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
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
THREE SERMONS Preached in St. Maries Church IN CAMBRIDG UPON THE Three Anniversaries OF THE Martyrdom of Charles I. Jan. 30. Birth and Return of Charles II. May 29. Gun-powder Treason Novemb. 5. By JAMES DUPORT D. D. Dean of Peterborough and Master of Magdalen College in Cambridg and one of his Majesty's Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-yard the West end M DC LXXVI REVERENDO DOCTISSIMOQUE VIRO ROBERTO HITCH S. T. P. ECCLESIAE METROPOLITICAE EBORACENSIS DECANO TUTORI SUO AETERNUM COLENDO TRES HASCE CONCIONES LEVIDENSE QUIDEM MUNUSCULUM INDUBIUM TAMEN GRATI ANIMI AMORIS ET OBSERVANTIAE PIGNUS AC MONUMENTUM LUBENS MERITO D. D. D. JACOBUS DUPORT IMPRIMATUR Ro. Mapleloft Procan Ja. Fletewood Ri. Minshull Jo. Pearson now Lord Bishop of Chester A SERMON Preached upon the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of King CHARLES the First Acts 7. 60. Lord lay not this sin to their charge IT is the Prayer of St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr for his Persecutors and Murderers and it was the Prayer of our late Royal Martyr for his Persecutors and Murderers too for these were his words in his Speech at his Death I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their charge And this is one part of the Parallel may be drawn between these two Martyrs to make the Text verbum diei sutable to the time Another may be taken from the 9 and 10 Verses of the foregoing Chapter where we find the Synagogue of the Libentines and others disputing with Stephen and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake And did not our Royal Martyr too dispute with the Libertines for Liberty was the pretence both in Church and State did he not dispute with the Kirk-men of Scotland and others here at home and so confound 'um that they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake as is notoriously known and yet to be seen in his incomparable Works 3. Was it not for the Cause and t is the Cause that makes the Martyr of God and a good Conscience and the Gospel and the Church of Christ and true Religion that he suffer'd as well as Stephen 4. Some part of a parallel by way of allusion may be in the name Stephen signifies a Crown and ever since 't is call'd the Crown of Martyrdom Martyrium Stephani Martyrii Stephanus 't is not mine but Gregory Nyssen's in his Encomiastic Oration upon him Stephen was the first that wore the Crown of Martyrdom And was not the Murther of our Royal Charles the Martyrdom of a Crown for our Regicides did not only kill the King but the Crown it self as much they could not only an annointed Crowned King but the Crown and Kingdom too Thus they found out a way to bring Caligula's wish to effect and by a Compendium of Cruelty uno ictu to decoll the whole Kingdom for when they cut off his Head they cut off the Head of the People so Carolus in Greek signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they made account the People shu'd never have a head more but be Acephali both in Church and State not any one head no Monarch nor King but I know not what and so they shu'd have been a kind of a Hydra or bellua multorum capitum 5. And lastly St. Stephen was the Proto-Martyr or first Martyr and so was our St. Charles but how can this be you 'l say is not this a contradiction that there shu'd be two Proto-Martyrs two first Martyrs and those so long one after another but my meaning is ours was the first that ever was Murder'd or Martyr'd in the like kind for was it ever heard of recorded or read in any Story that there ever was in any age of the world the like horrid Barbarity such a quintessence of Treason Rebellion and Cruelty as was acted this day upon his Sacred Person He being the first crown'd and anointed King that was thus murder'd by his own Subjects at his own Palace-gate and that by a Mock-High-Court of Justice or rather by a deep-dissembling Court of most high Injustice the first example in this kind and so a Proto-Martyr too But I shall leave these and return to that part of the Parallel which we meet withal here viz. his praying for his Enemies Persecutors and Murderers as St. Stephen does in the words of the Text Lord lay not this sin to their charge In which words observ with me these five particulars 1. Here 's Designatio criminis the designation of a Crime or Sin the pointing out of some special signal remarkable Sin this Sin 2. Reatus or meritum peccati the guilt or demerit of Sin in general 't is to be layd to the Sinner's charge 3. Misericordia Dei the mercy of God in giving a discharge to Sinners sometimes and not laying their