If they had renounced the Articles of the Church of England submited their Consciences to the Pope and the sacred Scriptures to the Canons of the Council of Trent they might have avoided the cruelty of their Persecutors But they loved neither their Lives Rev. 12 11. nor Honours to the Death but chose to forgoe these rather than the Faith and God would have it so that he might not want the Glory of such Christian Magnaminity nor the Truth of the Protestant Religion the honour of the Triumph of such resolute Warriors That the Church might not miss the Boast of such renowned Generals nor the Age then the Influential Encouragment of such affecting Examples or the succeeding the reviving Energy of such excellent Precedents to invigorate their Faith quicken the Courage and fortifie the Hope of other Strangers and Pilgrims Truly if we weigh without prejudice and partiality this same Instance we must needs Conclude they were no Friends to Popery who upon account of their Religion felt so much of its Severity nor can the publick Service of this Church be constructed a favourer of Romish Devotion when it must be thrust out to make way for its Superstitious Worship But Secondly there is another thing I would have you consider And it is this that next in the late unhappy Times of prosperous Rebellion when the Liturgy of this Church was laid aside and the Episcopal Government demolish'd then Anarchy invaded the State and Confusion the Church Tyranny and Usurpation possessed the Throne Heresie and Blasphemy the Pulpit Popery made more considerable Advances in that Interval than in many Years before when the decent Worship and orderly Discipline of this Church kept footing It is well enough known there were many Roman Catholicks in the Parliament Army as the Royal Martyr in his printed Papers declared And Mr. Monteith who from being a Protestant Minister turn'd to be a Romish Priest whose History of the Troubles of Britain he publish'd in French and I saw at Nantes confesses there were many Priests slain at Edgehill which considering he was a New Proselyte he durst never have averr'd to occasion so much Reproach and Scandal to a Profession he had but recently Embraced if Truth had not forced him thereto And let it be remembred that the Enemies of the Liturgy and Government then and those of them now Surviving whose Faces are not steel'd with Impudence or whose Hearts are not hardned with Impenitence seek to remove from themselves the Odium of the Kings execrable Marther by charging the multitude of Jesuites and Popishly affected in the Army therewith If those of this Perswasion shuffled themselves into the Army by parroting the Cant of the Age against the Liturgy and Government If they had the Power and Cunning to wheedle others into their Net and make them Tools and Instruments in carrying on the War or execution of the King Did not the Dissenters then bring their pretences and Designs against Popery to a fair Issue when instead of Extirpating or Staving it off it increased with our Divisions swarm'd in our Armies and spread through all the Corners of the Land Now if we find to our woful Cost and sad Expences that upon the Ruin of the Church formerly there followed an Inundation of Errour and Heresie to corrupt the Doctrine of Immorality and Prophaness to destroy the Power and Practice of Religion That the Monarchy as well as the Hierarchy was overturn'd that Faction in the State as well as Schism in the Church Oppression in the City and Country came in on the Dissolution of the Government and removal of the Liturgy Can we look for other Effects from the same fatal Occasions or I may say dismal Causes if renewed or set on Foot again Indeed to expect better Fruit from the same Tree rooted in the same luxuriant Soil under the same malignant Influences and care of the same cunning Dressers I should rather have said cruel Hacksters is to look for Grapâ—s from Thorns Mat. 7.16 or Figgs from Thistles But there are many in the Kingdom whose gray Hairs and snowy Heads are Crowns of glory to them for espousing the Interest of the King and Church and bear these marks of Honour and proofs of Valour in their Scars and Wounds which may supersede any more Enlargment on this subject These are living Witnesses and blessed be God there are many such Surviving in the Nations of the Havock Religion and Property Laws and Liberty sustain'd when Episcopacy was abrogated and the Liturgy abandon'd These still retain the Sense of Honour and Conscience of Duty which acted them formerly to adhere with undaunted Hearts and valiant Hands to the Crown and Mitre against the Torrent of triumphant Treachery the same princples afford them now joyful reflections on their past Calamities and are ready upon occasions to Animate a-fresh their chill Blood to swell their old shrivel'd Veins with new Life and Vigour to give a timous check to the rash Attempts of those petulant young Sparks who may be deluded with the novelty of an unexperienced project into a Disvalue if not a Dislike of the present Settlement But if these Instances be stale and old and so less impressive on the volatile Spirits of the present Age permit me in the Third place to come a little nearer and tell you what is within your own Kenning Pray you who so resolutely stood in the Gap so early scented or earnestly opposed the Designs and Contrivances of a Popish Party who lately flattered themselves with great expectations but the Venerable