with the Title of Religion You call Rebellion Reformation Schism and Separation Godliness Division from the Church Communion and Union with God You put Darkness for Light and Worship the blackest Crimes and Vices in the habit of Vertue Piety and true Religon Thus whilest you spie the Moat in your Mothers Eyes and would pull that and them too out to make her see clearly you never consider the Beam that is in your own And whilest you Vehemently accuse others of Worshipping God in vain according to the Traditions of Men you never regard how you make the Commandments of God of no Effect by your Traditions Matt. 15.6 God says Honour the King and thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People Obey Magistrates c. Your Traditions say Dishonour him by Disobedience Insinuate Jealousies and evil Surmisings concerning him and his Government Your Actions are a thousand Tongues and every Tongue a Trumpet to Proclaim your thoughts And however with your Lips you may pretend to honour the King and with your Mouths to draw near to God your Heart is in reality far from both Your Will is your God the Idol of your Heart which you set up and Worship For what I pray is your way of Worship but Tradition from the Heads of your Party Is there ever a Word in Scripture for your long Extempore Prayers full not of Tolerabiles ineptiae with which Calvin charges our Liturgy but of Intollerable Tautologies vain Repetitions rash Expressions and indigested Matter Christ is Positive against them Use them not says he as the Heathens who think to be heard for their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their much speaking The Wise King who had Survey'd all the Vanities of the World makes this not only a Vanity Eccl. 5.1 2. but a dangerous Rashness and a Sacrifice of Fools And yet you use it commend and applaud it as the only way pleasing and acceptable to God Is the Scripture clear that there ought to be no Bishops in the Church Or that Lay-Elders who understand neither Sense nor it may be English and in some places who cannot write their Name should yet be impowered to Define and Determine in Matters of Faith Are you any where forbidden to wear a Surplice or to use the Sign of the Cross or to bury Christians in hope of Charity and Resurrection to Eternal Life Or to pray in set and appointed Words which is true praying by the Spirit when we pray with understanding also knowing what will be said If these be not Gods Commands or Prohibitions they are Yours and if they are not in Scripture as I am sure they are not they are not only the Commandments and Traditions of Men but of Men who have no Power to Command or Impose the most indifferent thing And yet you perswade all Men every where that they owe Obedience to these forgetting that God is to be Obeyed rather than Men and that he commands you to Obey those that have the Rule over you If you will be Followers of God as Dear Children you must if it be possible and as much as in you lies be Followers of Peace with all Men much more with your Superiors both in Church and State But this is very possible for you to do And that it is not only Possible but Honest and Necessary and your Duty the Ensuing Papers will plainly inform you To them therefore I refer you they were designed for you And if you will Esteem me your Enemy because I tell you the Truth without Flattery Interest or Partiality yet I had rather be so Esteemed than be so in Reality by Skinning over your Festred Gangreen with words smooth as Oyl Whereas in Truth it ought to be laid open to prevent the further Eating of the Canker And this is the only way that I know to approve my self to be Your most Affectionate And real Friend The Contents CHAP. I. The INTRODVCTION CHAP. II. OF the Obstacles of Truth and Peace The necessity of removing them before we can obtain the other The great value all men have for Truth and for Imposture under its Name The first Obstacle Self Interest of its prevalency upon Jews Pagans Mahumetans the Romish Church and all Dissenters p. 10 CHAP. III. Of the second Obstacle to Peace Truth and Vnity Prejudice and Prepossession of Mind The Nature and Effects of Prejudice Of Ceremonies The reason why hated Of the meaning of the word Ceremony Some Ceremonies absolutely necessary in all Religious Worship All not Popery which Papists do Of Education and Custom how they are the Foundation of Prejudices p. 25 CHAP. IV. Of Pride and Ambition most dangerous Obstacles of Truth and Peace because Vices of Temper and Inclination The Difficulty of subduing these sins of Complexion Religion made their usual disguise The danger of them manifested in a short Character of Oliver Cromwell Of the danger of these in Church-men The Methods of such Persons as are infected with them to advance themselves to dignity A way to discover such fiery spirits from the Peacable spirit of Christianity p. 40 CHAP. V. Of the necessity of Vnion That the only way to Establish Happiness in any Nation The Intent of Religion the Happiness of Mankind here in this Life as well as in a future state That the truest Religion which advances this great Intention for which God gave it Of the true Church Of degrees of Purity in Churches Of the Seven Churches of Asia Distinction and Coordination of National Churches proved Faith the Common Bond of Vnion in the Catholique Church Of the Independency of National Churches one from another in point of Limits and Jurisdiction How the Peace of the Church Vniversal is thereby preserved p. 64. CHAP. VI. Objections against the Independency or Co-ordination of National Churches Why it cannot be admitted in several Churches in the same Nation It takes away the Power and Soveraignty of the Prince It is the Ruin of the Society Of the Foreign Protestant Churches The reason of their Disunion from Rome matter of Faith not of Ceremony only or of Government p. 78. CHAP. VII Of Vnity in Government that it is the bond of a National Church as Vnity in Faith is of the Catholique The Practice of the Primitive Church Of the Difference about Easter The Opinion of Irenaeus Bishop of Lions about it A National Church an intire Polity of Christian Men. The Laws of the Church and State mutual and recipocral design the same End viz. the Happiness of the Society Disobedience to either is so to both All Society as well as Happiness destroyed by Disunion The necessity of Vnity in Government upon a Religious account No Charity without it and without Charity no Religion p. 96. CHAP. VIII Of the Power of the Keys by Excommunication and Absolution How render'd impracticable by Tollerating many Churches in the same Nation Of the Decay of Christian Piety That and the Growth of Errors must lye at the
Vnity To these I might add Envy the Canker of the Mind the daughter of Discontent and constant Enemy of Peace Covetousness the Root of all Evil. Envy being the shadow of Honour and real Worth and Sacrilegious Covetousness the Ravenous Harpie that preys upon the small Patrimony of the Church which usually is the great perswasive to prophane and Rapacious Natures to treat her as the Atheistical Dionysius did his Apollo who rob'd him of his golden Robe alledging it was too cold for his Godship in Winter and too heavy in Summer but because these Fall in with Interest and Ambition I will not under different Names repeat the same things over again to nauseat the Judicious and tire the indifferent Reader with reiterated Tautologies CHAP. V. HAVING thus shewn what it is that impedes our Happiness and which therefore must of necessity be removed from the Minds of Men before there can be any Possibility of their Embracing Truth Unity and Charity in the next place we come to manifest the necessity of Vnion the only Expedient which can procure the Common Happiness of Mankind Now to make this appear we must look into the Main End and Design of all Religion here in this Mortal State of Life in order to that future Condition of a Glorious Immortality and that we may the better apprehend what that is we must consider the Commands and Precepts of Religion and at what they aim And because all the Rules of our Holy Profession direct us to it we must believe that God Almighty gave us those Precepts Rules and Directions to promote our own and the Common Happiness of all Mankind even here in this present State of Life to render our short Journey through the troublesom Stage of Time more pleasant and easy till we arrive at the unchangeable Happiness of Eternity This Easiness of Mind this real Happiness of Life is only to be obtain'd by following the precepts of Justice Temperance Sobriety Prudence and the other Noble and God-like Vertues which Religion teaches for the substance of Happiness does not consist in any thing without us though there are good Circumstances but in the Innocency of Mind and purity of Life Nil Conscire sibi nullà pallefcere culpâ in our being good and doing good which is the great Employment for which we came into the World So that there is a necessity of Religion in the World in order to the happy posture of humane affairs which all Mankind desire for themselves with unlimited wishes but are too narrow in their indeavors to promote it in Common unto others That this was the Wise and good Design of the great Creator is most apparent in that even in those obscure Ages of Barbarism and Ignorance Act. 14.16 17. at which the Apostles says God was pleased to wink yet he left not himself without a Witness When in times past he suffered all men to walk in their own ways they were not without some Religion which taught them their Duty in some Measure though imperfect both to the Gods for they supposed many and also to Men. THAT must of Necessity therefore be the truest Religion and most agreeable to the Will of God which approaches nearest to this Great Design and would certainly accomplish the End for which all Religion was intended And therefore the truth of any Religion must be measured according to the Proportion which it holds to promoting Peace Unity and Charity the only ways to obtain happiness in this World as well as Faith whereby we hope to obtain the happiness of a future state And what Religion soever separates these Good Works from Faith is so far vain and destroys that Faith it seems to profess for Faith without Works is dead If therefore any Religion ruines Peace Unity and Charity we must judg it so far false and erroneous let it make never so many Boasts of holding the true Faith of Christ Of all the Religions which ever were in the World the Christian Doctrine may justly challenge the Preheminence as conducting men if they would be managed by it the nearest way to Happiness both Temporal and Eternal and among all the variety of Opinions in the Christian Religion that must therefore of necessity be the best and truest which does most powerfully promote innocency of Life purity of Mind Unity and universal Peace not by external force and