sins to their charge This suppos'd else it had been in vain for Stephen to ha' made such a Prayer 4. Virtus Orationis the efficacy and power of Prayer in procuring a pardon and prevailing with God to grant a discharge and not to lay sin to the charge of a Sinner 5. And lastly Officium Christiani the duty of Christians under the Cross by St. Stephen's example to pray for their Persecutors as he did here Lord lay not c. 1. Here 's Designatio criminis the pointing out of some special signal remarkable Sin this Sin some extraordinary great Sin sure it was a Sin of the first magnitude crimen majoris abollae This appears by our Martyr's Praying and Praying so earnestly with a loud voice for the pardon and forgiveness of it lay not this sin this Sin with an emphasis this great grievous heinous Sin lay not this Sin to their charge 'T is true there 's no Sin but stands in need of pardon yet all Sins are not equal as the Stoics wu'd have them but some greater than others and so require a greater measure of repentance and men must pray and cry louder than ordinary for the pardon and forgiveness of them Especially when we pray for the pardon of other mens Sins making particular mention of 'um we do not commonly take notice of Gnats but Camels not of Moats but Beams not of Mole-hills but Mountains I mean we do not use to specifie or particularize any with a demonstrative hoc peccatum this Sin unless it be some extraordinary heinous crying Sin and such a one it seems was this here a crying Sin or else Stephen wu'd never have cry'd so loud for the pardon and non-imputation of it Indeed this was the last Sin he knew they were guilty of and they were now flagrant in the actual commission of it and so he might be the more concern'd for 'um and the more sensible of it and the rather because he felt the fruit or rather the smart of it while the stones came ratling about
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
have them impos'd nor commanded becaus indifferent And is not this said to proceed from tenderness of conscience and fear of doing somthing against the will of God reveal'd in his Word Thus men must be disobedient to lawful Autority and so resist the Ordinance of God even for conscience sake And though sure they do not much honour the King who disobey him by transgressing his Laws yet such men think they fear God as much yea more than any and that they are the most if not the only religious and conscientious men and all others but formalists and time-servers and meer moral men in comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But now becaus there is such a nois of conscience I would earnestly entreat and beseech such men for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ diligently to search and examin their own hearts for the heart is deceitful above all things and see whether instead of that they call conscience and make it a plea for their disobedience there may not be something else lying at the bottom that looks like conscience when indeed 't is nothing less but rather humour or passion or fancy or faction or prejudice or interest or singularity or hypocrisie or spiritual pride If our heart condemn us saith St. John God is greater then our heart and knows all things I am very well aware of what follows in the next vers from whence some would infer that they may boldly and lawfully do whatever their conscience bids them If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But sure that must be understood of a heart and conscience truly enlightned and rightly inform'd otherwise we have no caus to be confident for our heart may deceiv us and conscience if misguided is a dangerous thing and will soon marr all and make foul work and set the whole world on a flame Did not Paul persecute the Church out of Zeal to Religion and did not they that kill'd the Disciples and Saints of Christ think they did God good service Thus conscience if misled and not well guided taught and instructed may do a world of mischief where it is But then again is it not easie to pretend it where it is not for have not we known the most horrid and devilish designs carry'd on under a shew and pretence of conscience and the Caus of God and Religion The truth is Conscience is made a sadle for every hors a bush or sign to hang at every door And as long as the heart is so deceitful as long as there is so much hypocrisie in the world we have little reason to trust every such show and pretence of conscience either in our selvs or others Especially when we have a more clear light to guide and direct us and a more sure rule to walk by viz. the Word of God Conscience is a dark close secret intricate thing it has many crooked