Prelates of this Church If in former Ages some of the preceeding Bishops were Martyrs for the Protestant Religion were not these in our Time to our own view Confessours for the same If the former were dragged to Stakes these were haled to Prison who maintain'd the Protestant Doctrine with such Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in publick Harrangues who asserted it in Print with such degrees of Zeal and Learning who press'd it more convincingly in private accidental Conferences or appointed Meetings and upon extraordinary Occasions where were there Combatants to be singled out to defend the Truth and overthrow the arguments of its Enemies with such ponderous Reasons and nervous Eloquence like the Orthodox Regular Clergy of this Church Let me then intreat all who vouchsafe to read this Essay that they suffer not themselves to be imposed upon by the cunning artifice of these Hucksters of Souls and Factors for Schism who asperse the best Reformed Church in the World with favouring Rome which her Doctrine Condemns her Worship abhors and her practice Remonstrates against Why should People any more shut their Eyes against the Light or stop their Ears against the Truth These I have written are plain matters of Fact without any slight or guise and if you consider them without Pride Passion or Partiality I dare say you 'l easily be convinced the antient Ecclesiastick Government of this National Church has been and
is the best Fence of the Protestant Religion and its Bishaps the Stoutest Champions of the same What powerful Preachers what Prudent Governours what Learned Writers Valiant Martyrs what Couragious Confessors have some of that Venerable Order proved How have some of these and of the other intelligent Clergy of all Degrees in this Kingdom by the Piety of their Lives and their Courage at Death by the Eloquence of their Tongues and the smartness of their Pens By the solidity of their Reasons and magnificence of their Charity batter'd the Walls of Rome more than all the little Sectaries of Europe were ever able to do Neither have there been wanting some of the flourishing Nobility some of the renowned Gentry some of the piously affected ingenious Commons who have in an eminent Degree in like manner maintain'd the Worship and Government of this Church against its adversaries and what would some of our Predecessors of both Sexes not have given in Henry the Eighth and Queen Maries Reign for that Worship and Sacrament in the Forms wherewith they are now Administred in this Church for all the mixture of Superstition or worse Dissenters charge them with O that we did look back and consider the Days of Yore what would they have parted with to obtain what some among us contemn and despise And if ever God in his Wrath suffer Popery to over-run the Land Persons shall have neither of these in the purity we now enjoy them We 'll have more Ave Maries then Pater Nosters more Invocation of Saints than Adresses to God We must receive the half Sacrament as the Priests will give it or if we take it in the way the Church now enjoyns be Burned at Stakes as Profaners of that Sacred Ordinance For all the uncharitable and unjust clamours Persons make against the way wherewith it is now exhibited as popish and Superstitious Now for my own part I must declare in the presence of God it is really Strange and Surprizing to me and I think it may be so to any considering Person that after this fresh later testimony of the Christian Fortitude and zeal of our Bishops for the Protestant Interest there should be any Protestant Separatist from the Communion of this Church Much less any to Bark against her as Roman or Antichristian Some Persons perchance may think it too Nice a speculation to say that the Dissenters are the greatest Friends to Popery yet I dare boldly assert it for Truth Not that I think they are so by paction or design but in the Issue it has and I fear it may again be found that these widen the Gap for the Common Enemies Entry And were there an exact search made there would be found more Papists in Masquerade in the several Fraternities which have divided from the Church than many well meaning Persons among them are aware off or willing to believe For it is certain how opposite soeever the Opinions of the Separatists are to those of Rome in some Points Yet as to Matters of Government they are equally Combin'd against the Royal and Ecclesiastick Power And the Church or Kingdom like an open Field may be Harrass'd by both Deut. 22.20 and then the forbidden mixture of plowing with an Ox and Ass shall be more dangerously practis'd when the learned Jesuit is joyn'd with the Phanatick Donatist the Seminary Priest and the gifted Brother the Foreign Conclave and the Domestick Conventicle shall conspire together to Demolish the Fabrick Deface the Beauty and Destroy the Purity of our Church It were happy if we did consider that differences among those of one Religion and Nation are a great advantage to the common Enemy For in this case every Subdivision is a strong Weapon in the Hand of the contrary Party And by how much inconsiderable our adversaries might appear to us were we United by so much the more Formidable they become to us through our own unhappy Dissentions By which their Interest is more Advanced their hope of success Increased than by all their Plots and Stratagems It were to be wish'd that the Enmity of the Church of Rome which is eagerly enough set against