compass of Omnis anima and have a Soul to save he must be subject to the Higher Powers honour the King or Kaisar obey him and reverence him and pay him due homage custome and tribute VVhat shall we say then that our Jesuits never read the precept of Jesus Reddite Caesari nor our Romanists the 13th to the Romans no◠our pretended Catholics this Catholic Epistle of St. Peter Sure if they read it they do not regard it For were they to honour the King to be subject to the Higher Powers then and are not we now Consider but what Caesars Kings and Emperours they were in those days in the time of our Saviour and of his Apostles and afterward in the time of Tertullian and the rest of the Primitive Fathers for 300 years after Christ Tiberius and Caligula Nero and Domitian cruel and bloody Tyrants the very worst of the Roman Emperours yea the worst of men the very monsters of mankind these and the like in the time of Christ and his Apostles And then in the Primitive times Trajan Marcus Antoninus and others though the best of Heathen Emperours yet Heathen Emperours utter enemies to the Gospel and Church of Christ and cruel Persecutors of Christian Religion Give Caesar his due saith Christ though that Caesar was no other than Tiberius Lutum Sanguine maceratum a lump of clay molded and temper'd with blood as his School-master call'd him in regard of his dull and yet cruel disposition Honour the King saith St. Peter though that King or Emperour was no better than Claudius for it was in his reign that he wrote his Epistle Pontus Galatia and the rest that he wrote to being then Provinces of the Roman Empire I say Claudius a Heathen and wicked Emperour who banisht the Christians out of Rome Impulsore Chresto assiduè tumultuantes as Suetonius has it mistaking the word the name Chresto for Christo but much more the thing as if Christ had been a Ring-leader of Sedition and likewise the time as if he had liv'd in the days of Claudius whereas he suffered some years before in the reign of Tiberius And yet these were the Emperours whom the Primitive Christians were to honour How much more then does this duty concern us How much more should we honour the King the King whom this day God bless'd us with by bringing him into the world and also this day by a miracle of mercy restor'd unto us by bringing him back to his Kingdom even our Gracious King Charles the Second whom God long preserv not a Heathen Emperour but a Christian King not an Enemy to Christ and the Gospel nor a Persecutor of the Church and Christian Religion but a nursing Father of the Church a zealous Mainteiner of the Christian Religion of the true Orthodox Reformed Religion a Defender of the Faith of the true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith not a Nero or Dioclesian but a Constantine a Theodosius not a cruel and bloody Tyrant but the very picture and mirrour of Mildness and Clemency not a VVolf or Butcher of the flock but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shepheard and Father of his people Under whose auspicious and gracious Protection we enjoy our Lives and Liberties and which are dearer to us our Church Faith and Religion the pure and Reformed Religion the true and sincere Worship and Service of God whereas before his happy Restauration you know how it was with us and in what sad and horrid confusions we were wrapt and involv'd both in Church and State For which ever-glorious and wonderful Revolution as with joyful and thankful hearts we look up unto God this day as the principal Author so we cannot but with loyal and humble hearts reflect upon our Gracious Sovereign as the cheif Instrument under God of all our happiness Therfore as we bless God so let us honour the King honour him with our substance by paying him due homage custome and tribute honour him by our Obedience in a chearful submitting to his Laws and Constitutions honour him by a dutiful Reverence and respect to his Sacred Person honour him with our hearts by entertaining high and honourable thoughts and apprehensions of him loving and loyal affections towards him honour him with our hands by fighting if need be or writing in defence of his Royal Person Crown and Dignity honour him with our mouths by speaking highly and honourably of him and not in the least kind slandering or aspersing disparaging or defaming Him or his Government Take we heed and beware of the blasphemous rudeness of those railing Rabshakehs and filthy dreamers who despise dominions and speak evil of dignities Jud. 8. or as our Apostle St. Peter has it they despise government and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they tremble not to blaspheme Dignities Blasphemy is properly against God now is a kind of Divinity in Dignities and Higher Powers so that to speak evil of them is a kind of blasphemy Naboth did blaspheme God and the King a capital crime had it been true but you see blaspheming God and the King go together He that blasphemes or speaks evil of the King blasphemes and speaks evil of God whose Image and Vicegerent he is Wherefore to conclude Honour we the King ore and opere both by word and deed I and corde too with our hearts and souls Let us show that we fear God by our honouring the King Let us declare our-selves to be good Christians by being good Subjects and so joyn these two together in our life and practice which St. Peter does here in the words of the Text Fear God Honour the King A SERMON Preached upon the Anniversary of the Gun-Powder Treason Psalm 124. v. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are delivered THIS Psalm as ye may perceiv by the tenour of it all along is a Gratulatory or Eucharistical Hymn or Psalm of Prais and thanksgiving to God for delivering Israel both King and People for it was in King David's time the Author of the Psalm the Church and people of God out of the hands of their merciless and cruel enemies the Philistins most like or the Ammonites However some extraordinary preservation some remarkable signal deliverance belike it was and 't was the Dominus nobiscum that did the deed for If the Lord himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick c. but Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey to their teeth Our soul is esaped c. In the words we may observ these three Particulars 1. The Danger that the Church was in or the Plot lay'd for her i. e. The snare of the fowlers 2. The Prevention of the Danger or the Defeating and Disappointing of the Plot The snare is broken 3. The Churche's Deliverance and safety ensuing thereupon Our soul
his ears But this was not it sure there was more in it then so for what cu'd his crying out avail him or do him good as to that he knew they were implacably set against him he knew he cu'd not hold their hands from stoning him but he hop'd God might hold his from striking them 't was not then his own particular interest that made him put an emphasis upon the Sin this Sin 't was not the stones on his head that troubled him so much nor the stones i' their hands but the stone i' their hearts their hard and obdurate and stony hearts of which their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hardness of heart this Sin in stoning him was too evident and pregnant a proof And though this was the last Sin he knew of 'um yet he knew 't was not the least but rather the greatest that ever they had committed the most heinous and barbarous and bloody Sin that ever they were guilty of next to that of crucifying their King and Murdering his and their Lord and Saviour And therefore in his Sermon to 'um of all their other Sins he only takes notice of this and upbraids 'um with it v. 52 As your fathers did so do ye which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted And so our blessed Saviour in that pathetical exclamation of his where he so passionately bewails and laments the sinful estate of Jerusalem though he knew her to be guilty of many other heinous and grievous Sins yet he singles out this Sin above all as the most capital Crime and chief of all O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. This then was the Sin this Sin here i' the Text killing a Prophet stoning a Minister and Messenger of God that was sent unto 'um to teach 'um the way of Salvation and Murdering him only for preaching Christ and the Gospel and standing stoutly in defence of the truth And was not this a Sin as I may say with a witness thus to slay a Witness and Martyr of the Lord Jesus Homicide in general the murder of any man whomsoever is a heinous and bloody Sin one of those three crying Sins so call'd in Scripture and I think the chief of the three that cry loud to Heaven for vengeance And as it was the Sin of Adam's first-born so it was the first-born Sin we read of next to Adam and Eve's and we find God setting a brand and a mark upon it as he did upon Cain the first committer of it and threatning it with a special curse of retaliation He that sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed and this long before the giving of the Moral Law by Moses it being one of the seven Precepts given to the Sons of Noah not to kill or commit Murder a Sin so foul and heinous in its own nature and so directly against the Law of Nature that the very Heathen by the Divine light of natural reason saw the ugliness and deformity of it and therefore did hate and abhor it and made it a capital Crime and so to be punish'd with Lex talionis according to the fore-named Divine Law Such is this Sin this Sin here of Bloodshed and Murder in general a black foul grievous and horrid Crime a crying Sin a Sin that crys loud to Heaven for vengeance but much more when 't is the shedding of innocent blood the putting of a just and righteous man to death and how much more yet when 't is the killing of a Prophet a Minister and Messenger