THE Subject's Religion Directing and Disposing them to a Conscientious and Careful DISCHARGE of their DUTY IN THE CHOICE OF PUBLICK MAGISTRATES and OFFICERS By a Citizen of London LONDON Printed in the Year 1691. THE PREFACE THis Discourse is not designed to exclude any of their Majesties Subjects from a share in the Government that are really Friends to it and worthy of it Or to interfere with that Indulgence which the Law allows to honest and mell meaning Persons who desire no more than Liberty of Conscience as a Christian's Birthright to live quietly and peaceably under the Government But on the contrary to unmask and give a Check to the boundless Ambition of those Seducers who willingly deceiving themselves do by Jesuitical Principles labour to raise Scruples and Niceties in the Minds of others that are honest and well-meaning so as to incline and dispose them in aversion to our Establish'd Religion and Government wilfully to exclude themselves by not qualifying themselves as the Law directs which the most tender Conscience rightly informed according to the sincere Principle of the Gospel may freely and chearfully do And I am confident there are few Dissenters that are Men of Reason and Parts and of long standing but are of the late Duke of Norfolk's Opinion who when the Test was imposed in the House of Lords declared he had been born and bred a Roman Catholick and it would be of great Scandal and Offence to many Thousands if he renounced his Persuasion at that Age. And therefore as a Person of Honour he declared to this Effect I am not said he so bigotted to my own Persuasion but I believe my Son may go to Heaven in the Communion of the Church of England wherein he may enjoy his Peerage And thereupon he chearfully laid down his Robe on the Table saying He that shall take that Test and sit in this House continuing a Roman Catholick is a Villain So I am fully persuaded these Persons if they were rightly informed and did well consider though they themselves might scruple for the same Reason yet in order to settle and secure our Religion and Government and preserve a Posterity in this Kingdom for it is morally impossible any thing else should do it they would not hinder but rather encourage their Children and Servants to join in our Communion that so they might be capable to share in our Government and by their own good Example and Endeavours promote a Reformation of Manners among us as the only Means to heal our Divisions and unite us all among our selves against our Foreign Enemies Especially when they all agree the Doctrine which is the vital Substance in Religion of the Church of England to be one and the same with what is taught in every private Congregation We may well then wonder why they who pretend so much to greater Purity in Religion should lay so much stress in the Shadow or outward Persuasion which is but the Crust and Shell of Religion as to sacrifice the Peace and Harmony of a Kingdom by setting up so many different Ways of Worship in the Bowels of it in opposition to that Publick uniform Way which the prudent and holy Reformers in every Countrey who bore their Testimony to the Stake thought fit to establish as well at Geneva and in Holland as also in Denmark and Sweden c. and annex'd it inseparably to their Government not no be changed or altered by any Private Spirit but only by the same supreme Authority that founded it as the alone Prop and Support of the Government Which every sincere Christian of a peaceable Temper and well guided Conscience must needs approve of And when by Provdence they shall transplant themselves into another Government of the reformed Religion as we are are all Members of one mystical Body the Catholick Church will as chearfully join in Communion of the Worship there established as if it had been the same wherein they themselves were educated After the most excellent Pattern and Example of his Sacred Majesty now on the Throne and his Royal Highness the Prince of Denmark and many other honourable and worthy Persons now Subjects of this Kingdom who had their Education in foreign Parts from a Discipline of different Persuasion As the only Means under Heaven to support and secure every Government against the secret subtil and Hellish Designs of the worst of Enemies Jesuits and Sectaries who under pretence of a Private Spirit Revelation and an Extraordinary Call do place Religion chiefly in the outward Way or Persuasiou as most taking with their ignorant and short-sighted Followers which they pretend to form from the very Letter of the Gospel setting up as many Ways and Fashions as may best suit the several Humours and Fancies of the Leaders and People herding and separating them into so many peculiar Churches or Folds under Conduct of their several Guides as so many Holy Orders of the Church of Rome the old and usual Jesuitical Methods to divide undermine and destroy Kingdoms