violence but by the same Methods which God Almighty made use of to plant and propagate it in the World which was not by Tumults Seditions or Disobedience to the Civil Magistrate but by meekness humility Charity and a Conversation unblameable Which were the Weapons by which the Primitive Christians were taught to put to silence the ignorance of folish Men The Church indeed had a power but it was purely Spiritual and those spiritual Arms were the most powerful to the pulling down and dismantling the strong holds of Sin and therefore even while the Temporal Powers of the Earth did all they could to suppress them yet mightily did the Word of God grow and increase not by opposing Rebelling or imposing Laws upon their Soveraigns but by submitting and suffering demonstrating upon all occasions their Innocence and that they were free from any ill designs upon the Civil Government of the World or the Temporal concerns of Mankind BUT because all and every Profession of Christian Religion every Church would have us beleive this of them and that therefore every one Challenges the name of the true Church of Christ here lies the Difficulty and the niceness of the Point Which is the best and truest And because all desire the Glorious Title therefore they quarrel about it who it is that is the Spouse of Christ Whereas one would Modestly believe that to be without Spot and Wrinkle is not to be appropriated to any particular Church in which there must be Tares and Chaff as well as Wheat but to the Holy Catholick Church I do not mean of Rome for She is but one Member that glorious Company of true Believers the General Assembly of the Church which have been and shall be in all Ages of the World and out of all Nations united unto Christ their Head A Church may be a true and a visible Church of Christ and yet have many Errors and so long as they keep the foundation of Faith though they may build Hay and Stubble upon that Foundation yet I do not see how they can be denyed that Name Thus we see St. Paul writes to the Church of God which is at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 to them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints And yet in that very Epistle he Complains of great Errors and Disorders among them Cap. 11. and an Abuse of the very Sacrament of the Lords Supper and so to the Church of the Galatians and yet he tartly calls them foolish Galatians and tells them they were bewitched into this Disobedience against the Truth and that he was
Laws of God and Man just as they suit his Interest and his Inclination to make the Scriptures a Nose of Wax and the King and Church meer Heads of Wood and since the reason of Obedience is because we think it truth which is Commanded and that they who Command are better able to Judge for us than we our selves as being by God appointed over us for that Design should they be mistaken in what they Command yet the Judge of all the Earth who cannot do wrong would be so far from punishing that he would reward such Obedience because done according to his Command Nor shall the other for Commanding because they did it with a good Design provided when it does appear to them to be of ill consequence they cease to impose it any longer which is the true reason why many things in the service of God have been altered and abolished upon several Occasions THIRDLY It will be objected That by this Rule all the Gallicane German and other Protestant Churches who live under a Government which owns and Commands the Romish Discipline and Church will hereby be made Schismaticks to those several National Churches of which they are Members and that hereby a necessity is laid upon us to return to the Obedience of the Church of Rome for if those Churches may dissent from their National Churches and yet hold the true Faith why may not we why should their Disobedience be Lawful and ours Damnable To this I answer First That the Difference between those Churches and the National Church in which they are does not consist in Matters of Circumstance or Ceremony but in Matters of Faith and though I will neither undertake the Defence of those Churches either in Doctrine or Discipline yet I suppose they separate from the Roman Communion upon the account of the Impositions of that Church in Points of Faith such as are the Popes Supremacy never owned in France even by the Catholiques the Doctrines of Infallibility the real Presence by Transubstantiation Merit of Works and Supererogation Invocation of Saints Purgatory Adoration of Images c. and the Roman Church who imposes these as Articles of Faith is her self Schismatical if not Heretical from the Catholique Apolique Church of all Ages and therefore to depart from her where she departs from Truth is no more Heresie or Schism than it would be to depart from the Law of Moses or the Jewish Communion in Circumcision c. or of Mahomet if those were imposed as Matters of Faith by that or any other Church for the Apostles Rule holds good to the End of the World for all Christians in Matters of Faith and Manners Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 And would the Romish Church Impose no more upon Christians as necessary to Salvation than is contained in those three famous Creeds of the Apostles Nice and St. Athanasius and what is clearly contained in Scripture which have ever been the Standards of the Catholique Faith I think every good Christian over whom they may challenge a Lawful Jurisdiction ought to joyn with them in Communion of Government and even those over whom they can rightly challenge none ought yet to agree with them in the Communion of Faith Nay should they command many Ceremonies in the Service of God more than they do yet those who live in the Jurisdiction of that Church ought to submit to them for the maintaining of Unity Peace and Charity and I doubt not but the Foreign Protestants at least in Charity I hope so if there were no other matters of Difference between them would easily be perswaded to submit to all the Points of Government Ceremony and much more I remember what a Famous French Minister said to this Purpose when he was told that some of the English Nonconformists refused Communion with the Church of England because they were Enjoyned to wear the Surplice and other Vestments I wish says he that the King of France would command me to perform my Function in a Fools Coat so little did he think the outside and dress of Religion to be of the Essence of it and so necessary did he judge Obedience as well as true Faith to the Peace Unity and Happiness of the Church BUT Secondly Many of those Protestants have Licence and Tolleration given them to Celebrate the Worship and Service of God according to their own Way and by that Dispensation they are free from the guilt of Disobedience to the Civil Magistrate and for the Obedience they owe to the Church of Rome I presume they are willing to give it with all their hearts if Rome Exacted no more in matters of Faith than God Almighty requires as necessary to Salvation BUT the Case is clearly different betwixt our Dissenters and the Foreign Protestants for our Differences are or at least are pretended to be about matters of Polity and the Manner of performance of the Offices of Religion and let the Nonconformists prove us but Guilty of destroying one Article of Faith or imposing any thing to be believed or done contrary to the Scriptures and let them dissent from us in Gods Name and till they can do that their Separation will be a horrid Schism and their Nonconformity a manifest Disobedience to the Laws of God and Men. And should the Foreign Churches refuse the Communion of the Church of Rome and disobey the Princes whose Subjects they are commanding them if there were no greater Differences than Matters of Ceremony and Circumstance I doubt not but their Separation and Disobedience would deserve the same Character BUT supposing the Supreme Power of those Countries should absolutely prohibit the Protestants the exercise of their Religion I think they ought to obey and fall to the Old Arms of the Primitive Christians Prayers and Tears and not to the new Methods of Manaces making Parties and endeavouring by force of Arms to obtain that from Authority by Violence and Compulsion which they cannot by Perswasion A Practice shameful to the Protestant Cause and for any thing I can see if they Judg of all by the Example of our Dissenters more likely to perswade all Princes to Extirpate them out of their Dominions for Seditious Schismaticks and Dangerous Rebells than to Tollerate them as Innocent and Religious Christians THIS was the Custom of the Ancient Christians who Conquered more by the Cross than the Persecutors by all their Cruelty who overcame by Suffering and not by Rebelling A remarkable Instance of which we have in the Army of Julian the Apostate who were obedient to him as their Temporal Soveraign so long as he liv'd but after he had jested out his impious Soul with a Vicistî Galilaee and that Jovinianus was chosen Emperor which he refused as being a Christian and thinking the whole Army Pagans they all cried out Et nos sumus Christiani We are all of us also Christians Here were men in Arms a Powerful Number of Veterane and Victorious Legions
pure heart and good Conscience which commands Peace and forbids all Disorder and Disobedience which are destructive of it in the Church of God BUT to make this apparent so as that no Evasion may be found let us consider that Vnity of Faith is not sufficient to maintain Charity in a National Church unless there be also Vnity in point of Government for where men Live together imbodied in one political Society and are therefore daily conversant together it is impossible but they will discourse about the Modes as well as the Essence of Religion and supposing that all People had free Liberty to chuse after what manner they would serve and Worship God no doubt is to be made but every man would prefer his own choice both of Opinion and Practice before that of others and Esteem it most agreable to the Will of God and most conducive to the great Design of all Religion the Eternal Salvation of Mens Souls This undue preference of their own Way as it would naturally incline them to make as many Proselytes as possibly they could a Duty they would judge themselves necessarily and indispensably obliged to perform so would it necessarily put them not only upon defending and maintaining their own Way but of lessening and it may be debasing and vilifying all others in comparison of it Nor would others be less eager in searching out and Exposing their Errors and Defects thereby to Establish themselves and their Way of Worship in the good Opinion of their Followers to which Revenge for affront and indignity offer'd to what they Esteem most Sacred would contribute not a little so that all Religion would come to consist in frivolous and endless Disputes and Differences what