of God and that for no other cause i' the world but for speaking the truth in the name of the Lord and in the very act of his preaching to them the truth of God the Murder of a Martyr and witness of Christ yea and of his very witness too which he bare and the thing witnessed what in them lay Now such as was the stoning of Stephen who here seals the truth of the Gospel and of Christian Religion with his blood and thus prays for his Murderers Lord lay not this sin to their charge This the Sin i' the Text and what think ye of the Sin o' the Day Stoning of Stephen the Sin i' the Text Killing the King the Sin o' the Day Somthing I premis'd in the beginning concerning these two Martyrs and their Sufferings by way of Parallel And though I confess the stoning of Stephen as to the ground and cause of his suffering scarce admits of any Parallel since the crucifying of Christ the Martyrdom of St. Stephen being a direct Murdering of Christ again in the first preaching of the Gospel to God's ancient people by his inspir'd Evangelist and Prophet yet in some respects at least I think I may safely say the transcript not only equals but even exceeds the Proto-type and the Copy outdoes the Original I mean the Sin of the Day outgoes the Sin i' the Text whether we consider the rank and quality of the Sufferers or the malice of the Murderers or the manner of the proceedings cloath'd with many black foul aggravating circumstances of which I shall not need now to speak particularly they being so well known to the world I shall only at present take notice of the rank and quality of the Sufferer or Person of our Royal Martyr which alone is sufficient to aggravate this Sin to enhance and heighten it to the highest point and pitch of impiety And here I shall take a brief view of him in a double capacity first in his Political capacity as a King then in his Moral or Personal capacity as a man or a Christian And I hope I may make a better use of this distinction than some have formerly done First look upon him as a King he was a Royal Martyr St. Stephen though he had a Crown in his name and wore the Crown of Martyrdom and that set with stones and those precious stones for Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints yet he had no Crown on his head I mean he never wore a Crown of Gold as our Royal Martyr did who was a crowned and anointed King and so his Person Sacred and inviolable Sacrosanct a Regum Majestas being generally own'd and acknowledg'd by all even the most barbarous Nations and the Supreme Majesty having a stamp of Divinity and so a Noli me tangere set upon it by the Laws both of God and Man Such was the Martyr o' the day our late dread Soveraign Charles the First of ever blessed and glorious Memory whose Sacred Majesty cu'd not not secure it self from the malice and cruelty of blood-thirsty men though his own natural profess'd Subjects The Jews that ston'd Stephen were his Enemies but they were not his Subjects they might be sworn against him be his sworn Enemies but they were not sworn to him not his sworn Subjects he was not their Leige Lord and Master they never swore fealty nor allegeance to
if that fail the rest of the wheels will move slowly or stand still a man will drive heavily or not at all First Fear God then Honour the King without the former no hope of the latter If a man fear not God never look he should honour the King honour his Natural Civil or Ecclesiastical Parents or keep the fifth Commandment or any else By this that hath been said already and much more that might be said it may plainly appear that wicked and ungodly men men void of the fear of God whatsoever they pretend can never truly honour the King nor be faithful and loyal Subjects to their Prince and Soveraign Honour him they may from the teeth outward and after a fashion or rather flatter him for their own by-ends and sinister respects for their secular interest and worldly advantage but they can never love and honour him serv and obey him from their heart and soul they can never give him the honour due unto him out of love or respect to his Person out of duty to God or for Conscience sake We use to say and we say truly A thorow-pac't Jesuited Papist can never be a good Subject if he would be so he must quit and forsake his Principles So we may say and say as truly A lewd and vicious and debauch't person cannot be a good Subject if he would be so he must quit and forsake his practices Take the wicked from before the King saith Solomon a King and the wisest of Kings and his throne shall be establish'd in righteousness and if so then on the contrary it follows that while the wicked stand before the King and yeild him feigned obedience and they can yeild him no better his throne will not be establish'd such wicked and unrighteous and ungodly Subjects and Servants will undermine his Throne shake his Crown and endanger his Person And therefore