and States Religion and Government together And that I may speak plain for to mince the Truth in this Case would be to betray the Justice of the Cause for which we contend we have in the following Discourse an infallible Test to try and distinguish what Persons their Sacred Majesties now on the Throne as just and rightful Parents of their Countrey by their publick professing owning and defending our Laws and Government and our Established Religion may with greatest Confidence relie upon for their Security Whether on such as do conscientiously joyn themselves and draw all others they can into the same Communion with their Majesties and under that Discipline do imbibe those Principles which naturally dispose them as Christians and good Subjects to sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes for the Honour and Safety as well of their Religion and Government as also of their Majesties under God their Head and Guardian to which they are obliged for their own Safety by Religion and Nature as they are Members of one and the same Body and of one and the same Communion with their Majesties Or whether their Majesties can reasonably expect the same Loyalty and Security from such as are seduced by Jesuits and Sectaries who founding Dominion in Grace do by contrary Principles infused as naturally and with as keen a Zeal dispose their Followers to Separation from our Communion and when opposed in their Designs also to Rebellion in order to strip their lawful Princes though of the same established Religion annexed to the Government of their Dominion to promote their own Worldly Design Which is no strange Doctrine for what hath been done may be again by the same Agents and Means as naturally as Effects hold of Causes For whatever may be pretended by our Enemies to the contrary it is manifest that all Treasons Conspiracies and Rebellion whether hatch'd and promoted by Jacobites Jesuits or Sectaries do take their Beginning Progress and Continuance from one
and the same Fountain and Original as they are all managed under the Conduct of one and the same Sovereign Pilate Lucifer himself and acted by one and the same predominant Principles of Ambition and Worldly Design which is quite contrary to the Doctrine and Principles of the Church of England as well as that of our Blessed Redeemer who renounced all Dominion in this World So that it is most manifest that neither the Doctrine nor Discipline of our Established Religion can without weakning wounding and betraying it self either countenance or patronize any Enemies to our Government though they all whether Jesuits Sectaries or Jacobites as Enemies to it do abuse wrest and misapply both our Doctrine and Discipline as well as they do the Gospel it self to justifie their Rebellion and carry on their own Designs All which will fully appear in the following Discourse THE Subject's Religion Directing and Disposing them to a Conscientious Discharge of their Duty in the Choice of their Publick Magistrates and Officers The Introduction SHould we judge of the Christian Religion by the Pride Malice and Railery the Ambition and Worldly Design of many Christians who have separated from our National Communion under a Pretence of greater Purity and of being more Holy than their Neighbours and had no other Rule for our Standard we might with the poor Indians when they beheld the ill Actions and Bloudy Cruelty of the Jesuits who came in a Saint like Disguise to convert them chuse rather to go to Hell in our natural Religion than to accompany such fiery Zealots in their Diabolical Practice though with Angels Tongues to their Celestial Paradise This may sound harsh in the Ears of many tender Minds who are hoodwink'd and imposed upon by their Seducers whose Souls I am confident would abhor the Evil were it unveiled unto them as the Murther of Caesar was by Anthony when he spread his bloudy Garments in the Senate-House and therefore it is nenessary that both the Criminals and the Seduced should feel the Smart of the Lance in opening the Wound by reflecting upon one Capital Crime for all the rest that the same Disease may not ulcerate again to an incurable Distemper especially when that Capital Crime will appear to be the most barbarous and execrable Tragedy that ever was acted in the Face of the Sun if seriously considered with all its impious and aggravating Circumstances and to be of so great a Scandal to the Protestant Religion that nothing can or ought to raze it either out of our Annals or Memory but a Repentance of as a deep a Dye even to an Abhorrence of the Fact This should never have been revived or here taken notice of did not the surviving Bloudy Actors and such as are tainted with the same Pernicious and Treasonable Principles still endeavour in secret by their venemous Tongues and Pens to justifie their Villany and to Canonize the very Regicides themselves as the Papists have