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
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
neglect of so necessary and fundamental a duty as honouring the King and yeilding obedience to his Laws That submission to lawful Autority and Obedience either active or passive is a most necessary duty no Christian can or will deny I say Obedience either active or passive active in things lawful passive in others Now if men bring themselves into danger or lie under any hardship for disobeying the King and not performing his lawful commands what joy of heart their passive obedience can be to them or what great content or comfort they can find in their sufferings I cannot conceiv but shall leavs it to all prudent and unprejudiced and impartial men to judge And here I shall only add this as to the matter of Non-conforming to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws and so draw to a conclusion Let men diligently take heed and beware lest in stead of conscientious Non-conformists for some such I believ there are though it's pity there should be men of of such weak and tender consciences that for want of due instruction and right information they are really and truly dissatisfy'd I say let men take heed lest in stead of being such they prove as too many I fear there are pervers and stubborn and obstinate Schismatics or which is all one fanatic hypocritical Rebels And if so then as I said before to the prophane ranting Royalists That by their vicious and ungodly lives they bring a scandal and reproach upon Loyalty So I must say to these men That by their spurning at lawful Autority and their undutifulness to the Higher Powers they bring a scandal and reproach upon Christianity while they make Religion a cloak for Rebellion and pretend conscience for their disobedience I have been the longer upon this because indeed 't is Morbus Epidemicus the diseas of the times and I would fain if possible help to beat men out of this hold viz. of making the fear of God a plea for not honouring the King a pretence so directly contrary to the Doctrine of St. Peter here in the Text where he joyns these two duties together in a bond of inseparable union I say these two Duties which I have hitherto prov'd to be like Hippocrates's twins that live and dy together Fear God Honour the King so that no man can do the one and omit the other and as he that is a prophane wicked and ungodly man cannot be a true faithful and loyal subject so on the other side he that is a fals disloyal undutiful subject pretend what he will cannot be a holy good and godly Christian. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the thing I have been proving all this while viz. that No man can truly fear God but he that honours the King Now there are several ways of honouring or giving honour to any several sorts of honour I mean of honour strictly taken as here in the Text for otherwise honour is taken in a more large acception as oppos'd to contempt scorn or hatred and so in the beginning of the vers Honour all men that is have a due respect to all do not hate nor scorn despise nor contemn any But honour strictly and properly taken is only due to Superiors and so in this sens there are several sorts of honour these three especially The honour of Obedience the honour of Reverence and the honour of Maintenance and all these comprehended and included in the word honour both in the fifth commandment where we are bid to honour our Parents and also here in the Text which is a branch of that commandment where we are bid to honour the King Of the first of these I have been speaking all this while viz. of the honour of Obedience and for the two latter the honour of Reverence and the honour of Maintenance as I have now no time so no need I hope to say much of them For that both these sorts of honour are due to the King or Supreme Magistrate as well as that of Obedience is out of all question it being so consonant to the principles both of Religion and Reason and so agreeable to the rules both of Divinity and Policy So that most men yeild their assent to the truth of it as to the Theory though in the Practice sometimes they fail and fall short So then besides that of Obedience there are these two other sorts of honour more both confessedly due to Kings and Princes viz. the honour of Reverence and the honour of Maintenance the one for the safeguard and defenc of their Royal Persons the other for the support of their Regal Estate Crown and Dignity For first if their Persons be once slighted undervalu'd and disesteem'd their lives will soon be in danger and then again if their jura Regalia their Regalities or Revenues of the Crown be clipt and cut short the Reverence of their Persons will not long continue Therefore we find Honour in Scripture sometimes put for supply or maintenance or payment of rights and dues as of Tithe or Tribute and Offerings and the like Honour the Lord with thy substance and so the King too Honour widows that is maintain them by supplying their wants and necessities and to this purpose St. Paul in that 13th to the Rom. v. 7 Render therefore to all and so to Kings and Princes their dues tribute to whom tribute c. where we have tribute and custome and honour put together tribute and custome being a great part of the honour due to Kings Therefore our Saviour commends and commands it both by his precept and practice by his precept in his Reddite Caesari by his practice when he pay'd tribute himself yea and rather than not pay it he would work a miracle and fetch it out of a fishes mouth and he made St. Peter to do it which St. Peter's Successor the Fisherman of Rome I fear is not so forward to do to pay tribute I mean to Kings and Emperours but rather make them pay homage and tribute to him which if they refuse to do and so prove Heretics Rebels to the Apostolic See the Chair of Rome and the Triple Crown presently ipso facto they forfeit their own Crowns I and their Lives too away with 'um depose and kill ' um This is the Jesuits Doctrine but they learnt it not of Jesus nor Peter nor Paul nor Tertullian nor of any of the ancient Fathers What Christ and Peter and Paul have said we have already heard Let us hear now if you will what Tertullian saith for himself and the rest of the Primitive Christians of his time Colimus Imperatorem tanquam hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem We honour and worship and reverence the Emperour next to God And St. Chrysostome to name no more upon that famous place to the Romans Omnis anima Let every soul be subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though he be an Apostle or Evangelist or Bishop or whatever he be if he come within the
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