our gracious Soveraign when presently after his happy Return he set out that his most religious and godly Declaration against Drunkeness Debauchery and Prophaness he did not only do an act of Christian Piety but of State-Policy nor did he only consult the honour and glory of God but likewise his own honour and interest life and safety For what greater honour and safety to a King than the godly lives of his Subjects on the contrary what greater enemy to the being and well-being of the Prince than the wicked lives of his People What are the loud thundring ratling Oaths and horrid Curses and Imprecations of Subjects but as so many Cannons or Pieces of Ordnance not only with their mouths set against heaven as the Psalmist speaks but even planted and levell'd against the face of the King What are the fightings and feuds and quarrellings and duels of Subjects but as so many Swords drawn with their points set against their Soveraign What are those prodigious luxuries and excesses riotings and revellings debaucheries and drunken meetings of Subjects but as so many Conventicles Juncto's and Conspiracies though not directly and formally yet collaterally and by consequence against the Lord 's Anointed In a word what are those torrents of Belial that inundation of Atheism and Prophaness that at any time breaks in upon a Kingdom or Nation but a deluge that threatens to over whelm and drown both Prince and People The King is the Head of the People I am sure the name of our King signifies so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now it 's no strange thing neither in the Natural nor Political Body for the Head to suffer when the Members miscarry or any time disorder or distemper themselvs It is no news for we our selvs have liv'd to see it no news to see the best of Kings cut off for the Sins of the people So was Josiah King of Judah and so was Edward the Sixt our English Josiah and so was King Charles the Martyr our late Sovereign of ever blessed and glorious Memory cut off not only by the Sins and wickedness of a few cursed miscreant Rebels and Traytors but even for the Sins and wickedness of the rest of his people yea and of those too perhaps that counted themselves to stick closest to him and to be his best and most loyal Subjects But I shall not any longer hoc ulcus tangere rub or grate upon this sore I have no particular reflexion upon any only this I shall add in the general that sometimes the best caus may miscarry in bad hands becaus the goodness of the caus makes men more confident and so more secure and careless of their lives they presume so much of justitia causae that it makes them neglect justitia personae Well let none presume upon their fidelity to their Soveraign nor flatter themselvs with professions and protestations of Loyalty to the King while they go on with their Sins and Impieties to provoke and offend the King of Kings They that rant and roar swear and swagger and drink the King's health but seldom or never pray for it do such men think they honour the King or are His Majesties good friends and faithful Subjects whatsoever these prophane Atheistical people may profess or pretend yea and boast of their good affections to His Majesty I dare boldly affirm they are so far from being true honourers of him that they are no better than false Traitors to him and Enemies to his Royal Person Crown and Dignity Do such men think they can honour the King by dishonouring God or shew themselves good Subjects by being bad Christians For my part I am sorry such heathenish people make such a profession of Loyalty yea I could almost wish that they made no profession of Christianity neither for by their loos and vicious lives they are a reproach and a scandal both to the one and the other and so bring an evil report upon the good Land and make the enemies of God and the King to blaspheme saying Lo these are the men and this their conversation and thus they are all Though by the way as Christian Religion is not the wors for some wicked mens professing of it no more is Loyalty neither rather on the contrary it shows there is some extraordinary beauty and excellency in them both becaus hypocrites and ungodly men use them for a cloak and a cover sheltring and shrouding themselvs and their Sins under the colour and profession of them To draw towards a conclusion of this point The way to honour the King is to honour God first the way to fear and reverence and obey the King is first to fear the Lord. Therefore Solomon puts them both together My Son fear thou the Lord and the King In a word the way to be the King 's good Subjects and Servants is to serv the Lord. I find several godly and religious Courtiers and Kings Servants in Scripture as Joseph and Mordecai and Nehemiah and Daniel and others But I take notice of two especially above the rest some it may be