done their French Friar and Ravilliac by raking into the Ashes of their now Sacred Majesties Royal Ancestors to reproach both their Memory and our Established Religion with the most malicious infamous and false Reflexions thereby to render both our Established Religion and Monarchy nay if it were possible the very sacred Name and Title of a Crowned Head Tyrannical and odious to make way for their darling Common-wealth And at the same time when there was never more need of Union among Their Majesties Subjects venting their Malice in the most virulent and provoking Language by their Squibs and Trumpets against those who have approved themselves both in Purse and Person Loyal Subjects to Their Sacred Majesties now on the Throne as well as true and constant to the Church and Government and in whom we all know the Power both Civil and Military here in this City resided during His Majesty's Absence and the Invasion lately threatned by the French stigmatizing them with the odious Names of Jacobites Rapparees and Traitors though all in effect do amount to no more than a nauseous Repetition of the same Stuff which they so lately exhibited against some of the same Persons in the Honourable House of Lords making good nothing of their black Charge but their own Malice and Revenge for Personal Injuries apprehended towards themselves However these Worthy and Loyal Men notwithstanding all these Provocations as became good Christians have not answered them according to their Folly but by their Patience and Silence have returned their venomous Arrows into their own Bosoms By all which and many other apparent Evidences it is manifest that these irreconcilable Enemies to our Established Religion and Government do daily refresh our Memory with the Blackness of their Crimes and awaken our slow but just Apprehensions to suspect they are preparing again if they succeed in their Endeavours which God forbid for another Bloudy Scene Doubtless such wicked Practices and unrighteous Dealings of many Persons who under such specious Pretences of greater Purity do either wholly dissent from our National Communion or are such partial Ambodexters as to communicate with us in the Morning and do separate from us in the Evening have caused so many Practical Atheists among us who giving themselves up to Sensuality through neglect of Piety and Devotion do from thence with Lucretius the Epicurean Philosopher not only form Arguments against all Religion in general but also against Divine Providence it self and take occasion in his Atheistical Expressions to maintain That Religion hath done and will contrive promote and act the greatest Ill. Concluding from such prodigious Impiety in our Separated Votaries as he did from the Bloudy Sacrifice of a Royal Virgin by the Trojan Priests to buy a Wind for Troy Such devilish Acts Religion could persuade For as the designing Leaders in Separation and Rebellion have ever had an insatiable Appetite after Dominion and Rule though under a Veil of Religion and Zeal for Reformation so they always bait their Hook with Interest Trade and worldly Design to engage the Hypocrites and formal Professors in their Cause And we need not wonder at the numerous Train of their ignorant and bigotted Followers if we consider that not one in Ten of those poor deluded Proselytes though they talk so loudly of Religion and quarrel about the Shadow or outward Persuasion did ever inwardly and savingly relish the vital Substance of it in their hearts or truly understand what it is farther than as a blind Zealot to follow his Guide as an infallible Oracle of that Persuasion believing that in so doing he is in the ready way to Jerusalem and shall be accepted By which means many thousands of poor deluded Animals thus bigotted and by their Leaders dubbed Saints as they are admitted Members into separate Congregations are puff'd up with an over-weening Conceipt of their own Perfection and Holiness as so many blind Papists incorporated into their Religious Fraternities though they have no more of a pure Spirit and of
Primitive Christianity in real Meekness Christian Charity and Self-denial than the Picture hanging against a Wall hath of the real Essence and Substance of the Soul and Body of a Man And thus we see Ignorance in Separation as well as in Popery becomes the Mother of Devotion And we may appeal to the surviving Spectators of our late intestine unhappy Broils how our Religion and Government as inseparable Supporters of each other were by the same Instruments and Methods both overturn'd together though the first Miners those of the Presbytery were blown up themselves by those of the Congregational Way who afterwards disagreeing amongst themselves who should be uppermost brought all into Confusion leaving us for a while without any setled Order or Government in the Kingdom till by a miraculous Revolution our Religion and Government were