windings and turnings but the Word of God at least in things necessary to Salvation such as is obedience to lawful Autority is plain and easie clear and evident and there are no such Maeanders or ambages in it Conscience may err and lead us into errour like an Ignis fatuus 't is fallible and uncertain it may deceiv and be deceiv'd but the Word of God is an unerring guide a certain and infallible rule Conscience then is no sure rule to trust to we have a more sure rule even the sure Word of God whereunto we shall do well to take heed as to a light that shines in a dark place as our Apostle St. Peter speaks In brief the Word of God is the rule of our lives and of our consciences both and truly conscience will play mad pranks if not regulated and guided by this rule and for men to pretend conscience against the express Word and Commandment of God what is it else but to turn Antiscripturists and so Atheists under pretence of Religion Does not Solomon counsel us to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the oath of God where we see he expresly makes Religion towards God the ground and foundation of our obedience to the King so that he that keeps the King's commandment keeps the commandment of God And is not this the clear and express commandment of God here in the Text Honour the King And shall any then plead conscience for not Honouring him Can any man in conscience truly fear God and not honour the King for can a man fear God and not keep his commandments And is not the fifth commandment one of the ten or can any one honour the King and yet slight his Autority or refuse to obey his Laws And are not the Ecclesiastical Laws by the way the King's Laws And have not they the impress of Regal Sanction and the stamp of Royal autority set upon them as well as the Civil What plea then or excuse can men have for not keeping and observing of them especially when they pretend to be so good Christians to fear God and keep his commandments If mens consciences be misled and mistaken which is the best can be imagin'd yet God and the King must not loos their right An erroneous conscience cannot cancel the bond of obedience nor excuse any from doing his duty Indeed it may so ensnare and entangle him that durante illâ conscientiâ he cannot proceed one way or other without Sin but still datur exitus for Nemo angustiatur ad peccandum saith the School still there 's a way left to get out and to extricate himself and that is deponere errorem conscientiae to rectifie his conscience to quit and forsake his errour which he may do by giving all moral diligence and using all good means for his better information And if he would do that let him not lean too much to his own understanding but rather distrust his own judgment than the judgments of so many wise grave learn'd and godly men his Superiors in Church and State the King and those that are in autority under him And then let him in the fear of God duly and impartially weigh and examin the grounds and reasons of his dissent and disobedience not thinking it sufficient that he has met with some little umbrages and shadows of offence in general taken at the King 's Ecclesiastical Laws the Orders and Ceremonies and Liturgy of the Church but let him come to particulars and then seriously consider and ask his own heart whether indeed he be able to prove by Scripture or reason any one thing enjoyn'd to be unlawful and repugnant to the Word of God for till that be done 't is in vain for any to plead or pretend tenderness of conscience for their contempt and disobedience And then let him ask himself but one question more viz. how far he thinks some few needless niceties doubts and scruples about things indifferent will bear him out and excuse him another day for his
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
hewing and hacking at ' um Both these should have been blown up this day and are any still lifting and heaving at ' um If so who are they or what can we count them but the sons of father Garnet or the spawn of Catesby and Faux And certainly our factious fanatic turbulent and schismatical spirits are but the Jesuits Journey-men though they are so blind they cannot nor will not perceiv it And I would heartily beseech and entreat our dissenting Brethren who make such a fearful pudder rupture and rent in this poor Church I say if there were any here I would earnestly beseech and entreat them in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ seriously to consider what a scandal they bring upon the Reformed Religion and what hopes and advantages they give to the adversary They have been hammering say they a Reformation all this while and yet now they cannot tell what they