do not take so much notice of them but I mention them the rather becaus of their names and they are Obadiah and Ebedmelech Obadiah was Steward of King Ahab's house and of him we read that he fear'd the Lord from his youth Ebedmelech was a great Officer in the hous of King Zedekiah and of him it is said that he put his trust in the Lord. But why do I mention these two only to this purpose by way of allusion to prove that none can be a good Subject and Servant to the King that is not the Servant of God and for this there may be an argument drawn from the Etymology of their names Obadiah signifies the servant of the Lord and Ebedmelech is as much as to say the servant of the King He that would be an Ebedmelech a Servant of the King must be an Obadiah a Servant of the Lord. Except you serv and fear honour and obey God you can never conscientiously nor truly serv nor fear honour nor obey the King And so I have finish'd St. Peter's first Lesson or Lecture which was a Lecture to the prophane ranting Royalist in the first Aphorism or Proposition No man can truly honour the King but he that fears God I come now to his second Lecture or Lesson which is to the fanatic hypocritical Rebel in the second Aphorism which is this 2. No man can truly fear God but he that honours the King Hitherto we have render'd to God the things that are Gods and fear to whom fear is due Now let us render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and honour to whom honour for this due is proper and peculiar especially Personae Principis says one upon the place and he no great Royalist neither though indeed in rendering to Caesar his due we shall render to God his due still and in honouring the King we shall honour God too For do we not honour God when we keep his Commandments and is not the fifth Commandment concerning honouring our Parents part of the Decalogue And is not the King Pater Patriae the Father of his Country and our Political Parent And is it not God that speaks to us here by the mouth of his Apostle St. Peter and bids us honour the King And 't is well we have it here in such express terms that our Antimonarchical rebellious Corahs may have no subterfuge nor evasion And here the Chapter of Loyalty the 13th to the Romans comes in agen from whence I shall fetch but this one argument A godly man is afraid to resist the ordinance of God The higher Powers and so the Regal is the ordinance of God and consequently he that truly fears God will honour the King and if he honour him he will not resist but obey him To obey Magistrates to honour the King and to be in subjection to our Parents and to the Higher Powers is not only an imperat but an elicit act of Religion Not that we think religious worship is due to Magistrates for we do not Idolize nor adore our Princes as the Persians did of old and as some do the Pope at this day but becaus the Higher Powers are certain Models and Emblems Images and Representatives of the most High and so the honour we give unto them does more immediately reflect upon God and more directly redound to his honour and glory And therefore some Divines have made the fifth Commandment a branch of the first Table which concerns our duty to God at least an appendix to it viz. becaus our Parents whether Natural Civil or Ecclesiastical are loco Dei in the place and stead of God and represent his Person However if it be not part of the first Table it is the next to it wherefore it is observed by Divines that in Humane Authors as well as in the Holy Scriptures as 1 Tim. 5. 4. honouring and obeying and requiting our Parents is call'd Religion and Piety Let them consider this that are undutiful disobedient and disrespectful to Parents there can be no true piety no godliness nor religion in 'um that 's certain and the same is to be said of those that are undutiful and disobedient to Princes And if Scripture be the rule of our Religion as sure it is then it must needs follow that as long as the Scripture commands us to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Tit. 3. 1. and to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man or to every humane creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in Place and Autority Omnibus filiis hominum as the Syriac renders it to all the Sons of men viz. that are set in Autority over us for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him 13 and 14 vers of this Chapter I say if this be Scripture and the Scripture the rule of our Religion then it must needs follow that those Men are the most godly and religious who most honour the King and are most dutiful and obedient to their Natural Civil and Ecclesiastical Parents True Religion is both the causa procreans conservans both the Mother and Nurs of our subjection to Magistrates and the fear of God the direct proper and immediate caus of honouring the King now Positâ causâ proximâ ponitur effectus contrà and so the argument will hold reciprocally by a mutual demonstration