both restored on their old Foundation Wanting nothing but Reformation of Manners in its Members and Harmony in Divine Worship as the best Means to stem the Tide of Debauchery and Profaness in order to such a Reformation and to check and countermine the Jesuit on the one hand and the Sectary on the other so as to secure our setled Religion and Government against the Subtilty and Malice of both That instead of Emulation Strife and Envy and contending who shall be uppermost we might all as Subjects of one Government and Members of one National Communion humble our selves under the mighty Hand of God and provoke one another in Tenderness to Love and to good Works thereby to propagate the Faith in the Vnity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace Now as it cannot be denied but the Presbyterians laying the Blood of the Royal Martyr at the door of those of the Congregational Way were the chief Instruments in that mighty Revolution so it is as plain that what they did in order to it was to establish Presbytery here in this Kingdom So we must also allow the Dissenters to be eminently instrumental in the late happy Revolution to settle their Sacred Majesties now on the Throne But though I shall not here question from what Principle they acted therein yet I may boldly say that if they were real Friends and Well-wishers to Monarchy they would as readily demonstrate their impartial Affection and Loyalty to their Majesties to secure and support them now in the Throne as they are Guardians and Head of our Established Religion and Government by disposing their Subjects to Harmony in Worship the alone Seminary and Nursery of true Loyalty and Union among our selves and live in Charity with their conforming Brethren peaceable and content with the Indulgence allowed them till a proper Medium may be found out for all to join in the same Communion as Subjects and Children of one and the same Civil and Politick Parents and Government And in the mean time forbear to rail against and cry down the innocent Rites and Ceremonies of our Established Religion to create Offence in the Ignorant and the Weak with Designs thereby to draw our Members into their Separation as if the external way of Worship were the vital Substance in Religion Especially when the Church of England lays no more stress in any Rite or Ceremony than Decency and Order according to the Tenor of the Gospel do require And it is plain from the the 34th Article that as things indifferent they may from time to time be changed altered or abrogated to promote Peace and Harmony in the Church but not to be done by any private Spirit And it is most manifest our Holy and Reverend Governors are inclinable nay most desirous to comply with any reasonable Demands in order thereto if the Dissenters would agree among themselves and make their application as becomes Inferiors to those who are intrusted by the Government in so sacred and weighty an Affair We may justly therefore pronounce a Woe against them that do hinder nay that do not as much as in them lies promote so great a Blessing to their Majesties and the whole Kingdom But what hopes can we now entertain that Dissenters should ever unite with us when they are so far from any such Condescention or Application in order to it that by Colour of their Indulgence but contrary to the Design of the Law-makers they have set up their Standard in open defiance against it Printing and publishing the Heads of their Association and Agreement between the Presbytery and the Congregational as irreconcileable as Fire and Water to encrease and multiply their Leaders as it were under their Political Discipline assigning to each his Parochial Boundaries as so many Patriarchs each within his peculiar Province in opposition to the settled Religion and established Discipline of our National Church And all this done that they may the more effectually dispose their own Followers to a greater Aversion to our Communion and draw our Members with the Baits of Interest Trade and Advantage into their separate Congregations as into so many Arks of Salvation as if no sure Guide can be found elsewhere in the right and ready way to Hierusalem And yet at the same time notwithstanding the legal Test and Qualification by the Government enjoin'd peremptorily challenging by Nature and Education to use their own Words an equal Right with their Fellow-Subjects complying with the Law to bear Offices both Civil and Military in the Government Nay so bigotted are many of their Followers now become under their Discipline as to impose upon their Children as also upon our Members if they will match into their Families tying them up in their Conjugal Contracts to adhere to their separate Way of worship a good Expedient to advance Hypocrisie but not to promote Christianity or Sincerity Certainly so long as we see them thus restless to seduce our Members and bold in