kind of Breath what Tones Words Habits Gestures or Postures God Almighty is best pleased with and instead of that Charity which covers a multiude of Faults that would be the best which had the least and was best able to discover the Infirmities of all others and would seem to consist not so much in its own Excellencies or Perfections as by discovering the defects of those who did oppose it Nor would these foolish differences terminate in meer Words and Wrangles but proceed by degrees to the highest Animosities and Extremities of Hatred and such a hatred as inspires Men with the devilish Principles of indeavouring to Extirpate Root and Branch with Fire and Sword all those who differ from them it may be but in the Punctillo's of outward Ceremonies and they who shall appear most Zealous in Executing this blind and furious Rage shall be accounted most godly and Religious Murder shall be called Justice Wrong Violence and Oppression Punishments justly inflicted upon the Wicked Sacriledge shall pass for Piety and the most horrid and slagitious Enormities shall be dedicated to the Glory of God and be reputed acceptable service to him being done or however pretended with the design of propagating the Gospel rooting out Superstition False Doctrine and Heresie O meek and blessed Jesus thou innocent Lamb of God who takest away the Sins of the World is this the Religion which with thy precious blood was planted in the World and watred with the blood of so many of thy holy Saints and Martyrs Assuredly God is not in such terrible Hurricanes Whirlwinds and Earthquakes Tempests or Fires as rend the Mountains 1 Kings 19.11 12. and break the Rocks in pieces as shake and put all the Foundations of the World out of Course and consume all before them No no it is in the small still voice the calm and soft voice of Peace and Meekness that God and true Religion are to be found Alas it is not in this mans pompous breath nor that mans Eloquent Harangue that God is delighted it is not the rude and undecent Religion of him who despises all Ceremonies in the Worship of God who will not bend his knee or uncover his head for fear of he knows not what Idolatry Nor is it the over superstitious and courtly service of him who makes all his Religion groan under the Load of splendid Ceremonies that God is pleased with he has no more satisfaction in these Exterior demeanors than as the Psalmist says Psal 147.10 11. in the strength of an horse or in the legs of a man but the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his Mercy And all these outward Demonstrations of our Worship are only valuable according to their inward intention of promoting the main Design for which he intended them which is Peace Unity and Concord among the Sons of Men. NOW this blessed Peace this happy Vnity and this Christian Concord are not to be hoped for in any National Church but by submitting to such common Expedients in the Celebration of the Publique Worship of Almighty God as by putting an End to these Differences may lay asleep all these occasions of Divisions Disputes and vain janglings and may therefore cut off the root and occasion of Quarrels about the How God shall be served And this Power must either be granted to be in the Governors of the Church and Nation or otherways all falls to Confusion For if it be not in the Church then have not any Dissenters that Power over their Churches and therefore they go about an unlawful Action and are bold Usurpers over the Christian Liberty of their Brethren whilest they go about to Establish any Government in their Congregations if it be in the Church then either that Authority is in the Church of England or She is not a true Church Let them prove that and we will fairly and quietly yield them the Cause But if the Church of England be a true Church and a true Church have such a Power then ought all who are in that Community and Nation to be obedient to her Determinations because they are within the Verge of her Jurisdiction and they who are disobedient are guilty of the breach of Vnity and Charity and Enemies to Peace and if the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews be of any Credit they who do not follow Peace with all Men as well as Holyness and much more then with that Church which brought them forth and has nurst them in her tender Arms shall never see God And into what a desperate condition then have they reduced themselves who for want of this Charity Peace and Unity run themselves and their Disciples into the danger of being Excluded notwithstanding all their Holyness from the Glorious presence of God which in plain English is Eternal Damnation AH poor Church of England how justly mayest thou take up the Mournful complaint of God Almighty by his Prophet Isaiah Hear ô Heavens Esay 1.2 and give ear ô Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me O miserable and deceived People How vainly do you Establish your hopes of Eternal Happiness upon principles of Dissention Who are made believe no way so secure to
Disobedience to any one Command of God For St. James assures us that the keeping of the whole Law will not countervail the wilful breach of one Point but that whoever does so is guilty of all and he adds the Reason Jam. 2.10 11. For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not Kill And he that said do not Kill said also Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers Now to infer with him If thou commit no Adultery If thou do not Kill yet if thou art not subject to the Higher Powers thou art become a Trangressor of the Law a Sinner before God For sin is the transgression of Gods Law and therefore as St. John tells us 1 Joh. 3.15 No Murderer has Eternal life abiding in him So neither has any who does not submit to the Higher POWERS any Eternal Life abiding in him because they are both Transgressors of the Holy Law and Commandment of God THUS far I think all Men Good and Bad will go along with me but the pinch of the Question is How far this Obedience is due and what are the Limits of the Authority of Superiors Whether the Civil or Ecclesiastical Magistrate ought to be Obeyed in all their Commands which concern Religion or the Worship of God To this I Answer by distinguishing according to the Old and True Maxim of Logicians Qui bené distinguit bené docet The commands therefore of Superiors are either concerning Faith and Manners or Government and Order As to matters of Faith neither the onenor the other havethe least power to alter abrogate impose or diminish the least Tittle or Iota of it For Faith being of Divine Revelation and the Law by which God Almighty will have us guided in what concerns himself is like him Immutable and Unchangeable and is only subject to his Authority who is the Author and the Finisher of our Faith Now the true Faith is what is contained in Scripture either in direct Words or plain Consequence This all Christian Kings Princes and Governors are bound to maintain and ought to be its Defenders but not to Invade or Usurp a Dominion over it And should they make any Law to the prejudice of this Faith no man ought to obey them for here the Rule holds good That we are to obey God rather than Men but neither will this Authorize any Persons who are Subjects to those Powers to Rebel against them or Oppose them more than by endeavouring with Meekness and Charity to maintain that Faith Nay should they impose Penalties upon such as were disobedient to their Laws in matters of Faith 't is the Glory of Christian Religion to teach men to suffer patiently but not to seek Revenge or to endeavour to free themselves or the Faith from danger by flying to unlawful Arms which would be like Vzzah's Folly for which he was Smitten to lay our hands upon the Ark when the Oxen stumble and shake it and to suppose that God either would not or could not take any care to defend that Faith which he himself had planted in the World THIS was the Case of the Apostles Act. 4..3 The Chief Priest and Counsel commanded them not to speak at all in the Name of Jesus had they been so minded they might have raised a Tumult for the Captain and Officers who went to apprehend them brought them without Violence because they went without resisting fearing as much as their Guards lest the inraged People should rescue them by stoning the Officers And when the High Priest charges them with Disobedience to his Commands St. Peter tells them it was a matter of Faith what they had seen and heard and were commanded by the Son of God to Preach whom they ought to obey rather than Men. This was the Case of the Primitive Christians under the Heathen and persecuting Emperors Did the Emperor command them to his Wars they went willingly Fought gallantly sometimes purchast Victories with their Prayers as well as Sword Did he exact Tribute from them they paid it freely Command to renounce Christ or to Blaspheme him or to offer but a single grain of Incence to the Idols or Emperors Statue though to save their Lives they refused presently Did he take away their Estates for their Disobedience to his Edicts they suffer'd patiently Did he expose them to Racks Tortures Wild beasts and Flames they went to them joyfully indured them miraculously and so obtain'd the Glorious Crown of Martyrdom All this while not a hand lift up against the Lords Anointed their Soveraign unless to Heaven to pray to God for his Pardon and Conversion not a Tongue moves against his Government to call it Tyrannical Unlawful or Antichristian though in reality it was such Not a Pen is sharpned against him or his Ministers of State no invectives or Exhortations to Rebellion to depose or Murder him and indeed nothing farther than to Apologize for their Innocence and to manifest that they were his most obedient Subjects and free from all the Calumnies of being Seditious Disturbers of the Government or Peace of the Empire THE same may be said of Good Manners as of Faith for Justice Temperance Innocence and Purity being Commands of God no Earthly power can either dispence with them or lawfully command the contrary Vices or if they do they may nay ought to be disobey'd BUT Secondly The Commands of our Superiors may concern Order and Government and herein they ought Universally to be obey'd as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil Laws and Commands provided they do not herein manifestly or by consequence Oppose Faith or Good Manners and that for these Reasons FIRST Because Order is absolutely Necessary as well in the Church as in the State and is Positively commanded by God Let every thing be done Decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14.40 and that for a most solid and weighty Reason For God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace Vers 33. as in all the Churches of the Saints Confusion is absolutely unlawful God disowns it Peace is absolutely Necessary in all Churches of Saints without Order there can be no Peace nor indeed any thing but Confusion without Governors to appoint and determine Differences arising about Modes and Matters of Decency there can be no Peace because Differences must be endless and without Submission to these Governors and their final Determinations both in Church and State they are no longer Rulers and Governours but the Order which God has appointed in the World to procure Peace and Happiness is utterly Subverted and Overthrown For Government and Obedience do mutually suppose each other and as Logicians say Pater est filii Pater a Father is therefore a Father because he has a Child so a Governor a King a Magistrate in Church or State is therefore such because he has People subject and obedient to him and as all the Power of Governors is limited to those things which are left undetermined by Gods Positive