would have or where they would be O! how Rome triumphs in our Divisions how the Pope warms himself at the fire of our feuds and animosities schisms and dissentions the best fire I believe that ever he had next to that of Purgatory They that wu'd break down the fence of our Ecclesiastical Government by undermining and weakning the power and autority of the Church of England in her Laws and Canons and Constitutions what a gap wu'd they open to the Foxes of Rome the little Foxes to enter in and spoil our vines They that would unhinge the frame discompose and ruffle the Government of so well-order'd and setled a Church by shaking and loosning the pinns and joints of it especially when establisht by the Civil Power and Royal Autority what do they els in effect endeavour to do but what this day was intended viz. to bring us into a woful labyrinth and into a snare of horrid confusions And then let our Popish Fowlers alone they desire no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc Ithacus velit magno mercentur Jesuitae who hope that a Church thus divided against it self cannot stand Doubtless if things go on in the same pass they have done of late and schism and faction still get ground and grow and increas upon us the Pope in time will have a fair pull for it we shall need no Fauxes with dark Lanthorns nor gunpowder-men to blow us up and our Religion together we shall do it our selves Do we not think our Romish Fowlers are at work still among us very busie in laying their snares for us and shall we be quarrelling among our selvs till God give us up for a prey to their teeth Quarrelling about I know not what I dare say the quarrelsome part know not what they wu'd have Give me leav to repeat a saying which I heard many years ago as long ago almost as I can remember Si unquam Papismus remeaverit in Angliam Puritanismus erit in causa if ever Popery return into England and we be brought into that snare again and fall into the hands of those Fowlers of Rome which God forbid we may thank our Schismatics and Sectaries for it God be thank'd hitherto this snare hath been broken and this day it was broken and I may say it was broken too not many years since by a miracle of mercy this snare or a wors well the snare is broken and we are delivered and we still enjoy our Laws and Liberties Lives and Religion under a most Gracious Prince who may far better be call'd Pius and Clemens then either of the two men of Rome we spoke of before I say under a most Gracious King whom God long preserv in a Church most pure and Orthodox and Apostolical and best reformed of any Church this day in the Christian world O fortunatos nimium if we would but know it Happy is that people that is in such a case under such a King and in such a Church a happiness which nothing can deprive us of but our monstrous and wretched unthankfulness for such a great mercy As ever then we hope or desire to have this happiness prolong'd and continu'd to us and our posteritie and still to escape these snares snares of superstition and snares of confusion snares of the head and snares of the hand snares of corrupt and pernicious principles and snares of cursed and cruel practices in a word as ever we look to enjoy the fruit and benefit of this days deliverance let us be really and truly thankful to God for it let us escape as a bird the bird when she is escaped out of the snare flys aloft towards Heaven as it were in token of thankfulness Volans in nubila fugit with her in Virgil so let us let us be really thankful let us express our thankfulness by flying aloft towards Heaven I mean by our Heavenly-mindedness by the purity and holiness of our lives by an humble and chearful submission and conformity to the Laws of God and the King in a word by our lowly and loyal peaceable and godly Conversation And now let me ask but this one Question Is our soul escaped I say not since this days Deliverance 't is so long past but of late since the snare was last broken eight or nine years ago Is our soul the better for it it may be our body is our bodily and temporal estate perhaps is better but are we grown better as to our Souls and spiritual estate are we more reformed in our lives since that late wonderful Revolution are we since that grown more holy and religious more sober and temperate more meek and peaceable more humble and charitable If so then our soul is escaped But if on the contrary we are nothing amended by it nor more reformed in our Lives if we are not the better nor walk any whit the closer with God after such an extraordinary signal deliverance from such a dangerous snare as this our body is escaped it may be but our soul is in the snare still though