their Attempts and Endeavours to share in the Government on Terms contrary to Law which is in effect to pull down the Fences and Bulwarks of our Religion and Government together we may well conclude without breach of Charity that the Lamp of their Loyalty to their Majesties will burn no longer than it is fed with the Oil of Intetest and that when their Designs are ripe they will again make use of the carnal Weapon to overturn both our Religion and Government together For he that hath but half an Eye may easily discern the same Methods and Engineers formerly made use of now secretly endeavouring so to poison divide and dispose the People if not timely prevented as to engage us again in the same Civil War from which let us all earnestly pray Good Lord deliver us Therefore to countermine those deep dangerous and dark Designs of our Enemies and to undeceive all honest and well-meaning Persons that have been imposed upon by those subtil Politicians I here offer a brief Spacimen of Religion as I have learn'd it under the Discipline of our National Communion which I humbly submit to an exact Scrutiny of the most censorious Adversary
not doubting but if seriously considered it will distinguish it self in every pious and honest Mind from all false Persuasions together with some short Observations from thence and some brief Directions for the Subject's Guidance in their Choice of our Pulick Magistrates and Officers As that alone which will secure both our Religion and Government Of Religion in General Religion then in General is the Obligation we are under to God the supreme Original of Being and therefore implies all the Services we pay him and all that Obedience we give to any Law for his sake and with respect to any Divine Attribute that is to the Perfection of his Nature This in the general Notion of it is natural to Man and is indeed the specifick Difference of humane Nature rather than Reason because those inferiour Creatures who governed by a divine Instinct do in many things seem to vindicate or shew some kind and degrees of Reasoning yet they make no colour of Religion and therefore for deficiency in nothing so much as this is Man when he neglects Piety and Devotion become like or rather degenerated below the Beasts that perish Religion I say then is natural to Man as Man for that there is which none dare deny a supremely excellent and perfect Being the Author of all things besides to whom their Government doth belong and to whom therefore Worship is due is a Truth not only demonstratively argued from the Works of Creation and Providence Rom. 1. 20 but a Truth impress'd on the Nature of Reasonable Creatures inseparable totally from them and consequently to be reckoned amongst these Connate Notions which the Soul of Man both of things which the Scripture stiles The Law written in the Heart They who deny this do shake the Foundation of all certainty in Knowledge for that depends on some Common Standard in whose allowance all are agreed The Sense of a Deity therefore and the venerable Regards arising from it which we call Religion I conclude to be natural to Man a Notion by our Maker wrought into the very Fabrick of our Mind an essential Beam of that Coeval Light the Soul is indued with to discern things And from this Natural Principle or Venerable Awe of a Divine Power springs as naturally in the same Mind an Awe and Veneration of Government as the shadow of that Supreme Being in a Divine Authority impressed on Rulers and Governors as God's Vicegerents in the lower World which Natural Seed is cultivated and improved by Discipline and Nurture into greater Perfection The universal Consent of all Nations in all Ages confirms this Truth and proves Religion take it in the general was not a Politick Invention of Man though it be the best Prop of Government and Cement of Society And therefore amongst intelligent Creatures Religion is the first Law of Nature for that must needs consist in the first Obligation to a Rule a Rule directing our Duty being the proper Notion of a Law and if so then the first Obligation must needs consist in respect to that thing wherein supreme Dominion and all other Perfections are seated and that is in GOD alone Self-Conservation speaking of Mankind is but a Secondary Law of Nature tied up in Religion for it is all the Reason in the World that the first Law of Nature should primarily respect the first Cause GOD Himself and be chiefly terminated upon him in that we call Religion as the Secondary Law of Nature is chiefly terminated upon the Creature which we call the Conversation of it self So far therefore as our own Safety may be hazarded for the Preservation of our Religion we are obliged to prefer our Religion before our own Safety though in truth God hath so wisely linked these two together that our Religion preserved with what hazard soever to our selves will insure our own Safety He that loseth