inexcusable by their own Judgment And if we do not prove the present Government Lawful and of Gods appintment both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Phillida solus habeto And till they have proved themselves Lawful Powers and the present Government Unlawful let them be obedient to its Decrees and Determinations as those Laws respect the good of the Civil Society if they will not as they respect the Religious CHAP. X. HAVING proceeded thus far in shewing the Design of the Outward Government of the Church to have a Political Respect as well as Temporal Laws to the happiness and well-being of Humane Society as well as a Religious Respect to future Felicity and that therefore upon this double account our Obedience is due to the Ecclesiastîcal Laws as well as the Temporal to which yet no Dissenters will own Disobedience to be Lawful because without Laws no Living and for the same reason therefore Obedience to both is a necessary part of Religion in the next place let us see how necessary therefore this Vnity in point of Government in the Church is upon this Political account in order to the happiness of the Society which is the End of all Laws and all Religion in this present state of Life AND this I conceive cannot better be done than by shewing the dangerous influence which Disunion in point of Government in the Church has upon the Civil Affairs of any Nation As true Religion makes men the best Subjects steddy in their Loyalty and Allegiance Faithful in their Trusts and Services industrious to promote the Common Good obedient to their Superiors kind to their Equals and humble to their Inferiors and always Religious observers of the Laws of God and Man So False Opinions when entertain'd for true Religion ever render Men the Worst And if there were nothing more in it yet would it be the great Interest of Princes to endeavour to propagate Christian Religion in its greatest Purity and to discountenance Errors Heresies Sects and Schisms as the best Expedient to secure themselves and Establish their Thrones upon the immoveable Basis and sure Foundation of the good Conscience of their Subjects For this surpasses all the Obligations of Laws all the Powers of Arms and all the Arts of Policy Laws without Conscience are like Sampsons green Wit hs which armed Interest and successful Ambition attended on with Fiery Zeal Jud. 16.9 will break to pieces as a thred of Tow when it touches the Flame The most Powerful Arms have no intail of Victory and though the Sword be a very good Guard for the Sceptre yet if the Sceptre turns into a Sword a thousand Instances will shew that it lays a slippery Foundation for a Crown which always stands most firm when set upon the Head of Princes by Love and Affection and not by the trembling hand of Fear The deepest Politicians are sometimes Men shallow and fordable subject to be deceived and their Counsels like Achitophels may be defeated and turned into Folly But Religion were it Universally practised Princes might disband those Auxiliary Succours of the Crown together with their Fears that raise them and might send their Jealousies those Envious Tormentors both of Crowns and Cottagers into perpetual Banishment For that teaches to smother Treason in the thought Eccles 10.20 and prevents the Necessity of Axes and Scaffolds Curse not the King not in thy thought is God's Command which they will not Transgress to gain the Empire of the World and lose their Souls Innocence is their Profession Peace their Study Integrity the joy of their Lives the delight of their Minds and the pleasure of their Deaths Not all the storms of Afflictions not all the shining Glories of the Vniverse can tempt them to throw off the White Mantle of unstained Innocence that Ermine of Religion Not all the tempting withcrafts of Dominion Riches Honour or Advantage can prevail with them to do the least Injury wilfully to their poorest Neighbour much less then to those Sacred Persons who are Gods on Earth and the true Christian if it were put to his choice had rather sit with Job cloathed with Ashes Miseries and Integrity upon the Dunghil of Poverty than be lifted from thence by the hand of Injustice or Violence to sit among Princes and wear the Dreaded Imperial Purple THIS is the happy Temper of Religion which teaches the Prince that Excellent Moderation to be so far from treading upon the Necks of his Subjects that he will not tread upon the Heels of their Properties or their Priviledges and in all his Laws to study their Interest as his own This teaches Subjects to study to be Quiet 1 Thess 4.11 and in stead of making Seditions Mutinies or Rebellions to make Devout and continual Supplications Prayers Intercessions 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. and giving of Thanks for Kings and all that are in Authority that so they may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty For this they are taught is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Nor will they venture to cut off the least Skirt of Prerogative the lawful Inheritance of their Prince to inlarge their own or take one Jewel out of his Crown to Adorn or Inrich themselves withall They will not Deplume the Royal Eagle of his to Feather their own Nests The thirst of Ambition which cannot be quenched with any thing but the Illustrious Blood of Soveraigns is an absolute Stranger to their very thoughts and they will rather sacrifice their own Lives and Fortunes than see his in Danger All their Desires are confined to a little here and their Ambition aspires lawfully after no other Crown but that of a Glorious Immortality Now to the obtaining of any tollerable Degrees of this Happy State as there is one God one Faith one Baptism so it is absolutely Necessary that in one Nation there be one Form of Government in the Church as well as State And that if it be not possible that all People should be of one Mind as to matters of Opinion yet that they should be of one Mind as to Obedience to Government in Church and State which is matter of Faith And it is but highly Reasonable that private Opinion should confine it self to private Breasts its proper Sphere and not be permitted to walk abroad to affront Authority and the publique Peace Interest and Happiness of a whole Nation no more than particular Gain is suffered to undo the Publick Stock DIFFERENCE in Opinion may well be Tollerated and indeed cannot be avoided but yet were men managed by Modesty though not Religion there need be no Mischief from it But to publish Private Opinion for Publique and necessary Truth and to endeavour to impose it upon others and upon Authority it self is a practice of the most pernicious Usurpation and Consequence in any Government For this Opposition of Opinions naturally produces a Disunion of Mind absolutely Destructive of Government which is to Unite all the Members
of a Society into one common Body of which Unity is the Soul and whatsoever be the Cause of this Disunion the Effect is always an Alienation of Affections among those who differ one from another Now as there is nothing that makes so close a Vnion in the minds of Men as their concurrence in the same thoughts Judgment and Sentiments about any Matters especially those of Religion So there is nothing that makes so great and Irreconcilable Distances between People as their being and owning themselves of differing Judgments and Opinions For Religion is like a Common Centre in which all the Lines of mutual Kindness meet and are United together in an indivisible Point And we do more passionately love those who resemble us in our thoughts than in our outward Lineaments and Proportions and have a natural Aversion for those who are unlike us in our Thoughts And the reason is because this Discord robs us of the pleasure of Life which is Society and where the entertainment consists in mutual Jarrs and endless Disputings continual Contradictions of which all men are impatient the Conversation must needs be disagreeable for who ever contradicts another supposes himself more wise and the other foolish and where the knowledg of these differences is manifest even in their silent Interviews it defeats them of all the pleasure of Converse and Society and makes men uneasie in the very Company of those who are neither beloved by them nor love them as all men believe of those who oppose them and differ from them in their Judgments So that it is not to be expected they should be ready to do those good Offices one for another in order to the Common Good of the Society but rather all the Mischiefs and Injuries which they can as Enemies as all esteem those who are not United to them by Love and Kindness and how happy any Society is like to prove that is thus disjoynted in it self is not difficult to conjecture BUT these Animosities are extreamly heightened in regard there is always something more than bare Opinion in the Difference and that it is impossible totally to separate Interest from Religion and that therefore no man can look upon another as directly invading the one without obliquely designing against the other and what ever Passion men may have for their Religion they are inseparably married to their Interest the thred of that is twisted with the Stamina Vitae being indeed esteemed Essential both to the being well-being of the Body For it is not in Religion as it is in Philosophical Contests where how eager soever men may appear to defend a Paradox yet they are not Solicitous whether it be true or false for what matters it between two hot Combatants whether there be any Land in the Moon or not Since though there be they have no Mannors nor Lordships there and if there be not they are never the poorer of a Farthing BUT in the Quarrels of Religion there is always a Meum and Tuum and Men suspect not without good Reason that the difference of Opinion is but the Colour or Pretext it is Interest that is the first Mover and the Ultimate Design and this prevents all hope of Reconciliation till one party do either voluntarily or by constraint relinquish their pretences to the others Right for