not in the snare of Popish superstition yet in as bad or a wors snare the snare of Atheism and prophaness and so our soul is not escaped Yea and as to our outward and bodily estate however it be with us at present yet for the future we are never the safer but in as bad a case in as much danger as ever yea and in more for if we sin more and more a wors thing will come unto us God will bring us into the same or a worse snare for assure we our selves this if we still go on to provoke the Lord by our sins notwithstanding these his miraculous mercies towards us a wors thing will come unto us a worse snare will befall us and we know not how soon it may be here in this world but be sure hereafter in the world to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon us it is an elegant Paronomasy that in the Prophet but a sad one
horror of Conscience the snares of death and the pit of hell So then is our soul still hamperd and entangled in the snares of our sins and can we say our soul is escaped Sin it self is a snare and all snares come by sin The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands saith David the Father and In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare saith Solomon the Son If then we would escape the snares of evil men such as was that of this day take we heed of the snares of the Devil which St. Paul speaks of in his Epistles to Timothy those two especially which he there makes one of them at least the root of all evil Pride and Covetousness these are indeed the cause of all other snares both in Church and State Ambition and Avarice for the most part the fountains and inlets of all Heresie and Schism Rebellion and Treason yea of all sin and wickedness mischief and misery whatsoever these are they that set our Romish Fowlers a work this day though zeal for Religion and the Catholic cause was pretended Wherefore to conclude Flee youthful lusts saith the Apostle Let us flee sinful lusts to be sure especially these two leading grand cardinal lusts Pride and Covetousness and then we shall the sooner and easier flee schism and faction atheism and prophaness which if we do not we have no part nor portion in this days solemnity nor can we cordially close with the Church in the celebration of it but let us to the purity of our Reformed Religion add the purity and reformedness of our lives let us walk in the ways of peace and holiness humility and charity and then we may with joyful and chearful and thankful hearts acknowledg and commemorate the great deliverance of this day and say with the Psalmist in the words of the Text Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are delivered FINIS Non poena sed causa facit Martyrem S. Aug. Epist. 61. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss. Tom. 3. Orat. in S. Steph. Matth. 23. 37. Gen. 9. 6. Psal. 116. 15 V. 57. 58. Grot. De Satisfact cap. 10. De Albanis hoc specialiter proditum solere ab ipsis immolari eum quem crederent Sanctimoniâ maximè pollere Joh. 19. 6. Talis cùm sis utinam noster esses Nunt. à Mort. Nemo demtâ haerâ—seos labe aut justior aut sanctior c. p. 7. Joh. 19. 14. Joh. 19. 5. Dan. 9. 26. 2. Gen. 4. 7. Joh. 8. 44. Rom. 6. 23. 3. Vâ— etiam laudabili vitae hominum Aug. Conf. l. 1. c 22. Si quoties peccant homines sua fulmina mittat 4. Exod. 34. 7. Jam. 5. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. 1 Joh. 1. 7. Heb. 9. 22. Matth. 23. 35 1 Tim. 2. 5. Jam. 5. 15. Act. 8. 24. Jer. 7. 16. Aug. Cons. 1. 3. c. 12. Matth. 3. 9. S. Aug. Serm. 1 De Sanctis 5. Matth. 5. 44. Luk. 23. 34. 1 Cor. 13. 6. Joh. 16. 13. Hom. Il. 1. 1 Cor. 13. Matt 27. 24. Eccles. 12. 13. Rom. 13. 5. Rom. 13. 1. Luk. 18. 2. Psal. 36. 1. Prov. 25. 5. Psal. 73. 9. Prov. 24. 21. 1 Kings 18. 12. Jer. 39. 18. Rom. 13. 7. Pareus in locum Jer. 17. 9. 1 Joh. 3. 20. 1 Joh. 3. 21. Joh. 16. 2. 2 Pet. 1. 19. Eccles. 8. 2. Prov. 3. 5. Prov. 3. 9. 1 Tim. 5. 3. Matth. 22. 21. Theodorus eâ—m subâ—de appellavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sueton. Tiber. Sueton. Claud. 2 Pet. 2. 10. Prov. 1. 17. Psal. 18. 5. Gen. 49. v. 7. v. 5. v. 6. Virg. Aen. 5. Psal. 118. 23. Prov. 16. 10. Bellarm. sub nomine Matth. Torti pag. 94. Bellarm. sub nomine Sculken contra Widdrington Less Apolog. pro Potest S. Pontif. Part 2. Sect. 3. Santarel de Haeresi Schism Creswel Philopat Num. 156. Davenant Determ Qu. 17. Less de Just. Jur. l. 2. c. 9. Membris Eccles. Bellarm. de Membris Eccles lib. 3. qui est deLaicis Bellarm. in Recog lib. suprà dict Bellarm. de Concil l. 2. Bellarm. de Potest S. Pontif. adv G. Barcl cap. 31. Heb. 10. 23. Psal. 144. 15. Joh. 5. 14. Jer. 48. 432. Psal. 9. 16. Prov. 29. 6. 1 Tim. 3. 7. 2 Tim. 2. 26. 1 Tim. 6. 10. 2 Tim. 2. 22.