his Life for my sake and the Gospel's shall find it saith our Saviour This Natural Religion or venerable Sense of a Deity and Veneration towards our Governors is but at least in this degenerate Age a saint Seed till it meet with some farther active Principles or Dispositions in us to nurse it up and give it Culture And there are but three active Principles in Humane Nature capable to receive this Seed of Religion into thier Bosome that is Love or Fear or Worldly Design And then 1. Love as it is the radical Affection of Humane Nature terminates in God alone as the supreme Good the adequate Object and Centre of its Rest And so is the genuine and proper Principle of the Gospel and ought to be that inward Frame or Affection of Mind from which all our Services to God in Religion proceed and where this Principle is predominant in a Church there is the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace And this inward Frame or Disposition of Mind from which our Religion should proceed as it is the chief thing regarded in God's Eye so ought it to be the â—â—â—ghtiest Consideration of our own because upon the Issues of this depends our Acceptance with God our well grounded Peace of Conscience and our everlasting Welfare and they that are religious from this Principle may be stiled Lovers of God and Religion for Goodness-sake and such may be said to delight in the Law of God and walk in his Ways 2. Fear is the proper Principle of Superstition for those that in their Religion are chiefly acted by Fear are dragg'd to their Devotion as the Heathens were to worship their Daemons for fear of harm from them 3. But Worldly Design devoid of either real Love or Fear is the proper Principle of Hypocrisie or that which bears the Name but not the Nature of Religion And Such as are acted by this Principle become most loathsome in the Sight of God though often ador'd because undiscovered by Men. For the Roots of Hypocrisie may be as various as Worldly Designs are Ambition Vain Glory Time-serving Compliance with prevalent Custom Riches Advantages to be Leader of a Sect Head of a Party Nay it may be Envy and Malice to sow Discord for the Apostle tells us some preach Christ out of Envy The Root of Superstition is Fear without Love that is a Dread of Harm if the Divine Power or what is so apprehended to be as the Object of our Worship be not appeased by such and such Services This brought so many dreadful Sacrifices to the Altar at Tophet and all the Heathen World over and is the slivish Principle obliging so many Corporal Severities affected and uncommanded Austerities superstitious Repetition and muttering Fopperies as telling over Beads at set times enjoin'd by the Priest Sacrifices to bribe a Deity and quiet the Murmurs of Conscience so much practised in the Church of Rome Now these three natural Seeds or active Principles Love Fear and Worldly Design that thus nurse up Religion into Beauty or Deformity do arise from the various Apprehensions we have of the Object of
Divine Goodness in Creation and Providence Now from what hath been said we may judge our selves in Matter of Fact and all other Opinions in Matters of Faith pretending to promote Religion in the World whether we be sincere Christians to worship God from this Principle of Love or superstitious to be dragg'd to our Duty from a slavish Fears or Hypoarites to serve him for Worldly Design only That is in plain English we have here a Test to try our Sincerity whether we be true Christians bigotted Idolaters or downright Knaves for I take in these three comprehend all Professors of Religion But that which we are here principally to observe is this That there is as hath been said a natural Principle in the Soul of Man is a coeval Light born with it which we may call an Holy Awe of a Divine Power from which springs in the Minds of Subjects as naturally an Awe and Veneration towards Government as a Shadow thereof in a Divine Authority impress'd on Magistrates and Rulers as God's Vicegerents appointed as well for the Defence and Security of their Religion and Government as of their Lives Liberty and Property Which natural Seed receives its Culture and is nourished up to greater Perfection from that Religion under whose Discipline we receive our Education which if it be Orthodox and Sincere disposes the Minds of the Subjects of its Communion to such a ready Conformity and chearful Obedience to their Religion and Government as to be willing to sacrifice their Lives and all they have for the Honour and Safety of their Religion their Prince and their Countrey This I know to be true as I had the Happiness to be born about the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Royal Martyr of Parents who brought me up in the Discipline and Nurture of our National Church And I remember very well that when a Child and in Company with other Children I have had such a venerable Sense of