he who will invade the Possession of what another enjoys by endeavouring to be a Disseisor becomes an Enemy And there are few who arrive to that height of self-denial to hate themselves that they may love their Enemies or to expose themselves to the Inconveniences of cold Nakedness and Hunger which Nature abhors that they may feed and cloth their Enemies nor does Charity command it for though that Compassionate Grace look abroad for Objects of Pity yet she always begins her Work at home nor is any man obliged to pray for or love his Enemies so as not to provide for his own Family 1 Tim. 5.8 and by Charity to deny the Faith and be worse than an Infidel Such Saints are Martyrs of the Greek Calends And no person can Esteem such as endeavour to devest him either of Power Authority Estate or Possession Honor or Profit but as his particular Enemy and an Enemy to God and Religion which commands that no man should invade anothers Right in that great Command Thou shalt not Covet Now where there are several distinct Churches in the same Nation there being both Power and Maintenance annexed to the Office of the Clergy they will necessarily incroach one upon another and because what the one gains the other must loose the contrariety of Interests will widen the Difference between them even to the utmost Extremity of Hatred and Animosity and whilst every Church will labour to agrandize it self both in Riches and Power by lessening the Esteem Honour Power and Revenues of the other it will become a quarrel of Interest as well as Religion and let any person if he can Justifie a Principle that by maintaining Domestique Quarrels must be ruinous to Society and all the Peace and Happiness of the present state of Life under the fair pretence of Religion LET Dissenters tell us what they please and if their dislike of the Government in the Church is purely upon the account of Religion former Experience has made the World sufficiently sensible that the Dignity Power and Revenues of the Church were the greatest Crimes of the Government And that they who could not approve of those Honors Titles and Estates in Bishops and the dignified Clergy could yet very well digest both their Power and Revenues when they came by the Sacrilegious hands of Vsurping Powers to be conferr'd on themselves AND as these Quarrels will be most certain so they will be Endless and Eternal for admit once of many Forms of Church Government in the same Nation and no sooner shall one be uppermost but the Envy of the others and their fear lest they should be crush't or overshadowed by it will make all the lesser Churches conspire for their common Security and Interest to undermine and overthrow it And when they have by that joynt confederation Effected that then will the most Powerful of the Victorious Party step and Exalt it self into the Place and Power of the former which will procure it the Hatred of all the rest who will not fail by the same Arts and Methods to dismount that and Establish themselves by which means there will be no end of Factions Quarrels and Ambitions striving who shall be the Uppermost All this while Religion will be the Pretence but the State shall really suffer and it being as impossible to separate them as to punish the Christian and not the Man it must be under all the most violent Agitations and Tempests and at last suffer most certain Shipwrack THIS was the true state of our Case in England during our late Revolutions the Church and Religion were made to lead the Dance but according
Divine Truths of Worshipping God which you pretend to have discovered If you are certain shew it us that we may be so too Truths of this Nature must be clear and shining Error is dark and obscure If you are not certain as it is impossible you should you are certainly Proud and Presumptuous to Despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities which God has appointed in both Church and State And if it be certain that you are in Error and fight against God while you disturb the Peace of the World destroy Charity Peace and Concord by Hatred Strifes Seditions do you think that you shall ever see God to receive the Blessing of the Peace-Makers who shall be called the Children of God If Bishops be the true Shepherds as is Evident from Scripture Antiquity Oecumenical Councels and the Testimony of all those Martyrs the spirits of Just Men now made Perfect how will you answer the Chief Shepherd and Great Bishop of Souls at his appearing for climbing over into his Fold for Stealing and Killing and Destroying both the Sheep and the Shepherds How will you answer for all the Blood which has already been shed in the Quarrel to maintain your Vsurpations upon all things Civil and Sacred For all those Injuries Oppressions Spoiles Devastations and that Sacriledge which you have been the occasion of whilest you pretended by the Sword of Rebellion to Erect your Government Do you think that when God makes Inquisition for Blood Psal 9. that he will not remember the Complaint of the Poor the souls of so many Pious Innocents and their blood Cries like Abels but above all the blood of the Royal Martyr with those that St. John saw under the Altar crye aloud and of those who served at his Altar here Quousque Domine How long Lord Holy and true dost thou not Avenge our blood IN short either you must shew that the Government in Church and State are Unlawful and that your whole Charge against them is as true as it is Black or you are Calumniators You must prove yours a true Church or you are False Accusers of that which is you must shew that the Impositions are Unlawful or your Disobedience must be so and you will appear to be the Devils Factors and not Gods Ministers whilest you preach Religion to Destroy it and your Disobedience to indifferent things will be Damnable sin You will be accountable not only for your own Guilt but for that of all those who deceived by your Example and Doctrine Glory in what is the shame of Christianity thinking Reformation consists in Ruine and true Religion in open Rebellion and that to be a Friend of God it is requisite a man should be an Enemy to his Church IN the Name of God therefore consider seriously of these things If this be true Receive it and Repent if it be False shew it Where and in What for I profess my self as willing to embrace Truth from you as desire you should receive it from me Let not the vain shame of Revoking your Opinions the fear of losing the Esteem Flatteries and Benevolences of your Followers Mislead you Truth is an Excellent Companion though never so Naked It is better to Blush here than Burn Eternally Let not the hopes of the Churches Revenue animate you to Kill the Heir that the Inheritance may be yours Church Lands have not been Lucky to their Possessors Laqueus erit illi qui devorat Sacra says Solomon It is a Snare to devour Holy things They are Gods Portion you will bring a Snare upon your Souls and it may be upon your Necks which may spoyl the pleasure of those sweet Morsels And be assured that God will not forsake his Church for ever there are Praying Legions in that Glorious Army both in Heaven and Earth and more are they that are with us than they that are against us our Mountain may be full of Chariots and Horses of Fire though you see them not God will not suffer his Darling always to dwell among Lions or to lye under the Saws and Harrows of Iron She shall come up out of the Wilderness leaning upon her Beloved She shall look forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners Tanquam acies Ordinata with flying Colours in good Discipline and Comely Order take Heed lest whilest you think your selves upon Jacobs Ladder climbing up to Heaven that by sighting against this Army you do not prove your selves the Gates of Hell which shall not prevail against it but will against you If God arise for the Meek of the Earth his Enemies will be scattered and they that hate him shall flee before him but not be able to out fly his Vengeance Arise O Lord God thou and thy Ark into thy Resting-place let thy Priests be cloathed with Salvation and let thy Saints rejoyce in thy goodness And let all them that wish and pray for the Peace of Jerusalem Prosper and let all the People say Amen FINIS THe Author's Absence from the Press hath occasion'd the following Errata's which I hope the Candid Reader will Correct with what other Faults he finds Errata PAge 4. line 6. r. Impostor p 21. l. 7. for at one r. atone p. 27. l. 23. r. Cardinalis p. 31. l. 24. dele learn to do well p. 52. l. 9. r. Stratagem p. 65. l. 7 for there r. these p. 94. l. ult r. Menaces p. 128. l. 2. for Honor r. favour p. 133. l. 26. r. Imprudent p. 152. l. 22. for External r. Eternal p. 174 l. 31. for if â— that p. 226. l. 18. r. has not p. 287. l. 12. r. of Age. A Catalogue of some Books Printed for and Sold by Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street THe Commentaries of C. Julius Caesar of his Wars in Gallia and the Civil Wars betwixt him and Pompey Translated into English with many excellent and judicious Observations thereupon as also the Art of our Modern Training or Tactick Practice by Clement Edmonds Esquire Remembrancer of the City of London Whereunto is adjoyned the Eighth Commentary of the Wars in Gallia with some short Observations upon it Together with the Life of Caesar and an account of his Medals Revised Corrected and Enlarged in Fol. The History of the Reigns of Henry the VII Henry the VIII Edward the VI. and Queen Mary the First Written by the Right Honourable Francis Lord Verulam Viscount St. Alban the other Three by the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God Francis Godwyn Lord Bishop of Hereford in Fol. The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia written by Sir Philip Sidney Knight the Thirteenth Edition with his Life and Death a brief Table of the principal Heads and some other new Additions in Fol. The French way of Excercising their Infantry as it is now used in the Armies of his Most Christian Majesty in Fol. sticht Parthenissa that most Fam'd Romance the Six Volumes compleat composed by the Right