from the caus to the effect and from the effect to the caus Such a man fears God therefore he honours the King and again such a man honours the King therefore he fears God And thus I think as to the general the point is clear And if so if there be such an inseparable union and connexion between these two then is it not strange that any should neglect the one that pretends to the other that a man should think he fears God when he does not honour the King yea and that for fear of offending and displeasing God he should venture to displeas and dishonour the Supreme Magistrate by disobeying his lawful commands who is the Ordinance of God yea who is in the place of God and represents his person Is it not strange that when the Apostle bids us be subject to the Higher Powers and obey lawful Autority for conscience sake any should pretend conscience for their disobedience I do not love to give hard words instead of strong reasons nor to pin odious unnecessary consequences upon any mens Practices or Opinions for I desire to deal with others as I would be dealt with my self that is fairly and candidly in a way of love and in the spirit of meekness But is it not so indeed as I have said Are there not those among us that scruple and boggle at the lawful commands of the Supreme Magistrate yea and refuse to obey him even in those things which they themselvs confess to be lawful becaus indifferent and yet will not
escaped I know by soul here according to the usual Idiom of the Hebrew tongue is meant nothing els but life or person as much as to say our persons are escaped or we are escaped with our lives her life that 's all the bird looks after Yet I hope I may without forcing the Text take occasion from hence by way of accommodation to put some greater stress or emphasis upon the word soul and to observe from hence that the Deliverance wrought tnis day was a Soul-Deliverance not only a Corporal but a Spiritual Deliverance not only a Deliverance of the body but of the soul too we escaped not only with our lives but with our Religion Our soul is escaped escap'd out of the snares of Popish Idolatry and Superstition laid in our way by those Romish Fowlers snares I say laid in our way for what is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instance or worshipping the Host but an Idolatrous snare what are their numerous superfluous superstitious rites and ceremonies but tot Laquei animarum so many snares upon the Souls and Consciences of men especially as us'd and impos'd by them of the Church of Rome who place holiness and religion in them and make them matters of necessity and parts of Divine worship things by the way which our Church in her few her very few ceremonies has ever expresly disclaim'd enough in the judgment of any moderate or sober men to clear her from any suspicious or superstitious symbolizing or syncretizing with the Church of Rome Well these were the snares but by the blasting and defeating this Powder-treason these snares were broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Again their Auricular confession consisting in an anxious punctual enumeration of all particular sins to the Priest in private once a year Mistake me not I am not against private Confession to a Priest I would it were more practis'd amongst us but that Auricular Sacramental Confession as they call it and as it is practis'd in the Church of Rome besides that it is a kind of a pick-pocket as it is us'd and a picklock of the cabinets and counsels of Princes what a Carnificina Laqueus Conscientiae is it what an intolerable snare upon the soul and conscience I instance in this the rather becaus under this pretended cover of Confession though indeed it was no formal Confession the business being reveal'd to Garnet and others as he himself confess'd at last not in way of Confession but of discours and consultation only but under this cloak and cover of Confession the treason was hid and conceal'd sub sigillo a Seal so sacred and inviolable that 't is not to be broken in any case whatsoever saith Bellarmine no not to avoid the greatest evil that may possibly happen Catholica Doctrina non permittit ad ullum malum vitandum secretum Confessionis detegi and he speaks it in defence of this days treason Not to be broken no not to save the lives of all the Kings in Christendom so said F. Binet the French Jesuit to Casaubon upon this very occasion as that learned man tells us in his excellent Epistle to Fronto Ducaeus Praestaret Reges omnes perire quà m si vel semel sigillum Confessionis violaretur But by the disappointment of this horrid design both this pretended seal and this snare was broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Once more Their Pope's Pardons Bulls and Breves their Papal Indulgences and Dispensations which gave Luther the first occasion of plucking his foot out of the Romish snare what are they els but pitiful