my Duty towards my Prince and such an Awe upon my Mind at the very sound of his Name as if Solomon had that Moment whisper'd in my Ear Curse not the King no not in thy Thought But it is as plain and our own Experience puts it out of doubt that this religious and loyal Principle thus at first inseminated in the Mind and afterwards by a Sincere and Orthodox Religion cultivated and nourished up to greater Perfection may be as certainly vitiated corrupted and changed by a Jesuitical Discipline founding Dominion in Grace the old Holy Cheat whose predominant and active Principle notwithstanding all their Pretences is Ambition and Worldly Design and their whole Discipline runs counter to that of our blessed Redeemer who renounced all Dominion in this World commanding his Disciples to render Honour and Tribute to Temporal Rulers and Governors And with these their subtle Baits the Jesuit and Sectary as our own woful Experiences make good do as naturally poison Subjects and dispose them with as keen a Zeal to Separation and Rebellion as our Orthodox settled Religion and Discipline did before to a loyal Conformity and chearful Obedience In order to which they first in secret most falsely and maliciously represent our Publick settled Worship and Discipline as superstitious and a Relict of Popery though all know and our worst Enemies have allowed it to be the best try'd Bulwork against Popery in Christendom And further to gain Proselites to themselves they most maliciously measuring its Purity by the Scandal and Offence given by some of our Clergy and the Vice and Immorality of the worst Members of our Communion And the better to promote their Designs they display and lay open and aggravate the Miscarriages and Infirmities of our Magistrates and Rulers nay of our Princes themselves and all their Ministers and Counsellors sparing none though they be the very Pillars and Support of our Religion and Government to render them odious and low in the Minds of the People who from thence as from their Oracle are easily disposed to speak Evil of Dignities and to vilifie and revile our Governors with the most contemptible Language the very Harbingers and Fore-runners of down-right Rebellion For 't is but dubbing themselves the People of God which 't is the Interest of their Preachers to tell them they are and their own Interest to believe though they come far short in the whole Course of their Lives of many whom they call the Men of the World in true Piety and Morality And after that they cannot dip into the Bible but one Text or another will turn up for their purpose If they are denied a Share in the Government though on Terms contrary to Law they judge themselves stripp'd of their Right by Nature and Education to use their own Words and hold it lawful by Force to take it from them that oppose them And if they are punished for Rebellion they look on it as Persecution and themselves as Martyrs and their Sufferings as a Mark of their Election But when they succeed and flourish in their prosperous Villany then God works Miracles for their Deliverance and the Saints are to possess the Earth We may perceive by their late railing Pamphlets they begin to revive their old Methods to stir up the Rabble and to tickle the Ears of the Vulgar for they find solid and serious Treatises are too weak Artillery to accomplish their close and secret Designs and therefore what they cannot do by Reasoning they think to compass by Satyr and Railing that they may at least hedge in a Stake amongst the Rabble to whose Ignorance all things are Wit which are abusive And though the most Saint-like among their Party dare not openly excuse such Contempt of our settled Religion and Government yet they are pleased with it and in secret grin at it with a pious Smile Thus we see the Sectary as well as the Papist is born with Teeth scurrilous and foul-mouth'd from their Infancy so that if Spiritual Pride Contempt of Superiours and Slander be Marks of Orthodox Belief we may conclude such as these to be the most visible Church in the Christian World From all which we may conclude and for our satisfaction therein appeal to every unbiassed Mind That it is impossible for any Government in the World to support or secure it self long against such secret and subtil Enemies in its Bosome without a settled orthodox Religion established and inseparably annexed unto it Which is as essentially necessary to the Body Politick as wholsome Food Nurture and Physick is to the Natural to preserve and fortifie its Constitution against the Contagion and virulent Poison of Jesuits and Sectaries And to Train up and Discipline its Members as in a sacred Nursery for a continual Supply of sound Pillars to bear up Posterity And that our Religion Established in our National Church is such an orthodox and sincere Religion let the worst of our Enemies be Judges As it commands and commends all that is