keep those Differences alive and are the constant food and nourishment which does not only support but increase and augment them till they grow at last beyond all hopes and possibility of Composure Would all persons indeavour heartily to take the Beam out of their own Eyes they would see clearly to remove the Moats out of their Brothers and would hereby advance a large step towards Reconciliation by coming to a good Understanding and a clear discovery of what it is they differ about Controversies being many times in mere Words rather than in Substance and are rather the Effects of prejudice and misunderstanding one anothers meaning than in the things themselves about which we seem to disagree for Prejudice is an ill Opinion of Persons or Things arising from a false judgment which we entertain concerning them which makes them appear to us of monstrous and deformed Shapes and Colours it is a certain Jaundice of the Mind which stains every thing with the disagreable appearances with which not the things themselves but the Conceptions we have of them are vitiated and our Judgment by that misinformation deceived and abused for when the Mind comes to be infected with prejudice it renders those things ill and unlawful which to a mind cleared from those obstructions and gross humors of the Vnderstanding appear as in reality they are in themselves Innocent Good Lawful and many times expedient and necessary or however at the worst in their own Natures simply indifferent THIS is the Common Lot of all those things in Divine Worship which are not of the Essence but Circumstantials of Religion which are the things that raise the greatest Dissentions and Differences amongst Christians It is at once the occasion of Wonder and of Pity to see Christians who all agree in the Main Eph. 4.5 That there is one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God the Father of whom are all things 1 Cor. 8.6 and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him who all consent in one common End and Design which is Eternal Happiness in Heaven and one hope of this Common Salvation that yet they should disagree and fall out by and about the Way that leads to those Blessed Regions of Light and Immortality When Joseph the Type of our blessed Jesus had given his Brethren changes of Rayment and Provision for their Journey in order to bring them out of the Land of Famine to the Country of Goshen it was not an unnecessary Command which he laid upon them Gen. 45.24 See that ye fall not out by the Way Should they now have fallen out into Disputes and Differences about their Apparel because it was not all of a Size Colour or Fashion or whether they should travel the same way back again and not seek another would not the one have been as ridiculous a dispute as the other dangerous and yet this very Folly there are too many Guilty of who leaving the old Road of Charity because their Brethren will not comply with them in their Novel Dresses of Religion seek out a new Road to Heaven which the foot of Saint or Martyr never trod before Thus shall you see some People start at the very word Ceremony as if it would convey the Plague into their Ears and Damnation into their Souls and yet they themselves can perform no Religious Office of bodily Worship without it and if St. Paul be to be credited God expects we should offer our bodies a living Sacrifice Rom. 12.3 holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service A Ceremony is nothing more than a Solemn way or manner of performing Religious Duties which word some derive â Carendo quia Religio non potest Exerceri Caeremonijs carens because no Religion can be performed without some Ceremonies though others it may be more aptly â Charitate from that Charity which the agreement of People in one way and manner of Worship does naturally produce among them or it may be from the old Latin word Caerus which is the same with Sanctus holy for which reason the Latins call their Holy-days Caeremoniosi Dies and it is no more but a Rite or Custom appropriated to holy Vses Some there are who to render it Odious derive it from the Heathen Goddess Ceres how like Scholars or rather School-boys let the Learned Judge But supposing it were true is it a good Argument the Heathens had Ceremonies therefore the Christians must have none By the same reason the Heathens Worshipped false Gods therefore Christians must not Worship the True for all Worship is Ceremony BUT when once this prejudice is fixed to the Word it is no more but fixing the Word to what People dislike and it presently looks black and ugly and becomes a Mormo a Bugbear to their thoughts and like Children they start and Cry out at the shadow which they make themselves but if they can add the word Popish that it is a Popish Ceremony then it is Impious Vnlawful Superstitious and Damnable and all that can be said to render it Execrable and Abominable when as in truth all that Papists do is not Popery nor Abominable and Unlawful but however by the strength of this prejudice those things which are truly Primitive are made Popish kneeling at the receiving the holy Eucharist bowing at the Name of Jesus and the whole Book of the Liturgy though for the generality express words of Scripture are made Ceremonies and Popish and then how innocent soever if a Tumult can but be made Away with them Crucifie them whereas sober people ought to Consider that there is a Necessity of some Solemn Ways Rites Modes and Methods of Expressing our Devotion and Worship and since these Modes or Ways are Ceremonies and some Ceremonies are not only Lawful but Necessary why not these which have been approved in all Ages of the Church ever since the times of Apostolical Purity rather than any new ones of Private Invention in opposition to Publique Authority which thinks fit to Continue Establish and Command these to be Used in the Church I am not ignorant that here is a strong suspicion of Malice as well as Mistake and it is much to be doubted that there is a Combination of Interest as well as Prejudice in some of the Principal Fomenters of Division who appear so transported against all Ceremonies and that though they know better things yet they mightily indeavour to maintain these Prejudices in the Minds of the Easy Multitude who hang their Faith upon the Oracles of their Lips and in this are absolute Papists believing with an implicit Faith the Infallible Decrees of the Heads of their Church for upon this Depend the Benevolences which their Followers do so freely bestow upon them for this Industrious Flattery that these Prejudices are Marks and Signs of their Christian Liberty and being Escaped from the Yoak of Antichristian Tyranny and Egyptian Darkness into the glorious
light of Gospel Truth as they are pleased to call even these Prejudices and Mistakes though to the certain loss of Christian Charity and Vnity the great hazard of Temporal Peace and the ruine of Religion it self as I shall hereafter more fully make appear THIS dangerous Prejudice which does infect the minds of Men as it has its foundation in misunderstanding of things so it receives strength from two things which are almost as difficult to change and alter as the Course of Nature and they are Education and Custom Of the last the Holy Ghost speaks most plainly by the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye do good who are accustomed or as the Hebrew word signifies taught to do evil learn to do well Of the other that of the Heathen Poet may pass for good Divinity having been confirmed to be truth by the Universal Testimony of all Ages Quô semèl est imbuta recens servabit Odorem Testa diu the first seasoning Principles and Prejudices which we receive in our Youth stick closely to us for a long time after The wise Philosopher tells us the Soul of Man is Rasa Tabula like a white sheet of Paper out of which therefore it must be more than Common Art that can so clear take out the first writing as to super-induce a new Copy fair and legible THIS is the true Reason why any person finds it so difficult to quit those Notions of Religion which have been Established in his Mind from his Early Infancy there is a Marvellous Agreement and Natural Kindness to those Opinions which we suck in with our Milk they are like Foster Brothers to whom it has been observed there is as strong an inclination as to the Natural we play and converse with them from our Cradles and as soon as we can go alone we take them by the hand we sleep with them in our bosoms and contract an insensible Friendship with them a pleasing Familiarity which takes off all deformities we love them and we like them and their very blackness is a Beauty as it is with the Affrican Nations to whom even that which we judge deformity appears more lovely than the most delicate Europaean Beauty What can be more impertinent and ridiculous than the Alchoran of that great Impostor Mahumed and yet a natural Turk born to those prejudices of Education and Custom believes him the greatest of the Prophets and the only friend of God And though he have a great veneration for Christ yet would he spit in your face and call you Hog the most disgraceful term they think they can affront a Christian with if you should contradict him or go about to convince him of his Errors by shewing the absurdities and impossibilities of what he calls his Religion WHAT can be more Barbarous and Savage than the Rites of the Pagan Idolaters and yet you may almost as soon remove a Mountain as one of them from what has been the Religion of his Ancestors and his ever since he knew any What can be more unreasonable than some of the Tenets of the Romish Church more ridiculous and antick than some parts of their greatest Solemnities more fabulously extravagant than some of their Legends and most of their Miracles and yet we see how tenacious not only most of the vulgar but even of the learned amongst them are that they will not retrench even the fopperies of their Faith as they call it to advance one step towards an Vnion with the whole Catholique Church of the past and present Ages but on the contrary by the Anathema's of the Convention of Trent have cut off all hope and possibility of such an accord by establishing the very Minutiae Quisquiliae the punctilio's and parings of their Religion as things necessary to be believed in order to salvation WHAT can be more hard and cruel than for those who profess to be of the Reformed Religion to run to the very extremities of ruining themselves by mutual Divisions and so far to weaken themselves and disparage their Religion by intestine Quarrels to open an easy way for Conquest to the Enemies both of our Religion and Countrey for some differences in Circumstances of Divine Worship And yet we see such is the strength of some mens prejudices and the education of others in the late unhappy times of our Misery and Distraction from which we were rescued by so many Miracles that they will rather venture upon the same tempestuous Sea again from whence we have so lately escaped shipwrack nay use all Arts and Arguments to push men headlong from the Shoar into the foaming Main again which they have but just recovered still wet and shivering rather than by a compliance with the modest commands of the wise Pilots their lawful Superiors even in the most indifferent things endeavour to repair the leaky vessel of the Church and State by advancing their peace and happiness by a blessed Vnion The glory of God and the salvation of mens souls which certainly are never to be promoted by variance hatred emulations seditions swellings and tumults are of no force or power in comparison of their Prejudices but they will in obedience to the tyranny of their education and custom persist in these practices fearing neither the Laws of God or men the transgression of which they call Zeal and their disobedience Religion but by their example teach others to do the same and confirm them in it NOR is Custom a less Tyrant over mens minds to the introducing of prejudice than Education For hereby men acquire habits which are a kind of second Nature And by long continuance are so rivetted into our good esteem that they are not to be put off without great difficulty how inconsiderable soever they are this is not more visible in any thing than the use and opinion which several Nations have of their several habits of Apparrel for to a mind unprepossed with custom all habits which are decent convenient and useful appear equal and indifferent yet does a Spaniard abhor the fashion of the French nor does the other use to be behind hand in his requital of the same nature A Turk believes a Turbant and a long vest the most ornamental dress in the World and wishes it as a great curse to his enemy to have the plague of a Christians hat And so it is with other Nations The Indian prefers his adressful nakedness before the cumbersome vestments of the Europaeans the stones in his Lips Nose and Ears he esteems better set than all the Artists in the World can do in Gold All these are purely the effects of a prejudiced Custom which makes People gaze even to rudeness and incivility upon Forreigners when they appear amongst us and with a ridiculous curiosity spy imaginary defects and deformities in the unaccustomed dresses of other Countries Nay even the antiquated fashions of our own though once the high