us all and in the End would swallow us without distinction could by a kind of Antiperistasis inflame our mutual Love Multitudo inimicorum corroborat unitatem amicorum stifle our private Animosities make us more Unite among our selves and willing to compose our differences This were to extract an Antidote out of their Malice Discord in unitatem trahant plagae in Remedia vertantur unde metuit Ecclesia periculum indesumat augmentum Ambros and make Treacle of the Venom of the Viper to Improve our common Danger unto an occasion of greater Safety Nothing inspires them more with Courage and Resolution against us than the several Ruptures among us Which were they made up their Confidence would fag and their attempts turn to their own shame But to conclude this Paragraph in which justice to the best reformed Church in the World Zeal for Religion and Concernedness for all who think it worth their while to read what I have hear asserted carried me to this modest Vindication I therefore beseech all by what is dear and sacred to them that they keep themselves within the Pale of that Church whose Doctrine is pure whose Worship is Decent whose Discipline is Primitive from which some through weakness have so ignorantly some through mistake have so inconsiderately and others through wantonness have so unnecessarily departed or shall I say from which some by wilfulness have so unjustly some through prejudice have so perversly and others through wickedness have so malicously Separated As I wish Christian Pilgrims keep more close and unite together since their friendly Society conduces so much to their natural Preservation So I would recommend a great deal of Caution and Circumspection to them There is a certain jealousie and suspicion not only allowable but commendable in Strangers which contributes extreamly for the security of their Credit and Interest whethersoever they pass or wherever they tarry They know there is a curiosity in others to Gaze much upon them to be inquisitive about their Circumstances to make some remarks thereon Perhaps on their Birth and Quality their Station and Condition their Garb and Countrey and whether it be Affliction if Necessity make them Travel or Policy when it is but their Choice for Improvement or Fancy that they visit Foreign Places they are very wary and considerate they know many things may pass currant in the Natives which are not so easily excused or indulged in them therefore are careful to do nothing which may expose them to Derision Censure or hard Treatment It were happy Spiritual Pilgrims did transcribe this Copy in their behaviour that they were more strict and watchful Many Eyes many spies are over them and a small escape or failure in them is more Notic'd becomes more Criminous in them than a greater matter in a mere worldling
the Children of this World disdain these Pleasures that are Fetters to the Nimrods of the Earth And Count them all as Wit hs of Straw when Imploy'd to detain or drive him from his Journey He is resolved the Tempests of the World shall not Conquer him nor its Courtship Cajole him but through Honour and Dishonour c. he 'l proceed maugre all discouragements or opposition And this makes him to Improve every thing he meets with to further him in his Way Want as well as Wealth Contempt as well as Applause Occasions of Grief as well as these of Joy can set him forward for all things work together to Advance him Rom. 8. And that your Progress may be more Successful and Comfortable Strangers and Pilgrims are or at least should be of meek Address calm Deportment and peaceable Behaviour They know nothing conduces more to their Ease and Security in the Places whither they Travel Nor can any thing Expose them to more dangerous Inconveniencies than a quarelling Temper or a contentious Disposition the effects of which howsoever they may be winked at in Natives they become intolerable in Strangers To Embroyl the State by Sedition or divide the Church by Schism to Sow discord among Brethren Jars in Families or Dissention among Neighbours is faulty in any but abominably Criminous in a Stranger The Spiritual Pilgrim should consider meekness is the peculiar Character a Christian The Beauty and Ornament of his Profession The glory of his Religion by which it Conquered the great Subdued the Wise Confuted the Scribe and Triumphed over the Disputer of the World Although our Saviour and his followers did not escape the cruelty of their Persecutors by their soft Expressions and meek behaviour Yet by them they Erected Trophies of Esteem and Approbation of themselves in the Hearts of their Enemies extorted Elogies from their Mouths and struck the Spectators and Executioners of their Punishments with Wonder and Amazement It is this that makes the Christian Pilgrim in his Converse carry such evenness of Mind in the midst of these different humours he may occasionally encounter that he neither Creates them any trouble or himself any vexation Altho' he may frequently hear what may grate his Ears and see what may be as a Thorn to his Eye he Stifles any hard Resentment and is Calm in the midst of their Insulting provocations And if he cannot by his prudence and discretion allay their Contentions among themselves he will not by any officious Interposing Exasperate them against one another or inflame them against himself And by his sedate Behaviour among them or abstractedness from their Affairs he avoids giving or receiving Offence upon