eiulautis Luther Plangiâ— affectus sed fides exultat id Natural Quest l. 2. c. 37. Cum crescerit Gratiae time â—uÌ„ abierit time eum revertetur time S. Bern. Lib. Cur bonis viris mala accidunt c. 4. Ps 66. v. 12. Applicaâ—ion A cessation granted in order to treat * Nâ— Dec. 11. 1688. * Gandelop Introduction D B. Dr. Hen. Hamond * The crovvn offer'd to the Prince of Orange on Ashvvensday * Cromvell declar'd Protector on Ashvvensday 16â—3 * Prince of Orange's Declaration * Preachers in the Cathedrall Church of Durham as vvel as elsevvhere began to Caution their hearers against implicite Obedience vvhereby they did at that time meane all Complianâ—s vvith K. I. Iames. 2. * Bishop Cosins * Bp. Gunning Bp. Cosins * Cornvval * Kilkhampton * The-Granvilles * Sedgefield * Note That the Dearn's injoyning here in some other places things vvhich vvere before expressly commanded by the Church vvas to declare that the judged them of such moment as that he vvould never dispense vvith the non performance of them in his ovvn Parishes hovvever others did too frèqnently elsvvhere * As people grevv more fond to hear Sermons than to amend their lives Homilies vvere morâ— frequent * This practice changed into a monthly Sacrament at the Combustions in the yeare 1679. * Mr. Ashton