however retard all the Counsels and necessary Preparations which shall be made against him for the defence of the Publique Nor will they be wanting by fair Pretences or by the Golden Key where that is permitted to be used to open themselves a way into the Counsels of their Prince places of Trust and Importance thereby to betray him and gratifie his Enemies by opening them a Passage into his Dominions and an easy Dore of Conquest AND therefore Secondly When by Reason of danger from abroad there is the greatest necessity of Vnity at home when they should be mustering Men for the Common Defence of the Publique they will be most busy in Mustering up whole Armies of Complaints Grievances and Faults in the Government when they should be raising Money to defend the Crown and Government in order to the Common Safety they will be raising Fears Jealousies and Disturbances in the Minds of his Subjects to distract and divide them then will they be most busie at the Mint to coyn false Reports and counterfeit Rumors strange Discoveries and Conspiracies against the Peoples Liberties and Religion and animate all these Disorders by telling the Credulous that now is the Time or never in the necessity of Publique Affairs to advance their Private Interest For should the Prince return Victorious over his Foreign Enemies and settle an honourable Peace abroad he would be in a Condition to turn his Arms against them and indeavour to secure and settle his Peace at home and should they lose this Opportunity of his Necessity possibly they may never meet with the like again And should the Prince fail of Success in the Defence of his Crown and Country which they will take all the Care they can that he shall the assistance they have given his Enemies though by no other way but secret Correspondencies and clogging the wheels of Affairs to make them move heavily and by consequence unsuccessfully will intitle them to the Favour of the Victor if it prove an intire Conquest or however if it comes to a dishonourable Peace to his Protection For he must be Master of very little Policy who will not indeavour to support and incourage a Party in the Dominions of his Enemies who shall be able upon all Occasions to do him such considerable Services BUT Thirdly This Disunion of any Nation among themselves does not only render them Lame and Impotent at home but Ruines their Hopes of Confederations for their Assistance and Security abroad For the Leagues and Amities of Foreign Princes and States have always their Foundation laid in their own Interest and Advantage and who will enter into Leagues Offensive and Defensive for their Common Security with a People who by reason of their Intestine Divisions are in a condition to need Assistance from others but not afford their Allies any considerable help in their Necessity His late Majesty was a dreadful Example of this Truth for did not all Europe stand gazing at our Flame without ever so much as offering their Mediation to Extinguish it which of all his Confederates or Allies came in to his relief did they not permit his Crown to be taken off his Head and his Head from his Body without any concern although it was the Common Case of all Crowned Heads and a President which their Posterity may have cause to repent that ever it was permitted but shall never able to rase out of the Records of Time And though this was a private and Intestine Quarrel and therefore not esteemed the concern of our Allies yet does it manifestly prove that since all Alliances are managed by Interest if they come to believe that to assist us against a Forrein Power be as little their Advantage they will be as slow and backward to do it then And there is nothing can more forceably perswade them into such a Belief than by our own Disunion and Division to put our selves out of a Capacity of being serviceable to their Interest by the ability of mutual help and Assistance in their time of Need. So that it must be pure Compassion for their own Affairs and to keep the Ballance from inclining too much to one side that must be the Motive to incourage them to lend us their hand and since that cannot be expected till they see us ready to Sink let any person Judg into what a Miserable Condition we must be reduced before we receive that Help or they come in to our Aid Whereas when any Nation is powerful by being Vnanimous their Friends and Allies will upon the first Summons be ready to assist them not only for their own Interest and because they expect the like Kindness upon the like Occasions but because they will be unwilling and afraid to disoblige a Power which but by withdrawing it self from them may expose them to Dangers and Hazards Or resenting it as an Injury and Affront may at one time or another remember it with thoughts of Revenge So that there is nothing can be more apparent than that Disunion in any Nation weakens its Force and strength at Home and Abroad and exposes it to the Danger of Foreign Enemies whilest it gives them all the Invitations and Assistances they can desire to accomplish their Conquest and its Ruine BUT bedsies all this there is something more in this Disunion in point of Church Government in our Nation which is particularly dangerous to the present Government And that is that it Naturally inclines all the several Parties to Antimonarchical Principles and to entertain kind thoughts of Polyarchy in the State as well as Anarchy in the Church and of all others to Democracy rather than Optimacy For where the Government is Elective and Mutable every several Party will endeavour to make such an Interest in all such Elections as to have a considerable number of the Governours to be of their Perswasion By which Method they entertain a constant Hope that they shall be able not only to continue that Liberty to their Way but also to increase and Augment it Nor is it possible by any Arguments to perswade them that Monarchy is the best Form of Government and which is strange the former experience of the Tyranny of the late Common-Wealth which was Established upon the Ruines of our Peace and Prosperity the tossings and Tumblings the Uncertainties and Rollings of that raging Sea of Confusion is not convincing but that they will Embarque themselves in it upon the same Design although they know it is a Red-Sea of Blood and leads us all to a Desolate Wilderness How contrary and repugnant this Government is to the Fundamental and Established Laws of these Nations I need not tell But what must they be who pretend for Religion to overthrow all the Foundations of the Earth and put them out of Course unless God hold up the Pillars of it as hitherto he has done in despight of the raging of the People However it afords us a clear discovery of the Tempers of those
of such Conversions as were Confusions and Consumptions of those Populous Nations To Divine Miracles we oppose all those false Fictions absurd and ridiculous Fables and Legends of their Saints the detection of which has not only now discredited their Religion but given occasion to men of Atheistical Principles to think it is all but as a Pope said Fabula Christi and to call in question the true Miracles of our Saviour and that Faith which was confirmed by them Such as are the Stories of Tursellin in his Lady of Lauretto Benedict's Miracles of the Blessed Virgin and the greatest Miracle of them all Lipsius a man so learned so rational to dote in his old Age in his Romance of the Virgo Hallensis Vives Bristow Canus Canus lac l. 11. cap. 6. complain too truly of them That hereby no man is able to put a difference between the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles and those of these Mens forging And since the one have been often proved False why may not the other be suspected too especially being at so great a distance and pull but down this Foundation and all Religion becomes a meer Gullery and Imposture To his Universality I would gladly know if Historically and Literally Jerusalem was not the Mother of us all Luke 24.42 and that according to the Scriptures Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached unto all Nations beginning at Jerusalem as happened out Acts the second to all the known Nations of the World assembled either for Curiosity or Religion at the Passover And why may not Antioch where the Disciples were first called Christians pretend to Antiquity and Universality as well as Rome since Christianity it self there first received its Baptism and she may well be termed the Godmother of Rome her self who had then neither received the Name nor Faith of Christ Are not the Grecian Armenian Ethiopian Christians as well as the Roman Members of the Catholique Church and yet they own not the Pope either as to Primacy or Supremacy and thousands of them know not whether there be such a man in the World It is hard to damn them all with a breath and as hard for Rome to challenge this Universality where she is scarcely known and I am sure not owned THE same may be said to his Antiquity and even Errot can scarcely be called the younger Brother of Truth and is so much a Twin with it as from its very Birth to have had its hand upon the others heel in order to supplant it Is it therefore true because it is Ancient Was not Simon Magus the Founder of the Gnosticks as ancient