every sudden caprice tempting oportunity or trifling Emergent And if he cannot by all this Caution evite the Scorn of some proud and petulant Tempers who from ill Nature or worse Breeding with insolent Railing or Railery invade his Modesty his Mind is not put out of Tune nor his Countenance out of Frame or Expressions out of Order but upon every Turn he is gentle and easie to be Intreated without grudging these Buffoons the Spoils of their Vanity or envying them the Praises they Assume from their rude Attacks on his Meekness Which he holds up as a Bank against the Torrent of the more Furious or as a Buckler against the direct or squint Reflections of the less Dangerous but equally unmannerly Litigious assaulters This makes him go on in his Road without Interessing himself unnecessarily in the Quarrels of others He knows a Stranger should not be a busy Medler in other Mens matters 1 Pet. 4.15 What hath he to do to shuffle himself into the Croud of squabling Miscreants or the Fray of Hectoring Ruffians What is he concerned to mix himself into the Company of brawling Gallants or or bawling Fops whose Souls hate Peace Psal 120. Nay he 'l be loth to concern himself in the Debates of more modest Contenders He may justly fear the pertinent Application of what was with equal Impertinence and Injustice objected to Lot Gen. 19.9 This fellow came to Sojourn among us and he must be a Judge Luke 12. How unwilling was our Saviour to be an Arbitrator between the two Brethren A busie medler in other Mens matters is no less Injurious to his own Quiet than he is to that of others like a Bone out of Joint is pain'd it self and causeth the aking to other parts He minds that Passage of Solomon Prov 26.17 he that passeth by and medleth with Strife not belonging to him is like one that taketh a Dog by the Ears The Christian Pilgrim is a Professor of the Gospel of Peace a Subject of the Prince of Peace the Receptacle or the Temple of the Spirit of peace and God delights in the Title of the God of peace What powerful Arguments are in all these to Engage him so far as is possible to live peaceably with all Men. Rom 12.18 â—al 5. Consider the fruits of the Spirit reckoned by the Apostles what are they but so many branches of this peaceable Disposition requisite in all Christian Pilgrims Consider reiterate precepts of the Gospel the behaviour of Christ and those Pilgrims who have gone before us and you 'l find it 's not by hints and little Insinuations by Starts or on Temporary occasions that this peaceable Temper is recommended to us was not peace the Alpha and Omega of Christs Entry to and Exit out of the World Luke 9.14 Peace on Earth was the Oyes at his Birth and his Legacy at his farewell John 14.27 Mat. 5. He proclaim'd Peace makers blessed in his Sermon on the Mount and Blazons their Coat of Arms with a Title of Honour beyond all worldly Pedigree They shall be called the Sons of God when the mighty Tyrants of the Earth Those priviledged Robbers as we may say of mens Liberties and Estates or Successful Thieves of Kingdoms and Countrey 's who delight in Blood and Massacres and the little Incendiaries of Contention and Strife will be Cursed as the Children of the Devil and sent with him and his Angels to the Vengeance of everlasting burnings Let me freely Address my self to all Christian Pilgrims and tell them how incongruous a thing it is that we who profess our selves Strangers in this World should behave so unlike the Captain of our Host and his followers whom we pretend to Love and Imitate Look upon the whole Course of his Life and you 'l find nothing therein but issues of Tenderness and Meekness of Love and Benignity He went about doing good while we do all the mischief we can turn every thing top-side-turfwise that crosses our Humour or that thwarts our pittiful narrow Interest How unaccountable is it that while he presents us the meekness of a Lamb we should transcribe it in the rage of a Lyon or the cruelty of Tygers That while he prescribes to us the Innocency of a Dove we Bite one another like
Dogs sting like Serpents and breath out nothing but the Gall and Venom of Asps That he should speak in a still Voice and we thunder Hail-stones and coals of Fire That he should pray for his Enemies and we curse our best Friends and Anathematize all that oppose our Opinion or seek to rectifie our Mistakes Alas this is not agreeable to the Condition of Strangers and Pilgrims if we make meekness and peaceableness the Charateristick of those who Travel to another Country and look for another City we must seek for them elsewhere than where we live Where Malice and Bitterness Strife and Envy tage so Violently that by this we may best be distinguished from the rest of the World It was not so of Old when behold how they love one another was the honour and badge of their Profession and the wonder of their Adversaries and it wou'd be so still if they did keep themselves in Concord and Uunity together and go on in their Journey in Troops not like scattered Straglers but as a compact Army or Society of fellow Travellers And this leads me in the Seventh place to speak of as necessary a Character of Christian Pilgrims as any I have yet nam'd and that is their Unity Strangers and Pilgrims who are acted by principles of Prudence Discretion or good Nature are not more careful of peaceable calm Behaviour towards others in the Foreign parts where they Travel than they are of avoiding all quarrels and