snares to catch Dotrels poor silly souls that will pay so dear for a new-Nothing But by defeating this Devilish plot this snare was broken our soul is escaped and we are delivered What should I speak of their Transubstantiation and Purgatory worshipping of Images and Invocation of Saints and the Rest of Pope Pius the fourth's new Articles of the Tridentine faith equal in number and equal in authority to those of the Apostles Creed snares laid for our souls by the fowlers of Rome especially those subtil Emissaries and cunning fowlers the Jesuites who as they did then so have they done since and still no doubt do go a birding among us though some are so blind and simple they will not see it Had they caught us in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that capacious Catholic snare set this day for King and Kingdom Church and State those other snares would have followed of course for that was on purpose laid to bring these upon us But Benedictum sit Nomen Domini hitherto our soul is escaped out of these snares the snares of their dangerous and pernicious doctrines and principles and the snares of their wicked and cruel designs and practices especially out of the great snare of this day Our soul is escaped and we are delivered And now may not this justly provoke and stir us up to a detestation and hatred of that Church and Religion which brings forth such cursed and bitter fruits whose principles are productive of so sad and direful effects I will not say though it has been said the Romanists Faith is Faction and their Religion Rebellion but this I must say that they teach and broach such Doctrines as are very scandalous to Christian Religion and very dangerous and destructive to Kingdoms and States as having a direct and natural tendency to sedition rebellion and treason And herein I dare boldly impeach and implead the Church of Rome as the mother and nurs of this hideous monster though blessed be God it prov'd but an embryo this monstrous Gunpowder-treason And that herein I do her no wrong I shall make it appear For though our Romanists may wipe their mouths and disclaim the business by laying the blame upon a few rash hot-headed discontented Catholic Gentlemen yet if we examine it well and it has been examin'd pretty well already we shall find it to have been the genuine issue and product of their Popish Principles the natural result and consequence of some doctrines and opinions commonly and openly held and maintained in the Church of Rome I shall instance in one especially which is instar omnium and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ground and foundation of all the rest and that which gave the first birth and breeding to this barbarous and bloody design and that is that beldame doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility or which is all one of his Supremacy for if he be Infallible he must needs be Supreme or if you will his universal temporal Monarchy his Lordship Paramount his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion his unlimited Power and Authority over Kings and Kingdoms his power to depose Kings and to dispose of their Kingdoms That the Pope hath power to depose Kings if they be Tyrants or Heretics and so they must be if he once say the word and pleas to call them so is Communis Doctorum the common
sent hither on purpose under the name of Anabaptists Seekers and Quakers and I know not what to blow the coals and foment the flames of our late dissentions And are we not yet sensible how some factious and seditious Separatists have been and still are acted and carried on by Jesuitical principles in their rebellious practices and so brought to be the Pope's drudges and to do his work for him though the leaders of them are so blinded with partiality and prejudice and others so led with blind obedience to their Teachers a point of Popery too that they will not see nor perceiv it I will name but two or three Doctrines of Bellarmine and his fellows and you shall judg how well they have been followed by some of late who yet would be thought to be the only Antipodes almost and enemies to Rome A Prince saith Lessius that is a Tyrant cannot be put to death by any private men while he continues a Prince but must first be deposed but by whom why A Republica vel Comitiis Regni by the Commonwealth or by the Parliament vel alio habente authoritatem i. e. the Pope And to the same purpose Suarez Post sententiam latam omnino privatur Regno and then ye may do what you pleas with him A quocunque privato poterit interfici any fowler may fetch him in Potestas immediatè est tanquam in subjecto in tota multitudine saith Bellarmine The soveraign Power is in the People Et si causa legitima adsit c. and if there be a lawful caus and who shall judg of that but the Pope or the People the People may turn a Kingdom into an Aristocracy or Democracy And this he stands to in his Recognitions