as St. Peter and the other Apostles were not Phygellus and Hermogenes Hymeneus and Phyletus and Alexander 2 Tim. 1.15 2 Tim. 2.17 those Christian Saducees who denìed the Resurrection and overthrew the Faith of some as ancient as St. Paul Was not Diotrephes in probability the Parent of the Aerian Heresy who to Exalt himself prated with such malicious words endeavouring to degrade an Apostle contemporary with St. John Joh. 3.9 10. if Antiquity will make men Catholique these have a fairer Plea than Rome who in probability received their Errors before she did her Faith FOR Succession we refer him to Baronius in his Annals if he likes not Genebrard Baron Ann. 985. N. 1. or Sigonius who will inform him of a Catalogue of Popes and their several Characters Simonists Boniface 8. Boyes Benedict 13. John 13. Sergius the 3. and a many more about 50. who as he says Deserved not to be put into the Catalogue of Popes but as he affirms of Boniface who murdered Benedict the 6. and John the 15. were fitter company for Sylla and Cataline And these being all Monuments and all the substance of their Religion it will not be worth our while to Examine all the Accidents of Christianity as the Advocate phrases it I come therefore to his particular Vindication of them from the Calumnies which he says are objected against them and first to their refusing the Oath of Supremacy For if any Oath be lawful among Christians it is a vain Cavil which he makes against this for my own particular I could heartily wish that all Oaths could be made more perspicuous and less frequent but there being an absolute impossibility of the one and necessity of the other we must submit to Humane Frailty For no Oath can be so fromed or worded but it will be liable to the same Exceptions by reason of the ambiguity of all words and the variety of mens apprehensions and understandings And by this Rule no man shall be obliged to take any Oath But when any person takes such Oaths he swears to the declared intention of the Government which requires him to swear for their Security and those under their Care And this is designed only as a mark of Distinction between the Peaceable Friends and the Enemies whose contrivances and intentions are hereby either obviated or discovered and it being easy to be understood and what all men know by the light of Nature Reason and Scripture they who will not Swear to be Obedient to the Government in Veritate Judicio Justitia let the manner of Expressing this be what it will cannot be reputed other than Enemies Nor is the Controversie of Supremacy contained in the word Heretical a speculative point as he would perswade us but a Practical not whether the Pope has any Authority to Excommunicate but whether he has any Authority here to Exercise a Jurisdiction to the prejudice of the Established Government and since he seems to confess that he has not why should any Christian deny to give the Government all the Assurances that can be desired and if such an Authority in the Pope be not grounded upon the Scripture or the Practice of the Catholique Church and no older than the Nos Sanctorum of Pope Hildebrand and therefore Impious and Heretical as being an Usurpation upon the Temporalities of all Princes may not any person except he designs against the Government lawfully swear that he disowns both the Principle and the Practice And since the Clause of the Oath of Supremacy is explicated to intend only Civil and Kingly Government and Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical pag. 184. May not any man swear in Truth Judgment and Equity if it be true it ought to be the Judgment of every good Christian and it is a great measure of Justice and Equity that he should declare himself and call God to witness since as before was said men swear to the true intention and meaning of the Imposers of the Oath and not to any other sence which the words will bear But the plain truth why they refuse is because they do believe the contrary and it is but reasonable since they do that by this Mark of Distinction the Government should know who are Friends to it and who Enemies who by this Principle would Subvert and Overthrow it And if a Man
from the Advocates own Words that none can justly plead for a Tolleration whose Devilish Principles and furious Practices tend to the Subversion of Government which both by what has been said and by Experience the surest Demonstration in the World both Papists and other Dissenters especially Presbyterians have been proved guilty of Let us now see how he manages the Cause of his own Party for whose sake this Project of a Tolleration was principally intended as is plain by his comparing Luther Calvin Buchanan c. with Mariana Suarez and Bellarmine Whose Doctrines are at least as he says as Dangerous to Monarchy and therefore unfit to be Tollerated the one or the other LET us therefore examine the Plea of Innocency which he descends to defend in particular And as their manner always is pag. 70. he tells us That the Roman Catholique Religion was the first Christian Religion planted in our Countrey from whom we had our very Christianity Suppose it were yet Quantum mutatus ab illo The present Roman Catholique Religion is not the same which they planted But with his good leave his Assertion is contrary Pol. Virgil. Hist Angl. l. 2. not only to great Probability but to the consent of Historians for Polydore Virgil tells us Test is est Gildas Britannos jam inde ab initio arti Evangelii Christianam accepisse Religionem That our Ancestors received the Christian Faith according to the Testimony of Guildas in the very beginning of the Gospel Baronius thinks St. Peter was here Theodoret Bar. An. 58. n. 51. Theod. de curand Graec. affect l. 9. Niceph l. 2. cap. 40. Baron An. 36. n. 5. Bede lib. 1. cap. 25 26. lib. 2. cap. 2. Saint Paul Nicephorus Simon Zelotes Some Joseph of Arimathea and even when Austin the Monk came from Gregory to Convert us as they say to the Christian Faith he found a Church among us as Beda testifies Bertha a Christian Queen and at Bangor a Monastery or rather a Colledg of many hundreds who upon the Question Whether they should admit of Austin put it upon this Issue Si sit humilis admittatâ—â—â— But finding him proud and Imperious they rejected him which they durst never have done had they believed even the bare Primacy of his Master or that they were owing for their Faith and Conversion to the Roman Church I will not enter into a long dispute about Merits Pardons Purgatory Adoration of Images or Transubstantiation which were but actum agere only methinks the Apothecaries Argument deserves to be put upon the File who being pressed to believe the Doctrine of Transubstantiation told the Zealous Agressor pleasantly but truly Sir I will make a Wafer and set a mark upon it that it may not be changed you shall send it to the Pope let him Consecrate it and I will venture you a 100 l. you dare not take it Oh says the other but I dare and would well reply'd the Apothecary then I will venture a 1000 l. that you shall be dead before next Morning which if it were really transubstantiated were impossible that the poison of the Body should be the food of the Soul and Christ be made a Murderer which demonstrative Conclusion so little expected puts the Romanist a little out of Conceit with his Doctrine and struck him as dumb as the other would have done dead for all the Transubstantiation there are very gross Stories and Slanders abroad if some in the Romish Church have â—â—â—tried the Experiment and have received their Death by what was given them as the Body of Christ and the Bread of Life BUT I will observe his Method p. 166. He tells us confidently That there makes for them all that may or can be of any Christian man required Literal Text of Holy Scripture approved Tradition General Councels Ancient Fathers Ecclesiastical Histories Christian Laws Conversion of Nations Divine Miracles Heavenly Visions Vnity Vniversality Antiquity Succession all Monuments all Substance all Accidents of Christianity Here is not a word of Proof and therefore I may take the same Liberty in contradicting it if I please But to answer this There makes against them Literal Text of Holy Scripture â—usanus Ep. 2. ad Bohem. of that Scripture which a Cardinal says is a Nose of Wax of that Scripture which the Pope has Power to inlarge at his pleasure as the Trent Councel has done making the Apochrypha Canonical Of that Scripture which speaks not a single word for the Popes Supremacy Transubstantiation Purgatory Masses for the Dead Invocation of Saints Vows of single Life c. but in a thousand places against them and therefore they are obliged to fly for refuge to their Approved Traditions and set them in the Throne above the Scriptures whose mouths must be stopped by the vulgar Latin and the Vulgar confined from reading them and even these approved Traditions are most of them such as the Universal Church never knew never acknowledged Conc. Trid. Sess 4. Dec. 1. which yet must be received with the same Reverence and Affection as the Scriptures for as Baronius affirms Bar. Ann. 53. Num. 11. Traditio Scripturarum Fundamentum and the Traditions of Men are made the Foundation of Scripture and of Faith And the Canon Law of Pope Gregory XIII Dist 40. Si Papa in Ann. Margin goes higher yet and sets the Pope above them all For men rather desire to know the ancient Institution of Christian Religion from the Popes mouth than from the holy Scripture And yet all of their own Church do not approve these Approved Traditions for Basil says Basil Reg. contract p. 502. It is necessary and agreable to Reason that all men learn what is their Duty out of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both for the fulfilling all Godliness and lest they should be accustomed to Humane Traditions Iren. l. 3. c. 2. And Irenaeus tells us it was the Custom of Hereticks to call in Tradition to their assistance against Scripture alledging that those Truths as they called them which they held were not delivered by Writing but by word of Mouth AGAINST his General Counsels we oppose the first four and have offered a thousand times to put the Issue upon their Verdict Against Ecclesiastical Histories Ancient Fathers Christian Laws we oppose the frequent Forgeries of all these detected even by themselves and the Index Expurgatorius which Castrates all the Fathers that they may be fit Eunuchs for the Papal Seraglio the Vatican by being disabled to propagate truth For Conversion of Nations we refer them to the Acts of the Apostles for the first Age and for these last to Acosta the Jesuite and Bartholomeus Casas a Bishop in the Indies Acost de Ind. salut procurand their Conversion was such that the miserable People chose to go to Hell with their Ancestors rather than to Heaven with such Christians and if their Relations are true gives occasion to the Romanists to blush rather than boast