dissention among themselves They consider nothing exposes them more to the Ludibry of Strangers retards them more in their Progress or encourages Enemies to Attacque them than when they fall out among themselves by the Way or separate from one another into By-Roads and differrent Parties And it is the same among Christians unity is their Credit against the obloquie their Cordial against the annoyances their Bulwark against the Assaults of their Adversaries It is no greater Security to a Kingdom or Family to an Army or any Society than it is to Christian Pilgrims and Spiritual Travellers It is a happy Association when in a regular way many Pilgrims Confederate together to stand by one another with mutual Counsel and Assistance in their Journey Heaven-ward A Mans Soul may well rejoyce in such Company Psal 122.1 and say I was glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord together Good Company makes the Road less tedious and the Time glide gently away It reconciles us to the uneasiness of a tiresom Journey and ministers Relief and Comfort to us in our Weariness and Distress Owles and Savage Beasts go frequently single but the Tamer and Gentler Animals and those by which Christian Travellers are set forth flock together in Troops Davids City compact together our Saviours Kingdom unite and Silurus his sheaf of Arro St. Pauls compleat Building or Natural Body with the agreement of its different Parts and various Functions are no more Emblems than Instructions of the happiness and security which result from Unity among Christian Pilgrims And if divine Harmony were as strong among those of Christian Community as natural Affection is in the organical Body or politick Considerations are among secular and civil Societies Religion would then Thrive as in its wholsom Air The sacred Constitution of our Church would be more firm Its Members would transcribe the same dispositions in assisting the Weak quickening the Lazy supplying the indigent in their March by which they would become more Beneficial one to another more honourable to their Captain and terrible to the Common Enemy who durst not make these attempts on an entire Body wherewith he will be bold enough to ply mutinous Bands and scattered Fractions The strength of an Army consists in its Discipline Order and Unity where these are wanting neither its Number or Force can preserve it from Ruin and if the professors of Religion like loose vagrant Souldiers forsake their Posts or regular Assembling themselves together they may come to feed upon husks be exposed to wild Beasts 1 Pet. 5.8 or fall within the paw of that Lyon who goeth about seeking whom he may devour So that they but deceive themselves who think their following by-ways the best method to advance with more Safety or arrive with more speed at their desired Rest such are frequently suffer'd as a just punishment for their separation to be led unto Quagmires and Precipices by the ignis fatuus of their own bewildred Imaginations like Men out of their Way in a Wood once wrong still worse 1 Tim. 4.15 so dangerous it is to divide from the Church the ground and Pillar of Truth and do not we find that these who made the first Rupture in her Unity may read their Sin in their Judgment God Almighty in revenge of the Rent they made has beaten them with their own Rod by permitting them to split and fall asunder into so many Parties and Subdivisions the ordinary Fate of all Broachers of Schi-sm and Hatchers of Sedition But that which is most Astonishing is that after all the Prudence and Moderation of the first Reformers of this National Church after all the Courage and Constancy of her Martyrs and Confessors after all the Zeal and Learning of her Apologists and Defenders after all former Instances upon Record and fresher of later Date to our own Sense and Knowledge of her strenuously opposing Popery any should divide from her Communion upon score of her Symbolizing with Rome and asperse her Worship and Constitution as Popish and Superstitious under this Flag the first Deserters sheltred themselves and the little Viperous Parties since wherewith the Church has been and still is Harass'd or the Kingdom Infested have made and still make the same Hue and Cry although she be the strongest Bulwark of the Protestant Religion in the World the richest Store-house of its stoutest Champions the surest Sanctuary of its persecuted Adherents Whereby she is become the greatest Eye-sore to the Papacy and the most invidious Object of its Curses and Anathema's It is strange that when the Pope and Conclave so Incessantly vent their Spight and Venom against her as Heretical any in her own Bosom should charge her with Affection to so Implacable and Avow'd an Adversary From which Envious Imputation I will not attempt to vindicate her by mustering up Arguments from Scripture Reason and Antiquity in defence of her Liturgy and Government that has been done over and over again to the Confutation of gainsayers but I shall single out some matters of Fact no less for the honour of the Church than the Conviction of her Malicious Accusers And first I would have you Consider that some of the Compilers of the Common Prayer Book suffer'd Martyrdom were Burned to Ashes in Queen Mary's Reign the Liturgy discharged and the Mass-Book introduced If these had dissown'd the Religious Service which some now spurn and embraced that Hotch-Potch of Supplications to Saints and Angels in the Romish Ritual