stoutly maintaining Potestatem Politicam non esse immediatè in Regibus That the Civil power is not immediately in the Prince nor immediatè à Deo sed mediante consilio consensu hominum And again elswhere Potestas Regis est à populo quia populus facit Regem whence it follows saith he that if the King prove a Tyrant Licèt sit caput Regni tamen à populo posse deponi eligi alium And what could some among us have said more Sure I am they did no less I shall add but one piece more or rather a master-piece of Bellarmine's Politics In his Book against Barclay he brings in the Pope discoursing with a Prince's subject to cajole and debauch his Loyalty and Allegiance When I absolv you saith he from your Oath and bond of Allegiance be not mistaken I do not give you leav to disobey or resist your King Non permitto ut Regi non pareas no by no means take heed of that that were contrajus divinum against the law of God Very good I but how then Sed facio ut qui tibi Rex erat non sit deinceps tibi Rex but I make appoint and ordain that he who was your King is not now your King any more No King any longer if the Pope saith the word and then take him Fowlers and do what ye pleas with him he lyes open either to your gun or your snare And now tell me were not some among us of late very prompt Scholars of Bellarmine think ye they had so perfectly learnt this distinction they did not oppose nor resist the King but you know whom no gun had they to hit him no snare to take him in his Political capacity but only in his Personal Ye see how thoroughly these Jesuitical lessons were learnt and got by heart by our Regicides and Rebels of late and shall any make me believ that they are Protestants and of the true Reformed Religion that are so apt Disciples of Bellarmine Just such Protestants as this days Traytors Sir Edward Cook then the Kings Atturney General in his Speech upon the Gun-powder-Treason has several Observations of which this is the last That there was never any Protestant Minister found guilty of any conspiracy or treason against the King And no marvel for certainly Rebels and Traytors can never be true Protestants what ere they pretend Disloyalty Rebellion and Treason are so against the grain and strain of our Protestant Profession so directly contrary to the genius and temper and spirit of the Gospel and of the true Reformed Religion Let us then I beseech you stick close to the Principles of our Religion which are Principles of obedience and loyalty Let us hold fast the profession of our faith and Religion without warping or wavering i. e. of the true ancient and Catholic Faith and the true Orthodox Reformed Religion profest and maintain'd in the Church of England And as we bid defiance to the Pope's Bulls so let us take heed of plowing with the Romish Heifer I mean of being acted and led by Popish and Jesuitical principles which have born so great sway and had so strong an influence upon some mens practices of late in this Nation who yet pretended so much zeal for the Reformed Religion But I shall no longer hanc Camerinam movere nor harp any more upon this unpleasant string this is not the day nor the time for it Only let not the Church of Rome nor such as Philanax Anglicus or the Author of Jerusalem and Babel think to choak us with our Rebels and Regicides the Authors of the late horrid Rebellion as a blot scandal and reproach to our Religion For we own them not nor do we look upon them as ours I mean Protestants and true Sons of the Church of England seeing they were wholly acted and sway'd by Jesuitical and Popish principles Our Protestant Religion teaches us another lesson yea and this I must be bold to say further As for those that have any seeds of this Rebellion still lurking and remaining in them if there be any such as I hope there are none here that look asquint at the Government Civil or Ecclesiastical and are disaffected to the present settlement of Church and State as it stands now by Law establisht I cannot see how such men can cordially join with us in keeping this Fifth of November The horrible plot of this day was intended saith our Church in her Collect for the subversion of the Government and Religion establisht among us Now how can they be truly thankful to God for this days deliverance that will not own nor allow the Subject-matter of it viz. the Government and Religion establisht among us This is a day of Thanksgiving to God for the preservation and continuance of our Government Civil and Ecclesiastical the preservation both of the Church and State the Church I say both in her Doctrine and Discipline her Doctrine in the true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith her Discipline in her true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Episcopal Government The Church of England had both these then establisht by the Laws of the Land and so both these struck at this day and are any still